The Scottish Thistle and The English Rose by HaylsValo

Chapter 42: Keep Calm and Carry On

C

hibs walked through his new house in search of his pregnant wife. When they'd left for Ireland together a little over two weeks previously the house had been full of boxes and undecorated. Now almost every room was done, decorated and filled with furniture, from Boo's new office, which had message boards on every wall and a bookcase filled with more books that Chibs knew Boo had to Kerrianne's brightly decorated room with the pictures and posters everywhere. Kerrianne had helped Boo – who had returned from Ireland a week before he had as she was close to hitting her third trimester and wouldn't be able to travel – decorate her room via Skype. Chibs chuckled as he remembered insisting to his daughter than she order the prospects about – the ones doing all the work of course, as Boo was nearly 6 months pregnant – as that's what they were there for! She hadn't though; she'd been polite to them the entire time. Chibs loved that his girl had such good manners. Said prospects he found in his and Boo's bedroom (which was blue and white, decorated with white roses and thistles) putting their bed together. They informed him that Boo was out in the back yard so Chibs meandered out there in search of her. He found her out there, relaxing under the shade of the big oak tree in the back corner of the garden, reading a book with Waldorf curled up at her side. Chibs couldn't help but notice that the dog had his head on her now very swollen stomach. What he really noticed though was just how beautiful his girl looked. She still had that pregnant woman glow and just shone with happiness. She had a tender little smile on her lips and was absentmindedly rubbing her bump, which was moving about as their child shifted and turned within her. Her skin was flushed and her eyes sparkled even more than they usually did and even her hair was shinier than usual. Pregnancy suited Boo, it was doing wonders to her and with each day that passed in her pregnancy, she just grew all the more beautiful. Boo of course, since she was having a Telford baby, looked further along than her 6 months and could probably convince people she was approaching her 8 month of pregnancy. She had long since stopped caring about that though and was actually proud of the fact that baby was showing more it should.

"There yeh are Hen! Been lookin' all over for yeh." Chibs grinned as he jogged across the garden to his wife. Boo immediately closed her book and cast it aside, pulled herself to her feet. Waldorf huffed as he was thrown off her stomach and Boo gave a delightful little giggle, gave him an apologetic scratch behind the ears. Waldorf then licked her hand and all was forgiven, but then he of course, had always been a mummy's boy. Still that didn't stop him from bounding gleefully over to Chibs once he saw him, his ears perked up and tail wagging so fast it looked like he had three of them. He greeted the Scotsman in his usual way; by dashing round and round him, periodically switching between sniffing his boots and licking his hands. As Chibs had been away for so long, Waldorf spent longer than usual sniffing at his master's shoes, especially when he caught the scent of Kerrianne who he'd been absolutely fascinated with during her last visit to Charming, so much so he'd spent her entire visit just staring at her. "Hey boy; yeh been lookin' after Boo for me?" Chibs asked as he scratched at Waldorf's ears. Waldorf just continued to sniff at his boots so Chibs returned his attentions to his wife, who was now standing in front of him grinning broadly, her hands cradling her swollen stomach.