Slipping Through My Fingers

Cottage

Amelia-Lily sat on her parents' bed, watching her mother put clothes neatly into a suitcase. Aljaz was taking Janette away for 4 days, somewhere near the coast, while Amelia-Lily, Sasa and Leonardo were staying with Jo and Laurence, it was February half term. "Will you miss me?" Amelia-Lily asked. Janette sat down on the bed next to her eldest daughter, "of course I'll miss you Mils....I'll call Auntie Jo everyday so that we can speak to each other and you can tell me what you've been doing and I can tell you what I've been doing," Janette said stroking her daughter's face. Amelia-Lily chewed her lip, "but what if the baby comes when you're away?" Janette smiled, "the baby won't come for ages sweetie...and if the baby does come then Daddy will take me to the hospital to get the baby...I'll be fine, and you'll have lots of fun with Auntie Jo," Janette reassured her and closed her suitcase up tight...

The kids stood with Joanne and Laurence on the driveway as they waved to their parents driving off in the car. Janette leaned her head back on her chair and closed her eyes, rubbing her bump. "Do you want to sit in the back where you have more space bučka?" Aljaz asked. Janette shook her head, "I want to sit next to you bučko," she said, reaching out for his hand on the steering wheel. "Let me know if you want to stop princess...I won't mind," Aljaz said. Janette sighed and rolled her now open eyes, "baby I'm fine...honest...I just want to get to Cornwall as soon as possible," she replied, the sooner they got their the sooner they could properly start their romantic(ish) weekend together, it was the first time in months since they'd been away for a weekend just the 2 of them and they intended to make he most of it.
As they pulled into the driveway of the cottage that they'd arranged to stay in it was pouring down with rain. Aljaz left Janette in the car whilst he ran in with their luggage and food bags, then he grabbed Janette's hand and they made it to dry land. It was a very traditional cottage, with low ceilings, creaky floorboards, old fireplace and an old cooker...very different to their home back in London. Aljaz looked for a way to turn the heater on while Janette started to unload the food bags. Aljaz came back into the kitchen with no luck, "there was a not on the boiler saying that the central heating isn't working...and neither is the hot water...apparently the cookery a working though," Aljaz said, he was worried for Janette, he didn't want her getting too cold, it wouldn't be good for the baby at all. "It'll be fine baby...I'm sure there's plenty of blankets...and we can always boil the kettle to use for a bath...we'll be just fine," Janette said, walking over to him. Aljaz sighed, "but I'm worried about you....you shouldn't be cold...if something happened I wouldn't forgive myself, especially as this was my idea," Aljaz said with a worry in his voice. "Baby don't worry, please...you can keep me warm...let's just enjoy our weekend together...please?" Janette asked. Aljaz sighed again, "I suppose." Janette smiled and stood on her tip toes, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissed him, distracting him from all his worries. There was no signal on their mobiles and the landline seemed to be dead, Janette and Aljaz loaded on their coats and a couple of other layers and ran out in the pouring rain to the phone box at the end of the windy road. They posted through a couple of gold coins, not wanting the phone to cut them off in mid sentence. Jo's phone rang a couple of times before being answered. "Mummy! Daddy!" All 3 children cried into the phone. Janette and Aljaz smiled. "We called you both earlier but you didn't answer," Amelia-Lily said, she had been really worried and bad thought that something bad had happened to her parents, not that she had told her younger siblings this, that would send them into a frenzy and it would be impossible to calm them down. "Our phones have no signal so we're using the phone box at the end of the road," Janette explained. You could tell that Amelia-Lily was Aljaz's daughter, she seemed to worry about everything to do with Janette and her younger siblings. 15 minutes later the money ran out, they put the phone back and put their hoods up, ready to walk back out into the rain.

Back at the small cottage Janette  boiled the kettle as Aljaz ran the bath with the icy cold water. Janette took the kettle filled to the brim with boiling hot water upstairs to Aljaz in the bathroom. She carefully poured the water into the bathtub, melting the ice. She pulled her clothes off and climbed in the bath with her husband, their knees hunched up....it may not have been the weekend away that they had imagined but they were together and that was what mattered. After bathing in the baby sized bath Aljaz wrapped Janette up in a dozen blankets and jumpers in the bed in front of the TV, a steamy cup of hot chocolate in her hand, pizza bought from the Marks & Spencer's at the service station in the middle of the bed. The bed creaked loudly as Aljaz climbed in alongside his wife, Janette giggled. "Do you want to find a hotel room with hot water and central heating tomorrow?" Aljaz asked, 1 arm slung round Janette's shoulder. Janette nodded, "it would be nice, but I don't think we'll be overly successful...they'll all be similar to this...anyway I'm sure it'll be okay tomorrow...it's not supposed to rain tomorrow," Janette said, resting her head on his shoulder, "anyway....as long as I've got you bučko I'll be just fine."