They ducked out of the reception early.
Mike called it literally doing as they were told. He couldn’t keep his hands off, not after Stephen’s news, and without being allowed to tell anybody why, they were written off as ‘sodding randy’ by the newlyweds and fondly told to get a room.
So they got one, borrowing the one Mam had booked to hold all her things during the ceremony, and didn’t even have s*x. Just lay naked together in the vast bed, the whole world locked out, and wildly planning a future that had suddenly fallen into their laps.
And then when Stephen dozed off, drugged by excitement and exhaustion, Mike lay awake most of the night, listening to him breathe, touching every inch of skin he could find, and imagining what this would be like in a month, two, five, nine.
Ten.
In le
