When Does Love End? Ch. 04

The little girl bit her lip and nodded solemnly, reaching out to take the soft toy.

"What do you say Abi?" there was another prompt from Debbie.

"Are you my daddy?"

Jack bit back the enormous wave of emotion that surged up inside him and brought a tear to his eye, "Yes I am sweetheart, I'm your daddy."

Beside her daughter Debbie started to cry, the tears trickling freely down her cheeks.

Abigail studied him for a moment then took hold of Jack's hand, "Do you want see all my cuddly's?"

"I would love to see them, Abigail." he smiled back at Debbie and her mother, who was also crying now, as his daughter led him into her bedroom.

Later that evening, after Jack had read two stories to an excited Abigail and tucked her into bed, he sat down with Debbie.

"Where's your mum?"

"She went round to her friends for the evening. I think she was being diplomatic." She giggled snuggling in to him.

"Deb's?"

"Mmhhmm." She rested her head against his shoulder.

"Would you consider being my girlfriend again?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "Are you being serious?"

"Absolutely. I know I'm a soldier and it won't be easy for you." He sat up and took her hand in his, "I will have to go back at some point but I don't intend to lose you or Abi ever again, so what do you say?"

"Yes." She whispered as she kissed him before leading him to her bedroom, forgetting every word she had said about how she could never cope with the emotional stress of being with a soldier.

~~~~~~~~ Chapter twenty -three ~~~~~~~~~~

At work Claire was overjoyed when her friend came in on the Monday morning with a glow about her that she had never seen before.

"You did it. You got yourself laid?" were the first words she uttered.

Debbie didn't need to answer her friend, her face turned crimson and said everything that her workmate needed to know.

"How was the Italian stallion? Did he make the grade?" she raised an eyebrow questioningly, "I want every sordid sexy detail."

"I wouldn't know." Debbie told her with a broad grin.

"No." Her friend looked at her open-mouthed, "It wasn't your Mr Right, was it?"

"Yes. it was Jackson. I could never have slept with that pig Franco. I'm sorry but he was an arsehole."

"Yes, he was I could see that on Friday. I'm sorry." Claire apologised.

Debbie shrugged "It doesn't matter now."

"But what does matter was that you did it." Claire flung her arms around her friend, "Was it... you know, just the once?"

Debbie giggled and went an even deeper shade of scarlet, "Nope. We did it several times. All week-end in fact."

"Is he back then. For good, with you?" her friend grinned and wanted to know.

"Yes, I think so. I love him, I always have. That's never changed and he feels the same way about me." Debbie giggled like an excited schoolgirl as she told her, "So, please can you stop trying to fix me up now."

"And Abigail?" Claire raised the question she was dying to know the answer to.

The younger blonde gave her workmate an enormous grin, "Yes, he's Abi's father if that's what you're asking. And, she thinks it's Christmas come early. He had to take her to nursery today so she could introduce her daddy to her class."

"He's home for good then?"

Debbie shook her head and her eyes started to tear over, "No, he has to go back overseas soon, probably back to Afghanistan. I'm not sure how Abigail and I will cope with that."

It was a statement neither of the two women could answer.

That same day Jack moved out of his room at the Royal Oak and into Debbie's flat much to the delight of his daughter, who revelled in having a daddy who she quickly had wrapped around her little finger.

Aside from his weekly trips back to the hospital and his regular exercising he spent every waking moment that he could with both Debbie and Abigail. The only difficult moment came when the two of them accompanied him on one of his scheduled check-ups.

"Hello Jack, nice to see you back." The blonde physio Stacey, who he had been seeing, greeted him as they came face to face when he was entering the centre.

"Hello Stacey."

"And who's this?" Stacey asked with more than a hint of jealousy in her voice as she turned to Debbie who had one arm linked through Jack's while he carried Abigail.

"Umm... this is... Debbie and this is... my daughter Abigail." He warily made the introductions and the two women shook hands before Stacey made her excuses and quickly left.

"She's very pretty." Debbie said pointedly after Stacey had gone.

"Is she?" Jack shrugged.

"Yes, she is and you know it, Jack Maitland." She looked at him quizzically, "What happened before you came back home is none of my business but now, you're all mine, just you remember that."

"I always was and always will be." He grinned and kissed her.

Stacey was waiting for him, outside the doctor's office as he came out later that morning.

"You found her then?" she said despondently, "I hope you told her what I said."

"I'm sorry Stace... I"

She smiled, "Don't be, it's obvious the pair of you are head over heels in love and your little girl is absolutely adorable."

"Yeah, she is." He laughed.

"Goodbye and good luck Jack." She sighed and turned away leaving him to go and find Debbie and Abigail where they were waiting for him in the centre's café.

"Did you say goodbye to her?" Debbie asked him as soon as he found her.

"You mean Stacey?"

"Yes, if she's the blonde we met earlier. The one that you were sleeping with." She looked at him purposefully.

"Deb.... I...." he started to answer her.

"It's fine. What happened while we weren't together is none of my business but what happens now is."

He grinned "Yes we said our goodbye's. It was nothing more than casual on my part anyway, she always knew that."

"Good." She kissed him and then took his arm as he scooped up their daughter, "Let's go home."