Chapter 70

Victoria collapsed on the bed and Mark lay beside her.

"Whew!" she said. "I'm whacked, emotionally and physically."

"So am I. It's hardly surprising though. Today has been the best and most exciting of our lives."

"Mm, I've never been happier in my life either."

"Snap!" He gently kissed her lips. "I love you, Mrs Bowers."

"Victoria Frances Bowers." She rolled it round in her tongue like tasting a fine wine. "I rather like that. Mrs Mark Bertram Bowers. I like that too. Golly, I never asked. Where does the Bertram come from?"

"My father's father."

"Sir Bertram Bowers Bart. That's a wonderful name."

"I've always liked it too. There were quite a number of Bertrams over the years actually."

"Are we going to call our son that?"

"It'd be rather fun and Dad would be thrilled but would it be fair on the boy in this day and age? He'd be known as Bert."

"Or Bertie."

"A bit PG Wodehousey."

"Nonsense. George VI was called Bertie."

"Hmm."

There was a knock at the door. They looked at each other in puzzlement.

"Come in," called Mark as they both sat up.

A maid came in with two glasses on a tray. "With the compliments of General and Mrs Collins," she said. "Champagne cocktails," she added

wide—eyed and conspiratorially.

"Ooh!" they chorused. "Thank you very much."

The maid smiled and left the room.

"Bless their hearts," said Mark.

Victoria nodded. "Just the pick-me-up we need." She raised her glass. "Here's to us, my precious husband."

"To us, my darling wife."

They both took a sip. "Yum!" they said together.

Victoria chuckled. "I think it's catching. Dickie and Wendy were doing it too. Hey, do those French windows lead anywhere?"

Mark went and looked. "Yes," he said. "There are steps down to the garden. Shall we take our drinks there?"

There was a beech tree with a bench seat round the trunk and they sat there.

"When are we going to start having children?" Victoria asked.

"Not too long, I hope, but we're young so there's no rush."

"I want to go on just enjoying you for a while." She kissed his cheek.

"Me too."

"I think I need to get the stables under my belt too."

"Not just that. You need to establish yourself as a competitor again."

She smiled at him. "And you took the words out of my mouth again."

There was silence. Both were deep in thought.

"I don't think there's any risk," she said, "but I'll check with the doctor when I get back. I really don't want some contraption inside me."

"Thank you, darling." He'd been completely with her in her thought processes. He chuckled. "I'm not sure I do either. It might bite me."

Victoria shrieked with laughter. "That would never do. We might not be able to have children at all then."

"A I."

"Oy! I'm not a blooming cow."

They both collapsed with laughter again.

"Oh, it's easy to milk a bull," sang Mark. "There's only one trigger to pull."

Victoria looked at him and then burst into laughter again.

"Where did you learn that?"

"Dad."

"You amaze me."

Mark grinned. "He's a surprising man," he said. "I think that's why Mum loves him so much. He's normally quite predictable and then suddenly comes out with something quite unexpected. Hey, I've finished my drink. Why don't we..."