Read Having It All for Free Online

screeched to a halt outside their house and she rushed upstairs, heart pounding, imagining their shrieks of delight when they saw her.
    Instead there was an almost eerie silence as Susie came out of the bathroom carrying one of Daisy’s baby-gros. ‘Liz!’ She smiled in embarrassment, aware of her parting words.
‘I wasn’t expecting you tonight of all nights. How did the launch go?’
    Liz knew Susie was trying to make amends but the last thing she wanted was to get into a discussion about work with her nanny. Especially when all she wanted to do was hug Daisy and Jamie and
read them a story.
    ‘Fine. Where are they?’
    Susie looked faintly guilty. ‘In bed, I’m afraid. They were dog-tired so I put them down early.’
    It was like a kick in the ribs. She’d longed to see them so much. She walked towards Jamie’s door and opened it a couple of inches. He was lying on his back on top of the duvet, arms
thrown out, his shock of dark hair standing up like a tiny punk, his face peaceful, in the deep abandoned sleep of childhood.
    For a moment she thought about waking him and then realized how selfish it would be. So she contented herself with tucking him in just a shade too vigorously, hoping he might wake up anyway, or
at least give her a sleepy smile. But he didn’t.
    Sitting on the edge of the bed, she stroked his hair. He seemed happy enough. But was she just fooling herself? Quietly she padded out of the room to get herself a large drink. She needed it.
Thank God tomorrow was the weekend and for once both she and David would be home.
    For a few moments Liz lay, half-awake in their big bed, watching the sun stream in through the gaps at the side of the blind, and stretched. They had the whole day together.
Swimming pool, adventure playground, puppet show, pizza in the park. Bliss! What on earth had they done with their days before children? It seemed impossible that they could ever have filled them.
And then she remembered. Lovemaking. A leisurely lie in with the newspapers. A brief foray to the deli for home-made pasta and pesto sauce for their supper. Lunch at Julie’s. Browsing in
Portobello Road for antiques.
    Though she knew she had not a hope in hell of explaining it to their childfree friends, the funny thing was it all sounded rather dull to her now! After all there are only so many wonderful
meals you can eat, only so many glorious places to go on holiday, before they start to feel the same. Children at least made life unpredictable!
    As if on cue Jamie burst into the room, bare-bottomed, wearing his pyjama top and a pair of her high heels. Daisy, joining in the spirit of the thing, had a Thomas the Tank Engine wastepaper
basket on her head and had drawn with felt-tip pen all over her pyjamas.
    ‘Where’s Daddy?’ Liz asked weakly, putting her head under the covers, suddenly appreciating the thought of a childfree lunch in Julie’s.
    ‘Da Da Da Da Da Da!’ an off-key voice warbled outside the door. Jamie and Daisy put their hands over their ears as David danced in carrying a breakfast tray and the papers.
    Daylight blinded her as he whizzed up the blind and she lunged for the
Daily Mail
to check the coverage of Metro’s press launch. But David got there first, removed the TV pages,
crumpled them up and hurled them out of the open window to Jamie and Daisy’s delight, who immediately set upon the rest of the papers and followed suit, delighted at this forbidden new
game.
    ‘Hey!’ protested Liz jumping out of bed. David pushed her back in.
    ‘No TV pages today. You’re supposed to be relaxing. The trouble with you is you think television is a matter of life and death.’
    Liz grinned and settled back against the pillows. ‘It isn’t, is it?’
    ‘No it isn’t,’ David agreed.
    ‘It’s much more important than that!’
    David grabbed a pillow and climbed on top of her, setting about her with the feather pillow till she squeaked for mercy, tears of laughter running down her