Behind The Proposal novel Chapter 38

"I'll be fine," she dismissed when he asked and went to put the milk in the cupboard. "You need to go to your meeting," she protested weakly as he put the milk back in the fridge where it belonged. She couldn't even make her own breakfast.

"Screw the meeting," he shrugged. "It can be rescheduled if you need me here." He waited for her to say something, but she stood there chewing on her lip as if undecided. She was going to tell him she'd be okay, but he knew she wanted him to stay home. He pulled out his phone and dialled his PA, who answered immediately. "I need to cancel my meetings today. Reschedule them for later in the week please Megan."

"Of course, Mr Sanderson," she replied, unfazed by the change.

Sophie looked up at him with those tired blue eyes and he knew he'd made the right decision. "Thank you," she murmured as a handful of tears ran down her cheeks.

He drew her into his arms and held her tightly. He wouldn't have been able to concentrate anyway; he'd been awake half of the night as it was. Sophie had sat up with Jasmine, watching episodes of Peppa Pig to calm her down, but when he'd checked on them at four, both Sophie and Jasmine had been asleep on the couch.

It had been a long day. Sophie was completely drained, Jasmine had a fever and was not happy. They'd been to the doctor and pharmacy, Sophie had done all of the washing from the night before, and yet she was still cooking dinner for them. He would've just eaten toast or something if it were left up to him. Then to add to the demands, her mother rang.

"I'm really sorry, Mum, dinner is burning. I have to go. I'll call you back after dinner," Sophie grumbled after she'd been on the phone for ten minutes, the phone wedged between her shoulder and ear so she could stir the chicken stir-fry at the same time. Tom stood up from his laptop and walked over, taking the spoon off her so that she could deal with her mother.

"I promise I'll call you back," Sophie sighed and Tom could still hear Mary talking as Sophie had disconnected the call. She rolled her eyes at him and bent down to get some bowls out of the cupboard.

He'd bet Mary hadn't been happy about being fobbed off. He'd wanted to take the phone and tell his mother-in-law where to go, but he hadn't for Sophie's sake. Then Mary called back again hen Sophie was giving Jasmine a bath. Tom jumped at the chance to take the call.

"Where's Sophie? She told me she'd call me back after dinner. It's now past eight," her mother complained without any preamble.

"Sorry, Mary. Sophie can't talk. She's giving Jasmine a bath," he explained as calmly as possible. Sophie had cringed as he said the words and he knew it had slipped her mind, which he wasn't surprised about, they were all exhausted.

Sophie sighed heavily. "Please just drop this."

"Alright," he nodded, knowing that he'd made progress tonight. He'd got his message across at least. He'd work on her and her parents a little bit at a time. He brushed a kiss across her lips. "I'll let you get Jass to bed. I still have some work to do."

"How would you feel about buying a house?" Tom asked as he leant against the bench, the damp tea-towel still in his hands.

She was about to say that she had one, but then comprehension dawned and she turned to him. "This is about moving to Cairns, isn't it?"

Throwing the towel on the bench he stepped closer to her. "It'd make things easier for me," he admitted then held up his hands to stop her arguments. "But I understand why you don't want to. I'm just asking you to think about it. I'll need to spend more and more time up there when the building work actually starts, and as it gets closer to opening the resort. And I want you and Jass with me," he said as he put his arms around her waist.