Blake squeezes my hand as we glance at each other. My stomach knots and my heart thuds like it's about to take flight. This might be worse than telling my parents I was pregnant. It's hard to know how they'll react but hopefully this won't be too bad. I don't think Blake could cope with a bad reaction.

Mum lets out a shaky breath which almost matches our own. The pair of them glance between us. The silence only makes things harder. I feel like it could crush me and that's if Blake doesn't do that first.

"Please hurry up and put me out of my misery!" Mum begs. "Are you two okay? Is there something wrong with the wedding? Whatever it is, you can tell us, we'll do our best to help you."

"It's about London," I admit.

Blake's fingers tighten around mine to the point my knuckles go white. I assume this is how men feel when women give birth. Except, he might actually crush the bones in my hand.

"Will one of you spit it out before your mother dies?" Dad says.

"I love you. It'll be okay," I whisper.

Blake inhales a deep breath and looks at them. My parents fixate on Blake which only increases the pressure around my fingers. To be fair, he's only been crushing my hand for the last five minutes.

"London biological father is Logan."

"What?" Mum shouts. "Am I hearing that right?"

"Logan has a daughter." I smile.

Mum's mouth drops open and she stares at us with a blank expression. I squeeze Blake's hand as we wait for something to happen. The worst my mother will do is say something nasty, not sure about my father, though.

"Is this true?" Dad frowns. "Do you have DNA test results?"

"Yes." Blake nods.

"Oh, my goodness!" Mum places her hand on her heart. Tears trickle down her cheeks and she uses the back of her hand to clear them away. "Logan has a daughter."

Despite the tears pouring down her cheek, her beams with happiness. As long as Dad doesn't flip, this was easier than telling them I was pregnant.

Dad wraps his arm around her shoulder and gently tugs Mum to his side. He kisses the top of her head and strokes his thumb over Mum's shoulder. Mum looks like she's about to scream with happiness but I'm not sure about Dad.

He's not angry, he's not excited, he's shocked. Once the shock wears off, I hope anger isn't one of his emotions. If someone kept my child or grandchild from me, I don't think I'd be sitting there so calmly.

Then again, we've been involved with London's life for a while now. Mum has pictures of us on the walls from social events. They haven't missed out on too much—not that it justifies what happened.

"I don't expect forgiveness because it was selfish to withhold that information from you, especially after all you've done for Ava and I. To explain my actions, the moment I first held her, I was overcome with a strong desire to protect her from anyone, including Tori when she wasn't capable of caring for her."

We can all understand that feeling of eternal love, to the eternal darkness that comes with losing a child. We could have all the time in the world with someone but it'll never be enough.

"I wanted to tell you . . . I should have told you. I made bad choices after losing Ivan. I didn't want to lose a second child."

"We understand, son." Dad nods.

Son. He called him son. This is going better than I ever could have imagined.

"Thank you for telling us! I'm just, um, wow, shocked. I can't believe Logan has a daughter." She smiles. "He lives on with her."

Dad rumbles with laughter. "Now we know who your brother was sneaking out to see. Your mother and I would see him pushing the car down the driveway almost every night. We thought he'd introduce her to use but."

"I can somewhat rest easier now. It bugged me for months not knowing who that mysterious woman was," Mum adds.

"Now you know it was Tori. She still loves him and that's one of the reasons to why she struggled to raise London."

I understand what she's gone through which is weird. I can't believe I can relate to someone who is being so horrible to my family.

"We just have one other thing," Blake says.

"Be quick then! I don't know how much more my heart can take." Mum shakes her head.

"Long story short – Tori is trying to gain full custody of London on the basis that Blake isn't her biological father. When they prove that, I would like to petition for custody since I'm technically her aunty." Saying aunty aloud feels weird. "And we wanted to make sure it was okay with you two."

Mum and Dad look between each other before nodding.

"We support your decision," they both say.

"Thank you! This means so much to me." Blake grins.

"Given the circumstance, London should be with your two. She's only a child – she deserves to grow up in a healthy environment where she can continue to learn and grow. Logan would have wanted you to raise her." Mum smiles.

"Are you sure he wouldn't want you to?" I chuckle.

"We've officially moved into grandparent status." Dad grins. "You can deal with nappies and temper tantrums. Lord knows I've done enough of them."

"Enjoy being grandparents then." Blake smiles.

"On a serious note. We'll do whatever it takes to ensure she doesn't gain full custody," Dad explains.

"Thank you again."

I manage to get my hand back so that I can hug my parents. My fingers tingle but the pain and stress are worth it!

* * * * *

I wrap my arms around Blake's waist and rest my head against his back. It only lasts for a second because he turns around and hugs me. He kisses the top of my head and sighs with content.

"Today was . . . I was anticipating a blow to the head. I can't believe they accepted it."

"They understand the emotion of loving and losing a child. She's also been raised by an amazing man who's made her into this wonderful, cheeky toddler who loves life, unicorns and those stupid slater bugs in the yard."

"Don't forget about your amazing child raising skills." He grins. "I'm just relieved they're okay with things. I can't deal with any more loss in my life."

"I can't promise that nothing bad will happen, but I'll be here. Probably stressing myself into a heart attack, but I'll be here. You and I against the world."

"Thank you." He cups my cheek and we kiss.

"You should invite the guys over for a drink to destress. I promise to drive everyone to maccas if I get ice-cream." I smile.

"Sounds perfect, thank you." He grins. "Jude has been nagging me about something. Maybe he'll finally tell me about it tonight."

"Hopefully!" I nod. "I'm going to round up snacks and Charlotte because I'm feeling like a movie night."

"Can you grab chips? Hm, that would be amazing."

"Sure." I nod.

I grab my keys from the kitchen bench and wander towards my car.

* * * * *

Charlotte gravitates to the middle of the bed with the popcorn bowl clutched in her hand. She chomps through the buttery goodness as she fixates on the horror flick playing on the screen. I sneak up and grab the bowl from her hand.

"Hey!" she grumbles.

I rest against the headboard and shove a handful of popcorn in my mouth. I moan with delight as I bite into a chocolate goodness.

"You've had the bowl for ages."

"Yeah, that's true." She nods.

"I'll make more when this runs out."

She grabs a cushion from the ground and snuggles into it. The woman on the screen storms out of the house after a fight with her friends and begins wandering the forest by herself.

"Do you think she'll end up dead first?" Charlotte questions.

"I have no idea. She seems pretty stupid wandering the forest late at night but." I sigh. "Who knows with these movies?"

"Wandering around could save her from the clutches of the phyco killer," Charlotte comments.

"We shall see!" I nod.

Suspense music plays as the front door opens. I jolt with fear until I see Axel poking his head through the bedroom door. As he walks in, I catch a glimpse of a pretty black headed girl.

"Hey there." I wave.

Axel pulls the woman to his side and smiles.

"Grace, this is Ava and Charlotte."

"You're welcome to join us! Charlotte and I are working out who's going to get killed off in this horror movie."

Grace looks at Axel and he nods.

"You can meet the guys in a little while."

Axel kisses her hand and leaves. I pat the bed space beside me. She slips under the covers and awkwardly leans against the pillows.

"That's Charlotte." I point to her. "She's amazing, awesome and will eat all your chocolate. I'm Ava, the awkward butterfly but I try my best."

"Axel has told me a lot about you."

"Yikes! I hope it is all good things."

"Yes, it's all good things. You're the girl who helped him decide on life."

"Really?" I burst into laughter. "He's the one who helped me."

"It's nice that you were both able to help each other."

"That's the beauty of friendship." I nod. "Now I need my friends to hurry up and get married so that we can drink wine on Wednesday nights and complain about our husbands."

"I'll come for the wine." Grace giggles.

"You might need to tell Kyle to hurry up on the marriage thing otherwise, it'll be Grace and I drinking wine complaining about how we're going to be old spinsters."

"No promises with Kyle." I laugh.

When the popcorn is finished, I take the bowl and climb out of bed. I head into the kitchen and place a packet in the microwave. I spin around and smile when I see Blake walking into the kitchen.

"How's things going? Did you end up talking to Jude?" I frown.

Blake takes my hand and laces his fingers through mine. I shuffle closer and smile.

"He's going away after the wedding."

"I think it'll do him some good to get out of here."

After what we've all been through, a nice trip to anywhere but here would be nice. Cocktails on the beach in Hawaii would be a great starting place.

"That's what we all said." Blake chuckles.

"Did he mention where he's going?"

"Anywhere and everywhere by the sounds of it."

"Damn, that sounds amazing! I suppose I can't be too jealous with our Honeymoon coming up. Unless?" I peer closer.

"You don't have anything to be worried about." He grins. "How's the new girl, uh, Grace?"

"Quiet, which isn't a judgement!" I raise my hand. "She seems nice! Axel seems happy which is what counts in my books."

"Good." He nods.

When the microwave pops, Blake takes the packet out and tosses it into the bowl. Despite the fact it's burning his fingers, he shakes the popcorn out. He grabs the maltesers and pours them in before mixing it.

"You're missing out! Green snakes are the best with popcorn."

"I love you, but I'm sorry! That's gross. Chocolate is the best and you're missing out."

"Ava." He gasps. "How could you say that? I don't know if I can go through this marriage anymore . . ."

"Too late." I kiss his cheek and race away with the popcorn.