continued

‘A baby…’ he whispered and a wide grin spread across his face ‘A baby! A baby!’ he started jumping around his girlfriend in a frantic dance.



‘Sebastien! Shush!’ Shadee smiled, trying to quiet him down ‘We can’t be sure of anything. Don’t get too worked up!’

‘Ok then. Let’s run some tests! We’ll go see the house, then straight to the hospital!’

They agreed on the plan, then soon left to see Phil. Sebastien was fidgety all the way to the meeting point. He kept stroking his future wife’s hand, grinning to himself and generally not paying attention to the road.



‘There you are!’ Phil boomed in his usual loud tone, giving Seb a pat on the back and kissing Shadee’s hand. He was a friendly man in his thirties, particularly good at his job who had become a familiar face in the couple’s life, helping them out through their home-hunt ‘You are definitely gonna love this! It’s got your names written all over it! The first moment I saw this beauty…I just knew I had my man for it. And it’s about time you found something! I am quite getting sick of you two!’ he started to laugh loudly at his own joke ‘You can leave the car here. The house is a only a ten-minute walk away!’



The surrounding area was astoundingly beautiful: neat houses with perfect gardens, quiet and inviting at the same time. It was simply the perfect neighbourhood for a young family.



Even from a remarkable distance, the house seemed to shine like a well polished diamond. It was a two story building, with beautiful red brick walls, a cosy porch and a nice white fence limiting the still bare yard.



‘It’s a brand new house, guys!’ Phil grinned, taking out an impressively big set of keys ‘Now…which one was it…’

Shadee threw Seb a meaningful look. She was already in love with it; the young man seemed to be feeling the same. He just didn’t want to show his enthusiasm yet.



‘The place seems a bit empty and deserted.’ He observed quietly.

‘You must be kidding, old man!’ the agent boomed again ‘Ah, here’s the little bugger… Now, let me show you the interior. Come, don’t be shy, you two!’



They found themselves in a spacious entrance hall that lead to a huge living room.



‘It’s exactly the way you like it! Big, very well lit, with a pretty door to the back yard… The toilet is in the far left corner, the kitchen is also here on the left and upstairs are the rest of the rooms. ‘Kay, follow me!’



They went up the well polished wooden staircase and arrived in another long hall with doors on each side.





‘So here, on the left is the toilet again and the master bedroom. On the right are three smaller rooms which you can arrange to your heart’s desire: more bedrooms, study or - ahem - a pretty little nursery…’ he paused and grinned at them. Shadee felt her cheeks blush a deep shade of scarlet and she instinctively put a hand on her belly.



‘You can go ahead and look inside each of these, my dears. You’ll see they’re all big enough and well-lit, just the way you like them.’ Phil winked, leading the now very excited couple into the nearest room, being sure that he had finally found his clients a house that was exactly to their taste.



After having seen and admired every single corner of their future home, Shadee and Sebastien arranged the last details of the purchase with their agent, then returned to their car, talking animatedly about each room’s design and purpose.

They went straight for the local hospital where Seb worked in order to investigate Shadee’s mysterious illness. The young woman had some blood samples taken and was promised to be contacted in 24 hours with the results.