How Can She Be Gone?

When the worst happened, David Gammie knew he had to carry on for his daughter.

- Sarah Holmes And Tracey Gayton

As children, we’re often told the same fairytale story – a couple meet, they fall in love and live happily ever after. and when I met my wife Louisa, even after just a few words at a crowded party in 2008, I knew I’d found The one.

She was beautiful, with deep, brown eyes and a soft smile. I was almost too nervous to introduce myself, but as as soon we started talking, I relaxed. She was still way out of my league, but I took my chances and asked for her number anyway. Amazingly, she said yes!

A week later, we went on our first date to a cocktail bar in London. We hardly knew each other, but the conversation flowed easily, from music to books to careers. 

I confessed that I hated my job in finance, and secretly dreamed of writing my own screenplay some day. Most people would have rolled their eyes, but Lou agreed I should do it. That night, we shared our first kiss, and by the end of that year, she’d moved into my flat.

Married bliss

In September 2010, I proposed on a mountainside in Turkey. Six months later, we married in a big, white wedding in Dorset. Our honeymoon was an idyllic fortnight spent relaxing and snorkelling in the Maldives. Halfway through, Lou organised a candlelit dinner on the beach to celebrate my 31st birthday. There, she presented me with a book on screenplay writing – tucked inside, was a receipt for a private tutorial with the author.

It was the kind of present that perfectly summed up Lou: considered, kind, thoughtful. I never used the word soulmates before, but she was mine.

So in May 2012 when Lou showed me a positive pregnancy test, my heart somersaulted in my chest. It was the best thing to happen.