My pulse was hammering so hard, it made my head spin. What if I couldn’t find the right words, if I messed things up again?
‘Except for that kiss,’ Gideon continued as his gaze softened. ‘That was not the kiss of someone who doesn’t want anything to do with me.’
I shook my head in agitation. ‘I wanteverythingto do with you. Absolutely, completely everything. I didn’t tell you I was here because I wanted to be ready to prove it. To be able to show you I was both willing and able to commit, with no chance of hurting you again.’
‘By renting a room off Kalani and taking a casual job with a local flower stall?’ His voice was gentle, but the words were firm. This was too important for either of us to get swept up in the moment.
‘No.’ I summoned up every last ounce of my new-found courage and looked him straight in the eye, hoping he would see right into my soul and find the truth there. ‘By one day standing in front of you and confessing that I not only love you; I will do everything I can to spend the rest of my life with you. I think about you all the time so the truth is, you’re with me anyway.’
‘And you would take that chance with me, risk being hurt again?’
I shrugged, my eyes filling with tears. ‘You’re worth it. If I’ve learned nothing else these past few weeks, it’s that I’m stronger than I thought. I was so scared of facing another heartbreak. But I’ve learned that hearts are living things. With the right help, they can heal.’
‘Okay.’ His gaze remained steady on mine. ‘How’s the getting ready going?’
‘I wasn’t sure.’ I closed my eyes, opened them again. Let out a watery laugh. ‘That’s not true. I was sure. But I was also putting it off because I was equally sure that you’d reject me, and this way, I could still live in my little Sherwood Forest fantasy of maybe getting my happy ever after. But then, the second I saw you… I’m done being a coward. Living in fear of what may never happen, and so losing all the wonderful things that might. I was ready the day I spoke to Aidan Hunter and realised how he’d wasted decades believing Hattie didn’t want him. I was even more ready the day you turned up, just to apologise for feeling perfectly natural feelings in a traumatic moment. I was readier still, watching you drive away and thinking that it might be the last time I ever saw you.’ I stopped, trying to allow my thoughts to catch up with my mouth.
‘That was two months ago.’ The doubt was clear in his voice.
‘I know. But you said that you don’t trust me. I didn’t know how to prove you wrong apart from to show that I’m properly committing to staying here. I was meant to buy a house first.’ I must have started crying because Gideon reached up and tenderly wiped my tears away with his thumb.
‘My heart was yours the moment I saw you. Now I’m offering you the rest of me, as well. No long-distance. No wait and see. Like I said at the party, if you’ll have me – even if you won’t because honestly, Muffin and I like it here and we wouldn’t know where else to go – I’m staying. For good. Putting down roots in this land, and hoping, praying, I’ll be able to watch my children, maybe even grandchildren, grow up here, too.’
‘Your children?’
‘Ourchildren.’
It felt as though the only thing moving in the whole forest was the rise and fall of Gideon’s chest. I was holding my own breath and even the dogs had stopped gambolling about and found a dry patch of ground to lie on, watching us expectantly.
Eventually, as all the hopes and dreams I’d been carrying for the past few months flashed before my mind’s eye, he gave one, decisive nod.
‘That sounds like a plan.’
What?
I closed my eyes, swaying with relief so huge, I didn’t quite realise until then how much this conversation meant to me.
‘I’m so glad you’re up for staying.’ Gideon shuffled closer and took hold of my hand, steadying me and sending my heart careening inside my chest in the same instant. ‘You know how much I love Riverbend. But I love you infinitely more, Sophie. Wherever we end up, wherever life takes us, what matters is we’re together.’
‘So you believe me?’ I asked, overwhelmed.
‘You’ve spent weeks living with Kalani. If that’s not commitment, I don’t know what is.’
He kissed me again, slow and tender, as if we had all the time in the world. Which I supposed, now, we did have.
EPILOGUE
It was Valentine’s Day, near enough a full year since I’d first arrived at Riverbend and walked in on the Changelings stripping off for their art-therapy class. Unlike that day, this one contained perfect skies, clear and bright, with a deliciously fresh nip in the air to complement the excitement thrumming across the Riverbend grounds.
I’d spent the morning directing operations from the renamed and relocated White Rose Floristry, now occupying what was previously the art-therapy side of the Riverbend studio. My assistants – because Karen and Stella had been all too willing to demote themselves and promote me to Managing Director once the business had flourished to the point where stress was no longer an optional-extra – had borne posies, bouquets and a simply stunning floral arch to the chapel. They had also helped me to set up the dining room, where twenty guests would eat, drink and toast the happy couple once the ceremony was over.
Hattie’s wish had come true: she was about to partake in a Riverbend wedding. What she’d not foreseen was that she would be the bride. Aidan had proposed to her during her final chemo session in September and, while in many ways wanting to waste no time, he’d wisely insisted that they wait a few months to give her time to recover, and him time to work out his notice at the activity centre and sell his house.
‘Recover or die!’ Hattie had argued, but the post-treatment test results had been better than anyone had dared hope, including Dr Ambrose. Hattie was still seriously ill. She still had cancer. But, for now, it seemed to be held at bay.
Once the final bloom was perfectly in place, I hurried over to the boathouse –myboathouse, which had seemed such an obvious place for me to live, once Gideon had known about me moving back, that I didn’t know why Hattie hadn’t mentioned it earlier. Grabbing my bag, a bridesmaid’s dress and Muffin, I returned to find the rest of the Gals helping Hattie get ready in her bedroom. That was, if ‘getting ready’ meant plying her with an enormous gorgeous gal.
‘Eugh,’ she exclaimed, accepting the glass. ‘Do we really have to keep on drinking these things forever?’
