“Heath,” I cut him off. “Give me my ring.”
He opened up the box. Inside was a perfect sapphire in a platinum setting, which looked like waves crashing around the stone. I snatched the ring out and put it on my finger before Heath could drop it again.
“Yes,” I told him.
“I didn’t ask you yet.”
I raised my eyebrows, and he took a deep breath.
“Yazmin Hardcastle, I love you. I never want to be without you. You’ve brought me back to life. Please, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
I kissed him again.
“I’m going to take that as a yes,” he said, smiling against my mouth. “Now, about those endorphins you were talking about.”
I smiled and pushed away from him abruptly, pausing only for a moment to admire my ring.
“Race you!” I called over my shoulder as I dove towards the shore.
*****
Heath
“Jesus Christ, you and my sister are completely fucking bonkers,” Max grumbled as we strode across the sand, waving at the crowd of our friends and family spread out over the sand. “It’s inhuman for me to be anywhere but in bed with my wife this early in the morning.”
Winnie gave a bark from where she was sat at my feet and I reached down to scoop her up so she could lick my jaw.
“You spoil that dog,” Max said.
“You would totally pick up Roger if he wasn’t a good ten stone and you know it.” Roger nuzzled into Max’s side and Max gave him a head scratch.
“Crazy hippy wedding with dogs,” he muttered, still stroking his dog I might add.
I chuckled. “God, you are such a grumpy bastard, Max. You could give smiling a try today.”
“It’s too fucking early to smile. I’ve never smiled before midday in my life.”
This I could believe.
“You’ll smile now. For Yaz, you’ll smile.” My voice was firm. Max was going to smile at his sister when she arrived if I had anything to do with it. Today would be perfect for Yaz. Unconventional, a little wacky, but absolutely perfect.
It had taken a while to get her to admitwhather perfect scenario for today would be. She was worried I’d want something formal and “dead posh” as she put it. The truth was, I simply wanted to make Yaz happy. In the end she confessed that she wanted to get married by the sea. Of course. And if we wanted to have this stretch of beach to ourselves, it had to happen just after sunrise, hence a grumpy Max and about a hundred bleary-eyed guests. Fern hadn’t been on board at first, but both Yaz’s parents were getting better at appreciating the amazing person Yaz was, and trying not to push their agendas onto her life. They’d even started helping out when Yaz ran the kids’ clubs in the summer. Fern made a mean sandwich platter, and Aubrey enjoyed showing the kids how to rig up. Yaz had even convinced them both about the benefits of sea swimming. Aubrey was out there every time he visited now. Last night he quoted a whole load of that trial data about the benefits of sea swimming and explained how his daughter “Knows what she’s on about with this stuff. Change the way you live – that’s the key.” It seemed that after years of scepticism, he was a full convert to lifestyle medicine.
“At least you don’t have to wear a suit,” I said, and Max’s frown softened.
“I guess that’s one good thing about having a batshit crazy sister.”
“She’s not…” I started to speak, but then caught sight of them walking up the beach, and my annoyance with Max, along with anything I was about to say, flew out of my mind.
Yaz
“Are you sure we shouldn’t even wear shoes, love?” Mum looked down at her bare feet, then back up at me with a grimace.
“Come on, Fern,” Verity said, linking her arms through Mum’s and tugging her forward. “New experiences and all that.”
“What must the vicar think? And just look at your father. It’s practically indecent.”
“Yaz taught the vicar to do a forward loop last week – he’s just glad to be out of that stuffy old church.”
