Page 99 of Short Stack 3

“Well, sir,” the policeman says phlegmatically. “Love is a wonderful thing, but it does not prevent hypothermia.”

Tom shakes his head ponderously. “I can’t come out. Not until my beloved agrees to marry me.”

I blanch. I can’t believe I haven’t fucking answered him. “Oh, Tom,” I shout. “OfcourseI’ll marry you.”

His smile is brighter and more sparkly than the Christmas lights around us.

It takes three of us to haul Tom out. It’s trickier than it looks, as he’s soaking wet, and no one put convenient steps in their canals. But in the end, he’s out. Before I can embrace him, the policemen step forward, swaddling him in blankets that they’ve retrieved from their car.

“Sit in the car, sir,” one of them says. “You will warm up there.”

I hover anxiously as we walk along. He’s shivering badly now, and his teeth are chattering.

“Are you alright?” I ask as they open the door. We slide in, and Tom gives a big, happy sigh as the heat envelops us. “Tom?”

“I’m fine,” he says, pushing the blanket down and spitting out some fluff from it.

“Are you sure?” I push his hair back, seeing his grey eyes soft, warm, and so happy that my heart skips a beat. My saying yes has made him look like this.

We smile at each other. “You just asked me to marry you,” I finally say after he makes no attempt to break the silence.

His eyes twinkle. “I did, and you said yes.”

I can’t bear to be apart from him anymore. I throw myself into his arms, feeling him hug me tight and kiss my hair. He’s wet and doesn’t smell too good, but he’s more mine now than ever before. “I love you so much,” I say fiercely. Then I press kisses to his face until he laughs.

“I love you too, Bee. You’re everything to me.”

We grin helplessly at each other again.

“We’re getting married,” I say softly. “I can’t believe it, Tom. Was that what you were trying to do all holiday?”

He nods. “It had to be perfect.” A wry look crosses his handsome face. “I had all these wonderful scenarios in my mind. So, obviously, that meant falling in a canal and nearly getting arrested.”

“Thebestproposal,” I say fiercely. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way, love.”

“Really?” he asks anxiously.

I nod. “The best. And if you do get arrested, I’m going to throw myself into the canal too, so they’ll have to arrest me as well.”

His lip twitches. “You’d do that for me?”

“Tom Wright, I would doanythingfor you.”

He kisses me, and it’s sweet and soft and just exactly what I need. When he pulls back, I follow his mouth drunkenly for a second and then pout when he doesn’t kiss me again.

“I have something for you,” he says solemnly, reaching into his pocket and producing a wet velvet box.

I put my fingers to my mouth. “Oh, Tom. It’s wonderful.”

He snorts. “Maybe you’d better open it first.”

I nudge him, grinning, and then open the box. A trickle of canal water flows out, and then my mouth falls open at the sightof the ring. I take it out of the box, and it sparkles on my palm — platinum with one diamond in it. There’s something carved into the band. I squint but can’t see what it is in the dull light of the police car. I look up at him, and he smiles.

“I’ll show and tell you everything back at the hotel.”

“So, they’re not arresting you?”

“Doubt it. You sound almost disappointed. Were you looking forward to a life of crime, my love?”

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