Page 84 of Gold Digger
I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t agreed to anything yet.”
“But maybe you’ll give me a teeny, tiny, wafer-thin chance?”
I bit my lip, looking out onto the road and thinking back over the last few weeks. Ollie walking me to and from the flat. Him keeping his promise to Hayley. Showing up for me today with his family in tow. And, I mean, the sex from before wasn’t half bad either… Okay, sue me! Any woman would have to factor that in – look at the man, for Fraggle Rock’s sake.
“Maybe, just a wafer-thin one,” I said softly.
He jerked to a stop.
“Ollie?” I said in confusion, turning to him. His expression was fierce as his hand went up to the side of my face.
“D-do you mean it?” he said. It was the first time I’d ever heard this man sound anything other than supremely confident and it was that thread of hope in his voice that made my heart swell. It was like I could feel some of my broken pieces fly back together, and the numbness seeping away. “Lottie, baby. Do you mean it?”
“Yes,” I whispered. His eyes closed slowly as he rested his forehead against mine and breathed out a long, relieved breath, totally ignoring the London pedestrians streaming past us on either side.
“Thank fuck,” he said, his voice rough with emotion as he pulled me into him in a fierce hug, kissing the top of my head. “I love you. You know that right? You know how much I bloody love you?”
I smiled into his chest. “Of course I know it, you numpty,” I said as I pulled back slightly to look up into his eyes that, to my shock, were glassy with unshed tears.
“You’re right. Iama numpty.”
“Well, you’remynumpty. Because I love you too.”
One of his hands went around my back, the other slid into my hair, and right there in the middle of one of London’s busiest streets, right in the middle of the day, the Duke of Buckingham kissed me. There were of course paparazzi, but Ollie knew that, and he didn’t give a Fraggle Rock.
Epilogue
Because that was family
Lottie
“Posh people are weird,” Hayley whispered, and I gave her a fervent nod. We both had black circles all over our faces from burnt corks and we were watching Bertie, one of Ollie’s many cousins, do his forfeit, which consisted of running five times around the outside of the house in his underwear (no mean feat considering the size of the country pile). It was below freezing and Bertie did not appear to be in the best shape. We both followed his progress as he streaked past the vast living room windows, with only the smallest union jack pants barely covering his modesty.
Apparently this was what happened at Christmas in posh houses. You exchanged gifts in the morning – most of them homemade and all of them under a fiver. You ate a huge amount of turkey, watched the King’s Speech of course, and then spent the rest of the afternoon playing games, hence the black circles and streaking cousin.
Other than the huge game of Twister spread out on the floor and the karaoke machine, I suspected most of these games would have been played by this family for hundreds of years. We’d been eased into this last year. At that point, we still weren’tliving with Ollie full time, much to his annoyance. But I had to take the time to trust him again. Plus, I’d taken a six-month lease on the flat. I wasn’t going to lose that money, despite Ollie grumbling that I “didn’t need the bloody money” and he’d “buy the bloody flat if I was that worried about it”. He blustered about whilst I serenely ignored him until the other flat in my building was burgled, and Ollie declared the area “practically a ghetto” (we were in Kensington near him, so that couldn’t have been further from the truth).
But he begged me, Claire begged me, Florrie begged me and then, finally, Hayley begged me. Hayley never asked for anything, and seeing as she was asking for something I wanted, I decided to give it to her. So, we moved in. Claire and Florrie were still living there then. By this stage Blake was out of the family home, but she still preferred to live with Ollie for now.
I hadn’t realised how worried Claire was about the living situation until she asked me if they were intruding in my home.Myhome. Totally confused, I’d told her this was the Harding family home, and for someone who rarely lost her temper, she really went nuclear. Ollie and his family did not like me suggesting Hayley and I weren’t part of them.
Six months after I moved in, we were married in Little Buckingham church. Hayley, Florrie, Vicky, Claire and Lucy were bridesmaids. Legolas broke into the church and ate my bouquet (well, the official story is that it was a break-in – Hayley and Florrie had been asking for weeks if he could be an honorary groomsman, and he was wearing a bowtie in his mane, so I had my doubts). Felix offered to walk me down the aisle, but in the end, I decided to walk on my own. After all, I’d been looking after myself all my life – no reason not to do it down the middle of a church with my head held high. Ollie hadn’t even let me walk the full length of it anyway. His eyes lit as soon as he saw me in the lace gown I’d chosen with Lucy and his sisters. I only gotabout halfway before he’d had enough. He strode down the aisle, snatched me up into a hug, kissing me in front of all the guests. The rest of the walk to the altar was with my hand in his as he propelled me forward with me only just able to keep my balance on my heels.
The vicar raised his eyebrows. “We haven’t got to that part yet, young man,” he told Ollie.
“Sorry, old chap,” Ollie said with his standard charm. “But this one has kept me waiting for long enough. Needed to make sure she made it up here.”
When it came to the vows, we said all the traditional ones, and then Ollie surprised everyone by calling Hayley over to us. He took one of her hands in his, keeping one of mine in the other and crouched down to her level.
“Hayley,” he said, smiling at her. “I know I’m marrying Lottie today, but I want to make some promises to you too, okay?”
Hayley nodded, her eyes shining as she looked at this amazing man. He took a deep breath then he blew our world apart.
“I promise to love you even when you eat the last of the Nutella,” he started, and Hayley giggled with the rest of the church. “I promise to keep telling rubbish jokes to embarrass you in front of your friends for the rest of your life.”
“Oh great,” groaned Florrie, sparking more laughter from the congregation.
“I promise I’ll love you bigger than the whole sky,” he said in a softer voice, his hand taking her hand to her chest covered with his, before moving them both to the centre of his chest. “I promise that you, your sister and I will always be a team. And Hayley, my little stowaway, I promise I’ll never let you go.”
