Page 58 of From Best Friend to Bride
“Hey, we both need to get something out of this arrangement.”
I pouted, but his joke removed some of the tension, and I relaxed a little more in his arms. “Only if you’re sure. I mean, we’ll still be us, just with a bit of paper tying us together for a while.”
“I’m positive, Deli. I wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place if I was only going to back out.”
“What if you find someone you actually want to marry? What if you grow to hate me because Nana is alive and we can’t split up, and—”
He lifted his hand and clamped it over my mouth. “Delilah. Shut up.”
“But I—”
“I’m not interested in a relationship right now. I told you that. I’m still figuring out how to run the estate and everything else Dad left behind. I don’t have the time or the energy to do the whole romance thing. What energy I do have left is for you—my best friend who faces losing her grandmother at any point. More than anything, Nana is my family, too. I want to be there for her and you. Lucy and your mum, too. Just like you all were for us when Dad died. Your world revolved around us for a while, and I’m going to make sure we’re there for you in the exact same way.” He pulled his hand away from my mouth and stepped back, looking down at me. “Those are my priorities.Youare my priority, Deli. Not some imaginary, non-existent relationship that may or may not present itself in the future. You. Okay?”
The lump in my throat only seemed to thicken at his words, and it took everything I had to nod.
“Good.” He brushed my hair from my eyes and grinned. “Shall we go and get engaged, then?”
“Must we?”
“Sadly, yes. You just had your chance to back out, and you blew it.” He tapped the tip of my nose and stepped away, putting distance between us. “Let’s go.”
“Do we need to tell them where we’re going?” I cocked my thumb in the direction of the dining room.
Fred smirked. “What do you think?”
That was a resounding no, then.
He held his hand out to me with his eyebrows raised questioningly, and I didn’t hesitate as I rested my fingers on top of his. He tugged me closer and interlaced our fingers. The warmth of his palm as it pressed against mine tingled up my arm, and I drew in a deep breath.
We’d held hands a million times, but not like this.
It felt different and new, but at the same time, the nerves that had been coiling in the pit of my tummy soothed. It was as if the interlocking of our fingers in a way we’d never done before marked the real beginning of this lie.
Of this new relationship.
Of the path we could never turn around from.
Granny’s words from the day we first spoke of this rang through my mind.
‘Your relationship with one another will irrevocably change… Despite what you may think in this moment, you’ll never be able to go back to how you are today.’
I glanced up at Fred as we walked together. He was taller than me by a few inches. Stronger by miles. He was wildly handsome, with his auburn hair, chiselled jaw, and blue eyes. His smilecould enchant a girl in a mere second, and he had the kind of touch that instantly made you feel at ease.
None of those things had ever mattered to me.
For our whole lives, he’d always been just Fred.
Just Fred.
My best friend. My protector. My safe space. My shoulder to cry on.
Now, two more titles would be added to that list.
My fiancée.
And then my husband.
Would those things that captivated others begin to do the same to me at some point?
