Page 60 of From Best Friend to Bride
Together.
Our grandmothers in the middle, clasping hands, as the others all huddled in excitedly around them. Parents one side, siblings the other.
Fred looked back at me with a knowing smile and pulled me towards the pavilion until we were standing in the middle of it. “How’d I do?”
Perfect.
Everything I’d ever dreamed a proposal would be was all around me.
Damn him.
“Depends on what you do next.” I raised my eyebrows teasingly, and he laughed, reaching into his trouser pocket.
An old, green velvet box emerged in his hand, and he lowered himself to one knee in front of me.
Despite everything, my heart skipped.
“Fred…” I muttered, trying to look away.
“Eyes on me, Deli.”
I turned my attention back to him. He slowly opened the box, and the ring inside made my breath catch.
I knew this ring.
It was one of the few pieces of jewellery Aunt Vi had never let us play with when we were kids. Me, Lucy, and Amelia had spent hours in her wardrobe and jewellery boxes playing dress up, but this ring was in the ‘do not touch’ box, and I’d hated it. I’d loved the classic simplicity of the small diamonds clustered against the plain gold band, but she’d never let me do anything more than look at it.
I raised my gaze in her direction. She met my eyes and nodded once, answering my unspoken question.
This wasn’t a Coventry earldom heirloom.
This washerheirloom.
“You win,” I whispered to Fred.
He grinned, and his blue eyes sparkled with his victory. “Dream setting. Dream ring. Nailed it, right?”
His words were soft enough that only I could hear him. I nodded, wrapping my arms around my stomach.
I’d been joking when I told him I wanted the perfect one.
Trust him to actually do it.
“I never thought I’d say these words to you, but…” He shook his head before meeting my eyes again. “Delilah Elizabeth Peters, it would be my greatest horror to become your husband. Will you marry me?”
Horror.
I couldn’t help it.
I burst out laughing, clapping my hand over my mouth, and nodded. His chuckle filled the air as he took my other hand from around my waist and slid the ring on my finger.
Fred got to his feet and pulled me against him to the sound of cheers from our families, and he lowered his lips to my ear. “They’re going to think you’re crying.”
“Let them,” I chortled, hiding my true expression against his chest. “They didn’t hear, did they?”
“Why do you think I said horror? I can convince them they misheard and that I actually said honour,” he muttered.
“Kiss, kiss!” Granny and Nana shouted.
