Page 68 of The Island in Bramble Bay
William grinned and shook his head. ‘You’re not going to get me like that,’ he said.
Maggie rolled her eyes. He would be there and she wasn’t sure she was ready to see him but at the same time, the flurries of anticipation in her stomach were telling a different story
As the ferry inevitably skirted to the right to approach Charlie’s island, Maggie saw that next to the boathouse was a brand new jetty. It was adorned with lanterns hanging from posts all around the edge. How long had it been since she’d been here, wondered Maggie, for this to be so different?
The ferry docked at the jetty, dwarfing it and the boathouse and necessitating William to manhandle a gangplank into place as it was so much lower than the quays at Sandbanks and Bramble Island which were the only places the ferry normally docked.
William led the way down the gangplank onto the jetty. The path next to the boathouse was lit with storm lanterns every metre or so on both sides, leading up towards the house.
‘This is where I leave you,’ he said, with a flourish of his hand and a bow.
‘Okay,’ said Maggie uncertainly. ‘Thanks, William.’
‘No problem. We’re all rooting for you,’ he said with a grin, before lifting the gangplank and heading away. Maggie watched until the ferry was out of sight, then she took a deep breath and began to make her way up the path.
The decking at the back of the house had thousands upon thousands of twinkling fairy lights stranded above it and she could see Charlie standing underneath them, waiting for her. He was wearing a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and some navy blue deck shorts. The more dishevelled Charlie that she had fallen in love with was back and her heart leapt as she realised it but she kept her pace deliberately slow, forcing herself not to throw herself into his arms until she heard what he had to say, however much she might want to.
‘You’re here,’ he said, a tear escaping down his cheek before he could brush it away.
‘Yes,’ she said softly, her heart breaking for him but trying to hold onto the fact that she wasn’t going to compromise. His grand gesture apology on television wasn’t going to sweep her off her feet. She had to think with her head, not her heart.
‘Did you see it?’ he asked.
‘I did. Why are you back?’ It sounded harsh, but she had to know.
‘I realised that I’d tried to go back to being a person I wasn’t anymore. I thought when I’d met you, you’d helped me get back to being my old self, but actually, I wasn’t that person at all anymore. The High 5 stuff, when you were there with me, it felt like I had the best life again but when you left, it was empty. It just took me a little while to realise why I wasn’t happy anymore.’
‘So you’ve finished working?’
‘Sorry, yes. I’m not explaining very well. I’ve quit and I’m back for good.’
He reached out his hand and Maggie felt her heart skip a beat as she thought he was going to touch her. He held his arm out, showing her his scar. Maggie fought the urge to take his hand.
‘Remember this day?’ he asked.
She nodded. ‘It was awful.’ Maggie still wondered how she’d ever made it from the woodland to the quay with a barely conscious Charlie.
‘But that night, when I woke up in the hospital, I knew I loved you, Maggie.’
She smiled at him, because she had felt the same but had put it down to the heightened emotions of the day. Surely, no one can fall in love that quickly.
‘I knew then too.’
Charlie raised his hand and stroked her cheek with his thumb, moving in to gently kiss her when she couldn’t help but nestle her head into his caress.
‘I love you, Maggie.’ She could feel his breath on her mouth as he spoke, both of them unwilling to pull apart. ‘I’ll never leave you again.’
She looked into his eyes which were deep brown pools of sincerity and she knew that he meant it.
‘I love you too, Charlie. But I need to know that this life we have here is enough. What if you miss that… computer stuff again. What then?’ What about me, she wanted to say but wasn’t quite brave enough.
He smiled, ‘Computer stuff isn’t going to tempt me away from you or the woods again. I love writing software and I got that part mixed up with the rest of it which I know for sure I won’t ever miss. And if I want to write software, I can do that from anywhere. From here, with you.’ He paused, his eyes searching hers for reassurance. ‘Okay?’
‘Yes, definitely okay.’
He briefly kissed her again then pulled away and knelt in front of her, holding out a ring box.
‘Maggie, will you marry me?’
