Page 4 of Merrily Ever After
‘Yes!’ She jumped on the spot, punching the air with both fists. ‘Come on, Harley, let’s run.’
Once they’d gone, I sagged against Cole with relief. ‘At least Freya is excited, although Harley didn’t show much enthusiasm.’
Cole didn’t seem perturbed. ‘Don’t worry about him, it’s not cool to show your emotions at thirteen, that’s all. Oh, by the way, I’ve got something for you.’
He pulled out a small blue velvet box from his jacket pocket and lifted the lid. Inside was a ring with a square-cut diamond in the centre, three smaller diamonds set at each side of it.
‘Oh, Cole, that’s beautiful!’ My eyes filled with tears, and I wiped them away, laughing. ‘What I can see of it.’
My hand was shaking as he slid the ring onto my finger. ‘There. Now we’re officially engaged. Does it fit OK?’
‘As if it was made to measure,’ I said, holding up my hand and examining my finger.
He looked very pleased with himself. ‘I measured your finger with a piece of cotton while you were asleep. I didn’t want to waste any time getting it altered.’
I laughed. ‘You think of everything, my clever husband-to-be.’
‘I think of you,’ he replied, drawing me in for another kiss. ‘Almost all of the time.’
‘Come on then.’ I climbed up onto the stile, swung my leg over and jumped down. ‘I can’t wait to tell Nell, she’ll be amazed, maybe I’ll phone her from Astrid’s or go round later tonight and flash my beautiful ring at her. Do you want to come, we could—’
‘Just hold on a second,’ Cole said, laughing, as he hopped over the stile effortlessly and landed beside me. ‘Before you get carried away with who you need to tell first, I have one more surprise, or rather a question.’
I stopped admiring my ring finger for a second to look at him. ‘Ooh, intriguing.’
‘The thing is …’ He paused and bit his lip sheepishly. ‘I’ve already called the registry office to get a rough idea of when they’d be able to fit us in … And they’d had a cancellation on Christmas Eve. So we could actually be married by Christmas.’
I could see he was holding his breath, waiting for my reaction.
‘ThisChristmas Eve?’ We stared at each other, our breath forming icy clouds in front of our faces as my brain processed what he’d said. ‘As in just a few weeks from now?’
Cole nodded. ‘Seven weeks and five days to be exact.’
‘Wow. But …’ I blinked at him. ‘That’s not long to organise a wedding. You’re a man who likes to plan everything properly.’
‘And you’re a woman who likes to fly by the seat of her pants. Pants that I very much approve of by the way.’ He kissed my neck, making my legs go weak. ‘Let’s faceit, if we had a year to plan a wedding, you’d leave most of it until the last minute and then race around like a whirlwind, with me tearing my hair out.’
I laughed. ‘I love that you know me so well and despite that still want to marry me.’
‘So, I thought it might be fun to compromise,’ he continued. ‘We organise a last-minute wedding. What do you think: crazy idea or brilliant plan?’
My mind whirred. There’d be a lot to do, decisions to make, things to organise, but … I could feel anticipation bubbling inside me.
‘I’m up for it.’ I smiled at him, my eyes sparkling with the prospect of the challenge. ‘One hundred per cent. It’s crazyandbrilliant. I mean, what are we waiting for? Let’s do it.’
‘Thank goodness for that.’ He pretended to wipe his brow. ‘Because it’s already booked.’
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ I said, laughing. ‘You were right: getting married on Christmas Eve is far more exciting than the first snow in winter.’
And then I kissed my new fiancé with a passion that earned us a toot from the horn of a car.
Chapter Two
Emily
2 NOVEMBER
The corridors of the Darley Academy secondary school in Derbyshire were still quiet at seven thirty, but it wouldn’t be long before the feet of over a thousand young people would be scuffing their way along them, filling the air with laughter, noise and the strong smell of body spray.
