Forever Love at Wildflower Lock (The Wildflower Lock #4)

Chapter 6

6

Daisy stepped toward the girls, her hand still covering her face. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was seeing. At least, she wasn’t sure she believed what she was seeing. And with each footstep, she didn’t know whether to stop or speed up.

A boat, in the location of the September Rose ’s mooring, was lit up, but she couldn’t understand how or why. But as she drew a little closer, there was no doubt to what she was seeing.

The September Rose had been covered in lights. Fairy lights. They were wound around the windows and the hatch. Wrapped around the bow, and placed in rows across the roof, turning it into a canopy of lights. Thousands and thousands of bright white lights gleaming out into the night. As Daisy got closer, she spotted several candles balanced on the bow. Her pulse rocketed and her heart leapt in her chest. For a moment, she almost broke out into a sprint until a second later when she realised they were fake. No one in their right mind would put real candles on a wooden boat. Still, her pulse didn’t lower entirely. Why did the September Rose look like that and who the hell had done it? Theo was working late – he had a swan emergency to deal with. Only why would he be dealing with a swan emergency at this time of night? Even if it was on a canal, surely someone would have just rung Animal Rescue? That was when it all clicked into place.

Theo’s peculiar behaviour when he had come home, all the conversations on the walk back about when it was going to be dark and the girls ensuring she was away from the canal for a decent length of time. It was nothing to do with taking Johnny for a walk at all.

Daisy’s heart hammered in her chest as she approached the September Rose . It didn’t feel real. None of it felt real. She swallowed back the lump that had risen in her throat and tried to steady her breathing. This couldn’t possibly be what she thought it was, could it? As she drew up next to the bow, her heart was all the way up in her mouth, and her knees had started trembling, too. Was she supposed to go in? It was her boat, her home, but at that moment, she didn’t know if she was meant to wait outside or if she even wanted to go in. It was all just too overwhelming.

For a split second, Daisy closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. Then, deciding she was going to ask the girls what they thought she should do, she opened her eyes again, only for the front door of the boat to open.

‘Theo?’ Daisy said, as he appeared on the bow. Wordlessly, he stepped onto the towpath. As normally happened when they had been separated for any length of time, Johnny rushed over to greet him, but Daisy stayed exactly where she was. Her eyes locked on Theo. Although at that moment, he didn’t look like her Theo. A deep frown creased his forehead and his hands were clenched at his sides, as if he was trying to stop them from trembling.

‘Theo…’

‘I wasn’t sure…’

They started speaking simultaneously, then cut off at the exact same time, too. Daisy felt her cheeks flush with colour.

‘Is it too much?’ Theo said, speaking again before Daisy had a chance to think. ‘It seemed like a good idea, but then I started and couldn’t stop and it’s too much, isn’t it? It’s too much.’

‘It’s not too much,’ Daisy said, glancing over at the boat and the thousands of lights that were twinkling. ‘Okay, maybe you could have gone a little less crazy with the lights. I can’t imagine what my electricity bill is going to be after this.’

Theo looked devastated.

‘I knew it. It was a ridiculous idea.’

Daisy hastened towards him. ‘No, I’m joking. I was joking. It’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect. I… I don’t need this, I didn’t need this.’

Daisy had never thought about what it would be like when Theo proposed. She had assumed that they might make that type of commitment at some point in the future, but they had been so content as they were, it hadn’t crossed her mind that much. But of course, she should have known that if the day ever arrived, he would go out on a limb to make sure everything was as incredible as possible. If, of course, this was a proposal, she reasoned to herself. He still hadn’t actually said the words yet. Maybe she had got the wrong end of the stick.

Just as she had the thought, Theo reached out, took her hands and lowered himself onto one knee.

‘Daisy May, you have turned my world upside down.’ A smile flitted across his lips, and Daisy felt her heart swell in anticipation. It was going to happen. It was actually going to happen. Theo was going to propose to her. She bit down on her lip and waited for him to ask the question.

‘You are the most amazing woman I have ever met. You are talented, funny, kind, generous, so damn hard-working. Every morning I wake up, and I don’t understand how I got so lucky to be with you.’

Sniffing back the lump in her throat, Daisy felt a trickle down her cheek and wiped it away. She wasn’t sure when she had started crying, but she was.

‘Daisy, there is nothing I want more than to wake up every morning of my life with you.’