Epilogue
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Carole looked at the packing boxes stacked around the living room and let out a wistful sigh. It felt like only yesterday that she’d moved into this sweet little house on Foxglove Street with plans to stay here for a long, long time.
And yet, a little over a year later, she was about to leave.
It was a twist she hadn’t seen coming.
She would miss the gorgeous house, a house she’d turned into a home. Thinking back to when she’d first arrived, she remembered the long hours spent painting and decorating, making the rooms her own.
The pretty pink living room, the bright white kitchen, the soft blues of the bedroom upstairs.
Once she’d wrangled the décor into shape, this place had become a wonderful cocoon in which she’d begun the process of restarting her life after leaving London and ditching a dead-end relationship that she’d allowed to fester for much too long before calling it quits.
This house on Foxglove Street had been her hope for a new start.
Leaving it would be bittersweet.
But it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do, considering what had happened over the last twelve months.
Carole thought back to that day when she and Tom had kissed in the market square and he’d told her that if she gave him a chance and things didn’t work out between them, he would move away.
She’d laughed at the time. The idea that it might come to that had seemed ludicrous.
Funny how the future had a way of catching you unawares—and sending you in directions you never saw coming.
Carole walked to the full-length mirror that she’d set up in the living room amongst the packing boxes and moving crates and looked at her reflection.
A thrill of excitement and nerves shot through her as she studied the bride reflected in the mirror.
Today was her wedding day, and in less than an hour she’d meet Tom at the altar and become his wife.
Just the thought of it spread a smile across her face from ear to ear.
She studied her reflection in the mirror, admiring the exquisitely elegant wedding dress she’d chosen with its graceful neckline and romantic folds. She felt every inch the radiant and beautiful bride. She glowed, lit from inside with pure happiness.
When she’d first agreed to date Tom a year ago, she’d never imagined it would one day lead to this.
And yet she’d never forgotten that whoosh of déjà vu she’d felt on that sunny afternoon when the two of them had dressed up as bride and groom for the history museum vintage fashion show.
The strange sensation of glimpsing the future had been exactly that, she now knew, because here she stood in her wedding gown, ready to marry Tom.
The love of her life.
Carole fussed with her hair, which hung in soft curls and was accessorised with perfectly pinned tiny rosebuds. Diamonds twinkled in her ears and matched the engagement ring that sat on her finger, a ring Tom had given her six months after they began dating.
A sense of anticipation and destiny swept through her as she took a moment to let her reflection sink in. She was a bride, crazy in love and desperate to meet her groom and make her vows.
Carole knew this was her one quiet moment of the day. Her sister, who’d been with her since early in the morning helping her get ready, had only run off to fetch a few forgotten items from her parents’ house and would be back here any minute, ready to join her in the wedding car when it arrived to take them to the church. Both her parents had dropped by first thing that morning, filled with happiness and excitement for the day ahead.
Once she set off for the wedding ceremony, the day would turn into a non-stop rollercoaster ride.
And so she savoured the still moment, thinking about how it was a wedding that had brought her and Tom together to begin with.
It seemed strange to her now, how nervous she’d been about seeing her long-lost ex-boyfriend, Steven Weaver, at her cousin’s wedding a year ago. The amount of headspace she’d given the man amazed her, especially considering that once she saw him in the flesh and talked to him, she’d realised what a truly lucky escape she had all those years ago.
And yet, if it hadn’t been for Steven Weaver’s presence at her cousin’s wedding and her desire to find a date to be her plus-one for the day so she didn’t have to face him alone, she might never have fallen for Tom.
The arrangement they’d struck to be each other’s plus-one wedding dates was what had brought them together. If it hadn’t been for that, they might have remained no more than next-door neighbours, busy with their lives and never really connecting beyond pleasantries across the garden fence.
Desperation to avoid being single at the weddings they had to attend had forged their unlikely alliance.
Falling in love had turned that alliance into a life-changing romance that was about to bring them together as husband and wife.
Carole remembered how it had felt to dance with Tom at her cousin’s wedding, how it had felt to kiss him beneath the summer starlight when they found themselves stranded by the side of the road on their way home from his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, and how it had felt when she’d glimpsed that mesmerising image of their destiny as they’d walked arm-in-arm towards the runway while dressed as bride and groom in aid of a good cause.
As she stood before the mirror in her wedding dress, she thought of all the twists of fate that led them to each moment in the story they’d written together.
The phone call overheard across their garden fences that led to their plus-one wedding date arrangement.
The time they’d spent together while her father was treated in hospital.
Their detour at the side of the road when the taxi got a tyre puncture.
The luck of Olive Nimmo passing Carole’s house just as she started work in the garden and persuaded her to take part in the vintage fashion show.
The serendipity of wearing the old wedding dress and hearing its owner’s story about how she almost missed her chance at happiness with the man who became her husband, a story that drilled deep into Carole’s mind just when she needed to hear it…
Those little twists and turns had brought her and Tom together, brought them closer and closer, kindled their attraction and ignited a romance that had changed their lives forever.
A year ago, the idea that she’d fall in love and marry her next-door neighbour would’ve struck Carole as ludicrous.
And yet here she was, a vision in white, a bride who couldn’t wait to see her groom and claim him as her own.
Her heart thumped when she thought of the life they’d share together, even as it broke a little at the idea that it wouldn’t be shared here in this sweet little house. When things had turned serious between them once they started dating, they’d spent all their free time together either in Tom’s house or hers. It had been fun dashing around to each other’s houses, all part of the fun of their exciting new relationship.
When Tom got down on one knee and offered her the diamond engagement ring that now sat on her finger, they’d decided to move in together before the wedding. The six months that followed their engagement, when they’d lived together in Carole’s house, were amongst the best she’d had in her life.
A month ago, Tom had taken her to see a beautiful house for sale on the other side of Hamblehurst. Four bedrooms, a kitchen-diner to die for, and a huge back garden that seemed to go on forever. Carole had fallen for the place the moment she set eyes on it.
They’d agreed an offer with the seller the very next day and put their own homes on Foxglove Street on the market straight away. Both houses already had buyers. It was a popular and pretty street, and while moving house in the middle of getting married might not be everyone’s idea of fun, Carole had embraced the challenge, too in love with the new house they’d bought to let it slip away on account of awkward timing.
And anyway, it wasn’t awkward timing, not really. They needed a place that belonged to them both, a new canvas to begin their married life together.
Plus, they needed a proper bedroom for Tom’s little stepdaughter, Evie, to sleep in when she came to visit. Carole adored the girl as much as Tom did, and considered her a part of their family, and wanted to make sure she always had room in their lives.
That Evie had become fast friends with Carole’s nieces, Nancy and Lily, only made their lovely, blended family sweeter still. The sleepovers the three girls had come to enjoy together with Carole and Tom over the last year would be a lot easier to accommodate in the sprawling four-bedroom house they’d soon move into than in either of their small two-bedroom Foxglove Street properties.
And there was another reason to get excited about the big house move that would happen just days after their wedding.
Carole’s hand drifted to her stomach, still flat beneath her wedding gown, but where new life lay sleeping. She’d only found out she was pregnant a week ago, and joy still crashed through her like a tidal wave whenever she thought about the baby she carried.
Tom had laughed and cried and then laughed and cried all over again when Carole told him the news. The look of wonder in his eyes when she’d shown him the pregnancy test would stay with her for as long as she lived.
They’d decided to keep the news about the baby to themselves until after the wedding. It would be their own little secret, a sacred and joyous gift they’d cradle between them as they exchanged their vows.
Carole felt her eyes well up as she thought about all the good things that lay ahead—their beautiful wedding day, a new home together, a child of their own.
A year ago, she’d come to Foxglove Street for a new start. Never in a million years had she imagined her new start would lead to such overwhelming happiness.
“No crying!” she told her reflection in the mirror. “If you wreck your bridal make-up with tear tracks before you even get to the church, you’ll never forgive yourself. Get it together!”
Her phone rang. Carole took one last look at her reflection in the mirror before crossing the room to grab her phone from the coffee table.
When she looked at the screen, it was Tom’s face she saw there.
Smiling, she answered the call. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Not much,” he said, his tone casual. “Got a bit of a problem, though.”
Carole’s chest tightened, wondering what was wrong. “What’s happened?”
“I’m supposed to be at a wedding today, but I really need a plus-one to come with me. Don’t suppose you’re free to tag along?”
The sudden anxiety vanished and Carole smiled. “Maybe. What’s in it for me?”
“Dinner and drinks at the reception to start with. Maybe a spin on the dance floor, too, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
“I could be persuaded.”
“Good. Can you get here in the next hour?”
“Okay. I might not have time to get changed into something decent, though.”
Tom laughed and the sound of it made Carole’s heart soar. “Whatever you’re already wearing is probably fine.”
Now she was the one laughing, because she knew Tom understood she was already in her wedding dress. She loved how he always knew what to say to make her laugh, make her smile, make her love him more than she already did.
“I can’t wait to see you,” Tom said, his voice tender now.
“Me too.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Me, you, and our little secret wedding guest,” Tom said. “That’s all we need to make today perfect.”
Carole’s hand touched her stomach again and smiled. Our little secret wedding guest. Our little baby. Our very own wedding plus-one.
They said goodbye and hung up. Outside the window, Carole saw her sister returning from her errand to their parents’ house, saw the wedding limousine pull up outside the house and park on the street, and felt the glorious rush of the wedding day coming at her at full speed.
With a soft sigh of happiness, she let the rush hit her and sweep her away.