Chapter 55
55
Ethan couldn’t believe he could have been so stupid as to forget the wedding rings. The only reason he could think of was that he hadn’t slept properly the last couple of nights. Ever since Libby had walked away from him, in fact.
He knew that it was all his fault that he no longer saw her. His fault that his arms ached without her in them. That he missed her with every fibre of his being. And yet he still held back. He just had to get through today and then he would be leaving. At least then he could begin to move on with his life without Libby, he tried to remind himself. But the thought gave him no joy.
As he marched into the bedroom, his phone rang with a text from his mum. He quickly read the message. Her latest romance was coming apart at the seams. Ethan wasn’t surprised. She had always bored within a short time of each relationship. Nothing new there.
The next text he received from her confirmed what he had already suspected. That she was already moving on to someone else. It was the same old attitude. She was always looking for the next big thing.
Lucky her, thought Ethan. There would never be anyone better for him than Libby. He had everything he had ever wanted with her, she was his best friend, his other half. Why on earth would he move on with someone else?
Ethan stopped abruptly in the middle of his bedroom as the realisation washed over him. He wasn’t like his mum at all. In any way, in fact.
Everything she had told him had been wrong and it had been the biggest mistake of his life to believe her. Love was something to cherish, not fear. He couldn’t deny that the past few weeks with Libby had brought him the joy that his mum had always told him wouldn’t come. And that relationship, that joy, had changed him. Forever.
He now knew why he had married Libby all those years ago. Why he had rushed inside to save her from a smoke-filled house. Why he had set her up a chocolate stall. Why he would give her everything in the world and more, if he could.
She was the one. She was the love of his life. She always had been.
With that thought, he could feel the anger and frustrations of his youth finally slipping away. He could make peace with himself and move on at last. Ryan had been right. The happy moments did outweigh the bad stuff after all. He’d just been too blinkered to see it.
And that left Libby. It had always been Libby. No one else would ever come close.
But he would have to talk to her later, he reminded himself. There was a very important wedding waiting to happen first.
Ethan opened up the drawer in his bedside table where there were two ring boxes. In a rush, he grabbed both and put them in his jacket pocket, intending to quickly identify the correct ones before he went into church.
He rushed out of the school to find that only Libby was stood by his car. She looked beautiful, standing there in the snow, the purple jumpsuit showing off her long legs and incredible figure. She could still take his breath away, each and every time he saw her.
‘The others have gone,’ she told him, hugging her arms around her, obviously cold. She was only wearing a short fluffy white cape across her shoulders.
He unlocked the car and she immediately got inside.
He quickly got inside the driver’s seat. But when he turned the key in the ignition, the engine didn’t fire up.
‘Try it again,’ said Libby, wiggling in her seat both from tension as well as cold.
But the battery appeared to be flat.
‘Where’s your car?’ he asked, turning to her in what felt like real panic now. There was a bride and groom at church waiting for their wedding rings and the ceremony was about to start at any moment!
‘At the church,’ she told him. ‘So many people needed extra lifts this morning.’
They looked at each aghast.
‘What do we do?’ he asked.
‘Have you got any spare wellies?’ she asked.
Minutes later, she was pulling on his green wellington boots over the trousers of her jumpsuit, quickly followed by his black puffa jacket. It looked enormous on her, but he had thought it would be warmer than the anorak that he put on. He was now wearing his spare wellington boots and they were both striding down the platform as quickly as they could, despite the deep snow.
‘We’re never going to make it on time,’ said Libby, with a groan as they reached the bridge, clutching her silver high heels in one hand. ‘We should have asked for Ryan to come back.’
‘No time,’ said Ethan, taking her by the hand and pulling her up and over the bridge with him.
The steps were icy underneath his feet, but still they rushed down the other side. They were only a couple of steps from the bottom when Libby slipped in her haste and fell into the snow.
Ethan hurried towards her.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, bending down to check on her as she was sprawled in the snow. As he did so, both ring boxes fell out of his jacket pocket into a deep snowdrift beside them.
‘I’m fine,’ she told him. ‘Just a bit soggy.’ She turned her head. ‘What was that falling out of your pocket?’
‘Oh God! The rings!’ said Ethan, diving his hand into the cold snow to feel around for them.
Libby gasped and followed suit, feeling around with her fingers. After a few moments, she brought out a box. ‘It’s okay. I’ve found them,’ she said, with a relieved smile.
But one glance at the lid of the box and the all too familiar gold writing on it, Ethan shook his head. ‘Not those,’ he said, carrying on feeling around in the snow until he finally connected with the other box. ‘Thank goodness. I’ve found them.’
He looked down at the smaller box in his hand and sighed with relief before looking over to Libby. But unknown to him, she had lifted the lid on the box she was holding and was now staring down at the inside of the lid, which he knew read Las Vegas Wedding Chapel.
After waking up the morning after their wedding and finding Libby’s ring on the bedside cabinet, Ethan had slipped off his own ring and placed them both back inside the box. But he had always kept the ring box close by, wherever he had gone in the world. It was a cherished reminder of that one perfect night.
Libby looked up at him with tears in her blue eyes.
‘They’re our wedding rings,’ she whispered.
He nodded, his eyes drawn to the two gold bands nestled in the velvet. ‘Yes, they are,’ he said, his voice hoarse.
And, to his horror, Libby began to cry.