Chapter Thirty-Four #2
Finn is dragging her toward the dance floor and she lets him, happy not to be talking about work.
“I need you to sign off on my maternity-leave cover!” Kristen calls behind her.
“I’m on it!” Mel waves a hand behind her. “But whoever you’ve decided on will be great, I’m sure.”
Hattie and Dylan, who have gotten distracted by chatting to guests, are ushered toward the center of the dance floor as everyone crowds around, ready for the first dance.
Mel feels Finn behind her, both arms coming around her. He leans in to whisper in her ear. “Did I mention how stunning you look?”
She grins over her shoulder at him. Hattie nailed the bridesmaid dresses—managing to pick one that suited Mel, Kristen, and her friend from school, which is no mean feat.
The dress is pastel blue, hanging loosely from one shoulder and around her waist. It cinches in at all the right places and brings out her eyes—something that the makeup artist had accentuated even more when they’d all sat in Hattie’s suite this morning.
The opening bars to “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers comes on, and Dylan takes Hattie in his arms. It’s clear that he knows how to dance—like, really dance—because he holds Hattie in a proper frame, moving her around the dance floor and twirling her on all the right beats.
Mel supposes that, as an actor, he’s had lessons—and, God, do they make a gorgeous couple.
Dylan looks handsome as always in his tux, his dark brown hair the perfect complement to Hattie’s blond, commanding attention just by the way he moves.
Mel reaches for her phone to take a photo, sees a WhatsApp from Priya—just a line of heart-eye emojis in response to the selfie she’d sent her earlier.
Priya seems to be enjoying Australia a lot more now.
It took some time, but she’s made a few friends and is feeling more settled.
She keeps promising Mel that it’ll only be another year then she’ll be back—though Mel isn’t quite sure about that.
Either way, Finn and Mel are flying out to see Priya next week.
It had taken a little convincing on Mel’s part, given Priya was still not sure about forgiving Finn as easily as Mel had.
She’d had a front-row seat to the fallout of their breakup, and Mel didn’t blame her for putting Finn through the ringer a little.
But Finn had promised Mel he was up to the challenge—and that he was going to make it his mission to heal his relationship with Priya, no matter how long it took.
Mel hopes so. She misses the way the three of them used to hang out.
They’d actually put the trip off for a while because of Susan, worried about being too far away should something happen, but Susan had put her foot down and told them that if they didn’t go she would, and then she’d be the one on the other side of the world should something happen.
Hattie and Dylan finish their dance and instead of hugging or kissing as most couples do, Dylan holds Hattie’s hand out to the side, and they take an extravagant bow to the watching crowd.
Everyone laughs, and Hattie gestures for people to join in as the next song starts to play.
She and Dylan are soon joined by Freya and Mark, Freya standing on her dad’s feet as he moves them around.
Freya is apparently very excited to have a baby brother and has come up with a list of possible names—which Kristen has promised to “think about.” Mel has seen this list, and given that it includes “Hedgehog,” she doubts the thinking process will take all that long.
“Can I have this dance?” Finn asks Mel, holding out his hand.
She smiles as she takes it, and he leads her out onto the dance floor.
They are no Hattie and Dylan as they move, that’s for sure, but she loves dancing with him, moving in one rhythm, feeling his heartbeat against hers.
She loves how right it always feels when his arms come around her.
They are splitting their time between Susan’s house in Sussex and the house Finn bought in Norfolk, doing it up together while Mel works from home, with the odd commute to London when she needs to.
Only, for the first time, Finn is doing up a house with the idea of making it for them, rather to sell on—so the whole thing is taking much longer.
It might be they don’t stay there long term—but they are at least thinking long term, and that’s good enough for her.
Finn’s thumb circles lightly at the base of her spine, and she brings her attention back to him. “So what do you reckon?” he asks. “Would you want one of these one day?”
Mel’s heart skips, though she cocks her head in confusion. “This as in a grand ballroom? Because I’m not sure we can afford that.”
He twirls her on a laugh, then brings her face-to-face, his eyes meeting hers. “You know what I mean.”
“I do, although you’re doing an incredibly unromantic job of proposing.” She’s grinning, though. Because that’s what he’s doing, isn’t it? He’s bloody proposing. “Actually, you’re managing to be both clichéd—proposing at a wedding, after all— and unromantic, which is an impressive feat.”
“Well?” he asks, and there is a touch of impatience in his voice. No, she realizes, not impatience. Nerves. He’s worried. He’s actually worried she might say no. “What do you think?”
She places a hand over his heart. “As if it’s even a question.
” She reaches up, kisses him lightly on the lips.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she says when she pulls back, and she sees the relief, replaced by a beautiful wide grin, spreading across his face, lighting up his eyes.
It’s enough to make something bright bubble up inside her, enough to make her want to shout out over the music.
But she won’t—obviously. Today is Hattie’s day.
She takes his hand, squeezes. “It doesn’t make a difference, though. I’m already yours, Finn.” He’s been hers, almost since the moment they met. No matter what happens in the future, that will always be true.
His hands run down to her waist, tightening their grip through the thin fabric of her dress. “If you say things like that, it’s going to make it difficult to last the appropriate amount of time before I drag you back to the hotel room.”
She laughs, then his face softens, grows more serious. “There’s never been anyone else for me, Mel—and there never will. You know that, right? It’s only ever you.”
And although there is still so much uncertainty in their future, she knows that, for now, she is exactly where she’s supposed to be.