Chapter Forty-One #2
‘That took a steady hand, I tell you. And a very fine brush. But I enjoyed doing it. For you.’
Hattie’s mouth went dry again. She shivered. She was so unbelievably touched by Luke’s thoughtfulness and, at the same time, unbelievably sad. She had lost this wonderful, handsome, thoughtful man through her own inability to see what was under her nose. ‘It’s so beautiful. I love snow globes.’
‘I knew that,’ said Luke. ‘I remember, a couple of Christmases ago, you and Rose saying how much you liked them.’
‘Oh, Luke!’
‘What?’
Hattie could never have expressed her feelings in words, her thoughts were like fog and her heart was too full to make sense of anything. She suddenly felt hemmed in on the sofa. She got to her feet. ‘I don’t know how to thank you.’
She opened her arms. She’d have to hug him; it would be weird and unnatural not to.
‘Hattie – I feel—’ He stopped, gazing down at her. She looked up at him, willing him to finish his sentence, but instead, his mouth came down on hers and the need for explanations vanished. They were holding each other so tightly neither of them could breathe, kissing as if they would never stop.
The dogs, confused, jumped up and down next to them. Luke brushed them away but didn’t take his mouth from hers. At last, they had to part. Luke swallowed. ‘I hope I haven’t made a mistake. I’ve loved you for so long, I really hope I haven’t stuffed it up.’
Hattie was still short of breath. ‘By making me a snow globe?’
‘No! By kissing you!’
Hattie shook her head in exasperation, so happy she couldn’t stop smiling. ‘But what about April?’
‘April? What are you talking about?’ He seemed genuinely bewildered.
‘Aren’t you together? You’re in touch with her so often! She’s always messaging you and I assume you message her back.’
‘Yes, but – you don’t really think that she and I are an item, do you?’
He seemed to think the idea was so ridiculous Hattie began to wonder herself. ‘Why not? She’s a very attractive woman!’
He seemed confused. ‘But I’m in love with you.’
The way he said this made Hattie suddenly feel weak and lose concentration.
She almost missed what he said next. ‘Why would I think about her? The messaging? She helped me with the snow globe. I needed some drone shots to get the 3D effect for the house. She knew the right people to arrange that.’ He laughed.
‘I couldn’t ask you, although I’m sure you know the right people too! ’
‘I see.’
‘You introduced us!’
‘I know – sorry – I’m feeling a bit odd,’ she said. ‘Put your arms round me again.’
He obliged and they sank on to the sofa. Luke kept his arm round her shoulders, but he was diffident.
Hattie decided to be brave. ‘What did April mean when she said you had to tell me everything? She couldn’t have just meant the snow globe. How could anyone be anything other than utterly delighted about that?’
‘I’m so glad you’re delighted. If you hadn’t had feelings for me too, it could have just been the most over-the-top, embarrassing present ever.’
‘We’ve established I adore the snow globe.
There couldn’t be a nicer present in the whole world.
’ She took a breath. ‘And I love you too.’ She moistened her lips.
She and Luke had spent so much time pretending to themselves to be just friends, it wasn’t easy to say the words.
‘But we can’t have secrets. Not if we love each other. ’
His arm tightened. He pulled her into his chest and kissed her hair. ‘I can’t believe what I’m hearing. I never thought I’d hear those words from you.’
‘We’ve been “just friends” for so long.’
‘You were never “just friends” for me.’
A sigh of happiness that was almost a sob made her need to clear her throat. ‘So? What else?’
‘It’s complicated.’
‘Then explain,’ she said gently. The longer he held back, the more she feared what he was going to confess.
‘I’m buying Mary’s house.’
This was a shock.
Luke rushed to fill Hattie’s silence. ‘Once Clive took out the kitchen and the bathroom I knew you couldn’t buy it without a mortgage, so I put in a cash offer.
Mary’s nephew didn’t know I had anything to do with you.
I offered for it in my company’s name. I said I was a builder and he took that to mean developer. ’
‘And did he charge you more?’ asked Hattie.
Luke nodded. ‘He thought I was going to apply for planning permission to build houses. Of course he charged me more.’
Hattie was horrified but not surprised. ‘And you could pay cash for it?’
‘With a bit of fiddling about, yes I could, just about. And once it’s all gone through…’ He paused. ‘I’d like to sell it again, to you.’
‘To me?’
‘I’d give you the house, gladly, but I know you wouldn’t accept it. You don’t want a gift—’
‘Not when I’ve got a snow globe, which I love, with all my heart.’
He laughed. ‘If you’ve got a snow globe, who needs a house?’
‘You’re right. I wouldn’t want to be just bought a house.
That would be weird.’ She paused. ‘I’m in shock, Luke.
This is everything I could have wanted, everything I thought I’d lost coming back to me.
’ She paused to take a breath, unsure what to say.
‘The first thing I’ll do after I’ve moved in is to make the garden secure for the dogs, so they can stay whenever they want to. ’
Frank and Fearless knew when they were being referred to, and wagged their tails. Luke looked down at them, colour creeping up his neck. ‘I was hoping—’
Just then Hattie’s phone beeped in the pocket of her dress. ‘Oh! It’s Rose. She needs her car. I borrowed it,’ she explained.
‘OK,’ said Luke, ‘do you want me to follow you back to the wedding?’ He looked at her then, caught between a smile and something more serious. ‘I’d follow you anywhere, Hattie.’
Hattie felt tears of happiness spring to her eyes. She smiled back at him, hoping her loss for words would say it all. ‘Come on,’ she said.
As she drove to the village hall and Fiona and Nick’s wedding, Luke in his truck in her rear-view mirror, Hattie thought about the vision.
She never thought she’d have a vision of Luke and it had been a shock, enough to jolt her into action.
But who was the woman? Perhaps not April, but someone else?
And what if that woman, not Hattie, was the one for Luke after all?
She remembered how tricky it had been working out whom she’d seen in her vision of Nick.
But the fact that she couldn’t recognise whom Luke was with in the vision was troubling.
She tried to brush away her anxiety. Her visions had never been wrong before, but then there was everything that Luke had said and done.
The efforts he had gone to in order to make the snow globe – that alone was enough to send her into a cloud of pure joy.
And he had saved Mary’s house from developers for her.
Her entire life had changed, going from chaos to happiness in a few minutes.
She glanced back at Luke and he blew her a kiss.
Her wave of longing for him almost made her drive into the ditch.
Rose was waiting for her in the car park of the hall.
‘Oh my goodness!’ she said, the moment she saw Hattie.
‘No need at all to ask if it went well with Luke. It’s written all over your face.
You are happiness personified.’ She took Hattie into her arms and hugged her.
‘And here’s the man himself!’ Rose hugged him too. ‘Congratulations.’
Sam arrived at this moment and looked at Luke and Hattie. ‘Oh, I see! Are you two engaged?’
‘Not yet,’ said Luke with a laugh and a very fond look at Hattie. ‘Give us a moment.’