Epilogue
FRANKIE – TWO YEARS LATER
‘Congratulations!’ We – Gran and Roderick’s assembled friends and family – all raise our glasses in response to Roderick’s toasting of his wife on her eighty-seventh birthday.
‘Is that champagne?’ Ruby frowns towards my glass.
‘Non-alcoholic,’ I say, smiling at her.
I’m three months pregnant and Ruby and Sam are adorably excited and happy and very eager to help look after me and the baby.
They won’t let me carry anything or lift a finger around the house, and Ruby has read up on pregnancy nutrition.
Marcus is equally keen to look after me, so basically, if I’m honest, I’m having the time of my life.
For the sake of feminism, I make a token effort every so often to protest that I’m honestly fine, but after a morning-sickness-filled first trimester, and having seen from Ellie and other friends how hard (as well as obviously unbelievably rewarding) it is looking after a newborn, I’m thinking I’ll just take this opportunity to be a little bit spoilt while actually feeling completely fine, other than a bit more tired than usual.
Gran and Roderick do a first dance – it’s their second wedding anniversary as well as Gran’s birthday – and I feel my heart expand with love for them both. It’s so beautiful watching them so happy together. I’m so glad they re-found each other.
‘It was because of our fauxmance that they got together,’ Marcus observes, sliding an arm around my waist.
‘I know. We’re so clever.’
‘You’re clever. That entire thing was your idea.’
‘Very true,’ I say. ‘I’m a genius. And I didn’t even realise at the time how very smart I was being.’
‘I certainly didn’t realise it was genius at the time.’
‘You should always bear in mind that I am always proven right,’ I point out.
‘Indeed I should. Right. Time for us to join them on the dance floor.’ Marcus leads me there, holding me as though I’m an incredibly delicate and precious object, which I have to admit I love.
‘Remember two years ago when we went through the motions of how a real couple would behave. Method acting.’
‘Mmm. And then…’
‘Yeah.’ He smiles. ‘That was a good night.’
I wrap my arms round his neck. ‘So many good nights, and days. Thank you, Marcus.’
We’ve settled into a very busy and happy life together.
Simon and I have been juggling the café with his interior design business and my burgeoning event organising business, with Ruby, Libby and Jack all working some shifts.
I have also finally managed to polish my romance novel and have recently finally sent the first three chapters of the book out to agents and have had a couple of requests to see the full manuscript, which is very exciting.
And Marcus has continued with the wasabi business, with some dairy farming on the side. No spying, though, sadly.
‘No, thank you,’ he says, and dips his head to kiss me, before drawing me into his arms and pulling me towards where Ellie, Jack, Simon, Miranda and the kids are dancing in a group.
We all dance together for a while, and then Marcus sees me yawning and says, ‘Would you like to go home?’
I nod, suddenly too tired for any words at all.
We hug and kiss everyone goodbye, saving Gran and Roderick (who both look set in for the night, showing no signs of tiredness at all) for last, and then make our way out of the hall, hand in hand, fingers laced.
‘Such a beautiful evening.’ I point at the clear, star-filled sky.
‘Mmm.’ Marcus seems a little distracted. He steers me towards the village green and over to the tree in the middle of it, under which there’s a bench. He nudges me gently to sit down on the bench, and then he takes both my hands and drops to one knee.
I gasp as he says, ‘Frankie Winters, would you do me the tremendous honour of becoming my wife? And before you ask, yes, Ruby and Sam are totally on board, and, if I’m honest, when I asked their permission, Ruby said, “Finally.” Anyway, back to us, will you marry me?’
‘Oh my goodness. Yes, yes, yes, please.’
And then we sit on that bench and kiss for a remarkably long time, until Marcus tells me it’s way past my bedtime and gently pulls me to my feet, and we go home, to bed and our future together.
I feel like the luckiest woman in the world.
* * *