Epilogue #2
As it was late in the evening, the sun was setting.
A few velvety clouds gathered in the sky, obscuring the generous swipes of colour.
Everything was infused with a golden glow from the still-warm sun, and she stood on the deck of the boat enjoying the fresh air, and the swaying of the ship on the water.
Her mind flew back to over a year ago when she’d stood here with Max, the first time they’d kissed, and the first time she’d felt her heart fully open to love.
Now all aspects of her life were full. She had friends, family, love and a profession that made her happy.
Max brought her a glass of champagne. ‘I thought as it’s a special occasion...’
‘Thank you.’ She took a sip, the bubbles floating on her tongue and popping against her cheeks.
‘I’m so proud of you, you know.’ Warmth flooded through Rosie at the compliment. He could still be grumpy, and always would be, but he was also kind and generous with his heart and his words. ‘It hasn’t always been easy...’
It certainly hadn’t. Even after the flower festival, there’d been more than a few disasters.
She’d varnished half her body while varnishing the boat and it hadn’t been easy to scrub off.
For a week she’d looked like she’d had a bad, patchy fake tan.
She’d had days when none of her flowers had sold and more than once a private hire had asked her to change her displays, which had meant more expense and less profit.
Not to mention the time she’d tried to surprise Max with a sexy night in and he’d arrived back at the boat with Anna in tow, promising to show her how to angle her brush correctly to ensure a particular finish.
Thankfully Anna was open-minded and, Rosie suspected, had been a bit of a show-stopping tearaway in her youth, so she had simply laughed and asked for a glass of wine to settle her nerves.
Rosie’s cheeks still burned at the memory.
‘But no matter what,’ Max continued, ‘you’ve never run away. You’ve always stayed and found a way through. You’re unique, Rosie Harper. And that’s why I want to give you this.’
For a second, Rosie’s heart leapt into her mouth as Max reached into his jacket pocket.
But instead of a small box, he brought out a sketch pad.
Disappointment rushed through her, even though she hadn’t realised until now how much she wanted Max to propose and for them to take their relationship to the next level.
‘What’s this?’ she asked, the same disappointment fading as she flipped open the sketchbook. ‘It’s– it’s me.’
Page after page was filled with sketches of Rosie, or Rosie and Max together.
There were places they’d been and things they’d done, starting with the first day they’d met, when she’d walked onto his boat by accident.
There was their visit to the Milkshake Festival, evening drinks on his boat, the day the pipe had burst and flooded the galley, and finally a gorgeous sketch, painted in delicate watercolours, of Linny’s Garden.
Her houseboat was colourful and bright with the large forget-me-not painted on the side and the buckets of flowers, their colourful blooms brightening the world around them.
‘There’s one more,’ Max said, turning a few blank pages to come to a final sketch.
Rosie clutched her champagne flute tighter, emotion rolling up through her body like a wave on the sea.
For a moment, in the fading sunlight she couldn’t understand what she was looking at.
The sketch showed her and Max, standing in front of their respective boats hand in hand.
Zoon was at their feet with a big bow tie on his collar, but that wasn’t what took her breath away.
It was the fact that she was wearing a wedding dress– something large and poofy she’d never actually choose herself, but she could raise that point later– and Max was in a suit.
A ring sparkled on her ring finger, and there was one on Max’s hand too.
‘Is this– are you... proposing?’
‘I am,’ he said quietly, his voice wavering.
‘I left some pages blank to be filled with the memories we’ll make between now and then.
I don’t ever want to let you go, Rosie. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
The best person I’ve ever known. You have no idea how you make life better for everyone around you.
You told me once that’s what your mum was like– how everyone thought of her– and it’s the same for you.
But you make me a better person– a better human being– and it’s those things I love most about you.
I want to spend the rest of my life with you.
Will you—’ He swallowed hard, his eyes tearing, his words full of emotion as he dropped to one knee. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘Yes! Yes of course I will!’ With her hands still full of a champagne flute and the sketchbook, she did her best to wrap her arms around him and pull him close.
He kissed her just as he had that first time over a year ago, only this time the love between them was even more intense, more assured. Their future lay together. She was sure of it and so was he.
‘People say that their partner is their better half,’ he said as they parted. ‘But in this case, it’s true.’
‘Oh, you’re not so bad,’ she teased in reply, dropping the sketchbook and champagne flute onto a nearby table and returning for another kiss.
As their lips met, they heard someone nearby say, ‘Awww,’ and saw the flash of a camera. Both turned to see a couple watching them and smiling.
‘Congratulations!’ they trilled together, their backpacks knocking into the waiting staff behind them.
‘Thank you,’ Rosie replied cheerily, while Max mumbled: ‘Tourists! I hate tourists,’ before Rosie giggled and silenced him with another kiss.
She still had a little bit of work to do to make Max as cheerful as she was, but that was okay, they had plenty of time. They had forever.
THE END