Epilogue
As Edward had blabbed about the ‘for real’ part, the story soon got around about our fake engagement but neither of us cared and most people seemed to think this only added extra romance to the story.
I’d tentatively wondered about having a longer engagement but Edward was having none of it which was just as well as I didn’t want that either. When he suggested a Christmas wedding, I couldn’t have been happier.
I had three bridesmaids: Penelope, Freddy and Verity.
Together, Verity and Freddy had been a force of nature in getting things arranged.
The four of us had had a hen do – normally, two words that bring a chill to the very centre of my being – in an elite spa in Paris, catching a lift each way with a friend of Verity’s who commuted there weekly in his private jet. It was beyond bonkers.
Edward had two best men: his brother, obviously, and Isaac, who not only had been a lifelong friend but had also been deeply involved in Verity’s machinations to get Edward and I back together.
The ceremony took place at the family’s private church with an open invitation to the village to attend.
Dad looked both bemused and proud and I cried when Edward made a toast to his dad and my mum and wished that they could both have been there to see us.
Dad obviously has refused to call me anything but Lady Muck ever since.
He and Penelope have become great friends which makes both of us ridiculously happy. Edward said he’d not heard her laugh so much since his dad died.
Freddy and Isaac got engaged on New Year’s Eve and are now planning their own wedding at the same church and neither of them have stopped smiling since.
The garden renovation should be finished by the beginning of the summer if the weather is kind to us. Edward’s thinking of opening some of the estate and possibly part of the house to visitors to share the history and to promote the Veteran’s Garden.
As for me, I’ve just started a degree at Kew Gardens.
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