Page 62 of A Sky Full of Stars

After a little while, Tristan stood from the patio chair he’d been sitting in to drink his champagne. ‘I could do with stretching my legs,’ he said. Charlotte saw him glancing at her. ‘Do you fancy a quick walk?’

‘Sure,’ Charlotte replied. She went to put down her glass, but Tristan had refilled it.

‘Bring it with you,’ he said. ‘I’m sure no one’s going to grumble about street drinking if we’re subtle.’

Charlotte shook her head. ‘Who are you, and what have you done with Tristan?’

Both clutching their glasses, they headed out of the garden gate and walked along the newly tarmacked footpath that snaked its way through the development, past saplings that had been planted on sympathetically designed patches of green space, and towards the centre of the site, where the Lower Brambleton Observatory had once stood.

‘That’s better,’ Tristan said as they walked. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I love them all, but if I sat around any longer, Dylan would have been subbing me for Nick and I’d have been saving penalties all afternoon.’

‘What, you’re not up to throwing yourself around in a goal?’ Charlotte teased. ‘You must be getting old.’

Tristan grinned down at her. ‘I’ll remind you of that when it’s your turn to take a shift!’

They’d reached the centre now, and they paused. One of the things that made Observatory Field unique was the fact that Flowerdew were very aware of the site’s history and heritage. Some of the touches felt a little arbitrary: there were road names that seemed to come out of theJunior Encyclopaedia of Space, of which Orion Close was definitely the least cringe-inducing, but something Tristan had been clear had to be included, reinforced by Lorelai’s wishes, was a subtle memorial to what had hitherto stood on the site. In the end, a well-known design company had created a plaque, inset into the ground where the centre of the observatory had been. Its simple yet poignant inscription read:

This plaque is dedicated to the tireless efforts and passion for discovery of the members of the Lower Brambleton Astronomical Society.

In 1994, Laura and Martin Ashcombe, esteemed members of LBAS, made the remarkable discovery of an eclipsing binary star, expanding our understanding of the cosmos. Their dedication and contribution to the field of astronomy continue to inspire future generations of stargazers and scholars.

‘Per Aspera ad Astra’

Through hardships to the stars

‘It’s good to know there’ll always be a part of them that’s remembered here,’ Tristan said quietly. He’d seen the plaque at all stages of its design, and he and Thea had stood together with Lorelai when it had been installed. It had been a deeply emotional moment for all three of them, but it truly felt as though it was the perfect footnote to round off the history of the place.

‘I think they’d have been really happy to see how pleased Thea is with her new home,’ Tristan said as they sipped their champagne.

‘It’s the perfect memorial,’ Charlotte replied. ‘And I think you’re right.’

‘So, now I’ve brought you out here, there’s something I wanted to ask you,’ Tristan continued. ‘I, er, wanted to do it somewhere that I know became as special to you as it did to my parents.’

Charlotte’s heart began to race as Tristan knelt down and placed his still half-full glass of champagne down next to the plaque. When he didn’t immediately get back up, her heart raced even faster.

‘I never thought I’d be asking this of anyone,’ Tristan began as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring, ‘but then I never thought I’d fall in love with someone as special as you. Charlotte James, will you at least think about being married to me?’

Charlotte looked down at Tristan, and at the exquisitely cut pair of diamonds in the slim white gold band, and, silently thanking the stars that had brought her to Lower Brambleton, she responded with a very enthusiastic, ‘Yes!’

And somewhere far above them, at least one set of binary stars moved in perfect harmony.

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