“Don’t you think it looked a little like that guy fromThe Rocky Horror PictureShow?” she asked.
“YES!” I said immediately. “That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it.” We laughed together for a moment before Mike cut us off again.
“I’m glad you guys find this so amusing. Half the town is demanding that I arrest the cat-maiming person, and those people at the eco estate—who I managed to talkoutof pressing charges against you by telling them you weren’t sane—would also love to see you charged with something!”
“Oh, chill!” Ash stood up, walked over to her brother and looked at the wall behind him, giving his shoulder a hard squeeze. “At least she isn’t a serial killer.”
“Ha ha—” he started, and then stopped when Emelia came bursting into the room.
The smell was instant. The warm, sweet, sticky smell of freshly baked goods. It made my mouth water.
“Oooh, what did you bake, babe?” Ash asked.
“Chocolate croissants,” she said, putting the tray down on one of the tables.
“God—did I mention how much I love you?” Ash reached out and took one.
“I swear, if I wasn’t a baker, you wouldn’t have asked me to marry you,” Emelia replied playfully.
“Sorry, what?” Mike looked flabbergasted.
“Well, we were going to tell you this morning, but you woke us up so early and forced us down into this room and have been talking non-stop since we got here,” Ash said to her brother.
“You guys got engaged last night?” I asked.
They both smiled at me. Beamed. And then Ash slipped her arm around Emelia. “After reading that letter . . . It really made us think about what was important in life and what we wanted. And we want to be together, forever. Those letters inspired us.” She leaned over and kissed her fiancée, and I immediately looked at Mike.
“Really?” Mike asked, with a smile that lit up his green eyes.
Ash nodded as Mike walked up to them and pulled them both into a massive hug.
I felt tears in my eyes again. Not sad ones, this time.
“I guess we have you to thank for this, then—bringing the letters into our life, like that.” Ash pulled me into a hug.
I wrapped one arm around her, tentatively. “I didn’t do anything,” I whispered, full of emotion, and then I wrapped my other arm around her and gave myself over to the hug. Something I don’t do very often.
“You did,” she said, pulling away and smiling at me. “Trust me. You’ve done more than you think.” She said this in a strange tone, and I was just about to ask her what she meant, when she took me by the hand and pulled me towards the food. “Come, you need sustenance,” she said. “I’m sure my brother has big plans for all of us today!”
