I heard Hazel give a little muffled gasp.
Oliver rubbed his brow and took a step back from me.
‘Hang on. So now you’re saying yes? After saying no?’
‘Yes. Exactly.’ He wasn’t moving any closer to me. I glanced over at Hazel who gently shrugged in confusion. I turned back to meet his gaze. ‘Oliver?’
He bowed his head. ‘Phoebe, this isn’t right. It doesn’t feel right. You turned me down, remember? God, why are you doing this now?’
‘But I – I thought . . . I mean I hoped—’
‘I haven’t just been biding my time, waiting for you to change your mind, for fuck’s sake! And now you do this in front of our friends? In front of our daughter?’
‘Oliver, I was just—’
And then I noticed the smirk on his face.
‘You’re fucking with me, aren’t you?’
‘Yep.’
‘Oh, God, Oliver!’ I cried out, whacking him on the arm. ‘You bastard! My heart! My poor heart! And my poor frozen feet!’
He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently before lifting me out of the snow. I heard Molly and Grace makeewwwnoises in the background.
‘I would have waited forever for you to change your mind,’ he said. ‘There was no other option.’
‘WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING? I AM FREEZING!’
We both turned to see a pair of Lucy eyes glaring at us from behind a parka that was zipped up over her face. Bizarrely, I didn’t feel the cold anymore.
Oliver started to carry me back towards the house. ‘Nice jacket, Lucy,’ I said nonchalantly. ‘Maybe you can wear it to our wedding.’
Even from behind that parka, Lucy’s shriek could be heard for miles around.
Tuesday December 26th
We had to get the farmer to tow us out this afternoon after I’d managed to wedge our car in between two piles of hard snow. Embarrassing but totally worth it. Molly spent the entire journey home talking about being a flower girl and how excited she was to tell everyone at school. Oliver, however, was less than eager to tell his parents.
‘I’m not telling them,’ he said, pacing our bedroom floor. ‘Not now . . . maybe never.’
‘Oliver, you have to tell your parents we’re engaged! If you don’t, Molly will let it slip.’
He paused to consider this. ‘It’s fine. I’ll pay her not to. She responds well to money.’
I grabbed his arm and pulled him back on to the bed with me. ‘Oliver, you’re overreacting. They’ll be thrilled with the news.’
‘You don’t understand. Your parents were normal about it.’
‘Normal?’ I replied. ‘They said “well done” and then told me that Daphne was pregnant. A dog stole my thunder. That’s not normal.’
‘Mine will be thrilled, sure. They’ll be so thrilled they’ll start planning shit the moment we tell them. Before we’ve even finished the phone call, they’ll be inviting their friends and suggesting priests and chapels in Dublin. Then they’ll get upset when they find out you haven’t even been baptised!’
‘But, I don’t want to get married in a church!’
‘Me neither. Let’s just pack a bag and go to Gretna,’ he suggested. ‘Me, you and Molly.’
I laughed. ‘Run away with me in twenty-nine days, after we’ve filled out our official forms and they’ve had time to process them.’
