Page 91 of Winter Magic on Railway Lane

‘To love,’ they all said in unison, clinking their glasses before taking a sip of the delicious drink.

‘But unless love comes with a snowplough, we’d better get a wriggle on,’ said Flora and they all nodded their agreement.

A few moments later, Harriet was carefully ensconced in the back of Ryan’s Range Rover, along with Paddington the dog and Flora.

Ethan had been waiting in his car. Libby knew that she would have to cope with seeing him that day and it was fine. Perfectly fine, she tried to tell herself.

Except he suddenly leapt out of the driving seat and rushed over. ‘I’ve forgotten the rings!’ he told them, hurrying away through the snow in his suit towards the school.

Libby rolled her eyes. ‘You’d all better get going,’ she told them. ‘I can check that he’s got them.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Katy, with worried eyes from the passenger seat. ‘I could wait for him instead?’

‘You’re already in there,’ Libby told her. ‘Don’t crease your jumpsuit by getting in and out. It’s fine. We’ll be right behind you. Harriet’s the important one! See you there!’

And with a wave, she watched as they carefully drove away.

She shivered, but it wasn’t the cold winter air that made her feel that way. It was being in close proximity to Ethan once more.

But she could get through the toughest of days. Because it was Harriet’s wedding day so it was the happiest of days as well, despite her broken heart.

55

Ethan couldn’t believe he could have been so stupid as to forget the wedding rings. The only reason he could think of was that he hadn’t slept properly the last couple of nights. Ever since Libby had walked away from him, in fact.

He knew that it was all his fault that he no longer saw her. His fault that his arms ached without her in them. That he missed her with every fibre of his being. And yet he still held back. He just had to get through today and then he would be leaving. At least then he could begin to move on with his life without Libby, he tried to remind himself. But the thought gave him no joy.

As he marched into the bedroom, his phone rang with a text from his mum. He quickly read the message. Her latest romance was coming apart at the seams. Ethan wasn’t surprised. She had always bored within a short time of each relationship. Nothing new there.

The next text he received from her confirmed what he had already suspected. That she was already moving on to someone else. It was the same old attitude. She was always looking for the next big thing.

Lucky her, thought Ethan. There would never be anyone better for him than Libby. He had everything he had ever wanted with her, she was his best friend, his other half. Why on earth would he move on with someone else?

Ethan stopped abruptly in the middle of his bedroom as the realisation washed over him. He wasn’t like his mum at all. In any way, in fact.

Everything she had told him had been wrong and it had been the biggest mistake of his life to believe her. Love was something to cherish, not fear. He couldn’t deny that the past few weeks with Libby had brought him the joy that his mum had always told him wouldn’t come. And that relationship, that joy, had changed him. Forever.

He now knew why he had married Libby all those years ago. Why he had rushed inside to save her from a smoke-filled house. Why he had set her up a chocolate stall. Why he would give her everything in the world and more, if he could.

She was the one. She was the love of his life. She always had been.

With that thought, he could feel the anger and frustrations of his youth finally slipping away. He could make peace with himself and move on at last. Ryan had been right. The happy moments did outweigh the bad stuff after all. He’d just been too blinkered to see it.

And that left Libby. It had always been Libby. No one else would ever come close.

But he would have to talk to her later, he reminded himself. There was a very important wedding waiting to happen first.

Ethan opened up the drawer in his bedside table where there were two ring boxes. In a rush, he grabbed both and put them in his jacket pocket, intending to quickly identify the correct ones before he went into church.

He rushed out of the school to find that only Libby was stood by his car. She looked beautiful, standing there in the snow, the purple jumpsuit showing off her long legs and incredible figure. She could still take his breath away, each and every time he saw her.

‘The others have gone,’ she told him, hugging her arms around her, obviously cold. She was only wearing a short fluffy white cape across her shoulders.

He unlocked the car and she immediately got inside.

He quickly got inside the driver’s seat. But when he turned the key in the ignition, the engine didn’t fire up.

‘Try it again,’ said Libby, wiggling in her seat both from tension as well as cold.