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‘Wow!’
‘I mean it,’ Leo said. ‘I want you to marry me.’
‘Leo?’ She didn’t understand. ‘You don’t want to get married. You don’t want be tied down …’ She giggled at his expression. ‘You know what I mean, Leo. I have commitments.’
‘I know,’ Leo said, and Lizzie blinked because he didn’t seem fazed.
‘Of course, I have to get the mix better, I realise that, but when my parents need me …’
‘You’ll be here when they do,’ Leo said. ‘Lizzie, I’m never going to ask you to choose me over them.’ He saw the doubt in her eyes and decided to smooth-talk his way around it. ‘Lizzie, look at the positives—I have no parents, yours are in a home, we’re never going to have to do that awful juggle-the-parents on Christmas Day that other couples have to. I am selfish, but I’m not that selfish that I would keep you from them. We can do it,’ he said. ‘I’m here, aren’t I? On Valentine’s Day.’
He was.
‘I want to be with you,’ Leo said. ‘That’s all I know. I’ve never come close to feeling the way I do and I never thought I would. It’s true, what you said. I’ve messed up every relationship I’ve ever been in—I just know that I’m not going to mess things up with you.
‘I love you,’ he confessed. ‘I don’t know what you do to me, Lizzie—I practically told Ethan I loved him last week …’
‘You should tell him properly.’
‘Yeah, one day.’ He looked at her. ‘You know there can be no secrets between a husband and wife …’
‘Oh, Leo, you shan’t get me that way, I’ve been nursing long enough to know there are plenty of secrets between most husbands and wives.’ Then she was serious. ‘Please don’t ask me about Ethan.’
She watched his jaw tighten, wondered if he’d falter at their first hurdle.
‘I won’t.’ He gave her his word and looked up as Howard came over with their desserts.
‘Not for us, thanks,’ Leo said.
‘But you ordered three courses.’
‘We’re full.’
Leo took her by the hand and led her up the stairs. ‘You can’t do that,’ Lizzie hissed.
‘Well, if I’m going to be staying here at times, they’d better get used to me—I can do that!’ Leo said, and Lizzie glowed inside as she realised he’d meant every word he’d said back there. The thought of him staying here with her, through all the difficult times to come, made the world suddenly so much easier.
‘Let’s melt those sheets,’ Leo said, as she let him into her room. ‘Oh, Lizzie.’ He tutted as he went through her bag of contraband and found her wine and chocolate and tragic movie, and she winced when he pulled out the tissues. ‘You did miss me.’
He kissed her to the bed, and she wasn’t sure if it was the nylon sheets or just the Leo effect but every hair on her skin stood up as he undressed her as they slid into bed.
‘Like an old married couple,’ Leo said, only he wasn’t leaning over to turn off the lamp; instead, he was picking it up.
‘What are you doing?’ Lizzie asked.
‘I forgot my ophthalmoscope. I’m going to find out what you’ve had done and then you’re going to tell me who did it.’
He parted her legs and the Hewitts would have had a fit if they’d known where he shone that lamp. ‘Labiaplasty?’ Leo said. ‘If it was, she did a fantastic job.’ Lizzie was laughing so hard, turned on so much and so just happy that she nearly forget to tell him the truth.
‘No,’ Lizzie said, as his fingers admired the handiwork. ‘I mean, no, I haven’t had any surgery.’
‘You lied?’ Leo was a touch incredulous. Of all the things he’d wondered, Lizzie lying to him hadn’t entered his head, and to Leo’s surprise he found himself smiling. ‘You looked me in the eye and you lied.’
‘I did!’ Lizzie smiled back.
‘Why?’
‘I wanted the job, I thought you might think I would be a bit more empathetic to the patients.’
He laughed and then he was serious because a more empathetic person you could not meet.
Only Lizzie could have saved his heart.
Yes, the bed creaked terribly and Lizzie didn’t come quietly. She wanted to wear dark glasses as they sat the next morning eating breakfast.
‘What time are you checking out?’ Mrs Hewitt asked, as Lizzie blushed into her scrambled eggs.
‘Actually, if there’s availability,’ Leo said, ‘we’d like to stay tonight. Just the one room, though.’
‘Tonight?’ Lizzie glanced up at him. She’d been sure they’d be leaving tyre marks in his haste to get away. Instead, he wasn’t rushing her.
Leo took himself off after breakfast and, just a little back to front, did the right thing, asking Thomas for Lizzie’s hand in marriage.
He couldn’t blame Thomas for his caution.
Leo knew his own reputation.
‘I understand your reservations,’ Leo said, ‘but I love your daughter and I want you to know I would never hurt her.’
‘See you don’t, then.’
It was her perfect day—they walked along the beach and went on all the rides on the pier and then she took Leo for coffee at her favourite place. They walked past the house where she had grown up and, after a suitable pause, returned to the nursing home, where Lizzie shared the lovely news with her parents. Then it was back to the Hewitts’ B&B for an afternoon in bed and to the future that was waiting for them.
‘I miss our game,’ Leo said.
‘What game?’ Lizzie asked, as he started to undress her, those beautiful blue eyes examining her.
‘Our game.’
‘Oh, that one.’ She smiled. ‘There’s nothing to miss, Leo. We’ve only just started.’
EPILOGUE
‘NERVOUS?’ ETHAN ASKED as Leo pulled on his jacket, and Leo paused.
‘Not in the least.’
For the first time that black churning in his gut was gone. A rapid wedding should be stressful to arrange, yet it had been seamless. When Lizzie had realised that a wedding in her home town and her father giving her away was causing Thomas so much stress, Leo had suggested they marry at Claridge’s and that they could go and visit her family before their honeymoon.
‘I never thought I’d see the day,’ Ethan said as he checked that he had the rings.
‘Neither did I,’ Leo admitted.
‘I’m pleased for you,’ Ethan said. ‘I always felt bad about—’
‘Not today,’ Leo interrupted. He didn’t want to think about Olivia on his wedding day and he didn’t need Ethan’s apology. All Leo wanted was for his brother to know the peace and happiness that he himself had found, but happiness, for Ethan, still seemed a very long way off.
‘Can I ask one thing?’ Leo watched as Ethan’s face shuttered as he braced himself to answer one of Leo’s many questions on this his wedding day.
‘You can try.’
‘It’s been bugging me.’ Leo looked at the tension in his brother’s face. There was so much he wanted to know, just not today. ‘Why does everyone always end up crashing on my sofa?’
He watched as Ethan’s face broke into its first genuine smile of the day.
‘I mean,’ Leo continued, ‘everyone’s got a sofa in their office, the place is littered with them, yet you all end up on mine.’
‘It’s longer,’ Ethan said. ‘And wider. When you’re over six foot there aren’t many sofas where you can actually stretch out.’
‘Oh.’
‘And you keep your drinks topped up.’
‘Okay,’ Leo said. ‘Good to know.’
‘Come on, then,’ Ethan said. ‘You don’t want to keep Lizzie waiting.’
It was Leo who was kept waiting.
Lizzie actually felt sick at the thought of all eyes being on her, and even though she was relieved that her father didn’t have the stress of her wedding to deal with, today, especially, she missed them.
‘Have a brandy,’ Brenda, who was her bridesmaid, suggested. Lizzie was booked into a hotel suite, where nothing was too much trouble and a brandy was soon poured.
She took a sip and felt the burn but it did nothing to calm her and she took another. ‘I’m scared I’ll be sick or faint,’ Lizzie admitted. She knew all brides were nervous on their wedding day but this was ridiculous.
She stood and looked in the mirror, worried she wasn’t a suitable society bride.
‘You look beautiful,’ Brenda said. ‘I’m so jealous I could be sick.’
Lizzie smiled—she loved her friends so much.
‘Your dress is perfect,’ Brenda said.
It had been the first one Lizzie had tried on—instantly she had known it was the right one. Very simple, it had delicately capped sleeves and was tied with a very thin silver belt. It was stunning in its simplicity. She carried white roses and her hair had been coiled and everything was perfect, except … Lizzie closed her eyes and took another sip of her brandy. She didn’t want to dwell on the sad parts today.
‘Come on,’ Lizzie said, or she’d start panicking again.
