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‘Dominic!’ Faith said, even as the tourists started gathering their bags and cameras. ‘These people have paid for a bus tour, not a walking tour. That’s what they expect.’
‘They’ll like this more,’ Dominic promised her, planting a swift kiss on her lips. ‘And I hope you will too. Come on!’
She couldn’t help but jump down off the bus after him, her lips still tingling from his kiss. But then she stopped on the pavement.
‘Wait. Just... Dominic. Wait.’
Twenty paces up ahead, at the front of the gaggle of tourists in their cagoules, cameras at the ready, Dominic stopped, turned and looked at her.
‘I just...I don’t understand what’s going on. I don’t know what you want.’ Tears burned at the back of her eyes, and Faith blinked them away. ‘Why are you doing this? We agreed...’
‘We were wrong.’ Dominic walked back towards her, and held out his hand. ‘We were stupid to think we could just put this away in a box and ignore it. I’m never going to be able to walk through St James’s Park without thinking of you. Without wanting you in my life. It’s not possible.’
A small, sharp flare of hope burst into life in her chest. ‘So, you want...’
‘I want you to come with me to see the pelicans,’ Dominic said.
‘Okay.’ Faith nodded. She could do that.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
GETTING THE WHOLE group of them across the road and into the park was quite an operation. Dominic would happily have left them to find their own way there—they all knew their jobs, after all—but Faith was in full tour guide mode again, shepherding them all across and stopping traffic just by standing in the middle of the road. It made Dominic’s heart clench just to watch.
But finally they were all through the gates of St James’s Park and the last, most important part of the plan was in motion. Maybe the first part hadn’t gone quite as well as he’d intended when he’d described his plans to Sylvia; her storyboard for the afternoon—which Dominic fully intended to frame and give to Faith on their first anniversary—had included Faith swooning into his lap with delight before he’d even started driving.
This part, though, he had faith in. How could she resist pelicans, the perfect ring, and the most romantic, embarrassing proposal of all time?
* * *
This was weird. This was officially the weirdest thing any man had ever done for her. And she still wasn’t entirely sure what exactly was going on. All she knew was that she was walking around St James’s Park with the man she loved, and fifty total strangers, looking for pelicans.
Totally normal.
‘There’s one!’ one of the tourists yelled out, and suddenly everyone was crowded around the edge of the lake, staring at it. Faith hung back, Dominic beside her, and watched. Then, without warning or any obvious sign, the whole group turned back to face them, grinning manically.
‘What’s going—’ Faith started, then stopped as she heard music. Impossible, lilting music coming from some sort of sound system somewhere. She looked around, trying to spot where it was coming from, to figure out what everyone was looking at—
‘It had to be you,’ Dominic sang, his voice strong and sure and only slightly off-key.
Faith froze, even as he smiled at her. And then he started to dance. Faith clapped a hand to her mouth as Dominic foxtrotted around her with an imaginary partner as he sang. It was, by far, the most surreal moment of her life.
Around her, the tour group picked up the tune to the classic song and supported Dominic as he dropped to one knee. And then, like some sort of crazy dream, they started to move, stepping in perfect unison to the side, then into pairs, clearly rehearsed and planned and anticipated by everyone who wasn’t her.
Their dance, choreographed to the last step, swirled around them, the words coming clean and strong in sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. Faith blinked with disbelief, even as she watched. Crowds were forming on the paths beyond, staring as the bus of people she’d tried to tell about the Tower of London foxtrotted in perfect time through the park, singing as they went. Bystanders were joining in now, and right by the lake Faith spotted Sylvia, hand to her mouth with excitement. Even the pelicans seemed to be enjoying themselves.
And there, at her feet, was Dominic, holding out a ring box.
