AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You know what I’m doing.’
‘But... I’m such a mess. And you look so wonderful.’
‘You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’m just overdressed.’ He tugged at his bow tie, leaving it to drape around his neck, and pulled open the top two buttons of his shirt. ‘Better?’
‘Yes. Much better.’ They could make this happen. Together they could do it.
‘Will you marry me, Alexandra?’
She knew the answer to that too. One word that promised everything. ‘Yes.’ She reached forward to pull him to his feet. ‘I love you so much, Leo, and I really want to marry you. Please, kiss me...’
But Leo had something else on his mind. Reaching into his pocket, he drew out a ring. A solitaire diamond, which flashed in the light. Alex gasped, covering her mouth with one hand.
‘Leo, that’s beautiful. It’s too much.’
He grinned. ‘I could take it back and get a smaller one, if that’s what you want.’
‘Don’t you dare.’
He laughed, slipping the ring on her finger, and then he did the one thing she’d been wanting him to do. The only thing that could make her completely happy. He got to his feet and kissed her.
EPILOGUE
Two years later...
LEO WAS NO longer able to exactly pin down the happiest day of his life. When Alex had told him she would marry him, he’d thought that had to be it. Until the day she did marry him. And then the night they’d spent at the secluded beach house on their honeymoon.
As he’d learned to build a life that wasn’t bound by guilt he had stumbled along the way, but Alex had always been there, stopping him from falling. Helping him find his feet, and love her a little more each time. And he’d been there for her too, encouraging her to take the step of working full-time for Together Our Way and to extend its services. The night she’d collected a Charity of the Year award, he’d thought his heart would burst with pride.
When she’d whispered in his ear that she was going to have his child, Leo had thought nothing could ever make him happier. Then came the moment that he held his newborn daughter in his arms, counting her fingers and toes, and promising little Chloe that he’d always be there for her.
There were the little things too. When Alex told him that sh
e loved him. When she reached for him in the night, and when he caught her up from their bed to watch the sun rise. When he looked into her eyes and saw joy.
It was a summer’s morning and Chloe, ten months old now, had slept in the car all the way down to the house in Surrey. He parked the car and Alex walked on ahead with Chloe, her dress flapping in the warm breeze, and stopped at the middle of the bridge to wait for him. As he walked towards them in the sunshine, Chloe stretched out her arms towards him.
‘Daddee...’
Alex caught her breath. ‘That’s right, sweetheart. That’s Daddy. Say it again.’ She hugged their daughter and Leo dropped the bags he was carrying, hurrying towards them.
‘Daddy.’
Alex laughed with delight and he caught the two of them in his arms, hugging them tight. ‘Have you been teaching her to say that while my back’s turned?’
‘No. It’s the first time. I’ve been trying to get her to say, Daddy, can I borrow the car keys? But I don’t think she’s up to that yet.’
‘I’m working on, Mummy, let’s go and make Daddy breakfast in bed. She nearly managed it the other day.’
‘I can think of much better things to do with you in bed than feed you breakfast.’
Leo laughed. ‘Are you being nice?’
Alex brushed a kiss against his lips. ‘I’m never nice.’
If he hadn’t known better, and that there would always be more, Leo would have said that this was the happiest day of his life.
* * * * *
