AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Well, I hope so.’
His mouth stretches into a smile. ‘Yes, I hope so too. We both hope we’ll have a long and healthy life together. Can I finish please?’
‘Go ahead.’
He grins and shakes his head. ‘I’m trying to be romantic.’
‘You’re doing an awesome job.’
Now he goes to say something, but instead he presses his lips together, smothering another smile. ‘All I want to say is that it doesn’t matter how old you are?or young,’ he hastens to add, ‘you will always be beautiful to me.’
‘That’s sweet. Thank you.’
‘I mean it.’ He jostles me to drive home his point and I only now realise he’s still inside me. I climb off and sit beside him, taking his hand.
‘I know you do. And thank you. I just …’
‘What’s going on?’
I meet his eye. ‘It’s nothing. It’s just silly,’ I assure him.
‘You sure? You can tell me anything, you know that.’
‘I know. It’s all good.’ He still doesn’t seem to be buying it, but I don’t want to have a maudlin conversation right before my birthday celebrations, whatever they may be. ‘So,’ I say standing and crossing back to the wardrobe. ‘Any thoughts?’
‘Your long floral dress. And your ankle boots,’ he says.
I turn back towards him, intrigued. ‘Okay … interesting.’
‘And your denim jacket for later.’
‘You’ve given this some thought.’
‘I didn’t realise I had but now that I think about it, every time I’ve imagined this night, that’s what you’ve been wearing.’
‘You are romantic, Joshua, you know that?’
‘Yeah, but don’t tell anyone. You’ll ruin my alpha male reputation.’ I snigger at that. He comes over and kisses me. ‘First shower or second?’ he asks.
‘You go. I don’t need to wash my hair or anything.’
‘Okay.’
I watch him go into the en suite, then turn back to the wardrobe and take out my long floral dress?bought when I was re-watching Offspring and inspired by Nina Proudman’s boho-chic style?and my cropped denim jacket.
‘Careful, the ground gets a little uneven here,’ says Josh. The excitement intensifies as he leads me?blindfolded. We left the castle about a half-an-hour ago and I was allowed to see where we were going until the last few kilometres when Josh asked me to slip on my sleep mask. ‘Okay, babe, nearly there.’ When the car stopped, Mum, Dad, Cat, and Jean-Luc got out, calling, ‘See you out there,’ which intrigued me. Out where? Then Josh had come around to my side to help me out.
‘Okay, just hold on a sec.’ He moves behind me and places steadying hands on my shoulder. ‘Okay, you can take the blindfold off now.’
I’m grinning as I slide the sleep mask off and when I see where we are and what Josh has done for my birthday, it’s perfect?an absolute dream come true.
‘Surprise,’ shouts Mum?ironic as she has spent the past few days leaking details she wasn’t supposed to. The others join in with ‘Surprise’ and ‘Happy Birthday’ and Cat claps and grins at me as I bask in love and the beauty of our surroundings.
We’re in an olive grove under the boughs of two tall olive trees, their silvery grey leaves fluttering in the light breeze and late-afternoon sun dappling the alfresco scene. There is a long trestle table draped in a tablecloth patterned with tiny yellow flowers and at intervals along the table, there are jam jars filled with colourful posies and old-style, raffia-wrapped bottles have unlit candles protruding from their necks.
The table is brimming with food?antipasti platters, plates of melon wrapped in prosciutto, ceramic bowls filled with salads, loaves of rustic bread and bottles of olive oil for drizzling?no doubt from the grove we’re in. And a small table off to the side proffers an impressive array of wine bottles?all with the same label. Ah, I think and when I lift my gaze, I realise I’m right. We’re not just in an olive grove?this is a winery. Wowser. There’s even music playing softly, though it’s unclear where its coming from.
‘Oh, Josh, it’s amazing?just like that scene in French Kiss.’ He snakes his arms around my waist, hugging me from behind.
