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“Apollo!” Frenella hissed, reminding him he was in the middle of something important.
I wanted to tell her that it was totally fine, and she needn’t have worried on my account. If Apollo was otherwise distracted by Valen choking, then maybe I could sidle out of there and avoid giving Apollo – or our parents – an answer, as though that could stop it from being yes.
“Harlow Regina Vanguard,” Apollo said slowly, showboating again and my smile was the most forced I’d worn in a long time. “Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
I took a breath in the hopes my voice came out calm. “Of course. Yes.”
The parents had a lot more cheering to do as Apollo slid the huge diamond onto my finger. It sat there, heavy and foreign, but I smiled as the others came to hug us.
Apollo got to sidle away and went to Valen. I saw them exchange words. Apollo smiled and laughed and Valen clapped him on the back. I didn’t know what the words were, but Valen’s eyes didn’t leave mine.
More champagne was poured, and I was starting to wonder if any of our parents would be in a fit state for lunch at the rectory. But then, for people like them and the parties they threw, being able to hold your alcohol was as important for the women as it was the men.
As soon as I could, I ran to my room and the flood of emotion hit me as my shaking fingers looked for Florence’s number in my phone.
“Merry Christmas!” she cried drunkenly in answer.
“Floss,” burst out of me along with a huge sob.
“Fuck.” She sobered up quickly. “What happened?”
“He… Apollo proposed.”
“Yay…?” she offered weakly. “Not yay, obviously. Why not yay?”
“I don’t know,” I sobbed. “Why isn’t it yay?”
“How did he…? How did he do it?”
“In front of everyone. Floss, I couldn’t say no. I had to say yes. I was always going to have to say yes, but I couldn’t say no. And Valen walked in, and I couldn’t say no, Floss!” just poured out of me along with all the tears.
“Okay,” she said. “Okay. Shh. It’s okay. You couldn’t say no. Got it. Shit,” she seemed to mutter more to herself than me. “Okay. It’s fine. Mrs Callahan was the endgame and here we are.”
In lieu of words, I blubbered at her.
“Nope. Okay. Wrong tack. Babe, I’m here for you. But you’ve taken a bit of a detour from the road I thought we were taking, and I need a signpost.”
“I couldn’t say no!” burst out of me again.
“Yep. That’ll do it. Is it the way he proposed? Is that the problem? The fact he didn’t really give you a choice? No,” she answered for herself. “Stupid Florence. You didn’t have a choice anyway.”
I felt like I was hyperventilating. “I just… I don’t… Floss…”
“Shit,” she said, then she got quiet. “Just hang on, babe. I’ve got you.” Then she got louder again. “Harlow? Just breathe, okay? In and out. In and out.”
“I’m not in fucking labour,” I snapped.
“Not going to take that personally,” she said. “Just hold on for a couple more minutes, babe. Okay?”
I blinked, looking around the room like she was about to walk into it. “What? Why?”
She didn’t walk into it, but Valen did.
I stumbled back, knowing I probably looked just a little crazy.
He walked towards me carefully and I kept backing up. My legs hit the window seat and I dropped into it. He took the phone from my hands gently and said to Florence, “She’s safe.”
I didn’t hear Florence’s reply, but Valen hung up and threw my phone on the bed.
