AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grin. “Only where you’re concerned.”
She smiles, and her gaze softens on my face. “I love you, Fletcher. So bloody much. Thank you for fighting for me. The only other person who’s ever had my back like you is Maddie.”
The water sloshes between us as I pull her in for a kiss. “Will you marry me, Grace Newton?”
Her grey eyes sparkle with mischief. “Tell me again how much you love me.”
“Enough to choke down that fucking awful coffee you keep making me.”
Grace’s mouth drops open. “I thought you liked your coffee with lots of milk and three sugars!”
“No, sweetheart, that’s Daniel. I’ve been drinking black coffee all my life, but I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.That’show much I love you.”
“Wow. The lies and deceit, Sergeant.” Grace deadpans, shaking her head. “Not the kind of behaviour I’d expect of an honourable man.”
I nibble at her plump lips. “Sweetheart, I’m far from honourable where you’re concerned.”
Grace smirks. “True. And I love it. I loveyou.”
I quirk an eyebrow. “So? Will you marry me?”
“Yes, I’ll marry you, Fletch. Anytime. Any day. Anywhere.”
I smile. “In that case …”
Epilogue
Fletcher
Three WeeksLater
Once Grace said yes, I didn’t waste time making the arrangements. No way was I letting my woman get away now I’d found her.
There are only a handful of guests at the registry office. Craig and Daniel with their wives, Trina and Sarah, and Oliver with his husband, Michael.
And then there are our special guests.
An iPad sits on the registrar’s desk where a video call has been set up with my father, stepmother, and stepbrothers in Australia. It was too short notice for them to join us today, so this was the next best option for them to see the wedding. It’s 1 PM in London, which means it’s midnight in Sydney, so the boys have been allowed to stay up late. They’ve grown since I last saw them, and I miss them a lot, but we’ll be seeing them soon because I’m surprising Grace with a honeymoon in Australia.
Grace looks beautiful in a simple white dress that flatters her slender figure. Her chestnut hair is piled on top of her head, with a few tendrils framing her oval face, and her silver eyes sparkle with happiness as Jacob walks her down the “aisle” toward me.
Maddie walks behind Grace, her smile almost as big as her best friend’s. Kaitlyn, her three-year-old daughter, walks beside Maddie in her little blue bridesmaid dress. With her platinum blonde hair and blue eyes, she’s the spitting image of her mum.
As Grace and Jacob reach me, he places Grace’s hand in mine with a smile. He turns to Maddie and Kaitlyn, and his gaze softens with love. His eyes take on a possessive gleam as they drop to his pregnant wife’s belly. I recognise that look gleam because it’s the same way I look at Grace.
Grace hands off her small bouquet to an excited Kaitlyn and the three of them sit in the chairs at the front of the registry office.
I met Maddie and Jacob the day after the incident with Grace’s father. As soon as Grace called them, they rushed to the house, and Maddie was almost as furious as me when she saw the injury to Grace’s leg.
Maddie and Grace’s love for each other was immediately evident, as was Jacob’s protectiveness of the two women. He’s a man after my own heart, and we hit it off instantly. He and Maddie are an amazing couple, and they’ll always have my gratitude for being there for Grace. They’re proof that there are still genuinely good people in the world who want to help others.
That’s not to say Maddie didn’t subject me to a thorough interrogation. The woman may look like an angel, but she has a devilish streak when it comes to looking out for those she loves. Still, once she was satisfied I was the real deal and that I loved Grace with everything in me, she fully embraced our relationship—and our decision to tie the knot so quickly.
And now it’s our wedding day. I should be nervous, but I’m not. Grace and I were meant to find each other. My only regret is that Joel’s not here. He would’ve stood at my side as my best man, cracking jokes and putting me at ease. But I like to think he’s with me in spirit, and he lives on in my heart and memories.
As for Officer Janes, he’s been suspended and charged with grievous bodily harm. And that’s just for starters because, as Grace hoped, the female PC from Whitchurch has also come forward and made an official complaint. The offences will be treated more seriously as his assaults were on emergency workers with the intent to wound. He’s looking at anything from a seven-year custody sentence to life imprisonment. The monster finally fucked up in front of credible witnesses, and something tells me the judicial system will make an example of him.
Good. Let the fucker rot in a jail cell. He deserves far worse.
