Last-Minute Proposal

by Jessica Hart

  But Campbell seemed real. This awful waiting room seemed real, and so did the biscuit crumbs in her skirt and the unmistakable hospital smell.

  ‘If I had had the chance to say all that, Tilly, if I had been able to ask you to marry me,’ said Campbell quietly, ‘what would you have said?’

  Maybe it was real. Tilly’s heart quivered, ballooning with hope, and her eyes were huge as she looked back at him. If this were a dream, this was the point when she would fling her arms around him, laughing with delight, when she would tell him that she loved him, too, and that of course she would marry him.

  But if it wasn’t, if this was real after all, she would have to remember all the real reasons she hadn’t told him that she loved him before.

  ‘I think,’ she said slowly at last, ‘that I would have asked you if you were sure that you were over your ex-wife.’

  Campbell nodded. ‘That would have been a good question,’ he said seriously. ‘I saw Lisa in New York. I needed to see her again.’

  His fingers twined around Tilly’s, warm and strong. ‘I hated it when she left me, but you made me realise that I hated losing more than I hated losing her. We weren’t right together, and I know now that was as much my fault as hers.’

  He paused, wondering how to explain the relief of meeting Lisa and realising that he felt nothing. ‘Lisa’s happy now. She’s found someone who’s right for her, and I’m glad for her. I wish in lots of ways that I’d faced up to seeing her again, but maybe I needed to meet you before I could understand that she did the right thing when she walked away. You taught me a lot.’

  ‘Me?’ Tilly was astonished. ‘I only taught you how to make a sponge cake! I don’t know how to do anything else.’

  ‘You know more than that,’ said Campbell. ‘You’re the one who taught me that success isn’t always about what you have, or what you achieve. It’s about how you live your life. You’ve always known that. You look after your brothers and you care for your friends, and they love you in return. You live where you want, doing a job you enjoy. You do what’s right, and you do it with warmth and laughter. In the things that matter, you’re the most successful person I know, Tilly.’

  Tilly gulped, tried to speak and failed utterly. Nobody had ever said anything like that to her before.

  Smiling at her expression, Campbell tightened his hold on her hand. ‘So, no, this isn’t how I imagined tonight,’ he said. ‘I imagined I would tell you all of that without making a fool of myself, or stumbling and stuttering too much when I asked you to marry me. I’d even let myself imagine you’d say yes.’

  His smile twisted. ‘I thought we would be in bed by now, loving each other, instead of which we’re sitting here in this crummy waiting room, and you’re tired and worried and we’re both miles away from where we should be, but I don’t care. I don’t care what happens as long as I’m with you.’

  Tilly’s heart was beating so loudly by then that she was afraid it was going to burst right through her ribs. She so badly wanted to believe him…but how could she?

  ‘But look at me,’ she said helplessly. ‘I’m a mess! I’m fat and piggy-eyed and my hair’s a disaster and my dress is ruined!’

  ‘You’re not a mess,’ he said. ‘You’re beautiful.’

  ‘Don’t make fun of me!’

  ‘I’m not. God, Tilly, you have the self-confidence of a shrimp!’ said Campbell, sounding almost his old exasperated self. ‘Who cares if your dress is creased or your mascara’s run? You’re still gorgeous. Why won’t you believe me?’

  ‘Because…’ Tilly gestured helplessly.

  ‘Because that moron Olivier convinced you you weren’t thin enough or smart enough or perfectly groomed enough for him?’

  ‘I suppose so,’ she muttered.

  ‘And because your father made you think the same thing when you were just a little girl?’

  ‘Probably.’ She wouldn’t meet his eyes.

  ‘Come here,’ said Campbell, pulling her on to his lap and holding her firmly with one arm while his free hand smoothed her hair away from her face. ‘Do you remember that abseil?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Tilly cautiously, not quite ready to believe him, but wrapping her arms around his neck anyway. It seemed rude not to and, anyway, what else could she do with them when she was trapped on his lap like this?

  ‘You didn’t trust me then,’ he reminded her. ‘You begged me not to let you go.’

  ‘I was terrified!’

  ‘Did I let you go?’

  ‘No,’ she admitted.

  ‘Did I tell you you could make it to the top of that mountain?’

  ‘You did.’

  ‘And was I right?’

  A smile tugged at Tilly’s mouth. ‘I see where you’re going with this,’ she told him.

  ‘Go on, admit it.’ He grinned. ‘I was right.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, you were right.’

  ‘I’m right about this, too,’ said Campbell, and his smile faded. ‘You’re gorgeous and sexy and warm and funny and I adore you and, if you’ll marry me, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make you happy.’

  And then, because talking didn’t seem to be getting him anywhere fast, he kissed her.

  Tilly was lost the moment their lips met and she sank into him, giving back kiss for kiss, while happiness poured like liquid sunshine along her veins. ‘I love you,’ she confessed, mumbling between kisses. ‘I love you, I love you.’

  ‘At last!’ Campbell pretended to grumble, holding her hard against him. ‘I thought I was never going to get you to say it! Now will you marry me?’

  ‘Do you promise not to let me go?’

  ‘I promise,’ he said gravely.

  ‘In that case, I will,’ she said, and he kissed her again.

  ‘It’s lucky you said that,’ Campbell said when he came up for air at last. He dug around in the inside pocket of his jacket. ‘I can give you this now.’

  He produced a little box. ‘I promised you roses once if we got through the competition,’ he reminded her, ‘but I’m hoping you might like this instead.’

  Tilly’s eyes widened, and he watched anxiously as she opened the box and drew a sharp gasp. Nestled in the velvet padding was a band of exquisite diamonds bracketing a deep, square-cut sapphire.

  ‘It’s the colour of your eyes,’ he said.

  For a long moment Tilly couldn’t say anything. Her heart was too full to speak, and her eyes when she lifted them to his were shimmering with tears. ‘Campbell…’ was all she could manage.

  The tears made Campbell nervous. ‘Maybe you would rather choose it yourself?’ he said hurriedly. ‘We can change it if you want.’

  ‘No.’ Tilly stopped him with a kiss. ‘It’s perfect,’ she told him with a shaky smile. ‘I’m only crying because I’m so happy.’

  Campbell let himself relax a little. ‘Are you sure you like it?’

  ‘I love it…almost as much as I love you, in fact!’

  ‘Try it on.’ Picking up the ring, he made Tilly hold out her left hand.

  ‘I hope it’s not too small,’ she said, bracing herself for humiliation, but it slid on to her finger as if made for it. ‘Oh, Campbell, it’s beautiful,’ she told him, her eyes starry as she kissed him again. ‘Now I know you really do want to marry me,’ she said. ‘You had it planned down to the last detail!’

  Campbell laughed with relief as he pulled her close. ‘It didn’t work out exactly as I’d planned, or we would be somewhere a lot more comfortable than this where I could make love to you the way I’ve been thinking about making love to you for the past three months.’

  Tilly allowed herself a last kiss and slid off his knee. ‘In that case,’ she said, ‘I think we should go home.’

  ‘I was thinking I could give up my job in the States and come back here,’ said Campbell as they walked down the quiet hospital corridors. ‘I know you’re happy here in Allerby, and I could find another role somewhere round here.’

  Tilly th
ought about it while they waited for a lift. ‘No,’ she decided eventually. ‘Not unless you have to find another job after missing that meeting!’

  ‘I’m not going to miss it,’ he said confidently. ‘I’ll get myself back there in time for it somehow, and then I’ll come back and be with you.’

  ‘I think I should go to you,’ said Tilly. ‘Harry and Seb have been going on at me to get out of my rut, so that’s what I’ll do,’ she said bravely. ‘I can make cakes in America as well as here.’

  They walked hand in hand across the silent hospital grounds to where Campbell had left his car. ‘I’m nervous about the idea of a penthouse, though,’ she admitted. ‘I bet it’s immaculate.’

  He smiled down at her. ‘We can buy a messy house if you like.’

  ‘It’s not the house, it’s the kind of life you live.’ Tilly hesitated, chewing her lip. ‘I think I might be losing my nerve already! We’re so different.’ She looked anxiously at him. ‘Do you really think if we get married we’ll live happily ever after?’

  Campbell stopped and turned to face her. ‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘We’re bound to argue about stuff, and maybe things will be difficult sometimes, but we’ll have to work it out together.’

  Pulling her in to him, he rested his cheek against her hair. ‘There are no guarantees, Tilly, but if you love me and I love you, and if we trust each other, I think we’ll make it. I know it’s a risk, but this time,’ he said, ‘we’re going over the cliff together.’

  Tilly smiled as she remembered that first morning and how terrified she had been at the end of that rope. What was it she had said to him then? She pulled back slightly so she could put her arms around his neck and draw his head down for a kiss warm with promise.

  ‘Let’s get on with it then,’ she said.

  Enveloped in a haze of delight, they were almost back at the house before they remembered the competition. Tilly switched on her phone to find a message from Suzy, the producer.

  ‘Oh,’ she said, and glanced at Campbell, hoping he wasn’t going to be too disappointed. ‘Apparently it was very close, but Roger and Leanne won in the end. There’s a message from Maggie, too…’

  She listened closely, then closed the phone. ‘Maggie says she’s really sorry we didn’t win, but she wants to thank you for matching the winner’s cheque with a donation to the hospice.’

  Reaching across, she laid a hand on his thigh and smiled. ‘That was generous of you.’

  Campbell drew up outside Tilly’s house and switched off the engine. ‘For the record, I would have done it for Roger and Leanne’s charities as well if we’d won,’ he said with a shrug. ‘The competition was just to make the programme more interesting for the viewers. I didn’t want any of those good causes to miss out on money that could make a real difference.’

  Leaning across the handbrake, he kissed her. ‘I even arranged a donation to mountain rescue dog training.’

  ‘Whatever for?’

  ‘It turns out that was Greg’s chosen charity, and I felt it was the least I owed him for breaking his leg and making it possible for me to meet you. It seems a bit unfair on the poor bloke, but I’ll always be glad that he did!’

  Tilly laughed as she got out of the car, but her expression was doubtful as they walked to the front door. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind that we didn’t win?’

  But Campbell, Mr Competitive, only smiled and put an arm around her. ‘I’m here with you and we’ve got the rest of our lives together,’ he said simply. ‘I think we are the winners, don’t you?’

  When he put it like that, Tilly could only agree. Smiling, she found her keys and unlocked the door. ‘Much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right about that, too!’

  Jessica Hart

  ***

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