I felt his small hand capture my fingers in a firm grip. I placed my free hand on his shoulder and walked slowly behind him. I could feel that we were beginning to walk uphill and I knew I was walking on grass as my feet began to slip slightly.
At last we came to a stop.
‘Can I look now?’
‘Nope… Sit down here and just give me a few minutes.’ I heard Jack moving around me.
‘Ok, Lils, you can look now.’
I pulled the scarf off my eyes and looked around. The first thing I saw was the smiling face of Harry as he picked up a bag of bread to feed the ducks. The second thing I saw when I spun my head around, was Jack standing behind me, looking nervous.
Nervous? That wasn’t a look I’d ever seen on him before.
‘We’re back on campus.’ I smiled at him. ‘On the bank where you first told me we had chemistry and the same place you took me back to remember us.’
‘Yep… I first brought you here in autumn, we next came back in summer and now it’s winter. The place changes dramatically according to the season, doesn’t it?’ I watched him take his hands out of his front pockets that they had been pushed down into.
A little confused I looked at him as he crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Yes, Jack. The seasons will change a place like this.’ I grinned at him in amusement and then automatically looked at the trees around us. Then I saw it.
I could see small paper hearts pegged onto the lower branches.
‘Although that looks a little different to what it should in winter?’
‘Perhaps ya should go and take a look?’ He smiled at me.
‘Perhaps I should?’ I stood back up and moved away from them both towards the trees that sheltered the grassy bank. Instinctively I went to the left, to the pale pink heart pegged there.
It read, “Harry.”
I continued along the row, finding a single word was on each of the hearts. All the hearts were in the pale colours of my favourite Love Heart sweets. I collected all nine and then stood in front of the trees to read them.
“Harry. And. Daddy. Think. You. Have. The. Wrong. Name.”
I spun around to find Jack on one knee with Harry beside him in the same position. I brought a hand up to my mouth to try to contain my emotion at the sight. I walked the few steps back to them both, carrying the paper hearts in my hand. Jack was holding a small opened jewellery box.
‘Lily, Harry and I want to know if you would make us the happiest daddy and Harry. We want you to change your name to the same as ours?’
I looked from one of them and then to the other. My beautiful boys, with the same blond hair and bright blue eyes, with their cleft chins and wicked grins, and my heart burst with pride. We had all been through so much and to step together out of the other side was nothing short of a miracle.
One month ago, the paperwork had been received to formally have Jack entered on Harry’s birth certificate. At the same time, we had changed his name. He was now officially Harry Jack Carpenter. I was the only Green left.
‘What name should I have then, Harry?’
‘Mummy you shud be Arpinta, like me and daddy.’
I saw Jack falter. His mouth opened and closed at what we had just heard. His eyes filled with tears as he took in exactly what Harry had just said.
‘You think I should be a Carpenter, like you and daddy?’
‘I do… I go feed the duck now, Daddy?’ he asked as he broke position and stood back up to his feet.
‘Yep, you can. Thanks for all your help, Harry. I think mummy was very surprised. High five!’ They smacked their hands together and Jack kissed the top of his head, then Harry went back to his bag of bread by the pond.
‘Marry me, Lils… Not because you need to escape from anything, not because of all the shit you’ve been through and the fight we had to make ya safe. And certainly not because I’m the best sex you’ve ever had, even though we both know it’s true.’ He winked at me at that bit, and smiled that smile I loved so much. I shook my head at him and felt the back of my knees go a little bit weaker.
‘Marry me, because you recognise that my life starts and ends with you. Marry me, to make sure we both live life to the fucking fullest and don’t just merely exist. Marry me, because it’s whatcha choose. Marry me, because you are my first, my only, and my last love. I’m rambling now… So, marry me, babe just to shut me the fuck up.’
He burst out laughing and offered me the purple jewellery box. I lifted my arm and ran my index finger over what looked like a platinum band, made to look like twisted rope. I followed the twist to find the infinity symbol in the centre, it was covered with diamonds. It wasn’t conventional, but then neither were we. It was us, and I loved it
Tears started to fall down my face. I had gone from a woman who had closed off her emotions to one who now didn’t seem to be able to stop crying.
‘So, Lils, you haven’t fucking answered me?’ Jack got up, pulled me to him and turned me around in his arms. We both stood, my back to his front, and watched our son.
He wrapped one arm around my waist and the other he draped across my collarbones as he gently gripped my shoulder. He kissed the top of my head, and I clasped his forearm with both hands and closed my eyes. I felt his warm breath hit my ear as I leant back against him.
‘You asked me a few years ago, my answer was yes then and it’s yes now. Of course, I’ll marry you. I choose you, to be my husband, my children’s daddy, my protector. I choose you, because you’re the only man I have ever loved. I choose you, because my life started when you entered it. I choose you, because I want to live life and I can only do that with you by my side.’
Jack moved us to slip the ring onto my finger and then he kissed it. With his hand on my cheek he turned my face to look into my eyes. Bright blue to green. As his mouth slowly came down to find mine, we began the start of the rest of our lives together.
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Undeniable (Fated series Book 4) Page 31