“She’s right.”
Over Fred’s shoulder, Liam stood in the doorway, snow covering his hair and the shoulders of his plaid lumberjack coat; even his beard was speckled with fluffy white flakes. Bella’s heart lurched in the way that only Liam had ever been able to achieve. Fred spun on her heel to face him.
“Liam…” Bella couldn’t manage more words.
Seeing him always left her dumbfounded for a few seconds, as though his mere presence scrambled all her communication channels. When she was away from him, she could just about convince herself that perhaps she wasn’t hopelessly and irrevocably in love with him, but there was no chance of maintaining that lie when he was in the room.
Fred, on the other hand, seemed to have no such trouble finding her words. “I don’t know if she’s ever told you this, but I’ve just discovered today that my mum has been wildly in love with you for the last thirty-odd years. And if you don’t throw her over your shoulder right now andmarch her off into the sunset, then you’re a giant idiot. You won’t find another woman who will love you as honestly and completely as my mum will. Trust me, I’ve been total shit for years and shestillthinks the sun shines out of my arse.”
Liam rubbed his beard. “You done?” he asked Fred.
She pulled her shoulders back and elongated her neck as though trying to match his height. “For now,” she replied.
“Freddie the firecracker strikes again, huh?” he said to Bella.
Bella nodded, tears pricking her eyes.
“The thing is, I’ve been thinking a lot about this. And well, I’m not going to ask you to come live with me in Windermere again, Bells.”
“What?” Fred shrieked.
“Pipe down, shortcake,” Liam addressed Fred, before turning his attention back to Bella. “If anyone’s going to be moving anywhere in the future, let it be me. I’m not giving up on us without a fight. Not this time, not ever again. I’d like to stay on here for a couple of weeks longer after the market, if you’ll have me. And then after Christmas, let’s bugger off somewhere hot for a holiday, see how we get on. And after that, if you’re still mad enough to love me, I’d like to try my hand at carving Scottish wood instead of English. All my reasons for needing to stay in Windermere before are gone. All I need is to be where you are, and you need to be here with your daughter, carrying on the cracker business together and keeping those crazy aunts of yours on thestraight and narrow. Unless, of course, the angry hordes come for Fred with flaming torches and pitchforks; she’s about as popular as chickenpox right now.”
“Are you sure?” Bella asked.
“Well, they seemed pretty riled up to me.” Liam smiled.
“Not about Fred.” She laughed.
“Oh sure,” Fred muttered, “make a joke about it, we’ll be laughing about it all the way to my burning stake.”
“I don’t want to lose you again, Bells, life’s too short to live without love. So, if you’ll have me, I want to stay right here with you.”
Bella felt dizzy.
“I’ll just leave you two to it,” Fred said, casting a smile in her mum’s direction as she made her way out of the workshop and pulled the door closed behind her.
“Well?” Liam asked. “Will you have me?”
Bella crossed the floor, and Liam opened his arms to her. He was big and warm, if a little damp, and she breathed him in.
“I will,” she said, feeling his arms close around her and knowing that she was where she belonged.
Liam kissed the tracks of her tears and finally settled his mouth on hers. Outside, the storm raged, howling through the cracks and rattling the windows. While inside, a tempest of a steamier kind shook the walls as Bella and Liam made good use of that old sheepskin rug on the floor in front of the wood burner.
26
Fred
Fred knew with a calmcertainty that if anyone was deserving of her mum’s love, it was Liam. Her happiness for them gave her a warm glowing feeling in her chest, like one of the aunts’ special hot chocolates, only this glow wouldn’t give her a raging hangover. But as she trudged through the deepening snow, around the side of the house, and got back into her car, she was under no illusions about the amends she still needed to make. She was deeply troubled about Ryan, and the fact that Pine Bluff was an angry mob with her name on its lips.
She turned the key in the ignition. Nothing. “Are you actually kidding me?” she cried as she tried again. The engine didn’t even attempt to turn over. She kicked the door open and climbed out, slamming it shut. “Why?” she yelled at it. “Why are you doing this to me now?” The motion started off the singing Christmas tree.
“I’m the happiest Christmas tree, ho-ho-ho, hee-hee-hee…”
“Right! That’s it!” She picked up the tree and beganthrottling it as it continued to sing. “Why don’t you just bloody shut up!” she yelled.
“With a hee and a ho and a hah-hah!…I got shiny bells that jingle…”
