‘Not really. I’d rather look at you.’
‘Seriously?’
‘I’ve got something I want to talk to you about.’
Fran’s heart sank a bit. ‘That sounds rather serious.’
‘I hope it’s good-serious.’ Antony stopped and as Fran did too, he put his hand on her cheek. ‘It’s to do with what Amy said.’
‘About what?’ Fran looked up at him, this strong man she loved so much.
‘I’m not very good at emotional stuff. I’m better in a boardroom. But Amy said she withdrew her objection to us getting together. It meant she wanted us to get married. I want us to, as well.’
‘Areyou asking me to marry you?’ said Fran, thinking how annoying men could be, even while they were being wonderful.
‘Yes.’ He put his hand in his pocket. ‘One of the things I had to do this morning was to collect this. Of course you can change it – you might prefer something more elaborate—’
Smiling, and very happy, Fran put her finger on Antony’s lips. ‘Why don’t you show me?’
He opened the little leather box. Inside was a simple gold ring with a large rectangular diamond.
‘My goodness,’ said Fran, suddenly short of breath. ‘It’s the size of a Glacier Mint!’
He laughed and relaxed. ‘No it’s not! Try it on. Do you like it?’
Seeing the diamond on her finger, simple but enormous, made her heart flutter. It suddenly made everything real. ‘I love it,’ she said. Then she looked up at him again, suddenly shy and a bit embarrassed. ‘But you mustn’t ask me to marry you just because you think it was what Amy wanted.’
He kissed her again. ‘I’m asking you to marry me because I love you. And before you ask why – I’m sure you’re going to ask why – it’s because you’re beautiful and brave, funny and sexy, determined and full of initiative. And also very slightly afraid of cows.’
Fran gazed up at him. ‘Would you still love me if I stopped being afraid of cows?’
‘Onlythe tiniest little bit. Not enough to matter.’
She reached up to kiss him again and as her arms went round his neck she realised how blissfully happy she was. At the start of the year she’d had a farm she didn’t own and didn’t know what to do with. Now it was really hers, she had plans and it had a future. And she had a man she truly loved by her side.
It was more than anyone deserved and she couldn’t possibly have been happier.
Epilogue
Fran was nervous. Although she was looking around at the stragglers from Sunday lunch, all enjoying the warm summer day, having very much savoured their meal (home-reared pork, courtesy of Tig), for once it wasn’t the diners whose approval she craved, it was the special guests.
She smiled at herself. All the guests were special, of course, but there were a few among the family and friends who had filled her restaurant that day who were there to be critical.
They weren’t restaurant critics either. More than a year had passed since Amy had left Hill Top Farm to her and by now ‘Flowers’ had already had enough favourable reviews to make sure they were full every time they were open. Fran had a good team behind her and Issi was brilliant on social media. People knew they had to book up well in advance to eat at Hill Top Farm.
Fromhabit, she was looking about her now, even though service had been over for a while, to make sure everything was perfect – and thanks to Seb, it was.
Seb had turned into a great part-time maître d’. As the restaurant was only open at weekends and Bank Holidays this sideline fitted in well with his day job as Antony’s driver.
Seb had made sure that every occupied table had jugs of water and he had already taken home some of the elderly locals. There was a group of people who had taken to coming to the restaurant on the farm of their old friend Amy and it was Seb who brought them and took them home. While providing a free taxi service wasn’t economic, no one questioned it. The old people got together once a month or so and had a good meal too.
No, it was the group still sitting at the long table in the middle of the restaurant, the table with the best view, that Fran was feeling twitchy about.
It was her fault they were there. She’d invited them. There was her old boss Roger, who had bought all her soft cheese when he tasted it at the farmers’ market. There was Erica, who had the market stall, and Mary, Tig’s mother, who had both helped her make her first hard cheese just after Amy had died. There was John Radcliffe, boss of the big cheese retailer in Fitzrovia who had told her she had to make hard cheese. AlsoGideonIrving, a food and wine guru, and his wife, Zoe, the famous TV chef.
Also present were Gideon and Zoe’s good friends Fenella and Rupert Gainsborough, who were staying with Gideon and Zoe. Their various children were playing together on the specially constructed hay bales, supervised by Issi and Tig. Issi was heavily pregnant, looking radiant and obviously hoping to get a bit of practice in childcare before her own baby was born.
Fran’s mother and stepfather were also there, on the same big table. They were embarrassingly proud of their daughter and adored their son-in-law-to-be, who was currently checking everyone had enough coffee, tea, red wine or brandy. June and Jack were there paying special attention to Betsy, the young dog that now belonged to Fran. Antony had given Betsy to her as a birthday present and she had turned out to be a wonderful dog, if possibly a little over-indulged by Fran. Betsy was currently chewing the table leg.
