‘You want me to be Rabbie for you?’ Niall asked.
‘Ha, well, you can be Niall if you like but give me Rabbie’s words.’
There was no need for a book; Niall could recite the poems from memory, affording him freedom to murmur into her ear whilst stroking her fingers, ‘“I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy, Naething could resist my Nancy”;...I’d replace Nancy with Carli,’ he added, ‘but it doesn’t rhyme…’
‘That’s okay.’
‘“But to see her was to love her; Love but her, and love forever.”’
Carli’s heart was at maximum beating capacity. She loved those words so much, and one day, if Niall expressed that exact sentiment to her, she would be cartwheeling over the moon. For now, though, just hearing the poetry was perfection. There would not be a single one of her friends,here or in Australia, having a sexy Scottish boy murmur Scottish poetry into their ears whilst sitting in a romance library on a dark December evening, even if he did have his hand sliding down her thigh and there was something slightly less romantic pressing at her coccyx.
Niall continued, switching to a different poem.‘“So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.”’
‘What does that mean again?’ she asked.
‘It means you’re dead pretty and I’m madly in love with you and always will be until all the seas are dry. So, forever, basically.’
‘I see.’
A silence fell over them and there was only the sound of the December wind whipping round the house and far off voices in other rooms. Niall pulled his hand up from her thigh and rested it on Carli’s hand.
‘It’s true, by the way,’ he said, and Carli swore she saw her heart spin out of her chest and split into a million hopeful mini hearts dancing in front of them. Was he going to say it?
‘What is?’
‘I am madly in love with you.’
And there they went, the little hearts, dancing and singing and doing the polka all around the room. He loves you. He loves you. Niall and Carli forever. And ever.
No, stop, stop, don’t get carried away.
She craned her neck and shifted a little so she could see him.
And despite her worries, and although Carli had never had a boy tell her he loved her before, Niall’s words were etched all over his face.
‘Really?’ she asked.
‘Aye,’ he said. ‘I love you, Carli.’
They’d only known each other three months, but it was long enough for Carli to be gone for him. Niall was it for her. He might not be the teacher’s favourite, but he was without a doubt hers.
‘You don’t have to say it back,’ he said, hesitation flickering in his eyes. He might be bluster on the outside but inside he was an absolute gem with misgivings, and those were causing this spark of doubt. There was nothing more she would love to do than to put that doubt to bed. Turning herself around properly, letting him adjust his legs so she could sit on his lap and look straight at him, unflinchingly, she asked. ‘Til a’ the seas gang dry?’
He smiled. ‘Aye.’
‘Love but me and love forever?’
‘Aye.’ He stroked his thumb down her cheek. ‘Forever.’
Carli mirrored his touch, running a finger from his temple to his chin, the emerging stubble on her journey telling her of the man he would one day be. She met his gaze. ‘Me too,’ she said. ‘I love you too, Niall Butler. Forever.’
Chapter 28
Carli
Carli had always found returning to the Butler family home comforting. Walking up the long gravel driveway to visit Niall, the heavy front door opening into the wide hallway with its warm lamps and soft carpeting. The sound of laughter coming from somewhere in the house, usually the kitchen where she might find Jamie and Cal laughing when they were meant to be doing their homework, or Sean and Niall doing impressions of their schoolteachers, or Nate telling his sisters who they were and were not allowed to date, the answer being that no one was good enough. And there were times she’d arrive with Niall and he’d take her somewhere they could be alone and chat about the day, usually his mother’s library.
Today, the house lacked that warmth when they entered. The heating was off as Amanda was at the hospital. Nobody else lived here now. Only Amanda and Jimmy, and the carer who often stayed over.
