There are so many more people here than I’d anticipated.
‘I thought we were keeping this small,’ I whisper.
‘It was a little out of my hands,’ he replies. ‘They all wanted to come. I hope you’re not upset.’
I shake my head and then push open the door a crack and peek in, spying my mum up at the front, next to David.
A lump forms in my throat.
‘Hey,’ he says gently, pulling me into his arms and holding me tightly.
‘It’s okay, it’s okay,’ I gasp. ‘I’m not going to lose it.’ I try to inhale, but my lungs refuse to fill with air.
He places his hand over my stomach and presses his lips to my temple.
I don’t know how or why, but I suddenly feel calm. Like,weirdlycalm.
He looks at me expectantly.
I nod and go to push open the doors.
As soon as we walk in, Starship’s ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now’ pipes up. I start to laugh and look for Bridget, who’s grinning back at me from the front of the room. This is one of the songs they played at our first eighties club night, and I squealed when it came on again last night. She starts to melodramatically lip-sync to the words and I really want to join in, but then she suddenly seems to realise she’s being completely inappropriate and gathers herself together.
Alex smiles at me when we reach the front.
‘I love you,’ he mouths, squeezing my hand.
‘I love you, too,’ I mouth back, tears filling my eyes. He’s not letting me go, even though my hand is clammy.
And then we both turn to face the beaming registrar.
Ten minutes later, we’re married.
Later the following year…
We’re lying on our sides, facing each other, the lights in the room dimmed right down. It all happened so quickly, at the end. I can’t actually believe we did it.Idid it.
Alex runs his hand gently over the head of our tiny sleeping son, nestled between us. His eyes are blue.
‘All babies’ eyes are blue at first,’ he said earlier.
‘Our son’s eyes will be blue,’ I replied determinedly.
‘Okay, I’ll give you that, as long as our daughter’s eyes are green like yours,’ he stipulated.
I stare down at her now, emotion catching in my throat as I brush my finger across her tiny cheek. Not one, buttwobabies.Twins. Theo and Abigail.
I meet Alex’s eyes, which are swimming with joy and pride as he stares back at me. I tear my eyes away from my adoring husband and look down at the tiny sleeping bundles again, my heart threatening to burst with more love than I ever thought a human being could be capable of feeling.
Fate finally got it right.
And the timing was absolutely perfect.
Read on for an extract Paige Toon’s beautiful new novel, out now
The Last Piece of My Heart
Prologue
