He wrinkles his nose. ‘That’s not the reason. It’s not the reason at all.’ He shakes his head. ‘I’ve always wanted to marry you, Maeve. You know that. And everyone’s heard me tell you, lots of times.’
Tia coughs. ‘That’s true. He’s always said, but you always insisted he was joking.’
I shake my head. ‘I’ve never wanted to get married to anyone. But now I might.’ I stare at my half-eaten chocolate flake and consider. ‘The more I think about it, the better it sounds.’ I flop my hand over Lando’s shoulder. ‘I definitely want to be with you forever; I love you to the beach and back, and it’s not as if we’ve only just met.’
Nemmie looks as if she’s bursting. ‘We kids should get a say in this too!’
I’m staring at them. ‘So what do you think?’
Nemmie leans her back against the railings, and narrows her eyes. ‘You all know that until we started the dating thing, I’d never wanted a dad. But if I have to choose one, I can’t think of a better one than Lando.’
There are tears running down my face, and I can’t stop them. Nemmie comes over and I pull her into a hug, and as Lando puts his arms around both of us he’s scraping away the tears too.
A long time later, as we pull out of the hug, Lando puts ice cream on both our noses, and we get him back twice as badly, then Martha and Angel jump up and join in, and Tia comes to the rescue with the box of emergency tissues from the registrars’ table.
Lando wipes the ice cream off his face then grins. ‘So that’s settled. We’ll have a December wedding, and we get the championship too!’
We all give each other high fives, then the kids run off to the sea, and Tia and Thom go off to get ready for tomorrow and leave Lando and me with our arms around each other on the verandah, feeling like the happiest couple in the world.
51
The beach by Oyster Point, St Aidan, Cornwall
Loose ends
Sunday
Tia and Thom become Mr and Mrs Shepherd under a dusky blue sky without rain or rainbows and take their very own place on the Brides by the Sea wedding board. And on a windy Sunday a week later, Lando, Nemmie and I walk the dogs out to Oyster Point, and on our way home, munching on giant chocolate muffins we picked up earlier from the Little Cornish Kitchen and watching the beach hut getting bigger as it comes closer, we tell Nemmie the truth: that Lando and I were once in love a long time ago and spent a night together under the stars at Windflowers. And that Lando went off across the world afterwards and neither of us knew about Nemmie until the night she was born.
And when Lando explains how the night Nemmie was born he was on a remote island counting turtles in Australia, Nemmie wants to know what kind of turtles, and Lando says green turtles and loggerhead turtles, and answering all Nemmie’s questions about that takes some time. Once that’s done, I explain that I was waiting to see Lando in person so I could tell him about her, and that he’d taken a time to come home because he wasn’t sure we wanted him around.
Eventually, as she comes to the end of her muffin, Nemmie looks particularly satisfied and says, ‘I always knew you two were in love, even before we did your dates.’ Then she looks at Lando and says, ‘I couldn’t wish for a better dad. I’m so glad it’s you,’ and we all have a hug.
‘Are you going to have more children? I’ve always wanted a sister,’ Nemmie enthuses.
I laugh. ‘You never know what the future holds, Nemmie.’
She gives me a look. ‘If it’s a girl we’ll call her Andromeda.’
I try to divert her. ‘In the meantime, let’s ask Lando about koala bears.’
Lando laughs. ‘This also means you get another set of grandparents and my five brothers and sisters as your new aunts and uncles.’
Nemmie gives a blissful grin. ‘I’m actually related to an alpaca breeder.’ She hesitates for a moment. ‘Can we have a party for this?’
Lando laughs. ‘Once Esme hears there will be no stopping her.’
I lean back in my seat. ‘If there’s another party to plan, I definitely need more muffins.’
Nemmie’s jumping up and down. ‘Can the muffins wait? I need to tell Dale and Zara that Lando is my dad. We might need to go straight home!’
PS
Considering I never imagined I’d have a boyfriend, let alone a husband, I couldn’t be more excited. By the time the day comes all I want to do is marry Lando regardless of the weather, which is good because the night before there is a blizzard.
We have a truly white wedding, with posies of anemones, and snow on the sand. As for beach hut weddings being tiny, this one starts small, and then grows to spill onto the verandah, then out across the sand. In the end all our families and all our brothers and sisters are there on the beach, along with Tia and Thom. Holly and Jules are taking the photographs; Jess and Bart come with everyone from the shop; Poppy is there with Rafe and her children, and Tia’s Aunty Immie joins us. Sav and Erica come and bring all the staff from the Sardine Club; Clemmie and the Little Cornish Kitchen crew are there along with most of the mums and babies group and a lot of the singles club. Even the ladies from the Cats’ Protection shop turn up to cheer, along with the B&Q manager, most of the Chamber of Commerce, and the girls from Iron Maidens.
We walk into the beach hut to ‘A Whole New World’, suggested by the bridesmaids, who are wearing the lightest tulle dresses with their sparkly Doc Martens. Lando wears Oliver’s and my favourite suit, and at Lando’s request I wear the dress I was wearing the morning we met in St Aidan. If anyone tells you expensive dresses aren’t worth it, point them to this one, which went to the harbour floor and still lived to tell the tale.
