‘Whatever you want to happen. I could stay – just for the night, or for as long as you like. I think we have a lot to talk about. A lot to process. Maybe there’ll be some more crying, but hopefully some laughing as well.’
She nods, and stares down at the river, at a small family of ducks wandering around the bank.
‘Yes, okay,’ she says simply. ‘Drive me home. We can talk, and laugh, and we can rest… but I can’t promise miracles, Rory. I can’t promise fast.’
I stand up, and hold out my hands. She takes them, and I help her up. I gaze into those astounding liquid brown eyes of hers, and lose myself all over again. Even a second in this woman’s heart is worth a lifetime with anybody else.
‘I don’t want fast,’ I tell her, as we stroll hand in hand back the way we came. ‘Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.’
She looks delighted, and laughs at the quote. ‘Friar Laurence! That’s not your line, Rory – you’ll always be Romeo!’
I draw us to a halt, wrap my arms around her, kiss her upturned lips. I don’t know what will happen in the future. I don’t know how this will work out. But for now, we are together – and when we are together, the world is a better place.
‘And that, my love, is a role I’ll be happy to play forever…’
PART THREE
THE END?
EPILOGUE
Spring, Bonnie Bay
‘Are you ready?’ Rory asks. ‘Moira will have our guts for garters if we’re not on time…’
‘Of coursewe’reready,’ Jane replies, sounding offended. ‘Are you?’
‘Yeah, come on, slowcoach!’ Beth adds, striding past him, tutting at his apparent tardiness.
Rory looks momentarily flummoxed. He’s been ready all morning, just waiting for them. And now suddenly he’s the one who’s making everybody late? He sighs and shakes his head. He’s outnumbered, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
The two of them moved permanently to Bonnie Bay in September. They confessed to Beth that they’d been the star-crossed lovers all along, and she’d worked through a process of disbelief, annoyance, and eventually laughter. She’d then moved straight on to the important questions.
‘So, are we moving up there then, Mum? Because if we are, I’m going to need some new clothes. Laurel says it’s bloody freezing in the winter, and they get snowed in all the time…’
And just like that, a decision was reached. Jane quit her job as Chief Global Project Manager (International), much to her boss’s disgust, and relocated. The house in Watford is being rented out, which gives her an income and means she doesn’t have to rush into deciding what her next career move might be. She has been seeing a counsellor, initially alone and now with Rory, and that has helped.
Rory… well, Rory’s just happy. Right now he grins as he trails behind the two women who have changed his life. His Juliet, who is indeed the sun, and the unexpected blessing of Beth, who in her own way blazes just as bright.
They drive down to the village, and to the latest shenanigans at the Bookshop at the Edge of the World – or the Hopeful Hearts bookshop, as it’s unofficially known. It’s worked its magic twice in a row now, with Kate and Brody, and him and Jane, so he decides it’s earned the name.
Inside, it’s packed with familiar faces. Xander and his little spaniel, Betty, Rosie and her children, Jack who helped with the renovations, Ginny and Shirley, Robbie, James Fraser the investor. The older people who took part in the art project, enjoying a night out in the village. Harry McAdam, Moira’s new gentleman friend – a toy boy at a mere seventy-nine. There’s laughter and chatter and an atmosphere so cheerful it should be bottled and used as a cure for loneliness.
Moira bustles towards him, holding out a glass of whisky. It warms his heart to see her up and about, and so far all of the doctors’ predictions about her recovery are holding true. He takes the offered drink, clinks his glass against hers. ‘Sláinte!’ he says.
‘Cheers!’ she replies. They both down their tots, and she reaches up and strokes the side of his face. ‘You look happy, son.’
‘I am, Moira. Happier than I ever thought possible.’
‘See – I told you the universe would answer my prayers for you, didn’t I? And it all worked out pretty well for me as well…’
She lets out one of her trademark cackles. She knows it was Jane’s work here that made all the difference, and she has an extra special gift to pass to her in thanks – an early edition of Beatrix Potter’sThe Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, with gorgeous illustrations that she knows Jane will adore.
‘Is everybody ready?’ Kate shouts over the hubbub of the gathering in the bookshop. Everyone cries out that they are, even Joanne, who is standing with a cup of tea instead of a real drink. Kate and Brody open the connecting door, and she grandly announces: ‘Well in that case, welcome… Art at the Edge of the World is now officially open!’
They walk through, Beth going ahead with her friend Laurel, Rory catching hold of Jane’s fingers. She looks nervous. He can understand why, but she has nothing to worry about. He lifts her hand to his lips, and drops a kiss on her upturned palm. She smiles at him, and just for a moment, they are the only two people in the universe. ‘I’m so proud of you,’ he tells her.
‘Thank you. I think… I think I’m proud of me too! Shall we?’
