EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
Carole lookedat the packing boxes stacked around the living room and let out a wistful sigh. It felt like only yesterday that she’d moved into this sweet little house on Foxglove Street with plans to stay here for a long, long time.
And yet, a little over a year later, she was about to leave.
It was a twist she hadn’t seen coming.
She would miss the gorgeous house, a house she’d turned into a home. Thinking back to when she’d first arrived, she remembered the long hours spent painting and decorating, making the rooms her own.
The pretty pink living room, the bright white kitchen, the soft blues of the bedroom upstairs.
Once she’d wrangled the décor into shape, this place had become a wonderful cocoon in which she’d begun the process of restarting her life after leaving London and ditching a dead-end relationship that she’d allowed to fester for much too long before calling it quits.
This house on Foxglove Street had been her hope for a new start.
Leaving it would be bittersweet.
But it was the right thing to do. Theonlything to do, considering what had happened over the last twelve months.
Carole thought back to that day when she and Tom had kissed in the market square and he’d told her that if she gave him a chance and things didn’t work out between them, he would move away.
She’d laughed at the time. The idea that it might come to that had seemed ludicrous.
Funny how the future had a way of catching you unawares—and sending you in directions you never saw coming.
Carole walked to the full-length mirror that she’d set up in the living room amongst the packing boxes and moving crates and looked at her reflection.
A thrill of excitement and nerves shot through her as she studied the bride reflected in the mirror.
Today was her wedding day, and in less than an hour she’d meet Tom at the altar and become his wife.
Just the thought of it spread a smile across her face from ear to ear.
She studied her reflection in the mirror, admiring the exquisitely elegant wedding dress she’d chosen with its graceful neckline and romantic folds. She felt every inch the radiant and beautiful bride. She glowed, lit from inside with pure happiness.
When she’d first agreed to date Tom a year ago, she’d never imagined it would one day lead to this.
And yet she’d never forgotten thatwhooshof déjà vu she’d felt on that sunny afternoon when the two of them had dressed up as bride and groom for the history museum vintage fashion show.
The strange sensation of glimpsing the future had been exactly that, she now knew, because here she stood in her wedding gown, ready to marry Tom.
The love of her life.
Carole fussed with her hair, which hung in soft curls and was accessorised with perfectly pinned tiny rosebuds. Diamonds twinkled in her ears and matched the engagement ring that sat on her finger, a ring Tom had given her six months after they began dating.
A sense of anticipation and destiny swept through her as she took a moment to let her reflection sink in. She was a bride, crazy in love and desperate to meet her groom and make her vows.
Carole knew this was her one quiet moment of the day. Her sister, who’d been with her since early in the morning helping her get ready, had only run off to fetch a few forgotten items from her parents’ house and would be back here any minute, ready to join her in the wedding car when it arrived to take them to the church. Both her parents had dropped by first thing that morning, filled with happiness and excitement for the day ahead.
Once she set off for the wedding ceremony, the day would turn into a non-stop rollercoaster ride.
And so she savoured the still moment, thinking about how it was a wedding that had brought her and Tom together to begin with.
It seemed strange to her now, how nervous she’d been about seeing her long-lost ex-boyfriend, Steven Weaver, at her cousin’s wedding a year ago. The amount of headspace she’d given the man amazed her, especially considering that once she saw him in the flesh and talked to him, she’d realised what a truly lucky escape she had all those years ago.
And yet, if it hadn’t been for Steven Weaver’s presence at her cousin’s wedding and her desire to find a date to be her plus-one for the day so she didn’t have to face him alone, she might never have fallen for Tom.
