Page 100 of Italy and Forever

Nothing but you. Although this upside-down world seemed too good to be believed, she wanted to hear more and the words that tumbled out of his mouth were beyond what she could have imagined.

‘Ginny, I’ve been most of the way in love with you for a long time,’ he admitted with a perplexed smile, full of relief. ‘I never felt the slightest bit of encouragement until that day at the pub when I set your hair on fire.’ He winced. ‘And I doubted I could be what you needed anyway.’

‘You are,’ she insisted fiercely. ‘We’re disastrous together when we’re not kissing, but together like this, you’re exactly what I need.’

‘It just took you a little longer to get here,’ he commented, his smile growing playful. ‘But if you want me in your life, then I’m not getting on that plane. I’ll call Banff tomorrow and discuss options. If you really love me, I’ll stay here. I’d much rather be here with you than in Canada.’

It really was as simple as that. She didn’t have to do without him.

He leaned close and said, ‘I said I’m staying, so you can tell me now.’

She didn’t hesitate, stretching up to whisper in his ear. ‘I love you.’

His smile when she drew back to look at him was one she’d never seen before: giddy and broad, with a powerful blush staining his cheeks. She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and grinned back at him.

Tita called out from where the others were keeping a respectful – but definitely prying – distance. ‘Yes! You did it, Ginny! You landed us a brilliant photographer for I Do!’

‘You haven’t seen the pictures from Sophie’s wedding yet,’ Rhys responded with a roll of his eyes.

‘The ones I’ve seen are amazing,’ Ginny joined in with a provocative smile. ‘He takes beautiful portraits.’

Pressing a kiss just above her ear, he whispered, ‘I do, when they’re of you.’ He peered down at her. ‘So, I’m staying? You’re sure you want this old man hanging around? Everything at your pace.’

She peered up at him. ‘You remember on the phone before, I said, “Don’t go anywhere”? Would you believe, I meant every word? I want you hanging around for a very long time – at least long enough to plan an enormous wedding one day.’

EPILOGUE

‘It’s not that long ago that we were last here with a home-made sign,’ Toni said cheerfully as she helped fetch the roll of butcher’s paper out of the minivan with ‘Great Heart Adventures’ on the side.

‘And look how well that turned out,’ Reshma replied with a pointed glance across the car park to where Ginny and Rhys had paused for a quick kiss while unpacking the photography equipment from the boot of Ginny’s blue Fiesta.

‘You’ve assembled a wedding dream team here,’ Kira commented as she locked the minivan. ‘Now you’ve got adventure guides, a singer, a florist and a photographer, all part of the family.’

Reshma glanced from Toni to Kira, now her good friends. Family. It was a surprising word.

Cillian rushed to his mother’s side, holding a phone she guessed was Gabri’s. ‘Come on, Mum! This says the flight’s landed!’

‘We’d better get to the terminal,’ Reshma said indulgently.

Ginny was positively skipping as they made their way to Arrivals. ‘How fun to be on the other side of the sign this time,’ she said with a grin.

‘It looked pretty fun on your side of the sign back in November,’ Toni pointed out. ‘Particularly the part where you two were making out like teenagers.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Cillian piped up. ‘Why is it always teenagers? It’s grown-ups at weddings who are the ones who kiss a lot.’

‘Yep, no idea, kid,’ Ginny responded drily. ‘And people in their forties and fifties kiss loads as well.’ She winked at Reshma and reached back for Rhys’s hand.

The two of them seemed to have an exceptionally high tolerance for each other, living and working together, now Rhys was their most popular photographer. For a man who’d barely tolerated anyone and a woman who’d always been ‘too much’, they made unexpected sense together. Ginny had requested six weeks’ leave to travel with him to Patagonia for an assignment later in the year. With Kira and Toni on board, Reshma had been happy to approve it.

Toni had travelled to two more weddings since last summer and Reshma suspected, now she’d eased into it and seen Cillian managing fine without her for a few days, that she’d be willing to take on more. Gabri still did the occasional job for I Do, despite having his own business to look after. He’d moved into a new house with Toni in the spring. Every time Reshma saw him, he seemed to be speaking to Cillian.

Kira was leaving for Naples soon to spend three weeks with Mattia’s ‘scary, overprotective’ mother. The dear man seemed to think she was joking whenever she said that, although Reshma could see Kira’s unease at the prospect. But Kira didn’t do anything she didn’t want to do, so Reshma suspected she was keen to make a good impression – and a lasting connection – with the woman who’d raised her partner.

Tita, who’d been with Reshma right from the beginning, had just returned from a long overdue Caribbean cruise with a new enthusiasm for weddings, which might have had something to do with the end of her constant struggle to find photographers. It was Tita who’d put today’s plan into action, drawing the banner and organising the gift, and her anticipation now was infectious.

When Reshma had started I Do fifteen years ago, she’d planned a business, dreaming of success and expansion, keeping sight of what mattered most: finding the right human resources. But the business had only really taken off when those human resources had turned out to be so much more than that. Now she was planning a different kind of expansion – something that would foster and nourish this family, while also exceeding her wildest dreams.

Willard jogged over, late as usual. She guessed he’d been late to the top of Mount Everest the couple of times he’d reached that summit. But as usual, his energetic manner, the way the words ‘I’m glad to see you’ were in his eyes, soothed the jumpy place inside her that had never quite recovered from the poor decisions of her youth.