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‘I need to talk to her but shall we dance first?’ Henry asked and she nodded.
He swept her onto the dance floor and with his arms round her waist and her head on his chest, in front of the whole town, and they started to move slowly around the floor.
She looked up and he smiled at her. He bent his head down to kiss her when suddenly a large, mayo
They looked around to see Daisy standing on the dance floor with her hands on her hips.
‘Don’t ever lie to me again,’ Daisy said, a smirk fighting on her lips, and Henry let out a booming laugh. With one arm still wrapped round Pe
Henry kissed Daisy on the forehead. ‘You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I have never regretted having you, not for one second. I would never do anything to deliberately hurt you. I love you so much and me being in love with Pe
‘I know that, Dad.’
‘And I love you, too,’ Pe
Daisy nodded and hugged them both tight.
Pe
It had turned out to be a perfect Christmas after all.
Epilogue
Christmas Day
Pe
‘That snow is coming down hard,’ Henry said, staring out the window with Bernard lying sprawled out upside down on his lap.
Pe
‘I’m not worrying,’ Henry said, failing to keep the note of tension from his voice.
Daisy giggled, the vibrations of her laughter travelling straight through Pe
‘I still worry about you – worrying about Pe
Pe
‘Daisy I trust, it’s Josh that I doubt. I remember what it’s like to be a teenage boy, pretty much the only thing they think of is sex.’
Pe
‘Dad, Josh is still terrified of you ever since you threw him to the ground. I imagine he’ll still be too scared to go near me on my wedding night. I really don’t think you have anything to worry about just yet.’
Henry seemed placated slightly as he turned his attention back to the snow, the frown returning to his face.
Bernard woke, stretched sleepily, kicking Henry in the face -which did nothing to detract his attention from the snow - fell off his lap and curled up in front of the fire.
Pe
‘What are you worried about?’
He ran his hands over her stomach. ‘Everything, the snow coming down too heavily and us not being able to get out if we need to, what the roads will be like if we need to travel on them, whether we have everything we need here if we do get snowed in…’
Pe
The timer went off on the oven, indicating that the mince pies that Henry had made fresh earlier that day were cooked.
Henry looked over to the oven anxiously and then back at Pe
Pe
Daisy groaned. ‘Dad’s mince pies are the worst. I never know how someone can go so drastically wrong with mince from a jar and roll-out puff pastry but he does, every single time.’
‘These ones are different,’ Henry called from the kitchen as he plated some pies up straight from the oven.
‘I think I’ll leave mine till later,’ Pe
‘No, you have to at least try it, let me know if I’m on the right lines.’
He came in with two plates, passed one to Daisy and then sank down on one knee to present his mince pie dramatically to Pe
Just as she was about to pick it up, she noticed something sparkle from the top of it. Realising almost immediately that it was a diamond ring, her eyes snapped up to meet his.
‘Pe
Pe
‘Good god, Dad, it took you bloody long enough, I thought you were going to end up waiting until she popped out a whole football team of kids before you proposed.’
‘Well, I didn’t want to rush into anything,’ Henry said, not taking his eyes off Pe
Pe
‘I love you, Pe
Pe
‘I love you with everything I have, of course the answer is yes.’
She leaned forward to kiss him and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. Inside her belly, a little foot kicked out and she laughed against his lips. ‘I think your son approves too.’
Henry laughed and knelt forward to kiss her oversized belly. ‘She said yes,’ he whispered.
‘He’s probably wondering what took you so long too,’ Daisy said from the sofa as she took a big bite of the pie with a huge smile on her face. The smile quickly fell off though as she shuddered with disgust. ‘Dad, this is gross.’
‘My work here is done.’
Daisy stood up and came over to hug them both. ‘Congratulations. I’m really happy for you both.’