* * *
Much later, when all the guests have gone, Barrett and I stand in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by twinkling fairy lights, enormous flower arrangements and a quiet army of staff, clearing away the evidence of the wedding. Despite the lack of music, we sway in one another’s arms, needing nothing but the beat made by our hearts.
‘This place is pretty special.’ I shift my gaze away from him, to look towards Ashwyn Hall. It is like he described, but so much more homely than I’d imagined as well. I’ve been here three times. Once to meet his parents and then, a little over two months ago, for my thirtieth birthday—his parents insisted on organising dinner and a cake. That was the night we got engaged—not far from here, beneath an enormous, ancient oak tree. Somehow, in the intervening months, they pulled this beautiful country wedding together. It was everything I could have hoped for—but, to be honest, so long as I was marrying Barrett I wouldn’t have cared where or when.
‘It’s home—’ he grins ‘—
away from.’
For the moment, home is New York. It’s a compromise—easy for me to get to the West Coast and for him to fly to Europe, and it has the added advantage of being near two of the three Harts. Jagger, Grace and the girls come over a couple of times a year and we head to Australia at the drop of a hat. Our honeymoon is taking us to the golf course and resort Jagger bought a few years ago, near the Great Barrier Reef.
‘I never thought I’d be into all this tradition and stuff.’ I turn back to him, my blood rushing through my body.
‘But now?’
Something like apprehension moves inside me. What if he’s not happy about this? But then, it’s Barrett. Barrett, who is kind and good and perfect.
‘Now? I can’t wait to bring our child here and tell them the tapestry of history they’ve been born into.’
He grins at me, nodding. ‘I like the idea of that.’
He doesn’t realise what I’ve said. ‘You do?’
‘Yeah. Children. Our children.’
My heart stutters. ‘Well, that’s a relief.’
He slows, stops dancing altogether. ‘It is?’
‘Yeah. I mean, I think it’s too late to change your mind now.’
‘What do you—?’
I curve a hand over my still-flat abdomen. ‘Remember the night we got engaged?’
His eyes stray towards the oak tree beneath which, on a carpet of grass and a sky full of stars, we made love for hours. ‘Vividly.’
Then, as the penny finally drops, ‘You’re pregnant?’
‘Yep.’
‘Avery—’ My name is an exhalation on his lips. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘I’m serious.’
He grins. ‘I just mean... I had no idea. How did I not know this?’
‘I was waiting until the perfect moment to tell you.’ And then, because we’re always completely honest with each other, ‘And I was a little worried I was tempting fate. Like life was too perfect somehow.’
That sobers him. He drops his forehead to mine. ‘Haven’t I told you that you deserve everything good in this life?’
I bite down on my lower lip. ‘I really feel like I have that.’ I lift up and kiss him softly.
‘And you always will, my darling.’
* * *