Forget Me Never (23 page)

              He turned back to the stone and sniffed, “I miss you both so much,” he pecked his fingers and pressed them against their names. “We’ll come back and see you again soon, okay? I promise.” He stood from the grass and used a handkerchief to wipe his eyes, “Thank you,” he said.

              “No, Alec, thank you.” I smiled and pecked his lips tasting the salt from his tears. Folding my arms around his body, I held him there for a few moments. I looked around at the church yard, “It’s very beautiful here, peaceful,” I added as we parted.

              “This is where they got married, it would have been their thirtieth anniversary next weekend.” He explained looking back at the grave with a frown.

              “I am sure they will be celebrating.”

              “They did like to party,” he nodded. “There is somewhere else I want to show you, is that okay?”

              “Of course it is.” I smiled. He took my hand and led me from the graveyard back into the car.

He drove us a few more miles up the road and stopped at a small car park beside a huge meadow. As far as the eye could, swaying in the warming breeze, were flowers of all colours, blue corn flowers, yellow butter cups and dandelions, large daisies and red poppies, Fox gloves and forget-me-nots, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

              “What do you think?” he asked.

              “It’s breath taking,” I smiled and opened the door, “can we walk through it?” I asked climbing out.

              “I hope so,” he replied as he joined me at my side, “I do own it.”

              “Really?”

              “Yes, I bought it a few years after my parents died. I used to walk around here when I was younger, especially soon after, I felt the forget-me-nots bought me closer to my mum, she did love them, in fact she always talked of this meadow, she played here when she was growing up in the village behind the church. She met my dad walking back from here when she was just sixteen, he was here visiting family for the week and they fell in love. They got married before she left for medical school. He stuck by her so she could study and when she graduated, she got pregnant with Emily.” He gazed around, “When I come to see them, I always take a walk through the meadow and think of them after, it helps a lot. It used to be owned by a farm not too far away and apparently they needed some money, I saw the sign on one of my walks and made them a cash offer and they accepted it. It’s now my land to do what I want with, I could build a house if I wanted to, the only problem I have is, well, it is so beautiful, I can’t bring myself to dig it up.”

              “Alec, you can’t.” I frowned. “Not when it holds so many memories for you.”

              “I know,” he agreed, “and I don’t intend to, some things are better left untouched. Besides, my mum would kill me. I called it Maria’s Meadow after her, I don’t even think Emily knows about it. Come on,” he took my hand and towed me to the stile.

              “You should tell her, she could come here with the girls,” I stated as we stopped walking.

“You’re right, it might help her kick that filthy habit.” He agreed and climbed over first.

Once over he held out his hand. I stepped up onto the stile and then took his hand to keep me steady as I climbed over. He placed his hands either side of my waist and helped me down. The long grass and flowers tickled my legs as we walked through them, the scent filled my lungs as I took deep breaths while gazing around almost speechless.    

                     “This is so beautiful, Alec,” I said finally, “your mum would absolutely love that you bought this in her memory.” I could feel my heart pounding heavy in my chest, something felt awry and I couldn’t put my finger on it, maybe it was because I knew how much this meant to him and I didn’t want to say or do anything that would upset him. He took my hand as we continued walking through the flowers. Watching butterflies dance and bumble bees hover. The birds sang from the trees all around us and all I could do was smile.

                       “I knew you’d you like it here,” he smiled. “Welcome to my perfect piece of heaven.” He gleamed proudly. I could only smile as we walked.

              We got about halfway across the meadow and Alec suggested we take a little rest. I sat on the long grass and breathed in the floral aroma, the warm sun beamed down on us and as I looked at Alec, his eyes were alive. He leaned toward me and pressed his lips to mine, but they were harder than normal and I wondered what was on his mind as we parted he looked away.

              “You are a hit with Emily and Mark and the girls absolutely love you,” he said.

              “I love them too,” I admitted.

              “So um, I was wondering if uh, if you are truly happy with us.”

              “I told you I am,” I insisted.

              “You have made me a better person, Grace and… well, I want to ask if you would move in with me.”

              “What?” I grimaced.

              “Will you, move in with me?” I rolled my eyes, we had talked about this, he even got upset with me over it. I couldn’t give up my security of having a place to live, not to live with him. I loved him, but I didn’t want to lose everything if it went wrong between us and he decided I was not the girl he wanted after all. “Move in with me, Grace.” He said again and held out a small, red, jewellery box, I am no fool, it was clearly the size of a ring box, with a trembling hand, I took the box and looked at him. “Open it,” he said. I lifted the lid, half expecting to find a key to his house with a red bow or something, I already had key, but he liked to make a big deal over these sorts of things. I gasped, instead of a key, a huge diamond, about the size of a five-pence piece, sparkled in my eyes.

              “I don’t understand,” I queried just staring at the most beautiful ring in the world.

              “Move in with me and become my wife,” he knelt up and pushed my hair out of my eyes as they filled with tears, “Grace Louise Matthews, will you marry me?”

Eighteen

Speechless and unable to move an inch, I stared at the ring for a long time. Part of me was afraid to look up, I could hear Alec’s anxious breathing in front of me, but I was surprised, because I never expected him to ask me to marry him, I didn’t feel worthy enough to be his wife. This was perfect, the perfect proposal, the sun was shining from a blue sky, I was surrounded by my favourite flowers and I loved him so completely, why couldn’t I just say yes?

              “Are you going to make me beg?” he asked nervously. I looked up at him, his face wore a heavy, concerned grimace and I felt awful,

              “Yes,” I muttered through an almost closed throat.

              “Yes, you are going to make me beg or…?”

              “Yes, I will marry you,” I smiled apprehensively. He took me into his arms and kissed me deeply.

              “Try it on,” he goaded as we parted. I pulled the ring from the box and slipped it onto my finger. It fit perfectly, sparkling in the sun, dazzling my eyes. Alec and I were getting married and I didn’t know that this was what I truly wanted until he asked me. “I love you,” he said taking my hand into his.

              “I love you too,” I smiled with tears in my eyes. I blinked and one rolled down my cheek, he scooped it up with his finger and gazed into my eyes, “We’re getting married,” I grinned and sniffed.

              “We are and I would like to do it as soon as possible. I need you, Grace, I need you like I have never needed anyone before. I can’t wait to make you Mrs Richards.” He wrapped his arms around me once more and we fell back into the long grass.

The rest of the morning seemed to pass in a blur. We spent a good hour or so kissing, cuddling and talking about our wedding in his meadow. I couldn’t believe he actually owned a meadow, but it had become my new favourite place in the world, because now it would be our meadow, the meadow in which he had asked me to marry him. Maria’s Meadow would live forever in our hearts.

We arrived back at the house and Emily greeted us at the door, Mark’s sister had been taken into hospital so he had to go to Winchester to collect his nephews.

              “We’ll head off back to London,” Alec said, “you’ll have enough to cope with.”

              “I am so sorry,” she frowned.

              “It’s fine, we have a few things to sort out anyway.”

              “I feel bad,” she grumbled, “I wanted to make your weekend one to remember.”

              “Trust me, Emily, I won’t ever forget this weekend.” I pushed my hair over my ear with my left hand, she gasped and grabbed my hand,

              “When?” she demanded looking at my ring.

              “About an hour ago,” Alec smiled proudly.

              “I knew it, I told Mark I felt that you bought Grace here to propose.” She squealed, “I am so happy for you, little brother, so happy.” She hugged us both at the same time. “Well, I know two little girls who would be honoured to be bridesmaids,” she added.

              “We wouldn’t get married if they weren’t,” I replied.

              “Oh, Grace, my mum would love you, you are such a breath of fresh air and what’s more, you make my brother so happy. I couldn’t ask for more.”

              Over a cup of tea, we told her of the meadow and she promised the next time she went to the grave, she would visit it, just see if she gained the same comfort from it. We talked about the wedding and how Alec wanted to get it all booked as soon as he could. He didn’t see the need to wait if it was what we both wanted.  After our tea was finished, we said our goodbyes and left the girls looking at bridesmaid dresses on Google.

Once on the road I called my mum and told her the good news. She almost screamed down the phone at me, then I called Saff and asked her to meet us at Alec’s that evening. I wanted to tell her, but I also wanted to ask her for her help and if she wanted to take over the lease on my flat as I would be signed in for about ten more months.

We got back in London just before six that evening which made Alec very happy considering how long it took us to get to his sister’s. The drive to Oxford must have been harder for him, he had planned this for weeks, so it must have worried him.

He parked outside of his house and we took our things inside. I made us some pasta for dinner and considering neither of us had eaten much, we weren’t very hungry. I suppose excitement had taken over. I kept running his words through my head, how he had planned it all without letting on.

“Did my parents know about this?” I asked.

He smiled, “I spoke with your dad when we were there,” he admitted. “I would have asked you then, but he felt I should at least bring you to my sister’s first.”

“My dad is normally terrible at keeping secrets,” I smiled, “that was a huge risk.”

“One I was prepared to take, I had to ask his permission of course.”

I chuckled, “Oh really,” I grinned, “what did he say?”

“Take the wife as well and we have a deal,” he grinned.

“That’s my dad,” I laughed.

Saffron arrived at eight, I led her through the house after she picked her jaw up from the floor. Gazing around at Alec’s house she couldn’t believe how big it was. She kept touching things and saying, “I love this.”

              “Okay, so what do you have to tell me?” she asked before she even sat on the couch.

              “Alec has asked me to marry him and I said yes,” I beamed, I said it out loud, so it was real, it had to be real.

              “No, really, what’s the matter?” she frowned as she plonked down beside him on the sofa. I lifted my hand and showed her the huge rock sparkling in the light of the lamp. “What the…?”

              “We’re getting married,” I reiterated, “Now, I have two things to ask you, are you still with me?” I checked as she sat there open mouthed, she nodded, “Will you be my chief bridesmaid and would you like to take over my flat?”

              “Um, Yes, of course, I mean, I’ll be your bridesmaid, but the flat, well, I can’t afford the rent.”

              “Maybe I can talk to your landlord,” Alec interrupted, “to see if we can get you out of the lease.”

              “You do that, Alec,” Saff grinned, “Wow! My best friend is getting married,” she jumped up and hugged me, “I am so happy for you.” As we parted she grinned again, “Ha, we are having a hen night to end all hen nights. When is the wedding?” I looked at Alec.

              “As soon as we can organise it,” Alec replied.

              “Okay, just promise me one thing, no sodding pink of any shade.”

              “Deal,” I nodded.

Saffron left after a couple of hours, she was so excited for us and I began to see why, she had nursed me back from the brink of a breakdown, Alec was now taking me on and I would be his responsibility now. I was ecstatic, I was going to become Alec’s wife, it meant that we would have each other forever and there was no way he could leave me or decide he didn’t love me as much because we would make vows and I intended to live by them.

Monday morning, we went to the registry office to get the wheels in motion, they gave us some booklets giving us some ideas of venues. But my heart was elsewhere. I had always envisioned having my wedding in Suffolk, my home town with my family and friends all around us.

              As we left I suggested we get a coffee, while we waited I plucked up the courage to tell Alec what I would like.

              “Of course you do, sorry, I just assumed that you’d want to marry in London.”

              “I realise this is where you have made a life but…”

              “No, I insist, you have to be happy, Grace, its more your day than mine,” he smiled and took my hands in his, “I’d get married anywhere as long as it is to you.”

              “In that case, I will phone the Grosvenor Hotel, it is stunning and has an amazing wedding package.” He frowned, he obviously thought that is where I planned to marry the turd. “Oh no, nothing like that, the turd, as you call him, wanted a church wedding and the rugby club after.” I insisted. “A friend of mine got married there in February.” I explained. “Her pictures were incredible.”

              “Okay,” he smiled. “You book it and I will take care of everything.” 

That evening Alec had arranged for us to meet his group of friends, he hadn’t told them about me and felt he had to at least let them meat me, especially considering Lance, his best friend, was going to be asked to be his best man.

              We arrived at a wine bar called Spatz in Knightsbridge, where they all got together at least once a month, though it had been about three months since any of them had seen Alec. He towed me inside towards a table of people.

              “Better late than never,” a bald man smiled.

              “Brian,” Alec nodded. “Sorry, we’re late everyone,” he said loudly and they all turned their heads. “This is uh, this is Grace.” He announced proudly.

              “Hi, Grace,” A tall man with a small moustache and almost black hair smiled, “I am Lance.”

              “Alec’s best friend,” I nodded remembering what he had told me on the way over as we shook hands.

              “That’s right.” He smiled warmly.

              “Not forgetting me,” a stunning brunet with her hair pinned up like Audrey Hepburn interrupted. “I am Camilla.” She said, I recognised her and her cold eyes from the pictures at Emily’s.

              “Alec has told me a lot about you,” I smiled.

              “I am sure he has. Okay,” she said standing, she was so tall and as thin as a catwalk model. “That is Heidi with the blonde hair, on her left, the red haired chap is Miles and at the bar is Amelie, it’s her round too.” She said pointing to a blonde with curlier hair than me.

They all seemed a bit up tight at first, but once we’d had a couple of drinks, I suppose we all relaxed a bit. I listened as they talked about their jobs and their money, ex’s and cars. I sat next to Alec and Amelie, who seemed to drink like a fish. I was itching to speak with Camilla, Alec had told me so many stories about her, I wanted to know what he was like when he was younger.

              “So, you and Alec are really good friends,” I said across the table.

              “A bit more than friends, I think.” She frowned and knocked back her drink.

              “Oh, how so?” I asked.

              “Well, sweetheart, when he is finished with you, when you bore his balls blue, I am the one he comes to. It’s my bed he will share when it all goes tits up.” She replied bluntly. I felt my mouth fall open. “Don’t worry about it, you are on the end of a long line of girls who he has been with over the years, but he always makes his way back to my bed.” She added proudly.

              “That’s never going to happen again,” Alec frowned. I glared at him. “It only happened once, a long time ago.” I looked at my ring as it suddenly tightened on my finger. “Grace, Take no notice of her.”

              “Why won’t it happen again, Alec?” Camilla pressed. “What makes this one so special?” I looked up fighting tears of anger and humiliation.

              “Because Grace is not like any other girl I have ever known, we are in love, real love and I have asked her to be my wife. Grace and I are getting married.” He retorted. Everyone stopped talking and I felt an uncontrollable urge to get out. I stood quickly and hurried to the door.

Running across the street, I tried to hail a taxi. I thought he had told me everything about her, the one thing he didn’t tell me about Camilla was that they had slept together, why would he keep that from me? I knew why, because it was true and maybe after me he would have gone running back to her.

“Grace?” Lance called over to me, “wait.”

“I have to go,” I said frantically waving at every cab that passed

“Camilla is a pathological liar,” he said.

“So he hasn’t slept with her in the past then?”

“She is also a slut,” Lance frowned. “He is in there defending you, don’t let her get to you and chase you off, it is what she wants.”

“I feel like an idiot.” I sighed.

“Why? He must have told you about his past.”

“He did, all except the part about sleeping with her.”

“Something you need to know about Camilla, she has a wild imagination, I know of one time. Alec was so drunk he didn’t know what was going on until he woke in her bed the next morning. They didn’t even speak for about a year after it happened, it ruined their friendship and now she is a bitter, jealous bitch and knows she’s never be anything than a mistake to him. He probably didn’t tell you because he wanted to forget about it.”

“She is very beautiful though.”

“And she knows it, that’s why she is single, they want to screw her, but take you home to mummy. Alec is smitten with you and I think you will make a huge mistake by letting her see she has upset you.”