A Simple Mistake (26 page)

Authors: Andrea Grigg

She nodded, almost in tears.

‘So, Lainey Sullivan, is there any reason, imagined, real or otherwise that would stop us from getting married?’

It was mean but she couldn’t help it.

She tightened her grip on his hands. ‘Actually, there is.’

Chapter Forty-Four

Lainey watched Nick’s mouth drop open. He let go of her hands and sat back. Not too far away, there was the rumble of thunder.

‘What
now
?’

‘Well,’ she said, observing his expression become suspicious the instant he heard her tone, ‘you haven’t actually asked me. That’s all.’

‘I see.’ His lips twitched. ‘I should pick you up and dump you in that creek.’

‘I know you could. You’ve done something like it before.’

‘I remember.’ A grin flitted across his face. ‘So you want this done properly. The whole bended knee thing.’

‘Yes, please,’ she said demurely. ‘We want to have a nice story to tell our grandchildren, don’t we?’

‘I think we’ve got plenty already, but it seems you need a bit more.’

‘I always need a bit more.’

‘You’re not wrong.’ He swiveled her around then knelt down on one knee and took both her hands in his. ‘Is this better?’

‘Much.’

He shook his head, smiling. ‘Lainey Patricia Sullivan, see, I even remembered your middle name, love of my life and – don’t cry, you wanted it like this – love of my life and the most beautiful goose I know – don’t try to hit me, I have your hands – will you please marry me as soon as you possibly can? Hurry up and answer me; I’m kneeling on a stone.’ Nick winced, shifted, then gave up. He pulled her to her feet and wrapped her tightly against him. ‘Well?’

‘Yes, please. Now kiss me.’

Being back in Nick’s arms was exactly right. All their pent up feelings for each other were conveyed in one long, perfect kiss, interrupted by a huge flash of lightning and an impressive crack of thunder.

‘Wow. We created fireworks.’

Nick grinned. ‘That’s the little bit more you mentioned you needed.’

Lainey put a hand to his face. ‘I think we’ve always had that.’

‘I have no doubt we always will.’ He kissed her again then dug around in his pants’ pocket. ‘I almost forgot. It’s not what you think, but it’ll do for now. It can go in your treasure box when we replace it with the real thing.’

Nick took her left hand and slid a ring on her finger. It was a shiny gold fake one, with a pink plastic stone surrounded by glittery plastic diamonds.

Lainey giggled. ‘It’s perfect. Oh, look, you can even adjust it if it doesn’t fit. I won’t need another one at all. I really, really love you.’

‘I know you do.’ He kissed her then glanced up as thunder rumbled. ‘Come on, we’d better go.’

She gave him the keys. ‘Here, you drive. I want to admire my ring. Where did you get it from?’

‘The cheap shop down the road from your place. Maybe we should buy our wedding rings from there too. I’m sure I could get a good discount. The girl on the checkout gave me a strange look. I think she recognised me.’ He started the car and pulled out onto the road.

‘She probably wondered what on earth you were doing.’ Lainey was fizzing with happiness. She waggled her hand from side to side, examining the ring. ‘Is there such a thing as a pink diamond?’ she asked.

Nick grinned. ‘You really like it, don’t you?’

‘I do.’ Mmm, wedding words.

‘We could get a real one made just like it.’

‘Could we? It would be so expensive though. Look at the size of these stones—’ she broke off, feeling silly. ‘You really are rich, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, Lainey, embarrassingly so. I can afford whatever kind of ring you want. So when do you think we can do this? How much time do you need? Six months? Would that be enough?’

Lainey hid a grin. She’d done her homework. ‘I was thinking more like seven.’

‘Seven? That’s a weird number to come up with. Alright then, that takes us into July. Hey, it’s better than seven years. Poor old Jacob.’

‘You read that story?’

‘You bet I did. That guy did it tough. He didn’t even get the girl he wanted first off. I can wait seven months.’ He squeezed her hand and smiled.

‘I meant seven weeks.’

‘Whoa!’ Nick whipped his head around. ‘Seven
weeks
? Hang on.’ There was a wide shoulder up ahead and he pulled over. ‘Do you seriously mean that?’

‘It would be Valentine’s Day, Nick, like you suggested in the first place.’

‘Lainey Sullivan. When did you work that out?’

‘Last night, while watching your movie and thinking what an idiot I’d been.’

A delighted grin spread across his face and he gave her a swift kiss. ‘Man, I love you. But what about you finding a dress and all the other stuff that goes with a wedding? Won’t everything be booked out?’

‘We’ll
make
it happen, especially with all your contacts.’

‘Yes, please. We’ve waited long enough.’ He stroked her cheek with his finger, making her skin tingle. ‘We can do this, Lainey, I know we can. We’ll phone Elke tomorrow. Between the two of you, it’ll be a cinch.’

She didn’t know about it being a cinch but they would do it.

They got back to the house just as it began to rain; big, fat drops that sent up spurts of dust wherever they hit. The driveway was empty – the others weren’t home yet. They sprinted from the car to the shelter of the verandah and sat on the old lounge, holding each other, watching the storm.

When the rain began to ease its assault on the tin roof, Lainey turned in Nick’s arms. ‘It’s thirteen years, almost to the day,’ she said, ‘that I sat here on an evening just like this, and told my mother I was pregnant.’

Nick stroked her hair. ‘I can’t imagine how difficult that was. My biggest regret is not being here with you when you needed me.’

‘I know. But God was and He’s worked it all out. A simple mistake kept us apart but look at us now. We’re planning our wedding. And believe me, Nick, after all these years, seven weeks is more than enough. I’d marry you in seven days if I could. Seven hours would be even better.’

‘Amen to that.’

She grinned. ‘You don’t have a good track record of behaving at weddings, do you?’

‘I promise I’ll behave at ours.’ He ran a thumb over her bottom lip. ‘I’m not vouching for afterwards though.’

‘Me neither.’ She laughed when for once, it was Nick who shivered.

‘Do you really think we can pull it off in that time? I think that’s about all the tread left in my running shoes.’

‘Of course,’ she said with a mischievous smile, her eyes not leaving his, ‘and then you can hang them up for once and for all.’

‘Right, you.’ Nick stood up. ‘Anymore talk like that and all that’ll be left of me is a burning hole in the deck. I’m going to do something quite mundane like make a cup of coffee. You stay there. I’m sure I can find my way around the kitchen. Want one?’

‘Yes, please.’ Lainey sank into the lounge, unable to remove the smile from her face, her mind and body humming in anticipation of what lay ahead.

Poor old Jacob. Seven weeks was nothing.

Epilogue

Nick lay propped
up on an elbow and watched his wife sleep. He smiled. His wife.

Their wedding day had been amazing, made even better with Lainey’s relationship with James and Mia fully restored.

They’d managed to achieve the impossible; everything had been organised in a few weeks and they had kept the whole thing a secret from the press, with the exception of Darren Cosgrove. Elke had phoned him the night before.

Nick’s eyes were drawn to a photograph on canvas, propped up against the wall. It was Lainey’s wedding present to him and he loved it. She had squirrelled away a pair of his running shoes and Darren had photographed them, hung up on some pegs on a wall. Of course, Darren had no idea of the meaning behind it, but Nick did. He thought it was very clever.

Lainey was half turned towards him, her breathing deep and even, her hair a tumbled mass over her pillow. She looked every bit as beautiful as she had yesterday in her full bridal regalia. Her wedding gown was now on the floor in a sparkling, discarded heap. Nick grinned, remembering how it had got there.

He’d had enough of being awake on his own. Nick traced Lainey’s cheek with the merest touch of his finger. She wasn’t a morning person but it was worth the risk; the chances of her being cranky at him today were minimal.

Her eyelashes fluttered and her breathing changed. She blinked a few times then broke into a smile, gathered her hair into her hands and swept it over her shoulder in one fluid motion. Nick looked forward to watching that for thousands of mornings.

He brushed an errant strand away from her mouth and kissed it. ‘Hello, you.’

‘Hello yourself.’ Lainey ran her palm down his jaw. ‘How do you manage to look so good first thing in the morning? I’m afraid you’ve woken up with bridezilla.’

‘Goose.’ Nick gathered her into his arms. ‘You look wonderful.’

Lainey snuggled into his chest and sighed. ‘We finally got married. I thought we’d never get there.’

‘
You
thought we’d never get there! You’re the one that delayed proceedings, madam, not me.’

‘I know. But it was worth it, wasn’t it?’

‘Every minute of it.’

‘Good.’ Lainey nestled even closer. ‘By the way, you know the photo and what it means …’

Nick chuckled. ‘About finally being able to hang up my running shoes?’

‘Mmm. Well, I don’t want you to.’

Startled, he drew back. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I need them back. I’m going to commission Darren to do another shot of them – in a smoking heap.’

Nick laughed and kissed her again. She was definitely worth the wait.

About the Author

Andrea Grigg lives with her husband on Queensland’s Gold Coast, where they have raised their three adult children – two daughters and a son. When she isn’t teaching ten-year-olds, being a domestic executive or socialising, Andrea can be found in her cave, writing stories.