CORAL - Forever (A Romance Trilogy, Book 3) (11 page)

“Shall we?” I say giving him my hand, he
gently kisses it then stands and holds his arms out again. I roll my eyes at
him, get to my feet and place my hands around his neck. Tristan lifts me into
his arms, kisses me swiftly on the cheek, and we head down the stairs.

“You look nice,” I whisper.

“Yeah?” He smiles his boyish smile, his
dimples are soft.

“Yes, very sexy and you smell divine,” I
add, pecking his neck.

“Why thank you,” he beams. Reaching the
bottom stair, Tristan grins and places me down on the floor. “Look,” he says
pointing at the great room.

I turn my head and stop breathing. The
kitchen, and living area have been decorated for the occasion. There are
banners saying ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Get Well Soon’ up on the walls. There’s
balloons, party poppers, twinkly lights, and loads of soft glowing Chinese
lanterns, and. Coldplay’s Paradise is playing in the background – Excellent
choice Tristan!

As I look into the kitchen, I see Edith is
busy cooking up a storm, and Stuart is busy setting up champagne flutes on the
breakfast bar; he turns and smiles at me then continues.

“Happy?” Tristan asks beaming at my shocked
expression.

“Did you do all this?” I squeak.

“We all did,” he says.

“But I thought this was supposed to be a
surprise?”

“Changed my mind,” he says, gazing down at
me.

“Tristan!” I suddenly feel really guilty. We’ve
been fighting with each other, yet he’s done all of this…for me. Tears pool in
my eyes again –
Crap! My make-up!

“Hey.” He pulls me into his arms, my head
against his chest.

“Sorry,” I sniff. “I’m just overwhelmed,
thank you Tristan.” I lean up onto my tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

“Come on,” he says taking me by the hand
and leading me over to the sofa. “Sit,” he says and I carefully do so. “Would
you like a drink?”

“Alcohol?” I tease.

“No baby,” he softly says, kneeling in
front of me. “Please, just until you’re off your painkillers?”

“Ok,” I relent.

“Back in a second,” he says. I watch him
walk over to the kitchen, and make up two more bucks fizz with the alcohol free
champagne from earlier.

AS TRISTAN REACHES ME HE HANDS ME
a glass, leans down and softly kisses me. “Happy belated birthday,”
he says clicking his glass against mine. We both take a welcome sip
. Hmm,
not bad considering there’s no alcohol!

“Thanks,” I whisper. “Aren’t you drinking?”
I ask.

“If you can't drink, then I’m not drinking
either,” he says, sitting next to me.

“Oh.” My heart swells with love for him
again.

“Cheers,” he says holding up his glass. “Cheers.”
We click glasses again, and both take a drink. “What’s Edith cooking?” I ask;
she seems very busy in the kitchen.

“I think its spicy buffalo wings – for the
party,” he adds.

“Smells divine,” I say. “Do you think she
needs some help?”

“No,” he snaps, I turn and frown at him.
“You’re not going in there,” he says.

“Fine!” I grumble. I’m sure moving around
is better than getting stiff from being still so much.

“Coral, do you have any idea of my feelings
for you?” He softly says, his voice trembling slightly.

I look up at him with wide eyes. “Yes,
because it’s exactly how I feel for you,” I answer smartly.

Tristan closes his eyes in frustration. “I’m
sorry I’m snapping, but…” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you in
the kitchen,
hell
I don’t want you doing anything at the moment. I want
you to heal, get better…” He trails off and takes a big swig of bucks fizz.

“I know,” I whisper, feeling guilty.
Why
can't I just be happy with other people looking after me?

Tristan turns and gazes at me. “I want to
give you your birthday present now, before everyone arrives. Is that ok?” He
asks.

“Are you kidding me?” I squeak, my mouth
popping open.

“What?” He softly asks registering the look
of shock on my face.

“When the hell did you manage to get me a
present Tristan? With everything that’s gone on….” I shake my head. “Are you
secretly a super-hero or something?” I add, smirking at him.

Tristan smiles at me. “Actually I got it a couple
of weeks ago,” he says smugly.

“Oh!” My face falls. “Sorry,” I smile shyly
at him.

“Don’t be,” he chuckles. “Back in a
second,” he says and strolls of to his office.

I can't believe I have a birthday present
from him. I shake my head in wonder.

Tristan re-appears with a small flat box in
his hand, my heart starts rapidly beating against my chest –
Ok, deep
breaths Coral!

Sitting next to me, he takes my hand in
his, and in his most sexy, croaky voice he whispers, “Happy birthday darling.”
Then he leans forward and kisses me so softly, so sweetly, that I feel my bones
liquefy. I stop breathing. “Coral?” His lips freeze on mine then he slowly
pulls back, assessing me. “Are you alright?” A nervous giggle bursts from
within me.

“I told you Tristan, you have no idea of the
effect you have on me.” He smiles his most dazzling smile and carefully places
the small box in my hand. It’s deep red and brushed velvet, so I’m guessing a
jewellery box – but I could be wrong. I swallow hard, my mouth going dry and
run my hand over the top of it.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“You haven’t even seen it yet,” he says
smiling broadly. “Open it,” he adds excitedly.

“Ok,” I say, laughing nervously. I slowly
lift the lid, and there staring back at me is the most beautiful heart shaped,
antique silver locket necklace.
Oh wow!

“Tristan,” I choke. “It’s beautiful…” I
stop unable to articulate anymore.

Tristan smiles then lifts the locket out of
the box, it’s small, a perfect size and has a beautiful filigree pattern on it.
“Look,” he says excitedly and opens the clasp.

And there staring back at me is one of the
photos we had taken in Hastings of the two of us, but it’s miniscule in size.
It fits perfectly inside the locket.

Closing the locket, he turns it over in my
hand, there’s an inscription engraved on the back. It’s small though, so I have
to bring it closer to read it…

You
have my heart, keep it safe.

Tristan
x

I choke back more
tears. “Oh Tristan…” I sniff. “It’s so beautiful…so sweet.”
What did I ever
do to deserve such a thoughtful, loving man?

“Hey now,” he soothes, rocking me gently.

“I’m sorry,” I croak.

“Don’t be,” he softly says, kissing the top
of my head. “I take it you like it,” he chuckles.

“Yes,” I whisper craning my head back to
look up at him. “It’s magical.” I lean up and softly kiss him.

“Magical?” I nod once, smiling shyly at
him. “Ok, it’s magical,” he says.

Then taking the necklace, he undoes the
clasp and places it around my neck. “There, a perfect fit,” he says proudly. I
look down at the locket laying against my t-shirt and start to laugh. “What?”
he chuckles.

“Doesn’t exactly go with a t-shirt,” I
chuckle.

“Does it matter?” he asks.

“No,” I shake my head. “It doesn’t.” I
place the locket in my hand, bring it up to my lips and kiss it.
Wow, I’m
still gobsmacked!

“Here baby.” Taking my right wrist, he
clips my bracelet into place, then my watch on my left wrist.

“Thank you.” We grin like fools in love at
one another, I lean forward to kiss him, but I’m halted by a loud ping-pong
echoing through the hallway.
There’s a doorbell?

“I guess they’re here,” Tristan says,
grinning widely.

Stuart is straight over, walking the length
of the hallway and opening the door to the first of our guests. Rob and Carlos
walk in, hands ladled with presents, balloons, and flowers; and to my great
surprise George and Phil are following them.

Tristan and I stand as Stuart shuts the
door and stays there, scanning? Rob comes bounding over to me with a ridiculous
grin on his face.

“Surprise!” He screeches, then bursts out
laughing, which starts me off. Tristan walks over to him, shakes his hand, then
shakes Carlos’s and they exchange a brief conversation.

Then Tristan walks straight over to George;
they shake hands and start a deep discussion.
I hope it’s not about me.

“Rob!” I beam, walking too quickly towards
him and gasping because it hurts.

“Whoa!” Rob is there, stopping me. “Take it
easy,” he says. I hug him, he carefully hugs me back then chuckles some more. “How
are you feeling?” He asks.

“Good, sore,” I say. “Listen, while I’ve
got you I need to tell you something.”

“Ooh, gossip!” Rob laughs.

I roll my eyes at him. “I want you to be my
Wedding Planner,” I whisper.

“I thought we’d already established that?”
He whispers back. “And why are we whispering?”

We did? I don’t remember that.
“You
have two weeks.” I challenge.

“Two weeks for what?” He asks then his face
falls as the penny drops. “No way!” He hisses. “That is not enough time, and
you’ll never get a venue booked in that timescale,” he adds.

“Rob, I want it here. Tristan agrees. Look
I don’t want anything fancy, just something sweet and intimate. Do you think
we’ll get a priest person, you know…what are they called, Ministers or
something?”

“So we are looking at a civil ceremony
here?” he says. I nod once. “Well we better get a move on,” he adds.

“Why?” I ask, frowning.

“Because you can't get married somewhere
that isn’t registered as a licensed venue.”
How does he know this?

“Oh!” My face falls, my heart sinking.

“Relax, I can get it sorted. But we also
need to see if we can get a registrar that’s available too.” My heart sinks
even further, this may not happen as quickly as I thought.

“Ok,” I mumble. Rob carefully wraps his arm
around me. “Hey, don’t sweat it, I’ll get right on it, ok?” I look up into the
dark eyes of my very best friend and smile.

“Alright, it’s now in your capable hands. I’m
going to talk to Carlos now, but keep it under wraps what I said ok?” Rob rolls
his eyes at me, kisses my cheek, then walks towards Tristan and George. “Where’s
the booze Tristan?” He shouts.

Shaking my head at him, I turn and see
Carlos placing presents on the kitchen table. I haven’t really seen him
properly, talked to him…since the news that Rob gave me. I dash over to him and
wrap my arms around him, even though it hurts.

“Carlos!” I gush. “I haven’t had a chance
to talk to you,” I whisper, choking up again.

“Hey now sunshine,” he says, gently hugging
me. “I’m so glad you’re ok,” he whispers.

“With you too,” I say taking his face in my
hands. “Are they really sure, you have the all clear?”

“Yes,” he beams. I can see the relief in
his eyes.

I take a deep breath. “Oh Carlos, you both
had me so worried,” I whisper.

“I know, Rob told me and knowing what
you’re like, in hindsight, we should have just told you,” he says.

“Yes, you should have. But I guess it’s in
the past. I’m just so happy you’re ok,” I beam.

“Same here…with you,” he says, his eyes
glistening over. We hug fiercely and kiss each other on the cheek. Rob comes
over with two champagne flutes.

“Can’t,” I say.

“I know,” he chuckles. “They’re for us,” he
teases, handing one to Carlos.

“Git!” I really want to mock punch his arm,
but I know that will hurt. Rob chuckles at me, then waltzes over to my glass
and brings it over to me, then he holds his glass up.

“To new beginnings,” he says. Carlos and I
click his glass. “To new beginnings,” we both say then giggle. “I better go say
hello to George and Phil,” I add.

“It’s good to see you,” Carlos says.

“You too.” I smile.

“Hey, what about me?” Rob jokes, Carlos and
I chuckle at him.

“Take a look around you guys, this place is
huge,” I offer.

“I’ve already seen it,” Rob jokes. Oh yeah,
he helped Tristan with the re-design of the bedroom. I turn back around and
walk over to him, taking his hand in mine I look up at him.

“Thank you Rob, for the re-design…in the
bedroom…I really appreciate it,” I say, trying not to cry.

Rob rolls his eyes at me. “Coral! You don’t
need to thank me. Now stop blubbering and go say hello to everyone!” He orders.

“Ok!” I chuckle, and as I turn to walk over
to George and Phil, I notice Tristan has already poured them both drinks.

I kiss and awkwardly hug Phil. “Happy
belated birthday,” he says.

“Thanks,” I squeak.
This is
overwhelming.

“How are you feeling?” he asks.

“Good, you know, a bit bruised, how are
you?”

“Oh fine, I bought you some Moules Mariniere,”
he says, tapping a large Tupperware container.

“Really?” I beam.

“Yes,” he smiles. “Figured you wouldn’t be
in any state to cook, so I made it for you.” He cocks his head towards Edith.
“Not that I needed to,” he adds whispering.

“She’s Tristan’s housekeeper,” I whisper
back. “Been with him forever, she’s really nice.”

“It’s alright for some,” he says rolling
his eyes. “Better go put your present with the others,” he adds. Presents?
Crap,
I hope I don’t have to open them in front of everyone!

“Phil, you didn’t have to’ –“Nonsense,” he
says interrupting me. “I’ll see you in a bit ok, and we can talk men,” he
beams.

I chuckle as I watch him walk over to Rob
and Carlos. Then taking a deep breath I turn to face George, Tristan glances up
and places his hand on George’s shoulder.

“Another time,” he says.

George nods his head. “Yes, I think so.
It’s been a pleasure to meet you Tristan.”

“You too,” Tristan says, they shake hands. Tristan
walks over to me, gently plants a kiss on my forehead then heads over to our
other guests.

“Dear girl,” George says, his soft wistful
smile making me crumble again.

“Oh George!” I croak. I haven’t seen him in
so long, and he’s talked to Tristan, he knows Tristan knows about my past, and
so much has happened…so much I need to talk to him about…Tears spill down my
cheeks –
Maybe this party wasn’t such a good idea?

“There now,” George says gently folding me
in his arms. “We’ll talk soon,” he whispers in my ear.

“Oh George!” I croak again.

“I know, it’s a lot to take in,” he says,
pulling me back to assess me. “Now, let me take a look at you.” Tristan appears
with some tissues in his hand.

“Thanks,” I take them off him and blow my
nose. Then picking up the food Phil made for me, Tristan heads off to the
kitchen and places it in the fridge.