To Mend a Broken Heart (28 page)

“Daniel…”

“It’s us, Katie,” he tells me, wrapping me in his embrace, “It’s us.”

“It is. It’s absolutely perfect, thank you, so much,” I lean up and kiss him, “Where will we put it?”

“Wherever you want to put it.” he smiles, looking past me to the bookshelf behind me, “I think we need to check the books are in alphabetical order.”

“I just put my books on my bookshelf, we don’t need to check.”

“I think we do.” he moves closer towards me, his eyes a little darker.

“Daniel…”

He doesn’t talk, just pushes me back against my newly acquired bookcase in the reading room and reaches for my hands. He pulls them to his mouth and kisses the back of each of them before raising them above my head and making sure my fingers are gripping the shelf above. He reaches for his t-shirt and pulls it over his head, throwing it over his shoulder and to the floor. He skims his hands down my body, slowly. When he reaches the hem of my t-shirt, he pulls it up my body as his mouth comes to rest on mine.

“We need to make the books feel at home.” he murmurs against my lips.

“And that means,
this?
” I groan as his lips find my neck.

“This means this and so much more,” he whispers into my skin, “So. Much. More.” his hands find the top button of my jeans at the exact same time his lips meet mine.

“I’m not sure if you’re trying to make my books feel welcome or me?” I pant.

“Both.”

“Then keep going, I’m not sure I feel completely at home yet.” I grin.

“Oh, I intend to.” he grins at me as he lowers himself to the floor in front of me, “And I don’t plan to stop until you’re completely at home here. This is your home now too.” he tells me.

“I know.”

If I didn’t then. I certainly did an hour later.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“December.” Daniel’s voice snaps me out of my trance.

“What about December?” I ask, tearing my eyes away from my laptop screen.

“I’d like to get married in December.”

“December like, five months away, December?”

“Yes. We can plan everything in that time, right?”

“Five months? I’m not sure? Venues might not even have availability this late.” I know work doesn’t have any.

“What if I told you, the place we love does?” he comes and sits next to me, “And what if I told you, that I may have already booked the date… just incase?” his cheeky smile makes me smile.

“Then I guess I would say, I better find a dress!”

“Really? You’re okay with this?”

“Okay with being your wife in five months? Of course I am.”

“Katie, Christmas was always special with Poppy and when she…it took all the joy of Christmas away. Then we spent that first Christmas together and… all the joy came back.” he takes my hand and kisses my ring, “I want Christmas to always be a time I remember just how lucky I am, I want to have a reason to celebrate and not grieve.”

“Then we’re getting married in December, Daniel.” I tell him tearily.

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” he leans towards me and I lean in too.

“Yes,” I kiss him, before pulling back, “Now, we better start planning our wedding, Mr Lambert, we have very little time to pull off what I have been imagining in my head for weeks.”

“All I need is you and a ring.”

“Well, I’d like a little more than that.” I grin.

“Well, whatever you’d like, we’ll have. How can I help?”

“You can start by writing your guest list while I look for a dress shop.”

“You’re going to be the most beautiful Bride.” he tells me running his thumb over my cheek.

“Well, I hope so. If I don’t find a dress I might be a naked Bride.”

“I wouldn’t mind.” he grins cheekily.

“Guest list.” I frown at him.

“Right. Guest list.” he grins at me, his eyes shining brightly.

I book an appointment at a dress shop all my Brides seem to use for Tuesday. I phone Ginny and tell her excitedly that we’ve set a date, the 12th of December. My best friend doesn’t seem pleased with our chosen date.

“Kate! I’ll be ready to pop by then! What if the baby arrives the day before? How can I be your Bridesmaid then?” she huffs down the phone.

“You won’t be my Bridesmaid, Ginny.” I tell her.

“I won’t? Is it because you don’t want a fat elephant for a Bridesmaid?”

“No you dafty, it’s because,” I take a deep breath, “It’s because I want you to give me away.” the line goes very, very quiet. Then I hear sniffles. Ginny’s crying.

“Ginny?”

“You w-w-want…”

“Yes, will you?” I ask in the most soothing voice I have.

“Of course I bloody will!” she half sobs, half laughs down the line.

“Good. I can’t imagine anyone else doing it.”

“Not even Ryan?”

“Not even Ryan.”

I didn’t tell Ginny that I know Daniel plans to ask Ryan to be his Best Man. In the time they have known each other, Ryan has become Daniel’s best friend. Which seemed strange at first seeing as Ryan was Richard’s best friend. The two of them got on from the very beginning, they have the same interests, the same taste in music. They have the same outlook on life and have bonded quickly. I think they both need a friend and they both seem to help each other, it’s wonderful and it makes my heart so happy every time I catch them, heads together discussing something.

“What if I pop before the wedding Katie, heck, what if I don’t? I’ll be the most hideous Bridesmaid there has ever been!”

“We both know you glow when you’re pregnant and have the neatest bump. I want you there, I need you there, bump and all.”

“Okay, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she laughs, then stops, “I don’t have to wear heels do I?”

“You wear whatever you want.” I tell her.

“Can I wear my pyjamas?”

“Nice try,” I laugh, “Are you free on Tuesday? I need to go and get my dress.”

“Of course I’m free! I wouldn’t miss you buying your wedding dress, Katie.”

“Then I’ll pick you up at ten-thirty and we’ll have coffee first.”

“I look forward to it Bride!”

“How is the bump cooking?”

“Good. Still making me stupidly sick, I hope it stops soon. Ryan wants to find out what we’re having as soon as we can. I’m not so sure, I rather like the surprise.”

“Let him find out and you keep it a secret?” I suggest.

“Pah! That would never work, the man is a blabber mouth! He would mention it, or I’d find dresses in his side of the wardrobe, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself.”

“Then you’ll just have to find out or make him wait.”

“I have time to decide. I might change my mind or Ryan might.”

“I can’t wait to see you with a proper bump again and feel the Little Miss kick.”

“We don’t know it’s a Little Miss yet!”

“We will if Ryan gets his way,” I smile, “And lets face it, Ryan getting his way is exactly why you’re pregnant right now.” I laugh.

“Bloody right, filthy man!” she laughs, “Kate, I have to go, Aidan is awake. I’ll see you on Tuesday?”

“You will. Give my boy a big hug and a kiss.”

“Ryan?” she laughs.

“Aidan!”

“Gottcha! Bye babes!”

I get to work planning, there are things I need to get in place if we are getting married in five months time. I need to book to see the registrar, to work out a theme, I need to find wedding rings and shoes. I need to write a list. Twenty minutes later, Daniel comes up behind me and rests his hands on my shoulders. I lean my head back and look into his eyes.

“Are you nearly done?” he asks, leaning down to kiss me.

“Not even close. Someone,” I raise my eyebrow at him, “Thought it would be a good idea to get married five months from now.”

“Well, someone couldn’t wait any longer to marry the love of his life.”

“Well, someone might be forgiven.” I grin.

“I have been thinking.” he sits down next to me.

“Dangerous.” I grin.

“Cheeky,” he taps the end of my nose and speaks again, “The theme for the wedding?”

“Yes?”

“Do you have any idea what you’d like it to be? I mean, weddings usually have a theme right?”

“Yes they do… and I do have an idea actually.”

“So do I,” he smiles, “You first.” I take his hand in mine and look into his eyes.

“Poppies.” I whisper.

His eyes go wide with a shocked expression, a look of love spreads over his face. He doesn’t speak, but leans forward and presses his lips to mine. He just rests them there and breathes in deeply. I think my words, my idea was having an effect on Daniel. His hands are shaking and his breathing is getting faster.

“Are you okay?”

“Katie…”

“It’s okay. We don’t have to, I just wanted to include your little girl, Daniel. If she was here, she would be so included in our day, I just thought—”

“I love you so much. I love that you want to include Poppy. I love you so much, Katie.” he croaks, his voice thick with emotion.

“And I love you. Of course I want to include Poppy,” I brush away the tears I feel running down his cheeks with my fingers, “What was your idea?”

“I don’t think it’s better than yours.”

“Tell me anyway.”

“Cinderella.”

“Oh,” I gasp a little, “Cinderella would be a beautiful idea…”

“Then why can’t we have both?”

“Both?”

“Yes, we can have Cinderella and poppies. It will be the most beautiful wedding there has ever been.”

“I think it just might,” I smile, “I love it.”

We spend the rest of the night drinking a bottle of red wine and searching the internet for ideas. We come up with so many it’s hard to choose which ones to use. We decide that each table, instead of having a name, will be a page from Cinderella. We find a simple but elegant design for our wedding cake that will be all white with the most striking red poppies on it. I’m sitting on the sofa with my laptop propped on my lap when Daniel taps my shoulder.

“Can we do this?” he lifts his iPad and shows me an image on the screen.

“Table confetti? Of course we can.”

“Not just table confetti, table confetti made from the pages of Cinderella?”

“Do you have any idea how romantic you are?”

“A lot?” he grins.

“Yes. A lot.”

“So we can do it?”

“We can do it.”

* * *

Over the next two months, Daniel and I plan every single detail of our wedding together. Daniel finds our photographer, telling me the person he trusts to capture one of the most important days of his life has to be competent and he has to be incredible. I feel sorry for the poor guy when we meet with him, Daniel bombards him with questions which he answers with a smile. When Daniel admits he is a photographer himself, the guy smiles and asks to see his work. I lose them both then, they spend the next hour talking photography and by the end of it, we have ourselves a photographer.

Tonight we’ve been out for dinner. Daniel told me before we left, he still wants to spoil me, he doesn’t want the fact we are getting married or living together to mean we stop trying. So we get dressed up and head out to our favourite restaurant not far from home. After the most delicious meal, we head back to home. Now we are approaching the end of September the nights are getting cooler, we are both cold and want nothing more than to sit and snuggle together by the fire. As Daniel opens the front door and steps in the warmth makes me groan.

“It's so cold outside!” I shiver, removing my hat and gloves.

“But it’s warm in here,” he tells me, taking my gloves and hat, “And I’m warm, you need to come and stand closer to me.”

I look over at him as I remove my coat. His eyes are darker, his voice is thicker. I know that look. I know that voice. We head down the hallway and into the lounge. Daniel surprises me by walking over to the sound system and putting some music on. The sound of a guitar fills the room and Daniel walks back over. Holding out his hand to me, he waits for me to place my hand in his and step forward. When I take one step closer, his free arm comes around my waist and pulls me flat against his body. He moves his face closer to mine and softly runs his nose along mine, before resting his nose in the little indentation below my ear and inhaling.

“You smell incredible. It’s so intoxicating to me,” he inhales deeply again and presses against me, “Sometimes, when we’re together, a breeze will carry your scent over to me, or you'll walk past me and I’ll be surrounded by you.”

His lips trace my ear, his tongue sneaking out to taste the sensitive skin just below my ear making me shudder in his arms. His breath is hot against my neck, the light stubble on his jaw causing goosebumps to bloom over every inch of my skin. I feel his lips move against my neck as he begins to speak again, all the time moving us slowly to the song.

“My whole body stiffens, Katie. Every inch of me reacts to you, reacts to your scent, your warmth, to you, and for ages afterwards I ache and my whole body is on high alert. Even when I’ve calmed down, all it takes is a look, a smile, another breeze to carry you back to me and it starts again. It’s the most delicious kind of torture.” he whispers the last few words causing a shiver to run up my spine.

“What are you doing?” I groan, throwing my head back a little, exposing my throat to his lips a little more. He gets the idea, leaning down, he brushes his lips over the sensitive skin on my neck and collarbone. My breasts swell in arousal and need, wetness pools between my legs and I feel suddenly too hot, too constricted in the dress I’m wearing.

“I’m telling you, I worship you. I’m telling you, you’re a Goddess. I’m telling you,” his lips trail lower and over the swell of my breasts, “that you have no idea what you do to me. That to be near you, to be loved by you, is my greatest pleasure. When I’m with you, nothing else matters and when we’re apart, the only thing I care about is when I’ll have you in my arms again.” He walks us both back until my bottom hits the dining table. I realise the song has started up again and I pull back, looking into Daniel’s eyes.

“It's on repeat?”

“It is.” He nods.

“Why this song?”

“I've always thought,” he murmurs against my neck, “That the beat of this song was perfect for making love to.”

“You do, do you?” I turn my head a little to the side, granting him better access.

“Listen. Feel.”

“I am.” I groan as he trails his lips to the top of my dress where my cleavage is just visible.

“I always wanted to test out the sturdiness of this table too.” His hands push my legs further apart as he steps in between them.