Claimed for Makarov's Baby

She didn’t answer, not at first—just nodded her head. ‘Dimitri,’ she said at last, sounding as if she was trying desperately to keep her voice from breaking. ‘Listen to me. I’m not going to change my mind about marrying you—so please don’t say things you don’t mean.’

‘But I do mean it. Every word I speak straight from here.’ And he placed his hand over his heart.

‘Will you stop it?’ she hissed. ‘Everybody’s looking at us.’

‘I don’t care.’ He took her left hand between his palms and thought how cold her fingers felt. How stiff her body language was as she sat there facing him. ‘Just tell me that it’s not too late,’ he said. ‘Tell me that you still love me—as you did that night in Russia. Tell me that you’ll marry me and spend the rest of your life with me.’

Erin was aware that pretty much everyone in the café knew what was happening. Even if they couldn’t hear—and Dimitri was making no attempt whatsoever to lower his voice—then it was now glaringly obvious, because he was digging into the pocket of his suit jacket and pulling out a small box.

He flipped open the lid and she could see the dazzle as the light caught the glittering band of diamonds in the centre of which was one enormous and flawless stone, and from behind the counter she heard Tara gasp.

‘I have had this ring fashioned from the very finest diamonds in my mine,’ he said. ‘But if it’s too big or too flashy, we can get you something else. We could buy you something antique and special in Moscow or Paris, if that’s what you’d prefer. I’d just like you to wear it in the meantime, because I want to see it on your finger. Because ironically, despite having run all my life from matrimony, I have now become its greatest advocate. That is...’ he stared at her ‘...if you’ll agree to marry me?’

Erin saw the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes—so brief that she might have imagined it—and somehow it made her love him even more. Dimitri uncertain? Whoever would have thought it? It was something as impossible to imagine as him making such a public and romantic proposal in an East End café. She had tried to stop loving him, but somehow it just wouldn’t work and now she had accepted that it was never going to. He was complicated, there was no doubt about that. He was brilliant at some things but not so good at others. Feelings and emotion, mainly...those were the things he liked to hide away—at least until now. But now she understood why. And didn’t he need her love just as badly as she wanted to give it? ‘Oh, Dimitri,’ she whispered. ‘Of course I’ll marry you. I—’

But her words were drowned out by his laugh of pleasure as he rose to his feet and walked round to her side of the table, where he lifted her to her feet. He stared into her face for what seemed like a long time before he started to kiss her, and all the customers—except for the blonde—burst into a spontaneous round of clapping and cheering.

In the commotion, the ring fell to the ground and remained missing until Leo and his friends came back from football later that morning, crawling around on their hands and knees until it was located underneath the skirting board. They were rewarded with ice cream and cola and the promise of a trip to watch Chelsea play, and Erin overheard Leo saying to his best friend, ‘That’s my daddy.’

She blinked a little at that, because she didn’t actually remember telling him that. And that was when it all became real and tears of happiness began to slide down her cheeks.

EPILOGUE

LEO GOT HIS snowman after all—along with sleigh bells and fairy lights and the realisation that having a Russian father and an English mother meant he could actually celebrate two Christmases, instead of one. The first was spent in England, with Dimitri flying Erin’s parents in from Australia as a surprise and Tara closing down the café for a whole fortnight. Dimitri booked an entire floor of the Granchester Hotel for the festivities, which famously had the biggest tree in London—if you didn’t count the one in Trafalgar Square.

And somewhere amid all the excitement, they got married. They exchanged their vows and, for those heartfelt moments, felt like the only two people in the world. Outside, the ground glittered with frost and Erin wore a hooded white cashmere cloak over her long, silk dress. With Leo at her side as proud ring bearer, she carried camomile daisies—the national flower of Russia—mixed with white freesia, which were her mother’s favourites. Chico was invited but had flown back to Brazil to tell his parents he was gay and no longer intended to live a lie. Saladin was also invited but his favourite and most valuable horse was injured and he was at his wits’ end.