Hugo had put her case so well, turning it on its head so that instead of pleading with the committee to have compassion for the young of the town he had actually made them feel that they were already the compassionate, wise, comprehending people they must prove themselves to be.
As she looked around her she could almost sense her father’s presence and his approval, his love. Ignoring the amazed looks of the other members of the committee, she went over to Hugo and kissed him.
‘I love you,’ she told him huskily. ‘I love you so much.’
There was no doubt about the way the committee would vote; she could see it in their faces. Rye’s young people would have their new centre and meeting place. They would learn proper trades, they would thrive and grow, and the town would thrive with them.
Tonight she was hosting a very special dinner party. Those who had been invited thought it was being given to celebrate her birthday, and that was what she wanted them to believe—Kelly and Brough, Anna and Ward, Beth and Alex.
She looked down at the diamond ring glittering on her left hand. Hugo had given it to her this morning...in bed.
Like the ring on her finger, her life had come full circle, bringing her back to the place she most wanted to be, the person she most wanted to be with. And tonight, at dinner, she would introduce Hugo to her friends as her husband-to-be, her lover. The shadows Julian Cox had thrown over her life had gone for ever. Hugo had banished them with the warmth of his love.
‘Stop looking at me like that,’ he warned her in a whisper against her ear as he bent his head towards her. ‘Otherwise...’
The votes had been cast and the result was a resounding yes.
Dee was still looking at Hugo and whispered softly, ‘Most definitely, yes.’
EPILOGUE
THE BELLS GAVE tongue, a burst of joyous, almost triumphant sound, as Dee and Hugo emerged from the church into the sunshine outside.
‘Why is it that women cry at weddings?’ Brough demanded as he, Ward and Alex exchanged very male looks with one another while their respective partners, to a woman, viewed the bride and groom through a happy film of tears.
‘It’s because we’re so happy, of course,’ Kelly answered him truthfully.
‘So very, very happy,’ Anna concurred softly as the three women looked tenderl
y at one another.
This morning, before the service, as the three of them had bustled about Dee’s bedroom helping her to get ready, Dee had suddenly commanded them all to stop, and opened the bottle of champagne in an ice-bucket next to her dressing table, pouring four glasses.
‘To love and happiness,’ she had proposed, raising her glass, and then, as the other three had joined her in her toast, she had added with a wicked, very Dee-like smile, ‘And to the man who is in many ways the author of the happiness we have all found in this last year or so.’ Whilst the others had hesitated, her smile had deepened, and she’d enlightened them. ‘Julian Cox. Without him none of us would have met our wonderful, perfect partners.’
‘You want to toast Julian Cox?’ Anna had marvelled softly. ‘Oh, Dee...’
‘Why not?’ Dee challenged her gently. ‘There isn’t room in my life any more for negative, destructive feelings, Anna... I don’t need them...’
‘Dee’s right,’ Kelly had confirmed. ‘Julian might have cast a horribly grey and threatening cloud over all our lives in one way or another, but it quite definitely turned out to be a cloud with a silver lining.’
‘Well, then, perhaps we should make our toast to hidden silver linings,’ Beth had suggested.
Between them they had finished the bottle of champagne, but, watching Dee now, Anna knew that it wasn’t the champagne that was responsible for the glow of happiness on her face, that open look of love with which she was regarding Hugo. The bells were still pealing, the rose petals making a silver and pink moving cloud around the bridal couple, and Dee looked radiant in her wedding gown of antique cream lace. Anna, Beth and Kelly, her three supporters-cum-attendants, were dressed in similarly elegantly styled gowns of toning cream raw silk, trimmed with the most beautiful matt dull gold cummerbunds fastened with huge soft bows at the back. The little bridesmaids, in contrast, were in the same colour combination, but their dresses were pure fairy tale—masses of cream silk voile over matt gold underskirts.
The photographers coaxed everyone together for a final photograph outside the church. That over, Dee turned to whisper something to her new husband. After giving her a tender kiss, Hugo detached himself from her and came over to where the other six were standing.
‘Can you start getting everyone organised to leave for the wedding breakfast?’ he asked Anna. ‘Dee and I have something we want to do before we leave, so if you could cover for us for a few minutes...?’
‘No problem,’ Anna assured him, and she and the others started to discreetly get the guests moving.
* * *
‘Do you think he knows?’ Dee asked Hugo quietly as she leaned her head against his shoulder and looked down at her father’s grave. She had just placed her bridal flowers on it, and as Hugo’s arm tightened around her a happy tear splashed down onto the cream blooms.
‘I don’t know,’ Hugo told her softly. ‘But what I do know is how much, how very much, I love you, Dee...’ He could feel her trembling as he kissed her. ‘Come on,’ he told her firmly. ‘You and I have got a wedding breakfast to attend.’
‘You and I?’ Dee questioned, smiling at him. ‘Don’t you meant the three of us...?’ As she turned towards him in profile it was possible to see what the elegant shaping of her gown had kept modestly concealed: the ripening shape of her body.