Page 149 of Only Ever You

“Do you want to know something?” Bash asked her that evening when she was wrapped up in his arms at midnight, their friends cheering all around them.

“What?”

He moved his lips to her ear. “You were the wish that I asked Santa for.”

Faye placed her palm down over his heart.

“And you were mine.”

EPILOGUE

Sometime in the future

The barn-turned-wedding venue was beautiful,with golden string lights draping over the exposed stone walls and floral garlands intertwined with the high wooden beams. It’d been a small occasion, with the bride’s side outweighing the number of burly rugby-playing men in suits, but a fantastic day nonetheless.

Half of the guests were seated in conversation around the raw-wood tables, the rest mingled and moved between the rustic pop-up bar and the dessert table, beers on ice in wheelbarrows and baskets of blankets to take the edge off of the Welsh spring chill.

Bash took another sip of his white wine spritzer and squeezed his hand on Faye’s hip to pull her a little closer. She’d been stressed for weeks over the wedding cake decorated with iced wildflowers and daffodils on the table to the side of them, and he couldn’t wait to take her back to their B&B tonight, peel her out of her dusty-sage bridesmaid dress, and worship her in every way that she deserved.

She hummed as she leant against him and held her glass to her chest.

It’d been a good day – a good few months, actually.Bakedhad successfully opened itsfourth bakery location in the new year.PD&F Luxe. still thrived and were earning contracts for some of the biggest names globally. Their main office was still in London, and Bash found himself taking more business trips abroad, only nowadays he didn’t have to go alone – aside from Bennet, of course.

After fully learning to embrace a work-life balance, Faye travelled to most places with him, and he couldn't be happier to get to show her the world. That with a little bit of forewarning, they could pack their bags and jet off to somewhere beautiful and exciting.

Their most recent trip to Italy had proven to be quite fruitful indeed.

Across the celebration, Bash spotted Maisie staring at something their way, her eyes blown wide. He followed her gaze and – with a quietly hitched breath – stepped to block Maisie’s view as he leant to Faye’s ear.

“Your ring,” he hushed.

“Hm?” Faye turned her face up to him and Bash flicked his eyes to her left hand that curled around her bucks’ fizz glass.

Before Faye could react, both of them were taken by the arm and dragged away to the side of the converted barn.

“You’re engaged!” Maisie whisper-shouted at them both. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Bash sighed because his plan had been foiled. This wasn’t how anyone was supposed to find out the news that he’d popped the big question to Faye four weeks ago.

“We didn’t want to take attention away from you and your brand new husband,” Faye said to Maisie, who looked stunning in her flowy wedding dress decorated with tiny pastel lace flowers.

“Oh I don’t care about that.” Maisie wafted her hand at them. “You shouldn’t have to hide this. Does Sienna know? Or Freddy?”

“Only you,” Bash said quietly.

“Bash, they’ll be livid that you didn’t tell them right away—oh, congratulations by the way! Why haven’t I said that?” Maisie reached for Faye and pulled her into a hug that squeezed Bash’s fiancé like a lemon.

A tear sprung in the corner of Faye’s eye. “Thank you,” she said as they parted from the hug.

Maisie reached for Bash next and he gave in to her arms. “We all knew it would happen eventually.”

They shared a smile between them that agreed.

They’d spent just shy of half of their lives together, pining for that entire time. Nothing was inevitable but the ring on Faye’s finger certainly was. It’d been a long time coming, and the timing was finally right. Faye’s feelings on wanting to be sure about marriage and not risk it on a whim had stayed an open conversation between them since the day Bash had almost blown his chance in her office that Christmas. So when he dusted off the ring box he’d kept hidden in their house for months on end, he’d known that the time was right. That Faye’s answer would be ‘yes’.

Bouncing with barely contained joy, Maisie took one of their hands each. “When?” she asked as she looked between them. “How?”

“We’ll tell you about it along with everyone elseafteryour wedding.” Bash tried to calm her.

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