Page 92 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

‘Will you zip me up?’

Bear moved behind her, his fingers deliberately grazing her skin as he slowly zipped up her dress. He kissed her shoulder and then her throat.

‘Bear Brookfield, you’ve already had your wicked way with me twice this morning, we haven’t got time for a round three.’

‘Well, maybe we can sneak back here before the reception,’ Bear said.

She turned round, looping her arms round his neck. ‘That can be arranged.’

‘So we need to talk about the bet,’ he said, wrapping his arms around her.

She frowned in confusion for a moment and then she remembered the silly bet they’d made when she had embarked on dating for the first time. ‘It hasn’t quite been three months, I’m not sure if we can class this as a serious meaningful relationship yet.’

‘Hmm,’ Bear said thoughtfully. ‘I moved in with you pretty much straightaway, we’re getting married today and you’re carrying my child,’ he moved his hands to stroke her almost flat stomach with his thumbs. She hadn’t started to show just yet but she knew she would soon. ‘That sounds pretty serious to me.’

‘Yeah you’re right. But the man I’m marrying today is the man I’ve been in love with all my life, not some guy I met online, so you owe me twenty pounds.’

‘Hang on a minute. We matched online, ninety-six percent match. I know you never met AstralSurfer but, if you had, I feel pretty confident you would have hit it off.’

She smiled. ‘What would you have done if you’d gone on a date with Twilight, not knowing who I was, and then I walked in?’

‘I’d have walked right across the restaurant and kissed you hard so you’d never be in any doubt about how I felt for you and then I’d have brought you back here and made you forget your own name.’

‘I like the sound of that. So I guess, in some weird way, we both won.’

He kissed her. ‘I know I have.’

She smiled against his lips. ‘We should go.’

‘One more thing, after we’re married, you promised to show me that video of you singing, ‘There’s a Hole in my Bucket’. I’m going to need to see that video,’ Bear said.

She grinned. ‘And because I trust you’re never going to run away, despite how bad my singing voice is, I may even show it to you. After we’ve consummated the wedding. It can be my wedding gift to you.’

‘You and our baby are the only gift I’ll ever need.’

He kissed her on the forehead and her heart melted with love for him.

‘Come on, let’s go, everyone will be waiting for us.’

She took his hand and they walked the short distance through the woods to the wedding chapel treehouse. The sunlight streamed through the coppery bronze leaves above them, a warm autumn breeze swept around them and then danced out to sea, taking a few red leaves with it.

The last few months had been the happiest of her life. She and Bear just fitted together like two halves of a whole. He had moved in with her after just a few days, which Star was over the moon about. They hadn’t told her about the baby yet, but as she’d been dropping hints about having a baby brother or sister since they’d got together, Meadow knew she’d be absolutely fine about it.

After the success of her first wedding dress, she’d had requests for a few more. It was something she loved doing. She’d even been brave enough to send those couples who had booked to have their wedding in the little wedding chapel links to her Etsy page to see if any of them were interested in the kind of wedding or bridesmaids’ dresses she could make. She knew she could very easily go down the wedding dress route if she wanted to, making extravagant beautiful dresses. She felt like she was finally making her dreams come true and she wasn’t the only one.

Bear had received an offer for a three-book deal from a small digital first publisher, which meant if his books sold well in ebook first, then they would go into shops in paperback later. It was very exciting and Meadow couldn’t have been happier that people were going to be reading his work and enjoying it too.

They approached the chapel which had a perfectly wonky bell tower on the top, in keeping with all the other treehouses. Little fairy lights glittered from the eaves and white flowers were wound around the stairs as they climbed up. It was charming and beautiful.

At the top of the stairs, Indigo, looking gorgeously huge in the last few weeks of her pregnancy, Tierra and Star were dressed in purple bridesmaid dresses. Heath looked dashing in his suit and he had the biggest grin on his face as they approached.

Star ran forward and gave them both a hug. Bear kissed her on the head and Meadow knelt down and hugged her little girl.

‘You look amazing, Mummy,’ Star said.

‘You look beautiful,’ Meadow said and then smiled at Tierra who looked so adorable. ‘You both do.’

She stood up and Bear kissed her on the cheek.

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