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‘Cormac Sweeney…’ Emmy replied, with the widest smile in the room. ‘I most definitely will.’

The celebration that erupted in that corner rivalled the one they’d had at midnight, as Cormac lifted her up, swung her around and then kissed her in front of a standing ovation. They all swarmed around them, giving congratulations, good wishes, kisses, and promises of an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Ibiza. That came from Rhonda. And only on the condition that they could all go with them.

Dario dashed to the bar, where Nicky and Scott were now chatting to Yvie, Brodie and Sonya, and in two minutes, all of them were on the way back with bottles of champagne and trays of glasses. When the drinks had been poured, the toasts had been given, and the love had been shared, he reached again for Gwen’s hand and realised that it wasn’t there.

Casting around, he spotted her leaving through the front door and wondered if this had all just been too much for her. Handing his glass over to Ailish, he kept his smile on his face as he excused himself and went after her.

Outside, he found her leaning against the wall of the restaurant, head back, eyes closed.

‘Gwen? Are you okay? Are you sick? Do you need a?—’

Her eyes opened as she shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t need anything. Maybe just you.’

Heart melting, he went to her, slid his arms around her waist. ‘I’m right here. Although I still can’t quite believe that you’re here with me.’

He wondered if he’d got this wrong, because for him, this was the happiest of moments, yet she was staring at him with such sorrow.

‘Is this a thing, Dario?’ she asked quietly, searching his face for answers. ‘I mean, a real thing?’

‘I think so.’ Shit, he had got it wrong. She was obviously doubtful. Unsure.

‘I think so too. But if it is, then you need to know something first.’

Fear now overruled everything else. He’d waited thirty years for this woman and now there was something that could stop them exploring what they could be.

‘Tell me.’

‘I lied this morning. I told everyone that my scans were clear, because I wanted this day. I couldn’t bear to let it go by in case I never got another chance to see you, to be with you at midnight. The truth is, I have no idea what my results will say, but you need to know what could be ahead, because you can walk away now. I would understand, I promise.’

He put his fingers up to her lips and stopped her. ‘I’m not walking.’

‘But it could be?—’

This time, it was his lips that hushed her as he kissed her. There were so many possibilities, so much potential for heartache, so many things that could go wrong. But right now he wasn’t going to think about any of them, because if he’d learned anything today, it was that the past didn’t matter. Neither did what lay ahead. So, from now on, all he was going to worry about was today.

‘It will be what it is,’ he told her softly. ‘And we’ll find out together.’

37

MINNIE

Inside her front door, Minnie kicked off her shoes, and gave silent thanks that she’d managed to last the whole night without the kind of incident that had felled her twice yesterday. She put that down to good shoes, great company and the beautiful meal at Gino’s restaurant. For someone who regularly forgot to eat, that had been such a treat.

And there would be more of them to come. She and Gino had talked long after the party had ended and they’d set out a plan – the same one that Henry had in mind in the moments before he left her.

Gino’s sons were going to help him move his things over here and into her spare room tomorrow.

No one could replace Henry, and no one could replace Alicia, but they could share a house, and share their days, and it would make both their lives so much better. Company mattered, didn’t it? Life was so much better when the joys were shared too.

They’d already planned a few things that they might like to do. Day jaunts to the coast. Maybe one of those bus trips up north. And Gino had even suggested that they might visit Italy, to see the village he’d grown up in.

And Minnie had agreed to it all, because if they didn’t do it now, well… They both knew what the alternative could be.

They were going to live every single day as if it was their last and they were going to enjoy every minute of it.

Most of all, they were going to take care of each other. And that was what Henry and Alicia would have wanted.

Minnie went through to the living room, switched on her record player and put the needle on the start of the record.