Page 176 of The Unlikely Pair
“She wants to hold it at the estate, if that is all right with you?”
I love how Harry runs everything past me, even for things relating to his estate and his ex-wife. It makes me feel like we’re true partners in everything.
“Sure, that’s fine with me. I’m assuming your parents will attend?”
I’ve settled into an uneasy truce with Harry’s father. It helps that his response to Harry’s decision to step down as leader of the Conservative Party was far more positive than Harry anticipated. And I also think it helps that I really like his mother. She’s been so welcoming and enthusiastic about how happy I make Harry that I’ve immediately felt comfortable in her presence.
“I knew something wasn’t quite right between Harry and Prunella,” she’d told me once. “Something was…missing. And now I see the way he looks at you, I know exactly what it was.”
My cheeks had heated, and I’d decided not to extend that particular conversation topic.
And even though I doubt Arthur and I will ever have anything but a superficial relationship, I’m working on forgiving him because I know how important family is to Harry. And what is important to Harry is important to me.
Because that is what love is, the recognition that your partner’s world is now your world too.
The flip side is that Harry has had to learn to play nice with Oliver, which has been somewhat amusing to observe.
“Yes. I’m sure she will invite them,” Harry answers me.
I nod, then head to the dining room to set the table.
Harry and I talk throughout dinner about our respective days, swapping stories and jokes, catching up on the latest gossip from Westminster and beyond.
But after dinner, as is our usual ritual on the nights we’re both at home, we put away all our technology and play cards.
It’s early November. A year ago, Harry and I were living together in a cabin in the Scandinavian wilderness, not knowing if we’d make it back to civilization, not knowing what the future held.
Could I ever in a million years have imagined that a year later, we would be here in my flat, in a successful relationship the whole world knows about?
I beat Harry easily playing Rummy, and he grumbles playfully about my uncanny luck, threatening to switch to a game that relies more on skill than chance.
It’s not until I’m packing up the cards that I notice he’s fiddling with his watch, a sign that he’s nervous.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“I have something to give you,” he says.
“What is it?”
“It’s an anniversary present of sorts.”
“Anniversary?”
“Yes, well, I thought we don’t really have an official start date, do we? But today marks a year since the night we saw the northern lights.”
My breath catches in my throat. I can never forget that night. I’d gone to bed upset, reminded of my mother and the heartbreak Harry’s father had caused her. Then I’d woken to the northern lights, and my only thought had been how I wanted to share the moment with Harry.
“That was…that was the first time I realized there was no going back from this,” Harry says. “Although I must say we did give it a good try.”
“It seems as good an anniversary as any,” I say. “But I’m not sure it’s fair to decide when our anniversary is and not inform me and then upstage me by buying a gift.”
“You can buy the present next year.” Harry flashes me a quick smile, but I know this man so well, I can tell he’s still slightly stressed.
He goes over to the cabinet in the dining room and comes back with a flat, rectangular package wrapped in elegant silver paper.
He hands me the present, his eyes never leaving mine as I unwrap it with cautious curiosity to reveal an official-looking document.
I raise my eyebrows. “You got me a policy document? Because I have such a shortage of these in my life.”
