Page 86 of All Right No
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“That’s one heck of a stone.”
For the last forty minutes, Ginny hadn’t been able to stop herself staring at the alien rock on her finger. As Rock Giant implied, it rather drew the eye. Ash had bought her an enormous ruby, not some discrete little thing like most engagement rings were. It fit perfectly, but it weighed about a zillion tons, and it felt out of place upon her finger. So, she kept looking at it. Looking and looking, as if doing so might magic it away. She’d seen a Royal Institute Christmas Lecture once where they’d said something about objects being able to relocate themselves. She didn’t pretend to understand how. Her command of science had never been good, something to do with electrons or quanta, maybe? Of course, the other factor mentioned had been time, and that was something she’d comprehensively run out of.
This wasn’t supposed to happen yet. She still needed to obliterate Miles from her life. There were steps towards securing a happy future for herself and Ash that she was taking, but they had to happen in a specific order. Ash’s shock announcement was likely going to unravel everything. She’d never thought for a moment that he’d propose, especially not before so many witnesses, not after his past experiences. She figured, if he ever did pop the question—and she wasn’t in any rush for that to happen as even discounting her major bugbear, she was happy as they were—that he’d do it when it was just the two of them together somewhere safe. Actually, given his obvious hang-ups over his previous rejection, she’d allowed herself to be lulled into a false sense of security.
Ash didn’t realise what she was sitting on, but she did. Her bastard ex had just had Ash served with papers regarding their divorce proceedings. Unnecessarily, she might add. The only reason to involve Ash was spite. She’d reclaimed her independence and emancipated herself from Miles long before she ever met Ash. But then Miles was exactly the sort to employ this sort of tit for tat bullshit. She couldn’t believe he’d done it on Christmas Eve though. Of all the possible times to choose—the fucking rat bastard. He just had to go and insert himself into their moment of happiness.
It galled her that he had that power to ruin everything.
“Are you okay, Gin? You’re awful quiet,” Ash squeezed her hand.
“Fine,” she offered him a smile, and prayed he didn’t notice the disquiet in her eyes.
There was no hiding and hoping it would all blow over any more. She’d have to tell him.
As soon as they were alone… No more secrets. No more pretence. No more excuses why staying silent was better. She’d have to explain everything and pray that somehow he understood.
The ring blurred as her eyes became hazy with tears. She rapidly blinked them away. No use crying over it. She was the one who’d created this mess, and now she was going to have to be an adult and deal with it.
“This is us.” The car pulled up in a quiet suburban street of dormer bungalows. While the security guy helped retrieve their overnight bags from the boot, Rock Giant gave them both farewell hugs. “Don’t let him say that’s your Christmas present,” he counselled her. “You give him hell if there’s nothing in your stocking tomorrow.”
“What are you saying?” Ash threw a frown in their direction.
“Nothing. Say ‘Hey’ to your mum from me.”
“Will do. Sure you don’t want to stop for a drink?”
“No. I’m not going to intrude, and I’ve a destination of my own to reach.”
“Hope you get something else with your mushrooms for dinner tomorrow.”
Rock Giant cackled with amusement. “Truffles, probably, and a shit load of weed.”
Ginny wasn’t a hundred per cent sure Paul’s family even celebrated Christmas. From what she knew of them, they more likely observed Yule in their decidedly not centrally heated tepee cum yurt.
Rock Giant waved at them through the window as the car pulled off, leaving them alone on the pavement. There was no snow, but a lick of frost dusted the tarmac and had left a white rime on the front lawn and bedding plants.
Ash walked her up the path to the house with his arm around her shoulders. Ginny could feel the thrum of his excitement vibrating through his skin. The first words he’d blurt out the moment that door opened would be their good news.
She didn’t blame him, in other circumstances, she’d have been happy to blurt their news too. Well, if she ignored her less than stellar experiences of marriage.
“Could we hold off on telling them?” she asked as he reached up to press the doorbell.
Ash turned to her clearly flummoxed. “Why? I mean, how come you don’t want them to know?”
“It’s not that I don’t want them to know.” It sort of was. She did want a future with Ash, and having to explain her sorry situation and how she’d kept things from him after he’d loudly proclaimed his engagement to his parents was only going to make things even more difficult than they already were.
“I just think it might be fun to wait until tomorrow to give them that present. It’d be nice to be introduced before everything goes crazy. Don’t you think it would be fun to announce it tomorrow? It’d be like an extra special gift.”
Fuck, she was digging herself deeper holes the longer this went on.
Ash nipped a fingernail between his teeth. “They’ll be pleased whenever we tell them. Do you really not want to tell them now? Mam’s gonna notice that ring.”
Ginny slipped it off her left hand and moved it over to her right. “It’s only so she doesn’t guess,” she assured him. “I’m not giving it back.”
His mile-wide smile receded a little, and the centre of his brows wrinkled. “What about if we told them right after midnight?”
