The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,160

much faster.

‘I thought Wayne had ruined the moment I’d planned, but it seems he’d only delayed it for the right one,’ he said. ‘Marnie, will you marry me?’

There was a rushing noise that might have been the water, or wings, or even birds taking flight towards their evening roost – or just the blood pounding in my ears.

I looked up at him uncertainly. ‘Are you quite sure you want to marry a Vane?’

‘I’m quite sure I want to marry this one,’ he said, then pulled me into his arms and kissed me.

As we slowly walked back along the river, arms entwined, he said, ‘Elf guessed – she gave me a ring that’s been in the Verdi family for generations. It’s a big flat ruby and looks a bit Borgia, so it might not be your cup of tea, but I’ll show it to you when we get back.’

‘I’d love a Verdi Borgia ring,’ I assured him. ‘I’d only wear it on special occasions, though, or I’d lose it in the garden, or in the pond, or somewhere.’

‘We’ll both have plain wedding rings we can work in and I’ll make sure yours is tight enough not to fall off,’ he said with a grin. ‘We’ll get married in St Gabriel’s – we could go up in a bit to ask the Reverend Jojo about putting up the banns.’

‘Just a little wedding, though – close friends and family,’ I said, then caught myself up. ‘Not Vane family. The Ellwoods, though – as many of them as can leave the château.’

‘It should be soon – early June, perhaps?’ he suggested. ‘Better weather, but before the main tourist season and the school holidays.’

‘All right,’ I agreed happily. ‘And let’s make it a Tuesday and instead of a reception, have a Grace Garden party, instead!’

‘Brilliant!’ he said, and squeezed my waist. ‘I’m looking forward to telling everyone – though I suspect most people have already guessed. There’s just one thing worrying me …’

I looked up anxiously into his serious face and asked, ‘What’s that?’

‘Who’s going to break the news to Caspar?’

Epilogue

Flaming June

It had been a perfect little wedding and the Angel Gabriel had looked down on us from his jewelled window, austere but, I felt, approving.

Uncle Richard had given me away and Lex Mariner had been Ned’s best man … and I hadn’t worn white, but ruby-red silk, to go with my Borgia ring.

One of the smaller angels in the window was wearing robes the same colour, which I thought was a good omen.

Now the sun shone warmly on the Grace Garden, the throng of guests, the food laid out on trestle tables and the remains of a tall white cake decorated with real roses.

The Coronation bunting fluttered bravely in the warm breeze and there were pots of scented geraniums up the sides of the steps that led to the gazebo. Inside was a knot of people and I caught a glimpse of Aunt Em’s bright turquoise linen dress. How lovely it had been to see her and Uncle Richard again and introduce them to Ned – and they’d got on so well. I suppose that wasn’t really surprising, since we all shared a passion for gardening!

Caspar sat under a lavender bush dismembering a smoked salmon sandwich and Lancelot and Guinevere hoovered up any crumbs.

‘You know, this is the perfect place for a reception,’ Cress said, towing Roddy towards us. ‘You could hold them here as a side-line. We could have ours here, couldn’t we, Roddy?’

‘Yes, but only on a Tuesday, when the garden is shut,’ he agreed, smiling at her.

‘You can have yours here if you’d like to, but I wouldn’t charge you,’ Ned said. ‘It’s an idea, though – it would be pretty lucrative, I should think.’

‘I expect so, but we might just want the occasional Tuesday off,’ I pointed out before he got carried away.

‘Marnie!’ Treena said, appearing suddenly from the sunken garden, flushed with either the sun or champagne – or possibly both. ‘Did Luke tell you he’s found evidence that the monastic site was a really, really early one and abandoned ages before the Vikings? So apparently it doesn’t matter if they haven’t found much there – Luke’s delirious.’

And when he joined us and slipped his arm around Treena’s waist, he beamed and said, ‘Just had an expert opinion on those bits of pottery back – I think this is the happiest day of my life!’

‘I thought that was my line?’ Ned said, grinning. ‘Come on, Marnie, let’s go and