Just for Christmas - Emily Harvale Page 0,6

We’ll have to wait and see. But I don’t want you worrying about me, you hear? I want you to have fun this Christmas. I want to see that gorgeous smile of yours, and hear that melodic laugh. You’ve already changed all your plans for me. You should be spending Christmas with Jolene, skiing in Vermont and staying with her parents. Instead you’re here, putting the finishing touches to this wonderful cottage that you’ve spent the last few weeks doing up, just so that you could spend time with me. I adore you for that. Well, I adore you anyway, but more so for giving up so much for me.’

‘I haven’t given up anything. I wanted to be here with you. And Jolene and I will have every Christmas together for the rest of our lives, so one doesn’t matter.’

Vicky hesitated. ‘You’re certain she’s The One, then?’

Was he?

Was he really certain of anything right now?

Other than that he had wanted to move back to England and to live near his mum and to make her happier than she’d been for a long time. He wanted her to have the opportunity to be at his wedding. That was something she often told him she dreamt of. Something she wanted more than anything. To see him settled and happy and married to the perfect woman.

Jolene was definitely that. She was almost too perfect. Sometimes he looked at her porcelain complexion and realised he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her without make-up. Although the make-up Jolene wore made it seem as if she wasn’t wearing any. That’s how perfect it was.

And she was the perfect girlfriend. Beautiful, intelligent, loving and kind. He only had to ask and Jolene would fulfil his every need. When he’d said he intended to move back to the UK for the foreseeable future so that he could spend more time with his mum, Jolene hadn’t batted an eyelid. She’d offered to come with him, or not – whatever he wanted she would do, she’d said.

That was when the idea struck him. Perhaps he should propose? Why not? They’d been dating for about a year. They were happy. He hadn’t intended to ask her to move in with him in New York, but if he moved back to Easterhill, he couldn’t expect her to join him there, but to have to find a place of her own to live.

When his mum had mentioned that Wishing Well Cottage, the former home of someone she had known, was on the market, he hadn’t hesitated for a second. He’d looked at the place online, made an offer, and instructed solicitors that day.

He’d told Jolene some of his plans that night and she’d seemed pleased for him. When he’d mentioned that he’d be happy if she’d like to come over to the UK and stay with him, she’d told him she’d like nothing more. She had savings and she’d always wanted to visit the UK. She hadn’t asked on what basis she’d be joining him. She hadn’t mentioned a visa. Perhaps she’d thought he only intended for them to stay in England for a while. He had been born in the UK, to an English mother and an American father, so he had dual nationality. If Jolene wanted to remain in England for more than six months, she would need a visa. She hadn’t even asked where they’d be living, and she hadn’t yet seen Wishing Well Cottage.

And he hadn’t yet proposed.

He’d thought it would be easy but it turned out that it wasn’t. He’d gone as far as buying a ring – which wasn’t as exciting as he’d expected it to be, and he wasn’t even sure she’d like it. It was a diamond solitaire which had cost him a small fortune. He hadn’t minded the expense but he had minded the store clerk wittering on about ‘True Love’ the entire time he was there.

Was there such a thing? He doubted that very much. People fell in love and they fell out of love. They were lucky if they managed to make their relationship last. The divorce rate soared each year.

What was important was to find someone you liked; someone you got along with; someone who didn’t make you want to chew your arm off rather than spend all day with them.

He had that with Jolene. He felt comfortable with her. They never argued. She let him live his life without trying to change him. She never questioned where their