Jessica Hart - Last-Minute Proposal

‘No.’ Tilly stopped him with a kiss. ‘It’s perfect,’ she told him with a shaky smile. ‘I’m only crying because I’m so happy.’

Campbell let himself relax a little. ‘Are you sure you like it?’

‘I love it…almost as much as I love you, in fact!’

‘Try it on.’ Picking up the ring, he made Tilly hold out her left hand.

‘I hope it’s not too small,’ she said, bracing herself for humiliation, but it slid on to her finger as if made for it. ‘Oh, Campbell, it’s beautiful,’ she told him, her eyes starry as she kissed him again. ‘Now I know you really do want to marry me,’ she said. ‘You had it planned down to the last detail!’

Campbell laughed with relief as he pulled her close. ‘It didn’t work out exactly as I’d planned, or we would be somewhere a lot more comfortable than this where I could make love to you the way I’ve been thinking about making love to you for the past three months.’

Tilly allowed herself a last kiss and slid off his knee. ‘In that case,’ she said, ‘I think we should go home.’

‘I was thinking I could give up my job in the States and come back here,’ said Campbell as they walked down the quiet hospital corridors. ‘I know you’re happy here in Allerby, and I could find another role somewhere round here.’

Tilly thought about it while they waited for a lift. ‘No,’ she decided eventually. ‘Not unless you have to find another job after missing that meeting!’

‘I’m not going to miss it,’ he said confidently. ‘I’ll get myself back there in time for it somehow, and then I’ll come back and be with you.’

‘I think I should go to you,’ said Tilly. ‘Harry and Seb have been going on at me to get out of my rut, so that’s what I’ll do,’ she said bravely. ‘I can make cakes in America as well as here.’

They walked hand in hand across the silent hospital grounds to where Campbell had left his car. ‘I’m nervous about the idea of a penthouse, though,’ she admitted. ‘I bet it’s immaculate.’

He smiled down at her. ‘We can buy a messy house if you like.’

‘It’s not the house, it’s the kind of life you live.’ Tilly hesitated, chewing her lip. ‘I think I might be losing my nerve already! We’re so different.’ She looked anxiously at him. ‘Do you really think if we get married we’ll live happily ever after?’

Campbell stopped and turned to face her. ‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘We’re bound to argue about stuff, and maybe things will be difficult sometimes, but we’ll have to work it out together.’

Pulling her in to him, he rested his cheek against her hair. ‘There are no guarantees, Tilly, but if you love me and I love you, and if we trust each other, I think we’ll make it. I know it’s a risk, but this time,’ he said, ‘we’re going over the cliff together.’

Tilly smiled as she remembered that first morning and how terrified she had been at the end of that rope. What was it she had said to him then? She pulled back slightly so she could put her arms around his neck and draw his head down for a kiss warm with promise.

‘Let’s get on with it then,’ she said.

Enveloped in a haze of delight, they were almost back at the house before they remembered the competition. Tilly switched on her phone to find a message from Suzy, the producer.

‘Oh,’ she said, and glanced at Campbell, hoping he wasn’t going to be too disappointed. ‘Apparently it was very close, but Roger and Leanne won in the end. There’s a message from Maggie, too…’

She listened closely, then closed the phone. ‘Maggie says she’s really sorry we didn’t win, but she wants to thank you for matching the winner’s cheque with a donation to the hospice.’

Reaching across, she laid a hand on his thigh and smiled. ‘That was generous of you.’

Campbell drew up outside Tilly’s house and switched off the engine. ‘For the record, I would have done it for Roger and Leanne’s charities as well if we’d won,’ he said with a shrug. ‘The competition was just to make the programme more interesting for the viewers. I didn’t want any of those good causes to miss out on money that could make a real difference.’

Leaning across the handbrake, he kissed her. ‘I even arranged a donation to mountain rescue dog training.’

‘Whatever for?’

‘It turns out that was Greg’s chosen charity, and I felt it was the least I owed him for breaking his leg and making it possible for me to meet you. It seems a bit unfair on the poor bloke, but I’ll always be glad that he did!’

Tilly laughed as she got out of the car, but her expression was doubtful as they walked to the front door. ‘Are you sure you don’t mind that we didn’t win?’

But Campbell, Mr Competitive, only smiled and put an arm around her. ‘I’m here with you and we’ve got the rest of our lives together,’ he said simply. ‘I think we are the winners, don’t you?’

When he put it like that, Tilly could only agree. Smiling, she found her keys and unlocked the door. ‘Much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right about that, too!’