Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 634(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Letting him into my life was the best decision I’d ever made.
I loved him. Entirely. With everything I had and was.
I’d once said I didn’t believe in soulmates, but if I did, I knew William was mine. I was a better, more forgiving and gracious person because he was in my life, and I was the proud owner of a PhD right now because of the support and love he and his family had so freely given me.
And Granny… Well, she was Granny. She’d never change, although she had gone from black mascara to brown and finally admitted that Marcie was her life partner.
Girlfriend was too juvenile, she’d said.
I’d never expected to attend a Pride march with my grandmother, I can tell you that much.
I just needed her to leave the rainbow bikini top at home next time.
I was passed from person to person, receiving all the hugs and cheek kisses peppered with congratulations. I was riding a complete high, and before I knew it, I was being bundled into a car and pulled out at a pub to celebrate.
The next hour was a blur of champagne and, weirdly, shots. I didn’t think I’d ever see the Duke and Duchess of Glenroch doing shots with my grandmother, and I certainly didn’t expect Granny to lick salt off the back of my father’s hand.
That was the point I had to excuse myself to take a breather outside. It was getting too weird in there.
William followed me, chuckling.
“You saw that, right?” I asked, sitting down on one of the picnic benches. “I’m not in some weird adrenaline high and seeing things, am I?”
He sat next to me, wrapping his arm around me, and shook his head. “Nope. We really did just witness Granny licking salt from the back of your dad’s hand.”
“Okay, good. That was all such a whirlwind I was starting to think I was going crazy.”
“It did happen fast, didn’t it?” He tucked me against his side. “Do you want to sit out here for a bit?”
“Please,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder. “I can’t believe I did it. It’s over.”
“I’m so proud of you,” he said softly, kissing the top of my head. “You’ve worked so hard for this.”
Not to toot my own horn, but I really, really had.
“I feel a bit lost now,” I admitted. “Like, I don’t know what to do. It’s been my life for so long, and now I have nothing to do.”
“That’s not true. You have the job offer from the university in the research department.”
I nodded. “And I think I’ll take it, honestly. I know Leeds University headhunted me, and the salary is slightly better there, but I don’t want to move. It seems like such a hassle.”
“Besides, you know Cambridge and all the faculty members. You might as well stay where you’re comfortable.”
“Exactly.” I sighed. “But they’re going to ask me what to call myself.”
“Just use your new title professionally,” he suggested. “You considered that already, and it makes sense.”
“I suppose, but it just seems like such a faff. Like, what, I’m Lady Grace everywhere except at work? I’m never going to learn to respond to Dr Montgomery-Brown.”
“Just cut your losses and tell everyone to call you Lady Kinkirk. Save on the paperwork,” he joked.
I sat back and looked at him. “Why not?”
William paused, and a tiny smile crept onto his face. “What?”
“Why not?” I repeated. “I mean, I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”
He just looked at me, smiling.
“Unless that wasn’t actually what you were saying, in which case, never mind.”
He reached up and cupped my face. “I wanted to see how you’d react to it. Six months ago, you told me to piss off when I said it as a joke.”
“That sounds like me.”
He chuckled. “This isn’t exactly how I imagined proposing to you going, given that the ring I have is under your bed and not in my pocket.”
“What’s an engagement ring doing under my bed? Oh, God, you were going to propose during sex, weren’t you?”
“No. Actually, I was showing Amber, and you came up and I had to hide it, so…”
Someone cleared their throat from the doorway of the pub, and we looked up.
Amber was there. “I, uh, here.” She scurried over and put a small box in William’s hand. “I stole it earlier. I had a feeling about today.”
I looked at William, then at her. “I’m not going to ask.”
She shook her head and ran back to the doorway, then turned around and held up her thumbs while grinning. “I won’t tell anyone, don’t worry.”
That didn’t inspire confidence in me at all.
William looked at the box then at me. “Well, I guess I’m doing this properly after all.”
I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face as he stood in front of me and got down on one knee.