The Mistletoe Pact by Jo Lovett

Epilogue

Now - One year later

Evie

‘Come here.’ Evie’s mum held out her arms and Evie stepped into them, cautiously, for a non-squishy hug. They’d spent a long time getting ready this morning and they didn’t need a crushed dress or ruined hairdo disaster at this point. ‘You look beautiful, Evie.’

‘You look beautiful, too, Mum.’ Evie blinked away sudden tears. This was huge. Well, obviously. Getting married to the right person was, ideally, a one-off, for life.

‘And me,’ said Autumn.

‘Yes, of course you too,’ their mum said.

Autumn, looking fairy-tale gorgeous in her bridesmaid’s dress, did a big pirouette and then ran in for a group hug.

‘Careful,’ screeched Evie and her mum in unison and they all held hands in a little circle instead.

‘I love you,’ Evie’s mum told her daughters.

‘Love you too,’ they both said.

‘Right. Ready?’ Evie’s mum finished smoothing Evie’s dress where Autumn had creased it slightly, and then held her arm out.

‘Wait.’ Evie rearranged her mum’s jacket from where it had been knocked lopsided. ‘There. Yes. Ready. Deep breaths all round.’ She blinked back yet more threatened tears – thank goodness for waterproof mascara – and took her mum’s arm and checked over her shoulder that Autumn was in position behind them, and they started walking down the aisle, to a very shaky organ performance from Mrs Bird of Wagner’s ‘Bridal Chorus’.

Sasha, Lucie, Fiona and another couple of friends from the village had done an amazing job of decorating the church in holly, ivy, berries and twiggy things for the perfect Christmas wedding backdrop.

The church was rammed with guests, all glammed up in Bridgerton-themed outfits, put together with a fair amount of historical inaccuracy but a lot of enthusiasm, many of them wearing hats made by Evie’s mum, who’d been in millinery overdrive for the past few months, and all beaming at them as they processed past.

And there was the groom, turned to greet them, his face splitting into the most gorgeous grin.

‘You look stunning,’ he mouthed as they arrived at the front of the church. He didn’t look bad himself in his tight Regency trousers, shirt, waistcoat and jacket.

Evie felt happy tears pricking her eyes again. This mascara had cost a fortune, but it was going to have been worth every penny if she didn’t end up with panda rings on her face by the end of today.

‘I love you,’ she whispered to her mum, and then let go of her arm and took her seat on the front pew next to Autumn, while their mum moved to stand next to her about-to-be-husband, Grant, and Laura, the vicar, began the service.

Evie looked over at Dan, looking very handsome as a slightly reluctantly garbed Regency gentleman, sitting on the other side of Autumn and holding a wriggling toddler Katie, and smiled at him. She felt like her heart was going to burst with joy watching her mum finally make it official with the only man Evie had ever met who she thought could make her mum happy. And it was even better having Dan here to enjoy the day with.

* * *

Six hours later, Sasha did a massive yawn, patted her tummy and said, ‘I’ve got to go to bed now. Pregnancy’s really hard work when the baby’s pressed up against your lungs and down against your bladder. Where are the kids?’

Sasha was eight months pregnant and exhausted, and had volunteered to babysit Autumn and Katie in Evie’s mum’s house while all the adults partied in the marquee in Sasha’s mum’s garden. Evie’s mum and Grant had been planning to organise the reception themselves in Grant’s pub until Sasha’s mum had insisted that she wanted to host her best friend’s reception, and surely Jenny and Grant didn’t wantto do a busman’s holiday pub evening. Sasha’s mum was staying with her new partner, Doug, the architect who’d asked her out a good year ago, and who she’d eventually started going out with on Valentine’s Day this year, and Evie’s mum and Grant were staying in Sasha’s mum’s house tonight before going on a Christmas honeymoon tomorrow, while Evie and Dan looked after Autumn.

Evie wasn’t totally sure that Fiona had bargained for full-on Bridgerton, but once she’d got her head round it, she’d embraced it, like all the guests had.

When Dan got back from settling Katie in her travel cot in the cottage, Evie was in the middle of a square dance partnered by Grant’s brother. She caught sight of Dan on the other side of the marquee and got the little heart flutter she always got when she saw him after any time apart, even after a year very much together.

When the dance ended, they threaded their way across the floor to each other, beaming away, like there were no other people around them, and Evie walked into Dan’s arms as the band struck up a waltz.

* * *

The party finally wound up at around one thirty. Evie and Dan watched Mrs Bird accept the offer of a walk across the green with her Zimmer frame and Albert Fox, the elderly neighbour she’d spent the entire evening dancing with.

‘Look at those two. Seems like it’s never too late for love to blossom.’ Dan looped his arm round Evie’s shoulders and pulled her in towards him and kissed her.

‘I know. It’s like there’s something in the Melting water. First my mum and Grant, then your mum and Doug. And now Mrs Bird and Albert.’

‘I want us to grow old together,’ Dan said as they began to stroll across the night-frosted green themselves.

‘Me too,’ Evie said, going all warm and fuzzy inside. It felt like it might be time for her big question.

‘Pitstop on the bench for old time’s sake?’

They sat down close together, Dan’s arm still round Evie’s shoulders, and her hand resting on his thigh.

‘You fancy making it official us living together?’ he asked. They’d spent almost every night together for the past year, which had been amazing. ‘I’ve loved this year. Big things, like just being with you, and smaller things, like eating more healthily and sleeping well. I feel like we’re good for each other.’

She turned to look at him and then nodded slowly. It definitely felt like it was time.

‘I would,’ she said. Dan smiled at her and her warm, fuzzy feeling grew. ‘In fact,’ she said, ‘I have a big question for you. I was thinking we could go for a reprise of Vegas. But for real this time. And maybe not actually in Vegas, because it would be lovely for all our family and friends to be there.’

‘Evie Green, are you asking me to marry you?’ His grin was gorgeous, and face-splitting.

‘Dan Marshall, yes I am.’ She was grinning like nobody’s business herself now, because he was clearly going to say yes.

‘I’d love to.’ He leaned his head towards hers and they shared a long, lingering kiss, before Dan drew back. ‘While we’re asking big questions, I’m also wondering if you fancy trying to give Katie a little sister or brother in the next year or two.’

Evie was going to explode with warmth and fuzziness now. ‘Yes, I actually would.’ She squeezed his thigh and snuggled further against him.

‘Imagine what we’d have thought all those years ago when we made that pact if we could have seen ourselves now on this bench,’ Dan said.

‘We’d have thought we were old. When I was twenty-two, I thought thirty was old.’

‘I love you,’ Dan said. ‘Pretty sure I always did, even then.’

‘Me too.’

And then they kissed and kissed again under the mistletoe.

* * *

Did you fall in love with Evie and Dan? Get The House Swap, Jo’s hilarious romantic comedy. When Cassie and James swap homes, they expect peaceful breaks, but the sparks between them cause fireworks that are impossible to contain.

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