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‘You got your test results.’ Mia felt cold and shaky. If it was good news, surely he’d have told her immediately – and he’d definitely be happier.

‘I did.’

‘Are you going to tell me?’

‘I don’t know… I couldn’t open it.’

‘Are you going to do it here?’

‘I… umm. Would you?’

‘If that’s what you really want, of course I will.’ She took the envelope and carefully opened it, then froze before pulling out the letter.

‘Not so easy, is it?’ Aiden was watching her, his arms folded across his chest protectively.

‘Actually, I think this makes things a lot easier.’ She put the letter down between them. ‘I don’t care what this says. It’s not going to change things for me. I know you think that it will, but it won’t.’

‘That’s an easy thing for you to say, Princess.’

‘Yeah. It really is.’ She twisted to face him, and took his hand in hers. ‘Aiden, you need to know this isn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing for me… I’ve been thinking about it for a while… I just hadn’t planned how to do it because nothing seemed quite right, but right now I can’t imagine there being a righter moment. Except, if I had planned properly, I’d have brought it with me…’

‘Mia, what are you talking about?’

‘I…’ She was interrupted by a head butting her calf, and a muffled mew as Mist trotted from behind the bench, a very familiar pouch in her mouth.

‘What’s that?’ Aiden reached for it, but Mist danced away, presenting her prize to Mia.

Mia tugged the velvet from her mouth. ‘Can I take it this means I have your approval?’

Mew.

‘We’re going to have to have a chat, you and I, about privacy and you not opening locked doors and drawers,’ Mia chided gently before kissing the cat’s head. ‘Thank you, Madam Mist.’

‘What’s going on?’ Aiden stared between them both.

Mia cupped the bag in her hand. ‘I saw this a while ago, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And you know what Hudsbury is like… I found myself passing the store a dozen times in a week, so I had to buy it.’

‘Mia, what are you doing?’

She took a deep breath and wet her lips. Her heart was thundering, but she felt completely calm and focussed. ‘I know things won’t always be easy, and there’s a lot we’ll need to talk about, but all that can wait. We can figure things out later.’ She tipped the contents of the bag into her palm and reached for his hand. ‘Aiden Griffiths, will you marry me?’

His lips parted on a shocked gasp. ‘Mia… I… don’t know what to say.’

‘What do you want to say?’ She uncurled her fingers, dropping the ring into his palm and covering it with her hand.

She could see his throat working as he tried to come up with a reply, and then his jaw clenching for a second before he answered. ‘I really think that you should read the letter before you ask me this.’

‘No. What the letter says won’t change things for me, Aiden.’

‘It should.’

‘It won’t. I’m too selfish to let it.’

‘You’re one of the least selfish people I know.’

‘Nope, I really am being selfish. Because I don’t care if you’ve got seven years or seventy left – I want them. Every single moment of them that you’re willing to give me. Days, nights, stolen lunches in shop gardens and doctor’s offices. I’m going to take every single one of them and still ask for more. You light me up, Aiden. You make my life make sense. You showed me what magic is, and opened a whole new world to me, and you held my hand through it all and made me feel safe. And happy. I’m too selfish to let that go, so tell me you’ll marry me, and I never have to give you up.’

‘Are you saying you think I’m your Triple D?’