January
On New
Years Day Morning Alex Swaine and
Julie Lewis were
awake early, although to be honest they had rarely slept as they’d spent the night talking, in fact they were still in their Fancy Dress Costumes, laying on the bed with a quilted
throw across them.
He
got up and headed for the bathroom and washed and dressed, and when he came out,
she went in, by that time breakfast service had begun so he ordered room
service.
“I’ve
ordered breakfast” he said when she reappeared
“Lovely”
she retorted without enthusiasm and all the time they were breakfasting she kept
fidgeting and looking at her watch or fiddling with her phone and she hardly
ate a thing in fact he ate most of hers as well.
It
was obvious she had something on her mind, but he didn’t say anything and just
enjoyed the extra breakfast.
They
had been sitting there eating breakfast in the bedroom for about half an hour,
and he had just poured himself another coffee when all of a sudden, Julie leapt
up and said
“Come
along, grab your coat”
“What?”
he replied “I haven’t finished my coffee”
“No
time for that” she insisted “Let’s go”
Well,
he wasn’t sure what the problem was, or what the urgency was all about, but she
was in her tomboy clothes so he wasn’t going to rock the boat, afterall he’d
had two breakfasts so he was ready for anything, so he grabbed his coat and got
in step with the woman he’d fallen in love with, in truth he would have
followed her anywhere, he caught up with her in the lift.
“So
where are we off to?” he asked as they rode the lift down to reception, but she
didn’t answer and when the doors opened she set off again, he was hoping they
were going to stop at one of the comfortable luxurious looking sofa’s but she
just kept marching on and bustled through the front doors and out into the
winter.
“This
will clear our heads” she announced
“My head is
already clear” he thought to himself as she strode off down the path towards the lake,
crunching on the frosty leaves with him crunching behind her.
She
didn’t speak but he knew she would do soon, he just hoped it would be something
he wanted to hear.
When
they reached the edge of the water there was a bench facing out across the lake
and after telling him to sit down, she began pacing up and down.
“I have something to say, and you’re going
to think I'm insane, and why wouldn’t you? what I'm going to say is completely
mad, but in my defense, you are the reason for the madness that has infected me,
but no matter what you think of me I have to say it out loud” she said
“Ok”
“I wasn’t looking for it, I didn’t realize
I wanted it, but it turns out that I needed it without knowing it, so it was a
surprise and I dont mind telling you that it knocked me sideways and now I dont
want it to end, and going back to how things were fills me with dread, the last
two weeks have been amazng, though unexpected, oh god I'm just rambling, I’ve
been afflicted by a crazy rambling madness”.
“Just take a deep breath” he urged
“Ok” she said and took several breaths
before continuing
“This is new for me... of course I've had
relationships … feelings... those I've had, but this is new, and
this is something I’ve never felt”
She took another breath, and he waited
patiently.
“I've never said this to anyone before, I
never felt that way before, so this is a first for me” she said and stopped
pacing and took another breath and looked straight at him and said
“I love you”
Alex immediately stood up and faced
her
“Thats not mad, crazy or insane” He said “I
love you too”
He kissed her tenderly as snowflakes
started to fall around them, but afterwards she said
“Thats not the crazy part”
“Its not?”
“You should sit down again” she said “because
you might want to throw me in the lake after you hear the next part”
“Ok” he said apprehensively as he complied
“Being in love is a first for me, and I
like, I like it a lot, and I want more of it, and I want to bottle it so I can
imbibe whenever I want, I don’t want it to evaporate away or slip through
my fingers, so...”
“So?”
“So, I want to marry you” she said and
closed her eyes, and after about thirty seconds when there had been no response
she cautiously opened one eye to find him standing inches from her, and as soon
as her eyes were fully open, he said
“I want that too”
They kissed passionately at the water’s
edge as the snow fell steadily and after about five minutes they started
laughing and then ran head long back to the hotel giggling all the way.
They went straight up to the room and
quickly packed then they drove back to the Village, after dropping her things
off at her flat they drove to his house where they spent the rest of the day
and the night, as they still had a lot of talking to do.
It was another week before they made love
for the first time.
Florist Julie
Lewis and photographer Alex Swaine met and fell in love while they danced the
night away at the wedding of Charlie and Toddy Phelps.
Which was why on
New Years Day, having only known each other for two weeks, down by the lake in
the grounds of the Barnabus Manor Hotel Julie proposed and he accepted, and they
didn’t think it crazy at all.
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