Helping Sarah

Epilogue

Ben

"How soon is too soon to ask someone to marry you?"

Both I and the man in the garden chair beside me stared open-mouthed at Michael as he handed each of us one of the beers he'd gone inside to fetch. Though I suspect our bafflement stemmed from rather different reasons.

I glanced at Alistair. I had met him a few times before today and though he seemed nice enough once you got talking to him, he had at first come off as the most aloof and cynical man I had ever met, especially towards women.

"Any period of time is too soon," he huffed.

Grinning, Michael sat back down with his own beer underneath the large tree in the middle of his garden where we were taking a break from hauling boxes in the bright August sun.

"You're not one for marriage?" I asked Alistair.

"Not if I can avoid it."

"Which you can't." Michael tipped his bottle towards him in salute.

His friend shrugged. "My cousin can inherit the title. Then it'll be up to him to pass it and all the associated shit on to his unfortunate son."

"Oh, please. You just haven't met the right woman yet," Michael laughed. "One day she'll come stampeding into your life, and you'll be more than eager to drag her off to a church. And then to your ducal bed to beget some heirs."

"Speak for yourself," Alistair grumbled, but he didn't look at Michael.

I followed his gaze across the garden to the two women on the grass in front of the terrace. Sarah and Lisa were attempting to blow up a paddling pool, Charlie dancing impatiently around them already in his swim short, and they were laughing at each other's red faces.

Michael's grin deepened into one smugly satisfied as he too looked at them, his eyes warming.

It had taken a few meetings, but I had actually come to like Michael. Despite everything, he was a good man, good for Sarah, and exactly what she and Charlie needed. Even a blind man could see he was head over heels in love with her. And she with him.

To be honest, I was rather envious of what my almost-sister had found with her new boyfriend. The love-filled life they were building together here at the house that was no longer just Michael's, but theirs. That glint in Michael's eyes when he looked at Sarah that he made no attempt whatsoever to hide, the shared glances and smiles full of emotions, the way they seemed to always know where the other was and the touches whenever they were near that seemed to just happen without thought, was a living image of what love truly was.

"How about you, Ben? What's your view on the institution that is marriage?"

I turned back to Alistair and shrugged. "I'm not against it. I'd like to marry one day and have a family."

He gestured to Victoria with his head. "All you have to do is ask. I understand you've been together for a while?"

My girlfriend was sitting on the terrace under a parasol with mine and Michael's mother. "Yes, a few years."

The thought was not new to me. I had considered proposing to Victoria for a while now. I don't know what was holding me back from doing so. Maybe that there had been absolutely no hint from Victoria that she wanted the whole wedding, kids and house thing. Or maybe that she had been acting rather odd lately.

Taking a sip from my bottle, I kept my gaze on my girlfriend. Lately she had stayed late at work most days and was receiving texts at all hours of the day. She too was a solicitor, and the case that was taking all her time was apparently deeply confidential. She couldn't tell me anything about it.