Burning Bright

Chapter 41

I waited for the fatal blow. The big letdown now he was home and had come to his senses. The “we can still be friends” line. But at least he was doing it face to face and for that I respected him. He was obviously finding this tough. He ran his fingers through his hair, swallowed hard, and then, to my surprise, moved off his chair and onto the floor, on one knee, a small box clutched in his hand. There was a whisper of expectation from the other diners, but my focus was entirely on Eoin.

‘Erm, Kate. I wasn’t sure how to do this, so I thought I’d make an arse of myself somewhere posh so you couldn’t say No. I was going to wait to the end of the meal and hope you’d have drunk enough by then, but I really need to know. Kate, will you marry me? And please say Yes so that I can stop looking like a twat.’

It took me a few moments to recover, but not to make the decision. ‘Well, as you’ve put it so romantically . . . I suppose I’d better say Yes.’

‘Thank fuck,’ he said, returning to his seat, clutching the still-closed box.

‘So . . . is there anything in there?’ I asked, nodding at the box.

‘Shit. I was supposed to give you this, wasn’t I? I’ve never done this before. Erm, do I have to get down on one knee again?’

‘Please don’t. Everyone’s staring at us as it is.’

‘That’s because they’re not sure what your answer is.’

‘That’s because you’ve not shown me the ring. I might change my mind,’ although I recognised a posh jewellery box when I saw one.

He finally opened the box, removed the ring and slid it onto my finger. The sparkle of the three princess cut diamonds almost blinded me, so it was highly appropriate to wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him, to protect myself from the glare.

When we parted, it was to find that there was a queue of people waiting to congratulate us, staff and other diners, and we were overwhelmed with their good wishes. It was almost half an hour before we were able to return to our next course, some privacy, and more champagne.

‘Well, you’re full of surprises,’ I said as I examined my finger.

‘You weren’t expecting that?’

‘When you opened with “I’m sorry Kate” I really thought you were going to tell me it was over.’

‘What? No!’

‘I know that now. But remember when we talked about it in India? You said you’d take them out for a meal and . . .’

‘Ah. Oops. Erm, I didn’t think of that.’

‘At least you put me out of my misery quickly. Although I may never forgive you for scaring the life out of me first.’

‘Now you know how I felt in India. But did you really think I’d bring you over here and let you meet my Mum and then split up with you?’

‘Eoin, I had absolutely no idea what you were doing and I had about two seconds to think about it!’

‘You really had no idea that I was going to ask?’

‘No. None!’

‘You’re priceless,’ then his face clouded with concern. ‘Kate, I know you’ve said “Yes”, but you do really mean it, don’t you? I don’t want to pressure you into it, really I don’t.’

‘Eoin . . . I said Yes because I meant Yes!’

‘Thank God. And do you like the ring? I wasn’t sure whether you’d want to choose your own, but I wanted to surprise you and . . . we can always change it if you don’t like it. And does it fit Ok? If it needs adjusting . . .’