Snow Going Back

Chapter 4

FOUR

Kate’s breath crystallised in the air and drifted off in white hazy curls as they made their way down the long frosty lawn, and the sight of it made her smile. Eleanor had once told her, when she’d been very small, that when the air was so cold it froze breath, it was actually the yearly reminder from Jack Frost to start preparing the Christmas cake. Kate had been so young she’d taken it literally, and for years had spent the fading days of autumn running outside to check whether he’d been by to tell them it was time.

Their family home was over a hundred years old, built in an era when it was the norm for back gardens to stretch on for an eternity, well before people worked out that small patches of land were more practical. The garden sloped gently away for just over two hundred metres, a small grove of apple trees and a low fence separating it from the rolling fields beyond.

‘I’d go for a garden like this, too,’ Lance said.

It took Kate a minute to realise he was continuing from his earlier comment in the car. She looked out at the view, and her forehead puckered in a small frown. ‘It’s lovely, but it’s a lot of maintenance. You hate helping your mother weed her tiny front garden. Why would you want something this size?’

‘Because that view screams success , Kate. It says, This person made it . I’d like that reminder with my morning coffee each day. We don’t work as hard as we do in the cutthroat world of law for nothing, do we?’ He glanced at her. ‘We do it because we’re competitive creatures. People like us, we crave the best. Being the best, having the best.’

They slowed as they neared the two cherry trees stood to one side of the garden, and Kate pushed the loose tendrils of hair being tousled by the wind back off her face. She didn’t fully agree with Lance’s statement. Although she was as competitive as any other lawyer, she didn’t care about status symbols the way Lance did.

As they reached the rockery Henry had installed between the cherry trees, her eyes instinctively moved up to the branches.

‘Did I ever tell you how these got here?’ Kate asked.

‘Er, don’t think so,’ Lance replied distractedly.

‘I was about seven. We’d learned how to grow trees from pips at school, and that weekend I decided to give it a go,’ Kate told him with a grin. ‘I saved a handful of cherry pips and gave it a shot. These were the only ones that grew.’ Kate looked up at the two twisted trees. ‘You should have seen my mother’s face. She’d planned to deck this area. These were just shoots at the time and she very nearly dug them up. But my dad found me crying, and when he found out why, he told her not to touch them under any circumstances. Really put his foot down. She was furious .’

Lance laughed. ‘Oh, wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Henry stand up to Eleanor over anything.’

‘Oh, he does. When it really matters he can be quite unmovable. And for some reason, these mattered.’ She stared at the knotted branches fondly.

‘And now he’s completed the area,’ Lance added, gesturing to the raised circle of rocks dotted with succulents between the trees. ‘One could say this area has come full circle.’

‘Mm,’ Kate mumbled absently, her mind still in the past as an icy gust of wind crept under her scarf and made her shiver.

She yawned and stared tiredly up at the racing clouds as she fought the achy weight of her eyelids. She wasn’t sure she could make it through the entire day without falling asleep. Maybe they could slip away a bit early.

‘Aren’t you going to look at what he’s done?’ Lance asked.

‘Oh, it’s OK. I saw it a couple of weeks ago,’ Kate replied dismissively. ‘I can never tell the difference between all Dad’s little green plants anyway.’

Lance wandered over to the rocks, and Kate’s thoughts moved back to her parents. The way they were acting was unnerving her. If it had just been her mother, the odd behaviour wouldn’t have been quite so alarming. Eleanor was routinely unpredictable. You never knew what she would do next. But for her father, this was completely out of character. Nothing ruffled him usually. And he’d always been straight with her. He didn’t hide things.

‘Some of these rocks are magnificent , Kate,’ Lance said, squatting down to take a closer look.

‘Yes,’ she agreed politely, not really listening.

What could possibly be so bad that her dad would actively keep it from her? She racked her brain.

‘In fact, this one in the middle is really unique,’ Lance continued. ‘Not something you find every day. Come take a look.’

The wind picked up and whipped some of her hair into her face, and she pulled it away. Almost instantly it whipped back again, and she turned into the wind to force it back with a frown of annoyance.

‘Kate?’ Lance pressed. ‘Come on – turn around and give me your legal verdict on this rock.’

‘What are the charges?’ she joked back, hiding her annoyance. She didn’t care about plants and rocks. She just wanted to be told what was going on. But she turned anyway, ready to feign interest. She immediately got another mouthful of hair and quickly tried to spit it out. ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ she muttered, failing miserably to tuck it neatly behind her ears where she wanted it. Realising the wind was going to win this fight, she gave up and grabbed all her hair into one hand, twisting it up under her hat instead.

‘ Kate ?’ Lance prompted her again, and she felt her irritation spike sharply. Surely he could see what she was struggling with?

She swivelled around, forcing a bright smile to soften the snappiness she couldn’t quite bite back out of her response.

‘ Yes !’

She held his gaze pointedly to show him he had her full attention. Slow breaths , she reminded herself. You’re annoyed with your hair, not Lance. She opened her mouth again to ask which rock it was that had so deeply taken his interest, but as she did, Lance’s smile lit up so brilliantly that she hesitated, confused.

It took a fraction of a second from this point for her eyes to clock the small blue box in his hand. It took another fraction for her brain to register that the rock he’d been referring to was the giant pear-shaped diamond gleaming back at her and not one from her father’s rockery. In the following fraction she tried to suck in a deep breath, but then it stuck in her throat and she froze as the realisation dawned that Lance was proposing to her. Proposing marriage ! And then finally, another full second later, shock zapped through her like a bolt of lightning as she realised that he’d taken her yes as an answer to his proposal rather than as a simple answer to her name, as intended.

As Lance leaped to his feet with an elated punch to the air, Kate searched for the words to protest, to explain he’d made a mistake. But before she could, he declared it to the skies in an elated bellowing cry.

‘ She said yes !’

‘Oh,’ she breathed. ‘No, Lance—’ She reached out towards him, but in that moment a roaring chorus of cheers erupted from somewhere behind her.

Kate’s heart lurched sharply as she turned towards the noise, then sank to the pit of her stomach like a cold hard stone as she saw the crowd of their closest family and friends gathered by the house. As she realised they’d all been watching . That this had all been planned, and that they’d all accepted her yes .

‘Oh my God,’ she uttered.

How is this happening ? she cried internally. And why? Am I being punked? Is Ashton Kutcher hiding somewhere?

‘I know, you’re stunned,’ Lance said with a light happy laugh. He took her hand and slipped the ring onto her finger.

Kate stared down at it, frozen. Reeling. Unsure how to proceed. This has to be a nightmare , she reasoned. That’s it. I’m dreaming. This isn’t real. But when Lance pulled her to him and lifted her chin it certainly felt real. She swallowed, vaguely aware that the sound of the cheering crowd was growing nearer. She felt sick.

‘You know, I had a whole speech prepared, about what a great team we make and about our future together.’ Lance’s warm amber eyes sparkled as he looked down at her with a wide smile. ‘But you didn’t even give me the chance.’ He laughed and then stroked her face gently. ‘Well, that’s fine. Because all that really needs to be said is this. I love you, Kate Hunter. And I’m so glad you said yes to becoming my wife.’

Kate opened her mouth, desperate to say something – anything – to stop this gross misunderstanding from going any further. She wasn’t ready for marriage – they didn’t even live together! But as Lance turned her to face the crowd of people coming towards them, she realised, in horror, that it was already too late.