Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
I simply scrawl what’s in my heart on the cardboard and turn it, holding it up for everyone to see—I Love You, Too. Love IS all around.
The crowd goes wild.
The line applauds, the guards applaud, the lover in charge of the sound system shouts, “Congratulations,” through the speakers before starting our victory song all over again. People are hugging and kissing and crying, and for once it feels like there’s nothing ugly left in the world.
There’s just this amazing man in his underwear, who pulls me closer, kissing me with devastating sweetness as he murmurs, “Thank God.”
A few minutes later, after Edward appears with pants for Oliver, congratulations for both of us, and an offer to drive us home, we head for the exit, arm-in-arm.
Oliver explains what happened with his grandmother, and I instantly feel like a complete asshole.
“No, I’m the worst,” I insist when Oliver refuses to accept my apology. “I mean, yes, they said ‘Featherswallow’ not Lady Plimpton, but—”
“Exactly,” he cuts in. “I don’t know why people always lump Grandmother in with my father’s side of the family. It is literally impossible for her to have birthed him. She was only eleven years old when he was born, to my paternal grandmother. Who has been dead for quite some time.”
“Still,” I insist. “I should have known you would never do something like that.”
“How?” he asks, making me blink in surprise. “Those people said the wrong name, Em. Naturally, you were upset and confused. And I mean, yes, we’ve come a long way in a short amount of time, but we’re still strangers in a lot of ways.”
“You don’t feel like a stranger,” I murmur, huddling closer to him in the backseat as Edward pretends that he can’t hear us.
“You don’t either,” he assures me softly. “I’m just saying that I understand why you felt betrayed. And I can’t promise we won’t have misunderstandings in the future. But from now on, just…talk to me before you head for the airport?”
I nod fast. “Yes. I promise. I should have talked to you this time, I was just scared.” I lean in, bringing my lips closer to his. “But I’m not scared anymore.”
“I soothed your fears by dashing through the airport in my underwear?”
I grin. “You did. You’re a genius romantic of the highest order.”
“Only with you, darling Darling,” he murmurs. “Only with you.”
Then, he kisses me, and it’s the best make-up kiss I’ve ever had.
I’m so happy, not even the terrible picture of me mid-sob posted by the first gossip site to report the story can bring me down.
And later that night, when Oliver pulls me aside at the holiday party for a panty-melting “girlfriend proposal” on the roof, with all the dazzling lights of London sparkling around us, I don’t hesitate to say “yes.”
I say “hell, yes,” kiss him senseless, and spend the rest of the night dancing with the man of my dreams.
We have the best Christmas Eve dinner at his brother’s and the best Christmas Day luncheon with the Featherswallow clan. His grandmother apologizes profusely for her overreach—all while assuring me that James assured her that I was by far the best planner for the job and shouldn’t hesitate to sign the contract.
Then, Oliver carries the hideous speedbump he bought his mother to the attic, and we head home to watch movies in our pajamas on the most magical night of the year.
And when Oliver gets me out of my pajamas, that’s as magical as ever, too.
It’s the best Christmas of my life, followed by the best New Year’s, followed by a madcap spring in which Oliver moves to New York for a few months, and then Maya and I both sell everything, pull up stakes, and move to London.
We do!
We move to London, where we learn to work and play in equally reasonable amounts.
I move in with Oliver, we adopt Princess Fluffy Nugget, the sweetest, best girl in the whole world, and only end up embarrassed in the tabloids a handful of times before Oliver proposes.
By the time he gets down on one knee on a warm June night, in a field full of wildflowers by the sea, with his mother’s ring and his family’s enthusiastic blessing, there’s no doubt in my mind that this is where I belong.
Where I will always belong, with my fake British boyfriend turned real British Husband and a hot mess happily ever after of our very own.
Epilogue
Princess Fluffy Nugget
A warm night in June…
It all began at Christmas, in my fourth year of being the most bullied Princess the world has ever known…
I was at Lady Plimpton’s holiday pudding party, putting on a brave face while being relentlessly harassed by other dogs—a motley lot of hooligans and lugs, with more fur than capacity for feeling, and a cruel obsession with shoving smaller creatures into drifts and kicking yellow snow into their faces—when an angel walked into my life.