An hour later, we’re sitting in the pub in borrowed clothes, courtesy of the generous townspeople, and now nursing a hot drink each. The rain has stopped, the roads are slowly clearing, leaving mud streaks everywhere. It’s not the most beautiful of Cornish scenes, granted, but I’ve got Danny, and Mitchell, everything I need, right here at my side.
We watch Danny slurping at his pudding and Mitchell smiles at me beseechingly.
‘Rosie? I was a right toss—’ his eyes swing to Danny ‘—uh, fool. Can you ever forgive me?’
I laugh. ‘Forgive you? For what?’
‘I had a word with Head Office. You lost your job… to protect mine. How could I have got you so wrong?’
How, indeed? But in all honesty, not even I would believe myself. It certainly doesn’t look good, does it? Who in their right mind would believe that someone acting, albeit temporarily, as inspector, would actually risk their own job to protect someone who not only was a complete stranger, but also a complete jerk? I mean, who does that?
But I have Penny to thank as well. If it hadn’t been for her taking my side, and Susan exposing herself by firing me, we would’ve probably never found out about her and Diane’s scheme to steal from Mitchell who hadn’t had the foresight to change his PINs. I guess, what comes around, goes around.
‘I didn’t mean for all this to get so bad…’ I mumble. ‘You certainly didn’t deserve the boot. I knew the missing money wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t be a thief.’
‘How did you know?’
I look up into his eyes and I see all that I love about him. ‘I just knew.’
‘Thank you for believing in me, Rosie. I love you so much!’
‘I love you, too, Mitchell – more than I can say,’ I breathe, melting against him.
‘So now you, me and the kids can all be together?’
I laugh. ‘I’d hardly call Penny a kid, would you?’
Mitchell pulls me into his arms. ‘Silly. I meant the baby.’
I literally break free from his embrace in astonishment. ‘Baby? What baby?’
He blinks. ‘Your baby. Yours and… Mark’s.’
‘What? I’m not expecting any baby!’
His face is a mixture of disbelief and confusion. ‘Not expecting a baby…? But Laura said…’
Laura? Where the hell would she get such an idea from?
Mitchell swallows, visibly embarrassed and his ears are rapidly turning beet red. ‘She… said you told the guests in the dining room you were pregnant.’
Oh my God. The bloody expired Bakewell tarts have finally come back to bite me on the ass. ‘No! I was sick, but it was those damn cakes.’
He starts. ‘What, the ones in the basket on top of the refrigerator? Those were out of date! They were to be returned but then I moved out of the suite so I never got round to it.’
‘Oh…’ I whisper. ‘Then why were they sitting in your kitchen?’
‘So I wouldn’t forget to return them. What are you, the food inspector now, too?’
‘Mitchell, I only said I was pregnant because I didn’t want the guests to think it was the restaurant food!’
He looks at me, confused. ‘So it wasn’t morning sickness?’
‘No!’
And suddenly we’re laughing like nuts, falling into each other’s arms in sheer glee. And then I stop. ‘Wait, you would’ve taken me on even if I was pregnant with another man’s baby?’
He takes my arms. ‘Sweetheart, you’re one to talk. You were defending an alleged thief. Besides, I’m already gaga over Danny, aren’t I? Might as well take the vain mum on board, too,’ he murmurs with a grin, two adorable dimples bracketing his lips. ‘Would you chuck me back in the mud if I kissed you now, Rosie?’
And then, I gasp at the realisation. Dimples? I’d never noticed them before. In all the panic, I hadn’t really looked at him. He’s completely clean-shaven, and even his hair is cut short. Gone are his gorgeous curls. ‘Oh, my God! What did you do?’
‘I went into town this morning to get a makeover. You didn’t even notice my new tailored suit. Oh, well, that’s shot to shit – or mud – now. No worries.’
‘You look… you look…’
‘Civilised?’
Actually, he looks awesome. For the first time, I can see that under that beard he had been hiding quite the chiselled jaw, and the dimples give him a boyish aura.
‘I figured that the next step of my life required a new look. Didn’t want to keep lookin’ like a yeti today of all days.’
‘Why, what was today supposed to be?’
‘Did you really mean it when you said this was love?’
‘You know I did,’ I whisper.
‘Can you forgive me?’
In answer to my question, he wraps me in his arms and envelops me in a deep, deep kiss. I am barely aware of Danny and the crowd cheering us on in the background.
He turns and smiles as a police car pulls up, and in comes a tall, boyish-looking man.
‘Ah, Kev, mate. These here are Danny and Rosie.’
‘Ah, finally!’ the policeman says, ruffling Danny’s hair and taking my hand. ‘I’ve been listening to him going on and on about you for days. Can understand why, now!’
‘Hey, no flirting. Did you bring the goods?’
‘Ah, that I did.’
‘What goods?’ I ask, looking from one to the other.
‘Nana! Grandpa!’ Danny cries, bolting up from the table and throwing himself at none other than my parents standing in the doorway.
‘Oh, darling, look how you’ve grown!’ my mum cries as my dad enwraps Danny in a bear hug, both covering him with kisses, looking around for me.
‘Rosie!’
‘M-Mum… Dad!’ I stammer. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘We’ve been here since this morning, love.’
‘Why didn’t you call?’
‘We didn’t want to ruin the surprise.’
‘Well, you certainly didn’t. I’m…’
And then they catch sight of Mitchell, standing in a pair of trousers too short and too wide for him. The hand-me-down jacket is straining across his shoulders, and despite the fact his attempts at a make-over have gone awfully awry, my heart turns over just looking at him.
Mitchell stands. ‘Mrs Anderson. Mr Anderson. Good to finally meet you in person.’ He grins, reaching out to shake their hands, and, by the look in my mum’s eyes as they roam over his gorgeous and kind face, I can tell that she’s pretty much a goner. Even Dad doesn’t seem too displeased. Hang on, what…?
‘What did you just say?’ I repeat, searching his face. ‘Meet you in person? What’s going on?’
Mitchell smiles, his hand reaching out to caress my face. ‘I figured I needed to call in my troops.’
‘You called them?’
‘Actually, Danny called them. I merely spoke to them to say hi. And we got to talking. About why you would go back to Mark when, in effect, you love me.’
I stare down at my borrowed Uggs. Of course, I can’t deny it, can I?
‘I’m sorry for pushing you towards Mark, love,’ my mother says. ‘I had no idea when you called. But this young man here has a heart of gold and he loves you dearly!’
And then, as Mum and Dad are watching, Mitchell sinks to his knees and pulls out a small box from his pocket. ‘Rosalind Anderson, will you marry me?’