It’s getting dark when we’re eventually leaving the General after several rounds of tears and hugs over gorgeous baby Aisling. Majella was keen for her middle name to be Joan, a tribute to the man who helped bring her into the world, but John insisted he couldn’t have a little girl with such an old-woman name on his conscience and that she didn’t even look like an Aisling Joan anyway. Maj was relieved and then decided she wanted to implicate Don Shields in some way, since he was the one who sent her into labour, but Pablo wasn’t keen on Donielle or Donatella, and Maj rejected Donna on the grounds that it’s too basic. They were bickering away over Donica when myself and John eventually sneaked out of their room unnoticed.
‘Well, that was a day I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.’ John laughs, raking a hand through his hair, as we make our way down the front ramp. ‘I saw a few things that I can’t unsee. It’s nice to be leaving the General happy for a change, though. I think the last time I was here, apart from us the other month –’ I squeeze his hand ‘– was when my father was kicked in the hand by that bullock. His knuckle never really healed right.’
I stare at the ground. ‘I remember. The night Daddy died.’
He squeezes my hand twice as hard. How could I forget? We were broken up. John was seeing Ciara, the camogie-playing vixen we’d met on holiday in Tenerife. I was so distraught I’d forgotten to pay my parking. I got clamped for the first and only time in my life. Very unlike me. But while I was in the hospital, John paid the fine and had the clamp taken off. He left a note on my windscreen too: ‘Now you can pretend it never happened.’ But he wasn’t just talking about the clamp. He was talking about us and him and the break-up. All of it. When I went to Dublin to pay him back, I ended up kissing his housemate Piotr in a moment of grief-induced madness. It was all such a mess. And then John didn’t show up for Daddy’s funeral, and I thought that was the final nail in the coffin for us. It was only later I discovered he’d been at home all along, paying the ultimate tribute to Daddy by minding the house when we were out saying our final goodbyes. He may not have been the perfect boyfriend, and I know there were times when we were younger that he definitely took me for granted, but we’ve both grown up a lot, even since then. I can’t believe I used to worry about us so much. Now I just feel so certain that he’s the one for me and he always has been.
‘John?’ I stop dead in my tracks and put down the flowers. But he’s looking over to his right, squinting at something, not really paying attention.
‘I think this is the spot right here, Ais. Although I thought there was a tree in front of it. No, this is it! This is where you got clamped. There should be a plaque or something.’
‘John!’ I say it louder this time, and he swings around so we’re facing each other. The sky behind him is streaked with bright orange and pink but further up the stars are already out.
‘Yeah?’ His hair is all messy and he looks like he’s been through the wringer. He’s such a ride. I fancy him so much, but more important, I don’t ever want to be away from him again, not even for a minute. We belong together.
‘Will you marry me?’ I just blurt it out. There’s no other way to say it. And then I hold my breath.
He looks back at me with a dubious smile. ‘You’re not really doing this, are you?’
I actually am. I start to sink down, stop to check for any glass or dog muck, and then go fully down on one knee, wobbling over a bit and then righting myself properly so I can ask the question he’s been teasing and begging me with for months. ‘Will you marry me?’
His face is straight now. ‘You’re serious.’
‘I’m deadly serious. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.’
‘Please stand up so I can look at you properly.’ He helps me back to my feet and kisses me so softly on the lips.
‘I said I’d know when the time was right, and the time is right. Don’t you feel like it is?’
He scoffs and squeezes me. ‘I’ve felt like the time is right all year. I was just hoping that at some stage you’d be ready to say yes.’
I push back from him. ‘I’m not just doing this because I have a contact high from Majella and Pablo.’ I’m reassuring myself as much as him. ‘I just want to lean all the way into it. And they’re not the worst role models anyway. We’ll be lucky to have what they have.’
‘A baby?’
‘Yeah, a baby. Why not? And to be married. And a picture of us on our wedding day on the wall in the cottage. When I’m with you, I’m home, John.’
‘Home is wherever I’m with you,’ he sings into my ear, and then we both jump as a car beeps at us. Two eejits swaying in a hospital car park. ‘I promise I’ll always mind you, Ais.’
‘And I’ll mind you.’ I lace my fingers between his. ‘I promise to always put on the fresh duvet cover. I know how much that stresses you out.’
He bats his lashes. ‘My dream woman.’
‘I’ve nixed the idea of us taking over the farm. I came to my senses earlier.’
‘If that’s what you want. I was worried it would be a lot, but I would have stood by your decision.’
‘I haven’t even told Mammy with all the drama.’
‘Do you think maybe she already knew?’
I muse over that for a second. ‘Well, she knew more than me then.’
I shiver, even though it’s a warm night and I still have a feather boa around my neck. John envelops me once again and then starts fumbling in his pocket. He steps back and slowly starts sinking down on to one knee. ‘What are you doing?’ I squeal. ‘No, I wanted to ask you. Get up, you clown!’
‘I do need to ask you, Ais, I absolutely do. So I’m going to do it again.’ He holds out the same square box he had with him in New York.
‘Have you been carrying that around all this time?’
He smiles. ‘You mean you didn’t know?’
‘It’s been years since I checked your pockets for engagement rings. Turns out that was a huge waste of time.’
‘I must admit it got me in the balls a few times when I sat down quickly, but you’re worth it. I needed to be ready for when you came to your senses.’
I throw back my head and laugh. I can’t help it. He never stops surprising me.
‘So, Ais, I’m going to ask you an important question again. I think I know what the answer is going to be this time, but I’m asking because you deserve to be asked, and there’s only one answer I’ve been waiting to hear.’
I smile. ‘Go on, so.’ I’m afraid if I say anything more, I’ll start to cry and ruin the moment.
‘Aisling, will you marry me?’
‘Of course I will. And John, will you marry me?’
‘I can’t wait to.’