We found ourselves at the start of the trail, and a shiver of excitement ran through me. Heather’s banner hung across the same two trees at the entrance. She and Rory spent as much time as they could with us at the Hall, and it was wonderful to see her so happy with him. They were joining us later to celebrate the trail being ready. Drew and I started to stroll through the lights. I checked everything as we passed, glancing to see the expression on Drew’s face. There were far more lights and we had added glow-in-the-dark stars to the edge of the trail, marking the whole path out with them.
‘Well?’ I asked as we neared the grotto.
‘It’s beautiful. Everyone is going to love it,’ he said, squeezing my hand. The grotto was decorated as Santa’s workshop with a table of crafts that everyone could try their hands at, watched over by a large Father Christmas and elves that we had hired for the occasion.
‘Oh, wow,’ Drew said as he looked around the room. We also had a fake fireplace hung with stockings and fake crackling flame. ‘This is brilliant.’
‘Want to make something?’ I asked, gesturing to the table.
‘Maybe later. I want to see the rest.’ We left the grotto and walked into the rose garden where we had staged all the lit-up ornaments this year. There were reindeer, the inflatable snowman and Santa Drew and I had bought the year before and a massive polar bear I found at a garden centre.
‘This is my favourite bit,’ I told him. We stood by the lights for a few moments. A large snowflake landed on my nose, so I looked up and smiled. ‘And then it snows right on cue.’ We watched the large flakes start to float down onto us. ‘I hope we don’t need to cover everything up.’ I bit my lip, not wanting the trail to be ruined by a heavy blast of snow.
‘I think it’s only going to be a light dusting. But I think we need a hot chocolate. Come on.’ He pulled me off again.
‘What’s with you tonight?’ I asked with a shake of my head.
We came to the end of the trail where we had draped netting between two trees and hung icicle lights across it so it looked as if they were hanging from the sky. As we approached it, I frowned. There was a banner hanging in front of it. ‘What’s that?’ I asked. Drew let go of my hand and paused as I stepped forward to look at it. When I realised what it said, I stopped too, my mouth hanging open.
In glittering letters high above my head, was the question:
will you marry me?
I turned to see Drew had got down on one knee. ‘Oh my god,’ I said.
He smiled. ‘Beth Williams, I have loved you since you were sixteen years old. You are the love of my life. I want to spend the rest of it with you by my side. What do you think?’ He opened the small box he was holding, and a sparkling diamond glittered in the light from the icicles.
It was the most romantic moment of my life. ‘Yes! Of course, yes!’ I cried, taking the ring and slipping it on. ‘Drew, it’s beautiful,’ I said when I saw that the diamond was in the shape of a star. ‘Can you kiss me now, please?’
Drew chuckled as he got up and took me in his arms. As our lips met, I heard the sound of enthusiastic applause. I let go of him for a moment and smiled as under the banner walked Izzy, my mum, John, Sally, Rory and Heather, and Heather’s dad, all clapping and cheering. ‘I might have known you’d all be in on this,’ I said with a laugh. I pulled Drew back to me and we shared a long, lingering kiss. I heard Rory do a loud wolf whistle.
‘It’s freezing out here, let’s go in for champagne,’ my mum said, and reluctantly, I let go of Drew to follow them back to the Hall.
‘What do you think, Iz?’ I asked as my daughter grabbed my hand. She was grinning.
‘I helped choose the ring,’ she replied, proudly.
‘I love it.’ It was a perfect match for the moon and star necklace that always hung around my neck. Drew took hold of Izzy’s other hand and the three of us walked into the kitchen together, and I was sure you would have been hard pressed to find a happier trio in the whole of Scotland. As Drew went to open the champagne, Heather gave me a big hug.
‘Congratulations,’ she said, her baby bump even bigger than it was when I saw her the previous week. It had been a surprise for both her and Rory when she realised she was pregnant, but I knew that they were thrilled. ‘We better remember to take that banner down before we open it to the public or everyone will think they’re being proposed to.’
‘Maybe we should hire it out for that,’ I said, widening my eyes.
‘Hey,’ Drew said, handing me a glass of fizz. ‘That was just for you.’
I smiled and kissed him. ‘I know but an idea for next year maybe.’
He sighed. ‘You’ll be offering weddings at the Hall soon.’
‘That’s actually not a bad idea.’
Drew groaned. ‘We better see how ours goes first though.’
‘You think we should get married here?’
‘I think it would be perfect.’
I looked around us, picturing what the day could look like, and I smiled. ‘So do I.’
‘Can I be bridesmaid?’ Izzy piped up.
‘And me!’ Heather added, taking an orange juice from the tray with a sigh.
I laughed. ‘Who else would I ask?’
My mum cleared her throat then. ‘Right, everyone. Time for a toast I think. It’s been a year since Beth and Izzy came back to Glendale, and I think we can all agree it hasn’t been quiet around here since then.’ She smiled. ‘And thank goodness for that. I’m delighted that Drew will be joining our family. I know that you two are going to be so happy together, and we can’t wait to share in your joy. Here’s to Beth and Drew and a lifetime of love.’
I felt myself well up at my mum’s unusually romantic speech. I saw her glance at John, and I smiled. I took a sip of my champagne and looked at my family. I couldn’t imagine being anywhere other than right where I was, with Drew and Izzy by my side.
We were finally home.
A Letter From Victoria
Dear reader,
First of all, thank you so much for picking up a copy of Coming Home to Glendale Hall – I really hope you will enjoy reading it!
I’ve always been a big fan of Christmas and really wanted to set a book over the festive season. I’ve included lots of the things I love at Christmas in the book – festive films and music, twinkling fairy lights and, of course, lots of delicious food! As I never really get a white Christmas where I live, I knew this book had to be set in Scotland so that I could include snow too. I love creating fictional places for my books and I hope you find Glendale as special as I wanted it to be. I wish I could take a holiday myself there actually.
I would love to know what you thought of the book once you finish. Please do pop up a review online on Amazon or Goodreads so I can see it, and that helps other readers to discover the book too. And please do come and follow me on social media. I’m addicted to Instagram and you can find me there @vickyjwalters. I’m also on Twitter @Vicky_Walters, and you can like my Facebook page too @VictoriaWaltersAuthor.
Much love,
Victoria x
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to my agent Hannah Ferguson and editor Keshini Naidoo for believing in me, and this book! A big thank you to the teams at Hera Books and Hardman & Swainson for all your hard work and support. Thank you to Cherie Chapman for designing such a beautiful cover, and to my copy editor Janette Currie for all your advice.
Lots of love to all the book bloggers and reviewers who have championed my books – having you guys in my corner means everything! Thanks so much to the Doomsday Writers and The Savvy Author’s Snug for all your support and advice. And to the authors who have given me quotes for my books, I’m so grateful. Thanks to my fellow Waterstones booksellers for cheering my books on too. And, of course, everyone who has bought and read my books – your messages and reviews make it all worthwhile.
Thank you to my mum for always being there, and Harry for always trying to distract me. And, thank you to my family for
making Christmases so special.
First published in Great Britain in 2019 by Hera
Hera Books
28b Cricketfield Road
London, E5 8NS
United Kingdom
Copyright © Victoria Walters, 2019
The moral right of Victoria Walters to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781912973101
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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