Beneath these Stars (Lucy Mitchell Book 2)

by Hannah Ellis

  Adam Lewis Photography, I read. I looked around the room but my eyes had filled with tears until everything had blurred. “It’s amazing. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”

  “Thought I’d surprise you.” He squeezed my hand. “Let’s get on with the champagne, shall we?”

  I nodded, looking around the room in amazement as we followed Ollie to our table. Champagne was waiting in an ice bucket, and I laughed when Ollie popped the cork and poured us both a glass.

  “Enjoy,” he said with a wink before leaving us alone. Adam and I clinked our glasses together. I couldn’t stop looking around at his photos. “That one’s got a red dot.” I pointed to one behind Adam. “That means it’s sold!”

  He leaned forward. “They’ve been up a week – and they’ve all sold.”

  “That’s brilliant.”

  “They keep them up for two weeks and then I need to give them a new batch. I’m going to be busy.”

  “This is incredible. How did you manage this? I thought there was a huge waiting list.”

  “I’m not really sure,” he told me quietly. “When I called in to give Ollie and Jonathan their pictures, we got chatting and I asked if they’d put me on the waiting list. But they’d been having some sort of dispute with an artist they had lined up, and offered me his spot. It was all a bit last-minute.”

  “I’m so happy for you,” I told him. “How did you do all this without me noticing?”

  “I had to do a bit of sneaking around,” he said with a sly smile.

  Adam’s phone rang while we were waiting for our food to arrive. He told me it was Hailey before answering it. I briefly wondered if something was wrong, but there was no sign of panic on Adam’s face as he chatted to her.

  “Yep, she loves it. Yes … no … not yet. You should be in bed. No! Leave me alone!” He hung up after a couple of minutes.

  “So Hailey knew about all this before me?” I asked.

  “My partner in crime!”

  “Are they okay with Kerry?”

  “Sounds like they’re having a great time. Emily’s asleep, and Hailey’s been watching movies with the boys.”

  “That’s good,” I said. I was happy that Hailey got on so well with the boys. She even managed to overlook the fact that they were two years younger than her.

  “We don’t need to rush back, then?”

  “No.”

  “I was thinking I might message Chrissie and see what she and Matt are up to. They’re not far from here, and they might come and have a drink with us later in White Ice.” I didn’t wait for his reply, but dug around in my purse for my phone. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No, it’s fine.”

  I tapped out a message and hit send.

  I savoured every mouthful of the amazing food. Excitedly, I chatted to Adam and tried to listen in when I thought anyone around us was commenting on Adam’s photos.

  “You’re quiet,” I said, finally realising that I was yammering away alone. “Everything okay?”

  “Fine,” he said. “I’m just taking it all in.”

  “Everyone loves your photos,” Jonathan said when he came over to greet us and took a seat beside me. “How’s the champagne going down? Need another bottle?”

  “We’re still working on this one,” I told him. “Can you join us for a drink? Where’s Ollie?”

  “Go on, then. I’ll grab a beer and leave you to the champagne.”

  He and Ollie sat and chatted to us for a while. When they excused themselves to get back to work, I suggested we move down the road to wait for Chrissie and Matt in the bar.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Adam as we walked. He seemed distant and it worried me. I held on to him for balance when I wobbled slightly.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I just wanted to ask you about something…”

  “Okay.”

  His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket.

  “Hailey again?” I said, tugging on his arm to look at the screen. He hesitated, and I had to prompt him to answer his phone.

  “What do you want now?” he asked. “No … why aren’t you in bed? Does Kerry know you’re still up? Go to bed. I’ll talk to you tomorrow!”

  “What’s wrong?” I asked when he hung up.

  “Nothing – she just has a million questions about the restaurant.”

  “She should be asleep by now. Should we just go home?”

  “No, she’s fine.”

  “Lucy!” I turned to see Chrissie waving frantically to us as she tottered along in high heels. She was wearing a little black dress and looked great.

  “Hi!” I greeted her with a hug. “You look amazing!”

  “She should do,” Matt said. “It took her long enough to get ready!”

  “It would have taken way longer if I’d had some warning,” she said.

  “Sorry – I didn’t know we were coming. Adam surprised me with a night out. His photos are on display in the restaurant!”

  “Seriously? That’s amazing!” She gave Adam a congratulatory hug, then linked her arm in mine. “I want to see!”

  “I’ll show you,” I told her excitedly.

  “We’ll get the drinks in,” Matt shouted as he and Adam carried on to the bar.

  “I’ve been wanting to go to White Ice for so long,” Chrissie said. “I’m always nagging Matt but he says it’s too fancy. We always seem to end up at Dylan’s pub.”

  I introduced her to Ollie and Jonathan and we had a good look at Adam’s photos before we headed back to find the boys in the bar. They had cocktails waiting for us and Matt was quizzing Adam about his new career path. It was so nice to hear him talk about his plans. After so long, I’d been ready to give up on ever seeing him follow his dream, and I was so excited that he was finally going to be doing what he’d always wanted to.

  “Did you enjoy your summer break?” Adam asked Matt.

  “It was great. It’s gone too fast, though. I’ve got some private tutoring set up this term to make extra money for the wedding. I’ll be glad when that’s all over with!”

  “Hey!” Chrissie shot him a look.

  “It’s a nightmare,” he told Adam. “So far, I feel like proposing was a huge mistake – and we’re not even married yet.” He grinned widely at Chrissie – always the joker. “Don’t do it!” he mouthed at Adam.

  “Don’t say that.” Chrissie moved round to slap Matt on the arm. “You two will get married, won’t you?”

  I saw the look of panic that flashed across Adam’s face, and decided to help him out. “Not any time soon,” I said. “We’ve got enough on our plates. And we’re happy as we are. Aren’t we, Adam?”

  “Definitely,” he said putting an arm around my shoulder. “Very happy.”

  “Sensible,” Matt said, earning another slap from Chrissie.

  “I love this place!” Chrissie said, looking around. “Why don’t you ever bring me to nice places?” she asked Matt.

  “Because you want a bloody expensive wedding! You can’t have everything.”

  I laughed, enjoying the easy banter between them. We moved from the bar to sit at a cosy table at the back of the room.

  *****

  “I love you so much!” Chrissie told me as we flagged down a taxi after a fun evening. Adam had seemed to relax, and was even a bit drunk by the end of the night. We shared a taxi, dropping Chrissie and Matt off at their place, ignoring Matt’s suggestion that we go to a nightclub.

  “That was fun,” I said as we pulled away from Matt and Chrissie’s place.

  “They’re a funny couple.”

  “They’re so lovely,” I said. “I’m happy they’re getting married.”

  “I thought you told Matt you didn’t agree with marriage?”

  “Matt doesn’t actually think that,” I said. “And I was only saying that we wouldn’t get married any time soon. I think it’s great that they are, though.”

  “I never know what you’re thinking,” Adam told me. “So you
don’t want to get married? You’re not going to be suddenly mad at me next week because Matt and Chrissie are getting married and we’re not?”

  “No.” I smiled at him. “Their life is completely different to ours. I’m happy as we are. You don’t want to get married, do you?”

  “I’d like to – one day…”

  “Yeah, of course,” I said, suddenly feeling tipsy. “One day.” I slipped my hand into Adam’s and concentrated on keeping my eyes open for the drive back to Dad and Kerry’s. It was quiet when we crept into the house and tiptoed upstairs. I refrained from checking on the kids, and collapsed onto the bed, where I immediately fell into a deep sleep.

  Chapter 58

  Adam was sitting in the living room, chatting quietly with Hailey, when I finally emerged the next morning. I said a quick good morning and carried on to the kitchen in search of coffee.

  The twins were eating cereal at the kitchen table and Emily was chatting to Kerry. Hailey and Adam followed me in, Hailey sidling up to me as Adam leaned against the counter, sipping his coffee.

  “What do you want for breakfast, girls?” Kerry asked.

  They looked at me so I asked for them. “What have you got?”

  “The boys are having coco pops,” she said. The room fell into an uncomfortable silence.

  “They’re full of sugar,” Emily stated.

  “Have you got muesli or toast or something?” Hailey asked.

  “Wow, you’ve got them well trained,” Kerry said to me. “You’ll have to tell me your trick.”

  My face burned at the memory of my crazy outburst over cereal, and I caught the sparkle in Hailey’s eyes as she turned to Kerry. “We try not to even mention coco pops, never mind eat them.” A smile crept onto her lips and she glanced at Adam, who grinned into his coffee.

  “Did I miss a joke?” Kerry asked, placing a variety of cereals on the counter.

  “Yes,” I said. “You did. But we won’t retell it, since it’s at my expense.” I went over to Adam and snaked my arms around his waist. He hugged me and kissed my cheek.

  The girls sat at the table with the boys and helped themselves to breakfast. Hailey caught my eye and I nestled my head against Adam’s chest as I returned her smile.

  I went out into the back garden with my coffee, leaving the hum of noise that came from having four kids in the house. Tears filled my eyes when I took a seat on the bench beside the back door.

  “You okay?” Adam asked, stepping out into the sunshine.

  “Yeah. A bit embarrassed, but I like that we have a private joke.” It was actually pretty amazing to me that my humiliating loss of control would be something that bound us together: the one moment I would have loved to delete was something that we could laugh about.

  He sat beside me on the bench. “We’re doing okay, aren’t we?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hailey appeared at the back door, her smile full of mischief. “Everything okay out here?”

  “Fine,” Adam said, glaring at her.

  “Good, just checking!” She disappeared and then reappeared again, beaming at me. “Uncle Adam wants to ask you to marry him – but he keeps chickening out!”

  I looked at Adam, stunned.

  “Just ignore her,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “You were going to ask me to marry you?”

  “I was thinking about it – but you’re probably right. We’ve got enough going on.”

  I bit my lip. “I only said that because I didn’t think you wanted to get married. I thought I was making things easier for you…”

  “Easy?” He laughed. “Nothing in my life is easy. I bought you a ring and took you out for a romantic meal. It would have been easier if you hadn’t asked Ollie and Jonathan to sit with us – and then invited Matt and Chrissie out and told them you didn’t want to marry me!”

  “Oh my God. I’m so sorry!” I squeezed his hand. “I’m such an idiot. Is that why Hailey kept calling you?”

  “Yes. I should never have told her about it.”

  Hailey appeared at the door again. “What did she say?”

  “I haven’t asked her,” Adam told her impatiently.

  “Yes,” I said when Hailey looked at me. I turned back at Adam. “Yes!”

  “You could at least let me ask! If you want to wait, we can wait…”

  “I don’t want to wait. I want to marry you.”

  “I wanted to ask you properly,” he said. “I had everything planned.”

  “Haven’t you learned yet that nothing ever goes to plan with us?!”

  He pulled a velvet ring box out of his pocket. “I love it,” I told him, as he slipped the beautifully simple ring on my finger.

  “Really?”

  “Yes – it’s amazing.” I gazed at the small, sparkling diamond on a slim platinum band, then reached up to kiss Adam. “Have you seen this?” I asked Hailey.

  “I helped choose it,” she said, coming to sit on my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck.

  Then Emily joined us, climbing on Adam’s lap as she asked what we were doing.

  “Adam and Lucy are going to get married,” Hailey told her.

  “Okay,” Emily said.

  “We’ll be bridesmaids and wear pretty dresses,” Hailey told her, grinning at me. I looked at Adam, who shrugged.

  “And then we’ll get a baby,” Emily announced.

  “Will we?” Adam asked.

  “Yes.” Emily turned to him with a frown, as though she couldn’t quite believe he didn’t know. “That’s what happens.”

  I laughed with Hailey and then turned to look at Adam. “That’s what happens,” I told him with a shrug.

  A smile spread over his face. “Couldn’t we just get that puppy instead?”

  Emily’s eyes looked like they might pop out of her head. “We can get the puppy?”

  Adam raised his eyebrows and shot me a questioning look.

  “Oh, why not?”

  “We’re getting a puppy?” Emily squealed, wriggling off Adam’s lap and jumping up and down, shaking with excitement. “A puppy, a puppy!” She ran inside. “Kerry! We’re getting a puppy!”

  Hailey got up to follow Emily.

  “Well, you effectively moved the conversation away from babies,” I told Adam. “And I don’t think Emily will come back to it any time soon.”

  He put an arm around me and pulled me closer. “Babies, puppies – bring it on!”

  “I’m not sure I like the plural…”

  “One of each, then?” he asked.

  “Isn’t our house crazy enough already?”

  “Nope,” he said, planting a kiss on the top of my head. “Not yet!”

  THE END

  Other books by Hannah Ellis

  Friends Like These

  Christmas with Friends (Friends Like These book 2)

  My Kind of Perfect (Friends Like These book 3)

  Beyond the Lens (Lucy Mitchell Book 1)

  All of Hannah’s books can be found here:

  http://Author.to/HannahEllis

  A note from the author.

  Dear Reader,

  Thanks so much for choosing to read Beneath These Stars. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to write an Amazon review. A couple of sentences would be really helpful.

  I love to interact with readers, so please feel free to get in touch:

  Find me on Facebook: http://fb.me/novelisthannahellis

  Follow me on Twitter: @BooksEllis https://twitter.com/BooksEllis

 

 

 
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