by Lisa Hobman
This was it.
Brad thrust a clean hanky into my hand and I dabbed at my eyes. As she made her way slowly down the aisle towards me, the fitted bodice of her dress sparkled in the sunlight coming in through the stained-glass windows. I shook my head, not quite ready to believe it. But she smiled and my heart melted. I loved her more than anything and it was clear from the tears glistening in her eyes that she felt the same. Her satiny chocolate-brown hair was pinned up, but loose tendrils fell about her shoulders, just touching her skin.
Wow. Just beautiful.
When she arrived before me, I took a deep breath to calm my raging emotions and leaned in to her and whispered, ‘Thank you for marrying me. I know this must be a hard day for you. But I’ve never loved or admired you more than I do right now.’ I took her hand in mine and the kind-faced vicar began…
Eventually it was time for us to say the words we’d prepared. My heart pounded at my ribs as I turned to face Mallory and listen to her.
‘Greg, since the moment I met you I’ve been on a roller-coaster ride. We’ve supported each other through grief and our own individual issues, and it’s been difficult at times. But I cannot imagine my life without you in it. And I don’t want to. Whatever life throws at us, we’ll get through it. We’ve proved that we can… I think my guardian angel was watching over me when he brought me to you.’
I knew the guardian angel she was referring to and I swallowed hard. Her voice had cracked and I was teetering on the edge of a breakdown.
She smiled and gazed lovingly into my eyes. ‘There’s a saying that’s very close to the heart of someone I love that goes… “Love Conquers All”, and I never believed that to be true until I met you, but now I believe it irrevocably. I love you with all my heart.’
Her choice of words had me thinking my own guardian angel had been at work when inspiring me to write Mallory’s song. With shaking hands, I took the guitar from Brad and began to play. The song I had written was called ‘Love Conquers All’ and it told her exactly how she made me feel and what she meant to me.
I want to hold you forever
And that’s what I’ll do
Whatever life throws our way
It’ll be me and you
And we’ll both stand tall
Because love conquers all
Yeah we’ll both stand tall
Because love conquers all
I fought my way through the words, and at the end there was barely a dry eye in the place, including my own.
I handed my guitar back to Brad, and Mallory flung her arms around me, whispering into my ear, ‘Greg, I love you so much. Thank you for such a beautiful gift.’
Feeling her pressed against me and seeing the adoration in her eyes made my heart thump and my stomach flip for joy. The woman in my arms was everything to me. Everything and more. ‘There was no other way for me to tell you how I feel. I can’t be without you ever again, Mallory. This is it. This is forever.’
‘Well, I’m going nowhere unless you come too.’
The vicar announced us as husband and wife, and the place erupted in applause as I took her into my arms and kissed her once more.
My wife.
My love.
My Mallory.
Epilogue
So, here I sit in hospital beside my gorgeous sleeping wife, holding my infant daughter in my arms. We had quite an exhausting time bringing her into the world, I can tell you. Mairi Samantha. So very beautiful. I keep having to pinch myself to believe that this is all real. The last couple of years have been a whirlwind to say the least. And as I gaze down at the precious little bundle as she sleeps in her daddy’s embrace, I have to blink the tears away. I can’t move as I don’t want to disturb her. I just want to gaze down at the best thing I’ve ever made and keep focusing on how bloomin’ lucky I am.
Hey, notice the lack of swears? Are you proud of me?
She was named after the two people who inadvertently brought me and her mummy together. Little did they know back then that they would play a part in the creation of the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on – aside from her mother, that is. The wee bairn has a mop of wayward dark hair that sticks out at all angles, and when I look at her cute little face I see a combination of myself and Mallory, which makes my chest ache with so much love I think I might just burst. When her eyes were open earlier I couldn’t believe how blue they were. Now, I know they say that all babies have blue eyes and that eventually they may change colour, but I don’t think Mairi Samantha’s will. I think she’ll have her mother’s eyes. Crystal clear, azure blue and full of emotion. And I will do all I can to ensure that the only emotion she ever feels is happiness.
As I stroke her tiny soft cheek with my finger, I know in my heart that I would do anything for her. Slay dragons, fight the monsters under the bed, walk over burning coals… you name it. I’ll protect her until my dying day. No matter how old she is. She’ll always be my little girl.
Mallory looks so peaceful with a serene smile on her lips, and I have never been more proud of another human being. Ever. What she endured to bring our daughter into the world… wow… I will never be able to repay her for that.
The words to ‘I’m Yours’ by The Script roll around my head, and I make a mental note to learn it and play it for her when we take our daughter home. Because although I tell her I love her every day, she still loves it when I play my guitar for her. The way she looks at me… I feel I could do anything. And those lyrics just express my feelings so perfectly.
And I am hers.
Forever.
What she and I have together came at a price. We had to fight our own grief and guilt to be together. But when you know something’s meant to be, there’s no stopping it. No amount of rough seas could ever tear me away from my two girls now.
And it’s funny to think that not so long ago I stood on that wee stone structure in the village, looking out to sea and wishing that someday it could symbolise something more than grief and sadness. That it would be our special place to build new and happy memories.
Well, I got my wish.
Because from now on when I stand there on the bridge over the Atlantic, with my wife and daughter, looking out at the ocean, I’ll know that it was that bridge that brought my future. After all the heartache I’ve suffered and the pain Mallory went through to be here, it was that bridge that brought us true love. And it was that bridge that brought us both the most precious gift a person could ask for.
It brought us hope.
We hope you enjoyed this book.
Lisa Hobman’s next book is coming in autumn 2018
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Acknowledgements
As always there are so many people I want to thank but I’ll try and keep it brief. First and foremost, thank you to my family and friends for your continued support and for plying me with cups of tea, biscuits and the odd glass of wine whilst I’ve been editing. Every writer needs fuel!
Thank you to the many bloggers and readers who continue to share my posts and help me to publicise my books. You’re such a huge help and I appreciate your friendship and eagerness to share.
Muckle thanks to the fictional Greg for being a loveable rogue that my readers couldn’t let go of. I’m pretty sure they’ll adore you even more in your own book.
I owe so much to Rich, aka ‘Not Greg’, my hubby for accompanying me to signing events and being a sounding board, supporter and fun companion on my writing journey.
I must say a huge thank you to my agent Tracy Brennan of Trace Literary Agency for working so hard on my behalf. I’m so very grateful for all that you do.
Finally, massive thanks and hugs to the whole team at Aria
. Authors, editors, publicity—absolutely everyone. Thank you for making this dream a reality.
About Lisa Hobman
LISA HOBMAN’s debut novel was shortlisted in the 2014 RNA. Her stories centre around believable, yet down to earth characters and the places in Scotland she has visited and fallen in love with. She is a happily married mum of one with two energetic dogs.
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A Letter from the Author
To my readers,
I began writing this book following the response I received to a short blog post that I had written from Greg’s POV. The number of requests for me to write the whole book was overwhelming. It was wonderful to know that people had fallen for Greg so much that they wanted to know more about him and so I willingly obliged. It made me so very happy to write this story as it meant I got to spend more time in Greg’s head. I think it’s become one of my favourite places!
I have the best, most supportive readers and love that so many of you have been with me since before my first book was even published. You’ve been there, reading snippets and giving me feedback and encouragement every step of the way and I appreciate each and every one of you. In all honesty I can tell you that it felt amazing to be asked to write this story and I can only hope that you love Greg even more when you’ve taken this journey with him; my potty-mouthed Scotsman.
So with a song in my heart readers, this one’s for you.
Lisa
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Addictive Fiction
First published as Bridge of Hope in 2014
First published as A Year of Finding Happiness in 2017 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Lisa Hobman, 2014
The moral right of Lisa Hobman to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781788546799
Aria
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