Page 64 of The Holly Project

Bailey looks at me. ‘I think one more go. OK, Holly?’

‘Sure,’ I say breathlessly. ‘Third time lucky.’

Kirk sets the cheesy music going, and we start the dance. Bailey choreographed it. It’s pretty silly, but I’m having fun anyway until he drops down on one knee. I stop mid-hip hula with my arms in the air. Is he improvising? Then he pulls a ring box out of his satin pants pocket and flips it open. Inside is a sparkling diamond ring.

‘Holly Driver, I love you. Will you marry me?’ Bailey’s smiling so hard, and his cheeks are flushed with excitement.

What the hell? We didn’t rehearse this! We have talked about it, and he knows I want it. But his timing!

‘Yes,’ I say, grinning like a fool. ‘I love you too. Yes yesyes!’

Bailey slides the ring on my finger and stands. Then he picks me up in a big hug and twirls me around and around until we’re both giggling madly and my elf feet are flying up in the air. He manages to give the camera a thumbs up on the final twirl.

Kirk cuts the video and smiles at us. ‘Congratulations, guys!’

‘Were you in on this?’ I ask accusingly as he shakes Bailey’s hand and gives me a kiss on the cheek.

‘Of course.’ He looks at my phone on the tripod. ‘So shall I publish it?’

I half groan and half laugh. Do I really want our proposal to be splattered all over TikTok? I haven’t got a huge number of followers, but the ones I do have are all supportive of my posts. That’s why I agreed to do the elf dance when Bailey suggested it.

‘All right, go on then.’

After Kirk hands me back my phone and makes himself scarce to give us some privacy, I see he’s captioned the video ‘WATCH THROUGH TO THE END WOOP!’ and added a bunch of Christmas-related hashtags. It’s already got 600 views, twelve likes, and a comment from one of my TikTok friends:

Congratulations. You guys are so cute!!!

Bailey nestles his chin on my shoulder and peers at the screen. ‘Yeah, we really are.’

‘You’re a stinker,’ I say, but I can’t stop smiling and looking at the ring on my finger.

He chuckles, knowing well enough by now that my jibes mean the exact opposite where he’s concerned. ‘Shall we go and play it on the telly for everyone now? This is going to be classic.’

I glance at the TikTok, and it’s still clocking up a crazy number of views and likes. Suddenly, the numbers jump exponentially, like it’s got a life of its own. My heart starts pounding in my chest. I’ve seen this before. ‘Oh my god, Bailey,’ I say faintly. ‘We’re going viral!’

He takes my phone, turns me to face him, and wraps his arms around me protectively; and I know it’s going to be different this time. No more running away, no more hiding who I am. Strangers can comment if they want; they might like us or hate us, or think I need a haircut—I don’t care. I’m going to marry the man I love, and that’s all that matters.

‘Looks like Unjolly Holly got her happy ending,’ I say with a laugh, gazing up at Bailey.

‘Aye,’ he replies smiling, leaning down to kiss me. ‘It’s a Christmas miracle.’

~THE END~