Page 153 of How We Began

He nodded. “Yeah, I was, but then when everything went wrong, I decided to give you Gran’s necklace instead.”

“What? This is your Gran’s?”

“No, it is yours now.”

“And the ring?” I asked.

He nodded, gaze shadowed. “She gave it to me before she died. She said that it had to belong to me, as I was the only one who had retained any physical part of the person who’d given it to her. She used to joke that with every baby that arrived she waited with bated breath for them to open their eyes and was always disappointed, until I came along and saved the day.”

Oh, God.

“It’s from him? I can’t take it.”

“Yes, you can. I want you to have it, and so would she.”

“You might want to give it to someone else one day.”

He sighed, shoulders dropping. “That will never happen,” he said, soft but firm.

He put the ring onto my right-hand ring finger and I watched it twinkle, illuminated by the shimmering fountains behind us.

I sat there for the longest time, flicking my gaze between him and the ring. It could have all been so different back in November. He was going to ask me to marry him, not because it was the right thing to do, or because it was expected of him. Hell, we hardly knew each other. He was going to do it because he loved me and he did not want history to repeat itself.

Now history is going to repeat itself like the unstoppable force that it is.

People making the same mistakes over and over, and I’m one of them. I slid my hand into my own pocket and gave him a stern look. “Don’t laugh!” I warned.

“Why would I laugh?” he asked but then his jaw dropped as he looked in my palm at the slim white gold ring that resting there.

“Oh shit.” His eyes met mine and we both started to chuckle but mine quickly turned to a watery laugh.

“I just wanted you to have something to look at to remember me by.” I wiped at my cheeks with the back of my hand.

He gave me the crazy girl look again. “The Gibson wasn’t enough?”

“Something personal,” I explained, opening his fingers and dropping the ring onto his palm. He moved the band in the light and read the words.

“Foi Vainquera? What does that mean?”

Hurrah, I knew something he didn’t. “Faith conquers.”

The blues held mine, then he kissed me until I was breathless.

“I hope it does,” he said after an age. “I can’t believe that we are about to reach our end,” he whispered against my mouth.

“I like to think it is just the start of a new beginning.” My lips sought his. “I’m so glad we shared this history, Ben. I’m going to remember it for all my life.”

That was it. Ben and Lilah’s last date. It’s three in the morning. We only got home half an hour ago, after sitting on the fountain at Trafalgar for hours. I can’t sleep. I just want to sit and stare at him because, soon, I won’t be able to.

I hope that Ben remembers all these little perfect moments for the rest of his life. I know I’ll remember them for all of min

PART TEN

June

1st June

I don’t want to get up. I don’t want to eat. I don’t want to do anything apart from lay under my duvet.