Page 73 of Summer Love

‘Stop! In the name of love.’ Pippa’s voice pierced the silence as she took over singing the song, but with no accompaniment from the band. Her voice started off a little wobbly but soon began to soar, albeit slightly off-key. His sisters launched themselves into some kind of dance routine that would have been funny if it had been a boy band, but was even more hilarious as his sisters did it, although he couldn’t help but notice that somehow over the years they had changed from clumsy lumps with no coordination into graceful young women.

But it wasn’t upon them that his gaze rested. Instead, he could feel his heart beat faster and faster as Pippa continued to torture the song and the entire field stood there watching her.

He heard a snigger from behind him, and he turned quickly to give the group of small boys, all of whom he recognised from Class Three, a look so stern it would have scared his own mother, who at this moment in time was looking all misty-eyed at Pippa as if she was a fairy queen, granting happiness to all.

He turned back and locked his eyes on Pippa’s, holding them there as she butchered the song all the way to the end. He wasn’t sure why she was doing this but it was very cute, and yet she didn’t seem any less frightened as the song came to a close. He noticed out the corner of his eye that the vicar was trying to get off the inflatable as discreetly as he could, and Matt Masters looked like he might be beginning to have cramps in his leg, yet they all stayed as still as possible.

Pippa stopped singing, and still clutching her microphone started to walk away from her team and from his sisters, and right over towards him.

Oh wow.

What was she about to do?

He didn’t know how to react, what to do with his body. Was she really doing this and coming over to him? His breath was increasingly ragged as he looked at this brave, brave woman who had captured his heart all those months ago and then broken it into two after the best day and night of his life. Now she was walking to him with a microphone and for some reason his parents were here, standing behind him and making it quite clear that he wasn’t going anywhere. Not that he would. Not that he would ever do anything to upset or embarrass Pippa, who still looked scared but also incredibly determined.

But still this couldn’t be real. He was going to wake up any moment now and hear his sisters squabbling in the bathroom, not all standing in a field looking like they were about to cry.

Pippa stopped in front of him. Her eyes hadn’t left his as she marched her way across the field towards him, but now they flicked down to her feet and he watched her take a very deep breath before looking up at him again.

‘Hello,’ he mouthed at her, giving her the biggest smile he could muster.

If anyone had told him he would be standing in a field today having the whole of the Penmenna community and most of the people from all the surrounding villages staring at him he would have been mortified. Normally this would be the sort of thing that his nightmares were made of.Normallyhe would glance down at this point and realise he had no trousers on. But it appeared this was not a dream; he was fully dressed and surrounded by his family whilst the woman who had rejected him – yet he had remained totally infatuated with – was standing in front of him, dressed as a fool, having sung her heart out, loudly and really badly, in front of everyone.

‘Hello,’ she mouthed back. He watched her give her shoulders a little shake, and knew from that small motion that something else was coming.

‘Kam Choudhury, I want to take this opportunity to tell you that I am a fool.’ She spoke into the mic, her words loud and clear for all to hear, although there was a little shake to them. She gestured to her costume, slightly shaking her head and with that half smile that he knew was her what-am-I-doing? smile. ‘I made a huge misjudgement, ignored my intuition and as a result may have caused you hurt. I need you to know, in front of all these people here today, that I would never ever deliberately hurt you. I think that, with the exception of my own dad, you are the most honourable man I have ever met, and you combine that with being a man I have had so much fun with. We fit, you and I. We may have broken a rule or two while working together, but despite that it’s fair to say the whole community are out in force and willing us to sort out our differences.’ She nodded at Rosy, who had moved on to the assault course to stand next to her partner Matt, and was beaming over at the both of them, clearly giving her support for whatever this was. And what Kam thought it was, was almost too big for his head and his heart to compute.

Pippa took another deep breath and, still holding his eyes, continued her speech. ‘You wrote me a letter, but somehow Sheila got involved and I didn’t get it until this week. It made me cry. Everything you said, everything you have written mirrors exactly what I feel. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have met you, to spend time with you, and that is something I want to do for as long as you can bear it. Like I said, you and I fit together. It feels like I have found the other half of me, the half that I am meant to be alongside. The half Iwantto be alongside. I want to be able to tell you how much I care for you every single morning for the rest of my life.’

Kam thought his heart was going to power right out of chest, so he took a step forward, and then another. This had to be a dream. There was no way this woman was standing in front of him declaring her heart in front of their whole community. Although right now, he didn’t give a fig about anyone in this field apart from Pippa standing in front of him, dressed head to toe in red and yellow, and with bells on. He watched the grin spread across her face, practically ear to ear as he stood opposite her, toe to toe, so close he could feel her breath as she whispered ‘Hello,’ again and he whispered it back.

‘I haven’t finished.’

‘You are amazing. This is amazing.’ Kam’s arm swept to encompass the whole field, but his eyes remained locked on her. ‘I certainly have no problem with you telling me every single day how much you want to be with me.’

‘I do. Ireallydo. You haven’t changed your mind, have you?’ Their voices, now they were so close, were low, intimate, meant for just the two of them, and the whole field was straining to hear.

‘I haven’t. Ireallyhaven’t. I cannot tell you how happy this is making me. You’ve been my everything almost since I first set eyes on you and now, somehow, you are stood in front of me saying everything I ever dreamed of. Pippa Parkin, you are the most wonderful woman I have ever met and I cannot believe my luck.’

Her eyes welled with tears, and he didn’t know if they were of relief, happiness or shock, but he did know there was only one thing left for him to do. As he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close, he lowered his lips to hers. He felt suffused in the glow of coming home, of the whole world being right, of his love being returned as she kissed him right back, as deeply, as passionately and as committed as he was and the entire field threw up a deafening cheer.