Chiara felt like she was floating on a cloud. 

Had it really happened? Had Drew really (sort of) discussed buying her an engagement ring? Had they really broached the topic of getting married?

She was back at her cottage, changing clothes and grabbing what she'd need for her day of work when there was a knock at the door.

Drew was standing there, holding some narcissi that he must've cut from the round fountain flower bed in front of the house.

"Hello," she said, smiling at him as she opened the door wider to let him in. "What are you doing? I just said good bye to you ten minutes ago at breakfast."

"I know, but I wanted to talk to you privately and give you these beautiful, erm, daffodils? That you planted and grew in my front garden that I nicked for you," he explained, holding them out to her like a gift.

Chiara laughed and accepted the yellow and white blooms, putting them in a clean milk bottle that was sitting on the counter.

"Well, thank you, they're gorgeous. You must have a very talented gardener indeed," she teased. 

She gestured to the sofa. "What did you want to talk about that couldn't wait until evening?" she asked, sitting next to him.

He balled his hands into fists against his thighs, and Chiara knew he was nervous.

"Well, you know what we talked about last night?" He gave her a piercing look. "I hope I wasn't wrong not to get the ring and kneel and be all romantic and such?" He bit his lips together. "I didn't think you'd want all that. Was I wrong?"

Chiara shook her head. "No, you were absolutely right," she assured him. "I'm not really into all that. I do love growing things and flowers," she said, gesturing to the beautiful blossoms that now sat on her kitchen table. "But I don't need violins and chocolates and such."

"So, even though we haven't known each other that long, you'd consider--you'd consider marrying someone like me? Being my--my wife?" His voice was hopeful.

"What do you mean, someone like you?"

"You know, a wanker, a tosser, a--a--an unreliable person who's frequently thoughtless and unkind, someone you fight with, who doesn't really deserve a person like you?"

Chiara stared.

"You should be with someone like Ned, everyone knows that," Drew continued. "But you didn't shut me down completely last night, so--" he glanced at her again. "Maybe next year--? This year needs to belong to Mara and Luke, you know?" he explained. "They've been planning for so long, they deserve to have their own year."

"Next year sounds fine," Chiara agreed with a smile. Maybe in the spring?"

Drew's face split into a huge grin. "I was thinking in the rose garden, here at Langton. Could you maybe move some things around, make a little place for people to sit, for us to walk or whatever?"

"Or whatever," she repeated with a laugh. "Absolutely I could do that." She nodded. "It would be a lovely and perfect place for a wedding, especially since it's where me met, don't you think?"

Drew nodded as well. "Ace," he said happily. "It will be brilliant, I think. How about May? That's spring, isn't it? It isn't summer yet, is it?"

Chiara laughed, and Drew didn't mind at all that she was laughing at him. "Yes, the first day of summer is the day of the solstice, around June 21st or 22nd, the longest day of the year, you know? Spring is between the equinox, around March 21st or 22nd, which is when there's an equal amount of day and night, and the solstice." 

She leaned in and kissed him. "I love you, Andrew."

"I love you as well, CC." He hugged her. "So I can tell people?"

She nodded against his shoulder.

"You need to tell me whatever you need to get the garden ready, yeah?" he said into her ear. "I'll pay. And I'm paying for the wedding. And your dress and all that."

Chiara took a deep breath and nodded.

"And your wedding present to me is getting everything ready for the wedding," he continued, his voice gentle, but firm. "And I'm paying for your uni after we're married. That's my wedding present to you."

He knew she'd have something to say about this, and that she'd want to release him to do so, so he hung on tightly as he spoke.

Sure enough, she tried to let him go so she could see his face.

"Drew--"

"Hush," he admonished, continuing to hug her.

She was still for a few moments, then nodded.

"These are details we can talk about at a later date," she finally acquiesced. "Now let me go so I can go to work. The snow finally melted and I have a lot to do today."

Drew nodded and turned her loose.

"LeeAnne and her sister return from London this afternoon, and this might be our last peaceful morning for a while, so we have a lot to get done today as well," he told Chiara with a laugh.

They kissed good bye at the door, and he waved as she drove away in the truck before heading back to the big house for a day of solid work, hopefully.

🌷❤️🌷❤️🌷❤️🌷❤️🌷❤️🌷

Chiara returned in the late morning and went straight to the rose garden to begin spring pruning. As she cut the roses down to sticks, stripping off any remaining leaves and clearing away any debris from the earth, she began to visualize what would look nice for a wedding. She thought that a trellis would be pretty, and would frame them when they said their vows, as well as providing shade.

She ran and grabbed a notepad to make a sketch, and got lost in her work, so she jumped when a pair of arms snaked around her waist and a voice said, "Hi!" in her ear.

She smiled as she recovered.

"Hello!" she answered. "Aren't you supposed to be inside, writing grammy winning hits and such?"

"I was in the kitchen making a cuppa, and I saw the most beautiful girl in the world out here, so I had to come and see what she was doing, you know?" Drew answered, kissing her ear. "What are you working on?"

She showed him her drawing, and explained about the simple changes. 

"I don't want anything crazy or over the top," she told him. "You know me, I'm pretty calm. I do love the idea of getting married amongst the roses, though. I was thinking I'll move some of these to make room for people to sit, and we can do it in the afternoon, so it will be shady, and no one will be too hot, you know?"

Silence.

She turned to look at Drew, and saw that he was looking off into the distance, blinking fiercely in an attempt to stave off tears.

He turned and saw her staring, and smiled sheepishly. "I just can't believe this is real," he explained. "That in a year and a bit, we're going to be married."

"Hey, you two, what's going on out here?"

They both turned to see Ned, Gary, Luke and Mara standing on the back steps.

"You left to make tea and never came back, you git," Luke said. "We came to see what happened,  and you're out here snogging your girl."

"We're just talking," Drew said.

"You didn't tell them?" Chiara asked in surprise.

Drew shook his head. "I thought you'd like to," he said with a smile. "Go ahead, darling."

"Just trying to figure out the best place to have the ceremony," she explained innocently. She watched for her words to sink in, waiting for the explosion.

Mara, the woman, cottoned on first, of course.

"Ceremony?" she repeated, clapping. "Oh god, Drew, you finally asked?" She began walking quickly toward the couple.

"Finally?" Drew repeated. "I only met her eight short months ago, I'll have you know."

"Whatever," Mara waved this detail aside as being of no consequence. The boys were grinning as they followed, and everyone descended on the happy couple to offer congratulations.

"So when is this going to happen?" Mara asked. 

"We figured you could have this year, and we'd take our turn next spring," Drew explained, putting an arm around Chiara.

"Sounds wonderful," Mara said. "May I assume we're invited?"

"You may," Chiara told her.

Mara reached for her hand. "And where's the ring? Or have you decided to dispense with such niceties?"

"Please, I'd never slight her that way," Drew said. "She approved it yesterday, it's coming shortly."

"It's a ruby, though," Chiara said. "It has diamonds on it, but I like rubies more."

"Ooh, nice," Mara said approvingly. "Can't wait to see it."

"Now you guys get back inside and go write some brilliant songs," Chiara chided. "Mara and I are expecting you to make buckets of money for us," she teased.

"Yes, go," Mara agreed. "I'm going to stay out here and give Chiara advice she hasn't asked for, doesn't need or want and probably won't take."

"Not at all, I'd love advice," Chiara protested.

So the boys left, and Chiara and Mara spent a happy hour outside in the wintry sunshine plotting where to move the roses, where the aisle should go, and how wide and what shape the trellis should be. Then they moved into the house to look at catalogues of climbing roses to pick what should go on the trellis itself and get it ordered.

This was what they were doing when LeeAnne and her sister returned from London with baby Sienna.

Predictably, LeeAnne wasn't happy about Chiara and Drew's engagement. In fact, she burst into tears when she heard about it and ran up the back stairs to her room, leaving Nicholle to deal with the baby and all their luggage.

"Any chance that was because she's really happy?" Mara asked.

Nicholle just gave her a look as she unstrapped the baby from her carrier and changed her diaper.

"She just needs a little time to adjust to the idea, is all," she said to the two English girls. "Drew was always her favorite, you know? It's hard for her to think about him belonging to someone else, I think."

"You're kidding," Mara said in disbelief. "It's not like she ever had a chance with Drew, she must know that."

"Why?" Nicholle wanted to know. "She's a very pretty girl, she got as close as Gary, didn't she? She could've gotten to Drew, it was just bad luck. I was with her that night, she almost met Drew, I think."

"But meeting Drew and having a relationship with Drew are two different things," Chiara said.

"Whatever." Nicholle shrugged as she went to the kitchen to prepare the baby's bottle. "I'm just saying LeeAnne is really smart, and really ambitious, there's nothing she couldn't do if she put her mind to it. Just watch and see."

Mara and Chiara looked at each other.

What on earth did that mean?