“Only what?”
“The last time we attempted to cook together, we ended up getting takeaway.” She flashes me a mischievous grin, because I remember exactly what we got up to.
I flick the end of her nose. “I’ll have you know that food from our favourite French restaurant is not what I consider to be takeaway food.”
“Well, I do not consider bugs food.”
I feign annoyance. “If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. Snails are not bugs, they are invertebrates.”
To this day I have not been able to convince Chelsea to try escargot, but I considered it a win when she tried frogs’ legs.
Chelsea’s pace slows. “I’m going to call Amber and ask her if we can rearrange. She really doesn’t like your father, and it would be unfair to expect them to sit in the same room together.”
I know Chelsea misses her friends and family, seeing as they’re in Cornwall and we’re in Knightsbridge. We haven’t seen them anywhere near as much as we should—either they are busy, or we are. Kids and work take up so much of our time. We have a family, they have families, it’s so easy to get lost in life that we forget to spend time with the people who matter.
“How about I invite everyone over to stay for the weekend? We have enough spare rooms to sleep all of our family and friends. What do you say?”
“Even Tyler and Jean-Paul?”
“Even Tyler and Jean-Paul,” I concur. “What do you think about a couples’ game of charades this evening?”
Chelsea nods. “That could be fun, as long as you don’t complain when Farrah teams up with Dante.”
“Dante is Farrah’s bodyguard; they cannot play as a couple.”
“What about Pictionary?”
I laugh aloud because the last time we attempted that, the children ran off with the marker, and Amber’s daughter thought it would be a good idea to draw a life-sized treasure map on the walls in the hallway.
“I have a better idea. How about we disappear upstairs and leave Annabelle with my father whilst he and Amber argue over politics and her delightful daughter draws all over the walls?”
“Now that sounds like my sort of evening.” Chelsea laughs.
“Mine too,” I agree.
Everything around me fades into insignificance as I stare at the woman who owns my heart. I can’t help thinking how the hell did I get so lucky? The wind blows short tendrils of hair into her eyes, and without hesitation I reach up to brush her hair behind her ear when she captures my hand.
“This is too good to be true,” Chelsea says, her words filled with emotion. “This life and us. I’m still waiting for you to wake up one day and figure out this isn’t what you want and leave.”
“I’m afraid you will have an awfully long wait, because that, my dear, is never going to happen.”
Although Chelsea smiles, I know there will always be a deep-rooted doubt in her mind. But I have no problem spending every day of my natural life proving her wrong. Which reminds me. “I never told you about the message engraved on the inside of my Calloway crested ring, did I?”
Chelsea shakes her head. “No, what does it say?”
Careful not to wake Annabelle, I slip off the ring and pass it to Chelsea. She tilts the band several times as she tries to make out the inscription.
“Read it,” I whisper.
A smile tugs at her lips. “‘Make life the dream you never want to wake from.’” She passes me the ring and I slip it on.
“I really am living the dream,” I say and, snaking my arm around Chelsea’s waist, we take a slow walk back to the house. Back to our today, our tomorrow and our forever.
I always believed that my life would revolve around money and that everything was just a simple transaction. But love doesn’t come with a price tag because no matter how rich you are, you can’t buy true happiness, and I know this first-hand.
My beautiful wife, my baby girl, and our slightly dysfunctional family all under one roof. I have everything I could possibly want and more.
Life really doesn’t get any better than this.
The end