Among the Stars ✔️ [Completed] [book three]

Chapter 52

"We're late." He whispers in between our kisses.

I kiss him one final time. "Sorry." I chuckle, knowing it's me that has made us late.

"Never be sorry for that!" He holds my hand up to kiss my knuckles before he opens his door. Waiting for him, Daniel then opens my car door and holds his hand out for me to take. "I'll be needing a crane to get you out of the car soon." He wiggles his eyebrows as I scowl at him.

While we walk the short distance to the Chinese restaurant, Daniel reads a message on his phone before he turns and grins. "You going to be at home tomorrow?"

"Erm... yeah until around ten as I'm going to see Caroline. She's coming out of the hospital this evening. I should be back early afternoon though. Why?" I look up at him, perplexed.

"We're having a new car delivered tomorrow." He responds simply.

"Oh... are we?" I ask in surprise.

He nods. "Well we're not going to fit two car seats and a double pram in either of our cars, are we?"

"No, I guess we wouldn't... So, what have you bought?"

"A Jaguar f-pace." He winks. "It's plenty big enough for what we need! Don't you be lifting anything in there though. I want to put the car seats in when I get back in a few days."

My eyes open wide in shock. "Oh wow! They're beautiful!" A smile then spreads across my face. "Thank you." I say simply.

"What is this? No rejection? No it's too much money-" he teases as he rests his arm around my shoulder.

"Nope, just thank you!" We turn into the restaurant, but before we look to find Sarah and Ben, I kiss his lips one final time.

Once Daniel has given Ben's name for the table, we spot them hidden away in the corner of the almost empty restaurant. As usual, we position Daniel with his back to restaurant to try to ensure that we can enjoy our evening without him being noticed. There are elaborate Chinese screens positioned around a few of the tables to provide some privacy, which means he cannot really be seen at all.

Before we even get chance to say hello, Sarah is up out of her chair. "We're engaged!" She squeals, showing the engagement ring I helped to pick proudly. She wraps her arms around me the best she can. "Thank you for helping Ben. I love you." She gushes with more emotion than usual.

"Congratulations! I'm just so happy for you both!" I squeal back with just as much enthusiasm.

Daniel hugs Ben tightly before we swap over. "She was supposed to wait until we had ordered." Ben chuckles in my ear as he holds me as close as he can. "But, you know Sarah!"

"I'm glad you told us now, she would have imploded by then." I tease as she nods in agreement.  When I make eye contact with Ben he smiles like a Cheshire Cat, and it's infectious. Daniel's grin is so wide it matches Sarah's as I watch her high five him.

Once we have swiftly ordered our meals, I ask the question that's been on the tip of my tongue since we walked in here. "So, how did you ask her?"

The both look at each other before laughing. Ben takes a long drink of his pint before he clears his throat. "Well... I had booked a table for us in one of those private glass dome outdoor dining places."

"Ooooh, very nice!" I say honestly after seeing them in a magazine.

"I was nervous as shit all day, building up how to ask her. But then she gets in from work all upset, saying people had been keeping secrets from her at work. She was ranting about not knowing who she can trust anymore, and that she was so glad I was always completely honest with her. I fucking panicked that she would be angry that I'd made you and Daniel keep my secret." He shakes his head in disbelief at his own reaction.

"I knew something was up because as I was having a shit-fit about being able to trust people, his face went grey! So I went, what's going on?" Sarah's speaks animatedly, clearly over excited about how Ben proposed.

"I tried to say nothing, but she lost her shit then!" Ben laughs.

Sarah buries her head in her hands. "I'm not proud of myself, OK!"

"She accused me of hiding things from her. So, as she was shouting I said that I had been hiding something! That shut her up-"

"He dropped on one knee right there in our kitchen!" Sarah squeals.

"Thankfully she said yes!" Ben reaches for Sarah then plants a kiss on her temple.

"Only you could be so irate to ruin your own proposal!" Daniel bellows wholeheartedly, exposing his dimples as he laughs. I hope our babies inherit those dimples, I think to myself with a secret grin.

****

After an emotional departure, Daniel is safely on his flight back to Italy for his last few days of filming before we become parents. Looking at his schedule for the next three days while Rhys drives me to Caroline's house makes me yawn just seeing how many hours he has got to get through. Because his schedule is relentless, we've agreed that I will only get in touch with him if there is an emergency. That way he can focus completely on filming one final time before his break.

Rhys pulls over as close to Caroline's house as he can on this busy road. He immediately steps out of the driver's side to rush round and open the door for me. "I can't park here, but I didn't want you walking too far."

"There is a quieter street just round that corner where you will be able to park." I point about fifty yards up the road to a small junction.

The car behind blasts their horn impatiently. Rhys ignores them while he opens the boot to pull out the gifts for Lily. "I'll go and park up there. Don't come out until you've called me, and I'll pull over here again when you're ready." He hands me the gift bags full of clothes and cuddly toys. "You OK carrying those?"

The car behind blasts their horn again. Rhys begins to walk over to the young male driver, but I touch his arm to stop him. "I'm fine. You better move the car. I'll ring you in about an hour."

Rhys nods as he returns to the driver's seat and indicates to pull away. I wave as I start the short walk to Caroline's front door. Looking in front of me, I notice a man carrying a pink gift bag with a baby girl pink balloon attached to the top. He is familiar to me, but his shaved blonde hair doesn't help me work out who it is. The man is holding hands with a slim woman with auburn hair flowing in waves down her back.

My brain whirls to try and work out who he  is from behind, but then he suddenly stops and turns to face me. "Hi Lizzie." He says nervously.

"Hi Charlie." I respond as calmly as I can, but my heart pounds at the sight of him.

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Hey guys! I hope you are all safe and well.

What did you think of this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it.

Poor Ben, he couldn't even propose without Sarah butting in! Hope you thought it was appropriate for them.

So... the drama... Charlie?!?! What do you think?

Thank you for still reading and commenting, you make my day! Love T x -