Harper Reynolds hated Christmas.
Okay, that was a little bit much. It's not that she hated the whole holiday, just the decorations, the music, the excessive lights, the tinsel, and the way it scratched, and how everybody was expected to be lovely all the time.
"You just hate it because Pin isn't back yet!" Zoe laughed from where she was sat on top of the fence post, watching as Harper groomed through Raven's tail for her, Zoe had asked in exchange for food. Harper was brushing with a slight vengeance as she recounted her reasons for her hatred of the holiday. "You've had no problem with it since you came to the island so many years ago."
A frustrated sigh burst out of her lips, "it's not that Pin isn't back yet, he's back tonight, but my dad has been acting weird, so has Pin."
Jade piped up from where she was getting Major ready for a lesson, "you know your dad always get quiet at this time of year and Pin might be planning a surprise!" Jade seemed to know more than she was letting on, giving her a knowing look, but Harper just decided to drop it. Jade knew many things.
"You know you like it deep down!" Becky gripped onto her shoulders, shaking the girl back and forward, "you've enjoyed it every year since we were sixteen!"
"We're like twenty now!" Harper groaned, thinking only of her master's degree wating for her once she returns to University after the Christmas holidays.
The group of girls groaned simultaneously, trying so hard not to think of everything waiting for them back at their jobs, apartments, university, and other friends.
"Whoever said adulting would be so hard!" Zoe groaned, but she was cut off when her phone beeped in her pocket. She took it out and grinned at the girls before she jumped off the fence and went to answer the phone. An angry arm flailed back at them when all the girls made kissy noises after her.
Harper put Raven away in his stable, knowing that Zoe would be indisposed on the phone for a little while. As she was walking back to the tack room to put her stuff away for her, she walked past the stable that used to house Robin, seeing the scratch in the wood from when Pin threw a brush at her when she was teasing him. Now, it housed another girl's horse and Robin was halfway across the country in the stables closest to her university – she missed him; she didn't get many chances to see him recently.
The cold nipped at the edges of her fingers, although they were covered in a pair of black gloves that matched her black beanie that happened to be stolen from Pin. She pulled the beanie further down over her ears and tried to breathe some warmth into her cold hands.
"Oh, shit," Jade swore, rifling through her bags on the sofa, "Harp, I don't suppose there's any chance that Pin hasn't left your apartment yet?"
An outraged laugh, "absolutely not, he must've left hours go, given that he gets here in like an hour, why?"
Jade sighed, closing her bag again, "I left my really cute red nail polish there last time, you've probably seen it."
"Oh my God, I totally stole it, Jade, I'll buy you a new one I used nearly the whole thing." Harper doubled over laughing, "come on, let's go get our nails done. I'll pay for yours, as an apology."
Jade hesitated for a moment, before her smile brightened, "perfect! Want me to go get the others?"
"I'm not paying for all of us! I'm a broke university student!"
- - - - -
A pair of beautiful pastel pink nails later, Harper was driving her beat-up mini cooper that she bought as soon as she passed her driving test towards her dad's house and saw another car parked up in front of the house. Recognising the car immediately, she quickly turned off her car and grabbed a couple things from the boot of her car.
Grinning, she knocked on the door a couple of times.
"Hey, gorgeous." Pin answered the door and dropped down to give her a soft kiss, "missed you." A soft exhale came from his lips as he gave her a gentle hug.
"I've been gone a week, Pin." Harper gazed up at him, "idiot."
Pin laughed as the two of them walked into the house, Harper quickly dropped a few presents underneath the tree. "Are we headed up to your dad's tonight? I've got a couple gifts for him that I need to drop off."
He nodded, "that's the plan. I've got a present for you before we head up there though, we will have to make one pit stop." A mischievous grin passed over his face, he tugged at Harpers hand slightly to make his point.
She rolled her eyes playfully, "let me grab a couple things, then we can move off Duke Hawthorne."
"Oh! Don't call me that!" He groaned, tossing his head back in playful annoyance.
Moving into the kitchen, Harper grinned as she saw her dad and he wrapped her into a tight hug, "my girl, so grown up." He pressed several loud kisses to the top of her head, smiling when he could feel her laughter.
"I'm twenty-two it's not time to put me in a nursing home!" She cackled as she wrestled her way out of his embrace.
Another voice piped up, "you know your father still thinks you're six and needs to hold his hand as he walks you to school." Harper turned and saw Madeline, her father's new wife that he had married a year ago now. She was a lovely woman and Harper couldn't think of a better new match for her dad, Madeline had a kind face, tight curly black hair, and an impressive amount of height to her. Harper thinks that her mum would like her.
Harper wrapped her into a tight hug, "it's so good to see you!"
"You just like my cooking; you just want the Christmas roast already." Madeline joked, already batting Harper's hand away that was already wandering towards some pieces of bacon.
"It's like three weeks until Christmas, we need to have a roast before then." Harper complained, her stomach rumbling when she thought of what she could eat while at home as opposed to what she had to cook on her limited budget in her apartment with Pin.
"Two weeks." Pin piped up from behind her, somehow munching on a piece of bacon. He grinned down at Harper's offended face.
Harper grabbed her phone from the counter, foolishly left there earlier on, "we should get a move on, Ted's expecting us."
With a round of goodbyes from the kitchen, the couple grabbed Harper's laptop from her childhood room and moved back out to Pin's car. His car, due to his Dukedom, is much nicer than hers but Harper wouldn't trade her little car for anything. Harper moved their presents for Ted into the boot and climbed into the passenger seat.
"Come on, show me this surprise then, lover boy." Harper said as the scenery passed by outside of the car window.
Pin just smiled at her and continued to ignore her persistent questions, "the snow is settling quickly."
A quick glance out the front windshield did in fact prove this, the ground was covered in a medium level of snow now. The ground was beginning to become even icier, Pin's driving had taken on an especially careful style, when Harper asked, he just said that he was carrying precious cargo. Harper punched him in the arm for that one.
They started turning into the stables, "why are we back here? It's so dark."
"You'll see."
When they stepped out of the car, Pin took her hand gently and led her through the darkness. Snowflakes were catching on Harper's eyelids and settling in the curls of Pin's longer hair, finally he learned how to take care of curls.
"I'm pretty sure this is breaking and entering." Harper whispered as they moved into the central part of the yard and Pin was walking towards one of the horses' stables, a soft yellow light coming from underneath it.
Silence was all that greeted her as Pin undid the two latches, moving the light out into the courtyard and allowing Harper to see what was inside the stall. As her eyes adjusted, they almost couldn't believe what they were seeing. "Robin?" Harper breathed out, like the air had been taken from her lungs completely. The stall was decorated with gently flashing fairy lights along the top of the edges and some soft fabrics intermingled with them. Robin's main and tail was braided with pieces of silver tinsel in there. All in all, the whole stable looked gorgeous.
Disbelieving giggles erupted from her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, carefully dodging the piece of tinsel that was wrapped around his neck. "Pin, how did you? What?"
"Check the tinsel for something." Pin's voice was so fond, tinged with something that sounded a little like nerves.
Obliging her boyfriend, she checked the little box that was attached at the end. Butterflies even moved around in her stomach, is this what she thinks it would be? Her hands shook a little as she opened the small box, inside was a note that said for her to turn around.
Slowly, she turned around and looked down. Pin was on one knee. A little cliché, but her hands flew to cover her mouth and the sound of absolute shock that was about to come from her lips. 'Is this actually happening? Oh my God, Pin wants to marry me, oh, what?' Harper thought, her eyes racing a mile a minute inside her brain.
"Harper Reynolds, I have had the honour of you being my girlfriend for the last five years, and it didn't take long for me to know that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you." Pin spoke softly, careful not to disrupt the quiet of the night and the gently falling snow. "Will you marry me?"
Somehow, no noises could come from Harper. Only when Robin poked her nose into her back did she find the words, "of course! You idiot why would I ever say no!" Her cheeks hurt from smiling as Pin got back onto his two feet, gently slipping on the simple silver ring onto her finger. They had talked about getting married before, Pin had wanted her input on what kind of ring she would want – she recognised her engagement ring as one of the ones she had really liked.
Pin pressed a kiss to her lips that didn't really work as the two of them were smiling so hard. "My fiancée." He whispered into her neck; she could feel his smile pressed against him. She had never been happier. "I did it properly, you know, asked your dad and everything. Got Jade to help keep it a secret and make everything run smoothly."
"Jade was acting off! I knew something was up." Harper laughed as Pin thumbed over the beautiful ring on her finger.
"She's never been the best at secrets, that's for sure." Pin lead her out of the stable, bolting it behind him and the two of them walked back towards the car. Her ring glinting in the light. Pin stopped them in the snow, gazing down at the beautiful woman that he was now engaged to, with snowflakes on her cheeks and in her hair. He brought his hands up to her cheeks and brought her into a deep kiss.
Harper was so indescribably happy.
- - - -
[Unedited - just wanted to get this out for you!]
Happy holidays to all, I hope that some people are at least having a white Christmas! For some reason, this short little idea came to me and I spent a little while writing it. I wanted to give some closure on where Harper and Pin would end up.
To me, they definitely broke up at one point before they got back together again. They needed the time to grow as seperate people before they came back together again. Pin planned to propose months before it happened, but he kept chickening out so had Jade set something up that he wouldn't be able to back out of.
This may be a little rushed and a little bad, but It's midnight so please forgive me. I may come back to edit this at some point, who knows. The updating of these books is put on hold for now I am afraid, my life is too busy.
Lots of love,
Angelica xx