She opened the bedroom door and was thrown by the trail of rose petals that led from her door and down the stairs, as if she was unable to find her way down on her own.

She stepped down the stairs and saw hundreds of candles flickering in the darkness of her lounge, but standing in the middle of them all was Henry dressed in a tux. She stopped halfway down the stairs and stared at him. If there was a finer sight in the world than Henry Travis in a tuxedo, she was yet to see it.

‘You look so beautiful,’ Henry said, softly, coming to the bottom of the stairs and holding out his hand for her.

She took it, her heart beating wildly as he pulled her into the middle of the lounge.

He kissed her gently on the cheek and then went down on one knee.

Her heart stopped, blood rushed to her head making her immediately dizzy. ‘Henry, shit no, you can’t.’

‘Don’t worry, it’s not that.’

She laughed in relief.

‘I’ve thought about this a lot over the last few days, before I shouted at you and made you cry and before I made my daughter hate me because I lied to her, before any of that happened, I wanted to tell you how I felt. And I didn’t want to just say the words in passing, as if I was asking you what your favourite colour is and I certainly didn’t want to throw the words out while I was trying to get you warm again after you nearly died of hypothermia. I wanted something bigger than that because what I felt for you was so much bigger than anything I’ve ever felt before.’

He pulled a little black box out of his pocket and despite, knowing this wasn’t a proposal, her breath hitched at the sight of it.

He opened it and offered it up to her. Two hearts entwined with each other lay on the black velvet, one wooden heart, one made from crystal. There was a scarlet ribbon tied round the top, but it was the curly words engraved into the wooden heart that caught her attention the most. ‘I love you.’ She ran her fingers lightly over it, the lines of the wood and the shine of the varnish reflecting the lights of the candles beautifully.

‘And this heart…’ He pointed to the crystal. ‘You have to pretend it’s made from ice, a special kind that will never melt.’

She smiled at the significance of the ice and the wood entwined, her world and his.

‘And I thought you should have something that was yours on our tree.’

‘I can’t believe you did all this just to tell me you love me.’

‘I do love you, Penny, I fell completely and utterly in love with you almost from the very first time we met. I have never met anyone so kind, so pure and sweet as you before. You make me laugh, a lot, I could talk to you for hours and never get bored and I have never felt for anyone the way I feel with you. You are right, you deserve the very best and I’m going to do everything I can to give it to you.’

She knelt down so she was face to face with him.

‘I love you too. You’ve changed my life in such a short time. I told myself repeatedly that I didn’t need a man or a family to make me happy. And in reality I don’t need one, but I do want one. My idea of a family was marriage and babies and that’s changed now. I want to be part of your family and I want to be with you more than anything else in the world. You make me happy, happier than I’ve ever been and I want to make you happy too.’

He kissed her and then pulled back slightly. ‘I’m not ruling out babies either. I know I’ve done the sleepless nights and the nappy changes but I’d love to do it all again with you.’

‘Really?’

He smiled and nodded. ‘Just, not yet, eh? Let’s give it a few months before we think about that.’

‘OK.’

‘Now, shall we hang your decoration on the tree and go to the ball?’

‘What about Daisy?’

His face fell. ‘She’s still not speaking to me, I’ve tried everything but she flat-out refuses to talk. I’m gutted. She’s at Anna’s and I think she’ll be going to the ball with them. But we’ve not had much chance to see each other today. I’m going to sort it out with her tonight. There’s no way I’m spending Christmas not talking to her. And I’m going with you to the ball and she will see that I’m serious about you and that I love you.’

She smiled. ‘OK.’

She stood up and offered out her hand for his. He took it and pulled himself up.

‘The next time I get down on one knee for you, it will be the real thing.’

Her smile grew and she didn’t think she would ever stop smiling tonight.

Holding her hand, he led her over to the tree. ‘Where would you like to hang it?’

Penny considered it for a moment. ‘How about here, between the Santa that’s showing his bum and the angel that Daisy made from an old washing-up bottle?’

‘I think that’s a bat from Halloween actually but, yes, good choice.’

Henry took it from the box and passed it to her. She hung it on the branch and it glistened and sparkled under the fairy lights. ‘Perfect.’

Henry helped her to put her coat on and then led her out.

‘Wait. We need to deliver a carving.’

‘Tonight? Now? Won’t everyone be at the ball?’

‘This is a proposal carving, and I think they’ll probably be at the ball after or before as I have to place it quite near, but I can’t ruin this guy’s big moment. We can wrap it up and take it in your car, just don’t put your heating on full blast.’

Henry helped her to wrap it up and carry it out and they drove down to the town. Under the glow of the slivery moon, White Cliff Bay twinkled and shone, still buried under a blanket of snow. It was magical, ethereal in its beauty.

The streets were completely deserted as everyone else was clearly already at the ball. They positioned the proposal carving round the back of the marquee at the end of the thin cliff path that led up from Silver Cove beach and then drove round to the car park, which was already overflowing with cars. After finally finding a space, Henry escorted her inside.

Near the entrance stood two ice carvings, the only ones to survive the power cut or to make it through the snow. Octavia had carved a stunning full sized Santa, sitting on a chair checking his naughty and nice list. It was incredible. Next to it Melody had carved a beautiful reindeer. It wasn’t the big competition of previous years but at least Octavia would rightfully win this one and Melody would come second, which would mean an honourable mention for the newcomer in the Ice Carving Federation magazine, even if it was by default.

They moved further into the marquee. The place was packed, people were chatting up at the makeshift bar, sitting down at a hodgepodge of tables covered in a colourful array of tablecloths and donated table decorations, none of which matched, and several people were up on the dance floor, swaying gently to the sounds of ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ by Frank Sinatra. But Penny could see that every single person seemed to be enjoying themselves. They didn’t care that the food was mostly sandwiches, or that the music came from an iPod instead of a DJ or that none of the tables and chairs matched. The ball had happened because every single one of these people had helped to put it on. She could see Jill looking stunning in a long blue sequinned dress as her husband Thomas twirled her round the floor. Maggie was dancing with one of her boys and Edward waved at them as he danced with his wife. She loved this town with its crazy, nosy, caring people and now she had one more reason to love it too.

She squeezed Henry’s hand and he smiled at her. She wanted to find Daisy and hug her too, though she doubted that would happen any time soon.

‘Can you see Daisy?’ Henry asked.

‘Yes, she’s over by the buffet with Josh. She’s already seen us and is pretending she hasn’t.’ Penny saw the scowl on his face as he saw Josh with his arm round Daisy’s shoulders. ‘Don’t make a big deal over this, he is lovely and you certainly don’t want to make the situation worse between the two of you by going all “over-protective dad” again.’