Page 116 of Broken Beyond Repair

“No, I don’t think so. From what I recall it was…go me, boo hiss to the haters,” Beatrice replied, taking a sip of champagne.

“And an ‘I love you’ to me.”

“Ah, that.” There was no avoiding a little interrogation. She’d hoped her first declaration of love for Sydney would slip by unnoticed, despite her saying it in front of eight hundred people and those watching at home.

“It was nothing,” she attempted.

Sydney rounded on her. “It was everything.”

Beatrice bit her lips in to contain her smile as she gazed into Sydney’s eyes.

“And I happen to love you, too, Beatrice Russell.”

Beatrice could have drowned in the adrenaline that surged through her. Instead, she focused it on grasping Sydney around the waist and planting a kiss on her lips.

“Very good,” she whispered into Sydney’s mouth. “Lay all your love on me.”

Sydney groaned.

EPILOGUE

“Mum, Syd, Ali’s just buzzed the gate.” Alex rushed into the bedroom and peered through the window. “There’s more cars behind her too.”

Sydney crossed the bedroom from the dressing room to join him by the window, where she spied three cars emerging from the wood.

“Bang on time,” Beatrice said, tapping her watch as she stood up from her dressing table.

“You did threaten everyone that if they weren’t on time, y— “

Beatrice silenced her with a kiss. “Yes, thank you, Sydney. I recall. So, how do I look?” She stepped back and twirled in her ivory, V-neck knee-length dress. Her blonde waves perched on her shoulders as she came to a stop.

“Hot, and like you’re going to a wedding.” Sydney laughed.

“Ha!”

“And me?” Sydney asked with her hands on her hips in her trusty white Chanel suit. “I know you said I should buy something new, but I really like this. It fits well.”

“As long as you don’t spend the evening thinking about how you were wearing it the night you urinated next to Meryl St—“

This time it was Sydney’s turn to silence Beatrice with a kiss, trying not to smudge her bright red lipstick in the process. “As if I would.”

“Eww! Get a room, you two.” Alex sniffed in disgust.

“We have one; we’re in it,” Beatrice replied.

“Oh yeah. I’ll see you downstairs.”

“Is Mum ready?” Sydney called after him.

“Yeah, she went down a few minutes ago.”

“Shall we welcome our guests?” Sydney asked as she held out an arm to Beatrice who hooked herself through it.

“We shall.”

A waiter offered them a glass of champagne before their feet even hit the wood flooring of the entrance hall. Beatrice headed for the door to welcome Alison as Sydney stopped to check on her pile of books on the table.

She stroked the cover of one of the hardbacks, allowing her finger to trace over the clear raised titleOverboard,which sat prominently against the matte laminate. It was still unbelievable. Her very own book, in print. Author; not co-author. Her story.