The apartment in London was a perfect hideaway. Minutes from the Harley Street specialists watching over me, close to everything in the city I usually missed when in town for Wimbledon. With Toni heading off to Mallorca on the Sunday, I was determined to make the most of Saturday night.
Heels were out of the question, so I picked out a black suit with a crisp white shirt.
“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” Toni asked for the hundredth time. She was dressed to kill in a little black dress. We looked good together, I couldn’t deny it. “You know, what if I had plans for us tonight?”
“Let me do this,” I said, kissing the side of her neck. “And come on, there’s a car waiting for us downstairs.”
I worried the whole journey that my idea was cheesy, maybe even too childish. Then the car rolled to a stop outside the hotel where we met almost a year before, and Toni turned to me with that killer smile.
“Elin Larsson, you’re a closet romantic.”
“I thought it would be a nice way to see you off. I know it’s only for a week, but I do find that I miss you more each time.”
We walked into the bar arm-in-arm, taking up a table with a great view of the room. For once, I didn’t care what view everyone else had of us.
“So here’s the thing,” Toni said as I sipped the one martini I could allow myself on the painkiller cocktail that was getting me through the physio. “I actually did have a little plan for us tonight. Or I started to make one.”
“But now you’re drinking Lagvulin, you don’t mind?” I tried, hoping I hadn’t steamrollered her whole evening.
“Well, mostly. Anyway, I know you shouldn’t be walking long distances, but will you come somewhere with me? I had to improvise a little.”
“Sure.” I took her hand and followed her towards the bar. She leaned across to the bartender and he nodded to the door disguised in the wall, the same one we’d made our escape through last summer.
This time we didn’t run down the corridor, but Toni led me instead to a service elevator. I had a hundred questions, but I stuck to my default of keeping quiet and letting Toni show me whatever she was up to. From the elevator we took a turn towards an open fire exit, propped open by a crate of some wine or other. The floor didn’t seem to be one with guests, but when we went through the fire exit, we found ourselves on the roof.
“Okay,” Toni said, gesturing vaguely to the London skyline. “I kind of guessed what you had in mind when you were so fixed on choosing our date tonight. So I called ahead and asked a little favour.”
We walked along the roof, edged by a stone balcony and punctuated by old-fashioned chimneys. Around the second one, a little table and two chairs had been set up, candles lit and flowers decorating the little scene. I swallowed around a sudden lump in my throat. This was romance, and I’d never been happier to be bested.
“Antonia, what are you up to?”
“Come over here and find out,” she said, beckoning with one finger. “God, I’m so nervous… Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” I kissed her softly on the mouth. I could hear the faint sounds of the street below: the car horns, the shouts, the bustle of London at its most vibrant. Compared to that, being alone with Toni was an oasis, so much calm and contentment just from standing there in front of her. I hoped I made her feel the same way. “There’s nothing you can’t say to me.”
“You’re going through so much, and I know we haven’t been together so very long, but Elin… I’m crazy about you. I don’t want to drift in different directions all year, all over the world. I want to have a plan, that’s about both of us. I want to be there, with you, for everything that comes next.”
In that moment, as I started to realise that this conversation was about much more than a quick drink on the rooftop, I felt elation far beyond even my first big win had given me. The painkillers I’d been relying on had nothing on that pure surge of happiness, and it felt like I’d never been in pain at all.
“Toni, are you…” I couldn’t finish the thought; the tears were suddenly welling up and my throat wouldn’t let the words come out. I wanted to hear it from her. Nothing else could compare.
“Will you be my wife?” Toni asked with a sudden certainty, taking my hands in hers and looking me straight in the eye. She’d never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment, the twilight and the candles making her almost glow with loveliness. “I love you so much, and it’s okay if you don’t want to, not yet, but I just had to ask and—”
“Yes,” I said, with another kiss to silence the rambling, however much I enjoyed it. “Yes, Toni. Of course I will. I was going to ask you to move in with me, make your base in LA. But this is even better.”
“We can do both,” she said, kissing me again. “It’s pretty nice up here, right?”
“You picked the perfect spot,” I told her, pulling the two chairs together so we could sit and watch the city start to light up for the evening. “Wait, did you get a ring?”
“Oh God, yes!” She plucked the little velvet box from her cleavage, which cracked me up laughing.
“You’re lucky I didn’t find it before you had a chance to ask,” I said. “I was getting a little handsy in the car earlier.”
“Yes, I noticed,” Toni replied, totally deadpan. “It’s almost like it’s hard to surprise you.”
“I’m going to miss you this week, did I tell you that?” I leaned into Toni as she put her arm around
