"Isla, can I have a word?" Mum said as she shut the front door behind her. It was late. I had picked Isla up from nursery and brought her home and put her into bed while Mum had been helping Nick over at the bistro.
"Go ahead." I said, putting down my pen. I was sat at the island trying to write an English essay, but it wasn't going well at all.
"Can we just imagine a hypothetical situation? A hypothetical situation in which someone were to ask me to marry them, or in fact, I were to ask someone and they said yes, how would you feel about that?" She asked, standing opposite me at the island in the kitchen.
"You asked Nick to marry you? Mum, are you serious? That's amazing!" I said, getting up from my chair and walking around to hug her.
"Orla I don't know, I don't know if I've done the right thing." She said before I could.
"Sit down." I said to her, pointing at the stool. I went over to the side and got her a wine glass and poured red wine into it, taking it to her and then sitting back at the island beside her. "Tell me what happened." And that's what she did. She told me of how she'd gone over to the bistro to help Nick as he was short staffed and she'd served Sally, which she described to be hell on earth and that she'd never be a waitress if you paid her a million pounds. She told me that after closing, they'd chatted and she told Nick that this was the first time in a long time that she felt truly happy, and part of that was down to him. Then she told me how she'd asked him to marry her, and not only did the spontaneity shock Nick, but she also shocked herself slightly.
"And what did he say?" I asked.
"Well, nothing." She replied.
"So why are you sitting here with me?" I said.
"No, Michelle came in and interrupted, Nick had to go and look after Sarah, something had happened, I don't know. He came back after." She told me.
"And said what?" I asked, almost on the edge of my seat.
"He said yes." She said, before taking another sip of her wine.
"I'm sorry, he said yes, and you're sat here with a face like a wet weekend because?"
"Because marriage never goes well for me. And I know that, but in that moment with him, thinking about a future with him and with you two as well, I thought that getting married would be a good idea."
"And how do you feel now?" I asked, reaching over to the wine bottle and pouring some more in Mum's glass.
"I don't know. I love him Orlie, I really do, and I can see myself spending the rest of my life with him, but Orla, you know as well as I do that marriage doesn't work for me. Look at Tony and Peter and nearly Frank, it doesn't go well." I couldn't help but nod in agreement at the fact that she was right.
"But Mum, those three guys are not Nick. I don't think Nick has a bad bone in his body, not that I've seen anyway. Has he ever shown you any sort of behaviour that suggests you have something to be worried about?"
"No, he's amazing, he's an amazing guy who thinks about me and who makes me happy and he's amazing with Isla and with you too." Mum said.
"You're just scared. And it's ok to be scared but Nick is a good person to be scared with." I told her.
"You're right." She paused, taking another sip of wine.
"Does that mean if you're marrying Nick, that you'll be related to the Platts? To Gail Platt?" I asked. Mum nodded and we both laughed.
"Oh no, that means at some point in my life I'll have to spend Christmas day with the woman." She said.
"You can count me out of that one, I'd rather go to Grandma's." I said.
"That's really is saying something." She said and the two of us laughed again. "Right, you best get yourself to bed."
"I can't, I really need to finish this essay for Mrs Banham for tomorrow." I told her.
"Tell Mrs Banham from me that your sleep is more important, even for my little brainbox." She said and I smiled. "Really Orlie, if there's a problem tomorrow, then get her to send me an email." I nodded before giving her and kiss and then going into my room to get ready for bed.
The following morning, I woke up early and went into the kitchen and sat down to finish my English homework. Mum got up a little while later with Isla and brought her into the kitchen.
"You work so hard Orlie. Do you want a brew?" Mum said after kissing my cheek. I nodded as Mum put Isla in her highchair beside me.
"Yes thanks, Good morning, Islie bug." I said, just as there was knock on the front door. "Who's that? It's 7am" I continued as Mum walked towards the door. She opened it and Nick was stood there with two coffees in one hand and a paper bag and a rose in the other.
"Good morning, I've got a surprise eng-" he stopped suddenly as he looked away from Mum and towards Isla and I sat at the kitchen island looking back at him.
"Don't worry, she knows." Mum said quietly. Nick smiled and so did I to him.
"A surprise engagement breakfast for you two girls too." He continued before kissing Mum.
"And coffee too, you know the way to my heart." Mum said taking the coffee from him.
"it's only because he can't work our coffee machine." I said as the three of us laughed.
"Didn't want to make a fool of yourself?" Mum said to Nick as the two of them reached the island. Nick began unpacking the food from the paper bag as Mum stared at the rose. Isla's eyes lit up at the sight of fruit and Nick passed it over to me to then out on the tray of her highchair.
"May I ask how the news went down?" Nick said, looking at me. I looked at Mum and then back to him.
"Very well indeed, I'm so happy for you both." I said to him. Nick smiled before pulling Mum into him. She looked happy now, a lot happier than she had done last night. The four of us ate breakfast together before I then rushed to get ready for school and Mum got Isla ready for nursery.
"I'll take Isla on my way to school Mum." I said when I went out into the kitchen to grab my water bottle and saw Mum still in her pyjamas.
"Thank you, my girl." She said, getting Isla's coat on and grabbing her bag. I took it from her, as well as taking Isla too. "Nick and I are going to tell the Platts about our engagement tonight, just if you see Bethany at school or anything." Mum said kissing me on the cheek then doing the same to Isla.
"You can meet us in the bistro though after school." Nick said from the kitchen. I nodded before saying goodbye to them both and taking Isla to nursery.
After school, I got off the bus in Weatherfield and began to walk across the road towards the flat. I fancied getting changed out of my uniform before going over to have tea with Mum and Nick at the bistro.
"Hey, you, are you free? I could really do with your help." Nick said as he walked towards me outside Nick's.
"I guess, I was just gonna pop home to get changed." I told him.
"Well, that can wait, I really don't want to get this wrong, come on." He said as we walked back towards the flat and over to Nick's car.
"Get what wrong?" I asked as we both stood on either side of the car.
"The engagement ring." He said, opening his car door and getting in. I did the same, throwing my school bag in the back as Nick started the car. Nick drove us into town and parked outside a jeweller not far from the city centre. We went inside and spoke to a man, who Nick had clearly phoned earlier in the day. She showed us four or five different rings, which all sat on the counter in front of us.
"So, you know your Mum best, which one will she like the most?" he asked.
"Not that one," I said pointing to the one of the end, which although very nice, had a diamond in the shape of a heart and really wasn't Mum's thing. "I think either this one, or that one." I said, pointing to two fairly similar ones, both with big diamonds, although one just had them round part of the band of the ring too. Nick and I both looked at each other. "Which do you think? You're the one asking her to marry you." I said.
"I agree, not that one and I don't really like the gold, she isn't a gold person, is she?" he asked, looking to me and I nodded my head. "I think I prefer this one." He said, pointing to the one with a big diamond in the middle, small ones around the edge and diamond encrusted on the band at either side.
"I agree." I said to him and we both smiled at each other. Nick spoke a bit longer to the man at the jeweller before he paid for the ring and placed it, in the box in the pocket of his suit. We left the shop and walked back to the car.
"Thank you for helping me Orla." He said as we began to drive back home.
"That's ok. I'm glad you care what I think." I said to him. "What happens now?"
"Well, your Mum is meeting us in the bistro after she's been to pick your sister up and then, I'm going to propose, properly this time." He said. "I've invited Michelle and Johnny and Aidan and some of my family over. And I'm going to get them to play our song."
"Does she know about this?" I asked.
"No of course not, why? Is she gonna hate it?" he asked.
"No, she doesn't really like surprises but you're already engaged so I think she's going to love it." I told him.
We arrived back at the bistro at about 6. I hadn't had chance to get changed, but I didn't really mind anymore. Nick sent me inside to meet Mum, where she was sat with Isla, feeding her some cucumber while she drank a glass of wine. Nick called Gail to get her to change the music and then he appeared at the door behind her. He winked at me, and I winked back. Mum turned around to see who I was looking at.
"Ah, where've you been?" she asked as she got off the stool at the bar to greet him.
"Uh sorry, I just had to run an errand." He said, as Michelle, Audrey and Bethany came in the front door and Johnny and Aidan got up from their table on the other side of the bistro and walked over.
"What's going on?" Mum said, in a very serious voice.
"Look, I know we did the proposal already, but I just wanted to make doubly sure that this is happening, so I thought if I do it in public, there's no getting out of it." Nick began, before taking a huge deep breath and kneeling down in front of her. "So, Carla Connor, will you take this ring as a token of our engagement?" Everyone around, waited in apprehension.
"Get up you silly beggar." Mum said quietly to him.
"Not until you say yes." Nick said back to her.
"Well, like you said, we did this yesterday." Mum said. I could see the slight uncertainty in her face, the same as I could see it last night too. Maybe telling Gail today gave her a little wobble.
"Not with a ring. Come on, my knees killing me." He said back to her. I think he could see the uncertainty too, which was reassuring, it wasn't just me who saw Mum when she felt bad.
"Of course, I'll say yes." Mum said. Nick placed the ring on Mum's finger, while everyone in the bistro applauded and cheered for them.
"It fits." Nick said as he pulled Mum into hug her.
"It's beautiful." Mum said before kissing him.
"Of course it is, someone very special helped to choose it." Nick said as he looked to me and winked. I smiled as Mum turned around too.
"Orla Connor, you little sneak." She said as she let go of Nick and turned around to hug me.
"Are you happy?" I whispered quietly in her ear, knowing Nick was distracted chatting to Johnny and Aidan.
"Yes Orlie, even more so knowing that you like him too." She whispered back before she pulled away and Michelle was desperate to see the ring. We all had drinks and dinner and celebrated together before walking back home.
"I assume Nick is going to move his stuff into ours." I said to them.
"Am I? Into Connor Towers?" Nick joked.
"Well yeah, I guess she's right, it would take years for us to move all of our stuff into your flat and besides, ours is nicer, has more of the nice feminine touches, unlike the bachelor pad you've been calling home." Mum said. The three of us all laughed as we continued back home to the flat.