The first fifteen minutes in the Therapist's office had consisted of Louise talking and Rachel and Eddie listening. They had listened as she had given a brief overview of her background and qualifications, before deep-diving into her confidentiality agreement and other things Rachel needed to know.

Once he was sure Rachel was comfortable, Eddie left. He would have stayed if she needed him, but Louise had put Rachel at ease a lot quicker than he had expected.

They still had another hour and fifteen minutes to go, so Eddie took that as his chance to head off into town. He had a few things to do and very little to do them in.

The first thing he needed to do was to find and buy an engagement ring. He wished he had more time for this. Whilst he had a general idea of what he was looking for and knew what Rachel would and wouldn't like, it wasn't exactly something you could do and sort within five minutes. He wasn't convinced an hour would give him enough time either, and that made him nervous. It wasn't necessarily the end of the world. If he didn't have enough time, he planned to come back out later whilst Philip kept Rachel company.

The second thing he wanted to do was to buy a Christmas Tree. When it came to Christmas, having a Christmas Tree up in the living room was essential for Eddie. There was something about the ritual of decorating it with lights and baubles, it just put him in the festive mood every time and he hoped it would do the same for Rachel. Rachel hadn't had a Christmas Tree in her life since she was a young child; he wanted to buy a tree that they would have for years to come and to be able to decorate it every Christmas. He hoped he would have enough time to buy the tree, lights and baubles after getting the ring so he could tell Rachel that, that was the surprise to throw her off the scent of his actual plan. Hopefully she wouldn't flip out. He hadn't discussed buying a tree for the living room with her yet. Her reaction could go one of two ways. She'd either love it or hate it.

He parked in one of the multi-storey car parks, purchasing a ticket before heading across the road to the High Street.

Eddie hadn't lived in Rochdale for a huge amount of time. Two years maximum. He'd moved here when he'd got the job as Deputy Head at Waterloo Road. Rochdale wasn't the nicest place in the world. It was a little run down and dreary, but he'd lived in worse towns and cities in his life.

Going into the town centre was something he had never done until today. Up until now, he hadn't had the need to.

He was grateful to see a handful of well-known and independent jewellery shops. With the amount of crime in Rochdale, he wasn't sure there would be many around. But, thankfully, there was. He just hoped there would be plenty for him to choose from, but not so many that he couldn't decide.

After thirty minutes of browsing the windows of the first three shops, he'd had no luck. All the rings he'd seen so far were either: too bulky or tacky looking, not Rachel's style (in Eddie's opinion), or they didn't have her ring size.

He knew it was usually traditional to buy an engagement ring that had a clear, sparkly diamond as the centrepiece. But, knowing Rachel's taste in jewellery, he knew she wasn't massively into diamonds, and he knew that also applied to engagement rings. She liked jewellery that had colour to it, something you wouldn't see everyone wearing. He wanted to get her an engagement ring she would be proud to show off, but that also showed her how well he knew her. A classic, diamond engagement ring wouldn't do it.

As he strolled past the window of the fourth jewellery shop, one of the rings caught his eye.

It was in the middle of the shop window, pride of place where everyone could see it. It stared back at him, demanding his attention. The beauty of it mesmerised and captivated him.

The solitaire ring was made of an 18 carat white-gold band. In the centre was a luminous, oval shaped, sapphire stone. Eddie loved how the different, rich shades of blue shimmered in the light. A cluster of three, small intricate diamonds were placed either side of it. It was the most beautiful ring he'd ever seen.

Without a second thought, he went into the shop and asked one of the staff if he could get a closer look. When the female member of staff brought it over to him and he was able to hold it in his hand, he knew it was the one. It was light and delicate to the touch, not too heavy or bulky. It was understated, but eye-catching. Sophisticated and elegant, just like Rachel. Blue was her favourite colour, especially this rich, Sapphire tone. He could see himself proposing to Rachel with this ring. It was perfect.

He waited with bated breath as the staff member checked they had Rachel's ring size. He had to stop himself jumping for joy when she told him they had! It was meant to be. This was the ring he was meant to propose with.

Once he had checked the ring over and was happy with it, it was placed into a box and a gift bag and he paid for it. He left the shop, humming to himself as he texted Philip to tell him he'd found and bought an engagement ring. He planned to show it to him later, out of sight of Rachel of course.

The hard bit was done. Now all that was left to do was to ask her and hope she would say yes. That part felt easy compared to what he had just done.

As he had twenty minutes to spare, he popped into one of the Homeware stores on the High Street. To his relief, they still had a few large artificial Christmas Trees left. He grabbed one, as well as a selection of lights and baubles.

On his way to the check out, he saw a Christmas Tree decoration that he just couldn't resist. He knew Rachel would love it, and it would be a perfect addition to their tree. So he grabbed it.

Two minutes later, another gift fell into his trolley for Rachel that he just couldn't resist. They had said they weren't going to do Christmas presents, but Eddie couldn't ignore this one. He also had a feeling that Rachel had bought him something, so he wanted to get something for her just to be on the safe side.

Once he'd paid, he carried everything back to his car. In an hour and ten minutes, he had managed to get everything done. He was impressed and relieved.

...

Rachel said goodbye to Louise as she stepped out into the chilly December afternoon. She shivered, wrapping her coat tightly around herself as she waited for Eddie's car to pull into the car park.

When she had first filled in the form to refer herself for counselling, Rachel had been incredibly sceptical. The thought of sharing her thoughts, feelings, fears, problems and traumas with a stranger made her feel physically sick. How was talking going to fix it or make it better? And besides, she had a full-time, demanding job that didn't leave her with much free time. She didn't want to spend her evenings after work, sat opposite a stranger, talking about her feelings.

Now, after her first session, her opinion had changed.

If she felt anything, it was relief. Relief that it had gone so well, and relief because she had gotten some things off her chest that she had bottled up deep inside of her for the last few months. Finally getting to say them out loud and being heard and understood was a huge release.

She couldn't deny it, she was feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted by the whole experience too. Having to be so vulnerable (especially with a stranger) was unfamiliar territory for her. Digging up painful emotions, memories and feelings from the last few months was draining and challenging. There had been times where she just wanted to run out of the office. Running from her problems felt easier than having to face them.

Thankfully, Louise had been great. She was calm, non-judgmental and reassuring. Her positive and relaxed energy had put Rachel at ease almost immediately. They had talked about things that she had never thought she would share with anyone other than Eddie. Even Eddie didn't know some of the details of what they had talked about in their session. He knew the basics on a surface level, but that was it.

The pressure she had felt weighing on her shoulders, dragging her down, had eased a little when she'd left the office a few minutes ago. She was glad she had made the decision to go ahead with this, it was what she needed. It wasn't an immediate fix, she knew that. There was still a lot to talk about and explore. But it was a start.

When Eddie pulled into the car park, she climbed into the passenger side quietly. Her soft smile let Eddie know that she was ok. Somewhat, anyway.

"Home?" he asked

Rachel nodded, closing her eyes as she rested her head against the seat. She was exhausted. It wasn't a secret that the pregnancy was wearing her out. The Doctor had said it was normal at this stage in the pregnancy to feel more tired than usual, so she wasn't too concerned. If anything, it was a sign that things were progressing in the way that they should be.

They drove home in a comfortable silence, Rachel drifting off into a peaceful sleep. Eddie was surprised she hadn't noticed or commented on the Christmas Tree sitting in plain view on the back seat. He was a little worried about her reaction, as they hadn't discussed it. She had been open to doing all the other Christmassy activities he had told her about, so maybe she would be fine with it. He hoped so.

Rachel stirred when the car came to a gentle stop on the drive. She yawned, stretching as she got out of the car. Eddie followed her, unlocking the front door to let her inside.

When they got into the hallway, Rachel surprised him by pulling him into a hug, burying her head in his chest. He instinctively pulled her into him, holding onto her tightly. He had been expecting her to feel a bit vulnerable and emotional coming out of the counselling session, but maybe not as much as this.

"Are you ok?" he asked, pulling away from her

She nodded, kissing his cheek gently.

"I just love you, that's all"

Eddie smiled.

"I love you too"

"Did everything go ok? You don't have to tell me all the details" he added

"It went better than I thought it would. I'm going to see her again after Christmas" she told him

Eddie suddenly panicked.

"What date?" he asked

"The first Tuesday back at school" she answered

Eddie sighed in relief. If she'd booked it for next week, he'd of had to ask her to cancel it, and she wouldn't have done it until he'd told her why.

"Why do you ask?" she questioned suspiciously

"No reason" he shrugged

Rachel nodded, unconvinced.

"Did you get all your 'errands' done?" she asked with a cheeky smile

"I did" he nodded, smirking

"Does it include the big Christmas Tree, lights and baubles in the back of the car?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow

"Ah, so you did notice?" he chuckled

"I think anyone would have!" she pointed out, laughing

Eddie chuckled, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Well, yes, it does have to do with why I wanted to go into town"

Rachel could only giggle as she shook her head. Eddie was surprised at her reaction.

"You're not mad at me for not discussing it with you first?" he checked

"No, of course not! I was actually going to suggest that we go and get one this afternoon. But, since you've already been and got one, it means we can spend the afternoon doing absolutely nothing!" she admitted, snaking her arms around his neck

Eddie smirked.

"That seems to be our favourite thing to do at the moment"

"I've got a baby growing inside of me, what's your excuse for lazing around?" she quipped

"Making sure that YOU rest!" he shot back with a chuckle, pushing her gently into the living room

Rachel giggled, happily sinking into the sofa.

"What do you want first? A nap, or some lunch?" Eddie asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans

"How about some soup for lunch, a walk round the lake, and then a nap?" she suggested

"Perfect" Eddie replied, leaning over to peck her on the lips

When he stepped out into the hallway, Philip was stood on the bottom step, waiting. Excitement glistened in his eyes as he watched Eddie take the ring box out of his jacket pocket, handing it to him. They had agreed that Philip would hide it away in his room where Rachel wouldn't find it accidentally.

Once Eddie had given it to him, he dashed back up the stairs to his room. His curiosity got the better of him as he sat on his bed. He flipped open the lid of the box. Philip was no expert on jewellery, but he thought the ring was gorgeous and perfect. He didn't know Rachel's taste in jewellery that well either, but he knew she would love it. She would say yes in a heartbeat. He was so excited for them both. They deserved happiness, and this was the beginning of it all.