FAST-TRACK LOVE

These three women are proof that taking it slowly isn’t always the answer to a long, happy relationship

- VERONIQUE HAWKSWORTH, PAULA ROBINSON.

‘We hadn’t even been out on a date when he proposed’

Wafaa Powell, 60, lives with her husband David, 62, in Wiltshire. When my brother’s best friend David dropped to one knee, I couldn’t help bursting out laughing in disbelief. Yet it was really happening – just two weeks after we had first met, David was proposing.

It was July 1996, and I had been visiting my older brother and his wife in South Africa when I first met David. I was instantly drawn to his friendly nature and good looks, but I was just out of an eight-year relationship and wasn’t looking to jump into another.

SNAP DECISION

The day after we met was my birthday, and David surprised me with an intricate pendant on a gold chain. I took it as a friendly gesture and, over the next few days, we enjoyed dinners together with my brother.

Then, two weeks after we first met, David and I were alone in the lounge when he dropped to one knee. I was stunned – we hadn’t even been on a date!

I wasn’t in love with David yet, but I felt so comfortable and safe around him, and something told me I’d be a fool to turn him down. So I said yes! Family were shocked, but supportive, which was just as well – I’d have had no time to talk them round as my holiday visa was about to run out.