Ice Creams at Emerald Cove: A heartwarming feel-good romantic comedy to escape with this summer

by Holly Martin

  Dr Lomax shook her head. ‘It’s not always accurate when it comes to reporting how far along you are, but it’s ninety-nine percent accurate when it comes to detecting whether you are pregnant or not. But I have a pregnancy test here so we can double-check.’

  Skye shook her head. ‘No.’

  ‘Why don’t you pop along to the toilet and get me a urine sample and we’ll test it right now,’ Dr Lomax said, kindly.

  Skye shook her head. This couldn’t be happening.

  ‘Skye, I know when I became pregnant after my miscarriage, I was so scared of losing her that I didn’t even want to admit I was pregnant. Me and my husband barely talked about her. I was almost nine months gone with a huge stomach and still trying to pretend that everything was normal. Admitting I was pregnant was admitting it was real and that made the risk real and I couldn’t face that. I know how you feel but the best thing now is to confirm you’re pregnant and then check everything is OK with you and the baby. So let’s take this quick test and we can take it from there.’

  Skye nodded numbly, taking the pot with shaking hands.

  ‘Just go and get me a urine sample and I can do the test.’

  Skye staggered out on wobbly legs. She quickly did as she was asked, screwed the lid on and took it back to Dr Lomax. The doctor took the pot and went over to the sink with the pregnancy test. She came back a minute later with the test and placed it on a tissue in front of her.

  ‘It will just take two minutes. So, I know that Jesse is not here on Jewel Island all the time. Before his visit this time, when was the last time you had sex?’

  Skye swallowed. ‘Christmas, he was here for around two weeks around Christmas, but we always used a condom, every time.’

  ‘Condoms are not always effective, sometimes the condom splits.’

  Skye knew this, of course, but she’d never expected that to happen to her.

  ‘And that timeline would fit with what I said before about you being approximately three to four months along. As it’s likely that you are past the twelve-week mark, I’ve arranged for you to have a scan tomorrow, at the hospital on the mainland, just so we can check everything is OK and progressing as it should be. We can get a much better idea then of how far along you are. Here are the details of where you need to go. It’s booked for eleven.’

  Dr Lomax handed her a sheet of paper and Skye took it. Dr Lomax glanced down at the test and a huge smile spread across her face. She slid it across the desk towards Skye and Skye glanced down at the word that was as clear as day in the tiny screen. Pregnant.

  A sob escaped her throat, tears coursing down her cheeks. ‘How can I be pregnant? I haven’t put any weight on, I’m not showing.’

  ‘Some people start putting on weight straightaway but it’s fairly common not to show at all in the first few months and all the weight gain happens in the later part of the pregnancy. It’s nothing to be worried about.’

  ‘But I’ve had no symptoms.’

  ‘You’ve just told me you’re tired all the time, emotional, hungry but only for savoury foods. All of those things are common symptoms for being pregnant.’

  ‘Oh god, I’m so stupid, I can’t believe I didn’t see it,’ Skye said, looking down at her nearly flat belly. ‘My breasts were really tender too for the first few months of the year. But one of the hazards of having completely irregular periods is that sometimes I have all the symptoms of having a period but without actually having one. So I shrugged it off.’

  She’d shrugged off that she was pregnant with Jesse’s baby. The tears started again.

  ‘How could I not know? I hear people say all the time, “Oh I just knew I was pregnant, I could tell.” How could I not know I had a baby growing inside me all this time? Does that make me a bad mum?’

  ‘No Skye, of course it doesn’t. Everyone is different. I’ve heard of women who have given birth at nine months and never had any idea they were pregnant. And I suspect, in your case, you had convinced yourself that you were never going to have a child so, when faced with these symptoms, you told yourself they must be something else.’ Dr Lomax paused. ‘I’m presuming this is good news though?’

  Skye stroked across her belly. She was pregnant with Jesse’s baby. This was everything she ever wanted so why did she feel so desperately sad? But she knew why: there was every possibility that she could be raising this baby alone if she couldn’t sort things out with Jesse. If he continued to push her away, if he didn’t love her, what kind of relationship was that to bring a baby up in?

  ‘I need to tell Jesse,’ Skye said, fumbling for her phone.

  She called his mobile again but again it rang for ages and then went to answerphone.

  Fresh tears filled her eyes. ‘I need to go.’

  ‘Skye, if you want to chat through any concerns, or if you have any questions, please do call or pop in to see me. In fact, why don’t I make a follow-up appointment with you next week and we can discuss the results of your scan.’

  Skye nodded numbly, already on her feet and moving out of the office. She left the doctor’s surgery and ran straight down onto the beach, tears falling down her cheeks.

  She was pregnant. She couldn’t believe it. And she wouldn’t be convinced until she saw the scan and found out that the baby was strong and healthy.

  ‘Skye? Christ, are you OK?’

  Skye looked up to see Noah and Angel who had evidently been out running together. They were watching her with concern.

  She nodded, wiping her tears away but they were replaced by more. She shook her head.

  Angel pulled her into an immediate hug and she sniffled against his chest.

  ‘Let me call Aria and Clover,’ Noah said, reaching for his phone.

  Noah spoke quickly and urgently into his phone and then hung up. ‘They’re on their way.’

  Angel didn’t relinquish his hold and then Noah joined in the group hug too and she couldn’t help a little giggle escaping her lips at the weird brother-in-law sandwich.

  ‘Let’s head back towards the hotel and they can meet us on the way,’ Angel said, looping an arm around her shoulders in a way that said she didn’t have a choice.

  They guided her to the next set of steps and by the time they got there, Aria and Clover were running down them.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Clover reached her first.

  Despite the fact that she knew she should probably tell Jesse before anyone else, she couldn’t help blurt it out.

  ‘I’m pregnant.’

  Clover nearly whooped for joy as she wrapped her arms around Skye and held her tight. ‘I knew it.’

  ‘Congratulations,’ Angel said as he joined the hug.

  ‘That’s amazing news,’ Aria said, shoehorning herself into the hug too.

  ‘I’m so happy for you,’ Noah said, joining the throng.

  ‘I’m so relieved. I thought these were sad tears,’ Angel said.

  Clover pulled back to look at her and frowned. ‘They are. Why aren’t you over the moon about this? This is what you’ve always wanted.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Skye said. Aria guided her to sit down on the cool sand and they all sat down around her. ‘It’s such a shock, I’m between three and four months and I had no idea.’

  ‘Oh god, that’s why you were so hungry,’ Aria said.

  Skye smiled. ‘Yes, this little one likes their food.’

  She held a hand over her stomach and felt such a surge of protectiveness for her unborn child. She let out another sob. ‘I’m scared. I’ve lost all three of my babies, I can’t lose this one.’

  ‘But you’ve already passed the twelve-week mark, most miscarriages happen within the first few weeks. You’re over three months pregnant. That’s got to be a good thing,’ Aria said.

  ‘And this is Jesse’s baby we’re talking about. It’s going to be big and healthy and strong,’ Clover said.

  ‘Does Jesse know?’ Angel said.

  Skye shook her head. ‘I’ve just this second found out.
He’s not answering his phone.’

  ‘Do you want me to go and find him?’ Noah said.

  ‘No,’ she sighed. ‘We had a silly fight this morning after I gave him some bad news and… I just don’t know if he will commit to coming here.’

  ‘We’ve offered him a job,’ Noah said.

  ‘I know. I think he’s scared of letting me down, of letting us all down, and this news I told him this morning, I think it might cause him to run back inside his shell.’

  ‘He’ll come here once he knows you’re pregnant,’ Aria said.

  ‘I don’t want him to come here for that. Is it wrong that I want him to come here for me? When his ex-wife found out she was pregnant she felt trapped, tied to him. Jesse did the noble thing and married her. I don’t want Jesse to be tied to me, to be trapped in a relationship with a woman he doesn’t love because of a baby. We both deserve more than that.’

  ‘So you’re not going to tell him?’ Angel said, incredulously.

  ‘Of course I will, I just… need to get my head round this. Get used to the idea. I’m having a baby.’ She allowed herself a small smile. ‘I’m having a baby.’

  Clover took her hand. ‘No matter what happens, whether Jesse wants to be a part of the baby’s life or not, you will not be alone. You will always have us. The five of us can raise this baby together.’

  Skye looked around at her family, at Noah and Angel who were nodding in agreement, at Clover and Aria, her strong, brilliant, wonderful sisters, and she knew she could do this.

  ‘You’re going to be an amazing mum,’ Aria said. ‘And we’re going to be here for you every step of the way.’

  Skye nodded, taking her hand too.

  ‘I’m going to be a mum,’ Skye whispered.

  ‘Yes you are,’ Clover said.

  Tears filled her eyes again, but this time they were definitely happy tears.

  Skye walked back towards the café ready to open it for the evening. She felt like the world had been tilted on its axis since this morning and everything was just a little bit different now. She saw Bea waiting outside the café and she didn’t exactly look like her normal happy self.

  ‘Hey,’ Skye said, placing a kiss on her forehead. ‘Did you get drunk on all the gin?’

  Bea smiled. ‘Seamus said I wasn’t allowed to drink any.’

  ‘Yeah, you might want to wait until you’re a bit older before you start drinking alcohol. Also, I’m not entirely sure any of that stuff is safe to drink; it’s been down there for sixty or seventy years.’

  Bea nodded. ‘Rhubarb has started to arrive.’ She gestured to a big pile outside the café doors. ‘The green bag is Mr Kendall and the white bag is from Mrs Cullompton. I’ve created a book, and we can weigh the rhubarb and write it down next to their names so we can see who wins.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Skye said, studying Bea. ‘Are you OK?’

  Bea nodded. ‘Dad told me about Mom.’

  Skye sat down. ‘What did he tell you?’

  ‘That she’s pregnant again.’

  Skye paused. ‘Is that all he said?’

  ‘Yes. Why is there more?’

  ‘God, no. I just wondered how he’d worded it. He was upset about it this morning.’

  Jesse clearly hadn’t told his daughter that Ginny was excited and happy about it. But this was a good compromise. Bea needed to know; she didn’t need to know the details.

  ‘How are you doing with it?’ Skye asked.

  Bea shrugged. ‘I knew she’d got married again. I suppose it’s the natural next step. I mean, it’s a bit weird because she definitely didn’t want children when she had me, but I guess people change. Unless it was just me she didn’t want.’

  ‘It definitely wasn’t anything to do with you,’ Skye said.

  She hesitated as to whether to tell her a bit more about Ginny, but maybe it would help Bea to understand this situation a bit more. ‘I know someone who… knew your mum when she was a child,’ Skye said, awkwardly trying to give Bea some of the information Sylvia had told her without mentioning Sylvia. She cleared her throat. ‘Ginny didn’t have the best childhood. From what I understand it was really crappy. Her dad bullied her mum constantly and I don’t know if he bullied Ginny too but Ginny certainly was witness to the appalling way her dad treated her mum. I know that she ended up running away and taking her brother with her. That kind of upbringing has got to leave some scars.’

  ‘I never knew that,’ Bea said.

  ‘She was still so young when she met your dad and I guess she just wasn’t ready to be a mum, to be part of a family again. And maybe, now she’s grown up a bit, she is ready for it.’

  ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’

  ‘But it’s still perfectly OK for you to be hurt by it,’ Skye said.

  ‘I’m not hurt.’

  ‘You’re not?’

  ‘No. I accepted long ago that she wasn’t going to be a part of my life and it’s OK. Firstly because I think me and Dad are better off without her and secondly because I have you.’

  Skye’s heart ached and she reached across the table and took Bea’s hand. ‘You will always have me, always. No matter what happens between me and your dad, I will always be here for you.’

  ‘I know. I am a bit sad though.’

  ‘You are?’

  ‘Well, I always wanted a brother or sister and now I’ll have a half-sibling that I’ll never get to meet.’

  ‘You might get to meet them one day.’

  ‘It’d be nice to have someone there all the time, someone I could talk to and grow up with. I want what you have with Aria and Clover. I’ll probably never have that.’

  ‘I wouldn’t say never.’

  Bea’s eyes lit up and Skye cursed herself. She thought she’d been subtle.

  ‘Are you and Dad going to have some babies?’

  ‘Maybe one day,’ Skye said.

  Maybe one day in six months but that was another bombshell that would have to wait, along with Bea’s link to Sylvia. Bea finding out Skye was pregnant on the same day that she found out Ginny was pregnant probably wouldn’t be the best timing. Skye wasn’t sure it was the best timing for Jesse either. In fact, she had no idea how she was going to tackle that one.

  Jesse hadn’t showed up for the evening shift and by the time Skye was switching all the lights off ready to leave she was dead on her feet.

  She moved to the door only to find a note stuck to the outside of it.

  She went outside, locked the door and peeled the note off the glass.

  Meet me in Emerald Cove. Jesse x

  God, she really needed to talk to him. She wanted to see if he was OK and she had to tell him about the baby – although maybe that could wait until tomorrow at least, so he didn’t get the news of two pregnancies on the same day. But she was so tired, she just wanted to go to bed, curl up and go to sleep. She’d felt like she’d run an emotional marathon today.

  She ran down the steps to Emerald Cove and was surprised to see candles in lanterns along the beach and Jesse waiting for her.

  She approached him and Jesse cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently.

  ‘Skye, I…’ He shook his head. ‘I have so much I want to say, but I guess I’ll say the important things first.’ He took her hand then got down on one knee. ‘Skye, will you marry me?’

  She stared at him in shock. As if her day could get any weirder; firstly finding out that Sylvia was Bea’s great-grandmother, that Ginny was pregnant, and then that the secret ingredient was highly illegal rhubarb gin. She’d thought finding out she was pregnant was the most shocking but now there was this. But out of all of the shocks and surprises she’d had that day, this proposal had knocked her for six most of all. After all, even with her pregnancy the signs had been there had she looked for them, but this had come completely out of the blue.

  She wanted to throw herself into his arms and scream yes at the top of her voice but something held her back and then she realised what it was. He still hadn�
�t said he loved her.

  And that’s when it hit her. What Noah had said this morning – that the easiest way to get Jesse to be allowed to come here to live would be to marry him. Jesse had heard that. This was what this was.

  She wanted to cry and she felt spectacularly ungrateful at the same time. This was everything she wanted: marriage, she was carrying his baby, he was moving here with Bea. It was everything, except perhaps the most important thing of all.

  ‘Jesse, stand up, I’m not marrying you,’ she said, and she heard her voice break, because she knew she couldn’t. He could come here and work here and be a part of the baby’s life but she could never marry him just for convenience. Not again. Her heart broke as she saw her future. How could she ever get over him when he would be there all the time? He’d be looking after their baby, probably living with her, and they would be nothing more than friends with benefits for the rest of her life. She would have him in every way except his heart and it wasn’t enough.

  He got to his feet, confusion on his face. ‘Why not?’

  ‘Why not? God, you can be such an insensitive ass sometimes. You know how much I love you, you do all this – the candles and the beach – and I thought, for just a second…’ she trailed off. ‘I hate you a little bit right now.’

  His eyebrows shot up. ‘You hate me?’

  ‘I’m not marrying you just so you can stay in this country. And yes, I know it’s selfish because you married me so I could stay in Canada, so I should do the same for you. But I’ve been married twice before and, for my sins, I loved both the men I married and they never loved me. I vowed that if I was ever to get married a third time it would be for the right reasons. Not so I could be a baby-making machine or for a visa – it would be for love.’

  He frowned. ‘Skye, I’m not asking you to marry me so I can stay here.’

  ‘Really?’ She folded her arms across her chest.

  ‘Do you honestly think so little of me that I would try to marry you for a visa?’

  ‘I’ve never seen you so excited as you were this morning, making plans to come here, and for a while I stupidly thought you were coming here for me. But you have never made any attempt to come here before but now you have the job you can’t wait to get here. I made your dreams come true with the job; it was nothing to do with me.’