The Gift of Cockleberry Bay

by Nicola May

  Josh and Rosa raced each other up the stairs to the swish private quarters above the pub where Jacob and Raff stayed when away from their beautiful home in Polhampton Sands. Tiptoeing now, Rosa opened the sitting-room door and peeped in.

  ‘Oh, my goodness!’ she cried quietly, without even greeting Jacob. She gave a little gasp. ‘Just look at them!’

  ‘Don’t mind me, love. I’ve only been up all night playing nanny to this lot.’ The smart publican camply flicked his hand at Rosa, then reached for Josh’s hand and shook it firmly.

  Rosa crouched down to take a better peek in the Duchess’s comfy blanket-laden dog crate. ‘Aw, they are miniature Hots,’ she whispered. ‘They are so cute! Just two?’

  ‘Yes, two little boys, thank goodness. One bitch in this household is quite enough.’ As Josh shook with laughter, Jacob continued, ‘I’m surprised she could fit any in that tiny little belly of hers – thanks to your dirty dog taking advantage of her when she was so young.’

  Josh then thought back to when Jacob and Raff had introduced the Duchess as Lady Dolce Vita Petunia Duchess Barkley. ‘Have you thought of any names yet?’ he enquired, bracing himself, wondering what the couple had come up with this time.

  ‘Well, I dare say we should really let the future owners decide on their pups’ names,’ Jacob said reluctantly, adding, ‘And with a pending last name of Rogers, I perish to think what Titty Titch will come out with for hers.’

  ‘Has she met them yet?’

  ‘No, I wanted you as the other grandparents to see them first. When are Titch and Ritchie getting married, anyway?’

  ‘They haven’t set a date yet, but she was hoping Christmas-time this year, I think.’ Rosa gently stroked the exhausted Duchess.

  ‘Exciting – I love a wedding. And where exactly is the absent father today?’ Jacob asked, looking around for Hot. ‘Trust that naughty dog not to be at the birth, or here now. A typical man.’

  ‘What are you like?’ Rosa smirked. ‘He’s with Mary, much to Merlin’s disgust.’ Merlin lived at Seaspray Cottage with Rosa’s mother Mary; he was a huge, rather scary black cat with yellow fog-lamp eyes and too much attitude. ‘Who’s having the other puppy, anyway?’ Rosa asked, and looked directly at Josh, who immediately put his palm up and out flat.

  ‘No, no and no. Hot would hate not being the centre of attention and we’ve got enough to do with the shop and the café, without taking into consideration puppy training and raising a potential brood ourselves.’

  ‘You’re a miserable one today, aren’t you?’ Jacob tutted. ‘I have to say that Raff and I are quite smitten with the smaller cherub, and with three already, what difference is a fourth really?’

  At that moment, as if on cue, the couple’s pugs Ugly and Pongo came running in and started play-fighting by the side of the crate. Whining softly, the Duchess watched them with interest and a degree of scorn.

  ‘That’s what I’ve been saying to Rosa. The bigger the family, the better.’ Josh winked at his wife. ‘And not through want of trying.’

  ‘Ew.’ Their host grimaced. ‘It was bad enough being at the business end of a puppy birth, let alone hearing about you two at it like rabbits, or should I say dachshunds, in the circumstances.’

  ‘But we won’t be for a while, now Josh has announced he’s decided to take some consulting work – without consulting me!’ Rosa harrumphed.

  Jacob frowned. ‘That’s OK, isn’t it? He did it before, and London’s not that far.’

  ‘No, but New York is.’

  Even easy-going Jacob looked taken aback at this. ‘Oh. How long for, chap?’

  ‘It’s just for a couple of months. I’m helping out a former boss and the opportunity and money are just too good to turn down. I can fly home some weekends, and Rosa can come out to see me too, if she wants to.’

  ‘Yes, I’ll just drop everything and swan across the Pond, shall I?’ Rosa sighed.

  ‘Well, the Cockleberry gossip train tells me you are quite capable of swimming across after last night’s heroics,’ Jacob said fondly. ‘You madwoman.’

  Rosa shrugged. ‘Oh, that. All in a day’s work – you know me.’

  Josh kissed his wife’s forehead. ‘She’s not just a pretty face, this one. And to be fair, re New York, we did just discuss it and if you really don’t want me to go, then I won’t.’

  ‘I was more bloody peeved that you mentioned it to Sara before me.’

  Jacob mouthed ‘oops’ to Josh as Rosa continued, ‘I get it. Financially, it should ultimately lead to you being home more, and if I am producing a football team, I will need all the help I can get.’

  Josh lifted Rosa up and putting his big arms around her, he said, ‘Let’s chat this evening and make a final decision. I haven’t signed anything yet and keeping my little princess sane and happy is the most important thing, you know that.’

  At that moment there was a little yelp from the cage. The Duchess pulled one of her scamps back in line and the tiny puppy recommenced sucking furiously at the bitch’s already sore little teats. Pongo and Ugly had settled down and were watching curiously and sniffing the new-borns through the crate.

  ‘You tell them, Duchess.’ Jacob looked at the feeding puppies proudly, then unfurling his legs he got up from the floor. ‘Right, you lovely people, I’d better go and help my husband before he starts yelping at me. Are you staying for lunch?’

  CHAPTER 5

  Rosa was busily arranging stock outside the front of her shop, including doggie life-jackets and her bestselling animal-shaped Lilos. When she had first arrived in Cockleberry Bay, she hadn’t realised quite how much scope there would be for selling pet products. Initially just sticking to food, accessories and designer dog-clothes, she had made a good living. However, now a whole new world had opened up, with products like pet nail varnish and hair slides, and she even had a full range of personalised pet birthday cards. Singing happily, she enjoyed the warm July sun on her back as she attached the sale items to a stand.

  ‘Rosa Larkin?’

  Startled, she turned around quickly.

  ‘Sorry to make you jump. I thought you saw me there.’

  Rosa checked out the young man in front of her. He looked around the same age as her, a surfer-dude type, of which there were many in south-west England, with shoulder-length bleach-blond locks and dark-blue twinkly eyes. He was a similar height to Lucas Hannafore and had a whisk of stubble on his firm jawline.

  ‘It’s fine. I was miles away and it’s Rosa Smith – Larkin was my maiden name. Who wants her?’

  ‘I’m Scott, Scott Wilde, reporter for the South Cliffs Gazette.’

  ‘Just Wilde in name or in nature too?’ Rosa said without thought, then, on recalling her own reckless and unhappy adolescence, filled with cider, soft drugs and hard knocks, she sighed unconsciously.

  ‘I’m wild in the waves, baby.’ Scott did a surfing action with his body. ‘You said maiden name? You got hitched early, didn’t you?’

  Rosa found herself blushing slightly at his sexy accent. ‘So you’re a Scott from Scotland, and a cheeky one at that. Whereabouts are you from up there?’

  ‘Glencoe. Not too far from Glasgow. You know it?’

  ‘I do, actually. Many years ago, I went on a school trip to try and find the Loch Ness monster. We went up on a cable car when there was no snow and I was so frightened because it was so high that I had to be blindfolded to get me down again.’

  ‘I know exactly where you were.’ He grinned. ‘That’s funny.’

  ‘To those watching, maybe. So, what brings you all the way down here?’

  ‘I studied journalism in Exeter and just fell in love with this whole area, especially the surf.’

  ‘It gets you here, doesn’t it?’ Rosa put her hand flat to her heart. Then she asked casually, ‘Is Joe Fox still your Editor?’

  ‘Ah, you know Joe, do you?’

  Rosa winced at the thought of why and how she knew Joe, firstly their affair and then the awful business
of him throwing a ball for his dog Suggs, causing both Hot and Rosa herself to take a tumble over West Cliffs.

  ‘Yeah, I know him,’ she said quietly.

  ‘He interviewed me, but he’s gone back to live in Manchester, I think. Family problems, I heard.’

  Rosa felt a sense of relief. It was about time that karma had kissed the randy reporter. Becca, his wife, had said she was intending to move to Spain near her mother, taking the three younger kids with her but leaving their unpleasant teenage son behind. For Becca’s sake, Rosa hoped she had followed through with her plan. She deserved some happiness.

  ‘So, you have a new Editor, then?’ she asked politely.

  ‘Yes, Kelly Daly. She’s been around the block working for the national newspapers in a previous life, she told me. She’s a right laugh.’

  Scott realised maybe he’d given too much away about his new boss. He also noticed how beautiful Rosa was with her unruly dark brown curls and piercing green eyes. Adding pert breasts and brown toned legs to his list of pleasing observations made her easy to give away to. Even the bandage around her knee didn’t deter his ardour.

  ‘OK, I’m here to work.’ Scott pulled himself together. ‘Have you got a moment to chat? I hear you were quite the local heroine the other night and I would love to feature you in this week’s edition.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘It will make a lovely feel-good story and it was bloody brave what you did, girl. I spoke to Tina Green on the phone earlier. According to her, you saved her little grandson’s life.’

  ‘Anyone would have done it.’

  ‘Nah, they wouldn’t. I didn’t even want to open my front door the other night, let alone jump in an angry ocean.’

  Rosa shrugged. ‘OK. I suppose I don’t mind being interviewed. Josh, that’s my husband, said he’d be back around midday to take over here, so could I meet you somewhere then?’

  CHAPTER 6

  ‘Here comes the bride, all fat and wide,’ Titch sang as she manoeuvred the baby buggy containing a sleeping Theo into the Corner Shop.

  ‘Hardly,’ Rosa replied. Patricia Whittaker was tiny in both height and stature, hence her nickname.

  ‘I don’t know any other words to that song.’

  ‘You crack me up, mate. It’s “all dressed in white”, isn’t it?’

  ‘Shush, you’ll wake the devil incarnate. I tell you, since he’s started crawling, I need to be on full alert.’ Titch walked into the back kitchen and filled the kettle. ‘Nobody tells you that you also need eyes in the back of your backside to stop them getting into stuff.’ She yawned hugely. ‘In fact, Rose, nobody tells you how hard it is being a mother. I reckon it’s a conspiracy: couples who reproduce don’t put out a warning as they want everyone else to suffer as much as they do.’

  ‘Don’t be saying that to me,’ Rosa objected. ‘Not when I’ve just got my head around getting up the duff myself.’

  ‘Ah, now that is an exciting revelation. And joking aside, Rose, just look at him.’ They both stared down at the caramel-skinned, curly-haired sleeping little baby and said, ‘Aw,’ in unison. ‘I wouldn’t change him for the world. And now I’ve got Ritchie, well, I can’t complain. He does so much. I’ve lucked in with him, I tell you.’

  ‘Remind me. How old is he now?’

  ‘My fiancé? He’s twenty, I think.’ Titch grinned. ‘Oh, my son, you mean. I can’t believe you just asked me that, considering you helped deliver him on this very floor – and in a dog bed!’

  ‘Ha! Oops, yes of course. That was a day neither of us will forget in a hurry. Wait a minute – he’ll be walking before too long, won’t he?’

  ‘Thanks for that, Rose, I’m only just getting used to the crawling bit.’ She looked around. ‘Where’s our Hottie today?’

  ‘With Josh. They’ve gone into Polhampton to do some shopping.’ Rosa’s phone beeped. ‘Talk of the devil.’ When the conversation had ended, she said, ‘That’s a nuisance.’

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘I said I’d meet the Gazette reporter at twelve, and now my dear husband tells me he’s going to be later than he said.’

  ‘Theo shouldn’t need his lunch until one, so I can cover until Josh gets back, if you like. Just let me make myself a cuppa before you go.’

  ‘You’re an angel. Make us both one, I’ve still got half an hour. I can’t believe it’s so quiet today. Everyone’s down on the beach, no doubt. The calm after the storm and all that.’ Rosa followed Titch into the back kitchen. ‘How’s it going, with all of you living at your mum’s, anyway?’

  ‘It’s all right, but when we are married the plan is to get our own place. In fact, hurry up and move out of upstairs, mate – you know we want to rent it off you.’

  ‘Patience, dear Titch, patience. That is the plan, especially once I start popping out babies too.’

  ‘Babies plural? I’d like to see how you get on with just the one first, love.’ Titch held up the biscuit tin and shook it. She frowned. ‘Looks like we need to get Mary baking again with immediate effect.’

  As Rosa headed home from her interview with Scott, she thought back to the day that had literally changed her life. It seemed unbelievable now, how so much could have happened in such a short time. This hot July day was a contrast to the cold and frosty December morning when she had stepped out of Evans, Donald & Simpson Solicitors in London, with the ancient leather briefcase she’d been given, along with the revelation that she was the brand-new owner of the Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay.

  Hurrying home to her rented room in the East End of London, she had confided in Josh, her landlord at the time, asking what on earth she would do with a rundown old shop located miles away in South Devon. And then she discovered the condition attached to the mystery inheritance. A note she had found among all the paperwork in the old briefcase had read: One proviso of my gift to you is that you must NEVER sell the Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay. When you feel the time is right, it can only be passed on to someone you feel really deserves it, and only then.

  Thinking this over, Rosa sighed then returned to the present moment. Scott had been a proficient interviewer – concise and straight to the point, which made it easy for her to answer. He took a few photos of her on the beach and outside ROSA’S, and had done his research about ‘the proviso’ since it had been mentioned previously on the South Cliffs Today radio show. He had said that if she wanted to tell him anything more about that, it would be completely off the record. In reply, Rosa had casually mentioned that it had been on her mind a bit recently but there was nothing more to be told.

  However, it had been on her mind a lot lately. Yes, she was just part-time at the café now and yes, she did love sharing her shifts with Titch at the shop, although it didn’t leave her much time for anything else. Having a family and moving to a bigger home were the obvious next steps for her and Josh. And as he had made a significant investment into the café, that was what she needed to concentrate on more now. Especially as part of their deal was that Sara, who had created such a good foundation for ROSA’S, wanted to start taking life a little bit easier.

  There was no question now that she had to do right by her wonderful great-grandfather Ned and great-grandmother Queenie; the couple had not only loved her from afar and brought her back to her birth mother Mary, here in Cockleberry Bay, but they had also given her a chance of making something of herself in this beautiful part of the world.

  And as much as her heart and soul were entwined with the shop, and despite having owned it for such a short time, realistically and practically, Rosa knew it was time. Time for it to be passed on to somebody who truly deserved it.

  CHAPTER 7

  Titch appeared from the back kitchen with Theo in her arms. ‘Shit! They don’t tell you how much babies do that, either. I’ve put his stinky nappy in the bin, Rose, so the flies don’t get at it.’

  Relieved that there were no customers within earshot, Rosa took Theo’s little hand in hers. He gripped it tightly, th
en smiled gummily at her.

  ‘He’s a bloody flirt already, too,’ his mother said proudly. ‘Right, I’m off. Did the interview go OK?’

  ‘Yes, fine, thanks.’

  ‘Good, good. I sold two flamingo inflatables so you’ll need to put some more out. And it looks like you are getting low on the big bags of the posh dried dog-food.’ Titch started loading stuff into the bottom of the pushchair. ‘Now, what did I want to ask you? There was a reason for me popping in earlier. Oh yeah. Can we have the wedding reception in the café, do you think?’ Before Rosa could answer, Titch added hurriedly, ‘We will pay you and everything, as we realise we will need it exclusively. We were thinking the day after Boxing Day if that’s OK?’

  ‘What a fantastic idea. We can decorate it beautifully and make it look all lovely and wedding-y, as well as Christmassy. I’ll have to run it by Sara, but I’m sure she’ll be fine about it.’ Rosa picked up Theo’s bottle, which he had just thrown to the floor. ‘And if it suits, well then – that can be my and Josh’s wedding present to you.’

  ‘That would be amazing. Thanks, Rose. We were just going to do a fish-and-chip supper for everyone. That’s Ritchie’s mum and dad’s present to us, seeing as they own the fish-and-chip shop and all that.’

  Rosa bent down to Hot’s basket to gently play with the snoozing hound’s floppy ears. ‘So, my wanderer husband did return?’

  ‘Yes, he’s just gone upstairs to put some shorts on.’

  ‘Have you thought about your dress yet?’

  ‘Yeah. It’ll just be simple, like me.’ Titch grinned. ‘I actually saw one on eBay that I loved, so I bought it. It’s designer and I could no way afford it normally, so it’s a win-win really. I’m not bothered it’s second-hand – it just needs a clean. I was thinking of powder blue for you, if that’s OK? I obviously want Theo to be a page boy, so he can wear a blue bow-tie then. Choose whatever you want online, up to one hundred pounds, and we will give you the money.’