‘Excellent. You really are the nicest husband Ben Chalmers. I’m going to miss you while you’re away.’
‘Not as much as I’ll miss you. Goodness, I nearly forgot - I need to show you the pictures of a cottage I’ve found over there. It’s fabulous - lovely hot tub out by the water, a little shop nearby, huge open fire. There wasn't a lot to choose from but I picked one I thought you’d like just in case you do get to come.’ He took out his phone, pulled up the link and showed her the property - a cute timber-clad cabin, topped with snow, sitting beside a lake.
‘Oh, my, it’s gorgeous. You picked that on purpose to make me come!’ She said and continued scrolling through the images.
‘The timing isn't perfect, I know,’ he said. ‘Especially with the baby-making practise we need to be doing.’ He smiled and stroked her leg.
‘No, it’s not. How much difference are a few weeks going to make though?’
‘Well I guess, it’s one month isn’t that how it works?’ He replied, chuckling.
‘Ha, obviously. So theoretically I could fly over at the right time and we could, you know, practise and then fly home.’
‘Mrs Broadchurch-Chalmers, that sounds like a very nice theory to me.’ He laughed and she leant back into him and smiled.
‘I’d quite like to practise with you in a little red Alaskan cottage Mr Chalmers.’
Chapter 19
The bright and cheerful pansies caught Sallie's eye as she rang the old-fashioned bell on Juliette's front door. She had to admit, Juliette had made a great job of the place. She couldn’t ask for a better tenant either. Juliette, it turned out, was rather house proud, keeping the place and the garden immaculate. Sallie wondered how she did it all - she was a single mum with one high-achieving offspring away at university and her little girl Maggie, and she was an extremely well-regarded midwife and trainer and always immaculately turned out.
Three pairs of boots and a pair of pale pink Wellingtons were perfectly lined up on the porch on a pale blue mat with white polka dots. Juliette came to the door, opened it and smiled.
‘Ready for our coldest walk yet?’ Juliette said as she screwed up her nose at the cold.
Sallie and Juliette had struck up a friendship since Juliette had moved into the cottage; they’d been chatting one late afternoon in the summer about how they both loved walking and how it was a shame that there wasn’t a walking group in Pretty Beach. By the end of the afternoon they had one - a walking group of two. Initially, they’d planned to do an online group and get a small select club going. However, after the first few walks they’d got on so well, chatting about everything under the sun that they’d decide to leave it as the two of them for the time being.
Juliette pulled a huge down-filled jacket out of the cupboard and stepped into her pale pink boots, pulled on a slouchy beanie and tied a blue tartan scarf over the top of the coat. Sallie looked at her asking herself just how Juliette carried it off - the blue tartan scarf and pink wellies would look absolutely ridiculous on her but somehow everything Juliette wore went together flawlessly. It was all so different from Sallie's jeans, jumpers and boots look. Juliette pulled off a maxi dress like no other in the summer too.
‘Brrrr, much colder out here than in the cottage. That heating and insulation you had put in is fabulous.’ Juliette said as she closed the door of the cottage and did her coat up.
‘Thank goodness, it cost enough!’
‘Where shall we go then? I guess we’ll have to stick to the pavements, everywhere else will be too slippery I think.’
‘Ben said the roads have been salted all the way out so we should be okay if we stick to the main road. Thought we might go down and over to the other side of the ocean and maybe stop in the Pretty Beach Books Cafe if it’s open.’
‘Excellent idea, I haven’t been to that cafe for ages... lead the way.’ Juliette locked the door of the cottage and they walked along the road.
‘How’s the house-hunting going?’ Sallie enquired.
‘Nowhere. There's not even much on the market except for the one down the road here and it’s all renovated and quite a bit bigger than we need, so it’s out of my price range. I guess it’s just the wrong time of year too. I don’t know when it’s going to happen. Are you sure you’re still okay with us in the cottage?’
‘Absolutely - stay as long as you like. I’ll rent the other two out first but that’s not even going to be until next year. The main focus is the Orangery and it’s good to have someone living in it and it’s not all sitting there empty.’
‘Speaking of the Orangery, Nina mentioned the podcast and wedding idea when I bumped into her and Tillie the other day - sounds great.’
‘Yep, we’re starting the planning now - once it’s out on social media it will be all go. I’ve got the caterers ready, Lochie and Ollie should be ok for it and most of the rest of it is pretty easy. It’s mainly staff on the day.’
‘Easy? Sounds like a tonne of work to me! I’d love to help - it’d give me a way of giving back to you for helping me out with this. It’s been amazing how the pressure has lifted since I’ve been in the cottage.’
‘Sounds like a deal, thank you! I hear you on the pressure - there's nothing worse than that money pressure. I never want to go back to living like that again.’ Sallie touched Juliette on the arm kindly.
‘Living here has made a huge difference - I can pay all the school fees, childcare and outgoings and have some left over to keep adding to the deposit. I was so exhausted before - now I feel like I've a new lease of life. It shows at work too. I was just getting so fed up with it all, always chasing my tail and now it’s like a valve’s been released on the top of my head.’
‘God, do I know how that feels,’ Sallie replied, ‘Stay there as long as you like - I’m so happy you and your girls get a chance to settle a bit after all you’ve been through.’
‘You don’t know how much I appreciate it, Sallie. I never saw myself in this predicament, I guess I’m not the first person to say that...’ she trailed off sadly.
‘Oh, I can assure you I do - I never saw myself stuck in a dead-end job living in crappy rented accommodation with two marriages behind me, but there I was just a few years ago and fighting tooth and nail to get the money I was owed from my now ex-husband. Then I ended up in Pretty Beach and, well, now look at me. So, I’m doing what they all say - giving back the Pretty Beach way.’
‘What about you - I don’t suppose any houses have come up for you, have they?’
‘Not a sausage, I think it’s going to be a long time before an old Victorian house in need of work comes up in Pretty Beach to be quite honest,’ Sallie said.
They approached Nina’s cottage to see her folding up the pram on the tiny driveway, with the boot of the car up and Ottilie screaming from the back of the car. The screaming didn’t seem to be bothering Nina in the slightest - oh how things had changed. She carried on calmly getting her bag and Tillie’s things together and pushed the button for the boot to close. She stopped as she saw Sallie and Juliette rugged up in their huge coats, scarfs and boots.
‘She’s not sounding too happy!’ Sallie said as they carefully walked up the drive to say hello and kissed Nina on the cheek.
‘Time for food and you know what she’s like when she’s hungry, screams the place down until she gets it. She’s a bit grizzly too, been the same all day - think there might be another tooth on the way.’
‘You’re a bit more relaxed than the early days, haha,’ Sallie laughed.
‘I’ve learnt you can’t put this one into my spreadsheets - she’ll do exactly what she wants to do and when she’s like this she won’t stop until she’s fed. Come in for a cup of tea if you like,’ Nina said as she started to lean into the car to Tillie.
Sallie and Juliette picked up the bags as Nina unstrapped Tillie from the car, pulling her into her arms and they walked to the front door. Nina scrambled around in her bag for her keys.
‘Brrr, it seems to be gett
ing colder. Is the Sallie Snow Barometer predicting another downfall?’ Nina asked and Juliette chuckled as Nina turned the lock on the cottage door and pushed it open. They stamped their feet on the mat, took off their boots and walked in, the warmth hitting them.
Sallie turned around and looked up at the sky as she closed the door. ‘I don’t think so, it’s too dark for it to snow again yet.’
‘Good. I hope it holds off until the naming ceremony and then blankets the Orangery in a lovely layer of it. Talking of that you should see the outfit I've found for Tillie. Oh my, it’s delightful!’
Nina proceeded to take Tillie's snowsuit off, pulled off her hat and started to feed her and asked Sallie to pop up and get the outfit.
Walking up the tiny cottage stairs, Sallie smiled while opening the door to the sweet pink and white bedroom. A tiny cloud and star mobile hung above the cot, beautiful pink heart bed linen was tucked into the cot and a sweet pale pink canopy nestled over the changing table. As she crossed the tiny room, she suddenly felt a pang and realised that she wanted a baby much more than she had let herself believe. She’d kept all her feelings locked up and pinned down inside her heart, not willing to let herself go anywhere near having what had happened before happen again.
Hanging on a tiny white hanger was a white, delicately embroidered dress with puff sleeves and a beautiful bow. Alongside it a hand-crocheted white shawl with a tiny fur edged collar and silky bow. She picked them up and went back downstairs with them.
‘Oh my. That is adorable! Where did you find it?’ Juliette exclaimed, touching the beautiful fabric.
‘A boutique not far from work - I must’ve walked past a million times over the years and never been in. They were so lovely and then said they had someone who made up tiny crochet cardigans and she made the shawl cape and I asked for it to be lined with white fur.’
‘It’s exquisite - I love it. She’s made a beautiful job of it.’
‘I know. It’ll probably be messed up in no time with baby sick but I couldn’t resist. Let me put it this way, it was not cheap.’
‘I don’t blame you.’ Sallie looked at it wistfully and touched the delicate crochet.
‘By the way, I keep forgetting to double-check - you and Ben are definitely still good for the guardian role? I know we signed all the paperwork in front of the witnesses and everything but just checking before the last step.’
‘Absolutely,’ Sallie replied, nodding.
‘Good, I’ve got all the paperwork with the solicitors, so it’ll be all done and sealed soon. It’ll take a load off my mind - not that I’m intending on going anywhere, but you know, what with my mum and the dementia and no one else and you know...’
Nina had been insistent that the papers were sorted for the guardianship. Sallie had thought in the back of her mind that it was all a bit odd - as if anything was going to happen to Nina but then Nina’s point had been that you never knew, which she guessed was technically correct.
Sallie had supposed that with Nina’s passion for always having everything under control and the fact that her mum was shut away in an old people’s home with dementia it meant that she wanted every base covered when it came to Tillie. Nina liked everything to be in order, every eventuality taken care of, every box ticked. She sat there thinking about it as Tillie was feeding and thought that anyone else would probably be the same in Nina’s shoes. It just didn’t bear thinking about though that something bad might happen. Sallie couldn’t envisage a life without Nina, it was like they were meant to meet - it was like she was the sister she had never had.
Nina shifted and sat up as Ottilie finished feeding. She sat Ottilie up on her knee, patted her back and Ottilie let out a huge burp and a bit of milk dribbled down onto her bib.
They all started laughing and said they hoped she didn’t do that on the dress on the day.
Chapter 20
‘Hey lovely, come in, it’s freezing out there.’ Holly kissed Sallie on either side of her cheeks and took her scarf and hat.
Sallie loved it at Holly’s house - she’d somehow managed to make the high modern ceilings and timber floors cosy and warm and there was always something delicious bubbling away on the stove. She looked out of the huge bank of black, bi-fold doors leading out to the garden to a blanket of snow, piled up on the window ledges of the shed and the furniture around the pool.
‘Looking beautiful out there, isn’t it?’ Sallie said as she looked out over the garden.
‘Don’t know about that, not a big fan of the cold, as you know, but yes it does make everything look clean,’ Holly responded, and her pretty white and black cat who was curled up on the heated floor made a sound as if to say she totally agreed about not liking the cold.
‘How’re you doing then? I’ve been so busy it feels like we haven’t chatted properly for ages.’
‘Good. No news really, but I’m not pregnant, so that’s disappointing. I had this feeling in the back of my head that I was, and then nothing on the test.’
‘Sorry Sallie, maybe you’ll have to go down the IVF route. I know you didn’t want to do that yet, but you’ve not really got time on your side.’
‘I know, we had the very same conversation. Going to get Christmas out the way and then if nothing’s happened by the New Year, I’ll make an appointment.’
‘I’d do that now if I were you - there’s no harm and the waiting list probably isn’t short. Rory was only talking about it the other day how the waiting times haven’t improved much at all, despite the supposed changes throughout the whole system.’
‘Right, yes, well maybe I will get the ball rolling on it....’
‘You’ve nothing to lose. I do think though that this year has been so busy for you. Once that all calms down and you relax things might change on their own - not that I know anything.’ Holly said, passing Sallie over a cup of tea.
Sallie stirred her tea and felt better. Holly, like Xian, was wise and always seemed to know what to do and say. She didn’t sugar coat things and just say things were going to be alright - she was much more realistic than that, and she more gently gave her opinion formed from her experiences in life.
‘Nothing ever goes smoothly or as you think it will - that’s one of the best things I’ve learnt as I’ve got older. You think something will go one way, and then boom, something happens from completely out of the blue and you have to deal with it. In this case, it’s the not happening... the reality of dealing with the problems life throws up is horrible sometimes, especially when you’re desperate for something to go a certain way.’
‘Well I do have some good news,’ Sallie said and started to tell her more about the podcast and the wedding competition at the Orangery.
‘Another load of work for you though Sallie.’ Holly rolled her eyes and laughed.
‘You’re right, now I think about it, I’m hardly sitting around relaxing all day. Ben did say the same and I ignored him.’
‘No, you’re not, and with all that on your mind, relaxed isn’t something I would say you’ll be for the next few months.’
Sallie gazed out the window at the snow-covered garden. Holly, as usual, was right.
‘What about you, anything to report?’ Sallie looked over at her and asked.
‘Not really, my mum is still going with Drew - I didn’t see that coming and now they are totally an item.’
‘Who knew that would happen? I’m so pleased for her though.’ Sallie replied.
‘Me too. To be honest, I was shocked - especially meeting online! I mean, my mum!’
‘I’m told it’s the done thing these days. You should give it a go,’ Sallie laughed.
‘God no! That’s the last thing I want at the moment. Quite happy here with my quiet little life, thank you very much,’ Holly said, pouring a top up of tea into their cups.
‘I hear you. My life has definitely not been quiet since meeting Ben.’
‘You don’t need to tell me - I watched it all unfolding in front of my eyes. It wa
s like watching a Hollywood blockbuster,’ Holly giggled.
‘A blockbuster with many further instalments,’ Sallie said and laughed back at Holly.
Chapter 21
Sallie tucked her scarf further into her coat, shoved her hands into her pockets and tucked her chin into her scarf as she walked down the laneway on her way to meet Lucian. They were meeting to discuss the timeline up to the competition and the subsequent wedding. They needed to ascertain who would be doing what and when they needed to do various things. Sallie had set up a shared online drive for them to both use and everything was starting to come together.
‘It certainly is cold,’ she said to herself as, head down, she hurried along the pavement. As she crossed over the road she could just see the rooftop of the Orangery peeking out behind the long line of fisherman’s cottage glistening with snow. She still couldn’t believe it was hers. It didn’t yet feel real. It had been her dream for so long to have her own property, but it had always been so up in the air and out of reach that now it had finally happened she had to keep reminding herself that it was actually real. She still found it difficult to grasp that she was doing it and doing it on her own.
A lamp glowed through the steamed-up window of Lucian’s tiny little house - she could see him sitting at his desk on his computer. She pressed the bell at the front door, he opened the door and let her in.
‘Darling, how are you?’ He said and ushered her in out of the cold. She banged her boots on the doormat and started to take them off.
‘Good, it’s so cold though. Think we are in for another snowfall tonight if it stays like this all day,’ She observed, taking off her coat and hanging it over the bannister. They walked into the living room and the tiny study alcove at the side - a book was lying open on the chair.
‘What are you reading?’ Sallie asked.
‘Well darling, I wish I wasn’t - it’s called ‘How to be Lucky in Love’ and I can tell you, I’ve tried the formula out and it just doesn't work!’ He laughed out loud.
Winter at Pretty Beach Page 7
