Coming Home to Maple Cottage: The perfect, cosy, feel-good romance

by Holly Martin

  Isla was pleased he asked that question, it was something she wanted to know herself.

  Sadie paused in tapping the cigarette box on the table. ‘I needed the money,’ she said, bluntly.

  ‘Did you know about Matthew’s death?’

  Sadie shook her head and Isla saw a glimmer of remorse there. ‘Not until recently. I didn’t know anyone was looking for me, why would they? When I left foster care at eighteen I think everyone was glad to see the back of me. I drifted round the country for the next few years, I never tied myself to anywhere, never put down roots or made any friends. I bet Matthew was glad to see the back of me too. I couldn’t do the girlfriend thing and I definitely couldn’t do the mother thing. He picked the wrong girl for that.’

  ‘Where did you go?’ Thomas asked.

  ‘Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, India. I travelled all over. I lived hand to mouth. Working in a bar for a few nights before moving on to the next place where I might pick up some cleaning work. I’ve hitchhiked, I’ve slept on beaches or benches. I’ve slept in filthy hostels, or sometimes I’ve been lucky enough to be able to afford a beach hut or cabana for the night. It’s no way to live, is it, never knowing if you’re going to be eating that night or not?’

  ‘I suppose not,’ Thomas said.

  ‘I’ve met someone. Jim. We’ve talked about getting a house. He seems nice, most of the time, and I’d quite like to stand still for a while. And then unbelievably I actually bumped into someone from Sandcastle Bay, in a bar in Goa, of all places. Sally Fitzpatrick. I think she was screwing around with Leo Jackson for a while, well she was when I was there…’

  Isla looked at Leo. ‘Ex-girlfriend?’ she whispered.

  ‘Hardly,’ he muttered.

  ‘…Anyway, she told me about Matthew. It was such a shock. I was gutted for him.’

  ‘And for the people he left behind?’ Thomas said, meaningfully. Had Sadie considered for one second what it would be like for Elliot to lose the only parent he’d ever known?

  ‘Yes, I imagine he was sorely missed,’ Sadie said, a trace of bitterness in her voice, probably because no one would ever have missed her when she was gone, at least in her mind.

  ‘It’s been hard, for all of them,’ Thomas said. ‘But for Isla especially, raising Elliot while dealing with her own grief and his.’

  Sadie looked up from the table. ‘Are you friendly with Isla?’

  Crap. Isla didn’t need Sadie to worry about the possible connections between Thomas and Leo and herself.

  ‘No, I’m just telling you what anyone in the village would tell you, it hasn’t been easy. I barely know the woman. She’s not exactly in my social circles, I’m a bit old for that,’ Thomas said.

  ‘Well, it got me thinking. Of all the bars in the world, Sally happens to walk into the one where I’m working. Maybe it was fate. We needed the cash and, with Matthew dead, there was the house here to think about. Maybe this was the break we needed. There’s a house we’ve seen, not far from the beach in Goa, has its own swimming pool. In English money, it’s only about a hundred and fifty thousand. With the sale from Matthew’s house, that would pay for everything, pay all Jim’s debts. Jim wants to start his own diving school so that would pay for that too. I really didn’t want to come back at all, I have no good memories of this country, no place to call home, but Jim persuaded me it would be for the best, we can start over. We managed to scrape together the money for my plane ticket and, well, here I am.’

  Isla couldn’t help thinking that Jim sounded like a bit of an arse, pushing his girlfriend to do something she didn’t want to do. And why did she have a suspicion that Jim would probably do a runner as soon as Sadie came back with the cash?

  ‘And what of Elliot in all of this?’ Thomas asked.

  Sadie flashed him a glare.

  ‘I’m just asking what the judge will ask. If this goes to court, the judge will consider everything, including that selling Isla’s home would effectively make Isla and Elliot homeless.’

  ‘They have family, friends, people who love them, I’m sure they will be just fine,’ Sadie said, bitterly.

  ‘Christ, she wants everything,’ Isla whispered.

  ‘She doesn’t want Elliot, though,’ Leo said. ‘We can work something out with the house and the money, the most important thing is that she doesn’t get Elliot.’

  Isla nodded her agreement, though that still didn’t stop her worrying. It was clear Sadie was not going to settle for a few thousand pounds and if Isla was to sell the house to pay her off, where would she and Elliot live then?

  Sadie tapped her cigarette box again and looked at her watch as if she would rather be anywhere but there.

  ‘What’s the minimum you’d settle for?’ Thomas asked.

  ‘As much as I can possibly get.’

  ‘Realistically?’

  Sadie sighed. ‘Right now, I’d settle for a few thousand so I can get back to Goa. Coming here was a mistake.’

  Thomas didn’t say anything for a while then he stood up. ‘Let me go and get some drinks. Coffee OK?’

  ‘Yes, and if you want to put a shot of something stronger in it, I wouldn’t mind.’

  Isla watched as Thomas headed over to the bar and placed an order for two coffees, one of them Irish.

  The barman moved away to make the order.

  ‘Well, I think that’s positive,’ Thomas whispered into the top of the phone. ‘She’d probably take an out-of-court settlement by the sounds of it.’

  The barman looked over. ‘Sorry sir, did you say something?’

  ‘No, just… thinking out loud.’

  The barman turned away and the coffee machine hissed and billowed with steam.

  ‘Anyone else think this Jim sounds like a douche?’ Thomas said.

  The barman looked over again and Isla giggled.

  As Thomas came back to the table carrying the drinks, Isla saw Karie come over and join them. He shook her hand, made polite introductions, offered to get Karie a coffee which she declined, and then Karie sat down opposite Sadie. This was obviously not in his plan at all as Isla saw him hesitate before he sat down next to Sadie. Now they had an excellent view of Karie but not of Sadie. Thomas seemed to angle his body a little to try to capture Sadie on the camera but all he succeeded in doing was showing them a close-up of a nearby plant.

  Isla stifled a giggle. Well, if nothing else, they’d be able to hear them. Except the phone had now shifted a little and was bumping up against a pen or something else in Thomas’s pocket. Every time he moved, even slightly, the pen rattled against the phone and it seemed that Thomas’s heart was beating so loudly that Isla caught only a few snatched words from Karie and the reason for her visit.

  Leo shook his head fondly. Poor Thomas, this clearly hadn’t been what he’d planned at all.

  Thomas visibly shifted in his seat and the phone slipped sideways in his shirt pocket so for a few seconds the plant was at a severe angle before the phone slipped completely inside the pocket. All they were left with was a close-up of the blue stitching and material of the shirt pocket and the bottom of the pen.

  Leo smiled.

  ‘This surveillance is going well,’ Isla whispered.

  ‘I don’t think Thomas is cut out to be a spy,’ Leo said.

  The audio was even more muffled now. Coupled with the sound of Thomas’s heartbeat, material shifting against the speakers of the phone, the phone still moving against the pen and muted voices beyond the shirt, they could barely hear anything.

  Isla distinctly heard the word Elliot and it sounded like it had come from Karie. She quickly grabbed Leo’s hand, all humour now gone, but try as she might she couldn’t make out what Karie and Sadie were saying. The voices went back and forth but apart from the odd word it was impossible to hear how the conversation was going.

  ‘Do you have any interest in the boy?’ Thomas said, his voice so much louder than normal.

  Isla held her breath.

  ‘No,’ Sadie s
aid, clear as day, and Isla nearly sagged with relief.

  Then Karie said something else which Isla couldn’t hear.

  ‘I agree,’ Thomas said. ‘If the boy isn’t a factor, sign the form giving away your parental responsibility and then we can concentrate on the house without any other annoyances getting in the way.’

  Isla didn’t like that Thomas had just called Elliot an annoyance but she knew he was only saying that to persuade Sadie that her son was a thing to be got rid of. If it worked, Thomas could call Elliot whatever he liked.

  There was silence while Sadie presumably thought about what he was saying.

  ‘I think if the ownership of the house goes to court, the judge will look more favourably on your case if you were not to stand in the way of Elliot’s adoption. It makes the case a lot less complicated too,’ Thomas said.

  There were a few more mumbles from Sadie and Karie.

  ‘OK, let me just check my diary,’ Thomas said and the phone was suddenly pulled from his pocket. They had a brief few seconds of seeing Karie, then he must have pressed a button that switched their view to the front-facing camera. They saw Thomas’s confused face as he tried to work out how to continue with the phone call and bring up his calendar at the same time, then the phone call ended abruptly. He had probably accidentally pressed the call end button.

  Isla looked at Leo. ‘That went well.’

  ‘Well, one thing came out of it. We know for a fact that Sadie has no interest in Elliot.’

  Isla smiled, cautiously. ‘I know, that’s wonderful. I mean, I feel really bad for Elliot that his mum wants nothing to do with him, but I’m also so relieved and happy. I don’t want her in his life.’

  ‘Don’t feel bad. Elliot has you. He’s the luckiest little boy in the world to have you in his life, he doesn’t need Sadie adding pain and confusion to it. If he never sees her again that will be fine by me,’ Leo said.

  ‘I agree. Do you think she signed the paperwork?’

  ‘Hopefully, if Karie and Thomas are on her case to do it, she might. But I think maybe we can have a small glass of wine to celebrate this evening.’

  Isla suddenly remembered. ‘Yes, at the Golden Bridge. What did Jamie say to you about it?’

  ‘Just that they were meeting friends and family for dinner tonight and he wanted me there. I suppose I better dig out my suit and tie, the Golden Bridge is a bit fancy.’

  Isla laughed. ‘Being a mum to a five-year-old, there isn’t much cause for fancy dresses and glamorous occasions, but I’m sure I have something semi-smart in my wardrobe.’ She felt the smile fall off her face. ‘At my house.’

  ‘I’ll go and grab something,’ Leo said, instinctively knowing that Isla wouldn’t want to go back to her house just yet in case she ran into Sadie again. ‘I’ll just go and be suitably scared of Elliot’s room and then I’ll pop out.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  Leo picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed the button, putting on a scary voice. ‘Elliot, I’m coming.’

  Upstairs, Elliot squealed with delight and she heard Luke join in with the excitement.

  Leo left the kitchen and a few moments later she heard his high-pitched and over-the-top scream as he hammed it up for Elliot’s benefit, followed by a thunder of feet as he ran back down the stairs.

  He grinned as he came back into the kitchen and she could hear Elliot’s laughter from upstairs. ‘I won’t be long.’

  He gave her a brief kiss on the mouth and left.

  She smiled as she watched him go. Elliot was the luckiest boy in the world to have Leo in his life as well. And she knew she was pretty damned lucky to have him too.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Isla had decided to have a bubble bath in preparation for her glamorous evening. Leo had a big hot-tub-style bath with jets and she had been dying to try it out for some time. She needed this distraction tonight – the bath, going out, celebrating with Melody. Sitting at home gave her too much time to think and worry. Of course, the bath hadn’t been as relaxing as Isla had hoped for as Elliot had insisted on joining her too and a T-rex, a rubber rocket, a water pistol and a few Lego men had also made it into the bath tub with them, many of them floating up her end as she lay in the warm water.

  ‘This bath is way more fun than ours,’ Elliot said as he pressed the button for the jets for the umpteenth time. ‘When you get married and we live here, we can go in this bath every day.’

  ‘That would be cool, but sometimes if you do something that’s fun every day, then it stops becoming fun,’ Isla said.

  Elliot wrinkled up his nose as if he didn’t understand.

  ‘Don’t listen to her, buddy,’ Leo said, walking into the bathroom. ‘There are some things I could do every single day and never ever get bored of it.’

  ‘Like what?’ Elliot said.

  Leo grabbed the little bathrobe he had bought for Elliot off the back of the door and held it out for him. Elliot stepped up onto the side of the bath and held out his arms as if he was a king about to be dressed.

  Leo flashed Isla a glance that was dark and laced with intent. ‘Like hugging Isla. I could do that all day, every day, and it’d never be enough.’

  Isla smirked, knowing full well he wasn’t talking about hugging.

  Leo wrapped the robe around him, then scooped Elliot up and threw him over his shoulder.

  ‘I like hugging Isla too,’ Elliot said, as he hung upside down.

  ‘Let’s get you dressed and then you can give Isla a big hug before you go off to Marigold’s shortly,’ Leo said. He turned back to Isla before he left. ‘Your dress is on the bed and we have about half an hour before we have to leave.’

  ‘I’ll be ready.’

  Leo left her alone in the bathroom and she relished in the quiet for a few moments, the bubbles trickling through her toes, before she got out, patted herself dry and pulled on her robe.

  She paused for a second outside the bathroom, wondering which bed Leo had meant. She peered round the door of Leo’s bedroom and her heart leapt when she spotted a gold dress on the bed. Mainly because it wasn’t hers. She stepped closer and saw it was a fifties-style gown with a flared skirt. The bodice and shoulders were almost completely covered gold sequins which faded out into the lower part of the dress. It was beautiful and entirely unlike anything else she owned. There was even a pair of shoes to match. Leo had bought this for her. God, she loved this man.

  She quickly got dried and was just pulling it on when he walked into the room.

  He was wearing a suit and her words disappeared in her throat as she stared at him. He looked divine, the suit jacket moulded to his broad shoulders. He was quite simply the sexiest man she had ever seen.

  ‘Does it fit OK?’ he asked.

  ‘I… I haven’t zipped it up yet.’

  ‘Here, let me,’ he said, moving behind her, his fingers brushing against her bare back as he slowly zipped her up. His touch made goosebumps erupt across her body.

  He looked at her in the mirror, his hands on her shoulders. ‘You look beautiful.’

  ‘Thank you for this,’ Isla said, staring at their reflection. ‘You didn’t have to buy me a dress, I have lots of semi-smart things I could have worn.’

  ‘You said you never have a reason to wear fancy dresses or enjoy glamorous occasions. I thought we should make the most of tonight.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  He kissed her shoulder and then whispered in her ear. ‘Maybe you’ll let me take it off you one day.’

  She watched the blush spread across her cheeks. God, she really wanted that. Right now she had no idea why she was holding back from that.

  ‘Marigold’s here,’ Elliot yelled up the stairs.

  She turned round to face Leo and kissed him on the lips. ‘Maybe I’ll let you take it off tonight.’

  He stared at her and she stepped out of his arms and wandered downstairs to say goodbye to Elliot.

  ‘Wow, Isla, you look really pretty,’ Elliot said when he saw
her.

  She hugged him. ‘Thank you beautiful boy, you have a good night with Marigold.’

  There was a knock on the door and Isla grabbed Elliot’s rucksack and opened it to find Stanley and Marigold on the doorstep.

  ‘Hi Isla, you look nice,’ Stanley said.

  ‘You look like a princess,’ Marigold said, stepping forward and feeling the dress.

  ‘Thank you. Do you two have any idea what tonight’s about?’ Isla asked, hoping Stanley might have some insight.

  ‘No clue. Emily just said we’re having Elliot. It’s fine by me, it keeps Marigold entertained,’ Stanley said.

  ‘Emily said Leo’s going to get lucky tonight,’ Marigold said.

  Isla laughed. ‘Did she?’

  Stanley cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Shall we go?’

  ‘What’s Leo going to be lucky at?’ Elliot asked.

  ‘He’s, um…’ Stanley was obviously struggling.

  ‘I’m just lucky to be spending the night with such a beautiful woman,’ Leo said, appearing behind Isla. He swept Elliot up in his arms and gave him a big hug. ‘See you tomorrow buddy, love you.’

  ‘Goodnight Leo, love you too.’

  Isla stared at them, feeling like her heart might burst.

  Leo passed him to Isla and she hugged him tight too.

  ‘Love you,’ Isla said and she smiled when Elliot squeezed her a little bit tighter.

  She placed him down and he immediately took Marigold’s hand and they ran out to the car, closely followed by Luke.

  Stanley cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Um, have a good night.’

  Isla smirked and watched him go.

  ‘Right, shall we head off?’ Leo said as the car drove away.

  She looked at him and something passed between them. A shiver of excitement at what the evening would hold slid down her spine.

  She nodded.

  He held out her coat for her and she relished in his brief gentle touch as his fingers grazed her neck and then he escorted her out to his car.

  The chemistry sparked in the air between them. Truth be told, it had been sparking between them for years, but now it seemed to have turned into an explosive firework. They didn’t talk on the short drive to the restaurant but as the car moved along the coastal road, capturing the moon sparkling over the waves, Leo put his hand on the inside of her knee, stroking his fingers round the crease at the back of her leg.