A Pretty Beach Wish

by Polly Babbington

  Yuk. Sounds awful. Are you able to go in the water then?

  Nope. I’m walking around to the pub with this lot. James is going to open up and make us all a coffee.

  Okay. Well, don’t come back too early or you'll bump into you know who.

  Don’t worry, I’m following instructions.

  Just as Juliette was putting her phone back in the pocket of her dress the front doorbell rang loudly.

  What! Oh my god! This wasn’t part of the plan! Jack is early. How dare he!

  It was going to take Bella at least a few minutes to hobble down the stairs and the cake was just about to come out of the oven. Juliette stood rooted to the spot. Bella was all the way upstairs and clearly hadn’t heard the bell. What did she do? Did she wait? Did she call up to Bella?

  The insistent shrill ring on the doorbell went off again. There was no movement from upstairs. Bella clearly hadn’t heard that Jack had arrived.

  Breathe and calm. Breathe and calm.

  Juliette took a deep breath in, curled her hair around to the front, did a massive suck in of her stomach and strode much more confidently than she felt to the front door.

  She could see Jack through the half glass door. She knew it was him straight away. How strange that she could tell that. Strange that she still knew the shape of his shoulders and his profile, the way he held himself.

  Juliette approached the door, formed a small, polite, but not too welcoming smile on her face and flicked the door handle to the right.

  Jack stood there, obviously a bit taken aback that Juliette had come to the door alone. Juliette looked at him taking in the same wide shoulders, the same strong jawline, and the beautiful skin. The skin that was the very same as Bella’s. The skin she’d studied and loved and had wanted so desperately to be a part of all those years ago.

  Jack stood there and his eyes slowly took Juliette in. She couldn’t read him as he remained there looking at her. For a split second she felt that he was going to lean forward, perhaps kiss her on the cheek. She jumped back as if he was brandishing a knife.

  ‘Hello, Juliette. Thank you for agreeing to meet. I thought it would be easier for everyone all around.’ Not for me, you pig, Juliette thought.

  Juliette went to speak and then closed her mouth again. She almost thought that she was going to burst into tears. Oh my Christ, I must hold myself together. Breathe and calm.

  Years of stress and longing and wishing came to the front of her mind with Jack standing right there in front of her. Everything flooded into her mind. Years of studying the few photographs she had of him. Years of trying to explain to Bella that her daddy lived somewhere else and she wasn't sure where. Years of struggling on her own. Struggling on benefits. Struggling to make ends meet. Studying into the early hours to complete her degree.

  She was not going to cry.

  ‘Jack. Hello. I’ll go and get Bella,’ Juliette stated and hurried away from the door and called up the stairs. ‘Bella, are you ok?’

  ‘Coming, sorry I was on the loo!’ Bella called out, and Juliette could hear her hobbling across the floorboards of the bathroom on the first floor.

  ‘Lovely place you’ve got here,’ Jack called in from the front step.

  ‘Yes, thank you. We love it here.’ Years of being alone. Years of sadness. Years of heartbreak.

  The smell of the baking chocolate cake filled the air as Bella turned the corner on the first set of stairs and slowly and carefully made her way down. Years of picking up Bella on my own. Years of buying her shoes and changing her nappies.

  Juliette couldn’t even bear to look at Jack. She couldn’t trust herself; she would either burst into tears or hammer him hard with her fists. Either way both of those would look as if she still cared.

  Jack and Juliette both stood in silence, the air tense and awkward as they watched as Bella came down to the bottom of the stairs.

  Bella looked down the hallway. ‘Hi Jack, how are you? How was the fast train - I told you it was amazing, didn’t I? How beautiful is Pretty Beach?’ Bella blurted out and just as she looked up at Jack with a beaming smile, she lost her concentration and her injured foot slipped on the bottom step, and she slid down landing on the hallway floor her hands breaking her fall.

  ‘Oh no!’ Juliette yelled and rushed to the stairs.

  Jack came running in behind Juliette.

  ‘Oh my god, are you okay? I don’t believe it! Not your bad foot!’

  Juliette ran over to Bella with Jack not far behind her.

  ‘I’m fine. Oops. Where it’s getting better I’m actually forgetting that it's still delicate and that I’ve still got to be careful with the weight bearing.’

  ‘Darling. We really do need to look after you,’ Jack crooned, patting Bella on the back, and putting his arm around her. ‘You’ll give your poor mum a heart attack,’ Jack continued and looked towards Juliette as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth.

  Juliette grimaced and gritted her teeth. She felt her cheeks tighten, her jaw lock and every part of her body filled with anger. Any part of her who two minutes earlier had wanted to cry had slowly evaporated as Jack Fitzgeralde, bold as brass, crouched down beside her with his hand on her daughter and enthusiastically revelled in the role of caring dad.

  Chapter 54

  How did it go, then? The text from Daisy read.

  I’m not sure I can relay the details of it. It’s that painful.

  Oh no. I knew it! What did he do? Let me get the popcorn.

  It was fine. But firstly, he arrived early which threw me. And secondly, he is absolutely playing the father role.

  Right. We knew it, though...

  I know.

  So, what happened then?

  The doorbell went early and Bella was still upstairs, so I opened the door and thought I was going to burst into tears seeing him there on my doorstep.

  Nooooooo. Please tell me you did not cry.

  I held it together. Just.

  Thank goodness!

  But then Bella slipped on the bottom stairs. She’s fine. We were both standing by the door and I ran over to the stairs to see if she was okay and so did he! Stepped into the house bold as brass and then sat down and called her darling.

  What?

  Yep, and then said good job we’re here to look after you.

  Blimey, Sparkles. The man has more front than Sainsbury’s. Here to look after you? Oh yeah, what like he was there in the bedsit with the colic. I was there more than he was!

  Yep.

  So, what did you say?

  I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t. I was seething.

  What did Bella do?

  She didn’t seem to notice. To be fair she’d just slipped down the step with her foot...

  Hmm. This really all is a turn up for the books.

  Tell me about it.

  Juliette finished the text exchange with Daisy saying she’d pop over later, slammed the back gate shut, and got on her bike to ride down to the beach to meet Luke. He’d texted her to say that the beach was full of jellyfish from the storm, and a real sight, so they’d arranged to meet for a walk. Juliette got on her bike and pedalled furiously along heading for the swimming club hut. We're here to look after you. Grrr.

  Juliette locked up her bike and looked around for Luke. She walked up to him and they both looked out over the sand to see hundreds of moon jellyfish all over the beach and shoreline.

  ‘Woah! I’ve never seen anything like that before,’ Juliette exclaimed as she put her hands over her eyes and looked along the beach.

  ‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Luke said.

  ‘Absolutely. I thought you were exaggerating when you said there were hundreds of them.’

  ‘It’s more like thousands,’ Luke declared.

  ‘Are they dangerous?’

  ‘Apparently not. Bit of a sting on them, but overall harmless. That’s what everyone is telling me anyway, but who knows really?’

  ‘I wouldn’t want to find out thoug
h. A jellyfish sting is not up there with one of my goals for life.’

  ‘Nah. Anyway, how was it then? I assume as I didn’t get a message he behaved himself?’

  ‘Not sure what to call it. The steam has only just stopped coming out of my ears, to be honest,’ Juliette replied, looking out over the mounds of jellyfish washed up on the beach.

  ‘So, what did he do?’

  ‘He didn’t do anything terrible. More his attitude. He acted as if he’s always been around. He told Bella that it was good that we were there to look after her!’

  ‘He’s met her, what, four times in her life?’

  Juliette nodded and started to chuckle. ‘When you think about it, it’s actually comical.’

  ‘Better to laugh than to cry I suppose...’ Luke said, trailing off and putting his arm around Juliette’s shoulders.

  ‘Jeremy is not going to be happy about this,’ Juliette stated.

  ‘He’s not the only one.’

  Chapter 55

  Juliette stood in the Orangery with Luke and Maggie with her head to the side.

  ‘So, I need to get all this on here,’ she said, indicating with a wide sweep of her hands the shelves going around the Fernery, the rows of shelving behind the bar and then pointing down to the documents from Victoria on her tablet. ‘I need to get the feel and look of this room down on paper or down on the tablet. Once it’s actually all approved then I assume I'll have to take the props up to Lellery by car. I don’t think I’ll be able to send them easily.’

  Luke was reading the document. ‘Complicated. Surely it would be easier just to send a picture.’

  ‘Health and safety, apparently and it all has to be pre-approved. It has to be watertight according to Victoria.’

  ‘Same old story. You can’t move these days.’

  ‘Nope. I thought the same.’

  ‘By the looks of these sheets you just need to dissect the whole thing down to the last nail.’

  ‘Yeah, I do,’ Juliette replied.

  Half an hour later with Juliette sitting on the floor of the Fernery and the plans nearly complete Luke and Maggie came strolling back in from the laneway with ice creams.

  ‘Ooh what flavour have you got, Maggie? I haven’t seen that one before,’ Juliette said looking at Maggie’s chocolate ice cream with green specks.

  ‘Chocolate cookie with mint bombs. That’s what it said, didn’t it, Maggie,’ Luke said laughing at Maggie who was wearing a lot of the ice cream around her mouth.

  ‘Yes. I’ve had it before, though,’ Maggie said.

  ‘Have you? When? Did you have it with Daddy? He didn’t tell me you went for ice cream.’

  ‘No, not with him, silly,’ Maggie giggled.

  ‘Right. You had it when you stayed over with Megan last week, did you?’

  ‘No, I didn’t. I had it when I went out with Bella after we went to look at the jellyfish.’

  ‘Ahhh. Yes, sorry. She did tell me you’d had ice cream,’ Juliette replied nodding.

  Maggie continued to lick the ice cream. ‘That’s when she was telling me some more about her other daddy.’

  ‘Okay. She did, did she?’

  ‘Mummy. Does that mean I now have three daddies?’ Maggie said looking up at Juliette and Luke.

  Juliette stopped herself from sighing and smiled. ‘Nope. You know that, Maggie. You’ve got daddy and then we’ve got Luke in our family too, but Daddy is your daddy. Jack is Bella’s daddy.’

  ‘So, I’ve got Luke and Jeremy? And Bella has Jack and Jeremy?’

  Juliette looked at Luke over the top of Maggie’s head and tried to read the look on Luke’s face and replied to Maggie, ‘You have. You’re a very lucky little girl.’

  Luke stood there and said nothing, but Juliette could have sworn she saw a look of sadness pass across his eyes. Maybe the thing that had been in the back of her mind for weeks would change that.

  Chapter 56

  A few weeks later, Luke and Juliette were gardening while Maggie sat in the teepee playing games on her tablet. Juliette was knelt on the lawn weeding the bed with the old-fashioned roses, and Luke was standing beside her pulling masses of overgrown ivy from the old Victorian wall.

  ‘Did you see that ad for the special offer at The Pavillion down near Daisy’s? It came up on my Facebook feed the other day when I was on my break at work,’ Luke said, his arms full of ivy.

  ‘No, I didn’t. What did it say?’ Juliette said looking up from the flower bed.

  ‘Three-course set meal. It was a really good price. Fancy it?’ Luke asked, dumping the ivy into the pink wheelbarrow.

  Juliette sat back on her heels and took off her pink floral gardening gloves. ‘You know what? I actually do fancy it. It’s meant to be amazing. I think I am the only one at the surgery who hasn’t been. We could go there next time Maggie is at Jeremy’s. I’ll check the dates and then book it if you like.’

  Luke nodded. ‘If you’re sure? We haven’t been out for ages.’

  ‘Yeah, I’m sure. I fancy getting something nice on and strolling down there for dinner. We need to get out, treat ourselves.’

  ‘You’re on, then.’

  A few days later, Juliette booked the restaurant and when she’d finished making the booking online she’d suddenly had a thought about the funicular railway which was a five-minute walk from the Pavillion. Luke had repeatedly mentioned going to the railway, but every weekend they’d always seemed to run out of time and then not get around to visiting.

  Juliette had pulled up the website for the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway, looked at the opening times and the prices, and just as she was about to book some tickets a tab labelled ‘Private Train Rides’ caught her eye. She clicked on the tab and read all the way through the details - she had to admit to herself that the attractiveness of the ride up the side of the cliff with the whole carriage to themselves tripled.

  The private rides were only available to residents of Pretty Beach and the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway Society facilitated various special slots throughout the year. These events involved a ride up the side of the cliff, and it could also include a small gathering in the waiting room at the top with views out over the sea and down into Pretty Beach.

  Juliette had sat there reading it through and looking at the pictures in the gallery. It all looked delightful. She’d scrolled through the gallery full of pictures of past events. There was a picture of a christening with about twenty guests, a sixtieth birthday party where all the guests were dressed in white and what looked like some kind of art show with not many guests and a lot of paintings. The last one detailed a bride in a very pale gold dress and beautiful veil with the wedding taking place in the carriage as it stopped at the top.

  Juliette clicked on the button for further information on the price and for the private ride, and was shocked to find it wasn’t anywhere as extortionate as she had anticipated, and so she’d made an enquiry.

  A few days later, an email had come through from the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway Society whereby a woman named Barbara Barnutt had instructed her that they did have availability for the evening Juliette had booked for the Pavillion. Barbara Barnutt had informed Juliette that if she wanted further information Juliette could pop in any time and simply ask for Gary the Station Master who would be able to help her and give her the answers to any further questions.

  A few days later, on her way home from the surgery, Juliette had ridden over to the railway on her bike, walked into the reception at the bottom of the hill and asked for Gary. Gary, in a blue shirt with the Pretty Beach Funicular Railway logo, shorts and a matching conductor’s hat, had been most helpful and Juliette had come away with a few ideas.

  In the end she’d decided on Gary’s suggestion of having a bottle of champagne in the carriage on the way up, and setting up a table on the top of the cliff either outside on the lawn or inside the waiting room depending on the weather.

  Juliette’s mind had wandered further and further with ideas. She
really wanted to let Luke know how much she loved him and she thought that the Pavillion and then the ride would do just that.

  She’d emailed Gary and asked if it would be possible to fix up some fairy lights and an ice bucket with champagne, and Gary had come back saying that as long as she provided the champagne, their insurance would allow it and that they wouldn’t be able to use her fairy lights, but he would see what he could do.

  A day later, Gary had called her while she was at work and told her that he’d sorted the lights and the carriage would be just as she’d asked for which in her words had been ‘twinkly and sparkling’ and that she would need to drop the champagne off on the day.

  So, it was all set - a sparkly ride on a vintage railway, complete with pink champagne and a magnificent view out over Pretty Beach. The only other thing left to do was organise the last bit of the surprise.

  Chapter 57

  Juliette held her hand up to shade her eyes from the sun, stood on the walkway above the beach, and looked all the way along at the throngs of people lazing around in the sunshine. The lovely weather after a few days of rain had brought lots of the locals out of the woodwork to enjoy an afternoon of lovely Pretty Beach weather.

  Juliette looked around for a quiet spot on the sand and decided that she’d need to walk all the way along away from the main beach to avoid bumping into anyone she knew. She didn't want to have to stop and say hello to anyone, and certainly didn’t want to have to answer any enquiries into how Bella was doing, however kindly intended. She wanted a couple of hours to herself to bask in the warm weather and let the sun warm her bones.

  She pulled her sunhat further down on her head and popped her sunglasses on, hoping she wouldn’t see anyone she knew. She walked along looking out to sea and thought about how the last few weeks had gone since she’d got her energy back. Although it pained her heart, Juliette finally seemed to be accepting what had happened to Bella. She had continued to be less tired, she’d made it up to Luke, had been ensuring she made him feel how much she appreciated him, and she was fully back to work.