by Holly Martin
As she wrestled Rocky under control, Jamie came up to her with a struggling Sirius in his arms and inclined his head to the other side of the green. There was Felicity getting in her car and Melody felt her mouth fall open as she watched her drive away.
‘I think that’s the end of the first lesson,’ Jamie laughed.
‘I don’t think there will be a second,’ Melody said. Clearly Felicity’s zen had got up and gone too.
Jamie placed a kiss on Sirius’s head and the puppy stilled in its struggling. She smiled at how sweet Jamie was.
‘Come on, let’s get these puppies home before the sandcastle competition this afternoon.’
They went back inside and grabbed their things and then stepped outside into the warm sunshine. The poor spaniel owner was still trying to chase a delirious Delilah around the village green.
Jamie slipped a hand into hers and she smiled up at him. She had found a new peace since spending the night making love to him. He hadn’t said that he loved her, but she knew that he cared for her a great deal. The connection they had shared went way beyond just great sex. She felt suddenly so safe with him now. He wasn’t going to leave. All of their crappy dates, her bumbling disasters and he was still here, holding her hand, smiling at her with complete adoration. He didn’t seem to care about any of that. And here they were, after another disaster of a date this morning at the puppy class, and he was smiling and laughing about it all. She had told Jamie he needed to relax about dating her, but she needed to start taking some of her own advice too.
20
Jamie looked around at the little mounds of sand that were placed the length of Sunshine Beach. Little teams; couples, families, friends, were already starting to gather, claiming their little mound of sand. He’d taken part in the Great Sandcastle competition every year since he was a child – before he was old enough to take part in the main event, the sculpture competition – and to this day he’d never won. Something his brothers always gave him great abuse over as he was the artist of the family. Even more so two years before when Leo had won, he had taken great pleasure in lauding it over him for months. But sand was such a hard substance to sculpt into anything impressive. It was volatile and fragile and one gust of wind would destroy hours of hard work. Give him clay to work with any day, it was much more reliable.
This year, though, he felt sure he would win. He had Melody on his side. He felt the luckiest man alive to have her in his life. Maybe she would bring him luck in the competition too. He smiled as she tripped over one of the buckets they’d bought for the competition. God, he loved her so much.
He hadn’t told her that though. He’d heard her whisper it in the shower that morning and his own declarations of love had got stuck in his throat as he remembered the last time he had uttered those fateful words and Polly’s reaction to them. He had kissed Melody instead, hoping to show her how he felt through his actions rather than words.
‘How do we play this?’ Melody said seriously, bending to pick up the sand and letting it fall through her fingers. He was glad she was taking it seriously; he couldn’t allow Leo to win again.
‘There aren’t many rules. It has to be a castle but other than that we can tick that box any way we see fit.’
‘So turrets and towers and moats and a moveable drawbridge,’ Melody said, clearly getting into it.
‘Yes, we can use props and shells and flags or whatever else we want to embellish our castle, that part is up to us.’
‘And what do we win when we win?’
‘When. I like your conviction. The knowledge that we’re better than Leo, also free ice cream from Sprinkles.’
‘Well that seems like a prize worth fighting for,’ Melody giggled and he wrapped his arm round her shoulders and kissed her head.
She seemed so much more relaxed today, as if making love to him the night before had released all those fears and tensions she had been holding onto. Hell, if making love to her could make her this happy, he would gladly oblige her and make love to her every day.
‘It looks like Leo has a plan,’ Melody said.
Jamie looked over at his brother and smiled as he saw him squatting down in front of Elliot, Isla bending over to listen to this little family pep talk. Leo was such an unlikely father figure – Jamie had never thought that his brother would settle down and have a family of his own. But he had stepped into this role of godfather and had not only embraced it, but seemed so happy because of it. He was relaxed, he smiled a lot and he was such a natural with Elliot. He just needed to get his act together with Isla and then the little family would be complete. It was quite obvious she was besotted with him, he must see that.
He glanced over at Aidan, whose life was already complete, with his wonderful fiancée and a baby on the way. There was no pep talk or plan here. They were just standing quietly next to each, arm in arm, basking in the love they had for each other. They obviously didn’t care about winning, they were just here to enjoy being with one another. Aidan stroked his hand across her stomach as he whispered something to her and Jamie couldn’t stop the grin from spreading on his face.
He turned and looked at Emily and her lovely family. Stanley was receiving a lecture from Marigold about how to make the perfect sandcastle. Emily was sitting down, watching the two of them fondly as she stroked across her belly.
Suddenly Jamie could see his future so clearly, marriage, children of his own with the woman standing by his side. He had been so fearful of relationships for too many years, he had been hurt so much by Polly Lucas that he had shied away from anything serious and he had missed out on something beautiful and wonderful with Melody. But not any more.
The mayor stepped up to the podium, and started thanking people for coming, officially opening the Great Sculptures in the Sand Festival with the Great Sandcastle competition. He explained the rules, or rather the lack of them, and then started the countdown for the beginning of the competition. The crowds and competitors joined in as the last few stragglers quickly made their way to the empty mounds of sand.
An air horn pierced the air, announcing the competition had started and they now had thirty minutes to produce a sandcastle masterpiece.
‘I think we should use this mound as our base,’ Melody said. ‘We’ll dig a moat around it and then we can start adding our turrets on top of this mound.’
‘Sounds good.’
They picked up their brightly coloured spades and started digging, starting in the same spot and working away from each other, creating a moat around the outside of the mound until they met again on the other side.
‘Another round?’ Jamie said and Melody nodded as they went back over the moat, making it extra deep and wide, patting the sides to keep it in place.
‘Twenty minutes!’ the mayor announced over the loudspeaker.
‘Crap,’ Jamie said.
‘We got this,’ Melody reassured. ‘Let’s take some of this sand off the top for the towers and then use the rest of the mound to make the hill which the castle will sit on.’
He nodded and started filling up the buckets and making a smaller mound of sand to use in a few minutes’ time, while Melody started patting the side of the larger mound trying to make a hill with a flat top for the castle. He joined her and they soon had an impressive hill to build the castle on.
‘Fifteen minutes!’
They desperately filled the three buckets and placed them carefully in towers all around the top of the hill before going back to fill them up and add more towers. Melody started shaping the tops of some of the towers into pointy spires as Jamie added a few more towers to the middle of the castle. It was starting to look quite impressive. He didn’t dare look over at Leo’s – he was exceptionally talented at stuff like this and with Isla helping him and her experience as a window dresser, theirs was bound to be good this year.
They started adding flags, shells for windows and then Melody started cutting a hole in the side of the castle for the drawbridge.
&nbs
p; They patted and shaped and carved and Jamie knew that it looked good.
‘Five minutes!’
‘We need to fill the moat,’ Melody suddenly said.
Jamie shook his head. ‘It will just sink into the sand, it’s not wet enough.’
But she had already grabbed the bucket and was just about to make a run for the sea when her foot caught in the well-tended moat. She went flying into the castle, landing on her stomach smack bang in the middle of the hill, flattening the castle completely. Jamie stared at her in shock, at the towers that were no more than misshapen lumps, the hill that was definitely more of a valley now and the flags that were fluttering across the beach as they had been freed from their structure.
Melody quickly pushed herself up onto her knees and looked in horror at the devastation that she had caused.
Then something wonderful happened.
A big smile spread on her face and that smile turned into a huge laugh that rumbled through her whole body and came out so loud and heartfelt, he couldn’t help but join in. It burst from him so loudly that other people even looked around. The castle was completely ruined and he didn’t even care. He stepped over the debris and offered out his hand to help her up. She was laughing so much she could barely stand and when he pulled her to her feet she held her stomach helplessly as the laughter bubbled over her. This was a new side to her and he absolutely loved it.
‘Do you think that we might still win?’ Melody giggled, when she could speak again.
‘We might still have a chance,’ Jamie chuckled.
‘One minute!’ the mayor announced over the speakerphone.
Jamie smoothed down the mound as much as he could, grabbed a stick and, in the last thirty seconds, he drew the best goddamned picture of a castle he had ever drawn.
Melody burst out laughing and, as the air horn sounded to end the competition, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her hard. She giggled against his lips and then returned the kiss.
‘Well, this is a new approach.’ Leo interrupted their embrace as he came to study their impromptu sculpture.
Jamie pulled away from the kiss, flinging an arm around Melody’s shoulders.
‘Why bother with all that silly sculpture stuff when I can just draw what I want?’ Jamie shrugged.
He glanced across at his brother’s sandcastle and groaned. Leo and his little adopted family had produced an amazing sand dragon, which miraculously had teeth and scales and massive claws. The man was a genius when it came to stuff like this – quite why he had never explored it as a career Jamie didn’t know.
‘It’s supposed to be a castle,’ Jamie said.
‘There’s a castle there.’
Jamie looked closer and saw that there was a tiny castle next to the dragon, so they had fulfilled that brief. It was down to the competitors to decide what kind of extras they wanted to add to the castle; some had even added little Lego men and horses in the past.
‘Our castle has charm.’ Melody squeezed Jamie.
‘What happened?’ Tori said as she came over to investigate.
‘I happened,’ Melody laughed. ‘And these feet which are obviously way too big for me.’
Jamie smiled at her fondly, so happy that she could finally laugh at herself.
The judges started walking around all the different sandcastles, making notes on their clipboards.
‘Do you think we should wait to see if the judges award ours the winner?’ Melody giggled.
‘Nah, let’s give somebody else a chance. I have a much better use of our time.’ He gave Melody a dark look which she quickly interpreted. She grabbed his hand and they ran off the beach, giggling and kissing like teenagers.
‘Get a room,’ Leo shouted after them.
‘We intend to,’ Jamie called back and it couldn’t happen fast enough.
Jamie watched the voile bedroom curtains blowing gently in the summer breeze. The sunlight lay in ribbons of gold across the room, causing Melody’s hair to glitter and shine. He ran his fingers through it and she snuggled into him tighter as she lay on his chest.
‘Do you see children in your future?’ Jamie asked.
Melody propped her head up on her hand so she could look at him. ‘Is this your way of telling me you might be pregnant?’
He laughed.
She put her head back down and he thought that might be the end of the conversation. It was way too soon in their relationship to be thinking about that, it was ridiculous to even bring it up. It was just that seeing his brothers and sister so happy with their little families had made him think about his future too.
‘I always thought that I would have children someday, in that kind of vague way when that day would probably never come,’ Melody said. ‘I think, since Isla has taken custody of Elliot, that has changed. Having a child is a massive commitment. It’s not just about feeding them, clothing them, putting a roof over their heads – which comes with its own financial worries. It’s developing their minds, so they are constantly learning, seeking answers, and helping to provide those answers. It’s showing them the world and helping them to find their place in it. It’s about educating them about different cultures, beliefs, traditions. It’s keeping them safe without making them fearful. It’s teaching them right from wrong. It’s showing them that it’s OK to be different or to like different things. And spending time with Elliot over the last year, I want that now. I really do. But I wouldn’t want to do it alone. I know there are many single parents out there who do an amazing job, Isla is one of them. But no one ever sets out to be a single parent, taking on all those decisions and that huge responsibility on their own. I know children don’t always come as planned, and if I was to get pregnant now I would absolutely do my best to raise it. But in an ideal world, children would come when I was happily married to a wonderful man, who would share the load with me.’
‘I think choosing the right person to have children with is very important, someone who shares your beliefs and attitudes,’ Jamie said.
She nodded.
They were silent for a while and then she propped her head back up to look at him. ‘I think you’d make a fantastic dad. I see how you are with Marigold and Elliot and you have such a lovely way with them. And you have this endless patience; you don’t seem to get fazed by anything. That is a wonderful quality to have.’
He smiled. He suddenly felt like they were on the same page. Obviously not now, and probably not for another year or two, but it felt like they both wanted the same thing.
‘I’ve always wanted a big family,’ Jamie said. ‘Being one of four children was a great thing, there was always someone to talk to or play with. Meal times were noisy and chaotic and I wouldn’t change it for the world.’
‘I kind of thought that I’d have a few children too. I was one of three and I loved having a brother and sister to share my childhood with.’
He rolled on top of her and she let out a little squeal of protest at this sudden movement.
‘So it seems we have ourselves a plan. When I propose to you, it needs to be somewhere private so we can have lots of celebratory sex after. We’ll probably get married on the beach as we both love it so much, we can have amazing sandcastles as our wedding decorations.’
She giggled at this.
‘And then we’ll have fifteen children and live happily ever after.’
She grinned as she stroked his face. ‘That sounds pretty perfect to me.’
Melody left her house later that evening just as the sun was leaving damson and candyfloss trails across the sky. It was a beautiful night and she couldn’t help the huge smile that was spread across her face.
Her eyes went down the beach, following the line of golden sand as it met the turquoise waves. The sandcastles had been razed to the ground hours before and temporary flooring was being laid in the sand to give a firmer ground for the sculptures. Some sculptures, wrapped and covered to prevent prying eyes from seeing them, had already arrived on the beach and Melody kne
w more would appear overnight, although the bulk of them would be placed on the beach the following day before the big reveal tomorrow evening. She was going to place hers on the beach tomorrow lunch time and she couldn’t wait to see Jamie’s.
She walked up the hill towards Jamie’s house, looking forward to a lovely evening. She was wearing a Cadbury’s purple dress that Jamie had once said how much he loved, and she’d even had time to plait and curl her hair. It was going to be a perfect night.
After spending the afternoon in bed with Jamie, he had gone back to the studio to finish his sculpture for the Sculptures in the Sand Festival the following day and she had gone home to check in on Rocky and get ready for that evening. Jamie was taking her to her favourite restaurant and she was optimistic that, in someone else’s hands, they might even have a disaster-free night.
She knocked on his door and when he opened it, she saw he looked happy and relaxed in just a shirt and jeans. She was glad he didn’t feel like he had to wear a suit for her any more, she wanted him to be comfortable. His shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, showing tanned, muscular forearms. It was an odd part of his body to focus on, but she loved his arms, so strong and safe.
She looked up and could see his whole face had lit up at seeing her.
‘God, I love that dress,’ Jamie said.
‘I wore it because you said you liked it. You said the colour really suited me,’ Melody said as he stepped back to let her in.
He laughed and closed the door behind her. ‘Now that we’re sort of dating, I have a confession to make.’
She cringed a little at the words ‘sort of’ but decided to ignore it. ‘You do?’
He kissed her on the cheek as a greeting. ‘It was never the colour that I liked about this dress.’
‘You don’t like purple?’
‘The colour is fine, but what I loved about this dress was that it’s a halter neck. It always looks like the only thing that’s holding it up is this little button at the back of your neck. Whenever you would wear it, I would often fantasise about undoing that single button and then your whole dress just sliding off.’