Christmas at Mistletoe Cove: A heartwarming, feel good Christmas romance to fall in love with

by Holly Martin

  Eden watched Clare carefully. She wouldn’t be surprised for one minute if Dougie had told her to say all of that so that Eden would go that night. He had left the house for a run before Eden had left for work; maybe he’d gone down to see Clare then and told her all this rubbish to tell Eden. He was up to something, she was sure of it.

  Clare shrugged. ‘I know you don’t believe me but if you’re going down there, what have you got to lose? Just promise me you’ll be careful.’

  ‘I will.’

  ‘And wish for something amazing. If you can get Ben Affleck to come to the café I’d love you forever.’

  Eden laughed. ‘OK, deal.’

  Chapter Ten

  Eden stomped her feet and blew into her hands, pulling her hat down tighter onto her head. She looked across the meadow to see a golden orb of light was travelling quickly towards her. As it got closer she realised it was Dougie carrying a torch.

  ‘Hello beautiful.’ He bent and kissed her on the cheek. ‘I’ve lit a fire on the beach so you’ll soon be warm.’

  He slung an arm round her shoulders and started guiding her back across the meadow, using the torch to light their way. Even though it was pitch black either side of the torch beam, she felt so completely safe in his arms.

  ‘I know you talked to Clare,’ Eden said as they walked up the hill.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘About the magic of Mistletoe Cove, all that rubbish about her gran’s wishes coming true. I know you told her to say all that to get me to come with you tonight.’

  ‘I haven’t spoken to Clare. The legend of the wishing well at Mistletoe Cove is true and I knew you’d doubt it so I did some research into it.’

  He dug his phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons and then passed it to her. She could see it was a page on Wikipedia titled ‘Mistletoe Cove, Hope Island’. It was a really long article and she wasn’t able to properly read the tiny print as they walked along but there was a huge section about the wishing well and the legend associated with it, giving some examples of when bizarre wishes had come true.

  ‘Clare said that the islanders agreed they would never tell anyone about the magical powers of the wishing well, how then is it on Wikipedia?’ Eden said, as she passed the phone back to him. She didn’t believe any of this. There was no such thing as magic.

  ‘You know what the islanders are like, they’ve never been able to keep a secret. Come on, watch your step, the cave entrance is just ahead.’ He shone the torch and, hidden behind a large rock, she could see the darkness of the cave beyond. Except it didn’t look particularly dark – golden shadows of light flickered from within.

  She looked at Dougie in confusion. Mistletoe Cove was not known for its electrical supply.

  ‘It’s magic.’

  She laughed.

  ‘I’ll go first,’ Dougie said. He passed her the torch and then lowered himself into the cave. ‘OK!’ he called up to her.

  She tucked the torch into her pocket and then lowered herself into the entrance. Immediately she felt his arms wrap around her legs and let go of the edge of the hole. He lowered her slightly so her face was level with his. She didn’t need help getting in and out of the cave and he knew that; they’d done it hundreds of times as kids.

  She rested her hands on his shoulders as he held her there against him.

  ‘Don’t get any ideas,’ Eden said.

  ‘I have lots of ideas,’ Dougie said, as he leaned forward slightly and placed a tiny kiss on her nose. He was always doing something like this, hugging her, kissing her cheek, kissing her forehead. In her rose-tinted world she liked to imagine it was because he had feelings for her too, but this had long become the norm.

  He lowered her to the floor and Eden looked around to see there were large white candles in various-sized storm lanterns leading down the cave. It looked beautiful.

  ‘So these candles are magic candles?’ she asked.

  ‘Of course.’

  He took her hand and led her through the cave just like he’d always done when they were kids. A nervous excitement rushed through her as she remembered the last time they had come to the cove and the kiss they’d shared. She knew it would never happen again but she couldn’t help but smile at the memory. The path through the cave was uneven and they sploshed through several puddles as they clambered over rocks, slowly heading downwards towards the cove. Up ahead she could see the silvery ribbons of the moonlight dancing across the waves and the glow of the fire from the beach cast flickering golden shadows across the cave mouth.

  She walked to the entrance of the cave and stopped as she looked down on Mistletoe Cove. There was a great big roaring fire in the middle of the small beach with blankets laid out on the sand to the back of it but… She hesitated as her eyes became more accustomed to the bright lights of the fire. The flames were blue. Not just blue – as they danced and twirled in the night sky, she could clearly see hues of lilac, green and turquoise too.

  ‘How did you do that?’ Eden said. She had never seen anything so beautiful.

  ‘It’s not me, it’s the magic of Mistletoe Cove,’ Dougie said.

  Eden laughed and then moved to climb down the large rocks that actually looked like giant steps cut into the rock face.

  Dougie moved ahead of her. ‘I’ll go first.’

  She followed him down and smiled when he kept looking back to check on her. They finally made it down onto the beach and Dougie took her hand again and led her to the fire. She sat down and he wrapped a thick fur blanket around her shoulders then sat down next to her. The heat from the fire was intense and she soon forgot the cold of the night as she stared at the blue flames. They sat in silence for a while, watching the flames dance and change colour against the inky backdrop of the sky. They didn’t need to say anything. Being together was enough. His arm was around her shoulders, holding her against him, and for a short time everything was perfect with the world.

  ‘Come on then, tell me how you did it?’ Eden said.

  Dougie pulled his phone out of his pocket and passed it to her again.

  ‘Scroll down past the stuff about the wishing well, there’s stuff about fires in there too.’

  She rolled her eyes but did as she was told. She found the part of the article he was talking about and started reading aloud.

  ‘“Because of the high level of fairy dust in the air surrounding Mistletoe Cove, lighting a fire can cause a chemical reaction with the fairy dust and cause the flames to turn blue…”’ Eden read. ‘You’ve written this Wiki page, haven’t you?’ she laughed. ‘The wishing well, now the fairy dust in the air. All of this is your doing. You’re up to something, Douglas Harrison. What is it?’

  ‘It’s not me,’ Dougie laughed. ‘If it’s on Wiki, it must be true. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to create my own Wiki page.’

  ‘Says the computer geek,’ Eden said.

  ‘It’s obviously based on factual evidence; scientific tests have clearly been done on the high level of fairy dust in Mistletoe Cove and—’

  ‘You’re such a liar,’ Eden laughed, launching herself at him and poking and tickling everywhere she could reach through his thick coat. He fell back on the sand and took her with him. He wriggled and screamed and laughed as she continued to poke him, then he rolled on top of her and pinned her hands above her head.

  ‘Stop poking me,’ he laughed as she looked up into his beautiful green eyes that sparkled in the light of the fire.

  Suddenly the humour died as they stared at each other and he gently brushed a strand of hair from her face. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her and for one wonderful blissful moment she was sure he was going to kiss her, before he suddenly leapt to his feet.

  ‘You need to write your wishes, it’s important you throw them into the wishing well at exactly midnight.’

  She sat up, feeling suddenly embarrassed and vulnerable over the moment that had passed as quickly as it had arrived.

  ‘Fine, come o
n then, let’s get this nonsense out of the way and then you can toast me some of those marshmallows I can see in your bag,’ Eden said, holding her hand out for the pen and paper that Dougie had just pulled out of his bag.

  He passed it to her.

  ‘I wish for a magical flying unicorn,’ Eden said, putting pen to paper.

  Dougie suddenly knelt down in front of her, putting his hand out to stop her writing. ‘It has to be something that’s possible. The wishing well can’t bring people back from the dead, it can’t give you super powers or give you a magical flying unicorn. And it has to be something you really want, something you want more than anything in the world.’

  ‘Dougie, this is ridiculous, me throwing a scrap of paper into a blowhole is not going to grant me my wishes. There is no such thing as magic. There is no special force in the world, no fairies or deities or angels or lucky pennies or stars that will be able to grant me my wish. All this,’ she gestured to the fire, ‘and the Wiki page and the candles and Clare’s story about her gran is lovely but it’s all rubbish. None of it is real and I’m going to throw this piece of paper into the sea and nothing will happen, nothing will change.’

  ‘Look, I might have put on a bit of a show for you tonight with the fire and the candles, and I may have edited the Wiki page about Mistletoe Cove to mention the fairy dust, but the legend surrounding the wishing well is true and I promise you that whatever you wish for, as long as it’s in the realms of possibility and doesn’t include flying unicorns or dragons, I promise you, it will come true.’

  Eden sighed.

  ‘You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.’

  ‘OK, fine.’

  ‘And please, make sure it’s something you really want.’

  Eden nodded. ‘Well, I’m not doing it with you sitting there watching me. I don’t want you to see my wishes.’

  ‘I have that covered.’ He handed her an envelope. ‘Write your wishes and then put it in that and then seal the envelope so I can’t see it.’

  Eden took it and Dougie moved away. ‘And it has to be three wishes or it won’t work.’

  She rolled her eyes. To prove to him that this was all nonsense she wrote down the first two ridiculous things that came into her head.

  I wish I had a million pounds.

  I wish Hope Island had a white Christmas.

  That would prove almost impossible for the wishing well. It so very rarely snowed in the Scilly Isles, the warmer coastal weather put a stop to that. And blanket snow like in those old Christmas card scenes was never seen, especially at Christmas.

  She held her pen over the paper again and thought about something else ridiculous to ask for to prove to Dougie that wishes didn’t come true.

  She looked up at him and he was watching her with such hope in his eyes. This was important to him and she didn’t know why. He had gone to a lot of trouble tonight to get her to make these wishes – what would he possibly gain when none of them came true?

  She looked over to the blowhole as it sprayed water into the night sky, the droplets sparkling in the moonlight like…magic.

  What if it was true?

  There were so many unexplained occurrences in the world, strange coincidences that couldn’t possibly be dismissed. Could there really be little pockets of magic in the world too?

  She shook her head. No, that was ridiculous.

  She looked back at Dougie and he nodded at her encouragingly. He really wanted her to do this.

  Eden put the pen back on the paper and decided to just do it. What did she possibly have to lose? She would wish for the one thing she wanted most in the world.

  I wish that Dougie would love me as much as I love him.

  ‘There, three wishes.’

  Dougie smiled with relief as she folded the paper and slid it into the envelope. She licked across the top of the envelope and sealed it up tight.

  He held out his hand for it and she gave it to him and watched as he pulled out a pot of what looked like gold glitter from his pocket and sprinkled some over the envelope.

  She laughed. ‘What was that?’

  ‘Fairy dust.’

  She laughed again as he shoved the envelope in his pocket. ‘Come on then, we need to get up to the top of the blowhole before midnight.’

  He held out his hand for her and then helped her to her feet, leading her to the back of the standing rock.

  ‘I got us some head torches, although the light of the fire will help. But there’s lots of handholds round this side so it should be quite easy.’

  He passed her a head torch and she turned it on and pulled it over her head. The top of the rock wasn’t high, probably no more than ten or twelve feet. If she fell, she might have a few broken bones to contend with but nothing life-changing. Besides, she and Dougie used to do this sort of thing all the time as kids.

  She started climbing, testing each hold before putting her weight on it, taking her time to get a good grip and find the perfect place, and every step of the way Dougie was right behind her.

  She climbed onto the ledge just as the blowhole sprayed water up in the air and she squealed as the cold water sprayed down on top of her. Dougie laughed as he joined her.

  ‘Couldn’t I have wished on a star instead?’ Eden said, shaking the water off her.

  ‘The problem with wishing on a star is the stars are trillions of miles away and it takes many many thousands of years for the wish to get to them and then many thousands of years for the wish to come back. The wishing well can grant your wish straight away.’

  He pulled the envelope out of his pocket and passed it to her. The glitter sparkled in the light of their head torches.

  ‘You have to hold your wishes, close your eyes and say, “I believe in magic.”’

  Smiling, Eden shook her head but decided to just humour him. ‘I believe in magic.’

  ‘Three times,’ Dougie insisted.

  She laughed and said it two more times. This was getting more ridiculous by the minute.

  She opened her eyes. ‘Happy now?’

  He was grinning at her so she guessed he must be. He checked his watch. ‘OK, we have a minute, let’s get a bit closer.’

  ‘You just want to get me wet again.’

  He laughed. ‘No, we have to get closer to throw it in.’

  Dougie guided her nearer, with his arm round her back, and she peered tentatively into the blowhole, not wanting to get a face full of water.

  ‘OK, this is it,’ he said, looking at his watch. ‘Five, four, three, two, one. Throw it in.’

  Eden obliged, tossing the envelope into the hole and with impeccable timing the blowhole suddenly erupted with a huge spray of cold water and she squealed, quickly stepping back out of the way. Her envelope was tossed into the air but as it came back down it fell straight back into the hole again and as the last of the water settled she hurried to the edge of the hole to see if she could still see her envelope but it was gone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Dougie watched as Eden stared into the hole and smiled. Despite all her protests he knew there was still a tiny part of her that still believed in or at least hoped for magic. He was glad he brought her here tonight to be able to, in some very tiny way, give that back to her.

  He was nervous about the next part, it could all go very wrong. But he had sold his home, a huge penthouse apartment, sold most of his belongings, bought a tiny cottage and moved thousands of miles to a tiny island. He had made such massive changes in his life that there was no point in quitting at the final hurdle.

  ‘Come on, we should toast some marshmallows before the fire goes out,’ Dougie said.

  Eden turned round and smiled at him. ‘What happens now with my wishes?’

  He walked to the edge and eased himself over. Once he’d found a good foothold, he moved down a few metres and waited for Eden to do the same.

  She lowered herself over and climbed down just in front of him.

  ‘You have to be patient, som
etimes the wishes come true straightaway, sometimes it takes a while longer for the magic to happen.’

  He climbed down carefully, making sure that Eden had a good grip before he moved down again until they were both safely on the beach.

  He took her hand and led her over the rocks back towards the fire. His heart was hammering against his chest.

  ‘Do you remember the last time we both came down to Mistletoe Cove?’ he asked as he stopped her, pulling her towards him.

  ‘Hmm, vaguely,’ Eden said, noncommittally.

  That wasn’t the answer he was hoping for. Their kiss, their one and only kiss, had been seared on his brain ever since.

  He wrapped his arms around her but she steadied him with her hands on his chest to stop him getting too close.

  ‘Do you remember our kiss?’

  She didn’t answer at first and a hundred different emotions played across her face.

  ‘Yes, it was nice.’

  Nice wasn’t exactly encouraging either. Christ, was he making a terrible mistake? Her eyes were wary now, not filled with amusement as they had been before. With the stunt he had pulled with the blowhole, he’d pushed her buttons and not in the right way. Maybe he should wait and try this another time. He surreptitiously checked his watch. He had about thirty seconds until the next part in his plan happened. It had to be here. And he was unlikely to get her to come back to Mistletoe Cove anytime soon.

  He shifted her closer to him and her eyes became guarded.

  ‘I thought it was magic,’ Dougie said, softly.

  Suddenly the cove was lit up, thousands of fairy lights hanging from the hawthorn trees glowing brightly over the cove.

  Eden’s eyes lit up with awe and wonder and she gasped softly.

  ‘How did you do that?’

  ‘Magic,’ Dougie said and then bent his head and kissed her.

  The taste of her on his lips was heaven and the soft little moan of need that fell from her mouth was a kick straight to his stomach. Her sweet marshmallow scent surrounded him, god this was everything he had hoped it would be and more.