Dawn had been distraught the previous autumn when her children’s guinea pig had died then been stolen by Allie’s cat and left as a gift on Mrs Burnley’s doorstep. The elderly woman had thought it was a giant white rat and Dawn’s husband Rick had been forced to retrieve the guinea pig from Judith Burnley’s bin then bury it in their garden before their children found out.
“At least they were from Marks and Spencer.”
Honey snorted and they both burst into laughter.
“Come on let’s take all this through and feed the pregnant one.”
They carried the serving plates and a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio through to the café and set them down on the table. As they tucked into the freshly prepared food, Honey enjoyed every mouthful of Allie’s wonderful spread, from the mini quiches with their crumbly melt-in-the-mouth pastry and herby roasted peppers, to the home-grown spinach and the crusty rolls spread with locally-made creamy butter. Allie had also provided a plate of skin-on potato wedges with a bowl of garlic mayonnaise and another bowl of coriander and lemon houmous.
“This is so good,” Dawn mumbled as she stuffed another wedge into her mouth. “So, so good. The heartburn will be worth it.”
“I did wonder about that as I was baking, but thought that if you’re anything like I was when I was pregnant with my two, then everything will give you heartburn at this late stage.”
“Oh it does!” Dawn nodded. “I’ll follow up with a pint of milk and I’ll be fine.”
The next hour passed in a flurry of chatter, clearing of plates and laugher, as the four friends enjoyed one another’s company and Honey’s heart brimmed with happiness that she had such good friends. Even though they didn’t see one another every day, because they were all busy, she knew that they were there for her just as she was for them.
“Right I need to pee!” Dawn announced as she wiped her hands on a white napkin. “Help me up, Honey.”
Honey stood then took Dawn’s hands and leaned backwards as her pregnant friend hoisted herself up. There was a loud pop then a gush of fluid covered Dawn’s shoes.
“Oh my god, Dawn! What was that?” Camilla grimaced.
Honey and Dawn looked down at the puddle on the floor then back at each other.
“I think you might have left it too long before going to the toilet,” Honey whispered, even though Camilla and Allie were right there with them and could hear every word.
“It’s not her bladder that’s emptied, Honey.” Allie stood up and pushed her chair back.
“It’s my waters…” Dawn’s eyes were wide as she gazed around the table in shock. “And… ouch!” She hunched over and grabbed the edge of the table. “I think the baby’s on its way.”
5
“What?” Camilla shrieked. “How can the baby be on its way? It’s too soon.”
Honey and Allie helped Dawn over to the leather sofa in the corner of the café and she sat down, cradling her bump.
“Not really, Camilla.” Dawn shook her head. “I’m thirty-eight weeks along.”
“Noooooo!” Camilla was shaking her head vigorously as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “It should be forty.”
“That’s not strictly true, Camilla.” Allie placed a hand on Camilla’s arm. “Anything from thirty-eight to forty weeks… sometimes up to forty-two weeks, is considered acceptable.”
“Nope.” Camilla had paled and her green eyes seemed huge in her pretty face.
“What do you mean, nope?” Dawn scowled at her sister from the sofa where Honey was holding her hand. “You don’t have power over this, Camilla. Your niece is on the way… Ouch!”
Dawn started to pant and Camilla stumbled forwards but Allie caught her.
“It’s all right, Camilla. Dawn will be fine but we do need to call Rick and probably an ambulance.”
“No time!” Dawn squeezed Honey’s hand as she panted. Honey bit down on her own lip to prevent herself from crying out as her knuckles were squashed together. “But call Rick… and tell him to hurry.”
Allie helped Camilla to sit down opposite Dawn, then ran to the counter and grabbed her mobile from behind the till. Honey heard her mutter into the mobile, clearly telling Rick to get there immediately.
“Oh… oh…” Dawn panted and squeezed Honey’s hand tighter. “I’d forgotten how much this hurts. The stinging! The awful stinging…”
“Are you sure the baby is coming now?” Honey tried to keep her voice calm, but the pain in her hand and the fluid that ran down Dawn’s legs every time her belly tightened to a point under her fitted dress, were all making her own panic rise.
“Have a look!” Dawn said as she spread her legs and pulled her skirt up to her thighs.
“I can’t look!” Honey replied. “I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“Camilla?” Dawn asked her sister but Camilla buried her face in her palms.
“I can’t, Dawnie. I feel faint.”
“It’s all right, I’ve got this.” Allie pushed the coffee table out of the way. “Honey, you keep holding her hand and Camilla… CAMILLA!”
“What?” Camilla raised her head but kept her eyes averted from her sister. “Go through to the cottage and get some clean towels. Jordan and Max should have some in the kitchen but if not, check upstairs.”
“Can Jordan help with this?” Camilla asked hopefully.
“He’s not here. Max has taken him into London for a night out.”
“Oh… okay.”
“Hurry up!”
Camilla nodded then disappeared through to the living quarters that formed the rear of the cottage. Allie had lived there with her son, until Chris returned to the village and had asked Allie to move in with him. Since then, Jordan’s boyfriend Max had moved in.
“Right, Dawnie, Rick is on his way. He’s going to drop the children with your mum and dad then come straight here.”
“Okay.” Dawn nodded then closed her eyes, squeezing Honey’s hand again as another pain overwhelmed her body.
“I’m going to remove your underwear and have a look now. Is that okay?”
“Yes.” Dawn’s lips blanched as she pressed them together.
“Can I do anything else?” Honey asked, feeling utterly helpless as she watched her friend in pain.
“Just hold her hand and say comforting things,” Allie said.
What classed as comforting to a woman in labour?
“There, there, Dawnie. It’ll all be fine.” Honey grimaced as the words sounded so weak in the face of what Dawn was going through. “You’ve done this twice, so third time’ll be a doddle.”
Dawn opened her eyes and guffawed. “A doddle? Shit, Honey, you can tell you haven’t done this. Childbirth is never a doddle.”
“Sorry.” Honey’s cheeks burned. “I just didn’t know what to say.”
“Ouch!” Dawn jolted on the sofa.
“Oh god, Dawnie, I can see the head!”
Honey leaned forwards and gasped. “Is that the baby’s hair?”
Allie pursed her lips but her shoulders shook.
“No, that’s not the baby’s hair…” She gestured at the place where Honey was looking, and Honey realised that what she’d seen was in fact hair that belonged to Dawn. “Come around a bit and look… there.”
Honey peered at where Allie was pointing.
“Oh… I see it! I can see the baby’s head. You’re having a baby, Dawnie!”
“Gaaaahhhhh!” Dawn groaned and Honey quickly looked away as the baby’s head stretched parts of her friend that she’d never wanted to see.
“Arghhh!” Honey cried as Dawn crunched her fingers together.
“Hurry up, Camilla!” Allie shouted.
Camilla appeared, clutching a pile of multi-coloured towels and threw them down in front of Allie, who quickly tucked some under her friend then draped one over her arm.
“Here. We. Go.” Dawn pressed her chin to her chest and emitted a sound that Honey could only describe as raw animal pain. The noise was
echoed by Camilla as she swooned to the floor, while the door to the café swung open and Rick appeared, his eyes wide and his face coated in a sheen of sweat.
“Dawnie!” he cried as he dashed to his wife’s side.
“Rick… You made it.” Dawn’s voice was full of relief.
“You have a beautiful baby girl.”
A cry filled the room as the newborn took her first breath, and something inside Honey fluttered like the wings of a moth about to take flight. She swallowed it down, refusing to acknowledge the surge of emotion and deep sense of loss.
Allie carefully wrapped the baby in a towel then placed her on Dawn’s stomach, and Honey slumped against the wall as the pain in her hand subsided now that Dawn had released it.
“Where’s Camilla?” Allie asked.
“Over here.” Camilla emerged from behind the coffee table rubbing her forehead.
“Are you all right?”
“I think so. I just can’t stand to see Dawnie in pain and I must’ve fainted.”
“We’d better get you checked out,” Allie said as she helped Camilla to sit on a chair.
“Me too,” Honey said as she held out her squashed hand.
“Welcome to The Cosy Cottage Café little one,” Dawn said as she gazed into the face of her tiny baby. “Say hello to your daddy and three aunties.”
Honey smiled in response, but she couldn’t see a thing because her eyes were filled with tears.
Dawn’s midwife made it to the café before the paramedics. She’d been in the area seeing her own pregnant daughter, and Rick had called her straight after Allie had spoken to him.
Once she’d checked Dawn and the baby over, cut the cord and ensured that the placenta had come away, she accepted a cup of tea from Allie and sat opposite Dawn and Rick who were cuddled up on the sofa with their new baby.
Honey was on the chair next to the midwife, nursing her own cup of tea and wondering when she’d be able to talk properly again. She was so overwhelmed that she kept choking up. Dawn had just given birth to her third child in Allie’s café and everyone was fine. It was all fine. Sometimes things did work out the way they were supposed to.
Honey turned to the midwife, a rosy-cheeked woman in her early fifties who seemed to have a permanent smile on her lovely face.
“Will…” She cleared her throat. “Will they both be okay?”
“Yes, dear, of course they will. That was a very straightforward labour. Dawn’s done it twice before so third time was a charm.”
“They don’t need to go to hospital?”
“Not at all. Many women have successful home births, and although this is a café, she had no problems in her labour and the baby is feeding well.”
Honey nodded and returned her gaze to Dawn, who was cradling her daughter in her arms as she took her first feed. Allie had replaced the wet and bloodied towels with clean dry ones and fetched a soft blanket from the café cottage to wrap around Dawn. Rick had brought Dawn’s delivery bag along, so Dawn would be able to change into fresh pyjamas before they made their way home.
“Hello!” Chris, Allie’s partner, entered the café and grinned at everyone. “I hear there’s a new baby in the village?”
“Hi love.” Honey watched as Chris’s eyes lit up when they roamed Allie’s face.
“I’ve brought a little something to celebrate.” Chris held up two bottles of champagne. “We had them in the fridge at home ready for a special occasion and this is evidently the right time.”
“I’ll get some glasses,” Allie said.
“I think you’d better change too, Allie.” Chris pulled a face as he pointed at her jeans.
“I hadn’t even noticed.” Allie looked down at the dark damp patches on her legs.
Honey suspected that they’d need to give the sofa and café a thorough clean the next day before opening, but knew that big-hearted Allie wouldn’t mind. Her best friend’s baby had just made its way into the world in her café; there was nothing negative in that at all.
Honey had to blink hard again as tears flooded her eyes. She wasn’t usually so emotional but this… this was incredible and, of course, it brought some of her suppressed emotions to the surface. How could it not? But right now she was extremely happy for her friends. She also realised that she wished Dane was there to share this perfect moment.
“Right lovelies, the paramedics are here,” the midwife peered through the window, “so I’ll have a quick chat with them before they check you over, then we’ll leave you to it.”
“Thank you so much,” Rick said.
Twenty minutes later, the midwife and the paramedics had gone and Allie and Dawn had both changed; Dawn into the pyjamas from her delivery bag and Allie into one of Jordan’s large hoodies and a pair of his jogging bottoms that she’d retrieved from upstairs.
Chris had popped the cork on one of the bottles of champagne and poured the bubbly liquid into glasses that Honey had fetched from the kitchen while Allie and Dawn changed.
Chris handed everyone a glass, except for Dawn, who shook her head, then raised his own.
“Congratulations to Dawn and Rick on the birth of little… uh…” He frowned. “Do you have a name yet?”
Dawn and Rick looked at each other then back at Chris.
“Alison.” Dawn stroked her baby’s cheek. “For Allie because she helped me deliver this beautiful girl.”
“You don’t have to do that, Dawn. “ Allie shook her head.
“We want to. If we call her Allie, it’ll be too confusing, so we’ll go with Alison.”
“In fact,” Rick said, “her full name will be Alison Camilla Honey Dix-Beaumont.”
“Really?” Honey squealed then covered her mouth. “Oh my goodness. I can’t take any more emotion! It’s all just too lovely.”
“So,” Chris said, raising his glass once more, “congratulations to Dawn, Rick and little Alison Camilla Honey!”
They all clinked glasses then drank the cool, crisp champagne and Honey gazed around the café at her friends, old and new. Moments like these were so precious and she took a mental snapshot, intending to treasure it, and hoping she’d get the chance to tell Dane all about it soon.
6
The two glasses of champagne had made Honey lightheaded and as she made her way home, she had the sensation of walking on air. It made her want to continue the evening, to make the most of such a wonderful feeling. She could pop to Dane’s and tell him what had happened. Even if he was working, she hoped he’d have ten minutes to spare for a chat.
On the way there, she stopped three times and almost turned back and made for home, but her desire to see him was strong so she surrendered to it and let her feet carry her to Dane’s rented cottage.
She paused outside the front door. Honey had not always been sensible and thought things through before acting, but time and experience had made her cautious and what she was about to do was, in her opinion, a bit… reckless. But then, she was only popping to see a friend for a cuppa. What harm could it do?
She knocked on the door before she could change her mind again.
“Honey!” Dane looked genuinely pleased as he opened the door.
“Hi Dane. Um… I hope it’s okay to just turn up. I know we didn’t have plans but I… uh… wanted to see you to let you know what happened this evening. I hope that’s okay? Oh gosh, I doubt it is, is it? I should go. You’re probably really busy and I don’t want to intrude on your evening. Ok… uh… I’ll be off.”
She turned to go but Dane placed his hand on her shoulder. She paused, not wanting to pull away as that could be seen as rude, but she knew that if she turned around he would see that her face was scarlet with embarrassment.
“Honey?”
“Yes?”
“Please look at me.”
“Okay.”
She turned slowly and he removed his hand from her shoulder.
“I’m delighted to see you. It’s a lovely surprise and to be honest… I was thinking about you
this evening. I thought you’d be at the café with your friends though. I know it’s your designated girls’ night in with them.” He smiled. “I’ve been struggling to concentrate on my marking and it would be nice to have a break. Come in and I’ll put the kettle on.”
Honey was suddenly conscious of his close proximity, of how his blue eyes held hers and of how good he smelt, like sandalwood with a hint of woodsmoke from the fire.
It might have been the champagne, or it might have been months of longing, but she threw all of her caution to the wind. She pushed her concerns, worries and insecurities aside, flung herself towards him, then wrapped her arms around his neck. He froze for a moment, then slid his arms around her waist. And they were kissing. Gently at first, then with growing need, as if they’d both waited too long for this moment and needed to make up for lost time.
Then he carried Honey through the door, pushed it closed with his foot and shut out the world.
They were alone.
At last.
Honey blinked several times, trying to make sense of her surroundings.
She sat up with a jolt and pulled the covers to her chest as realisation dawned.
Had that really happened last night?
Had she gone to Dane’s and thrown herself at him and…
A rustling made her turn. Yes. It was true. Dane was lying next to her, over six foot of muscular man, his chest bare for her to admire. And admire it she did, before forcing herself to do a reality check.
She had spent the night with Dane!
They had… done things… and she’d thoroughly enjoyed herself, but she had no right to allow herself to have so much fun, to feel so alive and to surrender to her emotions. Honey was good at being sensible and holding back. But last night she’d let her barriers down and made love to this beautiful man. And now, as she watched him sleep, his dark eyelashes fluttering gently and his full lips slightly parted, fear crawled over her, digging its icy fingers into her heart. She couldn’t do this. She’d held back for so long, doubting that Dane could want her and worrying about what might happen if he did.
But Dane had been holding back too; that was evident from the outpouring of passion he’d shown last night and the sweet things he’d whispered as he’d held her and kissed her. Honey had pressed her lips together, not wanting to make promises she couldn’t keep and fearing telling him anything in case everything came pouring out, but it had been so, so difficult. Sealing their relationship by making love to him was the worst thing she could have done, because now her heart was laid bare and they were both vulnerable.
Spring at The Cosy Cottage Cafe: A heart-warming story of friendship and new beginnings Page 3