by Holly Martin
She hugged Rocket to her chest and closed her eyes. What was she going to do now?
Isaac pressed the button on the lift to take him up to his suite and as the doors closed he leaned back against the wall and sighed.
Bella was here.
There was a huge part of him that wanted to cheer and shout with joy that she had come back to him when all hope seemed lost, but the cautious part of him that was protective over his heart was saying he shouldn’t just welcome her back with open arms. It was that cautious part that had him frozen to the ground when she turned up in his office; that had him standing in shock when she kissed him when all he’d really wanted to do was grab her, pin her to the wall and kiss her back.
He needed some answers from her and most of all he needed some reassurance that this wouldn’t happen again. It was OK if she got upset about her parents, it was OK if her worry of rejection caused her to get scared, but it was not OK if that fear meant she would finish with him every few weeks. If this was to work she needed to trust him and he knew he needed to trust her too. He had been through hell in the last forty-eight hours and he couldn’t take her back only for it to happen all over again in a few weeks’ time.
The doors pinged open and he took a deep breath and walked out. He opened the door to his suite and Rocket came tearing across the room to greet him. He scooped up the dog and looked around for Bella and his heart dropped when there was no sign of her anywhere. Had she left? Had his lack of reaction at the office caused her to run away again? He had rejected her, which was what she feared the most.
He moved quickly into the bedroom and stopped when he saw her lying on his bed, fast asleep. She was dressed in his t-shirt and, judging by the amount of leg that was peeping out from under the covers, not a lot else. Her hair was slightly damp, splayed out in gorgeous glossy red curls across the pillow.
Every bone in his body was screaming at him to climb into bed with her and just forget about everything. But he couldn’t.
He threw his jacket over the chair, loosened his tie and sat down, unable to take his eyes off her. She didn’t stir and he didn’t know whether to wake her or not, because he still had no idea what to say to her.
For want of something to do, he clicked open his briefcase and pulled out a new blurb they were working on for the Umbrella Foundation. It needed a lot of work but he wanted to get the basic message right before he passed it on to a professional team.
He read it through but his eyes caught on one paragraph in particular.
We know it was scary for you to come to us, your fear of people judging you was a big one to overcome. But we don’t care about the mistakes you’ve made in the past. We care about the person you are now. You’ve come to us because you want a second chance and we want to help you take it.
He read it again and then looked over at Bella. His heart filled with love for her. She had travelled all this way into London, which he knew she hated, to tell him she loved him. She must have been scared of him rejecting her and she came anyway. She wanted a second chance with him and he knew he had to give it to her. He loved her and she loved him, it really was as simple as that. All the rest they could figure out later but as long as they were together that was all that mattered.
He noticed her breathing was getting heavy and accelerated as if she was running and in her dreams she frantically called out his name.
He moved quickly to the bed, kneeling beside her and stroking her arm. ‘Bella, I’m here.’
She gave a little sob, obviously she was still dreaming. And he knew he had to show her that real love meant not running away when things got tough. He had to show her that one silly row was not going to break them. Love meant sticking by her always. Rocket had taken a long time to trust him and he’d never given up on her; he wasn’t about to give up on Bella either. And while he knew he still needed to talk to her to get some reassurance that this wouldn’t happen again, he knew her travelling across the country to a place she hated and was scared of just to fight for him told him more than words ever could. She wanted forever with him too.
He rolled her onto her back and stroked her hair, trying to stir her from her dreams. ‘Bella, I’m here, I’m not going anywhere.’
Bella blinked a few times and realised she was in Isaac’s hotel room and he was kneeling next to her on the bed. Outside the sun was just setting, casting a scarlet blanket across the clouds and painting the room with a rosy glow.
When Isaac saw she was awake he lay down next to her. While her mind cleared itself of sleep, the nightmares drifting away, he gathered her to him, pulling her onto his chest.
He was here. And he was holding her as if everything was OK between them. Her heart soared with complete joy.
Maybe they would be OK after all.
‘I need to talk to you. I need to explain,’ Bella said.
‘The fact that you’re here says everything I need to know.’
‘I love you, you need to know that.’
‘I love you too. There will be bad times and you will get scared but we will get through it because we love each other.’
Her heart roared in her chest. He didn’t hate her. She hadn’t pushed him away. Regardless of all her craziness and insecurities he still loved her.
She leaned up to kiss him and when he didn’t hesitate to kiss her back this time she nearly cried with relief. They really were going to be OK.
‘I’m not scared any more. I was scared that I wasn’t enough for you—’
‘You are always enough. Don’t ever doubt that.’
She ran her hand through his stubble and, safe in his arms, she explained everything about her childhood, her aunt and uncle trying to adopt her when she was only three and the fact that the man she thought was her dad actually wasn’t related to her at all and hated her because of it.
Isaac didn’t speak for the longest time, obviously trying to take it all in but eventually he spoke.
‘How do you feel finding out that your dad wasn’t actually your dad? That must have been such a shock.’
‘It was but to be honest it was such a relief. I understand now why he hated me so much. It wasn’t anything to do with me at all; it was all down to the very messed-up relationship my parents had and the fact that I wasn’t his. I never grew up with him around anyway so it’s not like I’ve suddenly lost this great father of the year. Finn was my dad in every way that mattered. But all this time I lived with this fear that I was unlovable, that there was something wrong with me. I was scared of love, of falling in love and being rejected all over again. I built these walls around me and you came along and knocked them all down. I fell so hard and so fast for you and it terrified me. I kept thinking if I denied that I was in love, then I’d be safe, I could protect my heart, but denying it didn’t mean that I didn’t feel for you what I have never felt for anyone before.’
She held him tighter. ‘I was so stupid pushing you away so I wouldn’t get hurt in the future because watching you walk out the door was more painful than I could possibly imagine. And the worst thing was knowing how much I had hurt you too. I saw how heartbroken you were when I was pushing you away and that tore me up inside. But I couldn’t stop it. I was losing the only man I’ve ever loved and I was so paralysed by fear that I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I’m so sorry. When I came here, I didn’t know if you’d forgive me but I still needed to tell you that I loved you – even if it all ended between us, you deserved to know what this was for me. It was never just a bit of fun.’
Isaac nodded. ‘I knew that – despite your denials I could see that it meant as much to you as it did for me. I knew I was in love with you the first time we made love, although if I’m honest I think those feelings were there even before that. I strongly suspected you felt the same. I was prepared to wait until you realised it too.’
‘You’ve been so endlessly patient with me. Why do you put up with me?’
He grinned, kissing her forehead. ‘Because I love you and I’m n
ot going to walk away from you just because you have a few insecurity issues. We all have baggage.’
She looked up at him. ‘What’s yours?’
‘I never trust anyone. I’ve been burned a few times by so-called friends trying to get close to me only to find out that it was because of money or wanting a job. I can count on one hand the people I truly trust: Dougie, Claudia, there’s not many others I could name. I keep people at arm’s length; it’s really hard to spot if people genuinely want to get to know me because of me or because of how much money I have.’
‘But you trusted me straight away.’
‘I did. I guess it was the circumstances under which we met. You kissed me when you thought I had nothing. I was homeless and you didn’t care. I never had any doubts about your intentions. You gave me this feeling of being home which I haven’t had since I left Hope Island all those years ago.’
‘I feel the same too. I’m not running away any more. This is where I belong.’
He kissed her sweetly.
‘This is forever for me, Bella.’
Tears filled her eyes. ‘Me too. I promise, no more rows.’
‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep. We will fight and argue and then we will have amazing make-up sex,’ Isaac said, rolling on top of her.
She giggled. ‘I love the idea of make-up sex.’
‘Me too.’
She stared up into his eyes filled with absolute love and knew, even though she was miles from Hope Island, right here in his arms, she had found home.
Epilogue
Bella looked at her watch again, Isaac definitely said to meet him by the fountain in the park at seven that night. They were supposed to be going somewhere to celebrate their six-month anniversary but he was already fifteen minutes late.
She tightened her scarf around her. They were experiencing a pretty mild October but once the sun went down it got quite chilly in the evenings.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she quickly retrieved it, wondering if it was Isaac telling her he was late.
To her surprise it was the Easter egg hunt app, updated with a new egg. Bella frowned in confusion. The Great British Egg Chase had launched to massive success, with children and families all over the country enjoying searching for virtual eggs hidden in the real world. It had raised over twenty thousand pounds for the Umbrella Foundation and they were going to launch another one in the lead-up to Christmas, searching for Santa and his many elves and reindeer. Although the egg hunt game was still live, the interest had dropped off significantly once the Easter holidays were out the way and the prizes of real chocolate had come to an end. Though many people had still been playing it for a few months after Easter, the fad had faded and the last time the app had been downloaded had been two or three months before. Why then had a new egg been added?
She looked around for Isaac and then, seeing that she was still alone, she walked a little way towards the new egg. The phone turned to the augmented-reality screen as she approached and she could see the egg sitting on a park bench.
This egg was made from autumn leaves so Bella selected the rake from the tool box and raked the leaves apart. Out popped a scroll which unravelled and she read the message.
Eggciting new eggs have been added. Find the next egg, follow the trail. Isaac x
She smiled. This was just for her. What was he up to?
She checked the big map and saw there was another egg at the stile which marked the start of the footpath over the hills.
She hurried ahead and waited for the augmented reality to kick in so she could see the egg. An egg appeared on the screen, sitting next to the stile. The egg was wrapped in a holey blanket with a woolly hat on, much as Isaac had been dressed the first time she had met him. She laughed but she wasn’t sure how to break open an egg that was wrapped in a blanket.
She scanned through the tools and found a new one that had been added that merely said ‘kindness’.
She selected the tool and then clicked on the egg. The blanket and hat disappeared and the egg was left with only a towel around its lower half. Isaac had given the top half washboard abs.
Bella laughed loudly.
The egg popped open and another scroll appeared.
It has been an eggceptional six months.
Bella giggled at another bad egg pun.
She looked back at the map and saw there was another one halfway along the path up over the hills. She wouldn’t ordinarily walk over the hills in the dark, mostly because she wouldn’t be able to see where she was going and would most likely fall down a rabbit hole, but the path was lit up with lanterns guiding the way with little pools of gold. Isaac had put a lot of thought into this.
She walked up and over the hills, following the lanterns, and she realised that the egg was sitting under the tree where they had shared that incredible kiss in the rain. The egg was made from fire and she quickly selected water from the tool box and poured water over the egg, dousing the flames. She swallowed as she realised these eggs were representative of their relationship and this was to represent the fire where Isaac had lost his home, but also the night they had made love for the first time.
Inside was another scroll.
You make me so eggceedingly happy.
She smiled again. When she clicked on the map she saw the next egg was in Blueberry Bay. Lanterns lit the way as she followed the path down the hill towards the sea.
She walked past the area where Isaac’s old house had been. The insurance company had finally paid out but Isaac had decided that he didn’t want his house rebuilt on the same land as his old house, saying it felt tainted somehow, so he’d sold the land and bought a lovely big house overlooking Blueberry Bay. Surprisingly, after three months she had moved in with him. More surprisingly was that it didn’t feel quick or scary. It felt right and as she was spending practically every night at his house anyway it made sense.
She walked through the trees and on to the beach in Blueberry Bay and smiled at the moon glinting over the sea. It was so beautiful here that she barely noticed when the app shifted into the augmented-reality screen. She tore her eyes from the view to look at the egg. It glowed silvery white like the moon and great arcs of silver were coming from it. Just like the moonbow they had seen that night. It reflected onto the water, creating a perfect circle which looked like a pearl ring.
How could she crack open an egg that was made from the moon?
‘You won’t be able to open that egg,’ Isaac said from behind her. She whirled round to look at him as he emerged from the shadows, dressed in jeans, a long charcoal woollen coat and the beanie hat he had been wearing the first night they’d met. ‘Why don’t you open this one instead?’ He handed her a silvery egg that was hinged in the middle.
Bella laughed. ‘You said no presents, that we were just going to go out somewhere for a meal.’
‘I lied.’
‘Some things never change.’
Isaac laughed. ‘Just open it.’
Bella giggled and then cracked open the silvery egg. Nestled against the black velvet inside was a platinum pearl ring, the pearl held in place by tiny diamond leaves that curled around it. Her heart stopped beating and then started pounding furiously when Isaac sank to one knee in front of her.
He took her hand. ‘Bella, my life changed six months ago when I camped outside your house. I never thought I could trust anyone enough to let them in, but you have turned my world upside down in the best possible way. I love you so much, more than I ever imagined possible, and you would make me the happiest man alive if you would marry me and be my wife.’
Bella had no words at all. Tears filled her eyes.
Isaac’s hand tightened around hers, clearly scared she was going to run away.
‘I know this seems fast but I know what is in my heart. I know this wonderful thing between us is forever. We don’t even have to get married straight away, we can wait as long as you want, but just say yes and I will spend the rest of my life tryin
g to make you as completely and utterly happy as you make me.’
Bella sank to her knees in front of him and reached up and kissed him. He wrapped his coat around her and pulled her tight against him. The thought of forever with this man was not scary in the slightest. She pulled back to look at him.
‘How about we get married at Christmas?’
He broke into a big smile. ‘Is that a yes?’
Bella laughed and took the beautiful ring out of the box. Isaac took it from her and slid it onto her finger. Excitement bubbled through her. ‘I love you, Isaac Scott. You broke down my walls and you showed me what love really is. I have never felt so safe, so adored as I am when I’m with you. So yes, I will marry you and as soon as possible. I cannot wait to start my life as your wife.’
Isaac kissed her again and she had never felt so complete before. She pulled back, running her hands behind his neck.
‘I might have a present for you too,’ Bella said.
‘You do?’
‘Why don’t we skip dinner, go home and I’ll let you unwrap it.’
He grinned. ‘That sounds like a perfect plan.’
The End
A Letter from Holly
Thank you so much for reading Spring at Blueberry Bay, I had so much fun creating this story and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
One of the best parts of writing comes from seeing the reaction from readers. Did it make you smile or laugh; did it make you cry, hopefully happy tears? Did you fall in love with Bella and Isaac? Did you like the beautiful Hope Island? If you enjoyed the story, I would absolutely love it if you could leave a short review. Getting feedback from readers is amazing and it also helps to persuade other readers to pick up one of my books for the first time.