by Holly Martin
Water spraying out of the blowhole at the far side of the cove drew his attention, sending water some ten or twenty feet up into the air. The blowhole was going to be even harder to get to, situated at the top of a tall standing rock. But he had already had a good look round the rock and found a slightly easier route to the top on the far side.
He and Eden used to do a lot of rock climbing and coasteering when they were younger, using the rocks and coastlines as their adventure playground. She was as nimble as a mountain goat, jumping from rock to rock with apparent ease and completely without fear. They used to challenge each other to do some ridiculously stupid and crazy things, which was why they had first decided to venture to Mistletoe Cove. The fact that the police on the island had banned anyone from going down to it after a few horrible accidents meant, of course, that it was more attractive to Eden and him. It was a miracle that both of them were still alive and had escaped their childhood and teenage years relatively unscathed. He wondered if she was still as brave and fearless now or whether she had lost that along with her belief in magic and wishes.
It broke his heart that she had lost that wonder and hope. She had been such a happy girl growing up; it just sparkled out of her. But in the months just before he had left for America, after he had announced he was leaving, he had watched that sparkle slowly fade away. Maybe it was just growing up, becoming an adult and letting go of those childish ways, or maybe it was something else that had dulled her shine. He knew she had a job she loved, she was happy in her little cottage with its sea views from the back of the garden. She had a wonderful family and a close group of friends. She loved living on the island but something was missing from her life. He wanted her to sparkle again and he had no idea how to give that to her but he was going to give it his best shot.
He looked back up at the trees and smiled, then climbed back up the large boulders to the cave entrance and scrambled up the rocks and through the cave until he hauled himself out in the grassy meadow. Then he took off at a run heading back to the town. He didn’t want to admit that the coffee he’d got from Eden’s café was better than the stuff he had been drinking in New York for the past twelve years but he knew it was likely to become a daily habit.
As he reached the park, he spotted Rome out for a run too. Normally Rome would be at work by now, creating stunning glass pieces with his wife Freya. Although as it was Saturday it was possible that the glass studio was opening a little later. With only a few days left until Christmas a lot of the shops were now on reduced opening hours as they wound down for their festive break. Most shops, once they closed on Christmas Eve, wouldn’t open again until the New Year, and some had closed already.
He waved at his friend and Rome came running over to talk to him. Rome stopped in front of him trying to catch his breath for a second before he spoke.
‘How’s it going?’ Rome asked. ‘Does it feel good to be home?’
Dougie thought back to spending the night with Eden and how wonderful it had felt to wake up and find her in his arms this morning.
He thought about how good it had felt to walk hand in hand with her along the beach and hear her say that she wanted him to stay.
‘Yeah, it feels pretty bloody fantastic to be home actually.’
Rome nodded and indicated that they should carry on running so Dougie fell in at his side and they jogged around the perimeter of the park.
‘How’s married life treating you?’ Dougie asked.
A huge smile spread across Rome’s face, which caused Dougie to smile himself. He loved seeing his friend happy. After Rome’s fiancée had died in a horrible accident six years before, Dougie had thought that Rome would never find love again but then Freya had come along and saved him in more ways than one.
‘Getting married to Freya is the best thing I’ve ever done. Do you know what it feels like to wake up every morning with a huge smile on your face, to find the woman you love with everything you have lying asleep in your arms? I can’t even begin to describe how happy I am. And yes, I know I sound like a complete girl, feel free to take the piss out of me, I would if I was you, but I don’t even care.’
And normally Dougie would. Rome was one of his closest friends, they had grown up together and theirs was a relationship where they would wind each other up constantly, always knocking each other or trying to outdo the other, but Dougie couldn’t because he wanted all of that too.
‘And how do you feel about becoming a dad?’
‘I am so excited, you wouldn’t believe it. I’m probably more excited than Freya at the moment and she’s over the moon. You know we spend most nights cuddled up in bed, reading baby books together. I could tell you more about that baby than I could about stained glass. I’m so ready for the baby to come now, frustrating that she has to keep it in there for another five months.’
‘I’m envious of you,’ Dougie said and it was a few seconds before he realised that Rome had stopped dead. He stopped running and turned to look at him. ‘What? Are you OK?’
‘I just never thought I’d see the day that Dougie Harrison was ready to settle down and have kids. You’ve never been the settling-down type.’
‘This is my home now, probably for the rest of my life. It stands to reason that at some point I’m going to get married and have children one day. I see you and Bella so happy in your own relationships and I want that too.’
Rome stared at him as if he didn’t recognise him. ‘And has this change of heart got anything to do with Eden?’
Dougie sighed. He didn’t want to talk about him and Eden. That felt private, even though nothing had really happened between them. ‘I’ve got stuff to do, so I’m going to head back. I’ll see you later.’
He turned to go but Rome snagged his arm. ‘Look, I’m sorry if I was out of line with my comment the other day about you not being good enough for her. I was only joking, you know that, right?’
Dougie nodded.
‘I would be delighted if you two got together.’
‘The whole island wants us to get together, I’m not sure why.’
Rome grinned. ‘Because that’s what they do, the islanders have always been the same. But you stay at her house, everyone sees how close you two are, it’s the natural progression in everyone’s minds. Do you not see her that way?’
‘She’s my best friend.’ He left it at that.
Rome studied him for a moment. ‘Just… don’t hurt her.’
‘I have no intention of doing that.’
‘Good. Because I really don’t want to have to beat you up.’
Dougie grinned. ‘I’ll catch you later.’
Rome nodded and Dougie ran off in the opposite direction towards town.
He pushed the door open on Eden’s pottery café and saw that she was struggling to do a painted footprint of a small baby boy. There was a young girl who couldn’t have been older than thirteen years old holding the screaming baby and she didn’t seem to be having much luck in quietening him either. Eden was desperately trying to get paint onto the baby’s foot but the boy was kicking and screaming so much that she could barely get anywhere near him.
Dougie moved closer.
‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ Dougie said in a singsong voice he hoped would distract the baby. It didn’t work. He looked at the young girl who was looking very stressed and embarrassed about the situation. He winked at her. ‘Is he yours?’
The girl laughed. ‘No, he’s my little brother. I was hoping to get a plate with his footprint on as a Christmas present for my parents but he just won’t stop crying. He doesn’t need changing, he’s just been fed, but he still keeps crying. Maybe I should come back tomorrow and we can give it another go then.’
‘No, don’t go. Why don’t we just leave him for a few minutes to calm down and we can try again in a while,’ Dougie said. ‘Have you tried Clare’s amazing chocolate and ginger cake, it’s to die for. Let me buy you a slice of that and once you’ve finished it we can try again.’
He waved at Clare and she nodded.
‘Here, why don’t I hold him while you eat? What’s his name?’
‘Jake,’ the girl said. She looked relieved to hand him over for a few minutes’ reprieve and Dougie took the screaming bundle of arms and legs and held him up in the air, smiling at him as he brought him back down and then swung him back in the air again.
Jake, obviously shocked by the motion, momentarily stopped crying to stare at him. Dougie repeated the motion again and then brought him back down to cradle him in his arms. He looked at Jake, two huge angry blue eyes staring back at him. Dougie saw the lip quiver a little and Jake took a big in-breath so he could continue his wailing. Dougie quickly grabbed his foot and blew a raspberry on it, which had the effect of shocking the baby into submission again. Jake scowled at Dougie as if he couldn’t quite believe that Dougie had the audacity to do such a thing to him, so Dougie did it again, this time aiming the raspberry onto Jake’s toes. This elicited a little giggle so Dougie did it again. Then he did it on the other foot and Jake giggled again. He repeated this several times, breaking up the raspberry-blowing with puffing on Jake’s feet too.
‘Do you have a clean paintbrush?’ he said softly to Eden. She quickly handed it to him and he used it to tickle across Jake’s toes and then sweep across the feet. He could see Jake wasn’t entirely happy with this new sensation, so he alternated blowing raspberries on Jake’s feet and tickling him with the brush until the baby was used to it. Jake was still giggling intermittently, as if not entirely convinced that the whole thing was amusing, but at least he wasn’t crying any more.
While bouncing him up and down in his arms, talking to him in a soft voice, he dipped the paintbrush into the water and then swept that across the feet too. Jake barely seemed to notice so Dougie decided to take his chances and dip the brush into the paint, sweeping it quickly across one of Jake’s feet while talking to him, pulling funny faces and bouncing up and down.
Dougie looked at the foot and saw that there was enough paint on there and he nodded to Eden who quickly got the plate and held it against the foot to capture the print.
Jake protested a bit but the deed was done and Dougie soon distracted him with raspberries over his tiny little fists. Jake relented and laughed at Dougie’s attempts to cheer him up. As Eden quickly wiped the foot clean Dougie picked up a toy crab from the table and shook it at Jake. Jake reached for it with his little chubby hands and Dougie passed it to him and then placed him down in the pushchair. Jake seemed quite happy now, playing with his crab and the other toys that were attached to the sides. He probably wouldn’t stay quiet for long but at least the print was done.
‘Thank you so much,’ the girl said, as she finished her cake. She jiggled the pushchair a bit but Jake seemed more settled now.
‘No problem at all.’
He turned to look at Eden who was staring at him in a mix of awe and frustration.
‘You really can charm the birds from the trees, can’t you?’
He shrugged. ‘I have the magic touch.’
Eden just shook her head.
He looked over at Clare. ‘Can I have a gingerbread latte to go?’
She nodded and set about making it for him. He turned his attention back to Eden.
‘I have a meeting tonight with Isaac, so would you be able to meet me at the entrance to the meadow at around eleven o’clock? I’ll have everything ready for our date, so you don’t need to bring anything other than your lovely self.’
Eden sighed and he could see she didn’t really want to go. He had to admit sitting on a beach in the freezing cold in the middle of the night didn’t exactly fill him with a warm glow either.
‘Dougie, do we have to go through all this façade, you and I both know this isn’t real. We could watch movies and cuddle on the sofa instead.’
Now that did sound very tempting but he had a plan and he meant to carry it out.
‘Look, I promise it’ll be worth it,’ he said, fixing her with his best puppy dog eyes. ‘Besides, you owe me for the baby-whispering.’ He indicated Jake, who was now fast asleep.
She smiled and rolled her eyes and he knew he had won.
‘Fine,’ Eden said. ‘I’ll be there.’
Clare came round and gave him his coffee and again waved away his attempts to pay for the coffee and the cake. She hurried off to go and serve another customer and he turned back to face Eden.
He bent to give her a kiss on the cheek. ‘I’ll see you tonight.’
She smiled and he waved at Clare and at the girl then left.
He just had to hope that Eden would be as impressed with his efforts tonight as Jake had been with his raspberry tricks.
Eden watched him go and then went behind the counter with Clare. It was ridiculous but there were times he actually made her legs shake like jelly. It was such a cliché but seeing him holding Jake so sweetly pressed every emotional button inside her.
She let out a huff of breath and tried to ignore that Clare was staring at her with a big grin on her face.
‘You ever been to Mistletoe Cove?’ Eden asked, trying to change the subject.
‘No, only crazy people go there, you’d cut yourself open on the hawthorn trees trying to get down to the beach. And the cliff side is so steep, so many people have hurt themselves trying to get the mistletoe and falling onto the shore.’
‘There’s a hidden cave that bypasses the hawthorn trees, I don’t think many people know about it. There’s still quite a climb down but it’s not as hard as it first looks.’
She and Dougie had never seen the danger when they had been kids. The more they had been told to keep away, the more determined they had been to go there. They had found the cave by chance one day and although the rocks down to the beach on the other side of the cave were jagged and hard to navigate, they had faced them in that fearless way that all children seem to have and, after many visits, found the best possible route down to the sand.
Clare shook her head. ‘The boys wanted to go down to it in the summer, but I told them that I’d like to keep them alive and intact, thank you very much. Of course that has made Bradley want to go down there even more.’
Eden smiled. That was exactly how she and Dougie had been as kids, always going where they shouldn’t have gone.
‘Have you seen the blowhole?’ she asked.
‘The wishing well, yes we saw it from the boat. Matthew loved it, he kept on cheering every time it erupted.’
Eden stilled in wiping the counter down. ‘It’s really called the wishing well?’
‘Yes of course, many a wish has been granted from the wishing well.’
‘Come on, you’re having me on.’
Clare shook her head. ‘No, I’m really not. Not every wish comes true but lots of people have had their wishes granted at the wishing well.’
Eden stared at her in disbelief. ‘Why have I never heard about this before?’
‘It was years ago that it was popular for people to go down there and make their wishes – before the war, I think. My gran used to tell me all about it. But then the hawthorn trees got really big and out of control and there was that horrible incident with Bill McKenzie and no one has ever really been back there since. But my gran had wishes come true after she threw them into the wishing well. She told me you have to write three wishes on a piece of paper and throw them into the well at midnight.’
This was a joke. Dougie had told Clare to say this to her. Clare was the most level-headed, rational person she knew. She was the least likely person in the world to believe in magic and wishes coming true, but she was saying it with such sincerity.
‘What were the wishes?’
‘She wished that her husband would come home safely from the war, she wished that her baby would be born healthy and – because those were the only two things she wanted and she knew it wouldn’t work unless she had three wishes – she wished for something ridi
culous.’
‘What was that?’
‘That’d she’d win the best in show for her cake at the summer fair.’
Eden laughed.
‘All the wishes came true. My gran was a lousy cook. Her cakes were like biting into stones but that year, and only that year, her cake was amazing. Or so she says.’
Eden shook her head. She didn’t believe it for one minute. Dougie’s wishes and Clare’s gran’s wishes were all simply coincidences. Sure, meeting Harrison Ford was a pretty big coincidence, and making the best cake on the island when all your cakes had been disasters before was very lucky, but they weren’t exactly impossible wishes.
‘My gran wasn’t the only one who had wishes come true,’ Clare insisted, clearly seeing the doubt on Eden’s face.
‘If it really was a magical wishing well, people would be coming from all over the world to try it.’
‘It was always supposed to be the island’s little secret. As much as we love the tourists coming here, the islanders didn’t want them arriving in their thousands back then. Apparently there was a town council meeting about the wishing well once it was found to be granting wishes. It was agreed by everyone on the island that we would never tell anyone off the island about it. And after Bill’s accident and the police banned people from ever going there, it was almost forgotten by the locals over the years. Most of the people that were alive when the wishing well was popular are no longer with us, but my gran told me many stories about it before she died. I was always tempted to try it myself, but I don’t have a death wish.’
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.