by Izzy Bayliss
It was a lovely evening in late spring, sprinkled with the promise of long summer days to come. It had been a busy day earlier, but now Baked with Love was quietly awaiting the arrival of the first guests for our engagement party.
“Ready?” Sam asked.
I nodded, and he flicked the switch on the fairy lights that we had hung after the last customer had left. I clapped my hands together gleefully as the whole room lit up magically.
Sam’s family were the first to arrive. Marita ran straight over and hugged me. “I’m so glad you two worked it out because I can’t wait to be an auntie!” she squealed.
I couldn’t help but get caught up by her enthusiasm.
Clara, Tom, and the boys came through the door next. Clara and Tom were holding hands. I was glad to see that the events with Olga were put behind them and if anything they were now more in love than ever.
“Lily!” she sang, kissing the air around my face and grabbing the champagne flute out of my hand before I had a chance to give it to her. She had dressed the boys in miniature suits with bowties. They were tugging at their collars, trying to loosen them, but Clara kept swatting their little hands away.
“So how are my two favourite little men?” I asked the boys while Clara had gone to hang up all their coats.
“You look fat, Auntie Lily,” Joshua said.
It had been a few weeks since I had last seen the boys and my bump was starting to push forward, so I suppose I probably did look fat.
“Cheers, Joshua!”
“Er, I’ll just see if Clara needs a hand . . .” a mortified Tom said, excusing himself.
“Did you know that your Auntie Lily has a baby in her tummy?” Sam said, crouching down to Joshua’s level.
“But she’s not married!”
“Well, no, but you don’t have to be married to have a baby –” Sam said.
“Yes, you do.” He nodded definitely. “My mummy said that.”
Sam grinned and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “We had better get up that aisle quickly or you’ll have a lot of explaining to do!”
“You’ll never guess who I just met –” Clara said, rejoining us.
“Who?” I said.
“Well, I needed change for the parking meter so I went into that new Starbucks and guess who was standing in a black apron asking the queue if they wanted a tall-, grande-, or venti-sized coffee?”
“Who?” we all chorused together.
“Marc!” she said, smacking her lips together triumphantly.
I nearly choked. “Marc – are you sure, Clara?”
“Oh, it was definitely him all right, at first he tried to pretend that he didn’t know me, but when I insisted that I knew him, he hissed that he was trying to go incognito and that he was only working there to get into character for his new role!”
We all fell around the place laughing. God, he was pathetic. “I think Nadia finally got tired of bankrolling him.”
“That my friend is called karma,” Frankie said, giving me a high five.
Dad arrived through the door a few minutes later, but my jaw dropped when I realised that he wasn’t on his own, Mabel was standing beside him. He began to blush profusely as all eyes landed on the pair of them. I looked over at Clara who was studying Mabel with narrowed eyes, and I prayed she wasn’t going to say anything to ruin it for Dad.
“Dad! Mabel! Here, have a glass of bubbly,” I said, mentally telling myself to close my mouth and compose myself.
I risked another glance at Clara, and almost in slow motion, her features began to relax and the crease in her forehead softened. She could see what I could – Dad looked happy. It had been a long time since we had seen him like this. “Mabel,” she said, holding out her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
Once everyone had a glass in hand, Tom raised a toast. “To Lily and Sam!”
“To Lily and Sam!”
A chorus of clinking glasses filled the air. Frankie and I banged our glasses of apple juice together with a wink. I was relieved to see that she was taking much better care of herself. She was going to bed early at night and getting up early in the morning. She had given up alcohol and had joined the gym. She declined invitations to launch parties or nights out because she didn’t trust herself yet. I knew it was tough on her when the people she worked with constantly were asking her to come out with them “just for one,” particularly after a hectic shoot, but she stayed strong and just made up an excuse about why she couldn’t join them. Already she was looking better. Her skin had lost the grey lackluster pallor and puffiness it had taken on in recent months, and she looked more youthful.
“Speech, speech, speech!” Frankie chanted and everyone fell quiet as Sam cleared his throat. “Well, I just want to say thank you to my beautiful fiancée, Lily, for finally agreeing to be my wife. And now that I’ve finally got her to say yes, I’m going to put a ring on it sharpish before she changes her mind again,” Sam said.
There was raucous laughter.
I looked around at my little bakery where the fairy lights twinkled softly. It was filled with the people who meant the most to me. And although Clara was holding her champagne flute up to the light to check for fingermarks, while Tom was swiping a glass from Jacob’s hand just before he lowered the champagne down his throat, I felt so blessed. I lay back in Sam’s arms and thought to myself how lucky I was to have all of this. I had an amazing boyfriend and we were set to become parents, I had the best friends and family a girl could ask for, and I had a job I loved. When Marc had left me, I thought my world had ended, but in reality it was only beginning, and everything that had come after that had been amazing.
I noticed Dad had put his arm around Mabel’s shoulder, and she rested in against him like they had always been together. I always thought I would find it strange seeing Dad with a girlfriend, but instead I felt happy for them both. They were perfect for each other. I could see that lately Dad had a new joie de vivre about him that I had never seen before and now I knew the reason.
I felt our baby give me a little kick as if to say they wanted to be included in the party too. I placed my hands over my growing bump and let myself soak up this feeling of sheer happiness.
This is the bit where I say “and they all lived happily ever after” and we did. The magic of cake had brought so much happiness into our lives; it had lead me to Sam, it brought Mabel into Dad’s life, and Frankie . . . well, right at this moment she is chatting to Sam’s friend Harry. There’s a sparkle in her eyes that’s been missing for a while now, so who knows, maybe cake will work its magic once again?
THE END
If you enjoyed Baked with Love, then I would really appreciate if you could help me out by leaving a review on Amazon. Reviews really help to get a book noticed by Amazon who will then promote it to new readers so they are hugely important to us authors. It doesn’t have to be long – just one line will do – and I will love you forever.
Here is the link to the book’s Amazon page:
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Thank you so much. x
BAILEYS WHITE CHOCOLATE GATEAU RECIPE
This cake is a real show-stopper, it’s rich and decadent and with 3 sponge layers, it’s BIG too so would make a perfect celebration cake especially at Christmas for non fruitcake fans. If you’re not familiar, Baileys is an Irish cream liqueur made from whiskey and gives a gorgeous flavour to the frosting.
Ingredients
300g butter (the real stuff please )!
150g white chocolate – use good quality chocolate like Green & Blacks as some brands tend to curdle when you melt them.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
300g golden caster sugar
300g self-raising flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Splash of Baileys
Baileys Frosting
Frosting 240g butter
120g icing sugar
2 tbsp m
ilk/Baileys
METHOD
Heat the oven to 180c for a fan oven 160c for gas.
Grease 3 x 20cm sponge tins
Melt the butter and chocolate together over a medium heat, then pour into a mixer bowl and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Don’t worry if it separates when it cools.
Beat the butter and chocolate mixture together and then add in the eggs one by one along with batches of the sugar.
Add the vanilla, flour and baking powder and mix to make a smooth batter before adding a splash of Baileys.
Pour into the 3 tins and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check by inserting a clean skewer into the centre and if it comes out clean, it’s done.
Allow the cakes to cool and then tip them out of their tins gently onto a wire rack while you make the frosting.
Baileys Frosting
Mix room temperature butter the icing sugar until it makes a smooth paste.
Add the liquid if you like a strong Baileys taste you can add 2tbsp but if you prefer subtle, add 1tsbp milk and 1 of Baileys – you can adjust the ratio to your preference. Be careful not to add it altogether, you don’t want the icing to be runny.
Assemble the cake by sandwiching the layers together using the frosting and then use a spatula to decorate the top and sides. Then finish by grating white chocolate and sprinkle over the cake. Then prepare to wow your family and friends.
Enjoy xx
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book has been a while in the making and, as is the case in life, lots of things have happened in the meantime, so I want to thank all my loyal readers and people who contacted me wondering when it would be ready – thank you for your patience, I hope it has been worth the wait. I hope you will enjoy seeing what Lily has got up to since.
I wish to thank my ever-present family who put up with endless burnt dinners because I’m off in a fictional world once again.
I also owe a huge thank you to the amazingly supportive blogger community who have been so supportive of The Girl I Was Before. I am always amazed and so grateful for the job that you do helping us authors to spread the word.
I must also thank fellow author Janelle Brooke Harris who has been an invaluable help to me in my writing and is also a great coffee & cocktail date. My fellow bunkerettes – you know who you are – for their encouragement and advice. Najla Qamber (http://www.najlaqamberdesigns.com) for her brilliant cover. Once again you have been a pleasure to work with and can somehow manage to deliver exactly what I want when I don’t even know myself. Chrissy from EFC Services for your eagle eye.
Lastly, thank you for reading this book, it never ceases to amaze me that people take the time to read something I created in my head – I have to pinch myself that I get to do this for a living, and I’m very lucky!
Izzy xx
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Izzy Bayliss lives in Ireland with her husband, children, and their dog. A romantic at heart, she loves nothing more than cosying up in front of the fire with a good book. Her motto is that reality is overrated and she is happiest staring into space and daydreaming. She released The Girl I Was Before in 2016 and its sequel Baked with Love in 2018.
You can find out more about Izzy Bayliss on www.izzybayliss.com.
She can also be found hanging about on Facebook @izzybaylissauthor or Twitter @izzybayliss.
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