Love on the Rocks: A Heartswell Harbour Romance

by Mavis Williams

  Lucy stretched in the warmth and comfort of the café they had decided to call The Heartswell Hub Café and Book Room. She decided that being six months pregnant, in February, cuddled beside a roaring wood stove in a café she had created with her own hands, surrounded by people she loved, was just about the best feeling in the world.

  Jo’s baby, little Emma, had been born just a week before and Lucy was impressed with Jo’s quiet confidence as she learned the ropes of new motherhood. It just seemed to come naturally to her, while Lucy was as uncertain at six months as she had been when the pregnancy test came back positive.

  Dorian just smiled a lot and talked about taking Baby fishing.

  Lucy had been devouring parenting books, parenting podcasts and jelly-filled donuts. She wished she craved pickles, but here she was, sugary fingers and jelly in the corner of her mouth with no indication that the sugar craving was going away anytime soon.

  Dorian passed her a tissue, then leaned over and kissed the jelly off her mouth.

  “Will you say yes if I ask you today?” he asked, snuzzling his face into her neck.

  “Probably not.” She smiled at him.

  “Lucy still won’t marry me, Ida,” he said. He sat opposite Lucy and picked up her foot to massage it. She tipped back her head and groaned with pleasure.

  “I might if you promise to do that every day.” She lifted her other foot onto his lap, wiggling her toes at him.

  “She wants to wait ‘til spring, Dowian. She telled you that a million times,” Ida said, shrugging her arms into the air like there was simply nothing to be done with this man. “I telled you and telled you. Baby first, then maybe get married.”

  “Maybe?” Dorian grinned.

  “If you is lucky.” Ida rolled off Raisin and skipped across the room. She had traded in her tutu for a long satin cape that tied around her neck and flowed out behind her when she moved. She still had her axe, though. “Can we go now, Dowian?”

  “Tell your mom I said hi, Princess. And take some of those muffins we wrapped up for her in the kitchen, okay?” Lucy was always anxious when Ida went to visit Connie, even though the visits were supervised. Dorian had won custody so there was no concern that Ida would move back in with her mother, but Lucy knew it would always be a complicated relationship. Since her release from jail Connie had been sober, she was working regularly, and she seemed content to visit with Ida once a week for a few hours. As long as Ida was happy, it was all working out.

  Ida crawled up on the sofa and rubbed her face against Lucy’s, her favorite way to say goodbye. She made a snorking noise with her nose, and Lucy snorked back at her. Then she did the same thing to her belly before skipping off to the kitchen, her cape flowing behind her.

  “It’s all right, Lu,” Dorian released Lucy’s feet and stood up, reaching for her hand as he leaned down and kissed her. “I’ll bring her back safe and sound, I promise.”

  Lucy held on to his fingers and placed his hand on her belly. He smiled as he felt the baby fluttering beneath his touch.

  “I will marry you,” she said, looking into his eyes.

  “I know you will.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because Mumsy will never forgive you if you don’t,” he winked, rolling his r’s as he launched into his best Mumsy imitation. “Begorra! Bearin’ a bairn before betrothal! Well, I suppose ‘tis better than living with the Goat.”

  “I loves you, Lazy Eye,” Lucy said, giggling.

  “I loves you too, Loocy.”

  The Heartswell Harbour Review

  A Community Newsletter: Issue # 40

  Published monthly by the

  Heartswell Association of Women who Care (HAWC)

  The altruistic heart of Heartswell Harbour, building community one initiative at a time.

  Heartswell Hub: A baby and then a wedding?

  -HAWC President, Public Relations Manager and Social Chairwoman, Irenia Crawley

  Here we are in the middle of February and wouldn’t you know it? Romance is blossoming despite the frigid temperatures and piles of snow. Yes friends, we are looking forward to a spring wedding between our very own Lucy McMahon and Constable Dorian Wells (AKA Vanessa Ryder, romance novelist of Heartswell Harbour. Yes, Dorian, that little piece of information leaked out, far be it from me to note the source, but never fear! Your alias is safe with us, your Heartswell Harbour family.)

  The happy couple intend to wed on the soccer field of the old school, recently renamed the Heartswell Hub. We are simply thrilled by the transformation of the old building over the past few months as Lucy has worked tirelessly… guided, of course, by the discerning eyes of the HAWC (Ha! That’s a fun little play on words, isn’t it?) …to create the Hub Café and Book Room, and a community room where our local T’ai Chi club meet regularly. Rumor has it there will be a new and improved community garden in the spring, assuming Lucy can contain the goat which, as you may have heard, put a beating on Mary McMahon’s rose bushes this fall. Needless to say, Mary was seriously considering making goat-skin mittens the last time I spoke to her. Ha!

  Have no fear, Mary, we all expect you to forget all about goat when you welcome your first grandchild, Lucy’s new arrival, expected in the next few weeks. Of course, it is somewhat unusual for the wedding to happen after the birth, but the members of the Heartswell Association of Women who Care are nothing if not willing to embrace the modern age. We all look forward to Lucy changing her name when the time is right. As they say, timing is everything!

  Onward and upward, friends! Let us all continue in our efforts to improve our happy little community of Heartswell Harbour, one initiative at a time, as is the HAWC mandate!

  The End

  Note from the Author

  All I ever wanted to do was write stories… well, that, and have a bevy of children! I don’t know if four counts as a bevy, but I like the sound of the word so I’m going to leave it. You might find that tendency with my writing as well. I like the way it sounds, so it stays. My poor editor!

  I’ve been writing stories my whole life, in between and amongst the bevy, and the career and the marriage and the divorce and now, the empty nest. In the frenzy of raising my children, being a published author was a fantasy. If you are a writer, a maker, a busy mom, a person with a dream that seems impossible… keep pushing. The only failure is quitting. I tell myself that every day, every time self-doubt tries to drive the bus. Believe me, it tries every day. Whatever your improbable dream

  may be, it’s not going to be easy, but it can be possible. The fact that you are reading this, at the end of one of my novels, is proof of the possible. Thank you! For making it this far with me, and reading this story, and maybe even reading another one!

  Please feel welcome to connect with me at Mavis Williams: Blissfully Writing Studio to subscribe to my newsletter, learn about upcoming releases and hopefully find some inspiration to keep pushing toward your own improbable dream!

  Website: www.maviswilliams.com

  Email: libby@maviswilliams.com

  Facebook: @maviswilliamsblissfully

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