Winter at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington (inspirational books txt) 📕

another downfall?’ Nina asked and Juliette chuckled as Nina turned the lock on the cottage door and pushed it open. They stamped their feet on the mat, took off their boots and walked in, the warmth hitting them.

Sallie turned around and looked up at the sky as she closed the door. ‘I don’t think so, it’s too dark for it to snow again yet.’

‘Good. I hope it holds off until the naming ceremony and then blankets the Orangery in a lovely layer of it. Talking of that you should see the outfit I've found for Tillie. Oh my, it’s delightful!’

Nina proceeded to take Tillie's snowsuit off, pulled off her hat and started to feed her and asked Sallie to pop up and get the outfit.

Walking up the tiny cottage stairs, Sallie smiled while opening the door to the sweet pink and white bedroom. A tiny cloud and star mobile hung above the cot, beautiful pink heart bed linen was tucked into the cot and a sweet pale pink canopy nestled over the changing table. As she crossed the tiny room, she suddenly felt a pang and realised that she wanted a baby much more than she had let herself believe. She’d kept all her feelings locked up and pinned down inside her heart, not willing to let herself go anywhere near having what had happened before happen again.

Hanging on a tiny white hanger was a white, delicately embroidered dress with puff sleeves and a beautiful bow. Alongside it a hand-crocheted white shawl with a tiny fur edged collar and silky bow. She picked them up and went back downstairs with them.

‘Oh my. That is adorable! Where did you find it?’ Juliette exclaimed, touching the beautiful fabric.

‘A boutique not far from work - I must’ve walked past a million times over the years and never been in. They were so lovely and then said they had someone who made up tiny crochet cardigans and she made the shawl cape and I asked for it to be lined with white fur.’

‘It’s exquisite - I love it. She’s made a beautiful job of it.’

‘I know. It’ll probably be messed up in no time with baby sick but I couldn’t resist. Let me put it this way, it was not cheap.’

‘I don’t blame you.’ Sallie looked at it wistfully and touched the delicate crochet.

‘By the way, I keep forgetting to double-check - you and Ben are definitely still good for the guardian role? I know we signed all the paperwork in front of the witnesses and everything but just checking before the last step.’

‘Absolutely,’ Sallie replied, nodding.

‘Good, I’ve got all the paperwork with the solicitors, so it’ll be all done and sealed soon. It’ll take a load off my mind - not that I’m intending on going anywhere, but you know, what with my mum and the dementia and no one else and you know...’

Nina had been insistent that the papers were sorted for the guardianship. Sallie had thought in the back of her mind that it was all a bit odd - as if anything was going to happen to Nina but then Nina’s point had been that you never knew, which she guessed was technically correct.

Sallie had supposed that with Nina’s passion for always having everything under control and the fact that her mum was shut away in an old people’s home with dementia it meant that she wanted every base covered when it came to Tillie. Nina liked everything to be in order, every eventuality taken care of, every box ticked. She sat there thinking about it as Tillie was feeding and thought that anyone else would probably be the same in Nina’s shoes. It just didn’t bear thinking about though that something bad might happen. Sallie couldn’t envisage a life without Nina, it was like they were meant to meet - it was like she was the sister she had never had.

Nina shifted and sat up as Ottilie finished feeding. She sat Ottilie up on her knee, patted her back and Ottilie let out a huge burp and a bit of milk dribbled down onto her bib.

They all started laughing and said they hoped she didn’t do that on the dress on the day.

Chapter 20

‘Hey lovely, come in, it’s freezing out there.’ Holly kissed Sallie on either side of her cheeks and took her scarf and hat.

Sallie loved it at Holly’s house - she’d somehow managed to make the high modern ceilings and timber floors cosy and warm and there was always something delicious bubbling away on the stove. She looked out of the huge bank of black, bi-fold doors leading out to the garden to a blanket of snow, piled up on the window ledges of the shed and the furniture around the pool.

‘Looking beautiful out there, isn’t it?’ Sallie said as she looked out over the garden.

‘Don’t know about that, not a big fan of the cold, as you know, but yes it does make everything look clean,’ Holly responded, and her pretty white and black cat who was curled up on the heated floor made a sound as if to say she totally agreed about not liking the cold.

‘How’re you doing then? I’ve been so busy it feels like we haven’t chatted properly for ages.’

‘Good. No news really, but I’m not pregnant, so that’s disappointing. I had this feeling in the back of my head that I was, and then nothing on the test.’

‘Sorry Sallie, maybe you’ll have to go down the IVF route. I know you didn’t want to do that yet, but you’ve not really got time on your side.’

‘I know, we had the very same conversation. Going to get Christmas out the way and then if nothing’s happened by the New Year, I’ll make an appointment.’

‘I’d do that now if I were you - there’s no harm and the waiting list probably isn’t short. Rory was only talking about it the other day how the waiting times haven’t improved much at all, despite the