Page 20 of A New Arrival at Cwtch Cove

‘I’ll just clean up so your mum doesn’t come in to find mess tomorrow then we can get going.’

Alice sat back and placed her hands on her belly. Her life could be very different to how it had been but she knew that she had many things to be grateful for. She had her mum, a roof over her head, food in her belly and, apparently,possibly, a baby in there too. But she’d also made a new friend and while there would probably never be anything more than friendship between them, she would be happy with that. Henry was a good person and the type of friend she needed to have around, especially now.

There was so much to think about but first things first; she’d go home and wait to speak to her mum and take it from there. This might not have been in her life plan but neither was losing her job. Sometimes life took an unexpected turn, but with people around who cared, she’d be able to navigate in another direction.

Whatever happened, Henry was right, she wasn’t going to be alone.

Chapter16

Trudy

‘Hello? Alice? Are you home, love?’ Trudy called as she closed the front door of the cottage behind her.

‘I’m in the lounge, Mum.’

‘Be with you in a minute.’ Trudy hung up her coat and bag, toed off her shoes and put her Crocs on then went through to the lounge. She set the shopping bags on the floor and smiled at her daughter. ‘How was your day?’

Alice rolled her bottom lip through her teeth and Trudy took a slow breath before asking, ‘Tough one?’ she asked.

‘Kind of. Could you sit down?’ Alice shuffled forwards on the sofa so she was perched at the edge of the seat.

‘Of course.’ Trudy sat down and placed her hands in her lap. Tried not to fidget. Put effort into maintaining a neutral expression.

‘So… I, uh… I did a test today.

‘A pregnancy test?’

Alice nodded.

Wow! Here we go…

‘It was positive.’

Trudy went to stand up then faltered and sat back down again. How was she supposed to react? She wasn’t sure. In most cases this would be a positive thing but was it positive for Alice? Was Alice happy about it? She didn’t know. She couldn’t tell.

‘Obviously, I’ll need to see the GP and have everything confirmed but yes… the test was positive. So I’m probably pregnant.’

‘How do you feel about that, angel?’ Trudy asked softly.

‘I’m kind of in shock to be honest.’

‘Oh love, I’m sure you are.’

‘Nanna knew though, didn’t she?’

‘She does tend to have a sixth sense with these kinds of things. She knew I was expecting you before I did.’ Trudy rubbed at a fingernail, pushed the cuticle back. ‘This… doesn’t have to be sad news though, does it? I mean, I know you hadn’t planned this and you’re not with the father but there are ways around these things now. All that matters is that you’re OK in yourself. Everything else, we can work around.’

Alice bobbed her head. Her eyes were shining so Trudy got up and went to her then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. ‘Everything will be OK, Alice, you’ll see.’

‘Thanks, Mum. I need to see the doctor, I know, and then think about telling Tarquin.’

‘How do you think he’ll feel?’

‘I have no idea but I don’t think he’ll exactly be jumping for joy. Having a baby with a colleague, or ex-colleague in my case, isn’t on most people’s bucket lists.’ Alice snorted and her face creased up. Trudy tightened her arm around her daughter’s shoulders but then she realised that Alice was laughing. ‘Oh, Mum, I’ve messed up this time. Really messed up big time. I’m such an idiot.’

‘Hey…’ Trudy turned to face Alice then took her face in her hands and gazed into her eyes. ‘It might seem like that right now but in a few months, you’ll probably see it completely differently.’

‘Do you think?’

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