“Oooh, look Mummy!” James pointed at The Cosy Cottage Café as they walked through the gate. The path and steps were lined with pumpkins of varying sizes. Each one had a different expression and glowed in the twilight. Dawn knew they had LED tealights inside them instead of naked flames. Allie always considered the safest option with children around, which Dawn was glad of as James’s curiosity meant he’d probably try to examine their light source.

The trees in the café garden and the pergola were draped with strings of tiny pumpkin-shaped lights and a few black bats dangled from them, swaying in the gentle evening breeze.

The front of the café itself was dressed with fake cobwebs that hung from the shutters, and to the side of the front door, was a four-foot skeleton. As the café door opened and Allie emerged carrying a tray, the skeleton cackled and shook.

“Mummy, it’s alive!” James grabbed her hand.

“Don’t be silly, James,” Laura said. “It’s obviously activated when someone goes near it, which means it has a movement sensor.”

Dawn looked at Rick and he shrugged. “I guess she’s learned about it in school.”

“Or watching the Discovery Channel.”

“Hello!” Allie called as she approached them, depositing the tray she was carrying on a nearby table.

In keeping with the café theme, Allie was dressed as a giant pumpkin. She was wearing black tights and boots with a velvet pumpkin dress that hung to her knees. On her head was a green headband with a thick green stalk sticking out of it. She’d tied her hair back and painted her face orange.

“You look amazing, Allie. You always make such an effort.”

Allie smiled warmly.

“Have you seen Jordan and Max yet?”

Dawn looked around and spotted the young men at the drinks table. She took in their matching grey werewolf costumes. They’d outlined their eyes with coal pencil and drawn whiskers around their stick on snouts.

“I told them they’d terrify the children looking like that but Jordan insisted that kids these days aren’t scared by werewolves. Popular culture means that if they saw a zombie walking along the street they wouldn’t bat an eyelid.” Allie shook her head.

“How things change, eh?”

“And you guys look great! Laura, I think you are the scariest vampire I’ve ever seen.”

“I’m not a vampire, I’m a witch.”

“Oh!” Allie grimaced at Dawn. “Of course you are. And James… you are a terrifying ghost.”

“You can see me?”

“Who said that?” Allie frowned and batted the air around her, causing James to giggle.

“You can see me when I say you can,” James said, throwing back the hood of the white robe that Dawn had fashioned out of an old sheet. It was a simple costume but James had insisted that he wanted to be a ghost like the ones in the old movies, because then he could be invisible. “See me now!” He clapped his hands and Allie gasped.

“Well that’s just amazing.”

James giggled. Dawn wasn’t convinced that he believed he was invisible but he was enjoying himself, so it didn’t really matter.

“Allie, did you hear about Wallace?” Laura asked.

“No…” Allie glanced at Dawn and Dawn shook her head.

“He’s a she and she had babies.”

“Really?” Allie raised her eyebrows. “That’s amazing.”

Dawn bit her lip to hold her laughter in. She had told her friend about the replacement guinea pig’s surprise delivery the previous Tuesday, when she’d met up with her friends at the café, but she’d told Allie that the children would probably want to tell her all about it themselves.

“I had my suspicions that something was wrong because Wallace was so fat.” Laura nodded.

“You did?”

“Yes. And… the strangest thing was that his… her… eyes changed colour.”

“Did they?” Dawn blurted the question before she could stop herself.

“Oh yes. I noticed that there was something different about Wallace at the same time I noticed that she was fatter.”

“I see.” Rick’s smile was getting bigger by the minute.

“Wallace’s eyes were pinky-red but they changed to blue. It must have been because she was going to have babies.” Laura folded her arms and turned to Dawn. “When will your eyes change colour, Mummy?”

Dawn gulped under her daughter’s scrutiny and Allie snorted loudly.

“What? What’s wrong?” Laura asked. “Why is that funny?”

Rick squeezed his daughter’s shoulder. “We’ll talk about it later, angel. I think Mummy and I need to explain a few things to you.”

“Yes, I think we do,” Dawn said.

“Oh, okay. Can we go and get a drink, Mummy?” Laura asked.

“Of course.”

Laura and James went over to the drinks table and James tugged on Jordan’s furry tail. Jordan kept turning around, pretending not to know who was there.

“Well that’s something we can’t allow her to believe, Rick.” Dawn shook her head. “I think we’ll have to tell her the truth about Wallace.”

“She’s pretty sensible, Dawn, so I think she’ll understand why you did it.” Allie smiled.

“I think she will, too. At least if she is sad about Wallace the first, the new guinea pigs will help to cheer her up. Although I do miss the original Wallace, I have to be honest.”

“Well you’ll have our new baby to cheer you up soon.” Rick slid his arm around Dawn’s shoulders. “And this is yet another amazing party, Allie.”

“Most of this was down to Jordan and Max. They’re a very efficient couple. Although, I have to admit that Chris did prepare a lot of the food.”

“Again? Wow, he’s definitely a keeper.” Dawn didn’t try to hide her delight from Allie. She was so happy that her friend had found such a good man.

“Come and have a look at the food. It’s incredible.”

“I’ll keep an eye on the children.” Rick kissed Dawn’s cheek.

She went over to the long trestle table that was covered in an orange cloth, and eyed the Halloween delights that Chris had made that afternoon. Savoury foods included witch fingers, ham and cheese bread bones, mummy dogs, pumpkin risotto and cheese and pretzel broomsticks. Then there were toffee apples, chocolate apples, chocolate bat- shaped cookies, meringue ghost tartlets and mini mice cakes.

Chris was standing behind the trestle table wearing a black suit and cape, complete with drawn-on widow’s peak and plastic fangs.

“Hello, Dawn! Can I offer you a mummy dog?”

She laughed. “Not just yet thank you, Nosferatu, but they do look delicious.”

“Nothing but the best for the village.” He winked. “You might also want to try the blood beetroot mocktail that Jordan is serving. The cocktail version is pretty tasty but I know that at the moment…” He nodded at her bump.

“No alcohol for me.” Dawn placed a hand on her belly. “Only another twenty or so weeks to go, depending on whether baby comes early, on time or late. And even after she arrives, I’ll be unable to drink for a while if I’m breastfeeding.”

She realised Allie and Chris were staring at her.

“What? Is it because I said breastfeeding?”

Allie’s eyes had filled with tears.

“No. You said… she.”

Dawn gasped. “So I did! We weren’t going to tell people but we found out at the twenty-week scan. Rick said not to ask but it was quite clear that there was no little penis there.”

“Oh that’s so wonderful! Congratulations!” Allie hugged her.

“Don’t say anything, though. We need to tell Laura and James first and I don’t think our son will be too pleased.”

“He wants a brother?” Chris asked.

“Really badly. And after finding out that Wallace number two was a girl, well… he feels outnumbered.”

“You can always try for a boy next time.” Allie winked.

“We’ll see. I know we’re making some big changes to our lives but this baby was a surprise, so I don’t know about a fourth one.”

“And sorry about the hiccup with Wallace.” Chris shook his head. “It was just such a rush to find a replacement that I didn’t think to check. And then for her to be pregnant on top of it.”

“Don’t worry about it. The children are delighted to have all the pups too.”

“Shall we get a drink?” Allie asked.

“Lovely.”

At the drinks table, Allie ladled a ruby coloured liquid into two plastic cups.

“Do you want to sit down?”

Dawn nodded so they took seats under the pergola.

“How’re you feeling now?” Allie asked.

“Much better. Clearing the air was the best thing we could have done. And now that Rick is going to be home all the time… well…” Dawn leaned back in her seat and stared up at the tiny pumpkin lights. “I just feel so lucky.”

“I’m so glad it worked out for you both.”

“Thank you for being there for me. You’re such a good friend.”

“Stop it or you’ll have me tearing up again.”

“Anyway, cheers!” Dawn held out her plastic cup. “Here’s to the future.”

“A future that looks very bright indeed.”

They tapped their cups together.

“And how is Fenella?”

Dawn had outlined the basics about her chat with her mother-in-law when they’d met up last week, and about their plans for Fenella to visit more regularly, but she’d held back the more personal details, of course.

“Well… I told Rick about how his mother was feeling; I couldn’t keep it from him really, and he insisted on speaking to his father. Paul admitted that he’d probably got a bit carried away with his hobbies since he retired, then he promised to make more of an effort with his wife. I rang Fenella yesterday to ask if she’s coming to stay this Thursday, and she said she’d have loved to but she can’t as Paul is taking her to Cornwall… Poldark spotting!”

“No!” Allie laughed.

“Yes! She’s delighted. She even asked me if I thought she might see Aidan with his shirt off.”

Allie clutched her stomach as she laughed and Dawn covered her bump with her hands; the baby was fluttering there, as if she was enjoying the joke too.

“I hope you told her to take lots of photos if she does see him.”

“Of course.”

“Hello darlings!” Camilla sashayed towards them. “What’s so funny?”

Dawn’s jaw hit the ground as she looked at her sister’s outfit.

“Camilla, that’s what I call a costume.” Allie wolf-whistled. “It’s like that scene out of Grease when Sandy turns up all sexy.”

“Are you all right, Dawn?” Camilla asked.

“Yes… fine… I just saw your… costume and… wow!”

“It’s a little something I had in the cupboard.”

“You fibber.”

“Okay, well it’s a little something I ordered especially for this evening.”

“From the cat-alogue?” Allie giggled.

“I don’t care where you got it from, Camilla, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for a children’s party.” Dawn eyed her sister. “It’s barely there.”

Camilla was wearing a metallic-black wet-look jumpsuit with a zip-up front, slashed leg detailing and cut out shoulders. It clung to her svelte frame like a second skin. To top it off, she had on a black cat mask that covered her eyes and forehead and sparkled with silver glitter. Her short dark hair had been gelled into spikes.

“I’ve just popped by to say hello. I’m off to another party later on.”

“Oh?” Dawn raised her eyebrows.

“Yes, oh.” Camilla grinned.

“In the village?”

Camilla nodded.

“Is it at the new vet’s house?” Allie asked.

“That’s the one.”

“We had invites too but I didn’t really fancy going. I’m quite partial to my evenings on the sofa followed by an early night.” Dawn thought about the past couple of nights, where after the children had gone to bed, she and Rick would cuddle up on the sofa and watch TV together. It was so nice, so much better than sitting alone wondering what time he’d come home. She had asked Rick if he wanted to go to the fancy-dress party, suggested asking her mother to babysit, but he’d told her he just wanted to know his children were safely tucked up in bed and that his wife was in his arms. It was almost like they were rediscovering each other all over again and Dawn knew that she didn’t want to be anywhere else of an evening either. There would be plenty of time for parties and the like after baby number three joined them.

“Chris and I would have gone too but it’ll be late by the time we’ve cleaned up here and he’s got edits to work on tomorrow, so a late night isn’t the best thing for him.”

“Well you party poopers, I intend to enjoy myself.”

“Hold on…” Allie placed a finger on her lips. “Isn’t the new vet… what’s his name—”

“Tom.” Camilla blurted.

“That’s it! Tom Stone. Isn’t he pretty good-looking?”

Dawn watched her sister’s cheeks darken.

“He’s all right. For a vet.”

“Is that why you’re looking so sexy?” Dawn giggled. “You fancy the vet.”

“I do not.” Camilla pouted. “And keep your voices down, won’t you? I don’t want this getting back to him.”

“What because that outfit won’t give him ideas?”

“You know I don’t date anyone from the village,” Camilla said. “It’s far too risky to get involved with someone local.”

“Perhaps he’ll offer you a free examination though.” Allie snorted. “You know, with you being a cat and all. He might even take your temperature…”

“Oh stop it.” Camilla flicked the stick on tail that she’d been toying with. “I’m just going to a party, I’ll have a few drinks then I’ll head home. Alone.”

“Just be careful.” Dawn pointed a finger at her sister. “But have fun.”

“What’s all this then?” Rick asked as he joined them.

“Camilla’s having a night on the tiles.” Allie blurted.

“She’s like a cat on a hot tin roof.” Dawn added.

“Watch you don’t get stuck in the cat flap if you get home late.” Rick joined in.

“Right, that’s it, I’m off. I’m not staying here for you to poke fun at me.”

“Ring me in the morning.” Dawn met her sister’s green eyes. “Let me know how it goes.”

“Okay, Dawnie.” Camilla kissed her cheeks then Allie’s before sauntering along the path and out onto the street.

“I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Allie said.

“She probably does. My sister never does anything without thinking it through. Although he must be pretty special if she’s breaking her no dating anyone from the village rule.”

“Let’s hope so. Anyway, I’d better go and give Chris a hand.” Allie got up and took Dawn’s empty cup. “You want a refill?”

“Not just yet, thanks.”

“Why’s Camilla so dressed up?” Rick sat next to Dawn.

“Fancies the vet.”

“Does she now? But Camilla never dates anyone local.”

“Perhaps this time is different.”

“I take it he’s hot then?” Laughter danced in his eyes.

“I have no idea.”

“You can tell me.”

“I haven’t seen him yet.”

“Shall we fabricate an animal emergency so we can check him out?”

“Rick…” Dawn nudged him. “We can’t do that.”

“Sure we can. Actually we’ve had an animal emergency, haven’t we? We could ask him to come round to check on the baby guinea pigs.”

“Oh, I don’t know.”

“Don’t you want to make sure he’s good enough for Camilla?”

“I’m sure she can take care of herself. She’s been doing it for long enough.”

Camilla had protected her heart for all of her adult life, but Dawn always worried that her sister would get hurt at some point. If she hadn’t already been hurt that was. After all, it wouldn’t be like Camilla to let on if she had been.

Squeals of excitement broke into her thoughts and she looked over to where Jordan was guiding tiny ghosts, pumpkins, fairies, witches and skeletons around the garden. It seemed that some of the children were looking for clues in some sort of monster treasure hunt. Max, meanwhile, was supervising the games of Frankenstein bowling, which involved knocking down tins painted with monster faces, and every time someone hit them over, there was a loud cheer.

“We’re so lucky to live in Heatherlea,” Dawn said, as Rick wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

“Are you sure?” Dawn asked her husband as she gazed into his eyes.

“Never been more certain about anything. I love you Dawn Dix-Beaumont and I always will do.”

He cupped her chin then kissed her gently.

“Oh!” she gasped.

“What is it?”

“Feel.” She guided his hand to her belly and he smiled.

“Little one is busy tonight.”

“She certainly is.”

“Just like her mum always is.”

“Not as much now that you’re home.”

“And I bet she’ll be beautiful… just like her mum.”

“Thank you.”

“No, Dawnie, thank you.”

“What for?”

“For making me happier than I could have wished for.”

Dawn sighed with contentment as she snuggled into him.

“I’m happier than I ever could have imagined too.”

And they stayed that way for some time, on a perfectly cool and crisp autumn evening, watching their two children as they played on the lawn of The Cosy Cottage Café.

Life wasn’t always perfect; there were bumps and grooves in the road, and there would no doubt be more ups and downs along the way. But Dawn and Rick had each other and their wonderful family, so they knew that they would be okay.