The following Tuesday, Honey opened the gate to The Cosy Cottage Café, and some of the tension that had settled in her shoulders since the weekend loosened. She loved the evenings she spent at the café with Allie, Camilla and Dawn. The three women were her closest friends in Heatherlea and the closest thing she had to a family.

The sky above the café garden glowed in shades of gold and orange. The air smelt fresh and new, delicately fragranced with spring flowers. In the borders surrounding the green lawn, daffodils, crocuses and tulips waved their colourful heads in the gentle breeze, a beautiful sea of yellow, white, red, purple and pink. The plants that climbed the front of the café were green and strong, and would soon be awash with colourful flowers, bringing a beautiful summer vibrancy to the old stone cottage.

Honey reached the café steps and admired the purple shutters that surrounded the windows, realising that they’d had a recent lick of paint, as had the white front door. Not only was the café a very pretty place, it was also warm and friendly, and the exterior conveyed this, from the garden to the warm glow that emanated from the windows.

A sound off to her right made Honey turn and she spotted Luna, one of Allie’s cats, stretching out on the path just behind the wooden specials board. Honey knew that the cats weren’t meant to be at the café since Allie had moved in with Chris, but she also knew that Luna, in particular, sneaked back some days to check on her old haunts.

Honey pushed open the door to the café and entered, immediately appreciating the warm interior, as well as savouring the delicious aromas of baking and coffee that always greeted her here.

“Honey!” Allie smiled from behind the counter. “We thought you’d never get here. Dawn is starving.”

Honey smiled in return. “Sorry. I don’t know what happened. I went out to put the chickens in the coop for the night and got distracted by a few weeds growing in one of my raised beds and when I next checked the clock, it was gone five and I still needed to shower.”

“Well you’re here now and didn’t make me wait any longer so I’ll forgive you,” Dawn said from the table near the log burner. “But I’m not sure about this little one.” She rubbed her swollen belly that stretched the navy and white striped material of her maternity dress.

“How’re you feeling?” Honey asked Dawn as she approached the table and took a seat next to Camilla.

“About to pop. Full yet ravenous. Uncomfortable. In need of a good night’s sleep yet I can’t sleep, because if I stay in one position for more than twenty minutes I get leg cramps. My boobs have already started leaking and don’t get me started on how many times I have to get up to pee.” Dawn shook her head.

“Did you have to ask her?” Camilla frowned at Honey then laughed. “My poor baby sister is SO ready to get this baby out.”

“It’s true.” Dawn nodded. “I can’t wait and then I’m keeping my legs crossed forever.”

“I’m not sure that’ll work, Dawn,” Allie said as she set a plate of fresh bread rolls down on the table along with a jug of dark red liquid.

“What’re we drinking?” Honey asked, wondering if Allie had made them cocktails to have instead of wine.

“This is cranberry juice for Dawn, but you can have some if you want.”

“I do like cranberry juice but I also like—”

“Wine?” Camilla asked.

“Yes.”

“Wine is on its way.” Allie gestured behind her at the kitchen.

“I cannot wait to have some wine,” Dawn said. “I also can’t wait to be able to see my feet, to paint my toenails and to do a lot of other things.”

“I am never going through that.” Camilla sniffed. “How you can do it three times I have no idea.”

“Well I didn’t exactly choose to go through it this time did I, Camilla?” Dawn filled a glass with cranberry juice.

“I know the pregnancy was an accident but you don’t regret it now, do you?” Honey asked.

“Not at all,” Dawn replied. “And one day, Camilla Dix, you might change your mind. Especially when you see the beautiful baby at the end of all this.”

Camilla shuddered dramatically and Dawn laughed.

“You wait, big sister!”

“Perhaps Tom doesn’t want babies.” Camilla leant forwards, resting her arms on the table.

“Have you asked him?”

“We’ve talked about children.” Camilla looked around the table at her friends. “Not as something we were planning but just… you know… discussed other people who have children and how they always seem so tired, and about how we’re both lucky that we don’t have that drain on our energy and resources.”

“Give them a year.” Allie held up a finger. “And we’ll see what they’re saying then.”

Camilla sighed. “I doubt it very much. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… not everyone wants to be a mother. Besides, Dawn’s done enough procreating for both of us.”

“Honey, could you give me a hand bringing the food through?” Allie asked.

“Of course.”

Honey followed Allie into the kitchen.

“Thought we better give the Dix sisters a chance to get that subject out of their systems. I’m not sure that Camilla will change her mind about children; she’s always been so set against it.”

“But then she was set against relationships until Tom came along.” Honey picked up a serving plate of miniature roasted vegetable quiches that sat on a bed of dark green spinach.

“True.”

“Not that everyone has to have children, of course,” Honey added, thinking not just of Camilla but also of herself. “It doesn’t happen for everyone.”

“It certainly doesn’t and as long as she and Tom are happy then that’s all that matters.”

“And they have HP.”

“That they do.” Allie giggled. “And he’s a handful all right.”

“Speaking of animals, I think I saw Luna outside.”

“Darn her!” Allie tutted. “She keeps coming back, but then she wanders the village all the time. She always finds her way home but I do worry sometimes that she might go too far, or be picked up by someone.”

“All the villagers know she’s yours.”

“They do but Luna does keep pestering poor Mrs Burnley. I think that she encourages Luna by feeding her to be honest, but when Luna takes her a gift… she comes in here to complain.”

“Is Luna still taking mice to Mrs Burnley then?”

“Not just mice, Honey, but anything she can get her jaws around. She took her poor old dead Wallace, and since then she’s taken her a squashed frog, a squirrel and a pair of boxer shorts that she must have pulled off someone’s washing line.”

“Really? I mean, I knew about Wallace but not about the boxers!”

Dawn had been distraught the previous autumn when her children’s guinea pig had died then been stolen by Allie’s cat and left as a gift on Mrs Burnley’s doorstep. The elderly woman had thought it was a giant white rat and Dawn’s husband Rick had been forced to retrieve the guinea pig from Judith Burnley’s bin then bury it in their garden before their children found out.

“At least they were from Marks and Spencer.”

Honey snorted and they both burst into laughter.

“Come on let’s take all this through and feed the pregnant one.”

They carried the serving plates and a bottle of chilled Pinot Grigio through to the café and set them down on the table. As they tucked into the freshly prepared food, Honey enjoyed every mouthful of Allie’s wonderful spread, from the mini quiches with their crumbly melt-in-the-mouth pastry and herby roasted peppers, to the home-grown spinach and the crusty rolls spread with locally-made creamy butter. Allie had also provided a plate of skin-on potato wedges with a bowl of garlic mayonnaise and another bowl of coriander and lemon houmous.

“This is so good,” Dawn mumbled as she stuffed another wedge into her mouth. “So, so good. The heartburn will be worth it.”

“I did wonder about that as I was baking, but thought that if you’re anything like I was when I was pregnant with my two, then everything will give you heartburn at this late stage.”

“Oh it does!” Dawn nodded. “I’ll follow up with a pint of milk and I’ll be fine.”

The next hour passed in a flurry of chatter, clearing of plates and laugher, as the four friends enjoyed one another’s company and Honey’s heart brimmed with happiness that she had such good friends. Even though they didn’t see one another every day, because they were all busy, she knew that they were there for her just as she was for them.

“Right I need to pee!” Dawn announced as she wiped her hands on a white napkin. “Help me up, Honey.”

Honey stood then took Dawn’s hands and leaned backwards as her pregnant friend hoisted herself up. There was a loud pop then a gush of fluid covered Dawn’s shoes.

“Oh my god, Dawn! What was that?” Camilla grimaced.

Honey and Dawn looked down at the puddle on the floor then back at each other.

“I think you might have left it too long before going to the toilet,” Honey whispered, even though Camilla and Allie were right there with them and could hear every word.

“It’s not her bladder that’s emptied, Honey.” Allie stood up and pushed her chair back.

“It’s my waters…” Dawn’s eyes were wide as she gazed around the table in shock. “And… ouch!” She hunched over and grabbed the edge of the table. “I think the baby’s on its way.”