Island Fling to Forever

Jude was glad, he realised. He’d hate for Valentina to feel the way he did—as if every inch of his personal space had been invaded, every precious memory passed from person to person to examine.

Rosa squeezed his arm, and he found himself grateful again that the author of The Naked Truth had never found out about her. Maybe he still had a few secrets left, too.

‘Now, I hope you’ll join us for the wedding anyway, since you’re here?’ Valentina asked.

‘I’d hate to intrude,’ Jude started, but Valentina laughed.

‘Don’t be silly! The more the merrier. And of course, if you’d like to bring a plus-one, I’m sure that would be fine...’

‘Then thank you,’ Jude said, already calculating in his mind how happy Robyn would be about this one.

Being seen at the wedding of the year could never be a bad thing. And having a beautiful woman like Rosa on his arm had to look good, too.

The fact it would rub Sylvie’s nose in it a bit felt pretty great, too, if he was brutally honest.

Leaving Valentina and her bridesmaids to the presents, Jude led Rosa off to the shadows of the villa.

‘So, that’s the ex, huh?’ she asked, glancing back out at them. ‘She’s beautiful. Like, absurdly so. Even more than the photos.’

‘She’s nothing compared to you,’ Jude said, making her laugh, although he couldn’t figure out why.

‘She’s a model, Jude. A six-foot-tall, beautiful, willowy redhead with perfect hair and a dozen modelling contracts. I am under no illusions about my own charms, but they’re not a patch on hers. You don’t need to lie to me to make me feel good.’

‘I’m not lying,’ Jude said, holding her close so she had to look into his eyes and see the truth of it. ‘Yes, Sylvie looks beautiful. She’s stunning.’

‘Not helping with the not lying part.’

‘But you...’ He stared down into her wide, dark eyes, her long lashes sooty against her skin, trying to find the words. ‘You’re alive. You have so much life, so much vibrancy... She could never match that. She looks beautiful. You live it.’

He must have said something right, from the way she kissed him.

‘You’re such a poet,’ she said, fondly.

‘So you’ll come to the wedding with me? It won’t be any fun without you.’

Rosa pulled a face. ‘I’ll need to check with Anna. I’m supposed to be working that day, of course.’

‘But she’ll be going with Leo, surely?’

‘That’s true. I’ll ask her, I promise.’

‘Tonight?’

The smile Rosa gave him reminded him they had other plans for tonight. ‘Maybe tomorrow.’

‘Tomorrow works for me.’

* * *

‘Anna, have you got a minute?’ Rosa had been looking all over the island for her sister after another day of work. Anna had been strangely absent for most of it, until Rosa finally spotted her heading down the path to the jetty.

‘Not now.’ Anna didn’t even look back at her. Wasn’t that always the way with her? She wanted to organise her life for her, but only when it suited her.

Rosa took a breath and reminded herself she was asking Anna for a favour. She needed to keep her cool. ‘It’s about Jude. Valentina has asked him to the wedding and he wants me to be his plus-one. Will that be a problem? I can still oversee the seating charts and things, and you’ll be there with Leo anyway...’

Anna finally glanced back, pushing her hair out of her eyes. ‘Leo hasn’t mentioned me accompanying him to the wedding,’ she said slowly. ‘We’re not, I mean, it’s not serious.’

If Leo and Anna weren’t serious, then what on earth did that make her and Jude? ‘Oh, come on, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.’

‘It’s not serious,’ Anna repeated, and Rosa decided to worry later about whatever games her sister was playing now.

‘If you say so. So you don’t mind? It turns out Jude knows Valentina quite well, he used to go out with one of the bridesmaids—the redhead who complained that the bed is too hard and that we haven’t provided the right range of herbal teas—and it ended, well, horrifically. Long story short, she was involved with the book, so it’s a pride thing to accept the invite and bring a date, I guess. But what with the way we left things, I think...’

Anna held up her hand to silence her, and Rosa got the feeling she was mentally counting to ten, as she used to when they were small. ‘Rosa, fill me in later. I have to go over to the mainland and I hate sailing over in the dark. Yes, go to the wedding. It’s fine.’

The mainland? What on earth could she be going there for? Everything for the wedding had already been delivered. Unless this wasn’t to do with the wedding...

‘What’s so urgent?’ Rosa’s voice sharpened, as she took in her sister’s appearance for the first time. ‘Are you okay? You’re very pale. Do you feel ill?’

‘Rosa, don’t fuss. I just have to do something.’ Yeah, that wasn’t very reassuring—especially if Anna didn’t want to tell her what she needed to do.

‘I really think you should wait till morning.’ Then, as Anna shook her head, ‘In that case I’m coming with you. I’ll drive the boat. The way you look you won’t be able to get it out of the harbour!’

Anna wanted to refuse, Rosa could tell. But she wasn’t going to let her.

Not waiting for an answer, Rosa took the boat key out of Anna’s hand and led her the rest of the way down to the jetty. It was pretty clear that Anna didn’t want to talk about whatever was going on, so Rosa didn’t press her for details, concentrating instead on steering the dinghy over the short distance as speedily as possible. She pulled up alongside the jetty on the mainland with a smooth flourish. ‘Right, where next? Anna, I’m coming with you. Don’t argue.’

Anna opened her mouth to protest and then shut it again. Rosa smiled. For once, she was in charge.

Sancia always kept a car in the car park near the jetty, for whenever they needed to run errands on the mainland, and Rosa was relieved to see it there waiting for them. Anna pulled the key to Sancia’s ancient rusty small car from her pocket and handed it to her, not responding as Rosa’s hand closed over hers with what she hoped was a reassuring squeeze.

‘The town,’ she said, her voice husky. ‘The pharmacy. There’s one on the retail park this side of town, it’s not far.’

The pharmacy. Oh, that didn’t sound good at all.

Now Rosa was really worried.

The roads were deserted and it didn’t take long to clear the small village and head towards the town. Rosa drove at her normal speed—ten kilometres above the speed limit—more concerned by the fact that Anna wasn’t issuing her usual warnings to drive carefully than by the sharp turns and corners.

Something was definitely wrong here.

Spotting the retail park, and the pharmacy, Rosa swung the car into a free space

and killed the engine. ‘Do you want me to come in with you?’

‘No. Thanks.’ Anna made no move to get out of the car, though.

‘Anna, let me go.’ Rosa had a feeling she knew exactly what this was. And it was bigger than any argument that had ever been between them. ‘Do you need me to buy you a pregnancy test? Is that what’s happening here?’ What else could it be? Rosa knew that panicked, lost look on her sister’s face. She’d seen it on her own, once.

Anna froze. ‘Leo doesn’t want a family.’ Rosa had a feeling that wasn’t what Anna had intended to say. ‘He’ll think I’ve betrayed him.’

‘Anna, honey, it takes two to make a baby. Leo’s a grown man. If you are pregnant, he’ll understand.’ And if he didn’t, then Rosa would beat understanding into him. Not that she was going to mention that part to Anna yet.

‘No, he won’t. He told me from the start, no promises, no commitment. It’s bad enough I’ve fallen in love with him. How can I be so stupid as to get pregnant, too? It’s like Sebastian all over again, only much, much worse. I only thought I loved Sebastian.’

Okay, that was a surprise. But actually, it explained a lot. ‘You were pregnant back then? Why didn’t you tell me? Why do you never let anyone help, Anna?’ The old frustrations rose up in her. If she’d known, she could have helped. She could have done something. ‘You don’t have to do it all alone. You don’t have to be perfect. You can ask for help...’

‘Last time I needed your help you walked away.’ It was always going to come down to that between them, wasn’t it?

Rosa bit her lip. Anna was never going to understand why she couldn’t stay. And now really wasn’t the time to confess all the other reasons—the ones that had nothing to do with Anna or their father. ‘Things were complicated then. I’m sorry. But I’m here now and, I promise you, you’re not alone. Now let me go and get the test for you and then, if you are, we’ll figure out what to do. And if you’re not then you and I need to have a long-overdue talk. Deal?’