Island Fling to Forever

‘Deal.’ Anna squeezed her hand tightly.

Rosa got out of the car and jogged over to the pharmacy. She might have let her sister down before, but Anna wouldn’t have to worry about that this time.

And nor would her child, with Rosa as their auntie.

* * *

Something was up with Rosa.

Jude surveyed her over the rack of Scrabble tiles, ignoring the letters and potential words to consider the woman sitting across from him instead. On either side of him, Sancia and Ernest Gray were debating whether whatever obscure word the professor had come up with existed in the Oxford English Dictionary. Jude was fairly sure it didn’t—the professor was a terrible Scrabble cheat.

The bigger mystery to him was what Rosa was thinking about.

Whatever it was, it had distracted her completely, all evening. She’d barely responded to his hand on her hip as they walked to the table, she’d had nothing to say over dinner, and now she’d barely managed more than a three-letter word all game.

Scrabble, Jude had discovered to his surprise, was the one area of the world where Professor Gray and his youngest daughter actually seemed to connect. He and Sancia usually just muddled through trying to keep up. They both fought for every tile, every triple word score, every definition.

But not tonight.

Suddenly Rosa looked up, her attention drawn by something by the darkened arch leading out of the courtyard. Jude twisted in his seat to try and see what had distracted her.

Anna. Of course. And Leo, leading her away.

Jude turned back to Rosa to see an unfamiliar look on her face. Part hope, part fear, and all uncertainty.

‘I’m going to go and fetch my dictionary,’ Sancia said, rising from her seat. The professor followed her, arguing that since it probably wasn’t the Oxford English Dictionary it wouldn’t count, anyway.

Jude waited until the others were safely inside the villa before he slid over to Sancia’s chair and reached for Rosa’s hand.

‘What’s up?’

‘Hmm?’ Rosa turned to him, blinking. ‘Nothing.’

‘Liar.’ She’d never lied to him before, that he knew of. Let him believe things that wouldn’t happen, sure, but that was his false hope, not her fault. Now he was really worried.

But Rosa looked down at the table and said, ‘Sorry. You’re right. It’s just... I’m not sure it’s my secret to tell.’

Something relaxed inside him. That he, of all people, could understand. ‘That’s fine. But if it’ll help to talk about it...you know I’m not one to share other people’s stories.’

‘I do know.’ Rosa gave him a warm smile, then glanced back towards the villa. ‘Come on, let’s go. Take a walk or something.’

‘You always talk better when we’re walking.’

Rosa shrugged, getting to her feet. ‘You know me. I work better in action.’

‘I do,’ Jude said, and realised it was true.

He knew Rosa, in a way he wasn’t sure he’d ever known anyone else. He’d thought it was just because she lived life out loud, her every action proclaiming exactly who she was. But others—her own family—still didn’t seem to understand her, even with a lifetime of observing her.

So maybe it was just something about their connection.

Maybe it was just him, and just her.

She led him along the winding path that trailed around the island, through lush foliage and flowers, past the bright white bungalows and their freshly painted shutters, skirting the beaches and waterfronts. When they came too close to the bridal bungalow, Rosa tugged his hand to take a different trail, one that led them away from the laughter and the chatter.

Rosa still wasn’t talking, Jude realised. The romantic walk in the moonlight was nice and all, but it wasn’t getting him any closer to figuring out what was on Rosa’s mind.

‘Is it Sylvie?’ he asked, figuring he had to start somewhere. ‘Has she said anything?’

‘Who?’ Rosa looked up, surprised. ‘Oh, no. Not her.’

Of course. Because that would mean her actually being affected by his ex-girlfriend being on the island, and they’d both been very clear that this wasn’t that kind of relationship.

Then he remembered the way she’d watched Anna and Leo leaving the courtyard. ‘Your sister, then?’

Rosa didn’t answer that time, which was how Jude knew he’d got it right.

‘What did she do?’ He could feel his irritation with Rosa’s sister rising. Whatever their differences, Rosa had busted a gut helping her get the island ready for the wedding, and Anna had still managed to find fault at every turn.

‘She got pregnant,’ Rosa said, her voice soft, and all of Jude’s anger faded away in an instant.

‘Are you sure?’

Rosa shook her head. ‘I took her to buy the test last night. She didn’t tell me the outcome but...you saw her with Leo this evening. I could tell from her face, she was going to tell him. So I guess it must have been positive.’

‘Wow.’ Suddenly, a terrible thought occurred to him, and he tugged her to face him. ‘Wait, do we need to—’

Rosa interrupted him with a shake of her head. ‘It’s fine.’

‘No, but I mean, I know we’ve been careful since, but that first time. In the sea...’

‘Jude. It’s covered. Trust me. With travelling the world and all the different time zones, my body got so confused the doctor put me on a contraceptive injection anyway. There’s no chance, this time.’

‘Right. Okay, then.’ Jude was almost certain that the feeling coursing through him was relief. Just relief. Because disappointment would have been crazy.

If Rosa got pregnant, would she stay? Or, more importantly, would she ever forgive him?

He couldn’t think about those impossibilities now.

‘How do you think Leo will react?’ he asked, instead.

‘Anna seemed pretty sure the answer to that is “badly”.’ She sighed, dropping down to sit on one of the brightly painted benches that studded the island path at points where the view was even more spectacular than the average La Isla Marina vista. ‘But he’s an idiot if he doesn’t just marry her and live happily ever after.’

‘I never thought I’d hear you advocating settling down and living the traditional life,’ Jude observed. He sat beside her, and she took his hand in hers, absently playing with his fingers.

‘Well, not for me,’ Rosa admitted. ‘But you’ve seen the two of them together. How they look at each other. To start, I thought Leo was just playing her, but now... I think he genuinely loves her. I just hope he realises that, too.’

‘So do I,’ Jude said, although he wasn’t fully thinking of Anna and Leo.

He was thinking about Rosa. How fiercely he’d fallen for her, three years ago. How the love that had turned to shock and anger had become an aching loss, until he found her again. How, even now, even when he was protecting his heart the best he knew how, he knew it was going to hurt, when she left again.

This time, he realised, he would have to leave first. He needed to make that decision, take that control. It was the only way he’d ever be able to live with it.

‘I have to admit, though,’ Rosa said, staring out at the calm sea before them, ‘I am kind of looking forward to being an auntie.’

‘You’ll be the cool auntie who sends them awesome gifts from all over the world, from places they couldn’t even imagine from their boring house in Oxford.’

‘Exactly!’ Rosa flashed him a grin. ‘And maybe...maybe they’ll come here on holiday, and I can join them. Like we used to when we were kids.’

‘You think you’ll come back to the island more often, now?’ Jude asked, surprised.

‘Maybe.’ Because there was never any certainty with Rosa, was there? ‘I mean, it’s the only place that’s ever really felt like h