PROLOGUE
‘Rosa, Rosa, you have to come right now.’ Jacob’s voice was full of panic.
‘What’s wrong? Where are you?’
‘Upstairs at the pub. The Duchess is about to give birth, and although I’ve watched Call the Midwife once or twice, my own midwifery skills are somewhat limited. Please, I need you!’
With a shake of her dark brown curls, the publican’s younger friend answered with a smile-filled voice, ‘Jacob, it’s OK. The Duchess will know what to do.’
Then on hearing both him and the pregnant dachshund making irregular panting noises down the end of the phone, she said, ‘I’m on my way.’ Instructing her own dachshund, Hot Dog, to be good, she quickly headed for the door of the Corner Shop, slamming it shut behind her.
Rosa was walking so fast up the hill, she nearly missed her mother waving from the window of Seaspray Cottage. Mary Cobb dashed out, dressed in her supermarket uniform, ready to do a shift at the local Co-op.
‘I’m just off to work but have you got a minute, duck?’
‘I haven’t actually. The Duchess is about to give birth and so too is Jacob by the sound of it.’
Mary tutted. ‘Bloody drama queen, he is.’
Rosa laughed. ‘Yes, and he’d be the first to admit it. I must go – but is everything OK?’
‘Yes, apart from the weather forecast. Did you not hear? There’s a massive storm on the way. The sea’s likely to come right up and over the beach wall. You and Sara might need sandbags to protect the café.’
‘A storm in July? And that bad – really?’
‘Well, I personally can’t wait. I’m sick of this bloody humidity. It plays havoc with my breathing.’ Mary reached for the inhaler in her apron pocket and shook it. ‘Merlin, that mad cat, has been tearing around the back yard in circles too, and he is all-knowing when the weather’s about to change.’
‘OK. I’ll go down to the front and check with Sara about keeping the café protected, but I can’t go until I’ve helped deliver these baby chipolatas.’ Rosa turned to go.
‘You’ll be getting a reputation as a midwife in the village at this rate, what with bringing Titch’s little Theo into the world too,’ Mary called after her, a sudden gust of wind taking her words away over the rooftops of Cockleberry Bay.
As Rosa carried on up the hill, Ritchie Rogers was busy nailing single boards of wood across the big front window of the fish-and-chip shop.
‘Morning, Rosa,’ the young man hailed her from the top of his ladder. ‘It’s going to be a fiery one. The glass was blown clean out last time we had a storm of this predicted level. It was really dangerous – thank heavens no one got hurt.’
‘Really? It doesn’t seem possible with the sun still shining like it is now.’
‘Yes. I guess you soft townies haven’t encountered anything like a proper coastal storm.’ He laughed. ‘You wait and see.’
‘Right now, I’m off to put a cold flannel on Jacob’s forehead. The puppies are on their way.’
‘Aw, exciting. I’ll let Titch know. She’ll be beside herself.’
‘Are you two still having one of the puppies, then?’
‘That’s the plan.’
As Rosa reached the Lobster Pot a huge gust of wind swept down the narrow street, causing her light summer dress to blow up and reveal her knickers.
Watching for her from the top window, Jacob had hurried downstairs and was at the door ready to greet her. He put his hand to his forehead in mock horror. ‘If it’s not enough dealing with a bitch in labour, I now get to see the next week’s washing of another one.’
Rosa laughed. ‘Come on, Grandad, let’s do this.’
With an offended ‘How very dare you!’ from the handsome forty-something publican, they made their way inside.
CHAPTER 1
Rosa could barely hear her friend Sara and co-owner of ROSA’S – the café formerly known as Coffee, Tea or Sea. The waves crashing to shore and the heavy rain that had just started lashing against the side of the glass-fronted café made it all but impossible to make out her words, even though they were standing facing each other. The force of the wind had already washed the apostrophe off the ROSA’S sign outside.
‘I’m so glad you are here,’ Sara said gratefully. ‘I’ve never known a storm quite like this before.’
‘I know,’ Rosa nodded. ‘It came in so quickly too. Madness! Trust the boys to be on the golf course when we need them. I can’t get hold of Josh, his phone is off.’
‘It’s fine. I managed to reach Alec; they are seeing if they can get some sandbags on the way back. He said they literally ran like kids to the car when the first lightning bolt struck.’
Despite it being just four o’clock on a summer’s afternoon, it was almost dark. Sara squealed as the whole café suddenly lit up with an impressive fork of lightning that appeared to dance right along the ominously black horizon. It was immediately followed by a resounding CRACK of thunder that made the whole timber building shake.
‘I tried to sound calm when I suggested everyone made their way home from here as I needed to batten down the hatches, but I’ve always been terrified of storms.’ Sara shuddered. ‘Even the voice of the weather presenter on South Cliffs Today went a bit high-pitched at the first flash of lightning. I don’t know why at the sight of bad weather they send all these poor reporters out into either pouring rain, a hurricane or the eye of the storm. They could quite easily present inside in front of a window. Anyway, I digress.’
‘There’s naught scarier nor more powerful than when Nature shows the dark side of her face.’ Rosa quoted her mother in Devonian twang then began looking around the café for potential hazards in case the sea did come up.
She still had to pinch herself that her lovely husband, Josh, had invested in this partnership with Sara, so that as well as running her beloved Corner Shop – inherited just over eighteen months ago from a mystery benefactor, who had turned out to be her great-grandfather Ned – she could also work part-time here.
‘Where’s Hot?’ Sara enquired.
‘I phoned Titch to go and get him. Mind you, it’s not Hot I should be worried about; his furry girlfriend was just about to give birth when you called me. I’ve left Jacob and Raff watching a YouTube tutorial on delivering dachshund puppies, while trying to keep the pugs Ugly and Pongo away from the delivery suite. Vicki the vet was busy with another emergency.’
‘I can just imagine the panic,’ Sara said.
‘Thank goodness Raff is there; he’s the calm one in that relationship. He’ll sort it. I googled what should be happening and it looked like everything was going to puppy plan.’
Rosa checked that the café’s red and white awning was safely stowed and that all the appliances were powered off and wires tucked away. She removed the tea-light holders from each table and packed the books from the Read me, Replace me, Replenish me shelf into a couple of boxes and put them on top of the ice-cream freezer.
‘OK, what shall we do now?’ Sara asked, starting to empty the dishwasher of china.