Her relationship with alcohol had never been a good one. With her mother being an alcoholic, she had often wondered if it was a genetic thing which caused her to love wine so much, but after having many chats with Alec, also a reformed alcoholic, she had begun to understand it a lot more. She would drink to cover her pain, to not have to be present in the world. To enjoy the veil of unconsciousness, even for a short time. And boy, was she a terrible drunk. But again, she worked out that every person with deep-rooted issues made a bad drunk because it allowed for all the pain, suffering and discontent to come to the fore and be voiced.
The old Rosa’s motto was ‘only regret the things you don’t do’, but sober now, there were a few things that she certainly did regret doing. Namely, getting drunk up West Cliffs, then putting her life at risk by falling; she had also put her beloved little companion Hot Dog in danger on several occasions when she was too drunk to know what she was doing.
Her thoughts were interrupted when there was a sudden commotion coming from the hall. She could hear different tones and volumes of barking, plus the sound of Jacob scolding every one of his canine charges, who dutifully followed him into the kitchen and started jumping up at Rosa’s legs. In rapture on beholding so many playmates all in the same place and at the same time, including the Duchess with their new pups, Hot proceeded to run around barking madly too.
Jacob put his hand to his forehead and faked collapsing against the kitchen worktop. ‘Five of them, Rosa. Five! They are driving me mad.’
Rosa reached down and picked up one of the dachshund puppies. He fitted neatly into her hand. ‘I think I may internally combust with love,’ she said, tickling the adorable little fellow under his brown chin, then she snuggled him close to her chest. ‘He is just so beautiful.’ She looked down at the other little fella scratching at her shoe. ‘They both are. Have you got names for them yet? I know you said you were waiting for the owners to christen them, but–’
‘Uno and Due – One and Two in Italian – for now,’ Raff broke in. He was busy taking the roast potatoes out of the oven and basting them. Then, without looking up, he carried on: ‘He moan and he moan and he moan. But he loves them all too much, I see.’
‘I know that. His bark is worse than his bite,’ Rosa joked as she put the little pup down.
‘I am here, you know.’ Jacob picked up a scalding potato from the sizzling baking tray; a glare from his husband causing him to drop it back in quickly with a sharp ‘ouch.’
‘So, have you spoken to Titch yet?’ Rosa asked. ‘The pups must be ready to leave their mum surely by now?’
‘She’s ignoring my calls, the little bitch.’ Jacob licked his fingers.
Rosa laughed, then made a face. ‘Oh no. I remember now.’
‘Don’t tell me she doesn’t want one of them!’ Jacob groaned. ‘Yes, you’re right, I do love them all, but this is crazy shit. Is there a male equivalent of Mad Cat Lady with dogs?’
Raff shut the oven door. ‘Sì! You are the crazy man with the dogs. But I’m not giving you away.’ He whipped Jacob’s bottom with the oven gloves.
‘She did mention that it might be too much, what with Theo and now planning the wedding,’ Rosa admitted. ‘Sorry, I forgot to tell you.’
‘Well, I’ll just have to put an advert in the paper – or maybe Vicki can help.’
‘Vicki can help with what?’ The voice belonged to their friend, the local vet Vicki Cliss. ‘The door was ajar; you didn’t hear me knock for all the barking.’ She kissed all of them on the cheek as the dogs tore off towards the conservatory, play-fighting as they went.
‘Where’s Stuart and the kids? I peeled enough potatoes for a small army.’ Raff was now rolling pastry for his apple-pie dessert.
‘They are on their way. I drove up, but they are so full of energy Stuart said he’d walk up the hill from the beach to try and wear them out a bit. I didn’t think you’d be able to cope with five dogs, two unruly kids and umm…’ She opened her coat and rubbed her tummy ‘…and two more little wishes.’
‘Oh, that’s wonderful news!’ Jacob rushed to kiss her on the cheek.
‘Bravissimo.’ Raff wiped his hands on his apron and did the same.
Rosa felt tears welling in her eyes. Partly remembering the awful time earlier in the year when Vicki had lost her little baby boy right here on their friends’ bathroom floor. And selfishly too, because she realised more than ever that having children of her own was high on her agenda.
‘That’s such lovely news,’ she said quietly. ‘When are you due?’
‘Beginning of April.’ Ever intuitive, Vicki took off her coat. ‘I have approximately ten minutes before those boys of mine get up that hill, so come on, Rosa, let’s have a drink in the conservatory before they arrive.’ Vicki winked at the equally knowing Jacob who rounded up the dogs from the conservatory and went outside with them to greet the children.
‘How are you doing then, Rosa? It’s lovely to see you.’
‘Fine – I’m fine, and so happy you’re pregnant again. It was so awful that day here.’ Rosa shuddered. ‘Even I get flashbacks, so goodness knows how it has affected you.’
‘This has kind of blocked that out now. Twins too.’ Vicki beamed. ‘I can’t believe how blessed I feel.’
‘So, are there twins in either of your families then?’
‘Surprisingly, no, not that we know of anyway. On my To Do list is a family tree, but I’m too busy growing our own at the moment.’ Vicki put her hand on Rosa’s arm. ‘But it’s not all about me. It’s OK not to be fine, you know. I remember feeling so blue when we started trying again after losing Fred and the test kept saying no.’
‘Aw, you named him.’
‘Yes. Just because we never met him as a baby, that doesn’t mean his little soul is not around us, moving us on, sharing our lives.’
Tears started to roll down Rosa’s cheeks. ‘I just got really excited thinking I was pregnant this month and then there it was, the red patch of failure.’
‘Not failure at all, simply proof that you are a woman and that everything is working just as it should. You’ve only recently started trying and you are both young. It will be fine. Producing little miracles isn’t always going to be easy.’
‘Look at Titch,’ Rosa sighed. ‘She only had to smile at Ben and Theo arrived.’
Vicki soothed, ‘OK, there are some exceptions, I know, but try to relax, not worry too much and just have as much sex as you can.’
‘Chance would be a fine thing. Josh got a great opportunity to work in New York, and that’s where he is now. He’ll be back before Christmas though.’
‘That’s just weeks away. You have plenty of time. It’s OK.’
Rosa blew her nose and felt almost immediately better. Vicki was the kind of person you believed; if she said something was going to be all right, then it would be.
The vet went on, ‘I’m just so happy that you made the decision to start a family. It is magical.’
‘You know that I struggled with whether I thought I’d be a good mum or not and you really helped me with that.’ Rosa pulled back her sleeve to reveal the rose quartz bracelet that Vicki had gifted her as a thank you for helping her through her miscarriage tragedy. ‘The stone of fertility. It worked for you, so it has to be my turn next.’