A Year at The Cosy Cottage Café_A heart-warming feel-good read about life, love, loss, friendship and second chances by Rachel Griffiths

Author:Rachel Griffiths [Griffiths, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cosy Cottage Books
Published: 2018-05-16T16:00:00+00:00

3

“How did your shopping trip go?” Dawn asked Camilla as they sat down to Sunday lunch at their mother’s the next day.

“It was fairly successful.” Camilla dropped a scoop of mashed potatoes onto her plate then handed the bowl to Dawn’s husband, Rick. “I still need to get a few things before the big day…” She glanced at her sister’s children, Laura and James, and found them both staring at her, eyes wide.

“You went Christmas shopping, Auntie Camilla?” Laura asked.

“I did. In London where all the best shops are.”

“What did you buy?”

“I can’t tell you because some of it’s for you and James.”

“Awwwww!” James pouted. “Whisper it!”

“Uh uh.” Camilla shook her head.

“Kids leave your Auntie Camilla alone.” Rick dropped a scoop of mash onto Laura’s plate then one on James’s before passing the bowl to his wife.

“Anyone fancy a glass of wine with dinner?” Jackie waltzed into the dining room with a bottle of Chablis in her hand.

“That would be lovely, Mum.” Camilla got up and fetched the wine glasses from the dresser.

“Not for me.” Dawn grimaced as she pointed at her bump. “Not for about another thirteen weeks.”

“You could have a drop, Dawnie,” Camilla said as she took the bottle from her mother and filled three glasses.

“The heartburn is already so bad that I wouldn’t want to risk it.” Dawn replied as she raised her glass of water. “But cheers anyway. You three enjoy.”

They tucked into Jackie’s roast chicken dinner as The Carpenters’ Greatest Hits flowed into the room from the speakers on top of the dresser. Camilla looked around the table at her family. Jackie looked good for sixty-five with her short black hair and bright green eyes, but there was always something in her mother’s gaze that made Camilla sad. It was, she knew, because Jackie had never got over her husband leaving her when the girls were young and she’d never been able to move on. In fact, she was rather vocal about it a lot of the time and it had affected Camilla growing up, as had the fact that her father had walked out on them, of course. She’d veered on the side of caution, never wanting to commit to a man, while Dawn had been almost desperate to create a stable family of her own where she could be the perfect wife and mother.

Over the past year, Dawn and Rick had been through some ups and downs, and Camilla had been quite worried for a while there, especially when Dawn had admitted that she was pregnant with her third child and that the baby hadn’t been planned. But during the autumn, her sister and brother-in-law had managed to work through their problems and were now happier than ever. Which pleased Camilla immensely, as she wanted nothing more than to see her sister, her niece and nephew happy and settled. And Rick too for that matter. He was a good man and he clearly loved Dawn. He’d left his high-flying job in the City recently and the flexibility of working from home suited him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.