Page 16 of The Midwife By the Sea

‘You girls are so mean to your poor old dad. I’ll have you know that if I wanted to follow Bea to Middle Mouse, I could strap a Tupperware pot of seafood mousse to my chest and reach her with a delicious dinner still fully intact.’

‘Hmm.’ Annie sounded doubtful. ‘Mum’s the triathlete around here, so if that’s out and cooking is also out, I think you might need to find another way to try and recapture your youth. Plastic surgery, maybe?’

‘To be fair, that might result in me getting two new hobbies.’ Dave was deadpan. ‘Because I’d probably have enough spare skin left over to be able to take up chair re-upholstery.’

‘What a prize I won when I married you.’ Hope’s mother laughed, seeming completely unfazed by the image her husband had put into all of their heads. Wrapping her arms around Dave’s waist, the action betrayed her true feelings. They adored one another, every bit as much as they loved their four daughters and it wouldn’t have been a Masterson get-together if there hadn’t been as much ribbing of one another as there was. The shared laughter felt like home every bit as much as it had when Tenby Harbour had loomed into view. Port Agnes had reminded Hope of Tenby as soon as she’d arrived. Maybe that was why she’d felt as at home as she had from the moment she’d got to Cornwall, and why she didn’t doubt that she’d made the right decision taking a job at St Piran’s, even though she was never going to tell Joe Carter who she was.

‘I don’t know why I’m doing this when you are all so horribly cruel towards me.’ Dave pulled away from his wife and rested a hand on his chest, releasing an overly dramatic sigh. ‘But there’ll be no seafood mousse tonight, or even meatloaf, because I’m taking you all out to Il Caminetto to celebrate the fact that Hope has come home to surprise us and that I have all my favourite girls under one roof again. Even if that does mean I’ll spend the next few days being relentlessly ridiculed.’

‘Ah, Dad, you know you love it!’ Tabby planted a kiss on her father’s cheek and the rest of the girls piled in for a hug. Il Caminetto had always been Hope’s favourite local restaurant and where she’d chosen to go to celebrate momentous occasions, like graduating from university. As her father pulled her into his arms and held her tight, she knew she’d made the right decision coming back to Tenby. For the first time since she’d met Joe, it didn’t feel like there were unspoken words screaming to get out, because she was free to say exactly what needed to be said.

‘Thanks, Dad, I love you.’

‘Love you too, sweetheart. More than you’ll ever know.’ Her father’s response was perfect, just as it had been whenever she’d desperately needed him to say the right thing. When she went back to work at St Piran’s, she’d be able to see Joe without wondering what kind of difference it might make to her life if her biological father was part of it. Now that she was back with her family, she was certain it would be enough just to know that Joe was a good man. She might be right at the start of her new life in Cornwall, but her heart would always live here, with the people who’d made Hope who she was.

10

Teddy, the family’s white cockerpoo, had been pawing at the kitchen door for the past ten minutes and winding his way through the girls’ legs every time one of them stood up. It was Hope’s second to last day in Tenby and the idea of taking Teddy for a walk on the beach was suddenly very appealing. It wasn’t like she couldn’t go to the beach in Port Agnes or Port Kara as often as she liked; living in one gorgeous place so close to the sea, and working in another, afforded Hope that opportunity whenever she had some free time. It wasn’t the same as walking Teddy, though, or watching him splash in and out of the waves.

‘Come on then, Ted. Let’s go for a walk.’

‘I’ll come with you.’ Annie got to her feet as she spoke.

‘I might come too, depending on where you’re going.’ Bea swung her legs off the sofa, where they’d been tucked up beneath her while she sat reading a magazine.

‘I was thinking the Penally end of South Beach?’ Hope suggested. It was the best place to take Teddy down onto the sand, because dogs were banned from lots of the other beaches in Tenby during the summer months.

‘Okay, sounds good, but I might go for a run from there into Penally village and back home again. I’ve got to get as fit as possible, if I’m going to pass the physical to get into the army.’

‘Ooh, can we pretend to be the Sergeant Majors and shout at you to get your knees up higher and move your legs faster?’ Annie looked quite excited at the prospect.

‘No, you can’t.’ Bea stuck out her tongue. ‘If you want to moonlight as a fitness instructor, you should have gone with Mum and Tabby. Instead, they’ve got Dad pedalling after them, and if that’s not enough for them to beat their previous personal bests, I don’t know what is. After all, if he manages to overtake, they’ll have a view of him from the back, in his cycling shorts.’ Bea emphasised the final four words and gave a theatrical shudder, making her sisters laugh.

‘We’d better get down to South Beach before they head back then.’ Annie was already pulling her trainers on. ‘We don’t accidentally want to catch a glimpse of Dad in Lycra either, do we?’

‘Definitely not.’ Hope clipped the lead onto Teddy’s collar and the three of them set out towards the beach, revelling in the pleasure of one another’s company and the ease of conversation that flowed between them. Hope couldn’t imagine ever wanting to live anywhere but by the sea, whether that was settling down in Cornwall for the long haul, coming home to Tenby, or living somewhere else by the coast. It was easy to explain why she felt that way, on a day like today, when the sun was kissing her skin and it might even have been too hot if it wasn’t for the gentle breeze blowing off the sea.

Despite the fact that at almost fifteen he was a very old boy, Teddy picked up pace as they got closer to the point where they’d be able to go down on the sand. He seemed to know the summertime rules as well as the humans in his life, and Hope knew he’d make a dash for the sea as soon as she let him off the lead. She could hardly blame him; the water was aquamarine and sparkling like the semi-precious stone it resembled.

‘Are you still enjoying city life?’ Hope hooked an arm through Annie’s as they walked along the beach, Bea running along in front of them to keep pace with the dog. Even with age against Teddy, she was already getting a fitness workout.

‘Yes, I love it in lots of ways, especially the variety it gives me in terms of hospital rotations. Being in London means I can move between trusts whenever I want to, without having to move house too.’

Hope narrowed her eyes for a moment, uttering just one word in response. ‘But?’

‘How did you know there was a “but”?’

‘Because I know you and I’d have been able to see it in your face, even if I couldn’t hear it in your voice.’

‘You were always the most intuitive of us.’ Annie hugged Hope to her for a moment before letting her go. ‘I miss this, being by the sea and just… home, you know?’

‘I do. Although living in Port Agnes and working in Port Kara means I can get my fill of beautiful beaches whenever I want them, which helps, but I still miss home and all of you guys. There’d be something wrong if I didn’t.’

‘There would and it goes right down to your core, doesn’t it, being one of the Masterson girls?’ There wasn’t even a hint in Annie’s voice that she saw Hope as being any different from her other sisters, just because they didn’t share DNA. Family went so much deeper than that; right down to the core, just as Annie had put it.

‘It really does.’

‘I don’t suppose I can tempt you then, can I? To come down and work in London?’ Annie lifted her chin in a hopeful gesture, but Hope shook her head.