Page 54 of Cupcakes and Kisses in Micklewick Bay

NOVEMBER

The last four months had been a total whirlwind for Jasmine.

The wedding planning service offered by Lady Caro and her team at Danskelfe Castle had been well received.

As had the option of the smaller, more intimate ceremonies, with couples thrilled to find a castle wedding within their budget.

As a consequence, the newly available dates were being eagerly snapped up and Lady Caro had taken great delight in informing Jasmine that they were fully booked for the next eighteen months.

Furthermore, of the couples who hadn’t gone down the wedding-planner package route, many had ordered their wedding cake independently from Jasmine thanks to Lady Caro’s generous promotion of her designs.

Indeed, Jasmine was still basking in the glow of a wedding cake she’d made for well-known social media influencer Demi Constantine-Powell who hailed from the city of York, and whose brief had been for “six tiers of glorious English country cottage garden in cake form”.

It had been Jasmine’s most elaborate design to date, and one that had taken the most time, but she’d enjoyed every minute of its creation.

As expected of someone in her line of work, Demi had shared her wedding photos on all of her social media channels which had created a huge clamour of interest, with a particular image of the elaborate wedding cake going viral overnight.

That had been a real “pinch me” moment for Jasmine.

Unsurprisingly, this interest had generated a whole tranche of publicity for her and the Danskelfe Castle weddings, resulting in a busy diary for both parties.

Jasmine had been thrilled to find that her dream of dedicating her time solely to creating celebration cakes had become a reality, and far sooner than she’d anticipated too.

This was, in part, down to her taking on board Lady Caro’s advice that the prices she charged should reflect the amount of work involved in her beautiful creations.

It had seen a dramatic rise in her profits.

That, and the orders from Lady Caro, meant that she’d been able to hand in her notice at the bakery and Spick ‘n’ Sparkle.

However, Jasmine was true to her word, and still hung on to her weekly cleaning session at Hilda’s, where her friend had delighted in hearing all of Jasmine’s cake decorating news and, in turn, Jasmine had taken great pleasure from her weekly catch-ups with her friend.

That wasn’t the only change recent months had seen for Jasmine and her two children.

In early July, they’d moved out of the tiny house on Rosemary Terrace and into the property on Wilkinthorpe Road.

Jasmine had been thrilled and relieved in equal measure to see that Zak and Chloe had settled quickly, playing out in the generous-sized garden at every opportunity.

Connor had been a regular visitor, he and Zak spending endless hours practising kicking a football into the net she’d set out at the bottom of the back garden.

Chloe’s friendship with Sophie had gone from strength to strength too, and the little girls spent many happy hours playing in the Wendy house Jasmine had picked up for a song on the Micklewick Bay online selling site.

Her children were thriving, and it brought Jasmine a great sense of joy.

But it wasn’t just Connor and Sophie who were regular visitors to the house on Wilkinthorpe Road.

After their first kiss on the beach, Max had asked Jasmine if she’d consider letting him take her out on a date.

After the riot of emotions that had exploded inside her when his lips had touched hers, she’d found herself unable to refuse.

If Max was prepared to put his trust in love after all he’d been through, then she should do the same.

She hadn’t had a moment’s regret.

If only her friends would stop teasing her, then everything in her life would be perfect. A recent Friday night at the Jolly had been particularly excruciating.

‘It’s so good to see you all glowing and happy, Jazz,’ Lark said, beaming.

‘It so is,’ Maggie agreed. ‘Never thought we’d see the day, mind.’

‘Yeah, love suits you, flower. It’s making you sparkle,’ Florrie chipped in, causing Jasmine to roll her eyes, while her face took on a beetroot hue. She was still uncomfortable talking about her relationship with Max, not to mention how he was affecting her.

‘I reckon it’s not just love we can attribute to that particular type of glow and sparkle.’ Stella chuckled wickedly into her glass.

‘Trust our Stells to lower the tone,’ Maggie said, laughing. ‘Mind, I reckon she could have a point.’

‘Yes, but whatever Jazz is doing with Max, it’s all wrapped up in love, isn’t it?’ Lark said, deepening Jasmine’s blushes and making her cringe. ‘You can see it a mile off, they’re so loved up.’

‘Yeah, you two are so meant to be together,’ said Florrie.

‘Argh! Will you lot stop with the torture! You’re making my bloomin’ toes curl with it all!

And since when have I said anything about the “L” word, or anything else for that matter?

’ Jasmine covered her scarlet face with her hands.

Though she kept it to herself, she knew Lark was right.

She recalled her mum saying that as a little boy, Max had been easy to love.

Which was exactly how Jasmine felt right now.

Before she knew what was happening, she’d found herself falling head over heels in love with the kind, considerate and gentle man he’d become.

And though the intensity scared her a little, she’d found herself unable to stop herself.

There was something about his smiles and the way they made his eyes twinkle that made everything seem right.

The other two matters that had been a cause for concern earlier in June had finally been put to bed much to her relief.

It was early August when it reached Jasmine’s ears that the police had been showing a keen interest in Jason Scragg, with one of their vehicles being regularly parked up outside his house.

It had added weight to the rumours circulating around Micklewick Bay linking him to a spate of burglaries.

Not long after, the unscrupulous family had packed up and left town, disappearing under a shadow of suspicion.

Jasmine had been inordinately relieved, knowing that her children could enjoy their summer holidays and go back to school without the worry of having to face the Scragg children.

As for the Forsters and their relentless hounding of her, Mr Cuthbert had seen to it that their latest campaign of harassment was ceased.

By a stroke of luck, the pawnbroker in Lingthorpe still had copies of his transactions with Bart and had provided Cuthbert, Asquith was unaware it even existed.

For so many years, stress and tension had ensured her body was on a permanent state of high alert, but she’d been pleasantly surprised to find herself absorbing Max’s calm, relaxed approach to life, letting her anxiety drift away.

If anyone had told her this was possible, she would never have believed them.

Jasmine inhaled a lungful of salty air, releasing it in a sigh as she rested her head on Max’s chest.

‘You okay, Jingilby?’ he asked.

She looked up to see his gentle hazel eyes gazing down at her, triggering a now-familiar flurry of butterflies looping the loop in her stomach.

‘More than okay.’ She smiled up at him, oblivious to the harsh cries of the seagulls that screeched overhead.

‘Good.’ He pulled her close and pressed his lips against hers.

‘Mmm.’ Her heart dissolved into a delicious molten puddle.

After their initial tentative kisses on that very spot way back in June, the couple had agreed to take things slowly, not wanting to unsettle the three children if things didn’t work out.

As cheesy as she thought it sounded, everything about being with Max felt right.

Even from the start, the ever-cynical Jasmine had found that any feelings of doubt on her part had been overridden by the unspoken acceptance that she and Max were meant to be together.

Thought you didn’t do love and mush and happy-ever-afters, Jasmine Ingilby, she’d said to herself one night gazing over at Max as he’d slept contentedly beside her when he’d stayed over one night.

But one look in his eyes, and the brush of his lips against hers told her that she very definitely did.

She’d never dared to believe she could ever feel such happiness or know what being properly in love felt like.

But being with Max had allowed her to experience all of that and more.

He made her feel safe and loved, which had taken some getting used to, but now she’d reached the point where she allowed herself to enjoy it.

The sound of the children’s laughter growing closer pulled her out of her thoughts.

‘Hey, Mum, is it true that Max told you he was going to come back to Micklewick Bay in a fast car and ask you to marry him?’ Zak asked, mischief dancing in his eyes.

‘Did anyone ever tell you you’re a right little squirt?’ Embarrassment sent a blush creeping up Jasmine’s neck and flooding her cheeks.

Max let out a roar of laughter.

‘Yep, you, loads of times.’ Zak gave her an impish grin that melted her heart.

‘My dad told me he said that when he was about nine before he left for Harrogate with his grandad,’ said Connor, wearing an equally mischievous smile.

‘Is that why you’ve come back, Max?’ Chloe asked, swiping her hair off her face as she gave him an enquiring look. ‘And would that mean you’d be mine and Zak’s daddy as well as Connor’s?’

‘That would be so cool!’ said Zak.

‘You’d be a dead mint brother,’ said Connor, both boys beaming broadly at one another.

‘Hey, what about me and Mummy?’ Chloe said, hands on hips.

‘You’d both be dead mint, too, especially if we got to eat loads of your mum’s cakes,’ said Connor.

‘Aren’t you forgetting someone rather important?’ asked Max, feigning a serious expression.

‘Who?’ the three children chorused.

Max shifted his gaze to Ernest, who was looking up at him expectantly, a ball at his feet, his fluffy tail swishing across the sand. ‘This fella, of course.’ He bent, picking up the ball and threw it as hard as he could, Ernest and the three children racing after it with whoops of delight.

‘Thanks for that,’ said Jasmine, her face still burning. ‘I love him to bits, but Zak can be a right little rascal sometimes.’

‘He’s a good kid; they all are.’

Max stood thoughtful for a moment before turning to her. ‘Jingilby.’ He rested his hands on her shoulders, gazing deep into her eyes, making her heart thud faster. In the next moment he let out a hoot of laughter. ‘Your face! Don’t worry, I’m not going to get down on one knee in front of the kids.’

‘Phew!’ From the myriad emotions that were currently flying around her, Jasmine wasn’t sure what to think. Surely that wasn’t a hint of disappointment sitting in her stomach?

‘What I was going to say was that I may not have consciously come back here to ask you to marry me – and it’s way too soon to think about now, we’re both cautious people and rightly so – but it’s not something I’d rule out next year.

’ He cupped her face in his hands, rubbing circles on her cheeks with his thumbs.

‘How d’you think you’d feel about that?’

Jasmine swallowed. How did she feel about that? ‘I… I feel the same as you.’ In fact, she’d been shocked to find herself, on several occasions, thinking of a long-term future that featured the two of them and their blended family, and it had made her heart fill with joy.

‘I wish I’d come back sooner, Jingilby.’

‘You came back when the time was right.’

‘I did. And, talking of timing being right, I reckon it’s time I did this.’ He lowered his head and whispered, ‘I love you, Jingilby,’ before pressing his lips against hers, all soft and warm.

If they hadn’t been so lost in the moment, they’d have heard their children cheering.