Life After The Villa

21. The Baby Shower

"I'd just like to thank everyone for coming." Asher starts, raising her glass in the air, ready to make her speech that she's been practicing for weeks, but this is the first time I've been allowed to hear it. "When Violetta first told me that she was pregnant, I was so happy for her. She's the most amazing mum in the world already, and now she gets to share that experience this time round with the man she loves. They are honestly the best couple in the world and I couldn't be happier for them even if I tried. So here's to Violetta and James, the parents of the two luckiest babies in the world."

She smiles at me, tears in her eyes as everyone else at the baby shower repeats, "to Violetta and James."

"Now, we have some games before dessert." She laughs, trying not to get emotional, and I can tell that something is up. "So feel free to guess the twins' due date and names while we wait."

Pretty much everyone gets up out of their seat to play the guessing games, but I get out of my seat to talk to Asher, that's my priority right now. "Asher," I say, getting her attention. "Can we talk?" I ask her, and she nods her head silently, then walks out of the dining room into the hallway.

"So, eight months in, huh?" She starts, and I think she's trying to distract me from asking her any questions. "You excited for the scan tomorrow? You look like you're about to burst."

"Asher, I didn't pull you aside so we can talk about how big I've got or about my scan tomorrow, I want to talk about you." I tell her, and she looks down at her feet. "What's going on? And don't tell me it's nothing, I know you Ash, I can tell when you're feeling down."

"I thought I was pregnant." She whispers, even though there's no one around to hear but me. "But I took a pregnancy test and it turns out I'm not."

"And that'a a bad thing?" I ask, normally people freak out that they're pregnant, not that they're not pregnant. 

"It's just, when I thought I was pregnant, I got all excited about how our kids would be growing up together and they could be best friends like us." She stops herself and sighs. "But now I know that that's not happening, and I just really want it to happen."

"Well have you talked to Taylor about this?" I ask her, knowing that she's making a mountain out of a molehill right now. "Maybe he wants children too, then you could really start trying for them."

She shakes her head, looking upset. "I'm too scared." She admits, finally looking me in the eyes. "What if he says that he doesn't want children?"

"Trust me, I know how you're feeling." I reassure her, holding her hand in mine. "I felt the exact same way when I was pregnant with the twins, I had no idea how James was going to respond and I was terrified that he'd tell me that he wasn't ready. You just have to trust that everything will be okay. And even if Taylor doesn't want kids right now it doesn't mean you're never going to have kids, it just means that now isn't the time."

"I know." She admits. "I just wanted us to have kids that would grow up together, that's all. And I know it's stupid for me to get upset about something like this, but I just can't help it."

"Don't worry. I completely understand." I tell her, pulling her into a hug. "Just promise me you'll speak to Taylor, okay? No matter how scared you get."

"I promise." She tells me, as she pulls away from our hug. "Now lets head back in before people start asking questions.

The rest of the afternoon is filled with guessing who the baby photo belongs to and the most amazing cheesecake I've ever tasted. And of course, lots and lots of opening presents for the babies. 

After everyone's gone, it's just James, me and Sofia left. "Looks like someone's pretty tired." James says to Sofia, "come on, lets get you to bed." He takes her hand in his and leads her out the room and up the stairs, and I make myself comfortable on the sofa, cup of tea in hand. And I just sit there waiting, on my own, for James to come back downstairs again.

When he comes back downstairs again, he greets me with a kiss on the forehead before sitting down next to me. "How are you feeling after today? You tired?"

"A little." I tell him, "But when am I not?" I joke with a small laugh. "Actually, I had a little bit of stomach pain earlier. It's gone now but it was pretty bad, I just carried on smiling though for our guests."

"You sure you're okay?" He asks me, looking pretty concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I promise." I reassure him, I used to get stomach pains all the time when I was pregnant with Sofia, so I'm sure it's nothing. "We can ask the doctor at the scan tomorrow, anyway. Just to put you at ease, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Okay, good." He smiles, looking a lot less concerned now. He's such a worrier, and he's always been like that. "Oh, I have big news about Taylor and Asher, by the way."

"Trust me," I laugh. "So do I. It's like their whole life is a drama or something."

"Well wait till you hear this." He starts, readjusting how he's sitting so that he's facing me ever so slightly more. "Taylor bought an engagement ring, he's going to propose."

"Wait, what?" I ask, taking completely aback. I even have to blink a couple times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "Are you being serious?"

"Yes I'm being serious, I wouldn't joke about something like that." He tells me, "He was asking me for advice about how to propose, so I told him that it should be something romantic and special and that it shouldn't be some massive public thing. I thought Asher loves showing off her relationship to everyone but she also always says to you how she wishes Taylor was a bit more romantic, so I thought that would be good advice."

"You're right, she'd definitely prefer it just the two of them. That way they can keep the moment between them." I agree, thinking about all the times Asher said that she's jealous of James and I's relationship.

"Oh, and he also asked me to ask you if you could take Asher out to get her nails done sometime this week so that when she has photos of her ring she'll have a new set of nails to go with it." He says, and I love how Taylor has thought of absolutely everything, because Asher would one hundred percent kick off if she didn't have nice nails for the photos of her engagement ring. He knows her so well. 

"I'm so glad that they're happy." I tell him with a warm smile on my face. In the past few months I've not been in contact with Jodie as much, so Asher is pretty much the only girl from Love Island that I still speak to. And I never would have guessed that when I first went into the villa. From enemies, to frenemies, to friends, to best friends, to family. What a journey we've had.