**Diary Entry**
*19th June, 2024*
“You’re no daughter of mine. Who is he? Wheres he from? I dont even know. Im ashamed of you. Move into Grannys cottage and live like an adult. Take responsibility for your choices.”
“Olly, did you hear? Theyve brought in some workers to help with the harvest. Fancy going to the pub tonight?” Maddy sprawled in the armchair, grinning.
“Maddy, are you serious? What about little Alfie? Should I just bring him along?” Olly laughed.
“What if we ask Auntie Lou?” Maddy suggested carefully.
Olly waved a hand dismissively.
“Dont be daft. She still hasnt forgiven me for having Alfie. You know what she wantedme married off to Andrew, but I went off to uni instead. Didnt get in, came home with a bump instead. She barely spoke to me for a year, only started again two months ago. You go, though. Maybe youll get lucky.”
Maddy sighed.
“Fine, Ill take Tanya. Ill tell you everything tomorrow.”
That night, Olly tucked Alfie in and stepped onto the porch. The distant thump of music from the pub carried on the wind. Wrapped in a shawl, she imagined the laughter, the dancing. Maddy would be wearing that ridiculous tiger-print dress againOlly smiled faintly. In it, she looked like a plump caterpillar. With a sigh, she turned in.
At dawn, Maddy burst in, just as Ollys mum arrived. Olly pressed a finger to her lips, but Maddy never knew when to stop.
“Shame you werent there last night! There were some lovely lads. One even walked me homeWilliam, his name was. Chatty, funny. Got a date with him tonight!” Maddy blurted.
Ollys mum frowned.
“Married, I suppose?”
Maddy shrugged.
“Dunno, didnt check his ring finger. If he is, well, at least Ill have stories.”
“Honestly, girls. Andrews a good lad. My daughter threw her chance away, but you, Maddyyou could still catch his eye,” Auntie Lou mused.
“Oh, come off it, Auntie Lou! Whod want him? And his mother? God forbid!” Maddy scoffed before turning back to Olly. “There was this other bloke last nightcouldnt take your eyes off him. All the girls were smitten. But he just stood with his mates, left alone. Didnt even ask anyone to dance.”
Then, something unbelievable happened. Auntie Lou said thoughtfully,
“You should go tonight, Olly. Ill mind Alfie. Might meet someone proper. That boy needs a fatherjust steer clear of married ones. They sniff out single mums like bloodhounds. Understood?”
Olly, stunned, nodded eagerly and kissed her mums cheek.
“Go on, you little flatterer,” her mum grumbled.
That evening, Olly stood with her friends in her best dress, laughing. How shed missed this.
“Look. Hes here again,” the girls whispered.
Olly glanced overand froze. Her legs trembled. She turned away sharply.
“I should go. Alfies probably crying.”
Maddy gawped.
“Olly, no! First night out in ages and youre leaving? You havent even danced!”
But Olly was firm.
“Im going. Looks like your Williams hereyoull manage.” She headed for the door.
Then, a hand caught hers.
“Care to dance?”
Olly kept her eyes down, pulling away.
“I dont dance.”
The man was persistent.
“One dance, please?”
She finally looked upher heart lurched. *Him.* The man whod changed her life in a single night. And judging by his smile, he didnt recognise her. Relief trickled in.
“One dance. Then Im off.”
He spun her lightly.
“Hubby waiting at home?”
“Im not married,” she said stiffly.
He winkedso familiar it stole her breath.
“So Ive got a chance?”
Olly stepped back.
“Not a hope,” she said, then fled.
Tears stung her cheeks all the way home. Shed remembered him foreverfallen for him that very night. And he hadnt even known her.
Theyd met on a train. Shed been heartbroken after failing her uni exams; hed been visiting family. Seeing her gloom, hed joked,
“Names Max. Mum calls me Maxie, my niece says Moo. Take your pick.”
Shed smiled.
“Moos funnier.”
Hed offered his hand.
“Almost friends, then. And you are, lovely creature?”
“Olly.”
“Fit for a queen,” hed said.
Bit by bit, shed confessed her failure, her mothers disappointment.
“Study over winter, try again,” hed advised.
Shed brightened. “Youre right! Thank you.”
Then hed studied her.
“No ones told you youre stunning?”
Shed blushed.
“Dont be silly.”
But hed leaned in.
“Its true,” and kissed her. What followed was dizzying, sweetand fleeting. Hed left early, promising,
“Ill find you.”
Only later did she realisehed never asked where she lived.
Then came the pregnancy. Her mothers wrath.
“Youre no daughter of mine.”
Shed worked at the library until her due date. Maddy met her at the hospitalher mother didnt come. Not until Alfie was five months old, her heart perhaps softening.
“Not our stock,” shed sniffed. But visits grew frequent, toys piled up.
“Home early?” her mother asked that night. “Pub that dull? Hows Alfie?”
“Asleep. Since youre here, Ill head off.”
Olly shut the door, tried to sleep. Dawn found her feeding Alfie, who fussed over his porridge.
“No porridge, no growing big and strong like your dad,” she teased.
“Talking about me? Flattered. And this must be my son?”
The spoon clattered.
“You? How?”
Max grinned.
“Told you Id find you. Didnt know Id left you with a son, though. Got carried away that nightforgot to ask where you lived. Suppose fate stepped in.” He pulled a face at Alfie, who giggled.
By morning, Ollys mother found her smiling, a stranger bouncing Alfie on his shoulders.
“This him?”
Olly beamed. “Yes.”
Her mother extended a hand.
“Louise Carter. Ill be watching what kind of manand fatheryoull be.”
Max shook it solemnly.
“Understood.”
**Lesson:** Lifes twists are cruel, but sometimes, just sometimes, the pieces fall where they ought to.
