Love Island

26. Just The Way You Are

Day 46
Couples:
Faye and Charlie
Jodie and Kyle (official couple)
Liliana and Dougie (official couple)
Sophie and Ricky
Violetta and James (official couple)
Zoe and Alex

I wake up to the sound of screaming, and I'm so confused. I look around and everyone seems just as shocked as I am. I get out of bed and make my way to where the noise is coming from, and see that there's a room full of six cribs, with a pretend baby in each of them. "Guys!" I shout, causing nearly everyone to come running into the room, "looks like we're parents."

James and I make our way to the crib with our name on it and pick up our baby, and after checking we realise that it's a baby boy. "Don't know how we've managed to become parents without even having sex." James jokes, and I join in laughing.

"It's a miracle." I giggle, "I'm basically the Virgin Mary."

"Maybe we should name him Jesus." He laughs, "or is that a bit much?"

"Think that might be a little too much." I laugh, putting our new baby into a baby-grow. "How about Tony?" I ask, and James gives me a confused look. "Well my dad is Antonio."

"Right, I see, that makes more sense." He then takes the baby off of me and holds him in his arms. "Tony it is." And I can't help but smile when I see how he acts with our pretend baby. He's holding him like he would never let anyone ever hurt him, and it's so adorable.

"You make a good dad." I comment, and it's actually so attractive that he's good with a little pretend baby.

"Well you would know, you're the expert on kids in here." We both laugh and make our way out to the garden, making sure Tony isn't in the sun. "So your daughter is six, right?"

"Yeah, so it's been a few years since I've had to deal with a baby." I reply, holding Tony in my lap. "I do miss it though."

"I can't believe you managed to take care of her at eighteen, you're some kind of superwoman." He says sincerely, not even trying to make a joke out of it.

"Well my Nonna helped a lot." I tell him, "I had no idea what I was doing but she was practically an expert. She has seven children so she knows what she's on about."

"I forget how big Italian families are. Do most Italians have families that big?" He asks, and I notice Ricky walking past just as he asks this, and he can't help but join the conversation.

"Oh definitely." He butts in, taking a seat with the two of us, caring his fake baby in his arms. "I'm one of nine, and my mum and dad were both one of six."

"See, Italians love having children." I comment with a small laugh, "its in our blood."

"So I'm guessing you've had some practise with children then?" James asks Ricky.

"Yeah, I'm the youngest in my family so a few of my siblings have children already." He explains, "little Bella is the newest arrival, she's only four months old. I wish I had a photo to show you, she's the most adorable girl in the world." He stops for a moment after saying that, then turns to me, "apart from Sofia of course." He smiles politely, "she's so cute."

"Sorry, what?" I ask immediately, confused by his statement. "You've seen my daughter?"

"Yeah." He confirms, and I can tell that he thought I knew already. "When you told the people in the villa about her, photos of the two of you together surfaced online. But don't worry, it was all good news, no one said a single bad thing about you as a mother."

I'm about to reply, but get cut off by Sophie shouting. "Ricky!" She shouts, getting his attention. "Come here!" And with that, Ricky leaves us again, taking his pretend baby to the girl he's coupled up with.

"You alright?" James asks with a confused time as soon as Ricky leaves.

"Yeah I just didn't realise that there were photos of my daughter out there." I tell him, "it's weird, surely they need my permission to do that, she's only six years old."

"Maybe they got permission from someone else in your family." He says in an attempt to reassure me. "But anyway, we're here for a maximum of ten more days, so you'll get to see her soon."

"I can't believe our time here is nearly over." I admit, momentarily forgetting that the final is just around the corner. It feels like only yesterday when I walked into the villa, so nervous about whether I'd even be able to make friends, let alone find a boy that I really like. "It's been a crazy seven weeks in here."

"You can say that again." He laughs, "we've had a lot of ups and a few downs, but we've got through it on the other side with a baby." He gestures down to little Tony, and I can't help but laugh. Why does he always do this? In the middle of a serious conversation he always makes me laugh and I forget what I was going on about. It almost makes it impossible to ever be annoyed with him. "But part of me wants to get out of here. I'm glad it's almost over because this villa is just the start of our journey together, I can't wait to see what's in store for us on the outside." He smiles widely before saying the next part, "and I can't wait for my family to meet you, I know they're going to love you."

I smile back at his response. Obviously I know that his dad passed away, and that's the reason why he's a secret millionaire. But he mentioned once before that his mum never approved of any of He girls that he went on dates with, so he never made it official with anyone. Family is really important to him. "But what if your mum doesn't like me?" I ask, scared that he might pick her over me.

"Why wouldn't she?" He questions in reply. "You're absolutely perfect in every way, what's not to like?"

"So you don't think she'll be annoyed that I was pregnant at eighteen?" I ask, but don't give him an opportunity to answer because I carry on with my little list. "Or the fact that I failed my A-levels? Or that I work as a part time gymnastics coach and barely have enough money to get me through the week? Or the fact that I never know when to shut up and end up saying something stupid? Or that-"

"Violetta." He interrupts, fed up of my little monologue. And he takes my hand in his, brushing his thumb over my knuckles in a reassuring way. "All those things are what makes you, you. I love you," there's a millisecond of pause before he finishes his sentence. "Just the way you are."

It's those words that instantly make tears start forming in my eyes, but at least this time they're happy tears. Just the way you are. I've never been the most attractive, or the most sporty, or most intelligent. I've always been seen as an average girl, every single day at school I would have guys coming up to me and asking about my friends because they were more interested in them than me. And I e heard all sorts of excuses; maybe if you were a little quieter, maybe if you were taller, maybe if you didn't spend so much time in your house and we're more social. And never until this day have I heard someone tell me that they love me, just the way I am.