My very special holiday romance souvenir!

When Betty Blakey was offered the chance to visit a tropical island for work, she jumped at the chance. But she returned home with more than a tan…

Walking down the plane steps, the warm island breeze hit me and I had to stop myself from squealing with excitement. I was finally here!

I worked as an Aviation Maintenance Administrator for the US Navy, and although most of the time my job was just like any other, when, in January 1985, the opportunity came up to be stationed on Guam – an island in the North Pacific Ocean – I’d jumped at the chance.

It was going to be the adventure of a lifetime.

I quickly made friends and found a place to stay with a girl called Marlena. I loved finishing a shift, then heading to the beach.

She worked at a local beach bar, and one evening I went for a drink while she worked. As I ordered a cold beer, two guys joined in with our conversation.

One of them introduced himself as Peter Goldstein, then 28, and told us he was travelling with his brother, John.

We told them about our lives on the island and in turn, they said they’d come to Guam to scuba dive and explore the colourful reefs.

Over the following days, Peter and I grew close, very close. Whenever I wasn’t working, we were together – enjoying each other’s company, going on dates, striking up a romance…

‘You should come diving with us,’ Peter said one morning at breakfast. But Marlena and I couldn’t get time off work – we hated missing out on all the fun.

So instead, that evening they invited us on a moonlit boat trip and we sipped Dom Perignon on the deck while the sun went down. It was my first taste of champagne.

I was young, single and enjoying life to the fullest.

But all good things have to end, and at the end of the week it was time for Peter and John to leave Guam and continue their travels elsewhere.

Naturally, I was sad – we’d had so much fun and goodbyes are never easy.

I settled back to normality, still unable to believe I was living in this beautiful paradise island. But it wasn’t too much later that I started feeling out of sorts. I woke up feeling nauseous, had stomach cramps and was constantly tired.

I knew what the symptoms might mean, so went to the pharmacy to get a pregnancy test. Sure enough, the test showed positive.

Alicia (left) tried to track down the man who wooed Betty

Peter as a baby, with his own dad, looks like Alicia