by Emma Jameson
Maura had arranged herself in a canvas deck chair. Her arms and face were greased up with sunblock. In her lap was a paperback copy of Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers. Maura didn’t like ereaders, and she wasn’t much for modern romances, either. She was old school.
“Well, look at you,” she said as Kate thump, thump, thumped to her side. “Little miss unstoppable. How’s that knee?”
“So-so. See anything good, Henry?” Kate bellowed at the boy.
“I’m watching a blackcap. Now shut it. You’re too loud!” he roared at her, not bothering to tear his eyes away from his new binoculars.
“He lacks what you’d call a sense of irony,” Maura said. “Stay where you are and I’ll get you a seat.”
Kate forced herself to wait patiently as her elder sister heaved herself up, found a bookmark, marked her place, had a sip of fizzy soda, and ambled across the roof to the bracket securing three other deck chairs. Maura was new to being helpful, and Kate was new to being helped. It would be awhile before the wheels turned smoothly.
Once they were both settled in deck chairs, Maura felt around in the satchel which doubled as her handbag, withdrawing a spiral-bound notebook. “So I mentioned I have six months, right?”
“You did. I’m proud of you.”
“Yeah. I thought I could rest on my laurels. But my sponsor won’t let up. Makes me call every day. Emails me homework, too.”
“Seems like it works.”
“I guess.” Maura seemed to be working up to something, trying out words and replacing them with others. “She said… after I… you know I have to be honest with… it’s just… I’m meant to tell you directly how grateful I am. And I am. Grateful, I mean. Truly.”
For a second Kate feared she’d turn back into a soppy Kleenex. “Oh, come on. We’ve been through all that, haven’t we?”
“No,” Maura said. “The fact is, I’m glad you’re adopting Henry. I want him to have the best of everything. I always did. I just didn’t want to be shut out. And now… I never dreamed… I can’t believe you….”
“It was Tony’s idea,” Kate reminded her sister truthfully. “He’s the one that pointed out we have more than enough rooms here, and at Wellegrave House. Most of them stand empty all year round.”
Maura nodded. She, too, appeared to be fighting back tears. “I love it here. It’s so cozy. The food. The bed. Everything. But I don’t belong. It’s—what do you call it? A double-edged sword. The villagers stare at me. The staff doesn’t know what to make of me. I broke a vase just by walking past it. It’s like you invited a bull to live in your china shop.”
Kate smiled. Maura wasn’t exaggerating. Briarshaw’s staff transparently found her foibles and missteps exasperating. The village of Shawbridge, population 250, shunned her like a leper. Fortunately for Maura, there was a chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous in Shawbridge that met twice a week. It had three members—with Maura, four.
“I mean it,” Maura said. “Fine, I’m not a bull. I’m a dozy doped-up cow.”
“And I’m a gobshite detective with a bum knee. Nothing’s perfect. You said you were willing to do anything for Henry. Suffer for him,” Kate said. “Well. Here we are. He’ll be Henry Hetheridge and you’ll live where he lives and be part of his life. There will be times when it makes you feel like a bug under a microscope. That’s what you have to suffer to make this work.”
Maura seemed to absorb that. Then she turned in the deck chair to observe the child she’d given birth to and Kate had claimed as a son. “He’s better,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“He still sleeps with his phone. Just in case—you know.”
“I think that’s okay for now.” Kate didn’t want to say that she, too, slept with her phone. Someday she’d fully process that Sir Duncan Godington was dead and gone. Henry would, too. But it would take time. Neither of them was like Ritchie, able to forget completely when he chose. He’d even forgotten his old fear of Maura. By the time they returned to Wellegrave House—which would surely elicit a string of meltdowns—he’d be expecting Maura to comfort him, same as he expected Kate to.
“Okay, so, mission accomplished.” Opening her spiral notebook, Maura scribbled something inside before tucking it back in her tote bag. “Funny old life.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just, if you’d told me a year ago that I’d be sitting on the roof of a posh country manor with my little sis, I’d have laughed myself sick. You have an amazing life. What set you down this path?”
“That’s easy,” Kate said. “Meeting Tony.”
“Oh. Right. Dead sexy, he is. I even like the way he reads.”
“I seem to remember you calling him a wrinkly.”
Maura grinned. “That was before I met him.”
“Don’t so much as look at my husband.” Kate kept a straight face for a good five seconds before breaking up. It felt good to laugh, full-throated and fearless, on a sunny rooftop at Briarshaw, her favorite place in the world.
* * *
THE END
From the Author
I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest story about Tony, Kate, Paul, and the ever-growing supporting cast of my Lord & Lady Hetheridge Mystery Series. As always, I must thank my readers for their boundless patience, enthusiasm, and kind words. Let me also answer the question I’m most frequently asked: “Will there be another Blue book?”
The answer is, there will always be another Blue book. Some of them will take longer to arrive than others, but I adore these characters and never plan to say goodbye.
Having said that, it’s clear by the end of this one that the Hetheridges need a long holiday. So my next story will be set in Dr. Bones’s wartime Cornwall. There, it’s 1940, and I feel sure that year will be a momentous one for Ben, Lady Juliet, and the village of Birdswing. Also England, Europe, and the world.
Thanks again for reading. I’m more grateful to you, dear reader, than I can ever say.
Emma Jameson
February 2018
Also by Emma Jameson
Ice Blue (Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book #1)
Blue Murder (Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book #2)
Something Blue (Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book #3)
Black & Blue (Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book #4)
Blue Blooded (Lord & Lady Hetheridge, Book #5)
* * *
Marriage Can Be Murder (Dr. Bones #1)
Divorce Can Be Deadly ( Dr. Bones #2)
* * *
Dr. Bones and the Christmas Wish (Magic of Cornwall)
Dr. Bones and the Lost Love Letter (Magic of Cornwall)