I nod, tears springing to my eyes. It all made sense.
‘You must know that anything Ivy did, whether it seems wise or not, was because she really, really loved you,’ says Connie, squeezing my hands.
‘I know.’ I smile at her through my tears and my heart suddenly takes flight.
Oh my God, I have a granddad! And Connie and her mum and dad. And probably other relatives, who I don’t even know about yet!
‘So what relation are we to each other?’ I ask Connie, feeling suddenly shy.
She thinks hard. ‘I’m not sure. Your mum was my mum’s half-sister, I guess, so does that make us half-cousins?’
‘Cousins twice removed?’ I grin. ‘Or something like that.’
We look at each other and squeal in unison.
Connie stands up and holds out her arms. ‘Whatever the title, we’re family. And that’s what matters,’ she says, drawing me into a hug that somehow turns into a weird sort of dance as we jig excitedly from side to side.
When we break apart, Connie holds my shoulders and looks me straight in the eye. ‘Now, would you like to meet him?’
My heart lurches. ‘Of course I would!’
‘You’ve already met, you know.’
‘I know. In the café when you introduced us.’
She shakes her head. ‘Before that. He was there, in the church, for Ivy’s funeral. He gave you his handkerchief.’
‘Oh my God,’ I breathe, remembering that terrible day and how my legs almost gave way. He helped me to a chair and gave me the hanky. ‘I’ve still got it somewhere. Your granddad was so lovely to me.’
She smiles and squeezes my arm. ‘Our granddad.’
I nod, unable to speak. It all still feels so utterly unreal.
‘He is lovely,’ Connie says. ‘I know I’m biased but he is officially the kindest, funniest, cleverest granddad alive. So aren’t you the lucky one!’
We laugh and I ask her when I can meet him.
She grins. ‘Right now. If you like. They’re waiting upstairs.’
‘Really? But how …?’
‘As soon as you phoned, I rang Mum and told her they had to get themselves over here as soon as possible. Dad drove like the wind, apparently, to arrive before you.’
I nod, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by what was to happen. I was about to meet my granddad. I wanted so much for him to like me. But what if …
‘Okay?’ she checks.
I nod, my heart beating very fast. ‘Okay.’
Connie disappears upstairs and, seconds later, she walks into the room with the tall and distinguished man I remember from the funeral.
‘Holly,’ she says. ‘Meet your granddad, Rex.’
His eyes are so warm when he smiles at me – with just a trace of sadness in them, I guess because he sees Ivy in me – that any worries I had simply melt away.
I hold out my hand and he takes it in both of his. ‘Holly,’ he murmurs. ‘You can’t imagine how much I’ve longed for this moment, my dear.’
‘Me, too.’ I’m smiling from ear to ear and so is he, and the suspicion of a tear in his eye is no doubt reflected in my own.
‘You’re so like Ivy,’ he muses. ‘Those expressive eyes. Your voice. And you have her great inner strength and determination, I can tell.’
‘Sit down, sit down,’ fusses Connie, and we smile at her and take the seats she and I were sitting in, opposite each other.
‘I saw you that day on the station platform,’ he says, and I stare at him in surprise.
‘She was waving me off, back to Manchester. I had a feeling she’d spotted someone …’
He nods. ‘There was something in her eyes that day, when she looked at me. I knew she was going to tell you the truth at last.’
‘And she almost did,’ I recall. ‘But I had to get on the train and she missed her chance. So she was planning to tell me everything? About you?’
‘She was.’ He smiles wistfully. ‘But then all through the autumn she wasn’t herself. She kept getting cold after cold. I knew something wasn’t right because she’d always been so strong and healthy. She never got the chance to tell you before …’
He breaks off and I see tears of grief in his grey eyes. I shuffle my chair round and take his hand.
‘We used to have little trips away, you know.’ A smile breaks through as he turns to me. ‘They were the best times, when we didn’t have to pretend we were just friends so that the people we knew didn’t discover our secret.’
‘So you’re Olive!’
He looks puzzled. ‘Well, not last time I looked, my dear!’
I laugh. ‘No, she kept going to see her old school friend, Olive, who strangely enough, I never, ever met. She was meeting you …’
He nods, his eyes twinkling at the memories.
I have to ask him. ‘Why didn’t she tell me sooner? If she had, you and I could have met and …’
He sighs. ‘She dreaded your reaction. She’d kept the truth from you for all those years, afraid you’d judge her harshly for the affair. How could she tell you now and risk alienating you?’
I nod, absorbing his words. ‘So how did you meet?’
‘Well, my wife, Izzy, died when my daughter was very little – and I met Peter and Ivy soon afterwards and we became friends. I lived above the shop here at the time. I hated the way Peter treated her.’ He shakes his head, still visibly upset all these years later.
‘You were Ivy’s refuge. I’m so glad you were there for her.’
He smiles at me. ‘We’ve so much to talk about, you and I. We were the two people who loved Ivy the most.’
I nod and a single tear rolls down my cheek.
‘I wanted to tell you who I was that time Connie introduced us, but of course, I couldn’t. Ivy had made me promise to wait until you came to me. So all I could do was hope that you’d find a clue among her possessions that would eventually lead you to me.’
‘Thank goodness for the diary. I think she must have known I’d find it and eventually put two and two together.’
He pats my hand. ‘And a lovely bit of quail helped you solve the mystery! That will forever be my favourite food.’
We laugh and he says, ‘Now to important matters. What are you going to call me?’
‘Oh, I’m not sure. What would you prefer?’
‘Anything you like, my dear. As long as it isn’t “that silly old duffer”.’
Connie comes in at that moment and joins in the laughter.
We decide on ‘Rex’ for now, with the option of ‘Granddad’ when it feels right.
Connie says she has a feeling that won’t be too far off, and I think she’s probably right …
FORTY
After Connie’s mum and dad come down to join the gathering, and we’ve all chatted for a while, Rex wants to know if I’ll accompany him over the road to Ivy Garden.
I tell him I’d be delighted, if they could just give me a little time to talk to Jack, who I’m hoping against hope is still waiting for me outside.
Connie says she’ll make some tea for everyone and they’ll join me outside in half an hour.
She winks at me as I leave. ‘What a day you’re having. Go for it, girl!’
I dash outside but Jack’s not in the car, so I guess he must be in Ivy Garden. I really hope he is.
Please be there, Jack! Please be there!
To my relief, when I look through the hedge, there he is, lounging on one of the wooden seats, feet up on the table, hands thrust in the pockets of his jacket against the cold night.
I hesitate, though, before stepping through the gap.
Before I go to Jack, there’s something I must do.
It’s time …
Taking my phone out of my pocket, I trawl through my contacts and find Ivy’s number. For a long moment, I stand there, psyching myself up to do it. It’s a huge deal for me. But I always knew the time would come …
A part of me can’t quite believe what I’m doing when I hit ‘del
ete’. But there, it’s done.
I put my phone back in my pocket and draw in a huge lungful of air. Then I breathe out slowly. How do I feel?
Actually, I’m okay.
‘Hey, there,’ Jack says, getting to his feet, when I join him in the clearing. ‘Everything all right?’
‘Everything is great,’ I tell him, happy but slightly dazed from everything that’s happened over the past few hours.
‘Do you want to tell me?’
‘Later.’ I smile shyly up at him, desperately hoping we can pick up where we left off in the pub – that moment before the waitress arrived when Jack’s hand was clasping my waist and we were about to kiss.
He nods. ‘Okay. Well, I’ve got a surprise for you.’
‘Another surprise?’ I laugh. ‘I’m not sure I can cope!’
‘It was Layla’s idea, but it wasn’t working earlier.’
He walks over to the same tree he was standing by earlier, does something I can’t quite see in the gloom – and suddenly, the whole place lights up like a winter wonderland.
I gasp at the sight.
Soft white lights hang low in the trees all around the little woodland clearing. It’s so perfect, it actually brings tears to my eyes.
‘It’s beautiful,’ I breathe, staring around me in amazement. ‘I can’t believe you did this for me.’
We look at each other across the clearing.
‘I’d do a lot more than string up a few lights,’ Jack says softly. ‘If it meant you would decide to stay.’
My heart leaps with hope. I swallow, unable to drag my eyes away from his, but at the same time, half-expecting Selena to suddenly emerge from the bushes and totally sabotage this moment for me.
I take a step towards Jack, hardly daring to believe this is real, and he does the same.
And then somehow, I’m in his arms, and his mouth comes down on mine and the whole world disappears.
It’s just us now. Jack and me. His kisses are hard and determined, and a primitive beat of desire pounds through my whole body. I kiss him back, my face wet with tears, all the despair of those heartbreaking months of longing pouring out of me, letting Jack know just how much I want him.
Finally, we break apart, gasping, although Jack keeps me grasped firmly against him as if he’s never going to let go.
‘Tell me what happened at the café,’ he says.
‘Later,’ I whisper, not wanting to interrupt the moment – not even to tell him something so incredible that I still can hardly believe it myself. ‘I promise.’
Groaning, he pulls me closer and bends to kiss my neck, keeping his mouth there as I run my hands through the dark silkiness of his hair, my head spinning with the joy of finally being able to love Jack after needing him for so long.
Later, he draws the two chairs together and we sit beneath the magical fairy lights of Ivy Garden, smiling at each other, unable to let go even for a second. He tells me he thinks he fell for me at our very first meeting outside Stroud railway station, with me being all snappy and disapproving of his drunken state. I tell him that I was closer to being locked up in jail than I’ve ever been, because I could have cheerfully murdered Selena for monopolising his attention.
This exchange takes longer than you’d imagine, interrupted as it is by a long, passionate kiss that fizzes through my whole body and makes me wish we could go back to Moonbeam Cottage immediately.
‘So,’ Jack says at last. ‘Tell me your news.’
‘Okay. But first, can I ask you a personal question?’
‘Go on, then.’
I clear my throat. ‘What are your views on polyamory?’
He stares at me. Then he chuckles. ‘Christ, you’re not going to tell me you’ve got three husbands already!’
I feel myself blushing, rather liking the implication that he might want to be husband number four.
‘No. It’s just … well, I couldn’t be with a man who thought it was perfectly acceptable to live in a commune and have sex with whoever took his fancy that particular day.’ I shrug apologetically. ‘It’s just not me.’
He laughs. ‘And it’s not me, either, I’m happy to report. What the hell put that idea in your head?’
‘Oh, nothing. Just checking.’
‘You’re a funny one,’ he says, but his eyes are so full of love, I can tell that, in this case, being funny is a good thing.
‘I have a feeling you’re going to keep on surprising me,’ he says.
I smile happily. ‘I’ll certainly try my best.’
‘And by the way,’ he growls, pulling me closer. ‘Forget polyamory. I happen to be a huge fan of one-on-one.’
‘Well, that’s a relief,’ I giggle, my body melting deliciously at the very thought of this.
There’s a rustling in the trees behind us and torchlight shines into the clearing.
‘Come on, Mum,’ says a familiar voice. ‘Keep up. Or we’ll be having to get you down to the motorised scooter shop.’
Layla!
I hear Prue’s laugh. ‘Don’t be so cheeky, young lady. You’re not the one who walks into the village and back most days. I’ll have you know I’ve never been fitter!’
‘Don’t the fairy lights look amazing? Ooh, look, she’s here!’
Jack chuckles. ‘Family. Who’d have them?’ Then he realises what he’s said and tightens his arm around me. ‘Sorry.’
I smile up at him. ‘You don’t have to be sorry. Because here comes my lot!’
Right on cue, Connie squeezes through the hedge, followed by her mum and dad, and Rex.
Jack stares at me. ‘They’re your family?’ he asks, just as Layla bounds over to say hello.
I nod. Then I turn to Layla. ‘Thanks for my surprise.’ I wave at the lights in the trees.
‘You’re very welcome. Do you want another surprise?’
‘I’m not sure,’ I laugh. ‘Do I?’
She nods eagerly. ‘I just heard that I came second in the short story competition – and they had hundreds of entries!’
‘Wow, Layla, that’s awesome!’ I pull her into a delighted hug.
‘I know. Mum and Jack are sending me on a writing course and I’ve started my first novel!’
‘I can’t wait to read it. Actually, I’ve got a surprise for you, too.’
‘Ooh, what is it?’
‘The answer to the mystery we tried so hard to solve.’
Her eyes lights up. ‘You mean …?’
‘Yes. Layla, meet my granddad!’
She spins round. ‘What, Rex? Well, bugger me! You’re Ivy’s secret lover?’
‘Secret lover?’ repeats Prue, bemused.
Everyone laughs, including Rex, who puts an arm around Layla and remarks, ‘You can always trust this girl to say it as it is. Cut through the cow pat, as it were. She’s assisted me at that garden centre of hers on many an occasion.’
‘Rex. Wow!’ Layla is still taking it in. ‘Good result, Holly.’
‘We brought champagne to celebrate,’ says Connie, holding up a bottle in each hand.
‘Oh, how lovely,’ says Prue. ‘Now, will someone please tell me what on earth is going on here?’
Jack puts his arm around Prue and says, ‘How about we all go back to Rushbrooke House out of the cold? My baby sis has made mince pies.’ He smiles wickedly at Layla. ‘I realise that sounds like a threat, but they actually taste quite good.’
Everyone is in agreement and Prue starts leading everyone back through the woods. Jack slips his hands round my waist and we stand for a moment in the clearing, in among the magical festive fairy lights.
‘What a day you’ve had,’ he murmurs.
‘Thanks to you.’
‘Me?’
‘Well, if you hadn’t taken me to the pub, I’d never have ordered quail. And I’d never have had my light bulb moment about Ivy and Rex.’
‘Good old Ivy! She certainly kept that one secret. Although I think she’d be delighted at how it’s all turned out for you.’
>
I nod, my eyes filming with bittersweet tears.
And I also know she’d have been over the moon that Jack and I are finally together.
‘Rex seems like a really good guy,’ says Jack into my hair.
‘Well, I’m sure he is,’ I joke, trying to pull myself together. ‘He is related to me, after all, and I happen to be perfect!’
He chuckles. ‘Okay, I’ll give you that one. Since I do actually agree with you.’
He bends to kiss me again, then he stops. ‘So can I assume you’ve decided to stay in Appleton?’ He’s smiling but there’s a touch of uncertainty in his expression.
‘Are you asking me to?’
He nods slowly, gazing into my eyes and turning my knees to jelly.
I smile happily up at him. ‘Then I’m definitely staying.’
He searches my face for a second, as if he can’t quite believe I’m real. Then he pulls me closer for the millionth kiss of the night. And this time, I have no worries – like I did with Sylvian and his kundalini antics – that Ivy might be looking down on me disapprovingly.
In fact, I’m quite certain she’s cheering …
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to my wonderful editor, Phoebe Morgan, for her endless encouragement, patience, hard work and great insights – and to the brilliant teams at Avon and HHB, who all continue to make this ‘job’ of mine a delight.
Thanks also to my lovely family and fantastic friends for all their support. I really couldn’t do it without you!
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The Secrets of Ivy Garden Page 30