by Cathy Bussey
‘It was a full moon,’ Faith said. ‘You should always sleep out under a full moon.’
‘You sounded like a bunch of foxes, screeching away out there all night,’ Minel said reprovingly.
‘That actually was foxes,’ Faith protested.
Sara cackled. ‘Yes, I’ll come and visit you,’ she said. ‘Something tells me I’m going to be making quite a few changes over the next few months.’
‘We’ll be with you every step of the way,’ Minel said.
Faith nodded. She knew the next few months were going to be unbelievably difficult for Sara, as she and Tony went through the heartwrenching minutae of their breakup, from deciding what to do about the house to dividing their property to learning to live without one another.
I know she feels heartbroken now, Faith thought, but some day soon she’s going to realise she still has her whole life ahead of her. And with it, a whole new chance at happiness, to find herself outside of her relationship, reaffirm her identity free of Tony, discover herself all over again and, hopefully, have a lot of fun along the way.
Rik came over sat down with them. ‘Come and sit on my knee,’ he said to Faith, pulling her on to his lap. ‘You look like a fairy, sitting here in the flowers. This is for you.’ He handed her a blazing orange Californian poppy he must have pulled from the patch growing by the side of the hay barn. Faith put it behind her ear and Rik kissed her on the cheek.
‘Stop that,’ she said. ‘Not in front of this lot.’
‘Oh, don’t bother on our account,’ Sara said. She smiled affectionately at both of them. ‘I really am happy for you two.’
Paul wandered over. ‘Your dog has just been sick,’ he informed Minel. ‘And your dog,’ he turned to Faith, ‘is eating it.’
‘Dogs are revolting.’ Faith grimaced as she watched GT devouring the pile. She tore her eyes away from the repulsive spectacle and admired the summerhouse, the quaintly cottagey structure looking just like it had always been there. She had planted two standard fuscias, one on either side of the door, and they were both bursting with their gaudily clashing blooms that so resembled tiny ballerinas.
‘So are you all set?’ Paul asked. ‘Ready for your big adventure?’
‘All set,’ Rik affirmed. ‘Well, we still need to find somewhere to live. We’re going to stay in a hostel until we do.’ He kissed the top of Faith’s head.
‘I pity the other residents,’ Paul said. ‘And if you’re this bad as grown adults I think we can all be grateful we were spared this when we were teenagers.’
‘I really can’t believe none of us guessed what was going on with you two,’ Minel exclaimed.
Paul puffed his chest out proudly. ‘Some of us did,’ he said.
‘It’s true,’ Faith confirmed.
‘How did you know?’ Minel demanded.
‘Because I’ve got eyes,’ Paul said. ‘How did you not know?’
‘Because it’s disgusting,’ Minel wailed. ‘My best friend and my brother. It’s the biggest cliché going.’
‘Everybody loves a cliché,’ Rik said.
‘And a happy ending,’ Faith added. She watched Paul and Minel as they launched into a round of good-natured bickering, and then her eyes moved to Sara, who was chipping in now and again to entertain herself.
‘Only this isn’t the ending,’ Rik said to her softly. ‘It’s just the beginning.’
The sun blazed its last and slipped gracefully below the horizon, and Hollyhocks was plunged into soft, fragrant darkness. The summerhouse stood, sleeping peacefully, its sand-coloured stones barely lighter than the shadows that surrounded it. The ground sighed, and an earthy kind of magic rose into the air, sent away on the day’s last breeze and carried by the departing rays of the sun, on a slightly higher frequency, just out of reach, on its way to who knew where.
Epilogue
Hollyhocks looked distinctly less sleepy this August, despite the blazing mid-afternoon sun, as Rik flung the protesting Land Rover down the gravel drive. It hadn’t moved much in the last year, other than for them to collect it from Faith’s mother’s house and drive it here, and it had clearly decided it was set in for the long haul and was outraged at having to do any actual work again. Faith had been surprised it even started.
They bounced over a pothole, and she winced as her head made contact with the roof once again.
‘Sorry,’ Rik said, pulling over to the side of the drive so the car could come to a grateful halt. ‘Paul needs to sort this drive out.’
Faith got out of the car and put her arm around his shoulders. The faint waft of the sweet peas she had planted against the wall of the summerhouse drifted over in a heady wave. The Virginia creeper had really taken hold, she noted with pleasure, and the dark green foliage was already tinted with that distinctive gaudy crimson. In a few weeks time it would be a blazing carpet of red, slowly but surely obscuring the sand-coloured wall.
GT leaped out of the car too, sniffing at the air and then looking hopefully up at Faith.
‘Off you go,’ she told him. ‘Just don’t maul anybody.’
Minel had hung bunting and streamers around the summerhouse and Faith was touched when she noticed she had matched the colours exactly to her borders, which were spilling over with dusky pinks and ivory whites, cornflower blues and vivid scarlet, sunshine yellow and sunset orange, all interspersed with every shade of green. The surface of the pond was broken in places by the boatlike leaves of water lilies and the occasional showy white flower. Cheerful yellow water irises clustered at one end. Faith could see flashes of orange darting and drifting underneath the greenish-brown water. ‘Your parents got fish,’ she said to Rik.
Throngs of people were milling over the lawn and into the summerhouse, which Minel had also hung with fairy lights ready to put on later when the light faded.
‘There you are!’ Minel had spotted them and detached herself from the crowd, her faithful Springer Melody tailing at her heels.
Faith hugged her gently, trying to avoid pushing against her friend’s vast, straining belly. ‘Jesus,’ she said. ‘Are you sure you’re not having twins?’
‘I’m sure,’ Minel beamed. ‘There’s definitely only one in there.’
‘You must be ready to pop any day now,’ Rik said. ‘How are you holding up?’
‘Exhausted,’ Minel said. ‘Shambling, emotional, swinging from angry to happy to excited to terrified to exhausted in the blink of an eye. I can’t wait for him to arrive,’ she said longingly, ‘just to put me out of my misery. I have loved every second of being pregnant but I have had enough now.’
‘Can I feel?’ Faith put her hands on Minel’s bump and felt a firm movement beneath the skin. ‘Oh,’ she said, delighted. ‘I felt him kick.’
‘I think Mum was really hoping he’d be here by now, so she could show him off to everybody,’ Minel said. ‘I hope I don’t go into labour during the speeches.’
‘I hope you do,’ Rik said, ‘so we don’t have to listen to Dad waffling on for hours on end.’
Paul had spotted them and came over too. ‘How was Germany?’ he demanded.
‘Sehr gut,’ Faith said.
He rolled his eyes. ‘What’s that when it’s at home?’
‘It means very good. Very clean and efficient. Lots of lovely gardens and no chewing gum on the pavements.’
Sara, who was talking to Helena and Ravi, caught sight of them and squeaked. ‘We’d better go over,’ Rik said. They all began walking across the lawn, and Faith looked around for GT. He was sniffing Melody’s backside hopefully.
‘You have neutered him?’ Minel asked anxiously, and Faith nodded. ‘Don’t worry. He’s firing blankety blanks.’
Sara embraced Faith delightedly. ‘How long are you back for? I’ve got loads to tell you.’
Minel burst into noisy tears.
‘Oh, there she goes again,’ Paul said. ‘Waterworks.’ He manouvered Minel against his chest protectively.
‘I’m just so happy to have u
s all back together,’ Minel sobbed. She looked at Faith imploringly. ‘You are sticking around until the baby comes, aren’t you? You’ll at least meet him before you jet off somewhere else on another adventure?’
‘We’re sticking around,’ Rik confirmed. ‘At least until —’ he stopped abruptly.
‘Until what?’ Sara, sensing intrigue, demanded.
‘Until the baby comes,’ Rik said, but he was shifting from foot to foot in a distinctly agitated manner.
Faith shot him a questioning look. ‘What’s up, Rikki?’ she asked. ‘Why are you fidgeting around like you’re all excited about something?’
‘I’m not,’ he insisted. ‘I’m just excited about becoming an uncle.’
‘Hmm.’ She narrowed her eyes.
‘Rik,’ Helena said quickly. ‘I have to finish getting ready before the ceremony and I need your help getting something down from the loft. Would you come over to the house with me? You stay here,’ she beamed at Faith, ‘and catch up with this lot. We’ll see you later.’
Faith watched Rik put his arm companionably around his mother’s shoulders and steer her off in the direction of the house. He was definitely all worked up about something, bouncing a little on his toes as he walked. He really is sexy when he’s excited, she thought dreamily. Maybe he was planning on making a speech for his parents. That would be sweet, she decided, and very thoughtful of him.
Helena and Ravi had been so ecstatic with the summerhouse they’d immediately announced they wanted to throw a party, and that had led to the idea of them renewing their wedding vows. ‘Thirty-five years,’ Faith said to Sara. ‘Can you imagine? That’s longer than we’ve been alive.’
‘Just about, in my case,’ Sara deadpanned.
‘Oof.’ Minel grabbed at her stomach and buckled a little.
Paul seized her shoulders anxiously. ‘Min!’
‘It’s OK,’ she said weakly, waving her hand. ‘Just a kick. Quite a kick. He’s strong,’ she said to Paul. ‘It shakes all my organs when he moves. He’s going to be just like you.’
More guests were arriving. Faith saw her mother and father approaching. They were holding hands, she realised with surprise. Judith had seemed quite upbeat and cheerful when Faith had seen her earlier. Maybe she’s getting some more help, Faith thought hopefully. Changed her medication, or talked to somebody, or even just opened up a bit more to my father instead of shutting him out. She wasn’t going to push and she doubted Judith would tell her, but she smiled warmly at her parents as they came to join the group.
‘You left this.’ Judith passed Faith a notebook.
It was her and Rik’s gift to Helena and Ravi, the new and completed version of their notes and illustrations of all the plant and animal life hosted by Hollyhocks. They had sent it to be copied, bound and laminated to give to his parents on their anniversary. A labour of true love, Faith thought happily, entirely valueless and worth more than gold, to her and Rik and she knew it would be to Helena and Ravi too. They had made several copies, one for Paul and Minel to pass down to their son along with the estate he would one day inherit, and a few for themselves and whoever they might eventually end up passing them, and their share of Hollyhocks, to.
‘I hope you don’t mind,’ Judith said, ‘but I couldn’t resist having a peek.’
‘Of course not,’ Faith said. ‘I’d have showed it to you if Rik hadn’t been in such a tearing rush about something.’
‘He did seem a bit distracted,’ Judith said. ‘Your father and I both had a look and we thought it was absolutely beautiful.’ She smiled. ‘You and Rik are very talented.’
‘That’s the second version,’ Faith said. ‘The new, improved one. The first version was created when we were teenagers, and it had all the features from the original garden at Hollyhocks. I really wish I’d kept it.’
‘Is that what you were doing with all that time you spent here?’ Judith asked, looking slightly shamefaced. ‘I just assumed you were up to no good.’
‘There was a fair bit of that too,’ Faith admitted and her mother looked startled.
Rik had returned. ‘Hi Judith. You’ve had your hair done, it looks great.’
Judith touched her hair and smiled again.
‘Come with me a minute,’ he said to Faith, taking her hand. ‘I’ve got something to show you.’
‘The ceremony will be starting soon,’ she protested.
‘Mum’s trying to shoehorn herself into her original wedding dress, it’ll take hours,’ he giggled. ‘We’ve got time. I really want you to see this.’
Rik tugged at Faith’s hand and she followed him obediently towards the drive. He must have left something in the car, she thought, but instead he took her to the hay barn, whose gleaming new red doors moved aside easily. He turned on the light, and it flickered a few times then illuminated the empty stalls, the rusting machinery and the stack of bales at the back.
‘After the drive,’ she said, ‘this needs to be our next project. We should clear out all that metal before little Tackle Junior is crawling so he can’t come in here and injure himself on it.’
‘Minel’s adamant they’re not calling him Tackle Junior,’ Rik said. ‘The bales need to go too. I think they’re still the same ones from Minel’s 18th.’
‘And the same ones you and I first did the nasty on,’ she said.
‘Nothing nasty about that,’ he said, drawing her to him and kissing her. ‘Not then, not now, not ever.’
‘You do seem agitated,’ she mused, noting the tension in his body. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to get not at all nasty right now to calm you down?’ She kissed him again.
‘I always want to do that,’ Rik said. ‘But I have something for you first.’ He dug around in his pocket, and pulled something out. ‘This is for you.’
She took it from him. It was a ring, a vintage rose-gold band with a circular yellow diamond in the centre and clear oval-shaped diamonds arranged around it like petals.
‘That’s your mum’s old engagement ring,’ she said in surprise, remembering all the times she’d admired it on Helena’s finger and said it reminded her of a daisy.
‘It is,’ he confirmed. ‘Do you like it?’
‘I love it,’ she said. ‘I always loved it. Doesn’t she want it any more?’
‘Dad got her a new engagement ring and she asked me if I’d like to give this one to you as she knew how much you liked it,’ he said. ‘See if it fits.’
She moved to slide it onto the ring finger on her right hand, and Rik stopped her.
‘The other hand,’ he said softly.
His eyes were very black in the dull yet garish light of the hay barn. Faith gulped.
‘I love you, Faith,’ he said. ‘More than ever, every day. I want to spend my life with you, fill this place with rowdy children and grow old and push zimmer frames around the quarry with you.’
‘I love you too,’ she said, choked.
He smiled. ‘Shall we get married?’
He made it sound like an adventure and she thought yes, that’s how it should be, an adventure.
That’s what he and I do.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Let’s get married.’
He took the ring from her and put it on the third finger of her left hand. ‘I measured your finger while you were asleep,’ he giggled, ‘actually you woke up and I blamed GT for disturbing you. I asked my mum to get it resized so it should fit.’ It slid over her knuckle and rested at the base of her finger like it had been made just for her.
‘I love it,’ she said, staring down at her hand in wonder. ‘And I love you. I can’t wait to marry you.’
‘I can’t either,’ Rik said. ‘Let’s not have a long and torturous engagement.’
‘Is this what you were all agitated about?’ she asked.
He nodded. ‘I’ve been planning on asking you for a while, but considering you famously dumped the last guy that proposed to you, I wanted to make sure I did it right. You obviously didn’t go for the ide
ntikit engagement ring and the asking your father for your hand and getting down on one knee in front of all your friends.’
Faith’s heart melted. ‘Rikki, you could have proposed to me via my father with a rusty old curtain ring while we were both face-down in the bottom of that pond surrounded by the entire village and I would have still said yes. It wasn’t the circumstances,’ she said. ‘It was the person. It was always going to be you.’
‘I know,’ he said cockily and she giggled.
‘You didn’t,’ she countered. ‘If you were actually nervous about it.’
She looked down at the ring again. It really did look like a tiny, glimmering daisy, nestled on her finger. I won’t be able to wear it for work, she thought. I’ll get it covered in mud and filth and general detritus. She had finished her course out in Germany and had already made a few calls locally to prospective clients.
‘I thought it should be here,’ Rik said. ‘Not in the pond, obviously, but somewhere that meant something to both of us.’ His eyes were doe-like and soulful, windows to the soul, Faith thought. They really are in his case. ‘It wasn’t that I was nervous you would say no,’ he went on, ‘I wasn’t nervous at all, actually. Just excited. Excited about spending my life with you.’
‘I am too,’ she said. ‘I still can’t believe I get to spend my life with my best friend.’
‘Don’t let Minel hear you say that,’ he said. ‘She’s still adamant you were her friend first.’
‘She’s going to want to plan it all for us,’ Faith warned. ‘And my mother. They’ll be unbearable, the pair of them.’
Rik giggled. ‘Hopefully Min will be too distracted by the baby. We can keep your mother in line.’
‘She’ll want us to have it at the church,’ Faith sighed.
‘It’s up to you.’
‘Up to us,’ she corrected.
He took her hand. ‘Come on, let’s go and tell everybody.’