by Heidi Swain
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ said Neil, ‘and we can pick up the rolls that Mark has set aside from the bakery on the way back. Are you still happy to keep all the food and drink at yours tonight, Carole?’
‘Yes,’ she said, double-checking her list again, just to make sure everything was in order, even though she knew it was. ‘There’s plenty of room in our fridge in the garage.’
The two men went off and after Carole had coerced Heather and Lisa into helping her, Luke and I were left alone.
‘I think I’ll go and see if there are any eggs,’ I said, turning back to the bothy for the basket.
I wasn’t sure why I felt so awkward alone in his presence but the sudden thundering in my chest left me in no doubt that I had missed him rather more than I considered appropriate.
‘I’ll give you a hand if you like,’ he said, fumbling a little as he took the basket and our fingers touched. ‘I haven’t had a chance to see how the girls are getting on since I’ve been back.’
‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’ I asked.
I didn’t feel it was right to ignore that he’d been away but didn’t want to end up sounding like Carole either.
‘You look like you’ve been somewhere hotter than Norfolk.’
‘It was more of a retreat than a holiday,’ he cut in the second I had finished. ‘I had stuff to think about.’
That was what the guys had said he had told them before he left, but clearly what that ‘stuff’ was wasn’t up for discussion.
‘Here they are then,’ I said when we reached the run. ‘What do you think?’
Luke couldn’t believe his eyes and refused to accept they were the same scrawny-necked pitiful little specimens that we had taken delivery of just a few weeks before. I couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction and felt myself beginning to relax again.
‘You’ve swapped them,’ he said forthrightly. ‘You must have done. They can’t possibly be the same birds.’
‘They are,’ I told him, laughing at the sight of his stunned expression. ‘Of course they are. This just shows what a few weeks of clean living can achieve, doesn’t it?’
‘I suppose it does,’ he laughed back. ‘Although I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.’
‘And actually, it’s not just the hens,’ I said, as I added the perfectly smooth eggs to the basket. ‘Everyone who comes here is looking and feeling better, thanks to you.’
‘Except for Heather,’ he frowned.
How frighteningly observant he was. I hoped he hadn’t spotted the silly happy dance I had indulged in when I had discovered his car back on the drive.
‘She’s looking a little off colour to me. Is she all right?’
‘Blooming,’ I said, then quickly rushed on in case he put two and two together and came up with quads. ‘I was wondering if you might have time for a chat tomorrow,’ I asked before I was quite ready to. ‘After the party perhaps?’
‘I can talk now if you like,’ he said, looking down at me with his beautiful brown eyes. ‘Or perhaps tonight? We could have another takeaway. I haven’t tried the pizza place yet.’
‘It would be better tomorrow.’ I swallowed.
I flushed at the thought of us spending another evening together, but I wanted a bit more time to think carefully about how it would go. I needed to talk to Charlie, then decide whether I was going to tell Luke what I had been up to before revealing what John had pulled out of my clandestine cupboard.
‘All right,’ he nodded. ‘But I’m going to apologise in advance if I’m not the best company.’
I was about to ask why he thought he wouldn’t be, when Tamsin bellowed from the garden gate that he had a phone call at the house.
Easter Sunday was sunny and warm, almost unseasonably warm for the end of March, not that any of us were complaining. The party would have been a total flop if the weather was a washout but, as it was, the early spring sunshine ensured the bunting could be hung in perfect safety and cotton frocks were favoured over sweatshirts and jeans, for the girls among us anyway.
Lisa, Heather and I were the earliest to arrive at the garden and set about hiding eggs of all shapes, colours and sizes for the children to find. My initial concerns that Tamsin and Rob’s twin boys were too old to enjoy that sort of thing were soon forgotten as Carole handed out the lamb-patterned buckets Lisa had stocked up on from the pound store and the competition to find the most eggs began.
‘Well, now,’ boomed a large and jolly lady who arrived late in the morning weighed down with bags bursting with yet more chocolate treats and an equally jolly gent following on behind. ‘How lovely is all this?’
‘Grandma!’ squealed Lisa and John’s eldest two as they rushed over, Archie being carried by Tamsin, to greet John’s parents.
They weren’t the only guests to pay the party a visit that day. Both Glen’s and Heather’s parents put in an appearance as did Poppy and some friends of Mark and Neil along with a pal of Harold’s from his luncheon club. The elderly pair commandeered a table and enjoyed a lively game of cards, gambling away their fortunes of pennies which they had stored in old coffee jars.
I had more than enough on my mind, as I played out my evening with Luke in my head, and felt relieved rather than guilt-ridden that I had asked my Wynbridge family not to descend on me. Easter was always a busy time for Jemma and Tom and, according to phone calls with Dad, letting Mum stew on her actions at Christmas for such a long time was doing her no harm at all.
‘Having fun?’ Luke asked, when he finally put in an appearance just before we were getting ready to set the tables for lunch.
‘I’d almost given up on you,’ I smiled. ‘We were going to send the kids to come and drag you out.’
‘I’ve been watching you all from the house,’ he explained. ‘I didn’t realise the morning had almost gone until I looked at the clock.’
‘Why were you watching from inside?’ I quizzed. ‘The party can’t properly start until it’s been officially opened by our host.’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ he said, looking wary, ‘and besides I might not be the bubbliest company today.’
‘Is everything OK?’ I asked, remembering that he had suggested as much the day before.
He didn’t have a chance to answer before Lisa was dragging him off to meet her mother-in-law, Beryl, who came over all peculiar when he gave her one of his stunning smiles and thanked her for coming. It took a glass and a half of John’s spring cocktail and a sit down to settle her complexion back to something less alarming.
‘I’m going to fire up the barbecue in a minute,’ John’s voice boomed above everyone else’s, ‘but before we all get stuck into this fabulous feast, I think it’s only fitting that Luke says a few words and we all raise a glass to thank him for giving us residents of Nightingale Square a part of this fabulous garden to grow in.’
‘Hear, hear!’ everyone agreed amid a flurry of cheers and whistles.
‘This time last year,’ John continued, eloquently expressing how everyone felt, ‘our ambitions were limited to what we could achieve if we ever got permission to dig up the patch of grass outside our own front doors, but thanks to the generosity of this man here, we have a real community garden to be proud of now and I hope the next six months prove to be as successful and bountiful as the first couple. To Luke,’ he finished, raising a glass and smiling broadly.
‘To Luke,’ everyone else chorused, joining in the toast.
Luke shook his head and looked disarmingly embarrassed. He shuffled from one foot to the other and cleared his throat before looking at the group of neighbours he was for the most part responsible for turning into a group of firm friends.
‘I don’t really know what to say,’ he began, then stopped and took a deep breath.
I still struggled to believe that the bloke who smouldered from the pages of the multiple magazine adverts Lisa had since thrust under my nose could be so reserved and unassuming. His current stanc
e and stammering was a far cry from the passionate poses he assumed when selling aftershave and designer labels. I felt my heart go out to him as he struggled to find the words to fit the occasion.
‘When I lost my dad . . .’
The unexpected beginning pulled me out of my trance.
‘Two years ago today as it happens . . .’
Everyone gasped and listened even more intently. That was no doubt why he said he might not be good company and had lingered in the house this morning. I wish he’d have said something sooner. We could have arranged to have the party another day. Sitting out in the sunshine with us lot was probably the last thing he felt like doing.
‘When I lost Dad,’ he continued, ‘and decided that I would take up his obsession to retrace our family tree, I had no idea that it would lead me here or give me the opportunity to transform anyone else’s lives. I selfishly assumed that the exercise would be about me finally managing to do something that would make him proud.’
‘And he would be proud of you, lad,’ Harold interrupted. ‘And don’t forget, we’re your family now, and we couldn’t be more honoured to have you in the fold.’
‘Thank you, Harold,’ Luke nodded.
I wondered if he was alluding to how he felt about the life he had once led and that his dad disapproved of. Was that perhaps what he had been thinking about on his ‘retreat’?
‘But what I’m trying to say,’ he continued, ‘incoherently I know, is that I never for one second imagined all of this.’ He looked around him at the beautiful space we had managed to create in practically no time at all. ‘It just goes to prove that what Charles Wentworth had in mind for this area of the city is still as relevant today as it was when he was building his philanthropic empire. Things really are better when they’re done together,’ he smiled, ‘and I hope that we will continue to work together for as long as we’re all destined to be here.’
‘I’ll drink a toast to that,’ responded Glen, quickly handing Luke a glass when he realised he was the only person present without one.
‘Thank you all so much,’ Luke nodded, holding his glass aloft, ‘for welcoming me home and helping me fall in love.’
‘Cheers,’ we chorused again.
I felt my heart drum in my chest as Luke’s eyes met mine and I allowed myself to briefly wonder whether he was talking about more than the bricks and mortar.
‘Now please,’ he summed up, ‘enjoy the rest of this very special day, and if anyone who hasn’t seen it yet would like to join me for a tour of the house after we’ve devoured this delicious meal, I would be more than happy to show you around.’
‘Thank you for helping me fall in love,’ Lisa hissed in my ear as we smoothed out the polka-dot patterned paper cloths and laid out the mismatched crockery and cutlery, along with the Easter-themed crackers and glasses. ‘What do you think he meant by that?’
‘Look around you, Lisa,’ I said firmly, refusing to show any sign of weakness under her scrutiny. ‘You can’t look at this and tell me you haven’t fallen at least a little bit in love with it yourself.’
The scene was idyllic. Carole was dotting the pots of bright spring bulbs she had prepared along the length of the table and the heady sweet scent of the hyacinths combined with the herbs from the barbecue rubber-stamped the day as one of halcyon proportions. If this was a taste of the summer to come, then we were all in for a treat.
‘Who would fail to be seduced by a setting, right in the heart of the city, like this?’
‘You know full well that’s not what he was getting at, Kate.’
This was from Heather, and I could hardly believe my ears. Ordinarily when Lisa was off on one of her ‘dog with a bone’ rants she and I would stick together. Say whatever the other needed us to say when faced with such a barrage, but on this occasion, I was out of luck. I looked at her and frowned.
‘Well, I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘but it’s obvious, isn’t it? Luke’s falling for you, Kate.’
I opened my mouth to contradict her, but she didn’t give me a chance.
‘He might not have told you as much yet,’ she said resolutely, ‘he might not even know it yet, but he is. That’s why he took himself off “to think things through”!’
She sounded as smug as if she’d worked out the final clue in a murder mystery.
‘And you can forget all about that bloody one true love crap,’ cut in Lisa, adding her own subtle and unique layer to the conversation. ‘Life is messy and muddled and sometimes what might have looked like the perfect relationship at first can turn out to be nothing more than an elaborate dress rehearsal.’
‘She’s right, you know,’ said Heather. ‘Gobby, but right.’
‘Hey,’ pouted Lisa. ‘I know what I mean.’
‘I know what you mean,’ I told her, ‘I just don’t believe it.’
By the time we had eaten our fill and the tables had been cleared, the sun was setting and the warmth afforded by the mellow old walls was beginning to wane. Harold and his card-shark companion had already headed back to the Square, as had Heather and Glen with Evie and their parents.
‘I think we’re going to head home,’ said Rob, pulling on his jumper. ‘The boys are going to stay with their mum for a few days next week and I don’t want them too tired out when she comes to pick them up in the morning. I don’t see why I should be the only parent subjected to their endless energy and Tiggerish behaviour.’
He had told me earlier, out of earshot of Carole of course, that he was planning to spend some quality time with Sarah and had finishing touches to plan.
‘And we’re going to make a move too,’ said John. His parents had gone and he had Molly in his arms, her thumb was plugged in and her eyelids were heavy.
‘You’re all welcome to come back to ours, folks,’ Lisa yawned as she scooped Archie up. ‘That is if you fancy joining us for a non-competitive family game of Monopoly.’
‘Hey,’ said John, ‘no one said anything to me about it being non-competitive.’
‘We’d be up for that, wouldn’t we, Mark?’ said Neil.
I was delighted to see Neil entering into the spirit of things. Mark had told me earlier that his beloved was now seriously thinking about a change of career or even setting up a firm of his own. The Prosperous Place plans had sealed the deal when it came to deciding that he no longer wanted to be involved with preposterous projects which ultimately benefited nothing other than the project managers’ purse strings.
‘Definitely,’ Mark agreed. ‘I’ll nip home and grab some beers and we’ll be round.’
Graham and Carole took responsibility for locking the bothy and shutting up the hens and that just left me and Luke to arrange the rest of our evening.
‘Come back with me,’ he insisted, ‘and we’ll have that chat and a proper tour of the whole house.’
I had been thinking about putting him off, what with it being his dad’s anniversary, but changed my mind now that he had suggested it again.
‘She’d love that,’ Lisa butted in. ‘She’s desperate to explore all your nooks and crannies.’
‘All right,’ I swallowed, turning my back on her and putting my sudden nerves down to revealing the contents of the cupboard rather than anything else. ‘As long as you’re sure you want company.’
‘He wants you,’ whispered Lisa, elbowing me sharply in the ribs.
Chapter 23
‘I know Lisa was being silly,’ said Luke, once we were alone.
I felt my face go hot as I thought he’d caught the gist of her childish innuendo, but fortunately he didn’t seem to have cottoned on.
‘But as you’ve already seen the less than impressive nooks and crannies, as she put it, in our search for the portrait,’ he went innocently on, ‘I really would appreciate the benefit of your expert eye over a couple of the other areas and rooms.’
‘All right,’ I nodded, ‘I have to admit I’ve been hoping to have a proper look around, but I wasn’t going to say as much in front of our
friend, obviously. Thank you, Luke.’
I was relieved to discover that, in terms of architectural features and flourishes at least, not all that much had changed since Charles Wentworth oversaw the building of the house. The original décor and the majority of the furnishings were long gone, but that was only to be expected. However the elaborate ceiling roses and cornicing were still all in place, along with the grand fireplaces and panelling.
‘What do you think?’ Luke asked as we finished exploring the ground floor and headed up the stairs to check out the bedrooms.
I stole a quick glance at him and found a deep frown was spoiling his usually smooth brow. He was worried, I realised, genuinely concerned. I knew that the house meant a lot to him, but until that moment I don’t think I had taken to heart just how much. His speech earlier had given me some indication, along with some of the things he had said to me in private, but the look on his face really nailed home the fact that Prosperous Place was everything to him.
‘I think you should lose that frown,’ I told him with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘The things that really matter have been perfectly preserved. You’re not going to have too much trouble returning it to its original glory at all. Not with a canvas as beautifully, and originally, embellished as this.’
‘Do you really mean that?’ he said, stopping on the step below me.
‘I really do,’ I told him as I looked down into his face.
The creases which had been carved into his brow quickly vanished and his shoulders dropped back to more or less where they should have been.
‘Thank you, Kate,’ he smiled. ‘I can’t tell you what a relief it is to hear you say that. I can’t help thinking that I’ve fallen on my feet having someone with your eye and knowledge living practically on the doorstep.’
‘Well, like I’ve told you a thousand times before, you can call on me whenever you need to,’ I said and I really meant it.