Meet Me at Wisteria Cottage

by Teresa F. Morgan

  And he missed her so much. Staying away from her wasn’t making him feel better. Hell, he felt so much worse.

  He couldn’t change what had happened to Karin, but he could change his own life around and make a real go of things with Maddy.

  But after disappearing without a trace and ignoring her messages – if she’d sent any more he wouldn’t know as his phone was in bits – would she be prepared to take him back?

  ***

  Maddy was busy getting the gallery ready for another day. With a soft broom, she swept the sand that came in off people’s shoes into a pile on the stone tiled floor, then grabbed a dustpan and brush. She was about to empty it outside when Valerie walked in, cheerful as ever.

  ‘Good morning, darling,’ Valerie said, holding a hessian carrier bag. ‘How are you doing today?’

  ‘I’m not too bad.’ Maddy sighed. She wanted to put her feelings for Harry behind her, but it was difficult. She heard a clink of glasses and frowned curiously at the bag. ‘You’re early; I wasn’t expecting you until later.’

  ‘I couldn’t wait. I have a surprise for you.’

  ‘A surprise?’

  ‘Yes, I thought this would cheer us up!’ Valerie pulled a bottle of Taittinger from the bag and revealed two champagne glasses to go with it.

  ‘What’s the occasion?’

  ‘What’s the occasion!’ Valerie said, shaking her head with incredulity as if Maddy should know. ‘It’s the anniversary of the day you signed the lease on this place.’ She gestured towards the gallery. ‘You’ve been here a whole year.’

  ‘By God, it is, isn’t it? Thirty-first of August.’ The weekend just gone had been the bank holiday, and manic. Maddy hadn’t had time to dwell on Harry then.

  ‘It was lucky for you the old leaseholders sold up because their business wasn’t doing so well, not surprising really with their overpriced tat.’

  ‘I can’t believe the schools will go back next week. Tinners Bay will be a ghost town again. These six weeks have flown.’

  ‘And the gallery has done marvellously, so I thought we should celebrate what you’ve achieved in the past year.’

  ‘With your help, Val. I couldn’t have done it without you.’

  ‘Nonsense. But you need cheering up,’ Valerie said. ‘I’ve brought in homemade scones – I didn’t make them, my neighbour did, before you start thinking I’ve turned into Mary Berry—’

  ‘You’ve got twenty years on her.’ Maddy laughed.

  ‘Just under! Anyway, we can have champagne and a cream tea.’

  ‘Lovely, but a cup of coffee to start, I think.’ Maddy put the dustpan and brush away, and flicked the switch on the kettle. ‘It’s a bit early for champagne.’

  ‘Maddy, darling, it is never too early for champagne. I’ve brought orange juice, so the first could be a Buck’s Fizz.’ Valerie popped the cork and started pouring.

  ‘Wow, you have come prepared.’

  ‘I like to spoil my surrogate daughter.’

  The day went exceptionally fast, helped along by the bottle of champagne. Valerie had said it would put her in a great mood all day, and she’d been right. Nothing could upset Maddy either, not even some miserable old man complaining about the prices of some of the artwork. She had politely explained that the price tags represented the time spent on the pictures, not just the materials used. She couldn’t believe how un-rattled she’d felt by this exchange. It must have been the champagne.

  ‘Oh, no more for me,’ Maddy said, placing her hand over her glass as Valerie attempted to top it up with the last of the champagne. ‘I can’t walk to Wisteria Cottage any more, I’ll have to drive home.’

  ‘Stay at mine tonight,’ Valerie said. ‘Then we can have another bottle later. I’ve rather got the taste for it.’

  ‘Yes, why not.’ Without hesitation, Maddy clinked her glass with Valerie’s and let her top up her glass.

  All in all, one year on, through rough and smooth, love and fire, Maddy had to be proud of her achievements. It just showed that so much could happen in one year.

  Where would she be this time next year?

  Chapter 31

  Harry certainly wasn’t ready to just up and leave his parents’ house. He thought he could, but with his pickup’s keys in his hand, stepping outside the house actually took a lot more effort than he realised. He’d paused on the front step and started shaking. He looked a mess, a shadow of his former self. He still wasn’t ready to return to Annadale Close. Kicking the brick wall of the house, back hunched, he walked back inside.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ his mother asked, startled by Harry’s sudden return.

  ‘I can’t do it. Not yet. I’m not ready.’

  ‘I did worry you might be running before you could walk. Take it slowly, Harry.’ She smiled. It was so reassuring it eased his soul, the tension in his shoulders ebbing away. He nodded assertively. He needed to take baby steps.

  Harry built himself up day by day, getting out of bed, showering, shaving, eating with his parents at the correct time, trying to be more sociable. He started taking his prescribed drugs regularly too. However much he hated taking the medication, he realised he still needed it to recover fully. He pottered in his dad’s garden, started to make calls to his customers, including Roy, and then, borrowing his dad’s trainers and sports shorts, started running.

  Even when he’d bought a new phone, he still couldn’t bring himself to contact Maddy. What would he say? And wouldn’t it be better said to her face? His mother seemed to think so.

  Every day he ran, alternating a short distance one day, a long distance the next. Then he’d do exercises to build his muscles, using logs in the garden, anything he could lay his hands on, until his father pointed into the back of the garage where some gym weights were gathering dust.

  ‘Why don’t you use them anymore?’ Harry said.

  ‘I joined a gym – more free time now I’m semi-retired.’ Arthur patted his son’s back proudly. ‘Besides your mother wanted to turn the box room into a study. And when you’ve been married as long as I have, Harry, you know not to argue.’ They both chuckled, and his father helped him move the equipment.

  Harry started training, building up his muscle bulk again, getting himself fitter. Lying in bed had done him no favours, mentally as well as physically, and now, running and exercising, the fog in his head was clearing and he was able to focus on the happier, brighter things in his life.

  Like Maddy.

  ***

  Considering it was mid-September, the sun was relentless. It was another hot day in the gallery, albeit quiet.

  ‘Your phone’s ringing, Maddy!’ Valerie called from the kitchen area at the back of the gallery, where Maddy had left her handbag.

  A few weeks ago, she would have dropped everything and made a dash for her phone, praying it would be Harry. She’d lost all hope now that she would ever see him again. Instinct told her it wasn’t Harry. It was probably some damn company going on about PPI, or trying to sell her a new gas boiler or solar panelling. These people didn’t just leave messages on your landline now, they called your mobile too.

  Annoyed by the disturbance, and toying with the idea of letting the phone go to voicemail, she placed her paintbrush down, and wiped her hands on an old cloth she kept to hand by the canvas. Declan – the handsome and fit artist who had exactly the right amount of tattoos on his upper arms in Maddy’s opinion, and who Valerie and Josie couldn’t stop swooning over although he was openly gay – was helping out in the gallery today. He swiftly took the bag from Valerie, holding it out to Maddy. She rummaged inside it for her phone, Bruno Mars singing to her. Her handbag wasn’t big, but at this moment it felt more like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag – she could never find her damn phone or car keys for that matter. However, if she bought a smaller bag, she’d never be able to fit her essentials in it. As Maddy’s hand grasped her phone, Bruno Mars stopped singing Uptown Funk at her. Entering her four-digit pin, she unlocked her phone’s scr
een and looked at the caller ID. It was her mum and dad’s landline number. She frowned and checked the time on her phone. It was ten past three. What could they want? She redialled their number.

  ‘Hello?’ Maddy’s father picked up after three rings.

  ‘Dad, it’s me, Maddy. Did you just call me?’ Of course he did, but it might have been by mistake … then even that was silly, only mobiles called numbers randomly while in the back of your jeans pocket, or thrown around inside your bag.

  ‘Yes, sorry, Maddy, I don’t want to worry you,’ her father’s tone alone worried her, ‘but there’s been an accident.’

  ‘Oh my God, Dad, are you all right? Where’s mum? The car is only a bit of metal; it can be replaced. Are you two okay?’

  ‘It wasn’t a car accident,’ Dennis said. Maddy could hear the shaky tone in her father’s voice.

  ‘Dad, tell me.’ Maddy started to tremble, fearing the worst.

  ‘Your mother had a fall outside her gallery. They think she’s broken her leg.’

  Relief washed over Maddy momentarily – bones could mend – then her panic returned. ‘Is she all right? Nothing caused her to fall?’ Maddy feared a heart attack or a stroke, but her mother, albeit plump, carried her curves voluptuously in her sixties keeping herself pretty fit. She regularly attended aqua aerobics – as she often reminded Maddy – and took long walks with Dad.

  ‘Other than her leg, she’s got some cuts and bruises.’

  ‘I mean, what caused her to fall, Dad? She didn’t have a …’ Maddy couldn’t bring herself to ask.

  ‘No, no, nothing like that,’ Dennis said, pre-empting his daughter. ‘But she’s in a terrible state. To be honest, Maddison, I don’t know what to do … I think I’m in shock.’ Her father wasn’t a weak man, he always stood his ground, and as children, Edward and Maddy had always avoided angering him, but Dennis did let Sandra think she wore the trousers in their relationship. Possibly for an easier life, but Maddy knew without a doubt that her father loved her mother. She’d always seen how much he cared about her. After all these years, he still held her bags, or her hand, kissed her cheeks and came home with flowers. He always did the little things some took for granted. Love wasn’t about grand gestures, it was about the small acts of affection. He showed her, rather than told her. And her father did it every day for her mother.

  ‘Where are you?’

  ‘I’m still at the hospital; they’ve taken her down for x-rays … tests … Oh, Maddy …’

  ‘Dad, have you rung Edward?’

  ‘I was just about to.’

  ‘Right well, give him a call, but I’m on my way, okay. I’ll be with you as soon as I can.’

  ‘Maddy, it’s a long way for you to come.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I’ll only worry more here. I need to go home first, grab some things, then I’m coming, okay?’

  ‘You don’t have to. I’ll be all right.’

  ‘No, I’m coming,’ Maddy said. Try and stop me. Her mother might drive her mad at times, but she loved her. And even if her mother didn’t need her, her dad did.

  ‘I didn’t want to ask, as I know you’re busy.’

  ‘It’s fine, the summer holidays are over and I’ve caught up with a lot of commissions.’ Maddy could take a sketchpad and some pencils to draft out future pieces in the quiet moments, if she got any.

  After some more reassurance, and her father reiterating she shouldn’t rush, and to drive carefully, Maddy put her phone back in her bag. Her mother was safe and well in the hospital; they were keeping her in as a precaution in case she’d incurred any head injuries.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Valerie looked aghast having heard half of the conversation. ‘You’ve gone very pale.’

  Declan stood beside Valerie frowning, equally concerned. With his arms crossed, his biceps bulged and the Salt Rock vest-top he wore stretched across his pectoral muscles.

  Maddy repeated the conversation she’d had with her father to them.

  ‘Well, of course you should go,’ Valerie said. ‘I’ll hold the fort here. I can get Josie in to help more on our busier spells at the weekends.’

  ‘I can help Valerie, too, so don’t you worry,’ Declan said, giving Maddy a squeeze. He was a wall of muscle, like Harry, only not as tall, and for a brief moment, Maddy missed Harry terribly. The sinewy muscle, his strength, wrapping around her and making her feel safe. ‘Oh, you poor thing, of course you should visit your mother.’

  Maddy started fussing with the paintbrushes she’d been using.

  ‘Leave them, I’ll clean those, you get yourself off,’ Valerie said, taking the brushes from Maddy’s grasp. Declan moved Maddy’s easel so the painting could dry and not be touched by visitors.

  ‘Yes, yes.’ Maddy was in a world of her own, thinking about packing, and what time she’d get to Bristol as she gathered up her belongings.

  ‘Maddy, please drive carefully. I’m sure your father said the same.’ Valerie looked at her sternly, still holding the brushes.

  ‘Yes, better to get there late, than not at all,’ Declan added with a nod.

  Valerie gave a chuckle. ‘If I know Sandra, she’s bossing those poor nurses and doctors about.’

  ‘God help any of them who call her Sandy.’ Maddy laughed briefly, Valerie’s humour being infectious.

  ‘Yes, that’s more like it. Your mother won’t want you worrying.’ Holding the wet paintbrushes away from Maddy, Valerie leaned in and gave her a kiss. ‘Give your mum my love.’ She winked. ‘Let me know when you’ve got there, though. Or I’ll worry.’

  At home, Maddy threw clothes and travel essentials into a suitcase. Anything she’d forgotten she could buy when she was in Bristol, and she knew her mum’s bathroom was always stocked with plenty of toiletries. She squeezed a week’s worth of clothes and underwear into her case and hurtled down the stairs to be met by a mewing Sookie.

  Maddy gave her a whole heap of food, then after putting her luggage in the car, knocked on the door of the house adjoining hers.

  ‘Hi, Mrs Delphine,’ Maddy said as the older woman opened the door, her expression softening from wariness to recognition. Mrs Delphine wrapped her cream cardigan around her. ‘I’m terribly sorry to bother you, but my mother has had a nasty fall, and I need to go to Bristol for a few days, would you mind feeding my cat, Sookie?’

  ‘Of course, dear. Do you want to come in for a bit?’

  ‘No, no, thank you, I really must get on the road.’ Maddy knew she was rambling but couldn’t stop herself, anxiety and worry about her mother on her mind. ‘I’d have asked Harry, but unfortunately he’s AWOL.’ Why did she say that? She hadn’t thought about Harry in weeks, well actually who was she kidding, more like days … Had the neighbours noticed they’d been together briefly as a couple? Of course they had. Did they really need to know Harry had disappeared and Maddy didn’t have a clue where or why?

  Maddy gave herself a mental shake. Calm down. She handed the old lady her spare key to the back door and explained where everything was in the kitchen.

  ‘There’s a cat flap so she can come and go as she pleases,’ Maddy said, waving, walking backwards up the short path – she didn’t think it felt right to cut across the lawn. ‘I’ve fed her now, so she’ll be all right until the morning. Thank you so much.’

  ‘It’s not a problem. I hope your mum recovers quickly.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll give you my number, though, in case there is one.’ Maddy ran back, rummaging in her bag. She used an old receipt she hadn’t cleared out of her purse, found a pen and scribbled her mobile number. Mrs Delphine gave Maddy hers, too. ‘Call me if there are any problems.’

  After fussing further over Sookie and making sure the bedroom doors were closed, Maddy stood in her kitchen. Have I got everything?

  ‘Now be a good girl,’ Maddy said to Sookie. As if she understands.

  As Maddy locked her front door, another fear entered her head. She did not like the idea of leaving her house for long periods of time. It w
as bad enough each day going off to the gallery. What if it caught fire again?

  Could lightning strike twice? And if Harry believed it was arson, could whoever was responsible do it again?

  He’d changed the locks on the front door, and the back door was new. It would be much more difficult to break in again. Stop worrying.

  Maddy threw her bag onto the passenger seat, started the engine, and reversed out of her drive carefully. Not that she needed to worry about Harry’s truck parked in the road. He wasn’t there. Hadn’t been for a month.

  Where the hell was he?

  Chapter 32

  Due to hitting rush-hour traffic on both the A30 and the M5, Maddy’s journey to Bristol took over three and a half hours. She hadn’t stopped, she’d just kept on driving, intent on getting to her destination, her anxiety keeping her alert and determined. She wouldn’t relax until she got to Bristol. Home.

  She arrived at her parent’s house as the sun was setting, although it was obscured behind the Bristol cityscape. She imagined how it would be looking back in Tinners Bay, hovering on the horizon above the ocean, making the sky pink and the water reflecting it. She’d never tire of looking at that view or painting it. The image helped calm her.

  Maddy parked her car on the quiet street and looked up at her parent’s Edwardian house with its sash windows. This was not Maddy’s childhood home. Her mother liked to move every now and then, especially once Maddy and her brother had left school. Sandra would get bored and need a new project. Poor Dad. The move to Cornwall for Maddy was stressful. She couldn’t understand why her mother would put herself through so much hassle every couple of years. They’d been in this current house for three years, which had been the longest so far. Maybe her mother had found somewhere to settle at last. The house was in Clifton, not far from Sandra’s gallery, and she liked to walk to work – it kept her fit. The house was a mid-terrace, with five bedrooms – Lord only knew why her mother needed so many bedrooms at her age, Maddy found it hard enough to clean her small, modern semi-detached house. Admittedly, one of those five bedrooms was Sandra’s art studio, something Maddy would love to have in her house. Maybe the low maintenance back garden and the courtyard front garden allowed her mother more time to clean. Although the garden was more her dad’s domain.