Suzie went a little pink but did not reply.
“Okay, I’m here when you’re ready, but I’m so happy for you.”
“It’s early days, Hon, but yes it would seem he’s noticed me at last.”
Honey glanced again at her mother. She was contributing little in the way of conversation, fat chance getting a word in with Mrs Worthington, but was totally engaged in it. Suzie followed her friend’s gaze.
“Well a change of scenery certainly doesn’t seem to have done her any harm. Are you sure it’s such a bad idea building a dedicated care home with all the required facilities?”
“Yes, I am! Absolutely sure!”
The Hand of Fate
Honey looked across at Guy, sitting with Lucy and Basil, and felt all the old bitterness rise up again. She didn’t realise that her anger was in fact at herself, for not thinking before of ways to enrich her mother’s life. Maybe the time would come when it wouldn’t be possible for Daisy to leave The Grange and Honey would have to live with that but the wasted weeks, the time she’d lost, sat heavily upon her conscience. Unwilling or unable to recognise these emotions she hid them by turning away from herself and towards Guy, whose project she felt sure would further blight her mother’s life.
Almost as if he could feel her gaze on him Guy looked up, but instead of the smile he expected to see he was greeted with an icy stare which drove the pleasure from his face. It wasn’t too difficult to guess what was upsetting Honey and Guy, feeling his own guilt still over Tom, was in no mood to sit there and take the blame for something that wasn’t his fault. Pushing his chair away from the table he excused himself to his friends and left the tearooms without a backward glance. Outside he looked first right and then left, frustration holding him motionless, until he turned right, away from the direction they’d all come earlier, and marched along at a hell of a pace. It was exhilarating, or would have been if he hadn’t been too worked up to enjoy it. By the time he’d taken a couple of turns and his pace had slowed somewhat he’d reached the home of an ally; Mary Simpson. Without hesitation he turned in at the gate and was welcomed by his old teacher.
“Whatever is the matter, Guy? You look as if something awful has happened.”
Guy poured everything into her willing ears; the dread he’d felt when Tom had gone missing; the guilt after he’d been found. From there he went on to describe today’s outing which for him had ended with the look of (he said) hate in Honey’s face that had sent him rushing headlong from the place.
“She’s still dead set against it, is she?”
“More than ever, I think.”
“And still she hasn’t seen the plans.”
“To do her justice, Mary, I don’t think it would matter if the plans were perfect, which they pretty much are as it happens. It’s the idea of moving Daisy at all that she can’t or won’t come to terms with.”
“She’s frightened, Guy. You can understand that surely.”
“I do, and in her case and that of the other residents’ families there may be some justification. It’s the rest I’m mad at, the people who’ve condemned the scheme out of hand without even knowing what it is.”
“That’s a small town for you. In fact, that’s human nature – for some people anyway. There will always be those who look for trouble. How are things going anyway, with the plans?”
“I haven’t had consent through yet but I have been told that in principle they can’t see why there should be any problem. To be honest I can’t wait to get started. Usually my job is finished when I submit the plans but this time I’ll be seeing the project right through to the end.”
“And you’re excited about it, Guy. I can see that much.”
“A little bit of me wants to prove them all wrong but mostly it’s…I know this is going to sound soft…mostly it’s because I want help people. The care home issue is an emotional one and so many of them are not up to scratch, due either to staff or facilities. As you well know I’m not all that fond of my mother but I wouldn’t want to see her end up in a place that’s run on old-fashioned institutional lines, which still happens in some places, believe me, or managed by people who cut corners because they have to make it pay. I understand it has to be about profit and loss to a certain extent but that’s not going to be an issue in The New Grange. I want my people to be happy in their old age.”
“You’re a good man, Guy, and I know you have a battle on your hands but at the end of the day, barring refusal of planning consent, you will get your way and realise your dream.”
“Why can’t she see that?”
He didn’t have to mention Honey’s name. Mary Simpson wasn’t stupid.
A week later Lucy and Basil returned to Australia, taking Tom with them. The difference in Daisy was apparent almost immediately and though everyone concerned knew how good her grandson had been for her none of them had expected quite such a strong reaction now he was gone. She soon pulled herself together though, pragmatic as ever, and it seemed she was already planning a visit to Australia at Christmas in time to welcome her new grandchild into the world. Realistic or not it gave her something to focus on. Honey, tied down more to the shop now her mother was no longer in hospital, did her best and on the occasions she was able to take Daisy out in the wheelchair there was talk of nothing but the proposed adventure. Mrs Worthington went to visit her old friend on an almost daily basis and Betty watched as the pile of holiday brochures grew and grew.
The petition Suzie had worked so hard on had been presented to the Planning Committee and had been rejected. Those in the know were well aware that The Grange in its present state would lose its licence at the next time of renewal and were keen to get the project off the ground. In fact, if it weren’t for the submission of the current plans The Grange’s role as a care home would have been terminated at the next Council meeting…and amazingly still nobody had asked to see the plans. Permission was granted and work began almost immediately. Guy and Honey hardly saw each other in the next few weeks and any talk of starting a patisserie joint venture had fallen by the wayside. While the foundations were being dug Guy left Rills Ford. He hadn’t told anybody he was going or what he was doing except Betty and she wasn’t about to betray his confidence. In fact he’d gone to France to see his father. While Guy was in a position to support his mother, and to get her out of his hair was willing to do so, he couldn’t believe his father had left her without any means of support, tempted though he might have been. He wanted to find out what the real situation was.
Back in Rills Ford Honey didn’t know whether to be relieved or angry. After fourteen years away Guy had returned and filled her life, bringing back all the old feelings she’d had for him and setting her in turmoil. No longer a doting teenager, it was fairly obvious to her that there was an attraction on both sides now though neither of them had said anything, but it seemed the fates were against them and, as she couldn’t reconcile herself to what he was planning to do at The Grange, neither could she reconcile herself to what to her seemed his high-handed attitude. In a way it was a relief not to look up every time the door opened in the hope or expectation of seeing him but all of a sudden she felt lonely and alone. Impotent to do anything about the new care home her anger bubbled away just below the surface and it was a brave person indeed who tried to talk to her about it.
Suzie too was upset at the outcome of the petition because she’d been genuinely concerned for the reasons she’d given at the time. However, after one of the councillors, a friend of hers, dropped a small hint in her ear, she finally visited the planning office to see for herself. Mortified at the realisation that she’d unjustifiably been so much of a pain in Guy’s side, she was sorrier still not to be able to apologise in person now he’d left the district. Though it hurt her to do so she put a front page retraction (with Jack’s permission) in the Rills Ford Post and an apology for stirring the waters. The fact that she’d been wrong did her no harm in anyone’s eyes; that she had the honesty to admit it openly
did her a lot of good. There weren’t many people who thought very highly about those in the newspaper business and such frankness was refreshing. It wasn’t something she could discuss with Honey, though, whose reasons for not wanting the new build remained the same and who remained unaware that The Grange in its present state was already condemned. Impotent to help her friend, Suzie was consoled by her blossoming relationship with Jack. All her dreams were coming true and though the lengthening of the days heralded spring she felt as if it was Christmas or New Year. Jack, who had seemed unaware of her existence except as an employee, had become so attentive that things were moving almost faster than she was comfortable with but she was prepared to go with the flow and where Honey looked strained and pale Suzie was flushed and vibrant. A Rills Fordian to her fingertips she was establishing a reputation for herself in her home town and at last it seemed her love life was taking off too.
Always on his Mind
It had been three years since Guy had last been to France to visit his parents and the change in his father was astonishing. Not that he’d aged! If anything he looked ten years younger and when Guy was introduced to the reason for this remarkable transformation it was easy to see why. Candice was about forty-five years old, several years his father’s junior but a woman with the ability to make anyone she met feel vibrant and alive. There was a sparkle about her you couldn’t help but respond to and for Edward Ffoulkes it was as though he’d been given a new lease of life. Suspicious at first, Guy had reacted to Candice in the same way as most other people she met. He decided very quickly she wasn’t after his father’s money; in fact she was wealthier than him in her own right. That she valued the nobility of his ancestry was in no doubt; she admitted as much at their first meeting.
“He told me he had relatives fighting at the Battle of Agincourt. On the wrong side, malheureusement, but to have such history!”
She seemed a bit in awe and Guy wasn’t at all sure his father hadn’t exaggerated slightly about his antecedents but who was he to interfere. In any case, it might have been true. That Candice idolised Edward couldn’t have been more obvious if she’d worn a sign around her neck and Guy had to remind himself that his father was only in his early sixties. Living with Alexandra had made him appear much older. As to Candice, Guy couldn’t believe it was anything other than a meeting of hearts and souls for both of them. It was out of character though for him not to have provided for Alexandra and whereas Guy had come expecting Candice to have been the cause he ruled that out almost immediately. A more generous-hearted person one couldn’t hope to meet and she had no reason to deprive Edward’s wife, other than resentment for the life she’d led him. Not managing to get his father alone until the day after his arrival he asked the question immediately the opportunity presented itself.
“It’s not like you, Dad, to leave Mother on the breadline. What happened anyway? Is it something you want to talk about?”
Edward it seemed was ready to talk for as long as his son wanted to listen. “She’s adorable.” (Candice) “I can’t imagine how I spent so long under your mother’s thumb.” (Alexandra) “I haven’t enjoyed myself so much for years, if ever.” (Candice) “On the breadline?” (Alexandra) “She wants me to do the right thing.” (Candice again) Guy interrupted here, not sure whether the suggested right thing was to divorce his mother and marry her or what. “Good Lord, not. Candice doesn’t want to get married. She’s quite happy the way things are. No, she was adamant I make your mother” it was as if he couldn’t even speak her name “a generous allowance.”
“So why didn’t you?”
That pulled Edward up short.
“Is that what she told you? That I didn’t provide for her?”
Guy flushed slightly, angry that he’d been taken in so easily and more so because he should have known better.
“No, in fact she told me when she arrived that you’d promised her liberal support but then she said she wanted to stay at The Grange and gave me the impression, probably intentionally, that she was strapped for cash.”
“Almost certainly intentionally. And did you allow her to stay at The Grange?”
Guy looked as sheepish as it was possible for a man of his size to do.
“I did at first. You know how difficult she can be.”
“None better.”
“Well she’s not there now thank goodness and I think in fairness she’d rather have a place of her own.” Guy looked at his father and, raising an eyebrow, said: “I think she was lonely at first.”
Edward spluttered in the act of sipping his drink.
“Quite, but it was true. You’ll never believe it. She actually went on a coach outing to Bath. With the common people!”
“You’re kidding me.”
By this time both men were thoroughly amused but the gem was when Guy dropped the next piece of information.
“No, and she’s found a man friend.”
“You’re kidding me,” Edward repeated, reaching for and collapsing into a chair like a man who was too overcome to support himself.
“A widower and he seems to have taken a fancy to Mother. He is apparently quite happy to be her escort and he’s a retired army major so that suits her sense of status well enough. I’m hoping to find her a cottage close to where he lives and that’s really why I’ve come to see you.”
“She doesn’t need my permission to buy a cottage and she knows full well the funds will be available to her.”
“I was beginning to think I was going to have to provide the funding myself.”
Edward bridled a little. “I may not be able to live with the woman any more but I will at least make sure she is comfortably accommodated.”
“Okay, you can come down off your high horse.” He paused for a moment. “It seems I’ve made the journey for nothing then.”
“I hope you don’t feel that way. I’m always delighted to see you, my boy, and I’m glad you’ve met Candice. No matter what I might have told you, or your mother for that matter, there’s nothing like forming your own opinion.”
“She’s delightful. I may even try to steal her away from you.”
“No chance. She likes older men.”
“It would seem you’re not as old as I thought you were!”
“Me neither – and getting younger every day.”
Guy was in no hurry to return to Rills Ford. Seeing Honey nearly every day and never knowing from one to the next how he was going to be received was torture for him. Not that he blamed her. Unlike many of the town’s residents she at least had a good personal reason for her protestations but he knew that in her mind he was the bad guy (with a small g) who was causing upheaval to her mother’s life. He had no guarantee either that Daisy or indeed any of the other residents would not take a downturn when the time came to move them. That the move was inevitable was irrelevant; Honey would blame him. Unable to see a way forward and unwilling to undergo unnecessary torment he decided to accept the invitation to spend a couple of weeks at his father’s villa. The time would come when he’d have to return to oversee his project but while the groundwork was being done he had no need to be in England.
“Why don’t you two go and have a round of golf, eh? I am having a tennis lesson with the new coach. Not that I need lessons, of course, but he is magnifique and only twenty-eight. Do you think I might attach him to me?”
“If it makes you happy, my darling, attach him by all means. I’ll just stay and chat up the receptionist at the club; give you a bit more time together.”
It was obvious to Guy that this sort of banter went on all the time and even more obvious that the two were totally in love. He couldn’t help feeling just a tiny bit envious. He and Edward caught up with the players on the third tee and stood back to wait.
“You say Candice doesn’t want to marry you?”
“That’s right.”
“Do you know why?”
“Her husband and son drowned in a boating accident. I think she doesn’t want to be t
ied to anyone in that way again.”
“But you’re devoted to each other. That much is plain for all the world to see.”
“And as such neither of us has the need for a ring. She’s a woman. She’s French. She’s superstitious. Any one of those would be enough for me not to try and persuade her. In any case, at our age does it really matter? What about you? I’d have thought our marriage, your mother’s and mine, would have been enough to put you off for life. No special somebody waiting for you in Australia or Hong Kong?”
Guy loved his father and trusted him implicitly. He also admired the courage it had taken to split with Alexandra and he had a new found respect for the man he used to believe was weak. He wasn’t ready yet though to confide in anyone his feelings for Honey. Mary had made it obvious that she knew and he was pretty certain Betty did as well, and even probably Mrs Worthington. He was confident his secret was safe with them.
“No, nobody. You’re probably right. I didn’t have the greatest example did I?”
“Don’t let it blight your future, Son, and don’t make the same mistakes I did. What you need is a woman with a strong personality who you can have fun with,” Guy knew he was talking about Candice “not one who wants to dominate you” and no prizes for guessing who that was either.
Guy knew he could have fun with Honey. On the rare occasions she allowed her obligations to take a back seat she was an absolute joy to be with, possessing a wicked sense of humour that matched his own. No, it was circumstances that were threatening to make a middle-aged woman of the thirty year old with a sense of the ridiculous that so much appealed to him. And instead of lightening that load it seemed he was just increasing the weight of it. Not knowing how to solve the problem and not wanting to exacerbate it Guy stayed away. He contrived to have a pretty good time as well. Unaware of his commitment to Honey, Candice did everything she could to throw him in the way of some of the beautiful young women who came within her circle. Guy fell into old habits, charming them without making any fall in love with him. He made it plain he was unavailable and once the ground rules were established he spent the next two weeks at sport and play, dining lavishly at some of the many restaurants available and having a thoroughly good time. He was almost sorry when the time came for him to leave. The project at The Grange was moving on and his presence was required. That’s what he told himself but regardless of the fun he’d been having thoughts of Honey increasingly occupied him and in spite of the torment he knew he would suffer he couldn’t wait to get back to her.
Honey Bun Page 10