The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2)

by Helen J Rolfe

  Downstairs, Gemma put the kettle on. She dropped a teabag into each of the awaiting two mugs and as she waited for the bubbles to boil rapidly and settle again, she wiped the kitchen window with the back of her hand so she could see out to the garden. It was still dark but in the moonlight she could just about make out Louis’ annexe. She shivered and felt the familiar lump in her throat. She still wasn’t used to him being gone, knowing she’d never see him shuffling from his door to theirs, or hear his voice call out in greeting to make sure he wasn’t interrupting. Neither she nor Andrew had set foot in there since they’d got some of Louis’ clothes to dress him in for the funeral. She knew what it would be like … the curtains were drawn, the place would be unaired. They would see signs of Louis all around.

  Pouring boiling water onto each teabag in turn, she knew they’d have to get out there soon and sort through his things. There was most likely food going off in the fridge, a rancid carton of milk, bread with telltale green fur lying in the pantry. It’d be hard, but together they could do it.

  Andrew’s footfall on the stairs announced his arrival five minutes later. He’d already had a quick shower, and when he leant in and hugged his wife as they stood side by side looking out of the window, his skin held a warm, citrus tang and a droplet of water fell from his hair onto her cheek.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.

  ‘Much the same,’ he sighed. ‘I miss him. And I’ll miss Molly when she goes.’

  She reached a hand up to his cheek. ‘Let’s do this thing today. Let’s do it for Louis, and let’s do it for Molly.’

  ‘I love you,’ he told her. ‘Now, can I interest you in a bacon sandwich?’

  ‘Sounds good.’

  ‘We might need a good breakfast if we’re going to cope with hyper kids descending on Magnolia House.’

  ‘I can handle kids, it’s my job, remember?’

  He winked. ‘You’re a natural.’

  It broke her heart a tiny bit more when she felt the familiar pang of longing, the desire to have children and complete their family.

  After breakfast they took the remaining boxes of mini chocolate eggs and the raffle prize – the new mould had arrived safely and Andrew had made the second half of the giant egg yesterday – over to Magnolia House as the sun rose to its optimum position in the sky. With no sign of rain even though winter was just around the corner, there was a warm glow across Magnolia Creek and it looked set to be a perfect day.

  Magnolia House was all ready for the Easter Egg Hunt. There was a face-painting stall all ready and set up to go. There was a stall with a sign indicating it would be selling baked goods – breads, cakes, slices of sweet desserts – there was a wine stall run by Chris from the pub who was busy lining up bottles, there was a lucky-dip stall, a hot dog stand and a burger stand.

  ‘We have a few helpers today,’ said Rosie, leading them to the main room where Gemma saw boxes of their eggs stacked up. And there waiting for them were Stephanie and Emilio, Bella and Rodney Finnegan, Ben and Molly, Owen, and many other faces Gemma was starting to get to know.

  ‘We’ll get these eggs scattered in no time at all,’ said Gemma, and armed everyone with a box each. The helpers filed back out of the front doors where Rosie delegated areas for each of them to start. Rosie, Owen, Molly and Ben would take the farthest part of the field, working their way past the cottages and to the grass area on the left. Gemma and Andrew would take the area to the side of the lake, which would be vigorously monitored today with so many eager young chocolate lovers. They didn’t want to risk any child thinking there was chocolate hidden in the waters beneath and fall in.

  Bella and Rodney ensured the eggs were well positioned around the garden to the right of Magnolia House, Emilio would take the hedges bordering another field and Stephanie would take the centre strip. The task of scattering the eggs was a lot of fun and Gemma could hear laughter, especially from Molly, Ben, Rosie and Owen in the fields the farthest away. She’d wondered how much they were getting done, but they got through their delegated boxes quickly enough and came back for more, and when the task was completed everyone willed the skies up above to hold their own, at least until mid-afternoon when the event would come to an end.

  As the time crept towards twelve o’clock when the Easter Egg Hunt was due to kick off, the approach to Magnolia House gradually filled with vehicles and Main Street was choc-a-block with traffic queuing right back to the edge of town. Gemma hadn’t seen a setting so busy since the last time she’d been to the Easter Show in the city.

  ‘This is crazier than I expected.’ It was Andrew at her side, a huge grin across his face as the people kept on coming. Teenagers accompanied siblings, primary school children gabbled excitedly, all waiting for someone, anyone, to yell, ‘Go!’

  ‘It’s manic, isn’t it?’

  ‘You love it.’ He watched his wife and she linked her arm through his own.

  ‘I do. I can’t deny it.’

  ‘You’re not content with just me, are you?’ He was half serious, but there was humour in his voice and Gemma nudged against him.

  ‘I love you to bits, Andrew Bennett. But I want a family. I need a family.’

  She turned to him until a small child bumped into her legs.

  ‘I’m so sorry.’ It was the mother, flustered and running after her child.

  ‘No worries, no worries at all.’ Gemma crouched down to the same level as the little girl. ‘And what is your name?’

  A timid voice came out. ‘Bea.’

  ‘What a beautiful name.’ Bea had the cutest little button nose, the rosiest cheeks, and chestnut hair pulled into a tidy plait. ‘Are you ready to find those eggs?’

  The girl shook her head and the mother said, ‘She was running away. That’s why she bashed into you. I think the whole thing is a bit crazy for her. She’s so little she’s afraid she’ll get trampled.’

  ‘Well, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?’ Gemma told Bea to wait there a moment. She went inside and came out with something behind her back.

  ‘Ta-da.’ She put a pair of long, white bunny ears onto Bea’s head like a headband. ‘How would you like to wear those? You’re a good ten inches taller now, much less likely to be trampled on,’ she winked.

  ‘You’re so kind. Thank you.’ The mother scooped Bea up into her arms and joined the crowds congregating ready for the off.

  Gemma turned to Andrew, who had watched the entire exchange without saying a word.

  He kissed his wife on the cheek before they looked around them, and he said, ‘Louis would’ve loved all this.’

  ‘He would.’

  Another couple of kids came up to say hello to Gemma, or Mrs Bennett as she was formally known, and when the voice over the speaker announced the start of the event, squeals erupted and the hunt was on.

  Carmen, Sofia and Darcy had driven up from the city, kids in tow, and they all commented on how happy Gemma looked despite recent events. And she was. She missed Louis, they all did, but she felt as though today marked a turning point in their lives and it would only get better from here.

  An hour into the big event and Ellie, the little girl in Gemma’s class, ran up to her with a delicately woven basket in her arms, puffing and panting from all the running. ‘Look how many colours there are!’ Her eyes were bright, she was buzzing.

  ‘Ellie, how are you? And what a gorgeous basket.’

  ‘My daddy bought it from the gift shop,’ she told Gemma as Ellie’s dad came up from the field beyond. Ellie wouldn’t have done the hunt on her own like many kids would, full of confidence and invincibility. Ellie was cautious among crowds, wary of new situations, which was one thing they worked on at school. Whenever they had a class trip Gemma made sure Ellie knew what to expect, talked through any concerns she may have. If there was a visitor in school, then Ellie would know about it in finite detail so she could process it her own way before it happened.

  ‘Hello, Mr Sedgeway.’ Gemma greeted Ellie’s dad an
d reached out, shook his hand.

  Mr Sedgeway smoothed down his daughter’s hair as she cuddled up against him, still gawping at the massive haul of colourful eggs in her basket. ‘It’s nice to finally meet at last,’ he said. ‘Ellie speaks very highly of you.’

  ‘She does?’ Gemma smiled.

  ‘We were worried about having her at a mainstream school, but you’ve taken away our concerns. So thank you.’ He nodded to Andrew in acknowledgment and took Ellie inside to have her face painted. She promised to come outside afterwards and show Gemma, see if she could still be recognised.

  ‘Hello, Mason.’ Gemma waved over at a little boy with chocolate around his mouth. ‘He’s in my class,’ she told Andrew.

  ‘You’re popular.’ They sat together on the wall surrounding the lake, most of their hard work done for the day.

  ‘Have you seen Molly?’ Gemma asked.

  ‘She’s over there.’ Andrew smiled and looked over to the veranda of the big house. Molly and Ben were deep in conversation, nursing a can of drink each. ‘I said hello and we agreed to meet up after this has all finished.’

  ‘How’s she feeling?’

  He shrugged. ‘She’s not said much.’

  ‘I’m glad she got to meet Louis,’ said Gemma. ‘He really liked her. And I think Molly gave him closure on the secret he’d kept hidden for so long.’

  Andrew nodded. ‘I told him I forgave him. I don’t know if he heard, but I like to think so. And his visit to the shop and the family lunch at the chocolaterie, the day he collapsed, is something I’ll never forget.’

  Gemma squeezed his knee with her hand, and they sat there quietly, contemplating. Andrew still felt guilty for the way he treated his father, guilty that he hadn’t managed to persuade Louis to have the transplant before either of them even knew about Molly. But the doctors had been very clear. Whether or not he’d agreed to the transplant earlier, Louis’ heart attack had been something nobody could’ve foreseen. The outcome would most likely have been the same whether it had happened before the surgery or after it.

  Andrew turned to face her. ‘We’ll make an appointment with the doctor. I want to give you a family, and I’ll do anything to make it happen.’

  ‘Anything?’

  He nodded. ‘Anything.’

  ‘Then don’t book an appointment.’

  His expression changed. ‘What?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking.’

  ‘Always dangerous.’

  She smiled. ‘I’ve watched you with Molly, this girl you didn’t know until she was well into adulthood. I’ve spent time with Ellie, a girl who has additional needs and blossoms when they’re met.’

  ‘What are you saying?’

  She hesitated. ‘What I’m saying is how about we forget IVF, or trying so hard to conceive naturally? Clearly my body is not happy to give us what we want, but there must be hundreds of kids out there who need people like us. We’re good people, we deserve to be parents.’ She reached up and touched Andrew’s face. ‘When I think of little Ellie, lost in the system with foster families for such a long time, I want to reach out and do something for any other child in the same position.’

  Andrew drew in his breath.

  ‘What do you think? Is it a possibility?’ She crossed her fingers in her lap.

  ‘Do you think we’d be eligible?’

  ‘We could find out.’ Gemma tried to keep her eagerness in check. She’d been thinking about this for a few weeks, mainly since Molly came into their lives, but saying it out loud made it feel real, and she was excited.

  Andrew looked over at three little boys, two of them scrounging in the dirt by the roots of a tree to find the eggs the youngest boy had dropped. The third boy was crying, his face was covered in mud. The other two handed him eggs as they were found, each time putting a little bit more happiness on to his face.

  ‘I’m in,’ said Andrew, eyes only for his wife now.

  Gemma’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Really?’

  ‘One hundred per cent. I’m in. Before Molly came along I would’ve been scared I couldn’t parent a child who came from somebody else. But Molly has made me realise it doesn’t matter at what stage you become a parent, there are no rules. You pick up the job from the moment it starts, whenever that is. For Molly and I …’ He paused, looked over at his daughter talking animatedly with Ben. ‘We didn’t meet until now, but I get the feeling we won’t suffer for it.’

  ‘So we’re doing this?’ Gemma clasped her husband’s hand.

  ‘We’re doing this.’

  Chapter Forty

  Molly

  Molly sat next to Andrew on the steps of her veranda at the cottage, overlooking the lake as darkness fell over Magnolia Creek. A crescent moon cast enough light across the water to see ripples as a duck sneaked across its surface.

  ‘There were more than a hundred families here today,’ he began, ‘ten thousand eggs, and Bella reckons we’ve raised upwards of seven thousand dollars, what with the stalls inside Magnolia House too.’

  ‘Wow, that’s amazing. Everyone had such a great time. Me included.’

  ‘I’m glad.’ He looked at the water. It had already reformed since it was disturbed, returning to the flat surface as though the duck had never been there at all. ‘What time’s your flight?’

  ‘Midnight.’

  ‘Will you be okay? It wasn’t so long ago you were terrified of flying.’

  ‘I’m hoping I sleep. At least that’s the plan.’ She fiddled with the edges of her cardigan, pulling it more tightly around herself. Andrew smelt of chocolate sitting here beside her, and she wondered whether it was only from today, from his clothes or whether she was imagining it because chocolate was what she associated him with. From now on, every time she ate chocolate she would think of Andrew Bennett, her birth father.

  ‘Are you sure you don’t want a goodbye committee at the airport?’ Andrew teased.

  She was glad he was making jokes, at least pretending to make light of a heavy situation. This was harder than she’d thought, and she wanted to think of him happy rather than the turmoil of the past few weeks since she’d turned up on his doorstep.

  ‘No, Ben will take me. I don’t need a big send-off.’

  ‘It’ll be hard to say goodbye to him,’ said Andrew.

  ‘I’m trying not to think about it.’ She smiled and they both focused on the stars above.

  ‘You’ve got a good night for flying at least. Where do you change?’

  ‘Changi Airport. Same as the way here.’

  ‘Then it’s back to London, eh?’

  ‘Back to London.’

  They sat in silence for a while until Molly spoke. ‘I like the idea of you and Gemma adopting.’ He’d told her that afternoon as they stacked up the empty boxes from the eggs and carried them back to the shop for the next time they were needed. ‘Actually, I think it’s pretty cool.’ She nodded and broke out in a smile.

  Andrew grinned. ‘I’m not sure I’ve been described as “cool” in many years, if ever. But if that’s what you think, then I’m glad.’

  ‘You’ll be a great parent.’ She hesitated. ‘You are a great parent.’ When Andrew looked at her she said, ‘I don’t blame you for anything, you know. And I don’t blame Louis, I don’t blame Julia. It is what it is. Or … it was what it was.’

  The shaft of moonlight graced the water in front of them, but nothing else moved save the trees whispering their goodnights.

  ‘I know you’ll be busy, with the business,’ she said tentatively. ‘But would you come over to England soon? I’m not sure I want to wait too long before we spend more time together.’

  When he turned to her, he had tears in his eyes. ‘You try and stop me,’ he said. ‘I’m proud to call you my daughter. I know I’ll never replace your dad, and I don’t want to. But I’m glad you found me. I’m glad to make you a part of our family.’

  She put a hand over his. It was the closest they’d been physically, and she squeezed the fl
esh beneath hers. ‘I’m glad I don’t have to wonder about you any more. Somehow my family understand me and we fit. But I’ve heard of so many children who aren’t quite so lucky and spend their whole lives looking for meaning, for part of them. It wasn’t like that for me, but there was always a yearning to know. And now I do. And I really like what I’ve found.’

  She looked up at the moon, willing the tears to stay away. ‘I’m worried this will all fizzle out. I’ll leave the country and I’ll be a girl who visited you once, a distant relation who goes on the Christmas card and birthday list.’

  When Andrew started to laugh, she looked at him for answers.

  ‘Can you see Gemma letting me get away with that?’

  Molly laughed too, harder than she’d thought possible tonight. ‘Actually, I can’t.’

  The laughter dissipated, and then Andrew said, ‘I’m not going to let it turn into that kind of relationship. Gemma and I are hoping to adopt and we’re thrilled. But don’t for one moment think the family I’m going to have is instead of you. You’re a part of it now, and I’ll want you to get to know your new brother or sister. They’ll need someone to watch out for them.’

  ‘I like the sound of being a big sister.’ She met his gaze, and the words settled around them until Molly checked her watch again. ‘Ben will be here in less than an hour, I should finish packing. I have to check in at some crazy time, hours before the flight.’

  Andrew nodded, and she knew he was crying and so she stayed there, beside him, close enough to still get the occasional waft of chocolate carried on the same breeze, which was lifting her hair around her shoulders.

  Molly had no idea whether she would hug Andrew goodbye, whether she would shake his hand or if they would simply say a verbal farewell. But all of a sudden, he made the decision for her. He stood, held out his hand, and when she let him pull her to her feet, he wrapped her in a hug they held for a few minutes, a hug that encompassed all the feelings of the last few weeks. This other man, all of a sudden, had a solid position in her life. He threatened nobody else, no other relationship, and only added to her completeness.