by Holly Martin
It was still early but there were many villagers moving about, tending to their business. They all waved cheerily to her as she passed. What a difference a few days made. At least no one was chanting ‘Oogie’ at her anymore.
She sat on a bench on the far side of the green away from nosy ears and scrolled through her contacts until she found her Aunt Belinda’s number. She quickly called her before she changed her mind.
Belinda answered on the second ring. ‘Hello my darling, how are you?’
Milly closed her eyes, feeling the love from her aunt flow down the phone and wrap around her like a soft blanket.
‘I’m good Bel, just phoning for a chat.’ She wasn’t sure whether to tell her about Cameron, she wasn’t sure if Belinda would be happy for her or not after the devastation she had witnessed the last three times. Milly always got so emotionally invested in her relationships and she wanted to prove to Belinda that she had matured and entered into a sensible relationship where she was taking her time, but she could hardly do that when it seemed she had accidentally married her client and jumped into bed with him after only knowing him for a week.
‘Is this about that nice young man you’re seeing?’ Belinda asked.
Milly rolled her eyes. She was sure Jamie would have phoned Belinda immediately after leaving them the other day, not to gossip or tell tales, but just because he cared and he would have wanted to talk about it with the one person who loved Milly as much as he did.
‘What did Jamie say?’
‘He said that Cameron was really nice and that he liked him a lot but that he had a reputation with the women.’
‘He certainly has that. Part of me is scared of going into this relationship with him, knowing how much pain I’ll be in if it ends, but –’
‘Milly, if you know he could hurt you that much if it ends then there’s no choice is there?’
Milly frowned. ‘What do you mean?’ If Belinda told her not to get involved with Cameron, she couldn’t do it. There was no way she could walk away now.
‘The only person that could hurt you that much is someone you’ve fallen in love with and if that’s the case then he’s worth the risk.’
‘But you know what I’m like when I’m in love, I dive in, mind, body and soul.’
‘And that’s exactly what love should be like, it should be all or nothing. Does he feel the same?’
‘I don’t know. I think so, but … he’s not said anything yet. He’s been hurt in the past too so I think he’s cautious as well.’
‘Just take your time, then when you finally confess your love to each other, making love for the first time will be all the more magical.’
Milly winced. Belinda was an old fashioned hopeless romantic. There was no way that she could tell her aunt now that they hadn’t waited to declare their love for each other but let lust and passion and desire take over. Her aunt would be very disappointed in Milly’s less than wholesome approach to the relationship.
‘Bel, I have to go, but I’ll call you again soon.’
‘Ok, darling, I love you.’
‘I love you too.’
Milly ended the call and sighed. She looked across the green towards Gladys’s house and saw the curtains twitching. No doubt she or one of the other ladies was watching her.
She got up and walked to the door but Lavender opened it before she had raised her hand to knock.
‘Oh come in honey, we were just having breakfast, did you want a bacon sandwich?’
‘Oh no, I don’t want to put you to any trouble,’ Milly said, before remembering that she should be angry with these ladies who had conned her into marrying Cameron in the first place. But as the wedding was a complete farce and obviously not at all real, she couldn’t be too angry.
Lavender ushered her in and Gladys gave her a little wave from the kitchen as she fried several pieces of bacon in the pan. Constance handed Milly a plate with a doorstep bacon sandwich on it and pointed to a seat at the kitchen table.
Milly’s stomach gurgled at the wonderful smells and she took a huge bite.
‘Now tell us, how is that young Cameron in the sack? I bet he has a huge willy,’ Gladys said as she served up some more bacon into a sandwich.
Milly choked, the sandwich lodging itself in her throat. She gasped and wheezed and Constance passed her a big mug of tea. She took a big gulp, washing down the sandwich.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ Gladys chuckled.
Milly put her mug down. ‘I can’t believe you persuaded us to be in the play without telling us that we were supposedly getting married.’
‘Ah, we have had a marriage ceremony on that green every year at the Summer Solstice as far back as I can remember. It’s terribly unlucky not to have one. This year we had no one who wanted to wed so we had to … hurry things along between the two of you. You would have got married anyway, Lavender saw it in her leaves, we just … accelerated the process a little bit,’ Constance said, tucking into her own sandwich.
‘It can’t possibly be legal,’ Milly said and the old ladies looked like she had slapped them.
‘Of course it’s legal! Good King Stephen granted us permission to wed in this way nearly one thousand years ago and that law has never been revoked. Every person who has been married in this village has done so in this manner. You don’t need no fancy bits of paper to make it legal, when you have the King’s decree,’ Lavender said, rather pompously.
Milly sighed. They were clearly convinced that Cameron and Milly were husband and wife. Milly, on the other hand, was going to need a lot more persuading.
‘And how do the villagers get divorced? How can I officially get one of those if I’m not officially married?’
The old ladies look of shock at the slur on their wedding ceremony changed to a look of unbelievable sadness as if Milly had just declared that she regularly drowned kittens in the village pond.
‘You want a divorce?’ Constance whispered, barely able to believe her ears.
‘Well, no, but I might. I barely know him.’
‘You have to listen to your heart, child, you’ll know if you are meant to be with him,’ Gladys said.
Milly suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.
‘If you want a divorce, you declare it at the Winter Solstice celebrations. All ties will then be severed and you are both free to pursue other relationships,’ Constance said.
The ladies stared at her with huge, sad puppy dog eyes. ‘Do you think you will divorce?’ Gladys said.
‘We’ve never had one of those before,’ Lavender said.
‘Well, I bet you’ve never conned someone into getting married before,’ Milly snapped and for the first time the ladies looked apologetic.
‘You are meant to be together, you can see that,’ Lavender said.
‘Do you love him?’ Constance asked.
Milly swallowed the huge lump in her throat. Despite her best intentions she had fallen for him.
Constance smiled, obviously seeing the affirmation on Milly’s face. ‘And he loves you, any idiot can see that.’
‘I’m not sure if he does. He has an incredible sexual appetite and I think I’m just handy to have around to satisfy that. He’s attracted to me, he’s fond of me. I don’t think it stretches to love.’
Gladys sat down at the table and they all leaned in towards Milly. ‘Tell us more about his huge sexual appetite.’
‘Are other things huge too?’ Lavender asked, wiggling her eyebrows. ‘I mean, we saw it at the celebrations and it looked very big but he wasn’t …’ she gestured with her hand pointing straight and diagonally up, ‘ready to perform then.’
‘Does he take you from behind?’ Constance asked, her sandwich clearly forgotten.
‘I’m not talking about my sex life with you,’ Milly laughed, biting into her sandwich as a distraction and feeling slightly guilty that she was having this conversation with the three mad old biddies from the village and not her own aunt.
The ladies di
dn’t move as they waited expectantly for some tiny nugget of information.
Milly sighed. ‘He’s the best sex I’ve ever had.’
The ladies all clapped excitedly and giggled like school kids.
‘Child, tell him you love him. He’s been hurt in the past and very cautious with his heart, but you tell him you love him and I promise he’ll say it straight back,’ Gladys said.
Milly bit her lip, not sure if she could put her heart out on the line again.
‘You’ve been hurt too, I can see,’ Lavender said, in her best mystical, all seeing voice. ‘But you will heal each other. You will be with child by the next Summer Solstice. There is no greater gift than a baby.’
Milly swallowed down a bite of sandwich with some difficulty, her mouth had gone dry. That was a terrifying thought, was she ready for that?
‘Look, I didn’t come here to talk about my relationship with Cameron, I’m still trying to figure that part out myself. It happened so quickly and neither of us expected it and we just need some time to figure out how we feel about each other. Plus his PA has arrived and … I’m just not sure about her, I really don’t think she likes me.’
‘His PA? Yes, we met her the other day. Don’t worry, Gladys has made a voodoo doll of her,’ Constance said.
Milly’s eyes widened. ‘You can’t do that. I’m pretty sure her dislike of me comes from wanting to protect Cameron and even if she does have designs on him, I don’t want any harm to come to her.’
‘She’ll get her comeuppance, don’t you worry about that.’ Constance said.
‘If she’s a bad apple, the Grey Lady won’t let her stay. She’s protecting the treasure but she’s also protecting Cameron too,’ Lavender said.
‘You still think the treasure is here?’ Milly asked and the three ladies nodded solemnly. ‘I wish it was. Cameron needs that money for the castle. He’s had a very generous offer from a hotel chain but I still think he’ll need it for further renovations.’
‘He’s turning the castle into a hotel?’ Lavender’s eyes lit up.
‘I thought you’d hate that idea. It will mean visitors to the village. You lot don’t like outsiders, you set the Oogie on to them.’
‘Almost every single person in the village worked at the castle – with maintenance, gardening, cleaning and cooking. Although Cameron was quite generous with his severance pay, we will all need to look further afield for work soon. Opening it as a hotel will mean employment for us.’
Milly bit her lip, wondering if her brother would really want to hire a bunch of weirdos from the village to work in his hotel. Maybe if he had outside help with the managerial side of things then it wouldn’t be so bad.
‘Well, the treasure would just give him extra peace of mind. I know he is worried about money. Do you have any idea where it could be?’ Milly asked.
‘Wherever the Grey Lady is, that’s where you need to look.’
The dungeons seemed to be Sophia’s favourite place, but there didn’t seem to be anything down there.
‘Legend has it that Boris took the jewels out in his boat one day and was never seen again. We found his boat on the beach under the castle and Cameron thinks that Boris might have hidden the jewels in a cave somewhere nearby. Do you know of any?’
‘There’s one under Igor’s pub, hundreds of years ago it was used for smuggling. A tunnel leads from his cellar down to the sea. I think he still uses it to go out fishing from rather than travelling to the nearest beach, but I doubt there’re any hidden jewels in there, I’m sure any treasure would have been found by now,’ Constance said.
‘Come on, we’ll show you,’ Lavender said, getting up, and the other ladies followed suit.
Milly followed them out of Gladys’s home and round the green towards the pub.
Lavender knocked on the door.
Igor answered, one of his eyes roaming all over them and the village behind them as if looking for anyone that might have seen them come. Milly glanced down at the length of his beard and was pretty sure that Igor had played the role of the Oogie at the Summer Solstice celebrations. She blushed, knowing she had seen way too much of this man.
‘Igor, we need to see the passageway,’ Gladys said.
Igor looked Milly up and down a few times, obviously wondering if she could be trusted and then without another word he turned back into the pub. The ladies ushered Milly in after him and then Constance closed the pub door after them with an ominous bang.
Milly noticed the huge portrait of a very opulent looking man presiding over the bar. Dressed in a regal looking gown, he was every inch the pompous lord. In his hands was a large chest of glittering jewels, indicating that this was dear old Boris. If he only knew what trouble he had caused.
They followed Igor through a door at the back of the pub and then down some winding stairs into a dark cellar. It was cold down here and there was a cool wind that seemed to swirl up from the depths of the pub.
Constance switched on the light at the bottom of the stairs, illuminating a huge cellar with several cases of wine, spirits and kegs of beer. Some of the kegs and bottles had French writing on the sides, making Milly wonder if Igor still indulged in a spot of smuggling now.
Igor went to the back of the cellar and moved a large wardrobe out of the way of a gaping hole which clearly led deep into the cliff face.
He flicked a switch and a row of bulbs lit up the tunnel beyond – obviously it was still in regular use. The ground was smooth too.
‘Do you mind if I take a look?’ she asked Igor.
He nodded and gestured for her to go ahead. For a publican, he was a man of few words.
‘We’ll stay here dear, it’s a bit steep for us,’ Gladys said.
Milly started down the tunnel and, like the ones in the castle, she could feel the steep incline as the path took her further into the cliff face and towards the sea. Eventually it opened out directly onto a very small slip of sand. A wooden jetty led from the cave’s entrance out into the sea and a little motor-powered fishing boat was beached on the sand, out of the reach of the sea that was lapping on the edges of the jetty.
There was nowhere in the cave where a chest could be hidden, no cracks or crevices. She stepped out onto the jetty and walked to the very end and looked around. Sheer cliff faces stretched into the distance on one side and disappeared round a corner on the other side towards the tiny cove. She could see no other caves at all.
She was about to go back in when she saw a large, deep crack on the edge of the corner of the cliff. No matter how far she leaned out she couldn’t tell whether it was just a crack or a cave or another tunnel, but it was definitely something she wanted to investigate. Maybe she and Cameron would have to go for another swim again, or maybe once they were on more friendly terms with Igor, he might take them out on his boat to explore some of the cliffs.
She turned back and headed along the tunnel towards the pub where the ladies were waiting for her. Igor was nowhere to be seen.
‘Well thanks for showing me, but I’m still no closer to finding the treasure for Cameron.’
‘The Grey Lady guards over it so no one can get their hands on it who isn’t part of the Heartstone line. You could try asking her.’
‘Well, I doubt she will speak to me, but maybe she might tell Cameron.’
‘You’re part of the Heartstone line now too,’ Lavender said, smiling sweetly. ‘She’ll tell you.’
Milly looked down the tunnel, listening to the waves crashing on the rocks below. Maybe they could ask the Grey Lady where it was. It couldn’t hurt to try.
Cameron woke to an empty bed which was beyond frustrating, considering the condition he had woken up in. He needed Milly. He rolled out of bed and opened the door, wondering if she was nearby and he could tempt her back to bed. There was no sound from the kitchen apart from the tapping of keys on a computer. Not wanting to frighten Olivia with his nudity, he quickly got dressed and went out to join her.
She smiled hugely when
she saw him.
‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ She asked, getting up and moving to the kettle.
‘That would be great.’
‘Will Milly want one?’
‘I don’t know, she’s not in my room. I thought she was out here.’
Olivia shrugged and set about making two cups of tea. Cameron peered out the window, Milly’s car was still there. He looked around the kitchen, her shoes were still strewn all over the place, so it was unlikely she had suddenly decided to run away. She was probably doing some more tests somewhere.
‘How’s it going with you two, getting bored yet?’
Cameron sat down. ‘No, I’m crazy about her.’
Olivia turned round, smiling cheekily. ‘Come on, Cam, you know you have the attention span of a goldfish. No woman holds your attention longer than a few weeks.’
‘It’s different with her. I know it sounds stupid but I think she’s the one.’
The smile fell from Olivia’s face. ‘The one?’
‘Marriage, babies, she’s my happy ever after.’ Cameron smiled at the phrase he had obviously stolen from Milly.
Olivia turned back to make the tea and then brought the mugs over and sat opposite him.
‘Are you sure about her?’
Cameron nodded. ‘More than I’ve ever been. I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but do you believe in soul mates?’
Her eyes widened slightly and he quickly rushed on. He told her briefly about the family curse, the stone heart, the cameo, the dragon necklace and Milly’s tattoo and Olivia’s face became more and more shocked. He knew it was crazy. He was a rational man, he knew the concept of soul mates didn’t actually exist, he didn’t believe in the family curse or any of that other stuff that linked Milly to him, it was just a whole load of coincidence but he couldn’t escape the feeling that Milly was the other half of his heart.
He let his head fall into his hands. It was insanity to fall this hard and this quickly but he couldn’t stop it.