Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

by Faith Bleasdale

  Harriet’s mouth gaped open. Gemma resisted the urge to laugh.

  ‘You do know your dad’s younger than Harry, don’t you?’ Pippa said.

  ‘Oh well, you know, I mean …’ She grimaced.

  ‘So if you don’t want a brother or sister, how about a cousin?’ Harriet asked.

  ‘What?’ Pippa asked.

  ‘Connor’s done it, he’s got me up the duff,’ Harriet announced with a smile, which almost stretched across her whole face.

  ‘Oh my God! I’m going to be an auntie again.’ Pippa launched herself at Harriet. ‘Harry, Connor, that’s wonderful.’

  ‘Shush, I didn’t want to say anything today. You know, it’s Gus and Amanda’s day.’

  ‘Yeah, but that wouldn’t work, would it?’ Fleur pointed out. ‘I mean even I was beginning to notice that you’ve had that same glass of champagne for hours, Aunt Harry.’

  ‘I’m not like Freddie,’ Harriet retorted. ‘Anyway, we’re having the twelve-week scan next week. I should have waited until then, but I’m actually really excited.’

  Connor hugged her.

  ‘Congratulations,’ Gemma said, hugging them both.

  ‘Well, hopefully, if I manage to look after the new baby as well as I did the calf, I should be a good father,’ Connor said.

  Harriet shook her head.

  ‘As long as we don’t let Fleur name the offspring.’ Pippa grinned.

  ‘What’s wrong with the calf being called Ed Sheeran?’ Fleur asked. ‘And we could call yours Beyoncé, if it’s a girl, and Calvin if it’s a boy, after Calvin Harris.’ Her eyes lit up.

  ‘No and no. No baby of mine is being named after a pop star,’ Connor stated. ‘I let you name some of our animals, Fleur, but I do have a line.’

  ‘Whatever. Anyway, I am happy for you,’ Fleur said. ‘But don’t think I’m going to be a free babysitter.’

  ‘Course you will,’ Harriet replied. ‘And you’re going to change nappies.’ She grabbed her niece and hugged her tight.

  As day turned to evening, Gemma took a glass of champagne – she had barely drunk so far, as she was too busy ensuring it was all running smoothly – and went to get some air. It was a cold, clear night as she sat on a bench, and made a toast to her nan. She thanked her again for everything, and said she hoped that she was proud of her. And happy – most importantly, she hoped her nan was happy now. Because Gemma was happy – she was happier than she’d ever been, anyway.

  She felt his presence before she saw him and, as usual, her heart started beating that little bit faster.

  ‘Can I join you?’ he asked.

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Aren’t you cold?’

  Gemma shivered. ‘A bit, but it’s such a lovely night. The sky is so clear, the stars bright, I just thought it would be nice to get away from the throng.’

  ‘Well you are missing Edie dancing. She keeps asking the poor DJ for the “Birdie Song”, and he’s far too young to know what she’s talking about.’

  ‘Oh boy, do I need to go and take my surrogate gran, I mean mum, in hand?’

  ‘No, I’m sure she’ll wear herself out soon enough. She is a character, though.’

  ‘Everyone around Meadowbrook is.’

  ‘As are you.’

  ‘What?’ She turned to face Freddie. ‘You used to think I was dull.’

  ‘I never said that.’ He took a sip of his drink, which looked like whisky.

  ‘You pretty much did, you know, and you said that I had no sense of humour, I was clumsy and what was it? Like a little mouse. In fact, when you found out that I stole my boss’s CV you said it made me more interesting.’ She took a sip of her drink.

  ‘Ah, well, in my defence, you were pretty much like that when you first came here. Not anymore though, not for a long while, actually. Now you are sometimes funny, you’re interesting, you’re quite attractive now you’ve lost that permanent scowl, and you have a bit of a sense of humour.’ He grinned.

  She saw his face lit up by the moon and tried to stop herself from feeling so silly. Yes, he was the most beautiful man she had ever met, but she wasn’t a child anymore.

  ‘I guess that’s enough of an improvement. I’ll take it.’ She giggled. ‘Although as compliments go, it might not really be up there with the best.’

  ‘OK, so how about this?’ He turned to face her. She felt his eyes boring into her very essence. ‘You’re incredibly special, Gemma, you need to know that. It took me a while to realise it, but your strength and courage, your heart, well it’s impressive.’

  ‘Gosh, thank you.’ She looked down at her lap.

  ‘And what you’ve done with this place, it means so much to us; we all want it to be a success, but more than that, we need it to be. Our dad was a hard taskmaster, and he didn’t really do failure. We are all ingrained with that, so we need this to work, for him, or his memory, for Meadowbrook, but also for all of us.’

  She had never seen him look or sound so serious.

  ‘When Pip first came up with the idea, and I agreed, I’m not sure either of us believed we could pull it off, or Gus and Harry actually, but now, with all the work you’ve done, I know it’s going to be a great hotel. It’s different from anything around, and that is down to you, but it is also Meadowbrook. The heart of the house is still there, and that was what we all wanted, yet didn’t know how to achieve. You did, though – somehow, you did.’

  ‘I was chasing that all along, you know, trying to make sure the essence of Meadowbrook was reflected in the hotel, but I wasn’t sure.’ She felt herself floating at his praise.

  ‘But you did, and you did it marvellously.’

  ‘OK, now you are giving me too many compliments. Stop, or I’ll start blushing or fall off the bench.’

  ‘See, a bit funny, I told you.’ He lapsed into silence.

  Gemma saw a bright star and impulsively made a silent wish.

  ‘You know, I’m really fond of you,’ he said, suddenly sounding like something from a Jane Austen novel.

  ‘Yeah, and I am of you,’ she replied. ‘Fond, I mean.’

  She felt hot all over and her stomach was churning as he moved in closer.

  ‘OK, not fond of you. Oh, for God’s sake.’ He drained the rest of the liquid in his glass. ‘I think I might have fallen for you,’ he said, almost sounding surprised at his words. ‘I mean I didn’t expect to feel this – you were right. When you first came you were awkward, and quiet, and you didn’t seem to know fun if it came up and bit you on the arse.’

  ‘What?’ She didn’t think she could trust her ears. Was he saying he liked her, or that he didn’t?

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake. The woman who first came to Meadowbrook isn’t the one sitting next to me now – I know that. And knowing what you went through, I understand now. But you are not that quiet, awkward woman anymore; in fact, you’re amazing.’

  ‘I am?’ She didn’t dare look at him.

  ‘And beautiful, but you don’t know it. I mean you really are – even Hector asked me why I hadn’t hit on you, and he’s got very high standards.’

  ‘He has?’

  ‘Well not normally, but recently he does; there was a time he’d go for anything with a weak pulse. Anyway, where was I?’

  He had that Freddie look of confusion in his blue eyes, and Gemma felt as if she might drown in them.

  ‘Um, you might like me?’ She was still unsure, or perhaps she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  ‘For God’s sake, Gemma Matthews, I have been trying to flirt with you for weeks now.’

  ‘Really? I didn’t notice any difference.’

  Had she? Or had she just been too scared to see it? Too scared to hope, or perhaps because no one ever flirted with her, she just didn’t know when it was happening.

  ‘No shit. You are hard work. And I can flirt with anyone – it’s one of my skills – but not you. You’re infuriating. You don’t know what’s right in front of you. You make me want to be a better per
son, less self-centred, kinder. You make me think, and I don’t like thinking. I even spoke to Harriet about you, and when she stopped laughing she said she could see it, she said we brought out the best in each other – you my serious side, me your fun side. But she also said that I should wait because you were grieving.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’ Harriet really said that?

  ‘No, you don’t need to be sorry. God, you are so bloody infuriating. I’m telling you I like you, and asking if you feel the same.’

  ‘No, I mean yes. But, Freddie, I can’t do this if you don’t mean it.’

  Did those words actually come out of her mouth? As her heart hammered in her chest, she was sure that the whole of Meadowbrook could hear it.

  ‘I mean it. That night, when your nan died, I realised how much I wanted to be with you. Sleeping next to you in that hotel bed but not touching you, well it wasn’t easy. Then I thought I’d drop a few hints, and when I moved out I thought it would be easier, but you seemed to remain oblivious to my charms.’

  Had he been dropping hints? How had she missed that? Since her nan’s funeral, they had all grown closer, but she still felt that Freddie saw her as a clumsy, slightly dull woman, and she had pushed all her feelings for him right to the dark recesses of her mind, hiding behind work to ignore how she really felt. Although it hadn’t been that simple – her heart skipped every time she saw him, and of course she had never forgotten that kiss …

  ‘I’m not oblivious. Not since that kiss outside The Darnley.’ She didn’t dare look at him.

  ‘You remember that?’ Freddie asked.

  Gemma nodded.

  ‘Me too. I was a bit shocked, as the kiss was amazing, but I didn’t see us together then. I mean, you got pissed after one glass of wine for a start, and you also seemed scared of your shadow. You really were a contradiction. When you worked you became someone else, but when you were not hiding behind the hotel you were so different.’

  ‘And now?’

  ‘Now you are all I think about, you bloody crazy woman. Charlotte was my usual type, I’ll admit, but I didn’t have proper feelings for her – not that she did for me either – and as you know that just fizzled out. But you’re different from any woman I’ve ever been with, in a good way. You make me want to be a better person. I want to be with you, and I promise you that I will never let you down. Well not on purpose, anyway.’

  ‘I feel the same.’ She drained the last of her champagne. Was this even happening, or was she dreaming, hallucinating, or had she finally gone mad? ‘You bring out the fun in me, Harriet was right with that.’

  ‘I know that we’re not supposed to mix work and romance – Charlotte and I are fine even after we broke up. But you have to know that I’m not planning on us splitting up. I’m thinking that we’re going to go the distance. But bloody hell, Gemma, I’ve never had to work this hard with any woman, that’s how serious I am.’

  ‘Really?’

  She turned to him, searching his face for any hint of a joke, but he started staring at her in a way that no one had ever looked at her before. She thought she might faint.

  ‘Well apart from anything else, I’ve never seen anyone drink a minibar in the way you did.’ He laughed.

  She gulped. ‘I need you to mean it, Freddie,’ she said again. ‘I can’t play at this. I’ve never …’ The words choked her, hope strangled her, fear engulfed her.

  ‘I’m not playing now, and nor will I ever be. For a start, if anything bad happens both Pippa and Harriet will skin me alive.’

  ‘That’s true,’ she admitted, and she had seen first hand how scary both of them could be.

  ‘You are part of the family, so we can’t enter into this lightly, but I know, it just feels right in the way no one has done for me.’

  ‘But really, Freddie? I mean me? I mean—’

  ‘Will you shut up so I can kiss you?’

  ‘God, I hope so,’ Gemma replied and as she let his lips find hers, she knew that this was the best Valentine’s Day ever.

  Freddie was right: she wasn’t the woman who had turned up at Meadowbrook a year ago. For the first time in her life, she was who she was supposed to be. And where she was supposed to be.

  They broke away, and she didn’t know if she would ever stop smiling.

  ‘I want to be the man who puts that smile on your face every single day,’ Freddie said, his arms still wrapped around her.

  ‘You are,’ she replied. ‘You absolutely are.’

  Acknowledgements

  It has been a real treat to be able to return to Meadowbrook and the Singer family, so I hope everyone enjoys the book. I certainly loved writing it.

  Thanks go to my fabulous editor, Victoria, who has made this book even more of a joy than it already was. I will definitely miss you. And also to all the team at Avon, I feel very lucky to work with you all.

  For continued support I am forever grateful to my agents, Northbank Talent, especially Kate, Diane and Chloe. As always, it’s a pleasure working with you.

  I have the usual guilt of being a working mum, but my son Xavier has always been forgiving of me, even when I’m typing and trying to cook his tea at the same time – rarely works. But he is the light of my life, and one day I hope he might even be pleased his mum is a writer! There is a lot of behind the scenes support that I am so lucky to have: my family, Mum and Thom, The Langmeads, Becky, Helen, Martin, Jak, Megan and Rory. I am forever grateful to have you in our lives.

  My friends who help me hang on to a semblance of sanity: Jo, Tammy, Jessica, Jas, Tam and Tyne. Also thanks to Kate and Dany, two wonderful authors who always show me such support and kindness as well as friendship. Big, huge, thanks to Sue who kindly took my author photos, and I actually love them!

  I want to give a big thanks to all those who read my books. Book bloggers who help spread the word, thanks for the wonderful job you do. And of course to all my readers. Those who have left such kind reviews, especially. I so appreciate each and every one of you.

  Follow me on Twitter: @faithbleasdale, or visit my Faith Bleasdale – author Facebook page.

  Loved your time at Meadowbrook Manor? Why not head back to where it all began …

  One divided family, one life-changing year…

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  About the Author

  Faith Bleasdale lives in North Devon with her eight-year-old son and her cat. She studied history at the University of Bristol, has enjoyed a wide variety of jobs but is now lucky enough to write full time. Having lived in Bristol, London and Singapore, she now enjoys the countryside and seaside life in Devon, happily swapping the city for wellington boots, although she dusts the heels off frequently to visit London. She has previously written six fiction books and one non-fiction.

  By the same author

  A Year at Meadowbrook Manor

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