“Polwenna Bay?”
The driver’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t sound as though you’re local.”
“California, ma’am,” Emerald told her. “Sausalito? Do you know it?”
“Bless you, I’m lucky to get to Bristol,” laughed the driver. She leaned across the car and opened the passenger door. “You’re miles away from home, you poor thing, and you’re miles away from Polwenna too, but hop in. I’ll give you a lift.”
Emerald didn’t need asking twice. The car was warm and it was a relief to sit down and give her blistered feet a break. It still felt odd to be seated on the wrong side of the vehicle but she’d get used to that, just like she’d get used to the greyness and the rain.
“Thanks,” she said. “I sure appreciate this.”
“It’s a pleasure.” The driver turned up the heating. A blast of dusty air had never felt so good and Emerald made a vow to never again complain about the heat in California.
“I’m Amy Jones,” the driver said, pulling back onto the road and slotting into the traffic with ease. “Mum to these monsters and I live in Fowey. And you are?”
Emerald took a deep breath. This was it. The minute she said it, it would be real and there would be no going back. Was she ready?
Of course she was. She’d been waiting for this day for a very long time. If she wasn’t ready now she never would be.
“My name’s Emerald,” she said slowly. “Emerald Tremaine and I’m going to meet my family!”
Chapter 7
Alice Tremaine loved Sundays at Seaspray House. Traditionally this was when her family gathered for a big roast dinner, caught up on news and generally carried on with their everyday teasing and squabbling. It was something she’d started doing when Jimmy had been newly widowed, firstly because her grief-stricken son had seemed incapable of feeding himself, let alone seven children, and secondly because she’d wanted to find a way of gathering all her loved ones close and taking care of them. Some members of the family were now long departed but fondly remembered – like Great Auntie Hannah, for instance, whose marvellously crispy roast potatoes were still talked about. Others were living far away from home. New members had arrived too, as her grandchildren had married and met partners. Some, like Jake and Symon, had been gone for a while but had then returned to the fold; nothing gave Alice more pleasure than seeing them home and happy.
Actually, this wasn’t wholly accurate. Jake was happy, at least; as he laughed at something Summer had just said, it was obvious to Alice how in love the young couple were. Jake had been so lonely without Summer, and Alice was thrilled to see her eldest grandson smiling again now that they were back together. But Symon… Well, Alice couldn’t put her hand on her heart and say he was happy. In truth she couldn’t have said what was going on with her middle grandson. Symon was so self-contained these days and no matter how many times Alice tried to speak to him about what had happened in France, her efforts were about as productive as trying to prise barnacles from the rocks on the beach. Something had happened to change him from the open, sunny-natured boy she’d raised, into this quiet and career-driven young man – and Alice had her suspicions what it was. She’d also had an uneasy sensation all morning. Maybe it was because she was so worried about Symon. Or perhaps it was because Jonny was pressing her to set a date for their wedding, and still Alice wasn’t convinced that the St Miltons and the Tremaines were ready to combine forces.
“Are you OK, Granny?”
Dragged from her thoughts, Alice realised she’d frozen over the dishwasher midway through loading plates. No wonder Mo was looking concerned. She probably thought her grandmother was going gaga.
“Sorry, love, I was miles away.”
“No you weren’t,” said Morgan, looking confused. “You’re right here.”
“It’s an expression, love. It means I was deep in thought,” Alice explained. Morgan often took things literally – which had been interesting when old Miss Powell at Polwenna Primary had told him to “pull his socks up”, for instance. Tess Hamilton, a far more enlightened teacher, was now helping Morgan to negotiate the choppy waters between what was literal and what was metaphorical. He was far happier these days, enjoying school and making friends too. Alice couldn’t thank Tess enough for this. It just showed what a difference a good teacher made to a child.
“You shouldn’t be clearing up anyway,” Summer scolded. “Not after you’ve cooked for everyone and done all the hard work. Sit down and let us take care of it all.”
Alice waved her hand. “I’m more than capable of stacking the dishwasher, you know!”
“No one’s doubting your dishwasher-stacking ability, Gran. We just want you to be looked after for once. Now sit down!” This order was issued by Danny, and Alice laughed.
“You’re not in the army now, young man! Shall I remind you who’s the General in this house?”
“Me?” her son Jimmy offered hopefully. In his sixties and constantly giving Alice more headaches than all the grandchildren combined, Jimmy Tremaine could hardly organise himself, let alone lead an army. A kind-hearted and entertaining dreamer, he drifted from one hopeless scheme to the next and constantly needed keeping an eye on. Only last year he’d accidentally been caught up in a drug-smuggling operation – and he’d made several expensive trips to the USA, which had convinced Alice that he was gambling everything away in Vegas. Once upon a time his wife, Penny, had grounded Jimmy and he’d been truly happy with her and his young family. However, Penny’s cruel death had left him unanchored and adrift, and Alice feared he’d never find a safe harbour again.
Oh dear. It seemed it was a mother’s lot in life to always worry about her children no matter how old they were.
“Duh, Jim-pa. It’s not you. It’s Grand Gran. Fact,” said Morgan.
“Fair enough, old sport.” Jimmy said, passing by and ruffling Morgan’s hair. Placing a hand on Alice’s shoulder he gently manoeuvred his mother away. “No protests, Ma. As a lowly member of the cannon-fodder ranks I can probably cope with stacking a dishwasher.”
“Make sure you put the knives in upside down and rinse the plates,” Alice said quickly, knowing her son would shove everything in, shut the door and hope for the best. In fact, he probably wouldn’t even get that far; he’d wander off leaving it half stacked as soon as something more interesting flashed up on his mobile or he had to take a Skype call from his mystery American woman.
“Chill, Granny. I’ll supervise him,” said Mo, positioning herself at her father’s shoulder. Jimmy rolled his eyes at this but set to work cheerfully.
“I’ll make some coffee if you like,” offered Ashley. “Alice, would you hold Isla?”
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do,” Alice said, holding out her arms to her great-granddaughter. “Come here, love.”
Alice settled herself on the sofa by the Aga with the baby on her lap and glanced around Seaspray’s kitchen with pleasure. It was a large room, filled with light streaming through the windows. The sea could be glimpsed from here and the waves were dancing and wild today, the water alternately lit with flashes of gold and darkened with smudges of indigo as squalls galloped across the bay. There was something wonderfully cosy about being inside the kitchen, wrapped in the warmth of the Aga and with the air heavy with the smell of Sunday lunch while the elements squabbled outside.
As Jimmy stacked the dishwasher and the family cleared away, Alice sang to Isla and jiggled her on her knee. Ashley brewed coffee, Jules and Danny bickered good-naturedly about where to walk that afternoon and Mo, always one to face danger head-on, turned to Symon, who was quietly scrolling through messages on his phone.
“Sy, I’m dying to know. How was the big date?”
Symon placed his phone on the table. “I was meaning to have a word with you about that, actually.”
“Oh?”
“Don’t give me that look. You totally stitched me up – and Tess too. Seriously, Mo! Didn’t you think we’d talk to each other? Y
ou fed us both a line about the other being desperate for a date.”
“What have you been up to now?” Ashley asked his wife.
“Matchmaking,” grinned Summer.
“It could have worked and then you’d be thanking me,” Mo huffed.
“I don’t need you to set me up, thanks!” Symon said. His voice was quiet but a flush of annoyance stained his cheeks.
“You bloody well do. You’re a hermit,” his sister shot back.
“And that’s my choice! I don’t need you interfering! And I don’t want to date Tess!”
“You’re seriously missing out, fam. Tess is brilliant. Wish she hadn’t dumped me,” sighed Nick. “Mo, if she’s that desperate tell her I’m free. I won’t hold a grudge.”
“Don’t be stupid. Tess needs a man who can read words of more than two syllables,” snapped Mo, and Nick gave her the finger.
“Tess isn’t interested in me and I’m not interested in her,” Symon said firmly. “We have nothing in common.”
“Ashley and I have nothing in common either and we’re happy,” Mo said, hands on hips and red curls bouncing in temper. “Aren’t we, Ashley?”
“Of course, dear,” Ashley said, grinning at Symon. “Blissfully happy.”
“Ignore him. We are happy,” Mo told her brother. “And everyone said it wouldn’t work. All you lot, for a start.”
“Did they?” Ashley said. “Gee. Thanks, you guys.”
“I didn’t,” said Jules, blushing scarlet. “For the record, I always thought you’d be good together.”
“Even though she thinks you’re way too fond of Mammon,” Danny added. “Ouch!”
Jules had elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. “Dan! That was a joke!”
“You are very rich though, Ashley. Fact,” said Morgan.
“Thanks, mate,” said Ashley. “I’m not as rich as I was though. Mo’s doing her best to spend it all on horses.”
But his wife was far too busy glowering at Symon to take this bait. “Stop being so stubborn, Sy. Get over whoever it is that’s turned you into such a misery guts and have some fun. She can’t be that great if you’re not with her, anyway. Did she dump you?”
Symon stared at Mo. His blue eyes glittered with anger. He had a slow temper and when it erupted everyone ran for cover. Any minute now…
It was time to step in, Alice decided. She’d refereed enough family squabbles in her time to know the signs but there was something about the tight set of Symon’s mouth, and the way his fists were clenched as he fought to keep calm, that made her very uneasy.
Had Mo inadvertently hit on the truth?
“Stop it, all of you!” Alice said as Isla, picking up on the atmosphere, began to wail. “Now look what you’ve done. Honestly, this is worse than when you were kids.”
“Here. Pass her to me.” Ashley reached for his daughter, just as the doorbell shrilled and Isla howled even harder at the sudden noise. “Come on, Isla. Shall we go and see who this is and leave all these mean people to argue?”
With Isla in his arms, he headed out of the kitchen.
Alice exhaled wearily. “Morwenna, please stop interfering in Symon’s business. It’s absolutely nothing to do with you.”
“I was only trying to help,” Mo said sulkily, looking about fifteen. “Fine. I won’t bother again.”
“Thank God for that. What do you do when you don’t want to help?” Jake asked. “Pop people up on Tinder and then run and hide?”
“Oh! I never thought of Tinder! Over a billion people have found love on Tinder, Sy!”
“Don’t even go there,” Symon warned. “You got away with it this time and luckily Tess wasn’t too upset, but do me a favour in the future? Don’t meddle in my affairs.”
“Fine. Be a miserable git and die all lonely and unloved. See if I care,” Mo scowled.
Her brother grinned. “Thanks. I probably will, but do you know what? It’ll be my decision and it’ll be peaceful.”
World War Three averted, Alice heaved a sigh of relief and returned to enjoying her coffee. It would be impossible to stop worrying about her family but at least she was still here to keep an eye on them. Who would prevent Symon from strangling Mo or make sure Nick was up in time for work if she wasn’t living here? It was another reason she was reluctant to set a date for her wedding and move into Jonny’s apartment at the hotel.
“Jimmy? There’s a visitor for you,” said Ashley, returning from answering the door.
As he stepped aside, still holding Isla in his arms, Alice saw the young woman standing behind him. She was slim-built with long blonde hair and delicate features, and was glancing about the kitchen with wide eyes. When she spotted Jimmy a huge grin of delight spread across her face.
“Hey, there you are! Awesome!”
There was a crash of porcelain on flagstones. Jimmy, still loading the dishwasher, had turned as white as the shards of plate now scattered on the kitchen floor.
“Emerald? What are you doing here?”
“I know you weren’t expecting me, right?” the girl continued, stepping forwards and still smiling, although the smile was slightly less certain now as everyone in the room stared at her. “Mom said I should have called but I wanted it to be a surprise. “
Judging from the expression on her son’s face, Alice reckoned the visitor had surprised Jimmy all right. Shocked was probably a better word. Knowing him as well as she did, Alice was certain that if there had been a way out of the kitchen that didn’t involve leaping out a of window, Jimmy would have been long gone.
The girl glanced around and the smile melted away as her perfect white teeth worried at her bottom lip.
“You are pleased to see me, right?” she asked, sounding very young. She looked young too, Alice thought. She couldn’t be more than eighteen. Surely this wasn’t Jimmy’s girlfriend? She looked young enough to be his daughter!
“I… I…” Jimmy seemed unable to form a coherent sentence. “Emerald, I…”
The girl’s blue eyes were bright with tears. “You said I could come anytime! You promised!”
Jimmy cleared his throat. “I know I did. I was just going to speak to everyone here first. I was going to tell them all about you first.”
The girl was open-mouthed with disbelief. “You haven’t told them about me? But you said you were going to!”
“I meant to,” said Jimmy. He had that look on his face that Alice recognised of old. It was his classic being caught out expression. As his mother, she’d seen it on numerous occasions, from pies going missing out of the larder, to skiving off school, to taking off travelling and leaving her and Henry with seven heartbroken children, to driving a truck for crooks like Mickey Davey.
“Jimmy, what have you done now?” she said.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Dad?” asked Jake.
The visitor fixed Jimmy with confused and wounded blue eyes. “Why didn’t you tell them? Like you said? Like you promised? Why did you lie to me? Are you ashamed of me?”
“I had no idea you were coming here, love,” Jimmy said faintly. “You never told me.”
“I wanted to surprise you, that’s why! I’m eighteen, I’ve finally gotten a passport and here I am! I thought you’d be pleased!”
As she flung these defiant words at Jimmy, the girl raised her chin and tossed her hair back from her face. If Alice hadn’t known better she would have sworn it was her youngest granddaughter Issie standing there, although that tilted chin was pure Mo. The kitchen suddenly felt very hot and very crowded and there was an odd rushing in Alice’s ears. Those same bright blue eyes were replicated in her grandchildren, just as the delicate nose, high cheekbones and determined jut of the chin were stitched through every member of the Tremaine family.
She’d never seen this girl before but Alice realised she knew exactly who the visitor was. The missing money, the flights to LA, the odd phone calls… At once these all made perfect sense and the pennies were dropping so fast she was in danger of being
concussed.
Her hands on her hips, the girl stared Jimmy down. Fury crackled from her.
“So, come on then,” she said. “Isn’t it time you introduced me to the rest of the family? Dad?”
Chapter 8
Emerald couldn’t believe it.
Her father hadn’t told the others about her.
As she stood in the kitchen, surrounded by faces familiar after months of gazing at their photographs and fantasising about the day they’d finally meet, it was painfully apparent that until several minutes ago none of Jimmy’s family had even had a clue she existed. Instead of the cries of delight and hugs Emerald had dreamed about, there were gasps of shock swiftly followed by silence.
“Jimmy? What is this? What’s going on?”
An elderly woman sitting by a monster of an oven was the first person to speak and Emerald knew that this had to be her grandmother. Alice, that was her name, wasn’t it? She looked exactly how a granny should look, with her soft grey hair held back in a bun and a kind face crisscrossed with lines that had probably been etched by a lifetime of smiling. She wasn’t smiling now, though, and the last drops of excitement Emerald had been cherishing ever since her plane had landed at Heathrow trickled away.
“You’re our sister?” This was the red-headed girl, her big sister Morwenna, and she was staring at Emerald without a great deal of enthusiasm. Turning to Jimmy, she added, “Is this a joke? Or do we seriously have a sister you conveniently forgot to mention?”
“Mo,” began the dark-haired man who’d shown Emerald in.
But Morwenna ignored him and spun round to confront Emerald instead. “You’re his daughter? Really? You’re the reason Dad’s been flying to the States?”
Emerald nodded. Her voice had vanished and she didn’t blame it one bit. She wished she could vanish too.
“Jeez, Dad!” Mo sounded exasperated. “We thought you had another woman but not another family!”
“I don’t have another family,” Jimmy said quietly. “I have one daughter and I’ve only recently met her.”
“Well, that’s OK then,” said Mo. She folded her arms across her chest and gave Emerald a hard stare.
Recipe for Love: A gorgeous Cornish romance (Polwenna Bay Book 5) Page 7