‘Married life suits me, I guess,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘Anyway, you’re the glowing one. I am resisting the urge to touch your stomach by the way,’ she added with a laugh.
‘I suppose I’d better start getting used to people doing that,’ I said. ‘Where’s Izzy?’
‘She stayed over at her friend Daisy’s last night, I’m going to pick her up this afternoon.’
We heaved my case into the boot and climbed into the car, setting off for Glendale together. ‘So, the honeymoon was wonderful then?’
‘It was, although the wedding feels like forever ago. I’ve hardly been allowed time to be smug about being a new bride, my mother is in full-on wedding planning mode. I mean, talk about Bridezilla.’ She rolled her eyes but kept on smiling, showing me she really didn’t mind. ‘It’s nice to see her and John so happy though so I’m putting up with it.’ She looked over at me, concern taking over her happy face for a moment. ‘We’re so glad you agreed to come. Should I ask how things are or would you rather not talk about it?’
I shrugged. ‘It’s fine, honestly. Greg has gone to rehab and our house is up for sale. It’s completely not where I ever thought I’d be when I finally got pregnant but I’m trying to look to the future. I just wish I knew what it was going to look like. It feels like so much is changing… even my job, now.’ I told her about Molly’s planned retirement and wish to travel the world. ‘I want her to be happy, of course, but to say it feels like a rug has been pulled from under me is a massive understatement.’
‘I know how much you loved working there,’ Beth said, sympathetically. ‘Has she said what she’ll do with the bakery?’
I explained then about her passing it over to her son and daughter-in-law. ‘But that’s not all,’ I said, telling her that Molly had also offered me a large sum of money so I could start my own bakery. ‘I’m still trying to take it all in.’
‘Wow.’ Beth whistled. ‘Life is throwing everything at you, isn’t it? But that sounds amazing! And you’ve done the right thing in coming here. Glendale has a way of making everything seem clear. It changed my life. I think it just might change yours.’
I was about to ask her quite how when we approached Glendale Hall, and I lapsed into silence. We drove through the large iron gates and along the gravel drive up towards the house, and I was happier than I thought I’d be to see it again. It had only been a few weeks since I left but because so much had happened, I felt like a different person now. ‘Still as gorgeous as ever,’ I said as Beth pulled up in front of the Hall.
‘Wait until you see the garden – it’s in full bloom now, and it’s just stunning,’ Beth said, jumping out eagerly. I climbed out too and felt the sun warm my arms instantly.
The front door was flung open and Aunt Sally stepped outside. ‘Emily, it’s so good to have you back,’ she said, holding out her arms. I went over and hugged her. ‘You look pale,’ she said, giving me a look up and down. ‘You’ve been doing too much,’ she scolded, gently.
‘There’s been a lot to do,’ I replied, defending myself.
‘Well, we’ll soon perk you up, won’t we Beth?’ She led me by the arm inside the hallway, Beth following, dragging my case behind her. ‘Cup of tea?’ Sally didn’t wait for a response as she led the way to the kitchen.
‘I’ll put this in your room,’ Beth said, heading for the stairs.
‘I can do it,’ I protested.
Beth snorted and walked off without a response. I smiled at her retreating back. I knew they both wanted to take care of me but I didn’t want to be a burden. I was here for a wedding, and I wanted to help. I couldn’t deny it though; it felt nice to have people who cared, and the opportunity to have some rest up here was a welcome thought after the past hectic few weeks. It wasn’t just physical fatigue from packing up the house; I felt emotionally drained by it all as well. I followed Aunt Sally into the large open-plan kitchen and looked out at the grounds through the open French doors. Beth was right. The flowers in pots along the patio by the side of the house were full of bright colours and the lawn was a lush green, the sun shining down on it from a clear blue sky.
‘There’s been so much going on here,’ Aunt Sally said as she made tea. ‘I’ll be glad when things quieten down a bit to be honest. Two weddings in one summer is a bit too much.’
‘I thought you liked to be busy,’ I said, turning back from the French doors.
‘I do but I’m not as young as I once was, you know.’ She smiled over her shoulder. ‘In fact, there is a lot to talk to you about. There’s a lot of change happening here as well.’
‘I’m not sure I can take any more change,’ I admitted. I took the mug of tea that she handed me and we stepped outside into the garden and I sat down on the picnic bench.
‘Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do to stop it, is there?’ Sally sat down opposite me. ‘Before I get to my news though, how are you doing, really?’
‘I’ll be fine,’ I said. She glared at me. ‘I promise! It’s been really strange sorting out the house and putting it on the market but we had to do it. Greg has gone to get help and I hope it works for him, I really do. I just have to move on now, don’t I? But please, tell me your news. I need the distraction from my life right now.’
‘Well, as I said, things have been very hectic here lately, and it's made me realise that I’m no spring chicken any more.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I said, instinctively, but even I could see Aunt Sally did look a little tired. Panic suddenly ran through me. ‘You’re not ill, are you?’
She smiled, and shook her head. ‘No, I promise. I’ve just been thinking that it would be nice to take things a little easier now I’ve hit my twilight years.’
I often forgot that Aunt Sally was a few years older than my mother, and that meant she was close to retirement age. Like my mum though, I had never really pictured Aunt Sally actually doing that. But look at Molly. Perhaps I had been in denial about the women in my life. I suddenly felt selfish. ‘Well, you certainly deserve to take things easier,’ I told her. ‘You’ve worked hard all your life. But what will you do? I mean, I can’t imagine you not being here.’ The thought of Glendale Hall without Aunt Sally was too much to fathom.
‘That’s exactly what I said,’ Beth said from behind me then, carrying out the mug of tea left on the side for her. ‘The Hall is your home.’
Aunt Sally smiled at her. ‘Well you and Caroline have certainly been extremely generous.’
‘No, not generous at all, just selfish,’ Beth said, sitting down next to me. ‘We knew there was no way we could cope without you.’
Aunt Sally saw my confused expression, and explained. ‘After the wedding, John is going to finally move into the Hall with Caroline, which means his cottage will be empty. Beth and Caroline have kindly asked me to stay on and live in the cottage. I’ll still help out around here but I’m going to be stepping down as housekeeper. We’re going to find some new blood to take over.’
‘God knows how,’ Beth muttered. ‘Talk about big shoes and all that.’
‘Wow,’ I said. ‘I’m so glad you’ll be staying here.’
‘It’s my home,’ she said, simply.
‘And always will be,’ Beth promised.
‘Well, I’m happy that you’ll be taking things easy, and hopefully that will mean we can spend more time together. My baby is going to need a great-auntie in their life.’
‘Now I feel really old,’ Aunt Sally complained but her eyes looked like they were misting over before she hid them behind her mug and took a sip of tea.
‘We’ve sorted Sally out,’ Beth said. ‘And my mum is finally making an honest man of John so…’ she swivelled round to look at me. ‘Now, it’s your turn.’
‘For what?’ I asked nervous suddenly.
‘For us to sort out, of course.’
‘I don’t need—’ I started to say, as my default positon on people helping me kicked in.
‘Oh, yes, you do,’ Aunt Sally
and Beth said in unison. Despite myself, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that, and they joined in, and miraculously my troubles seemed to lift just a little bit.
Chapter Forty
‘I’m waiting, by the way,’ Beth said after lunch as we walked into Glendale village together. I had been right about the weather – there was no sticky London heatwave up here, just pleasant sunshine and a refreshing breeze. And the air was so much cleaner too. Beth had to meet her mum at the Glendale Hall shop and I was excited to see it again, and say hello to Caroline so I went along with her, leaving my unpacking for later.
‘For what?’ I asked, raising an eyebrow at the devilish grin on her face.
‘For you to ask about him, of course!’
I sighed. ‘You mean Brodie,’ I said, not needing to phrase it as a question. His name still brought a small smile to my lips. Which was too confusing. I wanted to see him and yet I also wanted to run away from having to.
‘Yes, I mean Brodie. He’s pleased you’re back, by the way. I told him you were coming and he said he was looking forward to seeing you again.’
‘He’s a nice guy, of course he said that,’ I replied, trying to ignore my heart lifting inside my chest at her words.
‘Why can’t you just admit that you like him?’
‘Of course I like him but it’s pretty complicated, isn’t it? We agreed that we’re just friends.’ I saw her face. ‘Seriously, Beth. Who would want to take on another man’s child anyway?’ I gestured to my stomach. ‘Plus, I really don’t know what will happen with Greg. Things are so up in the air right now. I just need to keep everything as simple as I can.’
‘I know, I know. I’m sorry.’ She slipped her arm through mine. ‘I just can’t help but think you two deserve to be happy. But I won’t mention it again. I know it’s complicated. Love always is.’
I was about to dispute the fact that this had anything to do with love when Glendale High Street came into view, and I was too eager to see it. Now it was the holidays, the village was alive with families walking around, ice creams in hand, the outside tables of the pub filled with people having lunch in the sunshine, and customers going in and out of the shops.
Glendale Hall shop’s door jangled merrily as we walked in. Caroline was behind the counter serving someone. The girl who helped out in the shop when she wasn’t at college was arranging honey made from the Hall’s beehives in the corner and waved to us when we walked in.
‘Look who’s back,’ Beth said to her mum when the customer had left. Caroline came over and gave me a kiss on the cheek. She wore an elegant linen dress, her skin as tanned as her daughter’s, looking more at ease than I had ever seen her.
‘How is the bride-to-be?’ I asked, able to see the answer for myself.
‘A little stressed because the florist just came in to say one of the flowers I wanted just won’t be available but other than that… I can’t quite believe I’m going to be married again. At my age.’ She laughed a little.
‘I think it’s wonderful,’ I told her, sincerely. I left Beth and Caroline to debate flowers, wandering over to look at the shop produce. It was lovely to think that John and Caroline were about to get their happy ever after twenty years after meeting, proving that love really didn’t have an expiration date; that you could find it no matter how young or old you were.
My eye was caught then by a teddy bear on the shelf. It wore a jumper with ‘Glendale Hall’ stitched on it. I realised that I hadn’t bought anything for my baby yet. At first, it was all so shocking and then I had so much to deal with, plus the nerves ahead of my first scan but now that had gone well, and everything seemed okay, I felt the sudden urge to start buying things. ‘I just can’t resist,’ I said, taking the teddy over to the till. It would be a reminder of this special place and a promise to bring my baby here with me too one day.
‘I’m not taking your money,’ Beth said, pushing the teddy back into my hands. ‘Ooh, I need to go and collect Izzy from Daisy’s house. You want to come?’ she asked, coming around the counter.
‘I think I’ll walk around a bit more. I have missed all the fresh air up here,’ I said. ‘Are you sure?’ I waved the bear at her.
‘My first present to my godchild,’ she replied. ‘That’s a big hint by the way,’ she added with a smile. I laughed and followed her out. ‘While you’re walking around, why don’t you have a look at the shop over there? In fact…’ she pulled out a key from her bag. ‘Go inside. See what you think.’
‘Think about what?’ I asked but she was already walking back towards Glendale Hall. I shook my head and walked down the High Street. There was one empty property still and I looked in the window. It was a wide shop with lots of light pouring in. I unlocked the door and walked in. It was a good space. Walking through, I saw that out the back was an old kitchen. I remembered then that this had been a café when I was growing up in Glendale. They had served excellent cakes and tea.
Running my hand over the dusty kitchen surface, I smiled at how Glendale had returned to the lively, warm village I had known as a kid.
I hoped they would find someone to open the shop again. I took one last look before locking it back up and walking back down the road. I wondered why Beth had wanted me to see it, perhaps to help her decide what to do with it. I thought it could well be a café again. A village always needed a place where you could get a cake, in my opinion. I felt a little daft then, as Beth’s suggestion suddenly became obvious. She was shameless, that girl. But despite shaking my head at her, I couldn’t help but feel possibility in the air.
‘Emily?’
I jumped a little as someone touched me on the arm. I stopped and saw Brodie beside me.
‘I called your name but you were miles away,’ he said with a laugh.
My cheeks flooded with warmth. Brodie was in his dog-collar shirt with jeans. Looking tanned, and even more handsome than I remembered. He removed his hand quickly from me, and put it in his pocket.
‘I’m sorry, I was,’ I said, a little breathlessly. I was still startled by his sudden appearance, and how my pulse had started racing at seeing him again.
‘It’s good to see you in Glendale again,’ he said. ‘How are you?’
‘I’m fine. Good, thank you,’ I babbled a little. ‘How are you?’
‘All well with me too,’ he said. ‘I was just about to pick up some steak for dinner,’ he explained, gesturing to the butcher’s behind me. ‘Did you just get back here?’
‘This morning,’ I said. ‘Just taking in the village again. I’ve missed it.’ I looked away, wishing I could tell him that I’d missed him too.
‘It gets under your skin, doesn’t it? Well, I’d better be going…’
‘Oh, okay, sure.’ I stepped back, a little stunned by him wanting to escape so quickly.
‘I’ll see you around, Emily,’ he said, walking past me.
‘Bye,’ I said, lamely, but he’d already disappeared into the shop. I hadn’t exactly imagined what our first meeting again would be like, but I was certain I hadn’t expected it to be so anticlimactic. I waited a beat before turning and heading back towards Glendale Hall, wondering why I felt quite so disappointed.
Chapter Forty-One
Aunt Sally and I walked through the garden towards the towering oak trees that hid the cottage from view until you were right upon it. John had already started moving his things into the Hall and had invited Sally to come and look around the cottage. I had never been in there and Sally said she hadn’t for years – John preferring to look after it himself, and not being the entertaining company sort of man – so we were curious to see it.
Through an opening in the trees, we joined the thin path that twisted up to the low, wide cottage. It was made from the same cream stone as Glendale Hall’s main house, with two floors, and a pretty patch of flowers either side of the path that took you up to the oak front door. Letting ourselves in, we stood and looked around the cosy, tidy cottage. There were beams across the ceil
ing and a large fireplace in the living room we stood in. Through the living room was a pine kitchen, perfectly formed with a door that led out to a small garden. Upstairs, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom, all decorated in the same off-white, with wooden floors, and wide windows letting in lots of light.
‘It’s lovely,’ I said when we returned to the living room. I imagined Aunt Sally curled up in the armchair with a crackling fire in the winter, and I knew she’d be happy here. ‘It’s perfect. A lot bigger, actually, than I thought, too.’
‘Me too,’ Aunt Sally agreed. ‘I was worried there wouldn’t be space to cook but the kitchen is a lot roomier than I remembered. And I love how he’s marked out a small front and back garden so I can potter about without ruining the wider grounds,’ she said with a laugh.
I turned to her. ‘Is this really what you want? To retire, I mean?’
‘The Hall is too big for me now, and there are too many people here now. Once Beth and Izzy came back to live here, there was so much more to do. I know we have Jo in a couple of times a week but there is still too much for just me. They need someone younger with more energy. And I like helping out in the shop, which I can rarely do now so I will carry on doing that, don’t worry. You know me, I will always keep busy but it’s time for someone else to take over the Hall.’
‘You deserve to start taking things easier, for sure. It’s lovely that they don’t want you to leave the Hall. You’re part of the family.’
She smiled. ‘You are too, Emily. Don’t forget that. Right, having said all this, I need to get back to the house to serve dinner. We have a few guests tonight, as always now.’ She rolled her eyes.
‘I can’t believe there will be another wedding here so soon,’ I said as we stepped back outside into the sunshine.
‘It’s about time for them,’ Aunt Sally replied dryly.
New Beginnings At Glendale Hall Page 20