The Little Village of Happiness: A gorgeous uplifting romantic comedy to escape with this summer

by Martin, Holly

  ‘Not really. I think he did Skype her for a while but every time he did, Lottie cursed him for everything under the sun and it dried up after that. Alex really struggled to learn sign language and as his daughter grew up he just couldn’t really communicate with her. I think it drove a wedge between him and Lottie, because there was a clear bond between Poppy and Lottie and he felt like an outsider in his own family. I mean, of course there were other things that went wrong in their relationship too, it wasn’t just about Poppy. They were always bickering and fighting years before Poppy was born and I always wondered why they stayed together. So I don’t think she was the reason that things didn’t work between them, but I suppose it added to the strain in their relationship.’

  ‘That’s awful.’

  Andrew was quiet for a while. ‘My dad walked out on us when we were kids. Apparently he’d had affairs with multiple women. I kind of grew up wondering if it was my fault. Of course I don’t think that now but I don’t want Poppy to have that feeling too. I think Lottie’s been struggling with it ever since. Being a single parent is hard and I think, despite it all, she still loves Alex and misses him terribly. I’m not excusing her attitude to you tonight, but she’s had this prickly outer shell since Alex left, but inside there is still this wonderful woman. Just be a little patient with her. Once you get to know her, you’ll really like her.’

  ‘Of course. Maybe tomorrow, Poppy can come and help me make some candles in the shop. Give Lottie a break for a while. Although I’ll need you or Jacob to interpret for me.’

  ‘That would be great. I have so much work to do, but I’ll bring her along and then hopefully Jacob will stay with her. I think Poppy will love you.’

  Willow cringed a little. ‘I’m not great with kids, I always say the wrong things. I make inappropriate jokes which they never find funny. I taught my brother’s kids how to burp the alphabet. My sister-in-law was furious and rightly so.’

  Andrew laughed. ‘Yes, please don’t do anything like that with Poppy, I want her and Lottie to fall in love with you as much as I have. But you don’t have anything to worry about. You’ve already won her over with your love of Maximus. I’ll give you one tip, she has this doll, Gertrude. It has no hair, one eye, one of the ears has melted off after she left it too close to the fire. It is the most hideous thing I have ever seen in my life and quite frankly gives me nightmares. She loves this thing and carries it around everywhere. Just don’t insult it or look horrified if she asks you to hold it.’

  ‘I’ll tell her Gertrude is beautiful.’

  ‘That’s a great idea.’

  ‘Will you show me how to sign that to her?’

  Andrew hesitated.

  ‘I want to learn it.’

  ‘Ah, don’t do this because Lottie gave you a hard time.’

  ‘I’m not. This is part of who you are, I want to know this part too.’

  He clearly thought about this some more. Then he sat up and slowly signed something. ‘Your doll is beautiful.’

  Willow stared at the hand gestures feeling suddenly daunted. There was no way she would remember that.

  He signed it again, breaking it down into little chunks. She copied each action as he did it and then tried to put all the chunks together into a sentence.

  ‘That’s it,’ Andrew said, lying back down.

  She practised it again, feeling like everything was hinging on these tiny little movements.

  Andrew pulled her back down on top of him. ‘This doesn’t need to be a big deal. If you can’t do it, just get me or Jacob to sign for you.’

  Willow lay there listening to his heartbeat for a while. Don’t be rude about the doll, don’t say anything inappropriate, teach her about candles, make Poppy fall in love with her, all through Jacob or Andrew interpreting everything she said. No pressure then.

  She thought about Alex, Poppy’s dad, and how hard he had found it to communicate with his own daughter and how utterly heartbreaking that must have been for him.

  ‘Is sign language hard to learn?’ Willow asked.

  ‘Yeah, it can be. I learned from a very early age so it was a lot easier for me. It’s much harder to learn it when you’re an adult. And as with the English language where there are many similar words, there are also many similar signs. There are also several signs that mean the same thing.’

  Unease swirled in her gut. She had learned French and Spanish at school and had been awful at it. She had got an E in French in her GCSE and a U in Spanish. She couldn’t even remember a single word of either language now. What if she struggled to learn sign language too? What if she spent her whole life having to have everything translated to Poppy for her? What if she had children with Andrew and they were deaf, what if she couldn’t learn enough sign language to communicate with them? Would that drive a wedge between them?

  No, she couldn’t think like that. She would learn it. She had to if she was going to be a part of Andrew’s life.

  She looked up at him. ‘I want to learn it.’

  He stared at her for a moment. ‘OK, I will teach you but try not to get frustrated with it, it’s hard to pick up at first. We’ll start off small.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘I’m going to sleep now.’

  He gave her a sweet kiss on the lips and she watched him take his hearing aids out and pop them on top of his drawers.

  Then he signed something. ‘Goodnight,’ he said.

  She smiled and copied the gesture back.

  ‘Perfect,’ he said.

  She stroked his face. ‘I love you.’

  He smiled and closed his eyes. ‘Elephant shoes.’

  She put her head back on his chest with a smile. She was going to do this, she had to.

  Thirty-One

  After hot shower sex and breakfast, Andrew had rushed off to work with the promise to bring Poppy by Willow’s shop later that afternoon. Willow had gone home to get changed into her own clothes and then decided to see if she could find Ruby before she went to work. She felt a bit guilty that her friend had come down to see her and she’d only spent one full day with her so far. Although Ruby seemed happy enough, so she didn’t feel too bad.

  Willow went through the back door of the pub which led straight upstairs to the bedrooms. She knocked on Ruby’s door but there was no noise from inside. There was, however, laughter coming from one of the other bedrooms that sounded suspiciously like Ruby. Willow wandered down the corridor a little and listened outside the door. She had been sure Ruby was in room number six but that definitely sounded like Ruby inside number three.

  Suddenly the door was flung open and Ruby walked out giggling.

  ‘Ruby, I thought you were in number six…’ Willow started.

  The door opened wider and Jacob was standing there dressed only in a towel.

  ‘I was, I mean I am. I was just borrowing some sugar from Jacob,’ Ruby said, not in any way embarrassed at being caught in what was clearly the morning after the night before. She also didn’t have any sugar with her.

  Willow smirked. ‘So good night last night? The comedy show, I mean.’

  Ruby flashed Jacob a grin. ‘It was a great night.’

  Jacob smiled. ‘I’ll catch you later Ruby.’

  ‘Oh Jacob,’ Willow said. ‘Andrew is bringing Poppy to my shop later this afternoon so she can make some candles with me. I know Andrew is crazy busy at the moment, would you be able to stay with her and interpret for us?’

  Jacob frowned. ‘Poppy’s here?’

  ‘Yes, I think Andrew was a bit surprised last night as well. They’re here for a few days and Andrew said he’d have Poppy this afternoon but I don’t think he really has the time so I said I would make some candles with her. Would you have the time to stay with her?’

  ‘Of course, she’d like that. I’ll see you later.’ Jacob gave Ruby a wink and closed the door.

  ‘Fancy having breakfast?’ Willow said.

  ‘Sure, that sounds good.’

  They started walki
ng down the stairs. ‘Who’s Poppy?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘Jacob and Andrew’s niece.’

  Ruby was quiet for a moment and Willow cringed a little that Jacob hadn’t spoken to Ruby about Poppy.

  ‘Why does Jacob need to translate for the two of you?’

  ‘Poppy’s deaf and she only really communicates through sign language.’

  ‘Oh god, how awful,’ Ruby said.

  Willow cringed even more. ‘I think Poppy’s totally fine with being deaf. I don’t think she would think it’s awful at all.’

  ‘But it must be, not being able to hear music or people chatting or birds singing or a child’s laughter.’

  ‘But Poppy has never heard any of those things so she doesn’t think she’s missing out at all. She’s a very happy little girl.’

  ‘It must be so terrible for her family though, for her parents and for Jacob.’

  ‘What’s so terrible about it? Poppy is a healthy, happy, bright, energetic little girl. Besides, I suspect her family are quite used to it. Andrew’s deaf too.’

  ‘Andrew’s deaf?!’ Ruby said incredulously as she pushed the door open to the pub and all eyes swivelled in their direction, including those of Lottie and Morgan who were having breakfast together with Poppy.

  Ice settled into her stomach. Andrew didn’t want anyone to know he was deaf and now in Willow’s attempt to play down how awful it was for Poppy to be deaf, she’d let it slip to Ruby and her friend had inadvertently just told the whole pub.

  ‘I can’t believe Andrew’s deaf,’ Ruby went on, completely oblivious that she was making the situation worse.

  ‘Sshhh,’ Willow hissed. ‘For god’s sake be quiet. Go and grab a menu. I’m just going to say hello to Lottie and Poppy.’

  ‘Is that them?’ Ruby said, staring over at them like they were animals in the zoo.

  Willow winced. Ruby was a lovely person but she was as subtle as a low-flying brick.

  ‘Will you just go and sit down, over there?’ Willow snapped. ‘I’ll be over in a second.’

  Willow walked over to Lottie and Poppy’s table. Neither Lottie or Morgan looked happy to see her. Although Poppy waved madly.

  ‘Morning,’ she addressed Lottie and Morgan. ‘Hello Poppy.’

  Lottie signed for Willow.

  ‘Poppy, Andrew is going to bring you to my shop this afternoon. I make candles and we thought you might enjoy seeing how I do it.’

  Lottie smiled slightly. ‘Oh she’ll love that.’

  She signed what Willow had said and Poppy practically burst out of her seat in excitement.

  ‘Did you just tell the whole pub that Andrew is deaf?’ Morgan asked, clearly not in the mood to play nice.

  Willow flushed with embarrassment. She was really hoping they hadn’t heard, although Ruby had been loud enough.

  ‘I, erm, I was just telling Ruby and…’

  ‘And I bet Andrew specifically told you not to tell anyone?’

  Morgan was right. He had told her he didn’t want anyone to know and she had promised him she wouldn’t tell a soul. Christ, this was all kinds of awful.

  Willow looked round the pub. No one seemed to be taking an interest in their conversation and no one seemed to be excited about this latest bit of gossip like they had been over the presents or her relationship with Andrew. There were lots of little conversations going on but none of them seemed to be about Andrew.

  ‘He’s really sensitive about people finding out, he’s going to hate this,’ Morgan went on.

  ‘Maybe he’s a little more relaxed about it here,’ Lottie said. ‘This is his home.’

  ‘I doubt it. He’s tried to hide it his whole life. He doesn’t talk about it with anyone. He trusted Willow and she’s just let him down.’

  ‘I think you’re overreacting. Maybe it’s time he embraced it,’ Lottie said.

  ‘I think that’s probably Andrew’s decision,’ Morgan said. ‘Not yours or Willow’s.’

  Willow had no words to defend herself. It should be her protecting Andrew not Morgan. But Morgan would never do anything so indiscreet as to out Andrew to the whole pub.

  Willow cleared her throat. ‘I’m going to go and have breakfast with my friend. Poppy, I’ll see you later.’

  Lottie signed for her and Poppy waved goodbye.

  Willow returned to her table where Ruby was still watching Lottie and Poppy with evident interest.

  ‘God, what have I done?’ Willow said as she sat back down. In her head, Andrew being deaf just wasn’t a big deal but of course it was for him. She’d told Ruby when she’d had no business sharing that with her. Andrew would be furious and quite rightly so.

  ‘I wonder why Jacob didn’t tell me about Poppy,’ Ruby said.

  ‘Probably because he knew you’d be really inappropriate about it,’ Willow snapped and then regretted it. None of this was really Ruby’s fault but she wished she would be a bit more discreet about it.

  ‘What am I doing that’s inappropriate?’ Ruby said.

  ‘You’re staring at her like she’s a freak.’

  ‘I’m not. Oh my god, of course I don’t think she’s a freak, that’s an awful thing to say. I just didn’t even know Jacob had a niece until ten minutes ago and now I find out the poor girl is deaf and Andrew’s deaf and—’

  ‘Stop saying that. Christ. Andrew’s really sensitive about it and I should never have blabbed it to you in the first place but you don’t need to keep repeating it to the whole pub. And stop with the “poor girl” crap. Deaf people don’t need or want our pity, they don’t want to be labelled as an abnormality or different. They just want understanding, to have the same opportunities as us, to have access to the same stuff that we do. And sometimes that can be difficult for them but they want empathy not sympathy.’

  Ruby stared at her. ‘God, I am being inappropriate, aren’t I?’

  ‘Yes you are.’

  ‘I’m sorry. It was just a surprise, that’s all. I didn’t mean to be an arse about it. I really should know better, what with Cal putting up with all that crap all his life, and I’ve just turned into one of those people who stare and make a big deal about something that really isn’t a big deal.’

  Willow nodded. She knew Ruby’s brother, Cal, had lost his lower leg in a car accident when he was only a small child. He’d had his own battles to fight as he’d grown up. Although if anyone was a good role model for overcoming adversity, it was Cal. He was a Paralympian. Ruby really should know better.

  ‘Right, I’m stopping now, I promise. I’ll say no more about it.’ Ruby picked up the menu decisively. Willow looked over to where Lottie and Morgan were sitting. Morgan and Poppy were engaged in a very animated conversation and Poppy kept laughing and giggling at what Morgan was saying to her. Lottie, however, was staring at Willow and she wondered if she had heard what she’d said. Willow thought back to what she’d said to Ruby, hoping that she hadn’t said anything wrong or offensive. Andrew was right, she had no real understanding of what it meant to be deaf. She just hoped she had championed the cause in the right way.

  She watched Morgan and Poppy continue to chat, the little girl had completely come alive. She didn’t think she would ever be able to engage with Poppy as easily and fluently as Morgan was. Morgan was so good for her. It was no wonder Lottie liked her.

  But she was going to master this and she was going to start this afternoon with Poppy.

  * * *

  Willow ended up leaving the pub at the same time as Morgan. Ruby was going to go back to sleep for a few hours as apparently she hadn’t got much sleep the night before and Willow needed to get to work.

  Willow held the door open for Morgan as she came out. Despite Morgan’s frostiness with her before breakfast, Willow wanted her to know she took that part of Andrew’s life seriously. For some reason she couldn’t identify, she wanted Morgan’s approval.

  ‘You and Poppy seemed to be having the best conversation over breakfast,’ Willow said. ‘You’re so good with her, she
absolutely adores you.’

  ‘That’s because I understand her,’ Morgan said rather testily. Evidently she was still pissed off with Willow.

  ‘I want to learn sign language. I want to be able to communicate with Poppy properly and being deaf is a big part of who Andrew is, I want to be able to share that with him. Would you teach me a few things?’

  Morgan clearly thought about this for a moment. ‘OK, what do you want to know?’

  ‘Well Poppy is coming to see the candle shop this afternoon, she loves candles. I’d love to be able to say to her something like, “Would you like to make some candles with me?”’

  Morgan hesitated for a while. ‘OK.’

  Morgan demonstrated how to sign that sentence, slowly going through each action, and Willow copied it carefully. She repeated it a few times with Morgan correcting her if she went wrong until she had got it perfected.

  ‘That’s it and, look, I’ll show you something you can say to Andrew tonight in bed.’

  Morgan showed her some other sign language actions and Willow dutifully copied her.

  ‘Perfect,’ Morgan said.

  ‘What did I just say?’

  ‘Ah, I’ll let Andrew translate that one for you, but I promise he will love it.’ Morgan smiled, almost smugly Willow thought.

  ‘Thanks so much,’ Willow said and waved her goodbye as she walked into her shop.

  It was a very small start but she couldn’t wait to show Andrew and Poppy the sign language she had learned and how serious she was about getting to grips with that side of their life.

  Thirty-Two

  Willow was waiting nervously inside her shop for Andrew and Jacob to arrive with Poppy.

  She had to talk to Andrew before anything else. She had to tell him that she had accidentally outed him to the whole village and she had no idea what his reaction to that would be. He had been angry enough that first day when she had discovered he was deaf, so how would he feel when he discovered that the whole village now knew? She only hoped that no one in the village had said anything to him, she wanted to be the one to tell him.