‘I should think not. I know he’s family, but I have to say that I think the best man won in the end.’
Hattie grinned. ‘I didn’t realise there’d been a competition.’
‘Oh, I think our sexy Seth has been pining after you for a lot longer than you might realise.’
‘Really?’
‘Trust me, I know these things.’
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ Hattie said with a laugh.
‘It’s nice to see you happy. But I still think you’re a little loco…’ Lance twirled his finger at his temple. ‘That woman… that Med—’
‘No!’ Hattie warned.
‘Jo then,’ Lance corrected, rolling his eyes. ‘She’s just been in here trying to tell me how to do my job! I mean, what does she know about catering? I told her straight – you stick with your donkeys and I’ll take care of the cakes.’
‘You didn’t shout at her, did you?’
‘Of course I bloody well did!’
‘Oh God!’ Hattie’s face lost a shade. Of all the things she’d needed today, one of them was for Jo to stay focused. She was getting better, but she still went back into her dark place from time to time. Hattie just didn’t need that time to be now. ‘Where did she go?’
Lance shrugged. ‘As long as it’s out of my way I don’t care.’
‘I’d better find her.’
Hattie dashed from the tent.
‘Did you see where Jo went?’ she asked Phyllis and Rupert.
‘Who?’ Phyllis asked.
‘The stiff woman,’ Rupert reminded her. ‘Didn’t notice,’ he said to Hattie.
‘Did she look OK?’ Hattie asked.
‘How should I know?’ Rupert shrugged. ‘She looked like she always does.’
‘Right… OK.’
Hattie scanned the courtyard. But then she saw Jo with Seth by the new enclosures. It looked as if Melinda’s kids had found them, and if Jo had been upset by her run-in with Lance, she wasn’t showing much sign of it now. She was telling a story about one of the donkeys, the kids listening, still and silent as they gazed up at her. Seth glanced across and caught Hattie’s eye. He sauntered over.
‘You need to have a word with Lance,’ he said quietly.
‘I already have,’ Hattie said. She sighed. ‘I suppose you can’t expect miracles right away. They’ve got some very strong opinions of her and it’s going to take some time for people to realise that she’s got a lot to offer the community.’
‘I don’t think she always helps her cause,’ Seth said.
‘Again…’ Hattie smiled. ‘Maybe we can’t expect miracles straight away.’
‘But…’ Seth grabbed her around the waist and planted a kiss on her lips, ‘she is looking happier than I’ve ever seen her. As am I,’ he added, ‘and it’s all because of a certain young woman.’
‘Phyllis?’ Hattie grinned. ‘I’ll be sure to tell her what you said.’
Just then, Hattie noticed her mum across the courtyard, looking as if she was trying to explain something very complicated to her dad. There was a sort of hand semaphore whenever she did this, a very deliberate set of gestures that got bigger and wider the more frustrated she got.
‘I’d better go and see if my mum and dad are OK,’ she said. ‘I think something is kicking off.’
‘Right; go and referee,’ he said with a grin and another kiss.
Hattie went over to her parents, leaving Seth to go back to helping Jo entertain Melinda’s kids.
‘Today is not a day for arguments,’ Hattie said sternly as Nigel and Rhonda turned as one, guilty looks on their faces. ‘Today is about harmony, and I’ll be throwing out anyone ruining the ambience of the grand opening party, family or not.’
‘Your dad’s just eaten the biggest cream cake,’ Rhonda complained. Hattie looked at her dad with raised eyebrows.
‘You know what the GP said about your cholesterol.’
‘I am a GP!’ he said. ‘I know about cholesterol!’
‘Then you should know that a big cream cake is not going to help it come down,’ Rhonda fired back.
‘It’s too late now, Mum,’ Hattie said wearily. ‘It’s gone and he looks like the cat that got the cream – literally. Looks like you’ll have to get him back on the wagon tomorrow.’
Rhonda glared at her husband, but he only looked supremely pleased with himself.
‘So, now that you two are sorted…’ Hattie began to walk away, but Rhonda called her back.
‘We did want to give you something,’ she said. ‘Before the festivities start.’
Hattie turned back with a vague frown. Her eyes widened as Rhonda pulled a faded jewellery box from her handbag and opened it to reveal a heart-shaped locket.
‘But that’s…’ she said slowly, looking up at her mum and dad.
‘Charlotte’s – yes,’ Nigel said. ‘We thought you ought to have it.’
‘But you’ve kept that ever since…’ Hattie stared at the locket.
‘Charlotte would want you to have it too,’ Rhonda said.
‘But I can’t take this—’
‘You can,’ Rhonda cut in. ‘And we want you to.’
‘You always thought you were the disappointing child,’ Nigel said, ‘and perhaps the blame for that belief always lay with us. But the way you’ve grown up, the way you’ve handled yourself this past year, the things you’ve achieved and the people you’ve helped… well, we couldn’t be prouder of you if we tried. You were never the disappointing child; you were just yourself. It was always us who needed to try harder.’
Hattie’s eyes filled with tears as she took the box.
‘Do you want to put it on?’ Rhonda asked uncertainly.
Hattie gave a mute nod. She had no words; she could only hand the box back and watch as Rhonda took the necklace out and fastened it around her neck. Charlotte had never been gone from Hattie’s life, but now it felt she had a real piece of her. But it also felt like a huge moment with her parents. This was the locket Charlotte had worn until she died, and Hattie knew that her mum looked at it every night before she went to sleep. If Rhonda had been willing to part with it finally, to give it to Hattie… well, it meant the world. It meant more than Hattie could ever express.
Rhonda handed her a tissue from her bag.
‘Buck up,’ Nigel said as Hattie took it and dried her eyes. ‘You’ve got a job to do – can’t take your eyes off the ball now.’
Hattie smiled through her tears. ‘I love you both, so much.’
‘And we love you too, though we’re sorry we never said it as often as we ought to have done.’
Seth came bounding over. ‘Have you seen the time—’ He stopped and stared at the scene. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing’s wrong,’ Hattie said, a heart already bursting with love swelling with a little more at the tender concern in his eyes. ‘Everything’s perfect.’
And it was.
If you fell in love with HATTIE’S HOME FOR BROKEN HEARTS, you’ll love THE SUMMER GETAWAY, the story of single mum Ashley on holiday in the glittering French Riviera, a holiday where she gets far more than a suntan…
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The Summer Getaway
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Ashley Moon is all set for a dream holiday with her daughter in the glittering French Riviera. But nothing can prepare her for the shock of discovering who’s staying in the villa next door…
Ashley Moon got much more than a suntan on her first ever foreign holiday; one whirlwind romance and nine months later she had a daughter, Molly.
Too heart-broken and proud to ever contact the father, Ashley made a decision to go it alone and raise her daughter herself. Fifteen hard and lonely years later, she finally has the chance to take Molly on her first ever holiday; a gorgeous, all-expenses paid trip to the charming French resort of St Raphael.
It is the perfect setting for a week of quality time together; they plan to cycle through the sun-drenched vineyards, lounge by the glistening
pool and practice their French on friendly locals. And just when Ashley thought things couldn’t get any better, comes the news of a handsome new occupant to the villa next door.
But fate has other plans for Ashley. One look in to her neighbour’s dark hazel eyes is all it takes to give her the shock of her life. Standing in front of her is Haydon, Molly’s long lost father and the holiday fling she thought she’d never see again.
As the temperature on the Cote D’Azure steadily rises and Ashley and Haydon begin spend more and more time together, will Ashley find the courage to tell him who she is – and more importantly, who Molly is?
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A wonderfully heart-warming story of first love and second chances for fans of Jenny Oliver and Lucy Diamond.
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Books by Tilly Tennant
The Mill on Magnolia Lane
The Christmas Wish
The Summer Getaway
The Summer of Secrets
An Unforgettable Christmas series:
A Very Vintage Christmas
A Cosy Candlelit Christmas
From Italy with Love series:
Rome is Where the Heart is
A Wedding in Italy
Honeybourne series:
The Little Village Bakery
Christmas at the Little Village Bakery
Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved
Mishaps and Mistletoe
Mishaps in Millrise series:
Little Acts of Love
Just Like Rebecca
The Parent Trap
And Baby Makes Four
Once Upon a Winter series:
The Accidental Guest
I’m Not in Love
Ways to Say Goodbye
One Starry Night
A Letter from Tilly
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up-to-date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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I’m so excited to share Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts with you. It’s my eleventh novel for Bookouture and I loved every minute of writing it, especially the bits where I got to research donkeys all day! I truly have the best job in the world and I’ve been so proud to share every new book with my lovely readers.
I hope you loved Hattie’s Home for Broken Hearts, and if you did I would be very grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
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Tilly
www.tillytennant.com
The Mill on Magnolia Lane
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The sky is cornflower blue, the air is scented with the smell of fresh apple blossom and Lizzie Lovell can’t wait to start her new life in the mill on Magnolia Lane. But is she just about to fall in love with someone she shouldn’t?
When Lizzie loses her larger-than-life Dad she doesn’t know how to move forward. Encouraged by a childhood dream she shared with her beloved father, she is determined to continue his legacy and moves to the old Mill on Magnolia lane, a place he had always longed to own.
Restoring the old windmill is a much bigger job than Lizzie bargained for, especially when she is distracted by her new next door neighbour Jude, who has temptingly twinkly eyes and a body to die for. But when Jude’s ex- girlfriend Harriet arrives back on the scene, Lizzie begins to wonder if life wasn’t far simpler before she moved to the mill. Especially when it emerges that Harriet knows something about Jude’s past, something that could shatter her new start and her heart into smithereens…
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If your heart is warmed by Jenny Colgan, Lucy Diamond and Josie Silver’s One Day in December, you’ll fall in love with this beautiful feel-good story about finding love when you least expect it.
The Summer of Secrets
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Can new love grow when you dig up old secrets?
Recently engaged, Harper Woods wakes up every morning on Silver Hill Farm feeling like the luckiest woman in the world. She has escaped her troubled past, outside the rolling yellow cornfields go on for miles and just downstairs are the gorgeous tea rooms she’s always dreamed of owning.
But Harper is about to discover something that will change her luck forever. For better or worse? She has no idea. Not until an expert can identify whether the jewellery she found hidden in the farm’s foundations is priceless, or utterly worthless…
As news of the discovery spreads through the village, there are others who’d like to lay their claim to the fortune. In particular, Will Frampton, handsome recluse and Lord of Silver Hill House, the crumbling stately home on the other side of the hill in desperate need of renovation.
It seems everyone wants a piece of the sparkling prize hidden under the Silver Hill tea rooms. But as relationships are tested and tea cakes begin to fly, will anyone catch the romance blossoming in the most unexpected of places?
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Love and laughter are the biggest reward of them all in this utterly heart-warming romance, perfect for fans of Jane Linfoot, Debbie Johnson and Jenny Colgan.
Rome is Where the Heart is
From Italy With Love Book 1
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Can a holiday romance ever have a happy ending? Escape with Kate to the sun-drenched city of Rome where a love affair is just about to begin …
When Kate’s husband Matt dumps her on Friday 13th she decides enough is enough – it’s time for her to have some fun and so she hops on a plane to Rome. A week of grappa and gelato in pavement cafes under azure blue skies will be just what the doctor ordered.
What she doesn’t count on is meeting and falling for sexy policeman Alessandro. But the course of true love doesn’t run smoothly – Alessandro has five meddling sisters, a fearsome mama and a beautiful ex Orazia. They’re all certain that Kate is not the girl for him.
Can Kate and Alessandro’s love last the distance? Or will she return home with the one souvenir she doesn’t want – a broken heart …
Fall in love with the colourful cafes and the cobbled piazzas of Rome and follow Kate’s dreams and her heart in this enchanting escapist read. Perfect for fans of Debbie Johnson and Carol Matthews.
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What everyone's saying about Rome is Where the Heart Is:
'What an absolute gem of a book. A lovely feel-good story.' Stef Loz Book Blog
'Every page of this novel was a delight to read...I loved this book, it picked me out of my wintertime blues!' The Anxious Canadian
A Wedding in Italy
From Italy With Love Book 2
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Sun, spaghetti and sparkling prosecco. When it comes to finding love, there’s no place like Rome...
Kate is living the dream with her gorgeous boyfriend Alessandro in his native city, but the reality is sometimes a little less romantic than she’d hoped. Every day in her new home is a fight against leaking pipes, her cantankerous landlord and her less-than-perfect grasp of the Italian lingo.
All around her there is talk of weddings, but when a secret from her past is thrust out into the open, Kate must fight to prove to Alessandro’s Mamma – and the rest of his formidable family – that she truly is Italian marriage material.
With the women in Alessandro’s life on a mission to break them apart, the cracks begin to show and Kate starts to question if Alessandro really is the man of her dreams. Can love and the c
ity of romance conquer all, or is that just a fairy-tale?
Let Rome steal your heart this summer in this gorgeously romantic escapist read. Perfect for fans of Jo Thomas and Abby Clements.
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What everyone’s saying about Tilly Tennant:
'Wonderful characters which make you want to befriend them and a storyline which left me wanting more.’ The Reading Shed
Hattie's Home for Broken Hearts: A heartwarming laugh out loud romantic comedy Page 28