The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,110

at the pub for the quiz.’

I stared at him. ‘It’s Good Friday – they won’t hold the quiz tonight, will they? Won’t they be too busy?’

‘They will be busy, but most of the visitors will be in the new bar, or the restaurant.’

‘But … won’t everyone be too tired to go, anyway? Elf must have been rushed off her feet in the café too, and Gert, James and Steve must be exhausted!’

‘Oh, I doubt it,’ he said, surprised. ‘In fact, Elf said earlier that she’d see me there. Cress has a full house of B&B guests, but they all arrived yesterday, so she’ll be able to come. Her old nanny usually holds the fort in the evenings when she’s out, anyway.’

‘She has an old nanny?’

‘The madwoman in the attic; every home should have one,’ he said with a grin. ‘She was Audrey’s nanny really, I think, and she’s ancient, but she keeps a beady eye on things and rings Cress if anything crops up. The pub’s only minutes from Risings, after all.’

With a mother like Audrey and a house full of guests, Cress was probably keen to sneak away whenever she could and I hoped she’d managed to have a nice, quiet lunch earlier, with Roddy, Treena and Luke.

Ned had been quite right: everyone seemed to be there for the quiz just as usual and, if many of us were tired, there was also a buzz of satisfaction that the café and garden, the pub, the guesthouses and the shops were doing such good business.

I’m not entirely sure we were all awake enough at our table to concentrate on the quiz, though, because we came third, and even that by the skin of our teeth.

Cress hadn’t joined us this evening, but was sitting in a far corner at a small table with Roddy and, so far as I could see, took no part in the quiz at all …

Relaxed by a couple of halves of bitter shandy and a basket of scampi and chips, I’d almost managed to forget that strange little scene with Saul and Wayne, when the latter came into the bar, so late I was just thinking of going back to my flat and a peeved cat.

He looked his usual slightly shifty self, but grubbier, as if he’d been working since I saw him earlier. He cast one furtive glance in our direction, then took his pint of beer round the corner into the darts room, leaving me feeling unsettled all over again.

I walked back in the cool darkness with Ned, Myfy and Jacob.

Jacob was quiet – he’d spent most of the evening scribbling something in a small, battered sketchbook he’d pulled out of a pocket, so I assumed he was working out a new installation. I can’t say any of it made sense, viewed upside down from the other side of the table.

Ned paused to say goodnight to me outside the café, while Jacob and Myfy wandered off, hand in hand, on their way up to the barn.

‘Love’s young dream,’ Ned said with a smile, looking after them. ‘Or undying dream: they were made for each other.’

The moon was silvering his mane of hair, ruffled as usual, but his eyes were dark shadowed pools.

‘It’s been a great day, Marnie, and having someone there with me who totally understands and shares how I feel about the Grace Garden made it even more special,’ he said, looking down at me, and I heard the warmth in his voice and smiled up at him.

‘It’s wonderful to be part of it. I feel so lucky! The rose garden is going to be a little piece of Paradise, too, by the time we’ve finished with it. I want to stay here forever!’

That last bit slipped out … leaving a space for my guilt at concealing I was a Vane to rush in and fill.

‘I really hope you do, Marnie,’ he said, his deep voice very serious. ‘I’ve been surprised at how connected you feel to the village despite not having lived here for long. See you tomorrow.’

And he walked off before my sudden urge to Confess All and get it over with had quite formed into words.

I told Caspar instead, but he wasn’t in the least impressed.

Lizzie

My sisters were already married, save one who was ill-natured and ill-favoured, though perhaps her nature had been soured by the lack of suitors and the realization that she was destined to be my mother’s handmaid for ever. My brothers worked on the farm, or