The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,143

was likely to be much more entertaining than it sounded.

When the meeting broke up, Ned and I decided we’d like to see the effect of the new gazebo in the twilight, which was rather beautiful, with a little silvery sliver of moon appearing above it. Then we walked through the rose garden, silent except for a slight popping noise, as one of the koi broke the surface of the water.

‘I feel weary and grubby, but it’s been a really fun day,’ I told him as he let me through the Lavender Cottage gate.

‘I couldn’t have finished everything today without you, Marnie,’ he said, giving me a brief and unexpected hug, before heading back the way we’d come.

The night was so still that as I unlocked the back door, I could hear the rattle of the Grace Garden gate and the distant wail of a peacock.

Over the next three days, Ned and I threw ourselves into finishing the great fan of long narrow beds at the bottom of the Grace Garden, preparing the ground round them for returfing.

The visitors seemed to love the new wetland area and the gazebo, and all in the Garden of Eden appeared perfect – no serpents of any kind rearing their ugly heads. And perhaps, now, I told myself, they never would?

Paradise regained.

By now, Caspar was quite resigned to my evening visits to Old Grace Hall, where we had managed to sort most of the papers from the boxes and had quite a collection of interesting and relevant material to add to both the future museum display and the next edition of the glossy guidebook.

The only thing that I was disappointed about was that no planting list for the rose garden had turned up.

At quiz night on Friday evening, Cress thanked Ned for sending the copy of Lizzie’s letter and said she’d found it very touching.

‘She was little more than a child, and both her own family and mine treated her very harshly when she came back, poor thing. Thank goodness this Richard Grace took pity on her and it all had a happy ending.’

‘You’re a romantic,’ Roddy said to her affectionately, and she went slightly pink. She’d abandoned her usual attire of polo-neck sweater, gilet and breeches in favour of jeans and a Liberty cotton shirt in soft shades of blue and green and was looking not only younger and prettier, but much less harassed.

Roddy would appear to be a good thing – and he’d clearly survived tea with Audrey Lordly-Grace, so he must be tougher and more resilient than he looked.

Treena, who had come to the quiz night with Luke, also looked glowing, so perhaps love was in the air? They sat with Cress and Roddy at the next table to ours and didn’t seem to get many quiz questions right, so if there was love in the air, it didn’t sharpen the intellect.

I sat back, looking around at the now-familiar faces and feeling relaxed and happy – especially when Ned caught my eye and gave me his slow, deep smile, the one that seemed to warm me right through and do strange things to my heart rhythm …

I found myself smiling back – and then, beyond him, caught sight of Wayne, standing at the bar watching us. He made an indefinable little leering grimace and I felt as if I’d been drenched in icy water.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Ned.

‘Nothing, I’m just a bit tired,’ I said quickly as Wayne vanished towards the darts room.

Elf, Myfy, Gerald and Jacob had left together as soon as the quiz finished and Treena and Luke then took their place at our table.

When Luke went to order more drinks, I decided to pop to the ladies, then wished I hadn’t when Wayne sidled up to me and shoved a piece of paper into my hand.

‘From our dad,’ he muttered, then slunk off again.

I looked back furtively, but I didn’t think anyone had noticed and I bolted into the loo, where I unfolded the note, which said, without any preamble:

Come to the farm tomorrow night at eight – I know who you are and we got things to discuss. Come on your own – you won’t want Ned Mars to hear what we got to say.

It was signed just with his initials, S.V.

I read it twice, my mind in a whirl and my stomach churning, then pushed it into my pocket and went out of the cubicle, where I found Treena leaning against the wall with her arms folded,