Trisha Ashley 3 Book Bundle

‘I can speak to my cousin Conrad,’ suggested Poppy. ‘He’ll probably learn about any interest in the site first, being the main local estate agent – or he can find out.’

‘That would be really useful, thank you, Poppy,’ Raffy said, and she went quite pink with pleasure.

‘Isn’t there a line on the side of the tennis pavilion, marking the highest floodwater levels?’ asked Mike, the village policeman.

‘I think it just shows how high the great flood of ’36 got,’ Effie said. ‘There’s a plaque too, but its paint has peeled off.’

‘It should be repainted so it’s nice and clear,’ suggested Felix, and someone in the hall volunteered to do that.

Then Laurence Yatton proposed that a group could be organised to go and picket the Town Hall in Merchester and protest about the lido field, and by the end of the meeting there was a general air of having declared battle and of everyone being ready for action, once they knew exactly in what direction to proceed.

The main business of the meeting wound up with Hebe Winter graciously thanking the vicar for coming to the rescue with the tennis courts and also for taking on the repairs to the village hall annexe.

Everyone enthusiastically gave three loud cheers and then made a dive for the refreshments while Mr Lees, who had been sitting at the piano next to the stage with his black Labrador sprawled across his feet, now lifted the lid and played a Beatles medley, to everyone’s amazement.

Kat introduced her parents to Grumps, who was gracious, Zillah, who grinned glintingly from ear to ear, and then to me, by which time they looked slightly stunned, though they told me what a nice boy Jake was. Then they left, taking him with them, which was probably easier than trying to disentangle him from Kat.

‘That went really well,’ I said to Felix and Poppy when I caught up with them by the buffet table. Felix had piled his plate up so high that it looked like one of those Continental choux pastry wedding confections. ‘It doesn’t sound like the tennis courts are going to be quite the valuable asset Mr Mann-Drake thought they would be, does it?’

‘No, and I’m sure we can get lots of protesters out with placards, and coverage in the newspapers if any developers show interest in building there, or on the lido field,’ Felix agreed.

Poppy said earnestly, ‘Yes – I mean, it’s not that we’re against having any new homes in Sticklepond, just that they look so much better slotted in here and there, rather than a whole estate of little boxes dropped down in one place. I’ll see if I can get Conrad to be my mole about what’s happening.’

‘I wonder if there were houses on the lido field before the Plague?’ I mused. ‘I could ask Grumps to look on one of his old maps.’

I noticed that Felix and Poppy seemed to be sticking together much more than usual, though there was no sign of any special awareness between them, so either the love potion didn’t work, which was just as I thought, or I simply hadn’t put enough in. But there was still a little left and I had it with me…

‘I’ll get you both some more coffee, before it runs out,’ I suggested. ‘Back in a mo.’

The crowd had thinned out over by the urns and, by keeping my back to the room, I managed to pour the last drops of the potion into two cups…only to find Zillah at my elbow, watching me with interest. I started guiltily.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Poppy got one of Hebe Winter’s love potions and I stole it, because I think she and Felix would be perfect together!’ I hissed. ‘I put some in their drinks the other night, only it doesn’t seem to have worked, so I’m doing it again.’

‘We all hoped you and Felix would get together, because he’s a nice man and better than that David. But I see things working out differently in the cards now.’

‘I don’t want either of them,’ I told her, then noticed that Poppy and Felix were coming over. ‘Sssh!’

‘Here you are,’ I said, handing over the coffee. ‘Sorry I was ages. I got talking to Zillah.’

‘But I’m off now,’ said Zillah. ‘I only came over to tell you Clive’s giving your granddad and me a lift back, so you don’t have to bother.’

‘Grumps has been the sensation of the evening, hasn’t he?’

‘Yes, I heard several children ask their parents if he was Gandalf or, even better, Dumbledore,’ Poppy said.

‘I got you the last sausage roll.’ Felix handed it to me wrapped in a greasy paper napkin. He had three on his own plate, but you have to love a man who thinks of snaffling you the last savoury from under the nose of the hungry masses.

Mind you, most of the female half of those masses were currently clustered ten deep round Raffy, with Janey practically plastered up his side like a poultice.

As if he felt my gaze, he suddenly turned his head and gave me a half-despairing and somehow strangely intimate smile…

I turned away abruptly and said brightly to the others, ‘It’s early yet. Shall we go to the Falling Star for a while?’

As soon as Chas arrived next day I knew that he’d found out the results of the DNA test and it wasn’t good news, because it was written all over his naturally lugubrious face so that all his features seemed to be sliding sadly downwards, like tears.

However, I kissed his cheek as usual, made him the strong Indian tea he likes and cut him a slice of fruitcake.

‘This is really nice,’ he said, looking round the little sitting room. ‘And is the Chocolate Wishes business booming?’

‘Yes, I’m making very good money and for something I love doing, so it couldn’t be better. I still do a bit of secretarial work for Grumps too, which I can fit in easily enough. He’s been so kind and he’s even giving me this cottage.’

‘That’s great – a home of your own! And Jake is well?’

‘Yes, he’s actually working quite hard, which is the influence of his new girlfriend,’ I said. I never asked about Chas’s wife, or his children, who were all grown up and off into the world, and he never volunteered the information.

‘Good, good…I’m glad everything is going so well,’ he said abstractedly and sipped his tea, looking utterly miserable.

‘You’ve had the DNA results, haven’t you?’ I asked, and he nodded.

‘And you’re not my biological father?’

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘And I can’t say it was a complete shock, because I’ve often wondered about it over the years, especially since you’ve never looked like me in the least.’

‘But you still came to see me and brought me presents anyway?’

‘Well yes, but I could have been, and anyway, I grew fond of you. And now I feel like your father, even if I’m not.’

‘You’re the nearest thing to one I ever had and I wanted it to be you, Chas. You’ve always been kind, though it can’t have been easy, especially when your wife found out about me.’

‘It was a difficult time, but she forgave me,’ he said and smiled reassuringly.

He is such a nice man, despite his weak moment with Mum!

‘But now that we know it isn’t you, and Mum lied about that, I’m wondering if she also lied about this other man she was blackmailing. My biological father could be someone else entirely!’

He looked up from his tea. ‘Who is the other man – would I know him?’

I hesitated. ‘He’s still married too, with four children.’

‘I have complete fellow feeling with him – I wouldn’t tell anyone else.’

‘No, of course not. His name’s Carr Blackstock and he’s a Shakespearian actor, but he’s done a bit of TV work, too.’

Chas frowned. ‘Yes, I think I know who you mean, though I haven’t met him. I expect I know friends of friends of his, it’s a small world. I could get an introduction and try and talk to him for you, if you like?’

‘Oh, would you? I don’t know how to go about it without sounding as if I’m after something, or about to make a big scandal. I don’t want to meet him, or hear from him, or anything, only to find out the truth, one way or another.’