A Family Forever (10 page)

Victoria punched him playfully on the arm. "We've been apart for two weeks and all you can think about is your stomach."

"I promise I have more exciting things on my mind than food. I have a surprise for you."

"A surprise, hmm. Sounds interesting."

"It is." He called for Harry and both kids came bounding back down the stairs. "Time to go, pal. You know what to do."

Harry bounced on the balls of his feet, grinning. "I can't wait until they see it."

"See what?" Victoria asked.

"Your surprise." Adam dropped a kiss on her temple. "We'll be out for half an hour. Are you ready to go?"

"Okay. Just let me switch off the oven." Victoria hurried inside and took out the pie she'd partially cooked so it didn't burn.

She locked up and joined the others outside. Sophie was sitting in the back of Adam's car with a scarf tied over her eyes. Adam held up a second scarf. "Your turn."

"You're blindfolding me?"

"It's all part of the surprise."

Victoria stood still while Adam spread the silky fabric across her eyes and tied it behind her head. Then he helped her into the car and fastened her seat belt.

"All right, Soph?" she asked, turning her head.

"This is fun," Sophie answered with a laugh.

The car started and pulled away. "Do we get a clue?" Victoria prompted.

Adam's hand squeezed hers. "Nope. But you don't have long to wait."

After about ten minutes, Victoria gripped the door as the car bounced and bumped up what must be a rough track. Then they stopped.

"Can we take off our blindfolds?" Victoria asked.

"Not yet," Adam and Harry chorused.

"Wait until you get out," Adam added.

Car doors slammed, then Victoria's door opened and Adam took her hand, helping her out. He gently guided her forward and turned her around.

"Here we are." He tugged the silky fabric covering her eyes and pulled it off.

Victoria blinked, getting her bearings. They were in the country, obviously not far from Great Monkton. Chips of brick and splinters of wood lay on the ground in front of her while a cement mixer and dump truck stood nearby. Then her heart lurched at the sight of the house. This was Willowbrook Farm.

"Adam. What's going on?" She clutched his arm in a moment of uncertainty.

"You know Mr. Andrews sold me the field behind your cottage?"

"Yes." She'd no idea how Adam had pulled off that miracle, but it had been a godsend. They'd spent two days picking up the hedgehog boxes from Larchfield and repositioning them in the hedge and the small copse in the far corner of the field. Now all the hedgehogs were safe and had acres of land to roam.

"Well, I didn't only buy the field," Adam said.

She'd heard Farmer Andrews had sold up and moved in to the Plume of Feathers with Felicity. Everybody in the village knew that. But she'd never in her wildest dreams imagined Adam had bought the whole farm.

Victoria glanced around with new eyes, taking in the bags of sand and cement, the heaps of bricks and tools. The rusty farm machinery and old tumbledown sheds had been cleared and replaced with a newly laid car parking area and a brand new wooden building.

Adam took her hand and led her towards the house. Builders had started work on the property. Already the place looked better. The broken windows had been replaced, the brickwork pointed, and the missing roof tiles fixed.

"It's looking good. Why didn't you tell me you'd bought this place?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I intended to finish the work before I showed you, but I've run into a problem."

"What sort of problem?"

"I didn't know the type of kitchen you'd like."

"Me?" Victoria pressed her hand to her chest, her heart thumping as the implication of his words sank in. "Who's going to live here, Adam?"

"I am, and Harry is." He stopped and pulled her into his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "And one day in the not too distant future, I hope you and Sophie will live here too."

He pointed back at the new wooden shed. "I've even built a hedgehog hospital for you. In case the lure of being with me wasn't enough, I thought the hedgehog facilities might tip the balance in my favor."

"Oh, Adam. It looks wonderful." Victoria hugged him tightly, a silly grin on her face.

"Do you want to go and check out the hedgehog shed first?"

Victoria took his face between her hands and stared into the warm brown eyes of the man she loved, her heart overflowing with emotion. For the first time in years, the hedgehogs were going to have to take a backseat. She had more important things in her life now.

"I'd rather look inside the house first." The place she and Adam and Sophie and Harry would call home.

Adam led her through a lovely tiled back porch and into a huge empty room with a beamed ceiling. "Ta da," Adam said. "Your kitchen. You'll need to get together with the designer and choose the layout and the style of cabinets. Then we can think about appliances."

The room was as large as the downstairs floor of her cottage. Victoria blinked, her eyes watery.

"Don't you like it?" Adam's fingers grazed across her cheek, wiping away a tear.

"I love it. I'm just…overwhelmed."

The kids had dashed on ahead to explore together. Their laughter echoed back along the hall. Victoria bit her lip, pleased for a moment alone with Adam.

"I sense a 'but' coming," he said.

"You say this is to be my kitchen, but…well…"

He smiled and raised her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers. "I love you, darling. Marry me. Make me the happiest man alive."

"Yes, oh, yes." The words tripped straight off her tongue. She didn't need to think before she gave him her answer. She loved him, had from the moment he went down on his knees in the dirt in his dress slacks to see her hedgehogs. She leaned into the warm strength of his embrace, this man who had cared enough to make her problems his own and become so much a part of her life.

Adam stroked loose strands of hair back from her face and kissed her. "Willowbrook Farm will be the family home Harry needs, the family home I never had. Together the four of us will be happier than I ever dreamed possible."

Epilogue

The bells pealed in celebration of their wedding as Victoria and Adam stepped out of the church, surrounded by smiling faces.

Adam pulled Victoria close for a kiss. "Love you, Mrs. Cantrell," he whispered.

"I love you too, darling." She had to pinch herself sometimes to believe this wonderful man belonged to her.

"Dad, you need to stand over here by the tree with the flowers on it," Harry instructed. Dressed in a stylish navy suit, the boy had his camera in his hand and a serious expression on his face. He was taking his job as wedding photographer very seriously.

"We're coming, pal. Give us a moment." Adam took Victoria's hand. She picked her way across the grass in her cream satin pumps, around the clumps of daffodils and crocuses pushing their heads up to find the spring sunshine.

"Sophie, love, it's time for the photos." Her daughter was in the middle of a group of friends, in her pretty yellow bridesmaid's dress, enjoying all the attention. She skipped up beside Victoria, waving her bouquet.

They stood beneath a flowering cherry tree and Harry snapped away, giving directions on how they should pose. After a few minutes, Victoria beckoned her mother and father to join them. Her mum parked her dad's wheelchair. Victoria hugged her mother for the hundredth time and bent to kiss her dad's cheek.

Her mum wiped away a tear. "You look so beautiful, love. Adam's one of the good guys. You make sure to hold on tight to him."

"I will."

Next, Adam asked his parents to join them. Drifting between the other guests, they were there with everyone else, but somehow still apart, like exotic beings from another world—and in some ways they were. Corinne and Gregory Cantrell had arrived in a helicopter that landed in the field beside Willowbrook Farm.

Victoria had never met two more self-absorbed people. They were primped and groomed to within an inch of their lives. She tried to like them but it was difficult, especially knowing they had virtually ignored Adam when he was a child.

Greg Cantrell stepped up beside Victoria. "You should have booked a proper photographer, you know."

Victoria gave a tight smile. "Harry
is
a proper photographer," she said loud enough for Harry to hear. "Your grandson will have a successful photography career, if I'm any judge."

"Grandson." Corinne Cantrell shivered in distaste. "Please don't say that word. It makes me feel old."

Adam stiffened and Victoria squeezed his hand in silent support. Adam's parents had no idea what was important in life. They'd missed their son growing up and were now doing the same with Harry. She leaned closer to Adam and put her mouth to his ear. "I feel sorry for them."

He touched her cheek, a flash of comprehension in his eyes. "I've never thought of it that way before, but you're right. They're the ones missing out."

"What are you whispering about?" Corinne linked her arm with Adam's, demanding attention, her slender body and perfect face making her appear at least twenty years younger than she was.

"Nothing, Mother. Nothing," he said.

When the photographs were over, Adam and Victoria walked the short distance from the village church to the Plume of Feathers. After their small, low-key wedding, the garden behind the pub had seemed like the perfect venue for a reception.

Adam and Victoria sat with Harry and Sophie at the head table Felicity had laid for them and Adam's best man made the toasts. Then they were served with food while the rest of their guests helped themselves from the buffet.

After an hour, old Mr. Andrews made his way through the happy crowd seated in the warm spring sunshine, a large wrapped present in his arms.

"Do you see who's heading our way?" Adam whispered.

"I do." Victoria bit her lip, not sure how to react. She knew the ex-farmer had moved in to the pub and had purposely avoided him.

"Mr. Cantrell. Mrs. Cantrell," the old man said. "Congratulations to you."

"Thank you," they replied together.

He plunked down the present on the table in front of Victoria. "Wanted to give you something useful."

"Well…that's great. Thank you." She glanced at Adam, who looked equally bemused.

"You gonna unwrap it then?" Mr. Andrews said.

"Of course." Victoria pushed her plate aside and dragged the gift closer.

"Gosh. It's heavy."

The old man just nodded.

She tore off the gold paper to reveal a wooden box.

Adam's eyebrows rose in question.

A slow smile spread across Victoria's face. She knew exactly what the gift was and it lightened her heart. This must be the man's way of apologizing.

"A hedgehog box," she said. "It's wonderful. Thank you."

The old farmer's usually somber expression softened. "I made it myself."

"That was very thoughtful of you. I really appreciate it. And the hedgehog that ends up calling it home will be grateful as well."

Mr. Andrew's lips quirked, and he almost smiled. "That's all right then." He nodded and turned to go.

Felicity's two young boys came scooting through the crowd. "Granddad, Granddad," they shouted. "Take us to the playground."

The old man ruffled their hair affectionately. "You young scallywags never give me a moment's peace." He did smile then. It was the first time Victoria had ever seen him happy in the seven years she'd lived in the village.

"If Mr. Andrews can change, I guess there's hope for your parents yet," she said to Adam.

Adam squeezed her hand. "It would be nice to think so. But you, Harry, and Sophie are what's important to me now. I didn't know what it was like to have a proper family until I met you."

He leaned close and brushed his lips across hers. "I won't ever let you go. Whatever life throws at us, we'll be a family forever."

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A Family Forever
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