A Wedding in the Village (17 page)

When she arrived at her aunt’s house later that evening the old lady said, ‘I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to go out there to be near your mother and father. I shall call the estate agent tomorrow and put my house on the market.’

‘Aren’t you being a bit hasty?’ Megan said slowly. ‘There’s nothing to say that what occurred a few nights ago will happen again.’

‘No. I’ve made up my mind, and you know that when I do that I don’t change it. I feel quite excited about the whole thing. Just as long as I can find a buyer for this place.’

‘You’ve got one. If you are sure you want to sell, Luke will buy it. Why not get the house valued tomorrow and take it from there? He’s really keen and won’t let you down.’

Izzy was perking up by the minute. ‘Wonderful!’ she cried. ‘I can’t think of anyone I would like to live here more, unless it was you.’ She gave a knowing smile. ‘And what are the chances of that, my dear?’

‘Remote at the moment,’ she was told.

* * *

The garden centre was packed from the moment of opening the following day, and as Megan served coffee, cakes and tasty snacks in the revamped conservatory with Sue by her side, the two friends exchanged smiles.

Ned had just been in to say that Santa Claus was a huge success and why didn’t she go and have a peep? There was a long queue of parents with children and as Luke lifted the little ones onto his knee and talked to them, Megan hoped he wasn’t thinking about what Alexis had done to him.

When he looked up and their glances met it seemed as if he wasn’t. There was contentment in his expression, the look of a man who had survived the rapids and found himself in calmer waters.

He came into the café for a quick lunch in the early afternoon and as she served him he said, ‘Did you tell your aunt I’ll buy her house if she decides to sell?’

‘Yes, I did. She’s already made up her mind to join Mum and Dad and will sell it to you with pleasure. Aunt Izzy is going to have it valued at the first opportunity.’

He reached across, swung her off her feet and danced around with her in his arms. ‘That’s wonderful, Megan. A place of my own at last! It will be paradise, living there.’

As she stiffened in his arms a voice called, ‘You’ve got a queue, Santa,’ and, putting her down carefully he hurried back to the grotto, leaving her to digest the fact that he wanted her aunt’s house as a place of his own. She didn’t come into the equation.

When she went back behind the counter Sue said, ‘What was all that about?’

‘My Aunt Izzy has decided to go and live abroad to be near Mum and Dad and Luke is going to buy her house. I suppose he thinks that you’re coping brilliantly, and in any case he won’t be far away if you need him.’

Sue was looking uncomfortable. Her colour had risen. ‘I hope he isn’t moving out because of Ned and I. We
are
more than friends, Megan. I didn’t tell you the truth the other day when I asked you about going to the ball with him. He’s asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes.’

‘I see,’ Megan said slowly. ‘Does Luke know?’

‘No. Not yet. Ned only asked me an hour ago. I know what people will say, but he is the one person that Gareth would trust to look after us—apart from Luke, that is.’

‘And the boys. Have you told them?’

‘Yes. I went to find them straight away before they heard it from anyone else.’

‘And?’

‘They don’t mind. They like Ned. Have known him since they were so high.’

‘Then go ahead,’ Megan told her gently ‘It’s your life and Ned will make a great husband and stepfather.’

* * *

What is the matter with me? Megan thought as the day wore on. Sue had been the indecisive one, the one who needed looking after, but not any more. While she, Megan, had been pussyfooting about, her friend had found happiness again in the form of a new husband.

Ned hadn’t let Sue’s past affect him. He obviously loved her and that was all that mattered. While she, Miss Choosy, must have hurt Luke a lot when she’d said she didn’t want to marry a man who’d been married before. Even if there had been no blame attached to him in the break-up.

* * *

By the time the garden centre closed at six o’clock Megan was both mentally and physically exhausted, and as soon as the café had been tidied, ready for the following day, she slipped out while no one was looking and drove home.

When she arrived at the cottage she switched off the engine and, instead of getting out of the car, laid her head on folded arms on the steering-wheel.

It had been a funny day, she thought tiredly. On the good side there’d been the pleasure of seeing all their hard work paying off at the garden centre. Of a more depressing nature had been Luke’s delight at the thought of a place of his own.

Not that she begrudged him that, far from it. He had unselfishly gone the extra mile for Sue and the boys, and that thought led to another. As far as she knew, his sister hadn’t yet told him of her wedding plans. He would have mentioned it if she had. She wondered what he would think when he found out. Would he be relieved, or not surprised, as he’d seen more of Sue and Ned together than she had, or would he be dismayed that Sue was marrying again after such a short time?

Her own feelings regarding that were a mixture of emotions. She was glad for Sue, Ned and the boys, and happy that Sue was to marry someone she knew and trusted. But it made her, Megan, feel that she was standing still. She was envious, and ashamed to be so. But it was her own fault.

A man that she’d had a youthful passion for had come back into her life, and she was so in love with him she couldn’t think straight. Where was he now? she wondered. Cracking a bottle of champagne to toast the lovers?

Luke would be the obvious person to give his sister away. She just hoped that Sue wouldn’t ask her to be a bridesmaid. Her eyelids were drooping and sleep was creeping over her in the warmth of the car.

* * *

When he found that Megan had gone Luke was all set to follow her, but Sue waylaid him. She said she had something to tell him, and as he listened gravely to what she had to say he asked the same question that Megan had asked.

‘What about Owen and Oliver? Have you told them?’

‘Yes. That was one of the first things Megan asked,’ she told him.

‘So you’ve told her.’

‘Yes, and the boys are happy about it. As I told Meg, they’ve known Ned since they were little tots. It isn’t like them having to get used to a stranger.’

He nodded. ‘That’s true. Just as long as you’re sure that you want to do this.’

‘I am. I’m not like Meg, in control of my own life. I need someone to lean on, as you know only too well, and Ned makes me so happy.’

‘And so when is the wedding to be?’

‘Soon. We aren’t sure when.’

He wanted to be with Megan, he thought and wondered why she’d gone in such a rush. He was keen to know what she thought about Sue’s news, and he wanted to make sure she was all right. She’d had a gruelling week.

As he drove up the lane to the cottage he saw that her car was parked in front with the headlight still on, but there were no lights on inside the building, So where was she? he wondered. Surely not still in the car?

He had his answer when he bent to look inside and saw her draped over the steering-wheel, asleep. His expression softened. She’d been too exhausted to get out of the car. He was glad he’d followed her home. She might have been asleep for hours if he hadn’t turned up.

He tried the door on the driver’s side. It wasn’t locked and he frowned. It was obvious that she must have fallen asleep almost as soon as she’d stopped the car, which might be all very well on a well-lit driveway, with other properties nearby, but this was crazy. She was alone up there and for the first time he questioned the safety of it.

Under normal circumstances she was cool and capable, quite able to look after herself, but not tonight. She looked vulnerable and pale in the light of a winter moon.

He shook her gently, but she didn’t move. He tried again. This time she lifted her head slowly and observed him drowsily.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asked. ‘What are you doing here, Luke?’

‘I came to find out why you’d left in such a hurry and I discovered you out here fast asleep with the car unlocked.’ His anxiety was making him sound censorious but he couldn’t help it.

She was straightening up, still drowsy. ‘No one comes along here, except me and old Jonas, who has the cottage further along the lane.’

‘So that makes it all right to sleep out here, does it?’

She swung her legs out of the car and rose to stand beside him, and without answering the question said, ‘So now you see that I’m all right, don’t let me keep you.’

‘I am not going anywhere until I’ve seen you safely inside. And we need to talk.’

‘What about?’

‘You taking a few days away from the practice and the garden centre to recharge your batteries, for one thing. Your tiredness could mean that you’re sickening for something and, as I see it, I’m the only one available to look after you in the present situation.’

‘And from the tone of your voice you find it a chore,’ she said snappily. ‘But tell me, what
is
the present situation? You moving into Aunt Izzy’s house? Sue marrying Ned Fairley? Neither of those things are connected with me, are they?’

‘Not if you don’t want them to be,’ he told her grimly, dismayed at the way the conversation was going. When he’d found her asleep in the car he’d wanted to pick her up, carry her inside, tuck her up in bed and watch over her until she woke up.

Instead, they were bickering outside in the cold night, and as Megan fumbled in her pocket for the door key he said in a gentler tone, ‘I’m going to put the kettle on and make us some tea, and then perhaps we might get back to being friends instead of enemies.’

She was being obnoxious and knew it, Megan thought as he put a steaming mug of tea into her hands a little later. It had been stupid to fall asleep in the car with the doors unlocked, and she should be grateful that Luke had taken the time to follow her home.

She’d closed her eyes for a second in the middle of going over the day’s events and tiredness had taken over.

‘So what do you think of Sue marrying Ned Fairley?’ she asked, her glance guarded above the rim of the mug.

‘As long as she is absolutely sure it’s what she wants to do, it’s fine by me,’ he said levelly. ‘I’ve seen it coming. Maybe I’m a bit surprised that their feelings are out in the open so soon, but there is really no need to wait, is there?’

‘No. I suppose not,’ she agreed, thinking that the day
their
feelings were out in the open looked as if it was going to be a long time coming. ‘Sue gave her reason for marrying again so soon as her needing someone to lean on, and I understand that. She seemed to think that I didn’t have those kind of needs.’

There was a moment’s silence in the small sitting room of the cottage and then he asked, ‘Do you?’

‘Yes. I’m no different to anyone else. I want to marry the man of my dreams one day.’

He was getting to his feet, his face expressionless as he towered above her. ‘Well, I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.’ Before she could reply he left, striding purposefully out into the night, leaving her to face her uncertainties alone.

* * *

When she arrived at her aunt’s house later in the evening Isabel was having her bedtime cocoa and she said, ‘I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.’

Megan bent to kiss her worried brow. ‘You know I won’t let you down, Aunt Izzy. How have you been today?’

‘Fine, until I think of going to bed, and then my nerves start playing me up. You can tell your doctor friend that I’ve had the place valued today and he can come round as soon as he likes to discuss the sale.’

The elderly lady sipped her cocoa. ‘When your mother and father come at New Year I’m going to go back with them. They’ve invited me to stay with them until the deal over the Spanish property is complete. So unless Dr Anderson changes his mind, everything looks like it’s going to plan.’

‘Luke won’t change his mind,’ Megan told her. ‘He’s really looking forward to having a place of his own.’ I can vouch for that, she thought glumly.

* * *

When she arrived at Woodcote House the next morning Owen and Oliver were on the point of going to meet their friends at the recreation ground, but they stopped when they saw her. Oliver, always the spokesman, asked, ‘Did you know that Mum is going to marry Ned, Dr Marshall?’

‘Yes, so I believe,’ she said without further comment, feeling that if there was anything more to be said it should come from them.

‘We’re not bothered,’ Owen said with a downcast expression. ‘We like Ned, but we don’t want Uncle Luke to go. He’s been great.’

‘Your uncle might feel he should move out once your mum marries Ned,’ she told them, ‘but he’s not going to be leaving the village. He’ll be living just around the corner.’

‘Didn’t I tell you, Owen?’ Oliver whooped. ‘I said he wouldn’t leave us.’ And with the only cloud on their horizon having been removed, they sauntered off to meet their friends.

As she watched them go a voice said from behind, ‘What was all that about?’ When she turned, Luke was there.

‘The boys were worried that they wouldn’t be seeing you any more, but they’re fine now I’ve explained that you’ll be living close by. I should have thought you would have put their minds at rest regarding that.’

‘I might have done if I’d seen them. They were out all yesterday, and then went straight to a friend’s for a sleepover. I didn’t know they were back until a moment ago. So you see…’

‘Yes, I do,’ she told him contritely, ‘and I’m sorry for butting into your affairs.’

‘It’s OK,’ he said easily, as if their exchange of words the night before hadn’t taken place. ‘And what about my suggestion that you stay at home today?’

‘I can’t leave Sue to run the café on her own,’ she protested. ‘And in any case, I feel much more rested this morning. Aunt Izzy slept the night through, which meant that so did I. So there’s no need to be concerned about me.’

S
ONIA
was one of those waiting to see Luke on Monday morning. She’d just arrived back from a fortnight in Greece with her friend Barbara, and after some winter sun and a few weeks of Vitamin B injections and folic acid tablets, she was looking much less gaunt.