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Authors: Erica James
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brother-in-law, lives less than a mile away at Willow Bank. You can’t miss it; just follow the river in the Marlow direction and take the turning after the church.’
So she was the owner. ‘Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m sorry to have troubled you.’
‘Think nothing of it. Glad to be of help. Can you find your way out on your own?’
‘Oh yes, don’t worry about me.’ Katie reluctantly turned to go, but didn’t quite manage it. It was the strangest thing, but she suddenly felt intoxicated by the magical beauty of the garden, overcome with the feeling that she had fallen under some kind of spell here. It made her want to stay, to wander round some more and lose herself in this beguiling paradise. ‘You have an amazing garden,’ she said, somehow finding her voice. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It has a very special feel to it. My . . . my mother would have loved it.’
The woman smiled. A real smile of genuine warmth. ‘Then come back next Saturday and have a proper look. This is only a fraction of what there is to see. You’ll have to pay an admission charge, but it’s all in a good cause, for the local hospice.’
‘Thank you,’ Katie said again. ‘I’d love to come back and see it properly.’
‘The gate opens at ten thirty.’
Katie smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’
Nice girl, Pen thought to herself as she went to fetch a spade. Not the usual kind of delivery person, though. Usually it was a man, and if they couldn’t get an answer, they just shoved a card through the letter box. Good of her to go to so much trouble. One thing was certain: Pen had to do something about having a new doorbell installed. For ages now Neil had been on about getting one of those special devices that could make itself heard for miles around.
On the subject of Neil, she thought how odd it was that she hadn’t heard from him since he’d gone sailing. It was very unlike him. He always phoned home at least once when he was away. She had mentioned it to Lloyd yesterday when he’d called from New Zealand, and he’d agreed that it was odd but had reached the same conclusion as she had: that it was probably something simple, such as being out of mobile range. Still, so long as Neil was enjoying himself, that was all that counted. He worked so hard; he deserved some fun.
But he was cutting it fine for Cecily’s party. Perhaps his flight home had been delayed. She looked at her watch. Gracious! How did it get so late? She would have to get her skates on. Abandoning the idea of doing any more gardening, she hurried back up to the house.
Katie drove out of The Meadows. What was she thinking? What madness had she just experienced? Imagining herself falling under the spell of a garden; how had that happened? And why had she mentioned her mother?
Chapter Eight
Gina was frequently told that no one could organize a party better than she could. Naturally she brushed the compliment aside with an appropriately modest shrug, but secretly she believed it to be true. She put the success of anything she organized down to being highly meticulous and with a keen eye for detail. She was an inveterate list-maker and never approached anything without painstaking preparation. Rosco and Scarlet liked to tease her about it. ‘Oh, there goes Mum with one of her lists,’ they’d laugh. ‘We could wallpaper the whole house twice over with the lists she’s written over the years.’
It was just as well that she was as thorough as she was, because no one else in the family was capable of doing what she did. Whilst it couldn’t be disputed that Pen had cornered the market when it came to green fingers, nobody in their right mind would count on her to arrange a picnic with shop-bought sandwiches, much less coordinate a party. Thankfully Pen was good-natured enough to admit her failings and was invariably the first to congratulate Gina on a job well done and to apologize for not doing more to help; without fail she would
So she was the owner. ‘Thank you. Thank you very much. I’m sorry to have troubled you.’
‘Think nothing of it. Glad to be of help. Can you find your way out on your own?’
‘Oh yes, don’t worry about me.’ Katie reluctantly turned to go, but didn’t quite manage it. It was the strangest thing, but she suddenly felt intoxicated by the magical beauty of the garden, overcome with the feeling that she had fallen under some kind of spell here. It made her want to stay, to wander round some more and lose herself in this beguiling paradise. ‘You have an amazing garden,’ she said, somehow finding her voice. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it. It has a very special feel to it. My . . . my mother would have loved it.’
The woman smiled. A real smile of genuine warmth. ‘Then come back next Saturday and have a proper look. This is only a fraction of what there is to see. You’ll have to pay an admission charge, but it’s all in a good cause, for the local hospice.’
‘Thank you,’ Katie said again. ‘I’d love to come back and see it properly.’
‘The gate opens at ten thirty.’
Katie smiled. ‘I look forward to it.’
Nice girl, Pen thought to herself as she went to fetch a spade. Not the usual kind of delivery person, though. Usually it was a man, and if they couldn’t get an answer, they just shoved a card through the letter box. Good of her to go to so much trouble. One thing was certain: Pen had to do something about having a new doorbell installed. For ages now Neil had been on about getting one of those special devices that could make itself heard for miles around.
On the subject of Neil, she thought how odd it was that she hadn’t heard from him since he’d gone sailing. It was very unlike him. He always phoned home at least once when he was away. She had mentioned it to Lloyd yesterday when he’d called from New Zealand, and he’d agreed that it was odd but had reached the same conclusion as she had: that it was probably something simple, such as being out of mobile range. Still, so long as Neil was enjoying himself, that was all that counted. He worked so hard; he deserved some fun.
But he was cutting it fine for Cecily’s party. Perhaps his flight home had been delayed. She looked at her watch. Gracious! How did it get so late? She would have to get her skates on. Abandoning the idea of doing any more gardening, she hurried back up to the house.
Katie drove out of The Meadows. What was she thinking? What madness had she just experienced? Imagining herself falling under the spell of a garden; how had that happened? And why had she mentioned her mother?
Chapter Eight
Gina was frequently told that no one could organize a party better than she could. Naturally she brushed the compliment aside with an appropriately modest shrug, but secretly she believed it to be true. She put the success of anything she organized down to being highly meticulous and with a keen eye for detail. She was an inveterate list-maker and never approached anything without painstaking preparation. Rosco and Scarlet liked to tease her about it. ‘Oh, there goes Mum with one of her lists,’ they’d laugh. ‘We could wallpaper the whole house twice over with the lists she’s written over the years.’
It was just as well that she was as thorough as she was, because no one else in the family was capable of doing what she did. Whilst it couldn’t be disputed that Pen had cornered the market when it came to green fingers, nobody in their right mind would count on her to arrange a picnic with shop-bought sandwiches, much less coordinate a party. Thankfully Pen was good-natured enough to admit her failings and was invariably the first to congratulate Gina on a job well done and to apologize for not doing more to help; without fail she would
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