Hettie sighed again. 'You and Gill are so alike. He wouldn't let it go either. Right you are, deary, I'll tell you why. But it mustn't go beyond this room. Yes. It's a hidden treasure. But not the sort of treasure you mean. It's not money, or trinkets or gold. It's water.'
'Water? We live beside the sea, Hettie. And there are three ponds in the village that I know of. One on the village green, Frog's Hollow and a small one on Jet's Farm. Oh, and Aurelia's pond, of course. The one Tabbie drove her car into. Why would you, or Tabbie if that's what she's doing, need to search for water? Wait. Don't tell me. If you walk through this particular bit of water it'll make you look like you're twenty again. But Tabbie doesn't look much older so she wouldn't need it for that.'
'Maybe it's water that gives you eternal life if you drink it,' Cathy suggested.
'Ah yes. The Holy Grail of waters. Naturally, it would be found in Little Pondale.'
Ella and Cathy both laughed but Hettie said, 'You may laugh about it, dears, but you're not far off the mark. This water is a natural spring. It's called The Witch's Tears after Jennet de Witt because she died there. I didn't tell Gill that part. I only told him I was looking for a natural spring that I'd heard my great grandmother talk about and that I wanted to see if Fred and I could find it. You know what Gill's like about superstitions and such, so I didn't want to mention it and besides, I don't recall the full story, but legend has it that if you drink The Witch's Tears and ask for the thing you most want, you'll get it.'
'Um. Doesn't The Wishing Tree do the same thing?'
'Not exactly, no. And that only works in December, deary. The Witch's Tears can be taken at any time.'
'You're serious, aren't you?' Ella said.
'Deadly serious, my dear.'
'But what could you possibly want?' Cathy asked.
'A new sofa for one thing,' Ella joked.
'Well, they're getting that so there's no need to find the weeping water or whatever it's called.'
Ella grinned. 'I like 'Weeping Water' more than 'The Witch's Tears'. It flows better. No pun intended.'
'You two youngsters may joke. But it's very powerful magic, so they say, my dears. So powerful that shortly after Jennet's death, one of her descendants hid it.'
'How do you hide water?' Cathy asked.
Ella shrugged. 'Search me. I don't mean that literally, of course. I don't have it. Although I do need to pee. May I use your loo?' She hurried towards the hall without waiting for a reply but stopped at the doorway. 'How did this Jennet witchy woman die?'
'She drowned.'
Ella spat out a laugh. 'Oh dear God. Now that really is funny. This powerful, magic water didn't do her much good, did it?'
Chapter Thirteen
'You don't seem quite so jolly this morning.'
Tabbie had been watching Gill since the moment he arrived at Witt's Cottage and the cheerful man of yesterday had definitely been replaced by a grouch. Aurelia had cleared a table in the sitting room for them to work from and Gill had been banging his laptop, notepads and pencils around for the last fifteen minutes since they had sat down. He'd even spilt a cup of coffee all over one of his notebooks and he'd cursed, made a growling sound like an angry dog, and cursed again.
'Sorry. I had a bad night. I didn't get much sleep.' He slammed his laptop closed and turned to face her as she sat beside him. 'There's something I need to ask you.'
'Fire away.'
He took off his glasses and wiped the lens on the hem of his short sleeved, check, cotton shirt. When he put them back in place, he still averted his eyes.
'You can ask me anything, Gill,' she coaxed. 'I told you about my father yesterday and I don't tell anyone about him, so believe me, I'll answer your question whatever it is.'
He glanced up at her. 'Why are you here? I mean, did you really come to Little Pondale to ask Aurelia to say something on video to your mother for her birthday? Or was that merely an excuse?'
'I'm not sure why you think I'd use my mother's birthday as an excuse to visit Aurelia. Or that there'd be some ulterior motive behind my visit. I hadn't planned to stay. I'm only here now because I accidentally drove my car into Aurelia's pond.'
'Was it an accident?'
'Of course it was, Gill!' Tabbie rose angrily from her seat and paced the room. 'You don't honestly think that I drove my beloved car into that ditch. I mean pond. I must remember it's a damn pond! You don't seriously think I did that on purpose?'
Gill shrugged. 'I find it hard to believe, but it's a very strange coincidence.'
'What is? What's this about, Gill?'
He met her eyes as she resumed her seat.
'It's about you and one of my neighbours both suddenly wanting to research what the village was like around the time of the 1600s. And both wanting a map. You asked me again if I could find a map the moment I arrived today.'
'Yes. Because I'd been thinking about our conversation in the pub yesterday, and one of the things I asked, was whether or not there may be some maps of the village from that time. Last night I had a dream about finding a map. So yes. It was the first thing I mentioned when you arrived. If I'd known that it would put you in such a foul mood, I wouldn't have asked, believe me. As for one of your neighbours asking for the same, or a similar thing, that's odd, I'll agree, but lots of people are interested in tracing their ancestors these days, so perhaps your neighbour wants to do that.'
'No. She wants to trace Aurelia's ancestors.'
Gill winced as if he hadn't meant to say that and a rose tinge crept into his cheeks. He removed his glasses and wiped them again.
'Well then, perhaps we should invite her to join us. I've got nothing to hide. No hidden agenda. No secrets to keep. I told you yesterday that I was fascinated by Aurelia's stories, and that they'd made me want to research the line back to Jennet de Witt. To find out who she was and what she did. How she lived and how she died. And what her ancestors did, all the way down to Aurelia. That's it.'
'So you've got no interest in finding a certain body of water?'
Tabbie laughed. 'Having spent longer than I'd have liked in a certain body of water the night before last, I can safely say a definite no to that. I'll make some more coffee. Unless you want to forget this and go home. It's fine with me if you do. I can do some research myself, so it's not a problem. Honestly. Please don't feel you have to stay if you'd rather not. Or if you think I'm hiding something from you and you can't trust me.'
They stared at one another for a moment or two until she waved her empty mug in the air.
'So what's it to be, Gill? Coffee? Or no coffee?'
'Aren't you going to ask me what the body of water is?'
'No. Because as I told you. I'm not interested in any water. Unless it's in the kettle and soon to be in my coffee mug.'
'And you're really only still here because of the accident?'
'For goodness sake, Gill. Yes. A genuine, if rather foolish, accident. Although I do think Aurelia should consider erecting a sign to warn people that what looks like a lane is actually her garden path. And what looks like a shallow, muddy ditch is actually a rather large, deep pond in the middle of what is not, as one might at first assume, overgrown hedgerows and fields but in fact, her garden.'
Gill grinned. 'I'm sorry, Tabbie. I'm a little crazy today. Coffee, please. If that's still okay with you?'
Tabbie smiled. 'It's better than okay. And I meant it, Gill. Your neighbour is welcome to join us, or to share in our research. I really have got nothing to hide. As I said, the only caveat I have is that if we find out something about one of Aurelia's ancestors, no matter how trivial or insignificant it might seem to us, we run it by Aurelia first. If she demands that we keep it to ourselves then that's what we do. Okay? This is her life and her history we're delving into and it may already be in the public domain for anyone to discover if they search long enough, but I'm not going to bring it to the fore if Aurelia would rather we didn't.'
'That's fine by me. As for my neighbour, she
won't want to join us. I'll just get her the map she wants, if I can find one, and share anything with her that might help her find what she's looking for.'
'And I'm not going to ask what that is. I'm going to make that coffee.'
Chapter Fourteen
'Hello, Ella.'
'Hello, Gill.' Ella swivelled around at the sound of his voice and was ready to run into his arms and tell him she was sorry for being so jealous, but the look in his eyes gave her pause. 'I'll make dinner now you're home. It'll be ready in half an hour. I would've started it sooner but I had no idea where you were or what time you'd be back.'
Why had she added that last bit? She hadn't meant to.
Gill sighed. 'Please don't start this again, Ella. I'm really not in the mood. And that goes both ways, you know. I had no idea where you were last night. Or even if you came home. Until I saw you in bed in one of the other rooms this morning. And you could've got in as the sun came up for all I know.'
'For your information, I was in the pub last night and I came home around midnight. You were fast asleep and rather than wake you, I slept in another room. You didn't bother to wake me this morning before you left to spend your day, no doubt, with Tabbie.'
'I did spend it with Tabbie. And we had a really good day, as it happens.'
'I bet you did. Well, I spent yesterday evening in the pub with Justin. And we had a really good time too.'
He glared at her. 'Good. Then we're both happy. I'm going to take a shower.'
'Fine.'
She watched him walk towards the stairs and frustration twisted and turned inside her. She clenched her fists and grit her teeth as she filled a saucepan with water and banged it down on the hob.
She opened a bottle of wine and poured herself a glass, knocking back the contents in several large gulps. That would make her feel better. That would calm her down and settle her thoughts.
But it didn't. So she poured herself another.
If only he'd come in and smiled at her instead of having such a guarded expression on his face – as if he had something to hide. Or felt guilty or something.
She opened a jar of olives and popped two in her mouth.
Was that it? Did he feel guilty?
He did say he and that Tabbie woman had a really good day. What did that mean? And just how good had it been?
Good enough that he needed a shower before he gave Ella a kiss, as he usually did when they hadn't seen one another for several hours. A long, slow, sensual kiss. The sort of kiss that reminded her he loved her.
Not that she had needed reminding of that until recently.
Ever since the wedding.
Perhaps he'd been giving someone else long, slow, sensual kisses all day.
Her blood boiled faster than the water in the pan she'd put on the stove to cook the pasta.
She marched along the hall and stood at the foot of the stairs.
'Gill?' she shouted up as she heard the shower turn on.
Until recently, she'd have raced up those stairs and jumped in the shower with him.
Tabbie's face flashed before her, together with those large, perfect breasts.
Suddenly Ella was imagining Tabbie in the shower with Gill, and Gill's hands were all over her. Caressing, teasing, tantalising.
Ella fumed. The bastard!
But wait. Wasn't this ridiculous?
Was Gill really the type of guy who would cheat on his girlfriend and still come home and have dinner with her?
But if he wasn't cheating on her, why hadn't he kissed her when he came in?
'Gill,' she shouted up the stairs again. 'I'm going for a walk.' And when he didn't reply she yelled. 'You can make your own bloody dinner.'
Chapter Fifteen
'Hi Glen.'
Ella stood at the front door of Rectory Cottage, her blonde curls plastered flat against her head by the sudden but not totally unexpected downpour.
Glen quickly stepped aside to let her in.
'Come in, come in. You're saturated. Let me take your jacket. Don't you have an umbrella?'
Ella hurried into the hall and removed her sodden, lightweight, supposedly waterproof jacket and handed the dripping item to the vicar.
'Not with me, no. It wasn't raining when I came out, and I was only going for a quick walk to clear my head. But it didn't work, so that's why I'm here. I hope you don't mind, but I could really do with some advice.'
'I don't mind at all. Let's go through to the kitchen and I'll make some tea.'
He led the way along the hall, holding Ella's jacket as far away from himself as he could, leaving a trail of water the length of the hall and beyond.
'Sorry about my jacket,' Ella said, following behind him.
'It's only water.' Glen smiled at her as he placed the garment across the back of a chair which he moved closer to the Aga. He nodded to the remaining chairs around the kitchen table. 'Please take a pew. I'll put the kettle on. What sort of advice are you after? Spiritual or general?'
'Spiritual?' Ella's cocked an eyebrow and a droplet of rainwater ran down her cheek. She wiped it away with the back of her hand. 'Please, Glen. It's me.'
He grinned and tossed her a hand towel he took from a drawer in the dresser.
'Ah yes. A non-believer. Silly me. How can I help?'
She rubbed her face, arms, hands and finally her hair as dry as possible and passed the damp towel back to him. He walked to the small utility room attached to the kitchen and tossed the towel in a basket.
'I'm not sure you can. But with Mia away, I didn't know who else to turn to.'
'I'm glad you felt able to come to me.' He flushed slightly. 'I'm not an expert on women's issues but I'll help as much as I possibly can.' He leant against the worktop and smiled reassuringly.
'Women's issues? Oh God, Glen. I'm not here to ask your advice about my periods or anything.' She gave a burst of laughter. 'I'm here to get a man's point of view. Garrick's been no help at all. He told me the other day that I'm being my 'usual self' whatever that means, and that it's time I grew up and behaved like a responsible adult. But Gill's behaving the same. He didn't say Gill should grow up. Franklin's American, so I'm not sure he understands the psyche of an English male. And Justin was even less help. All he did was get me drunk, which of course made things worse because I didn't get home till after midnight and slept in another bed and that made him even more cross than he was before. Fred's too old to understand and Bear's not the best person to ask. Great for a medical issue but not so hot where romance is concerned. Although he did eventually get the woman he'd always wanted, so perhaps he's not so bad, after all. Jet's the one I would've asked as well as Mia, but he's not here, of course. And Toby and I have never really been close. That's probably because of everything that happened with Alexia. Anyway. That's why I came to you.'
'Hmm. I'm not sure I followed all of that and I may need some clarification on parts, but what I believe you're saying is you've got a romance-related problem and, having discussed it with everyone possible, I'm your last resort. And I'm assuming, as you said Gill's behaving the same, and you've only asked males, it's concerning Gill.'
Ella nodded. 'But I haven't only asked males. I've asked Cathy, Hettie, Jenny and Lori. They all said I should talk to him and sort things out. But how can I talk to him? I tried tonight but he didn't even kiss me hello and he was in such a hurry to take a shower that I naturally reasoned he might've been having sex with her. He did say they'd had a really good time. But if I ask if he's going off me, and if he fancies Tabbie more, he's hardly likely to admit it, is he? And he's not going to admit to the sex bit. Not unless he wants to sleep on the street tonight. Although I suppose Tabbie would welcome him with open arms. And open everything else too.'
'Tabbie? The woman staying with Aurelia? Are you saying you think Gill may be having an affair with her? Seriously, Ella?'
Ella nodded. 'That's exactly what I'm saying.'
The kettle boiled and Glen turned to make the tea.
'I find that very hard to believe. But let's start at the beginning shall we and see where we go from there?'
Chapter Sixteen
'Thanks again for last night, Jenny,' Ella said, leaning an arm on the top of the glass, display cabinet in Lake's Bakes the following day. 'My talk with Glen helped but having dinner with the two of you and chilling out and watching a movie afterwards, helped even more. Although it did mean that when I got home, Gill was already in bed, so we still didn't talk. But I did what you and Glen said I should, and slept in our bed, not one of the other rooms.'
'It was our pleasure. You know we're always here for you. Did you and Gill talk this morning?'
Ella sighed. 'Nope. I overslept. Again. But there was a mug of coffee beside the bed when I woke up. Cold coffee. It had obviously been there for some time, but at least it's a step in the right direction. He didn't simply get up and walk out. He stopped to make me coffee. He may've tried to wake me up, but as Mia will tell you, I could sleep through Armageddon.'
'Really? I loved that film. I know he's a bit old for me, but I've always had a thing for Bruce Willis. I think it's that sexy smile of his and there's definitely a twinkle in his eyes.'
'What? Not the film, you twit.' Ella grinned at her. 'The biblical event. The battle to end all battles. Good and evil fighting it out before the end of the world. The final conflict before the Day of Judgement. Er. For someone who's dating a vicar, you're not very up on your New Testament, are you? I know what Armageddon is and I'm not even religious.'
Jenny giggled. 'You can be such a smart-arse sometimes. I've heard of Armageddon. It simply didn't click. I didn't get much sleep last night. We didn't get to bed until gone midnight and then Glen was in a very romantic mood.'
'Is that a somewhat twee way of saying you had all-night sex? Which is also a twee way of saying that you F–'
'Yes, Ella. Thank you. We don't use the F-word in my bakery.' Jenny winked. 'But we did. Like rabbits.'
Secret Wishes and Summer Kisses on Lily Pond Lane Page 9
