‘I’ve got another idea about pulling together information about Barney and what happened,’ Melissa announced as she walked next to him down the lane towards The Street. ‘I’m going to write to the newspaper that ran the article about Lois.’
‘Was it a recent article?’ He adjusted the plastic sheeting in his arms, it wasn’t the easiest stuff to carry when it wasn’t folded properly.
‘It was published less than twelve months ago.’
‘Won’t they have the same confidentiality arrangements as White Clover?’
‘Most likely, but I’ve got the journalist’s name from his byline, I found an email contact, so I’ll attach a letter to Lois and ask him to pass it on.’
‘And what are you going to say in this letter?’
‘I’m not sure yet.’
‘Need some help?’
She smiled and seemed about to step forwards closer to him but thought better of it. ‘I’ll manage. Now you’d better go, sort Barney’s leaky roof, and for goodness’ sake, be careful – I don’t need two invalids to look after.’
He watched her go thinking actually he wouldn’t mind her playing nurse maid. And as he turned to walk in the opposite direction over to Barney’s, he couldn’t ignore the jolt of pleasure zipping through him at her company all day and this evening.
He only wondered whether she was feeling the same way right now.
Chapter Thirteen
The next day, glad the rain had passed, Melissa put on a light blue sundress with white edging and headed over to Barney’s place. The caterers were due there so that they could taste everything and confirm their choices for the event. Melissa was thrilled Barney had sounded in good spirits when he called earlier, reiterating the time to come by. She had to remind him that she and Harvey had booked the session, of course she knew when it was. But perhaps this was a sign of the tides turning and this event was beginning to work the magic they’d hoped it would. Perhaps their interference and trip to Leafbourne to find out more hadn’t been needed at all, which wouldn’t be a bad thing given she’d had no response to her email to the journalist.
‘How’s the roof?’ she asked the second she joined Harvey at Barney’s place.
‘A few months ago and I would’ve climbed up onto that roof myself,’ Barney interrupted. Another sign he was improving, plying his way into any conversation he could, and Melissa knew by the nod of approval Harvey directed her way that he was thinking the same. But Barney ruined it by picking up the brochure for Aubrey House and flipping through it.
‘You should throw that out,’ Harvey told him.
‘Why? It’s my decision if I want to go there.’
‘But you’re a part of Heritage Cove,’ Melissa urged.
Barney picked up the brochure and held it to face both of them. ‘Look at the postcode, that makes it in Heritage Cove. What with the fall and the leaky roof, my time has come.’
Melissa didn’t have the energy to argue. ‘So, the roof?’ she reiterated to Harvey.
‘It was a dislodged tile,’ Harvey explained. ‘The rain was seeping in near the chimney, probably been doing that for a while at a guess. I’ve checked it again already and the roofer will be out later today to fix it properly.’
They exchanged a smile until Melissa realised Barney was staring at them both. ‘I’m looking forward to trying all this food,’ she said, shifting uncomfortably. She was all too aware herself of the change in her and Harvey’s demeanour now they’d talked properly. She’d felt it last night as they talked over wine, again as they walked down the lane away from his house, and overnight Melissa knew she’d slept more heavily than usual as though a weight on her mind had finally moved away.
But her plan to divert Barney’s focus by talking about food didn’t work. ‘You never told me what you were you doing at Tumbleweed House last night, Melissa,’ he said.
‘Just finalising a few things for the ball.’
‘Like what?’
But his inquisition was cut short by the arrival of the food and to escape any more questions Melissa let the caterers in.
Harvey, Barney and Melissa made their way through Welsh rarebit tartlets, miniature Yorkshire puddings with beef in a creamy sauce, vegetables contained in a tiny filo pastry basket, chocolate tart with Chantilly cream, and white chocolate and Cointreau tiramisu. They tried tuna and cucumber sandwiches cut into triangles, creamy dips with tortilla chips or julienned cucumber and carrot pieces to scoop up the flavour.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever eat again,’ Melissa announced when the caterers packed up their Tupperware containers and left.
‘You two did good, finding them,’ Barney complimented. ‘They’re better than the last lot, there’s more variation. Maybe that’s why the last lot went under.’
‘You can thank Tracy,’ said Melissa. ‘She put me onto them. And now we’ve got their details for next year.’
Harvey winked at her, knowing exactly what she was up to with her remark, and when he prolonged the eye contact she made her excuses to leave, telling them she had to rescue her laundry from the inn washing machine and hang it up before she ran out of clothes.
What she really needed to do was put some distance between herself and Harvey. Ever since he’d held her face in his hands last night at Tumbleweed House, her feelings had skyrocketed and had her torn, not knowing where to go from here. She had a life elsewhere, but she had something in Heritage Cove too, and what had all been so clear before Barney’s fall was now anything but.
*
Melissa spent the next few days timing her visits to Barney as best she could to coincide with when Harvey was working. She’d texted Harvey to say she’d heard nothing in response to her letter via the journalist and they’d agreed that this would have to be the end of their detective work. They would just have to accept that, for whatever reason, Barney wanted to keep things to himself and run his life the way he saw fit. Both of them were even starting to see that if Barney wanted to move into that home, stop running the Wedding Dress Ball, then they may have no choice but to accept it.
After an afternoon of playing cards with Barney, Melissa was happy to be at the pub with Tracy this evening. The sun was still high in the sky and a fresh breeze flapped at the sleeves of the lilac top she’d teamed with jeans as they talked about the upcoming ball.
Tracy tore open three packets of crisps for them to share. ‘How’s Jay coping with your extended stay here?’
‘He’s busy working,’ Melissa shrugged. ‘Makes it easier I guess.’ They hadn’t spoken for a few days but she’d emailed him and told him how close she was to pulling off the event of the year. She knew she’d probably rambled on about a band, catering, the barn decoration, but she didn’t really know what else to talk about when it came to Heritage Cove.
‘Has anyone asked Lucy along to the ball?’ Tracy asked when the local blacksmith came out to the beer garden clutching a bottle of beer.
Melissa picked up a few broken pieces of prawn cocktail crisps from the foil insides of the packets glinting in the sunshine. ‘I assume she got an invitation, she certainly would’ve got a flyer as a reminder when Harvey and I handed them out. She must know about it.’
‘She looks like she’s here on her own,’ Tracy frowned. ‘That’s not right.’
‘We could ask her to join us but I don’t want her to feel she has to.’
Tracy called out to her and when they invited Lucy to join them, she was only too happy to. ‘We were just talking about the Wedding Dress Ball,’ said Tracy. ‘Are you going?’
‘I do have a ticket.’
‘But…’ Tracy prompted.
‘What I don’t have is a date,’ she admitted awkwardly.
‘Neither do half the people who go,’ said Melissa. ‘It’s not that kind of ball.’
‘Really? It’s not couples only? I mean I understood from the invite that there’ll be plenty of married men and women in the same outfits they once wore when they got married. I figured…�
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‘Not at all,’ said Tracy.
‘My first Wedding Dress Ball was in a debutante gown,’ Melissa told her. ‘It was beautiful, and I felt lucky to finally be a guest. I’d been watching the event from afar for too long.’
‘What she means is she watched it from high up in the roof balancing on the beams,’ Tracy grinned. ‘Yup, she and Harvey used to climb right up to the rafters and onto the beams – they weren’t even that sturdy back then – and they’d linger up there watching the proceedings. They weren’t hidden at all but nobody ever said anything.’
‘I did hear a rumour you and Harvey were once a thing,’ Lucy said to Melissa.
Tracy smiled. ‘She has a fancy pilot boyfriend now.’
Melissa didn’t let on that he was her fiancé. He’d asked her, she’d given him the answer she thought she meant, they’d planned to shop for a ring together, but now…well, now she had no idea. She wasn’t proud of how her feelings had changed, Jay didn’t deserve her indecision, and although she didn’t want her time in Heritage Cove to come to an end too soon, she knew she needed to get back to Windsor and find out where she went from here. If she saw him, maybe she’d know.
‘So, Lucy, you’ll come to the ball?’ The best way to handle this, Melissa decided, was to change the subject.
‘I don’t have anything to wear. And I promise you that’s not an excuse. In my line of work there’s not much call for white anything, let alone a gorgeous dress fit for an event.’
‘I don’t have anything to wear yet either,’ Melissa admitted.
Tracy’s face fell. ‘Melissa, that’s crazy!’
‘Well, I didn’t know I was going until recently and I’ve been busy.’
‘Right, that’s decided.’ Tracy plonked her half-empty pint glass down on the wooden table. ‘We need to go shopping. All three of us. Tomorrow. Leave it any later and you might not find anything at all.’ Tracy was punching a text message into her phone. ‘Sorted, got cover at the inn, I can be free at 10 a.m. You?’ she directed to the both of them.
‘I can take a couple of hours in the morning,’ said Lucy before they both looked to Melissa.
‘I’m having lunch with Barney but nothing before that, so I’m in.’
‘Right, we’ll head to the boutique I told you about near Ipswich. I know they’ve got some lovely white summer dresses in the sale – I was almost tempted to get one myself.’
‘There’s an incentive not to get married,’ Lucy joked to Melissa, ‘you’re stuck with the same dress every year for this ball. We’re lucky, we get to choose something new.’
And as they laughed together Melissa wondered whether she’d be in the exact same position as Tracy come next year. Was her future really with Jay still, or had coming back to the Cove changed all that?
*
Melissa had gone to bed last night looking forward to a girlie shopping trip with Tracy and Lucy. But right now, after cancelling on the both of them, she was driving over to White Clover after a strange phone call from Ashley. Melissa hoped she wasn’t about to be hauled in front of an ethics committee for probing at confidential information.
When she parked up and went inside Ashley greeted her with a smile and asked, ‘You weren’t busy, were you?’
‘I was meant to be dress shopping for the ball.’
‘I do apologise, but I needed to speak with you and it had to be here.’ But instead of keeping her inside she ushered her back out of the front door and pulled it closed behind them.
‘Am I in trouble?’
Ashley’s laughter, the jovial personality that was perfectly suited to the not-for-profit sector, boomed across the paved area out front. ‘Of course not. But I do have a visitor. It’s Lois.’
Melissa’s jaw dropped. ‘Are you serious? She’s here? Now?’
‘It must be the same Lois as the woman you’re looking for. We only have one Lois on our books. What’s going on, Melissa?’
‘I’m not sure I know yet myself.’ Melissa at best had expected an email from the newspaper in return to her own. She never thought Lois would show up here; she’d been caught well and truly off guard.
‘The Lois I’ve got waiting inside got in touch with us a few months ago about running a wedding dress ball where she lives in Ireland. I didn’t hear from her again until now, when she showed up introducing herself as one of our supporters and reminding me of her enquiry.’
‘I suspect she may be here because of me rather than the ball or the charity.’
‘I thought as much after your questions lately. I don’t know what the story is, and I’m not asking, but do you want to go and see her and take it from here? No point me being the go-between.’
She leaned against the door. ‘She’s really in there right now?’ The journalist must have forwarded her email and attachment, but not let Melissa know.
‘I excused myself and said I’d get the organiser of the ball here in Heritage Cove to come and talk to her. Which isn’t strictly a lie, because you have been helping out.’
All Melissa had said in the letter to Lois was that she was close to Barney Walters, that he’d had a spell in hospital and hadn’t been the same since. Melissa had also added that since Barney had come to Heritage Cove he’d been running a wedding dress ball every year to raise money for the White Clover charity, and that following his hospital stay he was talking about stopping the event altogether. Melissa had left it at that, it was enough information to find out whether Lois was concerned, whether she cared enough to get in touch.
And now, here she was. Inside, waiting.
Ashley put a hand to Melissa’s arm. ‘Stay out here for a few minutes, think about how you’re going to play this.’
‘Will do.’ Melissa shut her eyes, shook her head. She didn’t have long and there was only one person she needed right now. Harvey.
But his phone rang out so she had no choice but to face this on her own.
Back inside Melissa followed Ashley down a thin corridor and into the kitchen, where a filter jug filled with coffee left a pleasant aroma. Melissa might not drink the stuff but she did love the smell and right now it kept her alert and ready in a room that was almost on the too warm side. There was only a thin window, high up on one wall, and having already been opened it wasn’t doing much to bring in a stream of fresh air.
She introduced herself and shook hands with Lois. Slender wrists, pale skin with a delicate bracelet falling from the sleeve of her sky-blue cotton blouse – this was, without a doubt, the woman from the photograph Melissa had found.
‘Melissa…you’re the young lady who wrote to me, aren’t you?’
‘I am.’
Lois rambled on as though chatter could help her reach an equilibrium. ‘This is such a wonderful charity. I’ve been supporting them for many years, right from when they were based near Colchester. But these are much nicer surrounds, not too dissimilar from where I settled in Ireland, out in the countryside, so much greenery.’
‘I thought I detected a bit of an accent.’
‘When you’ve moved around a lot like I have, your accent gets mixed up. You pick a bit up here, a bit up there, and in the end nobody really knows where you come from.’ Thin, pale-glossed lips revealed straight if not white teeth, she had laughter lines that were so embedded they spoke of a contented life, at least in the end.
‘I wasn’t sure you’d even acknowledge my letter,’ said Melissa.
‘I started to write a reply, I tried a few times, and then I thought, why not go and see this girl. I decided I’d come here to Heritage Cove, visit the charity, and then I’d decide whether I was going to make my presence known. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do it.’
‘Believe me, I totally understand.’
‘Over the years I’d seen numerous reports on White Clover receiving funds every year from a wedding dress ball. I was thinking of starting a similar event where I live, or at least having someone else at the helm and I’d be in the background funding it, maki
ng suggestions. It’s such a beautiful idea, I was really taken with it and had already made enquiries.’ She paused, met Melissa’s gaze. ‘I would never have guessed Barney was behind it all.’
‘It’s quite the event. He’s been running it for over forty years.’
‘And you say after his accident he hasn’t been interested?’ Her voice wobbled.
‘He’s better now, not as on board with the event as we would like, still refusing to do all the exercises recommended to him for a better recovery. He’s pretty headstrong and when he makes up his mind to do something it’s hard to change it.’
Lois’s focus was on her fingers, rested in her lap. She was smiling, as though she needed her thoughts to be inward-looking but was having trouble preventing them from leaping out into the present. ‘He always was stubborn. Never one to be bossed about and told what to do, unless he really wanted to do it anyway.’ She looked up at Melissa. ‘Are you Barney’s daughter?’
She smiled. ‘No, but he’s been like a father to me for a long time.’
‘Did he ever marry? Is he married now?’ Before Melissa could answer, Lois apologised. ‘I’m sorry, too many questions.’
‘I’m very happy to answer them. I can tell you all I know about Barney if you would like.’
Lois had taken a tissue from her bag and dabbed at her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, dear, forgive me. I never thought I’d face a moment like this, it’s quite something. After all this time.’
‘I’m sure it is.’ She waited for Lois to recover and then told her, ‘I tried to ask Barney questions over the years, but he never really gave clear answers about his life before he came to the Cove, unless it was talking about sailing.’
‘That man loved his boats. It was a real passion for him. He’d take me sailing down the river.’
‘It sounds romantic.’
Coming Home to Heritage Cove Page 23
