Christmas at Lilac Cottage: (#1 White Cliff Bay)

by Martin, Holly

  Penny watched Libby come out of the shop opposite with two cream-topped hot chocolates. She passed one to George and he wiped the cream affectionately from her nose, then handed her what looked like a bag of sweets. Libby was obviously very excited about the contents and she kissed him on the cheek to say thank you. Penny smiled at the look he gave her. ‘And he’s completely in love with his best friend. I don’t think I stand a chance.’

  ‘Really?’ Maggie peered across the road at the two of them. ‘I thought he was in love with Polly.’ Maggie gestured to the cute freckly red-head at the back of the shop who worked there with her mum Linda.

  Penny looked at Polly who was busily chatting to Matt from the jewellery shop. ‘No but Matt is, and I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.’

  Everyone had someone. She had always vowed that she didn’t need anyone to make her happy, but in reality being alone was no fun.

  Just then Linda Forbes, the owner of the bakery, came over with her little six-year-old granddaughter, Tilly, who had the biggest toothiest grin and a mop of messy ginger curls. Penny was glad of the distraction, though she could still see Henry passing her little glances over Linda’s shoulder.

  ‘Tilly wants to know if you’d like to try our newest recipe, these are marshmallow snowmen biscuits.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Maggie signed with her hands at Tilly, before taking one and devouring it in seconds.

  Penny smiled at Tilly and carefully signed. ‘Did you make these?’

  Tilly’s face lit up and her hands flew into action as she signed her reply. Penny had to concentrate really hard to see what she was saying. ‘I helped with putting the marshmallows on the icing and Nanny put the eyes and nose and mouth on. I decorated some myself but Nanny said that we could eat those rather than putting them in the shop for people to buy.’

  Penny signed back. ‘I want to see the ones that you made, I bet they’re beautiful.’

  Tilly grinned and turned and ran into the back of the shop, no doubt to retrieve her artfully made biscuits.

  Linda smiled warmly at Penny. ‘You’re so good with her, when are you going to have children of your own? You would make such a wonderful mum.’

  Penny felt the familiar pain in her chest at the thought of having her own family and even Maggie gave her a sympathetic smile as she wolfed down the last of her biscuit.

  ‘All the girls in your year at school have kids now,’ Linda said. ‘In fact, you’re the only one over the age of twenty-five not to have any children—’

  ‘That’s not true,’ Maggie interrupted. ‘Jade was in our class, she doesn’t have any children, neither do Beth or Chelsea or any of the Blonde Bimbo Brigade.’

  ‘And we all give thanks for that. What kind of mums would they make, going out and getting drunk and ending up in a different man’s bed every night? But Penny here would make a fantastic mum.’ Linda turned her attention back on Penny. ‘How old are you now, twenty-nine, thirty? You don’t want to leave it too late. Your biological clock is ticking. You don’t even need a man these days, you can be artificially inseminated. You surely don’t want to be alone for the rest of your life?’

  Penny stared at her in horror. This wasn’t the first time the people in the town had thought it was their business to talk about Penny’s lack of children but it was the first time it had been put so bluntly. To her embarrassment, she knew Henry was listening to every word too.

  ‘I don’t really want children,’ Penny said, quietly, even though it was a lie.

  Linda stared at her as if she was some kind of monster. ‘Why wouldn’t you want children?’

  ‘Excuse me.’ Henry suddenly loomed over them all. ‘Can I buy some cakes? I’m in a bit of a rush so…’

  ‘Of course, sorry to keep you waiting.’ Linda quickly moved back behind the counter and Henry flashed Penny a look of concern before he turned away.

  He had stepped in to save her.

  Tilly came running over to Penny carrying a plate of misshapen biscuits. Tilly’s snowmen either looked drunk or as if they were based on Picasso paintings, with wonky eyes and manic grins.

  ‘They’re beautiful, I love them,’ Penny signed and Tilly grinned, handing her one to eat. ‘Oh no, I couldn’t, these are yours.’

  But Tilly insisted and Penny took a big bite. ‘Delicious.’

  Tilly skipped off behind the counter again, taking her creations with her.

  Maggie leaned over the table. ‘Ignore the nosy old bat. Having children is no fun, they poo and cry all the time, you never get any sleep, you spend your whole life driving them around as they have far more of a social life than you, every penny you earn gets spent on them. You really are better off without them.’

  ‘And this is your third child?’ Penny laughed.

  Maggie’s face lit up as she smiled adoringly at her belly. ‘I know, I never seem to learn my lesson.’

  Penny stood up. ‘I better go, I have a carving to finish before tonight.’ She placed a kiss on Maggie’s cheek. ‘I’ll see you later.’

  Maggie waved at her as she was eyeing some of the other cakes that were on sale behind the glass counter.

  Penny reached the door the same time as Henry did and he opened it for her and let her go out ahead of him, hoisting Bea up onto his hip as he followed her out.

  He walked up the street with her, but he didn’t say anything.

  ‘Thanks for, erm…’ Penny gestured vaguely back towards the bakery.

  ‘No problem. Is everyone in the town as rude as that?’

  ‘She wasn’t being rude, it’s just people don’t really mind their own business around here.’

  ‘I don’t like the sound of that. Where I come from, no one pokes their nose into what anyone else does with their life.’

  ‘People care, they look out for each other. It might come across as nosy but it comes from people genuinely wanting the best for everyone. I like to pretend that I don’t want my own children or family but in reality I do and the people of the town know that.’

  Henry stared at her and she winced.

  ‘I hate that I’m so brutally honest with you. There’s something about you that brings all my secrets to the fore. I wish I could blame the mulled wine, but I can’t even do that today.’

  ‘What were you doing with your hands in there?’ blurted out Bea from the safety of Henry’s arms. Henry stared at Bea in confusion.

  ‘The little girl in the bakery, Tilly, she’s hearing impaired, which means she can’t hear anything…’

  ‘She can’t hear anything?’ Bea’s eyes were wide with surprise.

  ‘No, so when people talk to her she can’t hear what they say. So she communicates with her hands. It’s called sign language and she makes different movements with her hands to say different words.’

  Bea nodded solemnly, with all the seriousness of a four year old taking the weight of the world on her tiny shoulders.

  ‘Shall I teach you how to sign your name and the next time you see Tilly you could introduce yourself?’

  Bea nodded keenly and Penny showed her the three simple gestures for the letters B, E and A, acutely aware that Henry was staring at her the whole time. What was it about this man? He wasn’t watching her hands and what she was doing, he was just staring at her. She glanced up briefly from Bea into his eyes and was thrown by the sheer hunger there. He looked away first, clearly embarrassed by being caught staring.

  He cleared his throat. ‘So you learned sign language so you can communicate with Tilly?’

  Penny smiled. ‘The whole town did. When Tilly’s mum, Polly, found out she was hearing impaired she came to the town meeting and said she was going to arrange sign language lessons at her house and asked if anyone wanted to attend so they could communicate with her daughter when she was older. Almost everybody in the town turned up. They had to move the lessons from her house to the town hall to accommodate everybody. Some only learned the basics, but most people can converse quite fluently now. Tilly is such a confi
dent little girl because of it, she can talk to anyone in the town now and not feel excluded. People care here, and I know they don’t always go about it in the right way – and they gossip and stick their noses in where they’re not wanted – but they genuinely do care.’

  Henry nodded, thoughtfully. ‘I can see that it has—’

  Just then Beth, second in command of the Blonde Bimbo Brigade, came striding over. She sidestepped Penny and managed to slide in between her and Henry with the practised art of someone who had done it a thousand times before. Beth was beautiful and had a much softer way about her than her friend, Jade; most men were putty in her hands.

  ‘Henry, I’m Beth…’

  Henry stopped dead in the street. Penny wasn’t surprised, Beth seemed to have that effect on all men.

  Penny paused awkwardly for a moment, before realising that her and Henry’s conversation was now over – he only had eyes for Beth.

  She had turned away, when she heard Henry speak.

  ‘Do you have any idea how rude it is to come over and interrupt me when I’m talking to someone?’

  Penny turned back in shock.

  Beth looked around and saw Penny as if for the first time and giggled. ‘Oh, it’s only Penny. You don’t mind, do you, Penny?’

  Penny shook her head; there was no point in kicking up a fuss over it.

  ‘Well I do,’ Henry said, storming past Beth so he was at Penny’s side again. He put his hand on the small of her back encouraging her up the hill. ‘I’m sorry, was she a friend of yours?’

  ‘No, she was in my class at school but we’re definitely not friends.’

  ‘I can’t abide rude people. Look, I better go, I have to pick Daisy up.’

  ‘I love Daisy,’ Bea said, cuddling into Henry’s chest. ‘Do you love Daisy, Uncle Henry?’

  ‘Very much.’

  ‘And do you love me?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Bea seemed satisfied by this answer. He had a lovely way with his niece. He would have made a great dad to his child and it broke Penny’s heart that he had never been given that chance. But at the age of sixteen, when he was still a child himself, he probably would have struggled. There weren’t many children who had the maturity to raise a child at that age, so maybe his kid being put up for adoption had been for the best.

  ‘We’ll pop by later so you can meet Daisy, if that’s OK. She’s dying to see you.’

  Penny nodded and Henry rushed off up the hill, with Bea waving madly over his shoulder.

  Penny watched him go, sparks zinging through her body. Even without any sign language, the signals that he was giving off were those of somebody who was physically attracted to her. No one ever looked at her like that. She was damaged goods to most of the men in the town. Chris had seen to that, telling all his friends how messed up she was after the miscarriage, how she’d sit and cry for hours on end. A lot of the men her age had been too scared to go anywhere near her after that. Even after all this time, there was a wariness from the men in the town as if she might burst into tears at any moment. Henry was different, like he just saw her and none of the other baggage mattered. It infuriated her that she liked him so much, that he had kept her awake all night, her thoughts filled with him. He was married, he loved Daisy. There was no way this could end happily for her.

  * * *

  Penny pulled up behind Henry’s car a while later and could see him standing on the edge of the hill with his arm wrapped round a woman with bright blonde hair. They were looking out on the view and the woman was pointing out certain things down in the town. She was tiny, maybe a bit smaller than Penny, and stick-thin; even her arms and legs were tiny like a child’s. She was wearing flowery jeans and a black t-shirt and was clinging on to Henry like she adored him.

  Penny got out of her car and Henry looked over his shoulder at her. He must have said something to his wife because the blonde suddenly turned around, a huge grin splitting her face as she looked at Penny. Penny approached, unable to take her eyes off Henry’s wife. She couldn’t be any older than eighteen. She had large blue eyes and rosy cheeks and was undeniably beautiful, but she looked like she was fresh out of college. Penny noticed that the t-shirt she was wearing had a kitten on it. She was a child, and Henry suddenly sank down quite considerably in her estimation.

  ‘Daisy, this is our landlady Penny, Penny this is Daisy.’

  ‘Hi,’ Penny said, quietly, suddenly feeling old and haggard in the face of his young, beautiful wife.

  ‘Hi, I’m so pleased to meet you, I saw Bernard through your window, can I meet him, Bernard is the coolest name for a dog ever,’ Daisy chattered with the over-exuberance of a puppy.

  ‘Sure,’ Penny said, gesturing for Daisy to follow her in. Daisy looked up at Henry with complete adoration as if asking his permission, which he actually gave with a nod of his head.

  ‘I’m just going to check on lunch, you girls go ahead,’ Henry said, disappearing through his own front door.

  Daisy followed her in and Bernard fell off the sofa and ambled over to greet the new visitor, wagging his tail and sending the magazines and newspapers on the coffee table flying.

  Daisy immediately sank to her knees to stroke him. ‘Aren’t you the cutest thing ever?’

  Bernard rolled over onto his back so Daisy could stroke his belly and Daisy giggled. ‘I love dogs, but my dad would never let me get one.’

  Penny watched her getting over-excited about Bernard. Not only was she physically like a child but she had the maturity of one too. She was very sweet and endearing but she wasn’t at all what she’d imagined when she thought of Henry’s wife.

  ‘So, Daisy, are you at university or…’ She trailed off before she said college; she didn’t want to offend her. Maybe she just looked a lot younger than she was.

  Daisy giggled again. ‘Everyone always thinks I’m a lot older than I am. I’m sixteen, just. It was my birthday last week. I’m at school, taking my GCSEs this year, but I’ll be going to college in September.’

  Penny’s gut twisted with a sick rage. She was barely sixteen, Henry had taken her away from her family and shacked up in some sick lovers’ nest in her home. There was no way she was going to condone that.

  ‘Would you mind staying here with Bernard for a moment? I just need a quick word with Henry.’

  ‘Sure.’ Daisy barely looked up as she stroked Bernard all over.

  Penny let herself in through the connecting door, not even caring that she was entering his home without his permission. Henry poked his head through the kitchen door and was surprised to see her and not Daisy.

  His eyebrows furrowed with concern at her face as he walked into the lounge. ‘You OK?’

  Penny closed the door behind her. ‘She’s a child,’ she spat.

  ‘Very astute.’

  ‘And you’re married to her, how is that even legal? Surely someone has to be eighteen to get married. Look at the size of her and look at the size of you. You make me sick.’ She slammed her finger into his hard chest.

  Henry couldn’t have looked more shocked if she’d come into his house stark naked dancing the conga. ‘Wait, wait a minute. I’m not married to her.’

  ‘That doesn’t make it any better.’ Penny realised she was shouting. ‘I thought you were a decent, kind man and now I find you’re nothing more than a disgusting pervert.’

  His eyebrows shot up and then immediately slashed down in a furious scowl. ‘Firstly, just because you are my landlady doesn’t mean you have the right to walk into my home any time you feel like it.’ Henry opened the door behind her. ‘Secondly, Daisy isn’t my wife, or my girlfriend, she’s my daughter. Now get out of my house before you see me get really mad.’

  Chapter Four

  Penny drove up through the steep, winding lanes as the houses got scarcer on the way up towards her home.

  How had she been so stupid? Why hadn’t she asked for more information on the people that were moving into her home? Had she been so desperate
for some company that she would have accepted anyone? The agency had never said that it was a father and daughter, they’d just said Henry and Daisy Travis and she had wrongly assumed they were a couple. Maybe they deliberately hadn’t told her because she might have had reservations about a teenager moving in next door, or maybe they just hadn’t thought to pass that kind of information on.

  She hadn’t seen Henry all afternoon as she finished her ice carving and not even later when her assistant Josh had come round to help her load it into the van. Daisy had gone out earlier, clearly to explore the town, but although Henry had been in, there had been no sound at all from next door, the silence somehow foreboding.

  She had to make it up to him.

  It was just starting to get dark, the twilight sky filled with clouds of blueberry and plum.

  As she bumped up the tiny dirt track that traversed across the hills towards her home, she saw Daisy walking back towards the house. She stopped and buzzed down the van window.

  ‘It’s not far, but do you want a lift?’ Penny asked and Daisy climbed in keenly.

  ‘That hill is steep, eh, I’m sure going to get fit climbing up and down that all day,’ Daisy said, shutting the door behind her.

  ‘You’ll get used to it.’

  ‘Dad’s really mad at you, he very rarely gets angry. I mean, he can be grumpy sometimes, but never angry.’

  ‘I called him a pervert, which would upset the calmest of souls.’

  Daisy giggled. ‘I can’t believe you thought we were together. I mean, he’s so old.’

  Penny smiled at her. ‘I’m glad you found it funny, I wish Henry could see the funny side.’

  ‘He will. Come for dinner tonight, he won’t be angry with you when I’m there. I won’t let him.’

  ‘I really don’t think he wants to see me right now, let alone eat with me.’

  ‘Come on, what’s the worst that can happen? He can’t possibly be angrier than he is now.’

  Penny conceded this as she pulled up next to Henry’s Range Rover.