A Summer to Remember

by Victoria Connelly

  Dudley looked down at Olivia and their focus softened into each other so that, for a moment, Olivia forgot all about the tie.

  ‘I can’t believe that was twenty-five years ago,’ Dudley said.

  ‘We’ve been lucky, haven’t we?’ Olivia smiled a contented, wistful smile. ‘Three fine boys.’

  ‘With not a marriage in sight,’ Dudley said with a chuckle.

  ‘They’ll make it,’ Olivia said in defence. ‘Now that Dominic and Faye are back together again and Alex is seeing that girl. Amy, wasn’t it?’

  ‘Amy? I thought he was seeing somebody called Melody,’ Dudley said.

  Olivia looked surprised for a moment but then sighed. ‘Alex will settle down one day, I’m quite sure of it.’

  ‘Well, he’s certainly got good role models,’ Dudley said, lifting his chin an inch, as if suddenly very proud of himself. Olivia smiled up at him.

  ‘I suppose you’re right. Not everyone’s lasted the course though, have they?’ Olivia said, patting her husband’s perfect tie. ‘John and Fiona. Tony and Sara. Anna and Michael.’ She shook her head, thinking of the broken shards of marriages that lay around them.

  ‘Harry Barclay and Emma, Kath and Madeleine.’

  ‘Oh, Dudley – don’t be cruel.’

  ‘I wasn’t being cruel, I was being generous – that was only the list of his wives. I didn’t even include his girlfriends.’

  ‘He’s been unlucky, that’s all.’ Olivia brushed a speck of invisible fluff from Dudley’s jacket and he gave her a wink.

  ‘What’s that for, then?’ she asked.

  ‘Can’t a man wink at his wife without him being up to something?’

  ‘No, he jolly well can’t!’

  Dudley chuckled. ‘Oh, all right then. I’ve had some good news. A publisher wants to publish my book.’

  ‘You’re joking!’ Olivia squealed.

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘But I didn’t know you’d been submitting your book for publication!’ Olivia said.

  ‘Now, don’t get too excited. It’s just a small imprint and it’s not going to make us our fortune, but it does mean one thing.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We can keep Nina on – because the publishers want me to crack on with a second book right away!’

  ‘Really? Gosh, Dudley – that’s wonderful! Does Nina know? Did you tell her when you gave her our little thank-you present?’ she asked, thinking of the sweet gold chain they’d chosen for her.

  ‘No, no. Not yet,’ he said. ‘I just got the email from them yesterday and thought I’d wait to tell her the news today.’

  ‘Won’t she be surprised!’ Olivia was practically jumping up and down.

  ‘We won’t get the chance to surprise her if we don’t hurry up and get ready.’ Dudley looked at his watch and buttoned up his jacket before combing through his wildly white hair. ‘Well, that’s me ready,’ he said a moment later, looking at his rather distinguished profile in the mirror. ‘But I think you need a bit of extra work.’ He stretched his hand out towards Olivia and teased out the final sleeping curler before kissing her on the nose.

  Olivia felt herself blushing in a way that she hadn’t for years; suddenly feeling very young again. She put her arms around Dudley and leant her head against his shirt. He smelt as if he’d just leapt down from the washing line. It was slightly strange; there wasn’t a single trace of tobacco on him.

  She felt his breath in her hair as he murmured something, but, with one ear pressed against his chest, she didn’t quite hear what he said. But she knew what it was all the same and she whispered it back to him.

  It was then that Alex entered the room. ‘Have you seen Amber?’ he asked.

  ‘Amber? I thought you were seeing Amy?

  ‘No, it’s definitely Amber,’ he said. ‘I’m almost a hundred per cent sure.’

  ‘Well, no, darling!’ Olivia said. ‘I haven’t seen her. Have you checked the kitchen? I heard Ziggy barking before and thought some poor stranger must have entered his lair and been set upon. You’d better rescue her before she’s licked to death.’

  ‘Right,’ he said, making to leave the room.

  ‘Talking of missing people,’ Olivia called after him, ‘have you seen Nina?’

  ‘Yes – just a few minutes ago. She was just leaving,’ Alex told her.

  ‘What do you mean, she was just leaving?’ Olivia said, a frown wrinkling its way across her forehead.

  ‘Leaving,’ Alex said, ‘as in walking away with a suitcase in hand towards the bus stop.’

  Olivia stared at her son in horror and then turned to glare at her husband.

  ‘Did you know about this? Have you talked to her? Does she know? What’s going on? Oh, Dudley!’

  Dudley raised his hands in the air as if trying to shield himself from so many questions all at once. ‘I haven’t seen her all morning,’ Dudley said. ‘I caught sight of her briefly once, but she was heading out into the garden with Benji.’

  ‘Well, go and get her!’ Olivia all but screamed.

  Dudley sprang into action, racing out of the room and the front door and sprinting across the driveway to his car. A moment later, he was honking his horn because one of the guest cars had parked him in, but then he was tearing down the driveway towards the bus stop, hoping to high heaven that he wasn’t too late.

  Nina was sitting on her suitcase at the bus stop like a waif, wondering if there was indeed a bus due before Monday morning or if she’d have to walk the eight miles to Janey’s. She’d watched more of the guests turn down the little lane towards The Old Mill House and envied them the happy hours ahead, but knew that she had no place there now.

  Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her phone. There was a message waiting for her from Justin.

  Where are you? x

  At bus stop she texted back.

  Think you’re making a big mistake! x

  Can’t stay she texted back. Would break my heart to leave after the party.

  What did Dudley say?

  I sneaked away like a coward she confessed, so didn’t really tell him.

  Nina!!!

  Before she had a chance to reply, something strange happened. A red Jaguar came to a screeching halt at the end of the lane opposite the bus stop and an angst-ridden Dudley leapt out of the car.

  ‘Nina! What on earth are you doing?’ he bellowed as he ran across the road.

  Nina gulped as she got off her suitcase. So, she’d been found out. Her quiet exit wasn’t going to be allowed.

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr Milton,’ she said, feeling it was proper to use his formal name now that she was no longer in his employment. ‘I wanted to say goodbye properly, but I really couldn’t bear to.’

  ‘But you can’t leave!’ Dudley said, towering over her as he reached her side. ‘This whole place would fall apart without you!’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ Nina said, blushing furiously.

  ‘Well, maybe I exaggerate. But I would certainly fall apart.’ He smiled at her. ‘I couldn’t go back to a pre-Nina way of existence. It would be terrible! I’d never get anything written. And that brings me nicely to my news. You’ll never guess what’s happened,’ he said, clapping his great hands together.

  ‘What?’ Nina said, quite sure that Dudley was going to burst with excitement.

  ‘I’ve had the most incredible news.’

  ‘Really?’ Nina said.

  ‘A book deal! I’ve been offered a book deal!’

  ‘Your novel?’ Nina said with an excited laugh. ‘The Solitary Neighbour?’

  Dudley nodded. ‘It’s been accepted for a new imprint from one of those publishers you sent it to. I got an email yesterday and have been dying to tell you, but thought I’d wait until today as part of the celebrations. Anyway, don’t get too excited – it’s not much money, but it does mean I can keep you on. If you’ll stay?’ Dudley’s white eyebrows shot into his forehead.

  ‘If I’ll stay?’

&nbs
p; He nodded. ‘Please say you’ll stay, Nina! Stay with me whilst I write this next book and the next one and maybe even the one after that! I need a research assistant as well as a secretary and you’ve been invaluable to me as a sounding-board too. You’re the only one I trust to read through my novel during early draft form.’ Dudley gave a big warm-hearted chuckle, but there was a touch of the vulnerable school boy about him and Nina’s heart melted.

  ‘Oh, Mr Milton,’ Nina said, tears sparkling in her eyes. ‘Dudley! I’d love to stay!’

  ‘You would? I mean, you will?’

  Nina nodded and laughed as he clapped his great hands together. ‘Yes!’ she said. ‘Yes please!’

  ‘Come along then,’ he said, grabbing her suitcase.

  Nina could hardly contain her excitement as they bumped down the track towards The Old Mill House again. She’d truly believed that she’d never see it again and yet here she was with an open invitation to stay for as long as Dudley had ideas for stories. She must buy him some inspirational books about writing to make sure that he never ran out of ideas, she thought to herself.

  ‘Hurry up, now!’ Dudley yelled as he parked across a piece of immaculate lawn. Forgetting her suitcase for a moment, she ran across the driveway in an attempt to keep up with him.

  ‘Livvy?’ he shouted as he opened the front door. ‘I’ve got her!’

  Nina laughed. He made it sound as if she was some wonderful prize.

  ‘Oh, Neeenah!’ Olivia cried, entering the room in a cloud of perfume and silver chiffon. The rollers were long gone and her pretty red hair bounced around her flushed face. ‘I was so worried that we’d lost you! How silly of us not to tell you sooner. Dudley’s told you the news, hasn’t he?’

  ‘Yes, he has,’ Nina said. ‘It’s wonderful – really wonderful!’

  ‘I’m going to be married to a bestseller!’ Olivia said, giving a little girlish laugh.

  ‘Now, Livvy – it’s just a little romance. Don’t go getting too excited.’

  ‘It’s going to be a huge bestseller! I just know it!’ she said.

  Nina nodded. She thought so, too.

  ‘Come with me,’ he said a moment later and Nina followed him into the study where he produced a key from out of his desk drawer before opening the cupboard at the far end of the study – the cupboard he’d always kept under lock and key. The one place Nina had never been allowed to tidy.

  Now, as the door opened, Nina gasped as she looked at the contents. There were heaps of papers in there; notebooks and leaflets and all sorts of paraphernalia, including what looked very much like a Cavalier’s hat.

  ‘What on earth is all that?’ she dared to ask.

  He cleared his throat. ‘Just a few bits and bobs I’ve collected for the next novel,’ he said. ‘I think I might need some help with it.’

  Nina looked at the heap of stuff and then looked at Dudley.

  ‘You might be here some time,’ he told her.

  ‘That suits me just fine,’ she said with an enormous grin.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Nina stood dumbfounded in her old bedroom a few minutes later, a huge smile on her face as she took it all in. She was staying. She was really staying! She let out a little laugh, her eyes shining with joy at the thought of not having to leave The Old Mill House.

  She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror on the dressing table and couldn’t help but smile as if she was sharing a wonderful secret with her other self.

  You are staying, her reflection seemed to say. You are needed.

  And that meant something else. She could go to the party.

  Opening up her suitcase – which Dudley had carried upstairs for her, telling her it must not leave the house again without his express permission – Nina carefully took out the red dress that she and Olivia had chosen in London, laying it out on her bed and admiring its feminine lines and pretty detailing. And then she fired herself up, flitting around like a mad thing as she got ready for the party.

  Finally, when she was reasonably happy with her appearance, she left her room and went downstairs, finding Olivia in the dining room.

  ‘Oh, Nina!’ Olivia said with a gasp as she entered. ‘You look gorgeous! Truly gorgeous!’

  ‘And you do, too,’ Nina said, taking in the vision in silver before her. As usual, Olivia was elegant and beautiful and her rosy perfume wafted around Nina in a heavenly cloud.

  ‘Have you seen Alex and Amy?’ Olivia said, nodding towards the window. ‘I mean Amber. Don’t they make the perfect couple?’

  Nina followed her gaze and saw Alex walking with a pretty raven-haired girl who was wearing a floral-patterned dress. They were laughing and holding hands.

  ‘Oh, she looks lovely,’ Nina said.

  ‘You know, he is naughty!’ Olivia said. ‘He rang me up a couple of nights ago and said, “Mum, I’m bringing Amy – Amber – to the party.” And I said, “Who’s Amber? Should I book the church?” and he just laughed after all. Apparently, they met at some talk in London by a man who’d just walked across the Atlas Mountains – and now they’re going to do it, too!’

  ‘Really?’

  Olivia nodded. ‘He never fails to surprise me, our Alex, and I fear he’ll never settle down, but at least he’s found somebody to be unsettled with. For the time being, at least.’

  Nina smiled at Olivia’s cheerfulness. It was good to see Alex happy. Nina had known that he wouldn’t take long to fall in love again, and she sincerely hoped that he’d found the real thing this time.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ve seen Dudley’s pocket watch,’ Olivia asked. ‘He doesn’t often wear it but he wanted to have it with him today and he can’t find it.’

  ‘No,’ Nina said, ‘I’ve not seen it.’

  Olivia moved around the room opening drawers. ‘Who on earth put this photo frame in here?’ she asked, turning around with a silver frame, which housed a photo of her three sons. ‘It should be on the sideboard here.’

  ‘Let me see,’ Nina said, walking towards her and taking the frame in her hands.

  Olivia sighed in pleasure, her fingers stroking the glass. ‘My boys,’ she said, and Nina looked at the three faces in turn. Alex on the left, Dominic in the middle and—

  ‘Billy?’ she asked in a very quiet voice.

  ‘Of course!’ Olivia said. ‘Isn’t he handsome? Well, I think he is, but I suppose a mother will always be biased.’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Nina said, looking at the tall fair-haired man in the picture, ‘you’re right – he’s very handsome.’

  Olivia nodded, happy to acknowledge the fact that she was right. ‘If only he would settle down. He’s a pilot, you know, so he spends most of his time up in the air and flying off to all sorts of interesting places. I’m sure he meets all sorts of wonderful girls, but he hasn’t brought one home for months. He did say he was seeing someone a few weeks ago, although I don’t think anything came of it.’ She sighed and Nina swallowed hard. ‘But,’ she went on, ‘I thought it would be absolutely marvellous if you two kept each other company at the party. It seems absolutely absurd that you haven’t actually met Billy yet. After all, you’re practically family now. Anyway, he’s waiting for you in the living room.’

  Nina nodded. ‘Right,’ she said.

  ‘Are you okay, Nina?’ Olivia asked. ‘You look quite strange all of a sudden.’

  ‘No, I’m fine,’ she said but Olivia was right – she suddenly felt very floaty, as if the world had tilted and she along with it.

  She left the dining room and crossed the hall to the living room, taking a deep breath because she knew whom she would find in there. For it wasn’t Billy who was waiting for her. It was Justin.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Justin had his back to Nina as she walked into the room, but turned around to face her when he heard her footsteps. He was wearing a sky-blue shirt, which made his blue eyes seem even brighter than normal, but his smile was hesitant.

  ‘Hello, Nina,’ he said. ‘I gu
ess my little secret is out now.’

  Nina stared at him, feeling as if she couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. It just seemed so strange to see him standing there in the living room at the mill and – this time – he wasn’t going to run away.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she said at last.

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I think I’ve got some explaining to do.’

  Nina nodded. ‘Yes, I think you have.’

  Justin took a deep breath, his hands clasped together in front of him as if he was praying. ‘I’m Billy,’ he began. ‘Justin William Milton. Dad wanted to call me Justin, you see, and Mum wanted to call me William. Then William became Billy.’

  ‘I’m still trying to get my head around this,’ Nina said. ‘You’re Billy?’

  He nodded. ‘But I stopped using that name when I started work. I seemed to be more of a Justin in the workplace. Billy just didn’t fit me there. Does that make sense?’

  Nina sighed. ‘Right now, I’m not sure that anything makes any sense,’ she said.

  They stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity and then something occurred to Nina. Why hadn’t she noticed the photos of Billy – Justin – that were around the room? She looked at a collection of them now on a mahogany table. They were mostly group photographs of him with his brothers where they were laughing and messing around. In one, he was wearing a cap; in another, he was wearing a pair of sunglasses. Another showed him in profile. It wouldn’t have been immediately obvious to Nina, even if she had studied them closely, that this boy, Billy, was the same man she knew as Justin. Except for one photograph. The one of him with his brothers in which he’d been looking directly at the camera. The one that Olivia had found in the drawer.

  ‘You hid that photograph in the drawer that day, didn’t you? When you came back here for tea?’ Nina said. She’d never really noticed that photograph before, but she obviously would have clicked if she had.

  Justin nodded. ‘I’m so sorry, Nina. I just wanted to get to know you away from the family. They can be pretty intense sometimes. I’m sure you know that by now. I’ve seen dozens of girlfriends bulldozed over by them and I wanted things to be different between us. I didn’t want you feeling under any pressure – I know what Mum can be like. As soon as you mention a girl’s name, she’s off making lists for the engagement party. I’m sure you’ve seen that side of her whilst you’ve been working here.’