by Fiona Field
‘Susie!’
Susie looked Maddy in the eye as they stood on the landing. ‘And the rest. Not,’ she added, ‘that Mike knows – or he doesn’t know yet. I suppose I can hardly blame them, given the way things were in the past with Mike and me. Hardly grade-A role models. As always, it’s more than likely a case of “I blame the parents”.’
‘You can’t take the blame for everything, Susie.’
‘No?’
‘No. Drinking, smoking, it’s what kids do these days.’
‘Really? I’m sure there’s an awful lot who don’t. Anyway, I’ve got to hope that now they’re at their lovely day school it won’t happen again. Actually, it better hadn’t happen again; I have warned them of the consequences if they do because, if there are any more reports about them being disruptive or badly behaved, I’ve threatened to tell their father everything. That’s enough to keep them working like little Trojans.’
‘So you’re certain they did those things – smoking, drinking...’
‘Certain? God, yes. They coughed to everything when we were stuck in the floods. So we’ve drawn a line in the sand and agreed to forget about it and I’ve promised it’ll stay that way unless they put so much as a toenail across that line. If they do...’ Susie rolled her eyes and drew her hand across her throat. ‘Please don’t tell Seb. I’m sure he’d be the soul of discretion but... well, male loyalty and that stuff. So, unless it all goes horribly wrong, I’d rather it was only you and me in the know.’
‘Crikey,’ said Maddy. ‘I’m a bit surprised you even told me.’
Susie shrugged. ‘I think we know too much about each other’s buried bodies for me to keep anything from you.’
Maddy grinned. ‘You can say that again.’
Susie changed the subject and started to show Maddy the first of the five bedrooms upstairs and the twins’ transgressions were forgotten as Maddy was blown away by the lovely ancient beams that ran across the ceilings, the thickness of the walls, the mullioned windows and the neat little en suites that the previous owners had shoehorned into the rooms.
They clattered downstairs again and, having made sure the girls and Maddy’s kids were still OK, Susie took Maddy into the kitchen which was a modern extension and which would have made Jamie Oliver jealous, let alone someone who was stuck with an army kitchen in a less than modern quarter.
‘Drink?’ offered Susie.
Maddy nodded. ‘White wine, if you’ve got it.’
Susie got out two glasses.
Maddy’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Susie?’
‘No – still on the wagon. But I prefer to drink soda water out of a wine glass. Maybe it’s because I can kid myself it’s a proper drink.’
‘And Mike?’
‘He had a couple of monstrous tumbles off the wagon but...’ Susie rapped her knuckles on the big scrubbed pine table in the middle of the floor, before she took two bottles out of the fridge and poured Maddy’s drink and then her own. ‘Cheers.’
The two women clinked glasses.
‘Now then, what happened to Rayner?’ asked Susie.
‘Well.’ Maddy put her glass down on the table. ‘His resignation was accepted but it was decided that he couldn’t stay on because, well... I think the powers that be decided he’d gone a bit bonkers.’
‘A bit?’
‘Indeed. So he got sent on gardening leave quick sharp and Camilla was livid. All her aspirations to being Lady Rayner when Jack made it onto the army board.’
‘As if,’ interrupted Susie.
‘They were each as delusional as the other, I reckon. Anyway, the rumour is that he’s running some company that sells carpets.’
‘Carpets?’
‘So I’ve heard. I can’t imagine Camilla is very happy – no one to boss around, no one to lord it over.’
‘How have the mighty fallen.’
‘I am a great believer in karma,’ said Maddy. ‘He was such a shit to everyone and made so many lives difficult it was bound to catch up with him in the end.’
‘I don’t think people always get what they deserve,’ said Susie.
Maddy knew Susie was thinking about Mike’s redundancy and the disasters that had followed on from it. ‘But you did in the end, Susie. This wonderful house is payback for what you did for me, when Seb was in Kenya and I was dealing with the bunny-boiler.’
Susie shook her head. ‘I still can’t believe things came right like they did. I tell you something, Maddy, talk about a roller-coaster ride. If you want epic highs and abysmal lows, just spend a year with the Collins family.’
Maddy laughed. ‘Which is why you get the “for better, for worse” bit in the marriage vows. I think we’d all prefer to take the “better”, “riches” and “health” bits and sod the negatives.’
‘On the other hand, Mike and I are such a team now. We’ve had our disagreements but when you’ve come through what we have...’ Susie sighed. ‘Not that I’d recommend it but we’ve got a superglued bond now.’
Maddy leaned across the table and gave her friend’s hand a squeeze. ‘I am so pleased. Really. Envious, of course,’ she added with a laugh, ‘but really pleased. I do miss you being my neighbour though. And you working in the mess. It’s not the same without you around.’
‘But that was always the way with the army – people come and go, in and out of your life. Much as I hated it when we left and I thought I’d never get used to being a civvy, it’s not so bad when you get used to it. I don’t mean it’s “not so bad” because we’ve got this.’ Susie waved her glass to indicate the house. ‘But I can plant perennials in my garden, I don’t automatically know what my neighbours do for a living – or what their pay grade is – but I know they’ll be staying put and not moving out in a year or less. I’ve even joined the local WI.’
Maddy squealed with laughter. ‘You? The WI?!’
‘It’s grand. I love it.’
‘So you can recommend civvy street then, can you?’
‘Abso-bloody-lutely.’
We hope you enjoyed this book!
Fiona Field’s next book, the first in a brand new series, is coming in 2018
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Acknowledgements
About Fiona Field
About the Soldiers’ Wives Series
From the editor of this book
An invitation from the Publisher
Acknowledgements
I need to thank, in particular, John Backley who is the emergency planning officer and facilities manager for the South Oxfordshire District Council. He was amazingly generous both with his time and information and I am really grateful for what he told me about flood management and related issues. However, I need to stress at this point that Winterspring District Council bears no relation to any local government organisation I have ever had dealings with – the fictional council in my book is a total figment of my imagination and was created in that vein entirely for dramatic reasons. I have never met a ‘Rob’ or anyone quite like him, and sincerely hope that no one of his ilk is involved in that sort of work at whatever level!
I also need to thank my lovely agent, Laura Longrigg, for her continued support, and the team at Head of Zeus who look after me so well. In particular, I need to thank Rosie de Courcy who is a stunningly fabulous editor and makes me write the best book I can.
About Fiona Field
FIONA FIELD joined the army at 18, married a bomb disposal expert at 21 and then, at 26, got thrown out for getting pregnant. As an army wife she had to move house six times in five years.
Since her husband left the army they have lived in one place where Fiona now knows what grows in her garden, is a regular at the pub quiz and has managed to get herself elected on to the town council.
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From the editor of this book
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First published in the UK in 2016 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Fiona Field, 2016
The moral right of Fiona Field to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and
events portrayed in this novel are either products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB): 9781784977795
ISBN(E): 9781781857779
Author photo: Rob Wheal
Lettering: Patrick Knowles
Head of Zeus Ltd
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