She turned and had only taken one step when Ed took hold of her hand once again, pulling her gently back. ‘Izzy, wait a second.’
She stopped and looked up at him. She didn’t really want to hear any more.
‘It’s fine,’ she lied. ‘You’ve explained it all to me now; I don’t need to hear any more.’
‘No, but I …’
She snatched her hand from his, regretting her hasty reaction almost instantly when she saw how hurt he was by her actions.
‘Really; it’s none of my business, Ed.’ She laughed to soften her words. ‘After all, it’s not as if anything much actually happened between us.’ She walked on and after a brief hesitation he followed her. ‘We kissed, that’s it. I shouldn’t have over-reacted earlier. It’s nothing to do with me what you’ve done in the past.’
She forced a smile to try and convince him that she was telling the truth. ‘Come; let’s go back to the others now. I’m parched. We don’t want to let the others drink everything before we get back.’
He caught up with her and they walked in silence for a bit.
‘I let you think I liked you, Iz, because I do,’ Ed said. ‘Very much.’
Izzy mulled over his words. She would be ecstatic to hear him say this if she hadn’t known about him and Marie being together. Even if they weren’t right now, there was still very obviously a close connection between the two of them and she couldn’t help suspecting that Marie would still like there to be more.
‘Thank you?’ she said eventually, feeling awkward and not certain how she should react to this. She spotted Bea waving at them.
‘You’re missing the puddings,’ she shouted, pointing at a table filled with colourful cupcakes. ‘Hurry up.’
‘We’re on our way,’ Izzy called.
‘Izzy, wait, please,’ Ed said.
She stopped, not wishing them to continue the conversation near the others.
‘Ed, really I have no problem with you and Marie, I promise. And, I’m very grateful for you persuading your godfather to let us hold the reception at the manor; it’s probably going to save our business. So, let’s forget about this and go and have fun with the others.’
It was a relief to be back among the noise and laughter. She sensed Ed over her shoulder and tried not to look at him, but forgetting, glanced at him a few minutes later, relieved to see he was laughing with Luke. Happy that things were back on a happier setting, she took the cupcake Lacey held out to her.
She licked her lips after taking the first bite. ‘This is delicious, Lacey,’ she said. ‘You should consider having a display of these at the reception.’
‘Don’t even go there,’ Jack laughed. ‘She’s driving everyone nuts with the arrangements we have agreed on. We don’t need to come up with anything else for her to fret over.’
‘Shut up, Jack,’ Lacey said giving him a playful slap on the chest. ‘I’m not that bad.’
‘No?’ he shook his head. ‘I can’t imagine what we ever spoke about before we got engaged.’ He pulled a frightened face at Lacey. ‘What will we have to talk about after it’s all over?’
She slapped him again, harder this time. ‘Shut up, you fool. I’m just excited …’ She hesitated. ‘And a bit worried about his ex.’
Jack shook his head. ‘Kate hasn’t bothered us for weeks, Lacey, so stop stressing about her.’
She kissed him on the cheek. ‘OK, bossy boots.’
Izzy shook her head and smiled. They were so very much in love and it was heart-warming to see them together. ‘I think you’ll have more than enough to think about by the sounds of things,’ she said. She spotted Jess and Bea giggling to one side of the group and went to join them.
‘What am I missing?’ she asked, their amusement infectious.
‘Did you ever discover what was behind that locked door?’ Bea asked.
Jess shook her head and gave Izzy a puzzled look. ‘No, actually, we didn’t. Iz, why haven’t we got round to getting a locksmith to unlock that door?’
Izzy shrugged. ‘I don’t know. It was your gran’s house, not mine.’ She’d often wondered what was kept in the room they’d discovered by accident months after Jess’s gran had died.
Bea shook her head. ‘You two are useless sometimes. How can you spend years visiting a place, then move into it and miss a room?’
‘To be fair,’ Izzy said, ‘there was always a wardrobe in front of it and we only found the door when Jess decided to repaper the spare bedroom and moved it.’
‘What about that extra window? How did you manage to miss that?’
‘A few weeks after we’d found the door to the room a neighbour was helping us prune the apple tree. That’s when we found the window hidden behind the branches and realized the cupboard must be a room.’
‘Well, if you like I could pop round one evening,’ Luke offered, ‘see if I can do anything with it. I can’t promise anything, but it might save you getting a locksmith.’
‘Fantastic!’ Jess said. ‘We badly need the space. We really should have got around to this before, but we’re always so busy.’
‘I’ll come over tomorrow just after supper time if that suits you both?’
‘We’ll make sure it does,’ Jess joked. ‘Although can you imagine if it’s just a room full of spiders and dust, we’ll be well disappointed.’
Chapter Fifteen
They arrived home an hour later, tired but happy.
‘I think this is going to be our best wedding yet,’ Izzy pronounced. ‘I can feel it.’
‘Bugger the wedding,’ Jess said, slumping down in her favourite armchair. ‘What about you and Ed?’
‘What about us?’
‘What where you talking about? Your conversation looked pretty intense.’
‘Not that you were watching us, or anything,’ Izzy teased.
‘Well, it did.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘He likes you, Iz, I’m sure of it.’
‘I think you’re imagining things, Jess.’
Jess went to argue, but Izzy held up her hand. ‘Stop right there, I don’t want to go over and over the same thing,’ Izzy said. ‘Especially when it’s obviously pointless.’
‘What makes you think it’s pointless?’
Izzy sighed. ‘I just do. Tea?’ she asked, determined to distract Jess.
‘Go on, then, misery guts.’
Izzy filled the kettle and put it on, then headed back to the living room. ‘It was kind of Luke to offer to open that door for us, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes, very. I hope he manages to, although I don’t want him to damage the door, it’s very old; my grandmother said two centuries.’
‘I wonder if it was your gran or her mum who closed off the room?’ Izzy asked as the kettle finished boiling. She went to make their drinks, relishing the thought of a cup of tea despite the heat of the evening, and carried them through to the small living room.
Jess took her cup and leaned back in the chair, yawning. ‘Your mum said she’d look into it. She seemed to think there was some sort of intrigue about Great-gran. She died before I was born, but Gran gave me the impression that she was very sad for some reason.’
Izzy couldn’t wait to find out more. ‘I’ll phone Mum tomorrow, try and chase her up a bit.’
‘Hell, its hot today,’ Jess moaned. ‘I hope this weather cools a bit by Saturday, otherwise those poor guests are going to melt in their fascinators.’
They were just finishing their drinks when there was a knock on the door. The girls had barely had time to give each other questioning glances when Alex walked in.
‘You could have waited to be let in,’ Izzy teased.
Jess’s face reddened. She made an excuse to go and finish sorting non-existent washing.
‘To what do we owe this honour?’ Izzy asked motioning for him to take a seat.
‘I caught Luke down at Bonne Nuit earlier. He said you and Ed seemed to be arguing about something, and I thought you should know a bit more about him.’
‘And?’
‘Did he tell you he was once married to Marie?’
‘Yes,’ she said.
He looked satisfied with her answer. ‘I didn’t know you and he were getting close.’
She sighed. ‘We’re not. Thanks, but I know more than enough.’
‘But …’
‘No,’ she said standing up. ‘I appreciate you’re looking out for me, but I’m not interested in Ed in any way other than as a friend.’
He didn’t look convinced. ‘Sit down. I don’t want to argue with you about this. I just want to speak to you.’
It dawned on her what must have happened. ‘Mum asked you to come, didn’t she?’
He shook his head.
‘Rubbish, I know she did. Well, you can tell her I’m fine. I’m also twenty-four and not an idiot. I can figure out for myself whether or not the guy I’m interested in is a nutter or not.’
‘You said …’
‘I know, and I’m not interested in him. So, as I’m standing now, do you want a beer or something else, or not?’
He laughed. ‘I’ll take a beer.’ He peered through to the kitchen. ‘Where’s Jess gone?’
Izzy went to fetch a beer from the fridge. ‘No idea. She’ll be back in a bit though, I should think. Why?’
‘No reason.’
Now here was something, Izzy thought. Maybe Alex had finally realized that Jess liked him. Izzy only just resisted smiling at the thought of how switched off her brother could be at times. And how he seemed oblivious to Jess’s infatuation with him.
‘I’ll go and find her,’ she said.
‘Great, it’ll be good to see her again,’ he said, opening the can and settling back down in the chair.
Izzy bent down to whisper to him. ‘Don’t mention anything about Ed and Marie being married once, I haven’t told her.’
His mouth dropped open. ‘So now who’s keeping secrets?’
‘Leave it, Alex. I will tell her, just not yet.’
‘Fine, whatever.’
Satisfied that he would keep quiet, Izzy went through to the tiny hallway and called up the stairs for Jess. ‘Come and say hi to Alex,’ she called. ‘He’s wondering where you’ve got to.’
Jess stomped to the top of the stairs and peered down. ‘Why? He’s never asked to speak to me before,’ she said.
Izzy smiled. ‘He just wants to say hi. Come down when you’ve finished whatever you’re doing up there.’
Jess didn’t reply but went back to her room. Izzy headed to the living room again. ‘She’s coming in a minute. Why are you so interested in where Jess is anyway?’
It was his turn to look uncomfortable. ‘No reason,’ he said not meeting her gaze. ‘You’re together most of the time, so I just assumed she’d be here now.’
‘That’s rubbish, and you know it,’ she teased.
He glanced at the door, presumably checking that Jess wasn’t in hearing distance and leaned closer to Izzy. ‘I’m not sure what’s got in to me, Iz, but for some reason I can’t stop thinking about her.’
Izzy stared at him, and his tanned face reddened.
‘Stop staring at me like that.’ He puffed out his cheeks then rubbed his unshaven chin roughly. ‘I don’t know why, it’s not like me at all. I think it was when Roman rang me the other day and he was going on about her.’
‘Roman called? What did he want?’ Izzy knew she was changing the subject, but didn’t want to continue this conversation when Jess could walk in the room at any moment.
‘Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing, Iz,’ Alex said, raising an eyebrow. ‘But if you really want to know why Roman called, it was because he wanted to know how things were with you two and if Catherine was causing trouble yet.’
‘Catherine?’ A heavy sense of foreboding crept up through her body like a virus. Izzy dreaded Alex’s next words.
‘I thought you might not have seen her,’ He took a few gulps of his beer.
‘Seen her?’
‘Look, um …’ he said, standing up as if he’d changed his mind about being there.
‘Go on, tell me,’ she said.
‘Tell you what?’ Jess asked from the doorway, her arms filled with linens.
Alex leapt up and went to take them from her. ‘Where do you want these putting?’ he asked.
Jess glanced at Izzy. She looked stunned by this uncharacteristic gentlemanliness. ‘Um, on that table will be fine, thanks.’
Izzy pointed to the armchair Alex had just vacated. ‘I think you’re going to need to sit down for what’s coming next.’ Jess sat and Izzy looked back at her brother. ‘Alex, tell us.’
‘Catherine was so cross when Ed left the cruise that she had a row with that drippy husband of hers and caught the next ferry home.’
Jess groaned. ‘So her husband is still on the dreamboat with the others?’
Alex nodded. ‘Wouldn’t you be? I should think he’s pleased to see the back of her.’
Jess looked at Izzy. ‘Ed must have seen her, surely? He could have said something to us about her being back at the manor.’
Izzy couldn’t agree more. There was too much riding on the success of this wedding for her to want to chance any hiccups with Catherine.
‘It’ll be fine,’ Izzy said, trying to reassure her friend. ‘Maybe she’ll want to make amends like she said before we left France. You never know.’
‘Really?’ Jess stood, hands on hips. ‘You really think that Miss Higher-Than-Mighty Bloody Runaway is even going to be aware how much damage she could potentially do to us?’
Izzy couldn’t argue with what she was saying and Jess knew her far too well to be fobbed off with lies. ‘Of course not, but we know what she’s capable of.’
‘And Ed will be there to keep an eye open for her doing anything she shouldn’t,’ Alex said.
Both girls glared at him. ‘You would think so, wouldn’t you?’ Izzy said. It was her turn to be furious and the mention of Ed’s name was the flame that lit her emotional fuse.
‘He’s a good bloke, sis,’ Alex said frowning. ‘He wouldn’t let her do anything to harm your business.’
Jess laughed. ‘I hope not, but anyway, Izzy is having breakfast with the gorgeous-looking best man tomorrow morning, so I think she’s probably had enough of Ed for the time being.’
‘What are you going on about?’ Izzy asked. ‘He asked me to help with his speech.’
Alex finished his beer, swallowing the last few mouthfuls and carrying his can out to the waste bin. ‘Before you two start bickering, I’ll get going,’ he said.
He popped his head around the doorframe. ‘Next time I’ll make sure someone else breaks bad news to you two.’ He laughed. ‘You’re both pretty scary, do you know that?’
‘Rubbish,’ Izzy said, standing up to give him a hug. ‘Thanks for coming to see us. We do appreciate it, even if we hide it well.’
Chapter Sixteen
The following morning Izzy was woken by her mobile making a racket next to her head. At first she thought it was the alarm, then she realized someone was trying to call. She picked it up. ‘Mum, are you OK?’ she asked, her voice hoarse.
‘Yes, darling. Why are you still in bed, it’s seven o’clock. Surely you should be up and dressed by now?’
‘I’m not, though.’
‘No need to sound rude, Isabelle. My damn van has packed up and I’m in a hurry to get to Devil’s Hole to deliver to a client.’
‘Devil’s Hole?’
‘Well, near there,’ she explained. ‘It’s her husband’s birthday today and she wants it ready for when he flies back to the island. He’s been away on business and …’
‘Mum, please, enough,’ Izzy said. ‘Can’t you ask Alex to help?’
‘I have, Isabelle, but he doesn’t have a van. I need your van, now, are you going to come and help me or not?’
Not willing to spend the next decade listening to her mother ranting about her lack of support in times of crisis, Izzy s
at up and said. ‘Fine, I’ll be there as soon as possible.’
Her mother rang off and Izzy struggled to think how to contact Dan to cancel their breakfast. Eventually, having phoned Lacey, who gave her Jack’s number, who gave her Dan’s number, she got hold of him and arranged to chat to him later over the phone. ‘So sorry to do this to you, Dan, she said, ‘but I have to help my mother deliver a sculpture this morning.’
He was very sweet and even offered to help. ‘No, it’s fine, thanks,’ she said. ‘My brother will be there.’
Soon she was pulling into her mother’s small driveway.
‘Where have you been? I’ve tried to call you several times.’ Cherry’s hair was sticking out at all angles between a lime green silk scarf woven roughly around her head.
‘I came as quickly as humanly possible,’ Izzy said, trying not to snap. Her mother was obviously stressed. ‘Right, you open the back of the van and I’ll help Alex lift it inside.’
‘Have you any idea how heavy these creations of mine are?’
‘Heavy, then?’
‘Very.’
‘So how are we going to carry it?’ she asked looking around for something to help them move it to the van.
‘The boys are sorting it out right now,’ Cherry said, looking at Izzy as if she was completely stupid as she opened the van’s back doors. ‘Here they are.’
‘Shit, Ma,’ Alex puffed, red in the face from exertion. ‘This monster weighs a bloody ton.’
‘He’s not a monster,’ Cherry said loudly. ‘The sculpture is called The Man.’
‘Yeah, whatever.’ Alex puffed out his cheeks. He was carrying one end backwards out of the cottage. Izzy barely had time to wonder who could be at the other end when Ed stepped forward, not quite so red in the face as her brother, but still struggling a bit under the enormous weight.
‘We’ll tie it with these old sheets,’ Cherry said, inspecting it for damage. ‘I want this to reach the client in perfect condition.
Alex rubbed his hands against his jeans and looked across at Izzy. She could tell he was trying not to be rude about the likeness of the unattractive man their mother had spent hours perfecting.
The Jersey Scene series box set Page 80
