by Alex Brown
‘Shuuushh.’ It came from someone sitting a few rows back.
A hush descended. Something was happening. April felt a fizz of excitement mingled with anticipation. And then a door opened. Two men in black suits with curly plastic security wires hanging from their ears walked in and down the aisle, and she swore they were scanning each and every one of the people here today. Next a group of Beefeaters arrived, looking resplendent in their distinctive red-and-gold regalia as they took seats to the side of the stage area.
And then they saw her!
The Queen.
Dressed in a royal-red dress coat. Sensible black heels and matching bag. Her silvery, white hair looking exactly as it did on the telly. April caught her breath, she wouldn’t class herself as an ardent royalist, but still … this was a momentous occasion and seeing the Queen standing just a few feet away from her was everything, plus more, that she could ever have imagined. And any moment now, April was going to wheel her great aunt Edie over to accept the medal from Her Majesty on Winnie’s behalf. April swallowed hard, and made a mental note to make sure she curtsied, exactly as she had practised earlier this morning in Winnie’s old attic bedroom with its faded rose-print-papered walls. After that, April had sat on the cast-iron bed and taken out Winnie’s very first diary, and next to her name on the first page had written ‘SOE’ before pressing the diary to her chest and saying a few private words to her great aunt Winnie.
*
After the photographer had finished taking pictures outside the palace, and a car had brought them here to the SOE memorial on Albert Embankment, April felt a little tug on the side of her coat.
‘What is it, Aunty?’ She bent down to hear what Edie had to say.
‘Will you help me up please, my dear?’
‘Are you sure?’ April glanced over at Nancy who was busy chatting to Hettie and Marigold. She caught April’s eye and came over to join them.
‘What’s the matter?’ Nancy asked.
‘Edie wants to stand up.’
‘And walk!’ Edie announced, pressing her hands on the arms of the wheelchair as if to propel herself up and forward into a standing position. April and Nancy quickly moved to either side of her and slipped a hand under Edie’s spindly elbows. ‘Thank you my dears.’ Edie steadied herself and then told them, ‘Now, help me over to the statue, will you please.’
April didn’t need telling twice, so after lifting the heart-shaped wreath made by Gray’s sister, Jen, the florist, from the abundance of fresh violets that now carpeted the woodland area in Tindledale, where Winnie would have walked with Colonel Finch and been presented with the violet that she had pressed inside her diary, she looped it over her arm and then carefully assisted her aunt. They reached the marble memorial with the statue of Violette Szabo on top – the courageous SOE who had also been shot dead by the Germans.
Great Aunt Edie stopped. ‘Do you have the card?’
‘Yes, here it is.’ April quickly pinned it on to the wreath.
‘Thank you.’ And Edie took the wreath and held it in her arms for a moment. After kissing the palm of her hand and placing it over the top of the largest violet, she handed the wreath to April to place at the foot of the memorial. Then, in a moment of perfect clarity, April’s great aunt said, ‘Farewell, my darling Winnie. Fearless and brave always. Lots of love from your proud sister, Edie,’ and then paused, turned her face to April and added, ‘and our wonderful, kind and caring great niece, April … who looks exactly like you, my darling … and is just as brave too. In fact, your bedroom is hers now, my dear sister, and she understands the true magic of our wonderful home, how it heals, restores, makes one whole again … the secret of Orchard Cottage. It’s such a shame that you didn’t make it back home, but your spirit will always live on inside the cottage and outside too in the glorious orchards all around.’
Edie fixed her eyes on April as she clasped her hand and gave it a squeeze. April nodded, smiled and enveloped her aunt in her arms. It was true, April had discovered the secret of Orchard Cottage.
*
Later, having arrived safely back in Tindledale, Nancy was sitting with Edie, playing rummy and enjoying a snowball before bedtime, so April took the opportunity to wander outside to think about the eventful day. It was a lovely, fresh evening, with the navy night sky streaked with smudges of red, orange and gold as the sun faded over the tips of the apple trees on the horizon. She pulled her cardy in around her body and wandered towards the meadow section of the garden where the wild flowers were, along with Gray’s roses. And caught her breath as she came around the corner. The sight before her was spectacular, magical, and quite romantic.
Chinese paper lanterns on metal rods pushed into the grass were swaying in the gentle breeze, each one flickering and twinkling with the light from a candle, the air filled with the heady scent of jasmine. A rustling noise momentarily startled April. She swivelled on her heel, and then clasped her hands up to her cheeks.
‘Matt!’
‘Sooo … what do you think, my love?’ Grinning, he walked towards her.
‘Um …’ April was lost for words. And then she spotted the cast-iron bench placed behind Gray’s glorious orange roses which were now nearly waist-height.
‘Did you make that?’ April walked over to the bench, and after standing behind it, she ran a hand along the top, feeling the craftsmanship, time and love that had gone into making it. Matt nodded, making his dark curls dip over his forehead and into those delicious dark-green eyes of his.
‘Yep. Of course I did,’ he laughed, ‘and the lantern holders. I don’t do just horseshoes you know.’ He winked and tilted his head to one side.
‘It’s incredible. And very wonderful … just like you.’ April beamed, and relished the fizzy feeling inside her stomach. They had been together properly now for a while and although it was still early days, she knew she was falling in love with Matt. Whenever she was with him, she felt relaxed, comfortable and happy … and it was like she had known him for ages, which she now knew she actually had.
‘Well, that’s handy then …’ Matt teased, ‘because I think you’re pretty wonderful too!’ He stepped in closer. ‘And I thought it would be nice for you to have somewhere special to remember Gray for always.’ And he slipped his hand around April’s and squeezed it tight before pulling her into him and enveloping her in one of his enormous hugs. As she lifted her lips to his, April no longer felt lost as she had that time by the roadside. It was as if Matt, the boy who had kissed her first, had found her again and helped her find a way forward. With him. Here in Tindledale, where the secret of Orchard Cottage could sprinkle its magic all over the next chapter in her life …
EPILOGUE
Next year …
Summertime, and glorious tendrils of sunlight danced through the apple trees as they all sang happy birthday to April, who was seated at one end of the food-laden trestle table in the big orchard with an enormous candle-lit cake in front of her. Darby and Joan were shading under a large pear tree nearby, their tails swishing from side to side as they merrily chomped away on a pile of carrots. The muddy-bottomed sheep were wandering around, oblivious to the celebrations.
‘Don’t forget to make a wish,’ Nancy said, and they all cheered and clapped as April blew out the candles. Nancy was sitting to the left of her holding Pete’s hand, having recently moved in with him. After the bungalow in Basingstoke had been sold and the proceeds split three ways, Nancy had used her share to set up her own fire-safety training business, working from one of the outbuildings on Pete’s farm, in addition to being a retained firefighter attached to Tindledale fire station. Freddie, after travelling the world, had settled in New Zealand, not far from where his mum lived.
April looked around and felt so incredibly happy. Everyone was here. Matt to her right, with her other stepdaughter, Bella, beside him, and quite grown up she was now too. The transformation in her after they had moved her to the new school was incredible – Bella was now vivacious an
d happy, and with her heart set on a textiles course at the college in Market Briar. And she had worked wonders with the horses, hand-feeding them back to health, and the gypsy wagon, over in the far corner, was a yarnbombed extravaganza, completely covered in knitwear, with a lovely outdoor seating area flanked with bunting and screened by honeysuckle-clad trellises. April gave Bella a wink as she lifted her now shoulder-length hair and dipped her head to blow out the candles. Next to Bella was her friend, Josh, with his mum, Molly (April’s best friend) beside him – thankfully she had left Stinker, the ferret, at home, which April was eternally grateful for, especially as Molly had tried to sneak him along on their spa day recently by concealing him in her tote. Luckily, April had smelt Stinker before the Beetle had pulled away from outside the butchers’ shop and had hastily insisted he be left at home.
Further around the table were Hettie, Marigold and Deedee, the latter wearing a bodycon boob-tube topped off with an enormous floppy sun hat. To her side was the general with his guest, Charlie, who had just published his book detailing the incredible story of Colonel Finch, SOE commander and his special agent … Code Name Pauline, aka Winifred Lovell. Charlie had also managed to enlist the help of an expert cryptologist who worked in MI5 to crack the codes that Winnie and Finch had devised all those years ago. It was extremely complicated, but fascinating when the expert had revealed the true meaning of the message in the letter to Hettie, something about taking the first letter of each word, ignoring the ‘T’s and then applying the first code, so … ‘Treasure this book always, for it will stand the test of time’ actually meant … ‘Pauline’, Winnie’s code name. And then when the second code was applied to that random line in Winnie’s diary, ‘It is a mark of ill-breeding to draw your gloves on in the street!’ it was revealed as meaning … ‘my life for yours’, which April thought was the most poignant and courageous thing that she had ever read. Winnie had specifically written the code in the letter to Hettie as a clue for her family and friends, knowing full well that she might never make it back home and hoping it would be discovered if she didn’t … and she was prepared to give her life to the war effort in order to save others, her family and friends and everyone else. She truly was a remarkable woman, and April had since had a tapestry made with the ‘gloves’ line on, which hung in the hallway of Orchard Cottage as a reminder for evermore.
Opposite Charlie and the general was Harvey, who was pouring his very chic wife, Katrina, a large glass of iced cider before planting a big kiss on her lips, making her blush and then rest her head on his shoulder. April caught Harvey’s eye and gave him a discreet nod; they had become very good friends now and she hadn’t once had to tell Katrina about Harvey misbehaving, and long may that continue.
‘Are you OK, love?’ It was Matt. He leant in and placed a warm hand on April’s thigh, the sun glinting against the white gold of his wedding ring. Last summer it had been – a simple ceremony beside the stream where they had first made eye contact, all those years ago. Him fishing, her riding her bike in the white cotton dress. They had the photo of April framed on the wall too as a memento of that precious moment in time.
‘I couldn’t be happier, sweetheart,’ April said, giving him a kiss.
‘Hey, you two … enough of that,’ Bella chipped in, grinning as she swivelled in her seat and leant around Matt. ‘Here, you haven’t opened my present yet, April.’ Bella scooted out of her seat and after elbowing her dad out of the way she gave her lovely stepmum a huge hug, wished her ‘Happy birthday’ and proudly placed a purple tissue-wrapped parcel on the table in front of her. Tied up with sparkly silver ribbon, it was gorgeous. April squeezed Bella’s hand.
‘Thank you, sweetheart. What is it?’
‘Open it and see …’ Bella clapped her hands together with glee.
April did, and gasped. Inside was the most exquisite hand-knitted satin white lace baby set, the bootees barely bigger than the palms of her hands.
‘Oh Bella, it’s perfect. Thank you.’ Cupping Bella’s face in her hands, April gave her a big kiss on her forehead. ‘Look Matt, it’s for the baby.’
‘It’s lovely, Bells.’ Matt pulled a face and ducked as his daughter pretended to swipe him one. ‘But what I want to know is … will it fit?’ He turned to April. ‘Are you sure we only have one baby in there?’ And he picked up the little matinee jacket and held it against April’s enormous baby bump. Due any minute, she was the size of a small thatched cottage, to be fair. But over the moon at this unexpected surprise, and just in the nick of time … April had never allowed herself to dream of having a baby at this age, but was absolutely delighted to be building a new family of her very own, especially now that her dear aunt Edie was no longer with them. She had passed away peacefully in her sleep, having finished a final round of rummy and a large snowball only hours earlier, which April had thought very fitting.
‘What are you saying?’ April batted his arm away.
‘Nothing, my love, nothing at all.’ He kissed the top of her hand, and then carefully placed the tiny jacket back inside the tissue paper.
April took a sip of her iced pear cordial. It was a new line that they were trialling with the organic cider producer, and it tasted delicious, which was wonderful given that Orchard Cottage had enjoyed another bumper crop this year, and next year looked to be just as fruitful too. Business was booming and April had used the income from the orchards to rebuild the barn and renovate the cottage, the surrounding gardens and the lane, plus was in the process of kitting Darby and Joan out with a proper paddock and stable block. And the two old horses were flourishing these days, Joan in particular looked especially beautiful since Bella had braided the scarlet ribbon from Gray’s trug of roses through her bridle, making it flare out in the breeze whenever Joan mustered up some energy and got a bit of a gallop on. It was a glorious sight to see.
Smiling, April looked at all the happy faces around her, the laughter and smiles, and then raised her glass up to the sky as a toast to her dear aunt Edie, to thank her for sharing the secret of Orchard Cottage.
‘Ooh, I almost forgot. Aunty Jen asked me to give you this!’ Nancy rummaged inside her bag and then handed April a cream-coloured envelope.
‘Thank you darling.’
April slipped the tip of her index finger under the flap at the edge, pulled out the letter and read the words.
Happy Birthday, Dear April.
Another year has passed since our last goodbye and I truly hope that you took my advice and seized every day, my darling, and that you are happy and loved by someone new. I’m sure you won’t need flowers from me any more so I’m going to bow out gracefully and say thank you for loving me and being by my side through it all.
Love always,
Gray xxx
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Hello my dear reader, I really hope you enjoyed The Secret of Orchard Cottage. It was such an emotional and special book for me to write for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it’s the first book I have written with multi-viewpoints, which was a little scary at first, but as I got into the swing of it, it was thoroughly enjoyable writing from Matt’s perspective, and April’s story, whilst a tragic one, was intended to be uplifting and inspiring too. And of course, Edie’s decline was incredibly emotional to write at times. Dementia and Alzheimer’s are something that all of us fear and through the course of my research I became aware of how harrowing these cruel diseases can be. Not only for the person living with the illness, but for the family and carers too, who do a relentless yet remarkable job in caring for that person, often with little acknowledgement or support.
However, it is Winnie’s story that was the most joyous and yet conversely poignant to write. I have always felt inspired by and in awe of the many ordinary women who so courageously carried out extraordinary activities during the Second World War, in particular the Special Operations Executives. I really hope that I have managed in a small way within this book to recognize the utterly selfless courage that these women posses
sed. Without their sterling efforts, our world today would be a very different place, but instead, other ordinary women like us now have so much more freedom and liberty to achieve our own extraordinary things.
As a tribute to two ordinary women in particular, both SOE’s who did extraordinary things during the Second World War – one being Violette Szabo who, like our heroine Winnie Lovell, was also shot by the Nazis, and Nancy Wake, who miraculously made it back home and lived to the sterling age of ninety-eight − I have peppered in a few secret references throughout the story, as follows:
Winnie Lovell is named after Winnie Wilson, Violette Szabo’s best friend. As is April Wilson, our main character.
April’s stepdaughter, Nancy, is named after Nancy Wake and the pressed violet flower that Finch gave to Winnie after their walk in the woods is significant for two reasons: firstly as a little clue to the name, Violette, (Szabo) and of course the violet is also the bravest, hardiest little heart-shaped flower. As, indeed, was our heroine who opens the story in the bedroom of Orchard Cottage, in the little village of Tindledale in 1941: Winifred Lovell SOE. A truly remarkable woman.
Luck and love,
Alex xx
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This is my sixth novel and whilst it explores some very serious themes I do hope it warms your heart and leaves you feeling uplifted. My first thanks as always go to all of you, my darling friends from around the world, who chat to me on Facebook and Twitter, or who send emails with pictures of your knitting and crocheting, or chatty messages about what’s going on in your lives and how my books have played a part in helping you through the good times and bad. You’re all magnificent and your kindness and cheerleading spur me on – writing books can get lonely sometimes, but having you all is like a family of sorts and that is something very special indeed. I really couldn’t do any of this without you. You mean the world to me and make it all worthwhile. Thank you so very much. xxx
