'You're not going anywhere, Hettie Burnstall. You're staying in the spare room tonight and until we're sure you're fine. Either we can go and feed Prince Gustav, or if he's in a cage or something that we can bring here, that's what we'll do.'
'Yes, he's in a cage. But you'd bring him here to me? You'd do that? You'd have a rat in your home?'
'He wouldn't be the first rat I've let into my home, Hettie. Although that one had two legs, not four. But, yes of course we'd do that. When Ella and Garrick get back from Justin's we'll get Prince Gustav for you.'
'You're just like dear Matilda. She would've done the same. Not everyone would you know, deary. Not everyone is as kind as they like to pretend they are.'
'I think that's Garrick now,' Mia said, hearing Garrick's laugh. She went to the front door and let him in. 'I locked it. Oh, hello Justin. It's lovely to see you.'
'I hear there's been some excitement,' he said, grinning at her as he walked into the hall. 'In case you're curious, I didn't bet on whether you'd stay or go and I didn't guess who gets the lot if you leave. And no, I don't know who spread that news. Ella's already grilled me. I can understand why you're upset, but they didn't mean any harm. We're a friendly, close-knit community and we try to welcome strangers but it takes a while to get to know someone. We may do things you wouldn't and vice versa. Is it really worth falling out over?'
'What about the frog and the flowers?'
He shrugged, saw Hettie on the living room sofa and waved at her. 'It's all happening here, isn't it? I don't know what the frog and flowers mean and I accept that's a bit creepy. I don't know who would do a thing like that in Little Pondale. But I'll keep my eyes open and my ear to the ground and if I discover anything, I'll let you know. In the meantime, try to forget about it. Garrick will take care of you, I don't have any doubt about that. As long as Alexia doesn't kill him, that is. That woman's got a bit of a temper. And I'm speaking from experience. But it'll blow over soon enough. She'll be all hell fire and fury for a day or so and then she'll be as sweet as pie again. Take my word for that.'
Chapter Twelve
Hettie and Prince Gustav stayed at Sunbeam Cottage until Saturday and there were no further 'incidents' during that time. They only left then because Hettie insisted she didn't want to overstay her welcome.
'I'm as right as ninepence, deary and it's time I went home. I haven't seen or heard from Hector since I've been here and I miss him, deary. I know I'll have to get used to that once he starts his new life, but until then, I want to make the most of our little chats. You understand, deary, don't you?'
Mia didn't. Talking to the dead wasn't something she believed in, but it was obvious that Hettie did, so Mia went along with it for her sake.
'Of course. But we'll pop in to check on you and you can call us on the landline at any time, night or day if you feel even a tiny bit unwell.'
Mia and Garrick still hadn't been on a date but they had shared a few lovely kisses, each one more passionate than the last, and now that Hettie was going home, and Ella was going to Justin's Saturday night show in a village thirty miles away, Mia was hoping she and Garrick would share more than just kisses on Saturday night.
None of them had been to the pub, or so much as seen any of the locals other than Justin – which was odd bearing in mind the size of Little Pondale, but apart from Mia's daily walks along the beach with Garrick, none of them had been out much. Mia had spent a lot of the time looking through Mattie's attic room and safe for the missing photo, as well as clues to Mattie's life, but found neither. She also spent a considerable number of hours, sitting in the sunshine in the garden with Hettie and Prince Gustav. To her surprise, she was growing rather fond of both of them and Hettie shared more snippets of her conversations with Mattie, but nothing threw any light on the ongoing mystery. In the evenings, all of them sat on the decking, drinking wine. Ella had been working, having been sent a children's book to edit, which meant she was in her element. Children's books were her favourites and Garrick said that was because Ella was just a big kid herself, which Ella didn't deny. Garrick had been working too. He had an order for a baby's cot which he was crafting out of oak, with intricate designs at its head and foot.
After Mia and Garrick had accompanied Hettie and Prince Gustav home and made sure the two of them were settled in, Garrick had gone to the shed to continue with the cot and Mia had taken him coffee just before noon. She marvelled as she watched him work.
'I love what you can do with your hands,' she said.
He stopped and pulled her into his arms. 'I hope you'll be saying that tonight.'
He kissed her deeply and let his hands give her a taste of what she could expect.
'Bloody Nora,' she said, breathlessly grinning up at him, her heart pounding in her chest when he eased himself away. 'If that was anything to go by, I won't be saying much at all, except, perhaps, don't stop.' She gave him a questioning look. 'Why did you?'
'Stop?' he queried, with a devilish grin. 'Because I don't want a garden shed to be the first place we make love and if I'd carried on, I think we both know that's what would've happened.'
Mia ran a finger down the front of his T-shirt. 'Ella's busy working on the book and Hettie's gone. We could go upstairs right now. I think I'm pretty good with my hands too.'
His grin broadened. 'I don't doubt that for a second and believe me, I'd like nothing better, but I need to get this finished and once you and I get into bed, I don't think either of us will be getting out for a couple of days at least. I'll have this done by this evening and then I can give you my undivided attention. Is that okay with you?'
She let out a long, dramatic sigh. 'I suppose it'll have to be. But you'd better make the wait worthwhile, Garrick Swann, I'm telling you that right now.'
He pulled her back into his arms and smiled down at her. 'I promise you, Mia Ward, it'll be worthwhile. It'll be like all your birthdays and mine have come at once.' He kissed her again and if that kiss was anything to go by, he was probably right.
She eased herself away. 'I'd better go then. The sooner you finish that baby's cot, the sooner you can jump into mine.' She turned to leave but he grabbed her fingers in his.
'Mia?' He looked serious all of a sudden.
'Yes?'
'Do you want kids?'
She sniggered. 'Right now?'
He shook his head and looked her directly in the eye, all hint of amusement gone, and a furrow of concern creased his brow.
'I'm serious. You do want kids, don't you? You want a family?'
She moved closer to him and placed her hands flat against his chest. He slid his arms around her as if he were frightened she might break.
'Yes. Of course I do. But why the sudden question? Why the concern?'
He shook his head again and took a deep breath and when Mia looked into his eyes, there was a definite hint of sadness about them.
'Because I want kids more than anything in the world. Having a family is incredibly important to me. The most important thing, in fact.'
'O-kay,' she said tentatively. This was a worrying turn of events and definitely not something she'd seen coming. 'Um. That's fine. That's great, even. But why are you asking me this now?'
He sighed deeply. 'Because that's the reason Fiona and I broke up. She didn't want kids. She wanted her career. She just forgot to mention it until the day that I proposed.'
Mia's hands dropped to her sides and her legs momentarily buckled beneath her. Had a truck just hit her in the chest? That's what it felt like. Garrick had proposed to Fiona? That was news. And not the most pleasant news either.
'Wow! I wasn't expecting that.' She stepped away from him and studied the wood shavings on the floor. Was a piece of her heart amongst them?
'I'm so sorry, Mia. I hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. Please don't back away from me. It's over. Fiona is history. You and I have a future together. I'm sure of it.'
'Because I want kids? What would've happened if I'd said no? Would you
have dumped me too?'
He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. 'It sounds awful when you say it like that, but if I'm honest then the answer has to be yes. This is so important to me, Mia.'
'Obviously. So even though you loved Fiona enough to want to marry her and, I assume, spend the rest of your life with her, because she didn't want kids, you suddenly fell out of love. Is that what you're telling me?'
'No! I still love her. Loved her. I still loved her when I came here. I told you that. That's why I acted like a jerk with Alexia. Jesus! I'm screwing this up, aren't I?'
'Frankly, Garrick. Yes you are.'
He reached out and pulled her to him and although she wanted to push him away, she didn't. Because she also wanted to hold him and feel his arms around her. She wanted things to go back to where they had been before he'd asked that bloody question.
'That's why I had to ask you now, Mia. Before we took things further. I … I'm falling in love with you. Have fallen in love with you, I think. It would break my heart if this ended here and now. But if you'd said you didn't want kids, then it would be better to end it now than later, when it would hurt us both even more.'
'Then why didn't you ask me about kids, before you asked me out?'
Again he shook his head. 'I don't know. I wasn't thinking about kids when I rushed after you that day. All I was thinking about was how jealous I'd felt when Bear was suggesting you go back and have sex with him. And when I held you in my arms, I had to tell you how I felt. But it was you who asked me out, remember?'
'How could I forget? So in that moment, and each day since then, until right now, you had … forgotten how important kids are to you? You'd forgotten the need to ask me if I wanted them? Is there anything else you've forgotten to ask me? Do you have a checklist or something?'
'Mia! That's not fair. I'm sorry. I didn't mean this to happen. I didn't mean for us to happen. I'm so confused. But I don't have a list. I promise you.' His arms tightened about her. 'I swear to you. That's the only thing.'
'Kids? But what if there's a problem? I mean, what if one of us can't? Medically, I mean. Or should that be physically? Anyway, what I mean is, what if it's not possible for us to have kids naturally? Would you want to do all that IVF stuff? And what if that didn't work? Would you dump me after that?'
'No! Of course not!'
'Really? So even though kids mean the world to you, if it turned out we couldn't have them, you'd be okay with that? You'd still love me?'
'Yes, of course I would. And besides, we could adopt.'
'Adopt? So, it's not a matter of you needing to have your own kids? You'd be happy with any kids, just as long as there were kids?'
He nodded and smiled, as if that made things better. 'Yes, of course.'
'What if I didn't want to adopt?'
'Why wouldn't you? You said you want kids.'
'I do. I'm just asking hypothetically.'
He shifted his feet and frowned. 'Then I think we need to establish that now. I want kids, Mia. I want a family. If that's not what you want, then, as much as I care for you ... as much as I think I love you, maybe we shouldn't take it further. But please, please, say you do. I want you, Mia. I want you in my life. If you want a family too, then why is this such a stumbling block?'
She looked into his eyes and melted. What was she doing? She did want kids. Maybe not as desperately as he clearly did but she wanted them. She wanted a family. She wanted kids and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She wanted all of that. But most of all, she wanted true love. She wanted 'The One'. And right here, right now, she was pretty sure that Garrick was 'The One'.
'I do want kids, Garrick. I do. And, yes, I'd be happy to adopt. I want a family too. The only difference is, I don't think I could give up someone I loved if they didn't feel the same. It's early days between us and I can't believe we're having this conversation now, but if we do have a future together I'd need to know that you feel the same way about me. That I was really 'The One' for you, no matter what.'
'Of course,' he said, as he leant in to kiss her.
And when he did, he made her feel that perhaps she was worrying for nothing.
Perhaps, she was 'The One' for Garrick Swann.
Chapter Thirteen
Once it creeps in, doubt has a way of taking hold. And Mia was having doubts. Well just one doubt – but it was a big one.
Surely when you found 'The One', you would love them so much you would give up anything for them. Even kids. All that would matter to you would be that you were with 'The One'. Or perhaps that's what fairy tales were for. Perhaps in real life people didn't do that. But she would. She was sure of that. Yet Garrick clearly wouldn't.
All of Saturday afternoon it had niggled away at her. During the fabulous dinner Garrick cooked for them, it had munched on her brain, and later, after several passionate kisses when Garrick had carried her upstairs in a dramatically romantic gesture, it had been there between them, plucking at her heart.
Sex with Garrick was everything she knew it would be; his hands had lived up to their promise and even gone beyond and he did things to her she'd only dreamt of. His stamina would have made an Olympian proud and his attentiveness could not be faulted. She had moaned his name so many times and still he'd given more. He was the perfect lover. Caring, kind, considerate and gentle, yet demanding, possessive and passionate at the same time. His kisses made her want to weep with joy, his caresses, scream with ecstasy and when, moments before they finally fell into an exhausted sleep, he said, 'I love you, Mia.' She should have felt as if she held the universe in her arms.
But she didn't.
When twilight crept between the curtains and the first bird chirped in the tree closest to her bedroom window, she turned to look at Garrick. He was sound asleep, a contented smile lingering on his lips. She turned away, slid out of bed, threw on her dress that Garrick had tossed on the floor last night in his hurry to touch her bare flesh, and silently made her way downstairs. A stream of warm air wafted in with the promise of a hot day when she opened the back door. She grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and walked into the garden.
Birds twittered in the trees while a gentle breeze teased the leaves and flicked at the tufts of grass scattered here and there as she made her way across the soft golden sands of the dunes, grains seeping between her bare toes. Gulls swooped in the distance over the sea and when she reached the flat carpet of darker sand, it was cool beneath her feet. She walked towards the shore where tiny bubbles of white tickled the sand, and somewhere, not too far away, a dog barked, but she concentrated on the water's edge. Could she inch a little closer? She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air, plucking up her courage as her name drifted softly towards her on the summer breeze.
'Mia.'
'Jet?' Her eyes shot open. She wasn't imagining it. Jet was really here.
Excitement bubbled up inside her as she turned and watched him walk towards her. His long legs quickly covering the expanse of sand between them, his white cotton shirt billowing softly in the breeze and his dark hair dancing around his face. His jeans were wet up to his knees and he was carrying a pair of walking boots in one hand as a bundle of wet fur, flapping ears and lolling tongue ran along beside him.
He beamed at her. 'It's good to see you. And that you've overcome your fear.'
She returned his smile in kind. 'It's good to see you too. And I haven't completely overcome it, but I'm getting there. I still haven't put my feet in yet. Is that your dog?'
'No, she's my new girlfriend.' He laughed and the mellifluous sound reminded her how much she'd missed hearing it. 'And she's a great improvement on the last. She's loyal, loving, and she doesn't worry about what she eats. Although I'm not sure if that's a plus or negative. Her name's Mattie. You're not allergic to dogs, if I remember rightly. Just basic farm animals.'
'And chickens. Mattie? You've named her after my great-aunt? What made you decide to get a dog?'
'The bastard who dumped he
r in the middle of a field, tied to a post,' he growled.
'Someone dumped her? And you've adopted her?' She bent down and tickled one very wet ear and Mattie turned in circles trying to lick Mia's hand.
He nodded and his smile returned. 'People are always telling me it's time I let a female move in with me. I hear you got your man.'
'What? Oh, Garrick you mean?'
He cocked one brow. 'Is there someone else?'
'No. Of course there isn't.'
'Alexia took it well, no doubt.'
'Absolutely. She gave him a free pint.'
He grinned. 'So I heard. I also heard you've been looking after Hettie. That was very kind of you.'
'Kindness didn't come into it. She drives me nuts, but I think I'm beginning to like her. I wasn't sure about her at first, and I hated that she helped to spread those things about you. But that was really my fault. She's very lonely, you know.'
'I know. And that's not all I heard.' He looked her in the eye, suddenly serious. 'I heard that someone's been leaving you unwanted gifts. Is that true?'
She nodded. 'Yes. A frog on Monday. Dead flowers on Tuesday. But nothing since. I think someone was hoping it might scare me away.'
'A toy frog and some dead flowers? It'll take more than that to scare you away, if you're anything like Mattie. And I mean your great-aunt. Not my dog. Although you do have similar hair to my dog, especially tied back in that ponytail.'
'Thanks. How kind. You're always so charming. But you said the other day that I was nothing like my great-aunt.'
'That was because I was cross with you. I have a feeling you're very like her. She wouldn't let anyone scare her off. And I don't think you will either, will you Mia?'
'Not a toy and some flowers, no. But if I feared for my safety, or my friends' safety, I might.'
'Are you scared?' He sounded worried.
The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane_Part Two_Summer secrets Page 8
