Miss Moonshine's Emporium of Happy Endings: A feel-good collection of heartwarming stories

by Helena Fairfax

  ‘I doubt it. Colin has some kind of stomach bug. He won’t be in all day.’

  Colin was the other weatherman at the local TV station where James now worked. Laura had met him. He was a nice man. It was a shame he was ill.

  If he was ill.

  James read her doubt. ‘It’s work, Laura.’ His tone sharpened. ‘Do you want to check my call log?’ Angrily he offered his phone.

  ‘No,’ she said quickly, knowing she had to trust him. Without trust she may as well pack her bag now.

  His gaze softened and he pulled her close. ‘I won’t let you down again,’ he whispered. ‘I love you too much.’

  She loved him too. They might have been through the wringer in recent months but their lives were back on track now. She had to believe that.

  ‘How do I look?’ he asked, standing back and flashing his twinkling TV-weatherman smile.

  She laughed. ‘Great.’

  She could tell he was eager to be off now. ‘What will you do all day? Carry on with the unpacking?’

  They had only moved in a couple of weeks ago. There was plenty to do but the sun was shining and she was tired of being cooped up. ‘I’ll probably go out.’

  ‘Make something nice for dinner. You know what Mum’s like.’ He kissed her and was gone.

  Laura wandered around the new house. The main rooms were fairly habitable, though there were still piles of boxes waiting to be unpacked. The bed in the spare room still had to be made up for James’s mother’s visit, and Laura’s new studio needed to be set up, but today, the sunshine called. She grabbed her car keys.

  The nearest town, Haven Bridge, was pretty and picturesque and, this early in the year, not too full of tourists.

  Happily exploring the quirky shops, Laura almost missed Miss Moonshine’s boutique. Once spotted, though, the display in the window drew her like a magnet. A bell tinkled as she pushed the door open.

  The subtle scent of incense and essential oils reached her and she breathed deeply; her kind of shop.

  A tiny woman in a flowing, sleeveless lace gown was dusting the displays with what looked like an ostrich feather. A glittering black hairband scraped her silvery hair back off her face. Her eyebrows were arched and high. Miss Moonshine presumably. She nodded to Laura, who smiled back.

  Taking her time, Laura browsed the shelves and display tables. The shop was crammed with things she desperately wanted but knew she didn’t need.

  A tiny dog, sleeping in an equally tiny basket, drew her attention. It was exquisitely detailed, a toy any child would love –

  The dog flicked an ear and she hurriedly backed away. OK, not a toy then.

  A collection of jewellery on a table caught her eye next – in particular, a delicate pendant dangling by a fine silver chain from a branch of bleached driftwood. It had an oval outer ring of silver, with a glittering blue fire opal in the centre. The way it caught the light, it resembled an eye, winking at her.

  Laura reached for it and as her fingers touched the stone she suddenly saw, not Miss Moonshine’s shop but… a garden? A party. She heard voices, laughter, glasses clinking, felt the warmth of the sun on her face, and caught the scent of newly mown grass. A border collie lying under a seat lifted its head and looked right at her, ears pricked. A dark-haired, thirty-something man working the barbecue called to her. ‘Daisy? Ready for something to eat –’

  The necklace was snatched from Laura’s hand and instantly she was back in the shop, blinking in bemusement.

  ‘No touching,’ said Miss Moonshine.

  Still dazed, Laura glanced at a sign saying, “Browsers welcome.”

  Miss Moonshine slipped behind the counter and returned with another sign. She replaced the printed, “Browsers welcome”, sign with a handwritten one that said, “No touching”.

  The image of the garden was already fading. ‘Sorry,’ Laura mumbled.

  Miss Moonshine placed the original sign and the necklace on the counter and returned to her dusting. She didn’t take her eyes off Laura.

  And Laura couldn’t take her eyes off the necklace.

  She tried. She really tried to like the other necklaces but the fire opal just seemed… better. Miss Moonshine watched with a beady eye.

  ‘Is it for sale?’ asked Laura.

  ‘Not to you, dear.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’ Only half listening, Laura sidled towards the counter. All she wanted was another look. She wouldn’t touch…

  Across the shop, Miss Moonshine cleared her throat loudly. Laura jumped, startled to find her hand stretching out towards the necklace.

  Miss Moonshine sighed. She walked back to the counter, picked up the necklace and dropped it into a little jewellery box, which she put in a bag and placed in front of Laura.

  ‘Oh, I didn’t want to buy it –’

  ‘It’s no use to anyone else now,’ said Miss Moonshine cryptically, and named a stupidly low price. ‘Just be sure to return it when it’s done with you.’

  ‘When I’m done with it?’

  ‘You heard me.’

  Laura left the shop a few minutes later, the slightly bemused owner of a cheap, but very pretty, necklace.

  She had a nice lunch, visited a gallery and got chatting to the owner, who, once he found out who she was, made a determined bid for his gallery to be allowed to host an exhibition of her paintings. Laura was flattered but non-committal. Of course recognition was always nice but, to be honest, she didn’t need the promotion, since she was lucky enough that her artwork was always in demand.

  When she returned home, James was already there.

  ‘You haven’t made up Mum’s room yet,’ he said, annoyed.

  No, she hadn’t. But then presumably, neither had he. ‘We can do it now,’ she suggested. ‘How’s Colin?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Colin. From work.’

  ‘Oh. Better. He should be back tomorrow. What have you made for dinner?’

  ‘Nothing, I –’

  ‘For heaven’s sake, Laura, what have you been doing all day?’

  ‘I went exploring,’ she said coolly. ‘And if you’d let me finish, I was about to say that since Olivia has found fault with every meal I’ve ever cooked for her, I bought dinner in the deli. Now, I’m going for a shower, if you wouldn’t mind bringing in the shopping.’

  ‘Sorry.’ He rubbed his face. ‘It’s been a long day.’

  Standing under the shower, Laura reminded herself that Olivia’s visits often led to frayed tempers. James adored his mother and always wanted everything to be perfect, whereas Laura had long since accepted she would never measure up in Olivia’s eyes.

  Was it simply the stress of Olivia’s visit that had him on edge? Or had something else happened to ruin his day?

  His phone sat on the dresser. Laura itched to check it.

  With sheer willpower she turned away and was putting her makeup on when she remembered the necklace and retrieved it from her bag, pleased to see it was every bit as pretty as she remembered. She fastened it around her neck and –

  The garden party was over. The dark-haired man from earlier cleared the tables of paper plates and wine glasses. Tanned. Good-looking. More than good-looking.

  He glanced over, his eyes a clear and piercing green. ‘Don’t get up.’ There was no sarcasm in his voice, only teasing.

  ‘Oh, I’m quite comfy here, Seth, thank you,’ a woman answered, and he laughed.

  ‘You two throw a great party.’ A second man stepped into Laura’s view.

  ‘And you never miss one,’ said Seth.

  ‘Want me to chuck these in the recycling as I leave?’ The new arrival picked up a black bin bag which clinked with bottles.

  ‘Thanks, Mark. See you Monday.’

  ‘Sure.’ Mark waved and was gone.

  ‘Look at all these leftovers,’ said the woman’s voice. ‘We won’t have to cook for a week. Oh! Bonnie!’ She scolded the dog who was circling her feet like a shark, pawing and whining. ‘Go away –’

>   ‘Laura? Laura?’

  James’s voice brought Laura sharply back. She was sitting in front of the mirror, staring unseeing at her reflection, one hand still clutching the fire opal. The light in the room had changed, which meant she had been here for some time. She hadn’t even heard James come in.

  ‘What is it?’ She blinked and shook her head to clear it. ‘Sorry, I was daydreaming.’

  ‘Mum’s here.’

  ‘Already?’ She jumped up, the dream forgotten, and followed him downstairs.

  ‘Laura. As colourful as ever, I see.’ Olivia ran a critical eye over Laura’s rainbow chiffon skirt and peasant blouse.

  ‘Lovely to see you as always, Olivia,’ said Laura.

  Olivia’s face lit up when she turned to James and she spread her arms wide to embrace her only child. ‘Just look at my handsome boy! The new job seems to suit you. You must tell me all about it and show me around your lovely new house.’

  Laura hovered for a moment but Olivia was still exclaiming over the wonder that was James. ‘I’ll just go and see to dinner, shall I?’ she said in the end, and didn’t think either of them noticed when she slipped away to the kitchen.

  Taking the deli packages from the fridge, she tipped things into pans to heat and stowed the packaging at the bottom of the bin, pretty sure Olivia would still find them. Next she splashed a generous slug of red wine into the coq au vin and added herb butter to the veg, before placing the French bread in the oven to warm. She was pouring herself a large glass of wine when James and Olivia appeared.

  ‘That smells great,’ said James. ‘Doesn’t it, Mum?’

  Olivia sniffed delicately but didn’t comment. ‘You have a lovely house,’ she told Laura. ‘Or it will be when it’s finished.’

  They had only been in two weeks. ‘Thanks,’ said Laura. ‘Can you take these through?’ She handed James some serving dishes.

  ‘The property does strike me as rather large for the pair of you,’ commented Olivia when they were seated at the table.

  ‘Only because the London flat was so small,’ countered Laura.

  ‘Maybe it’s all the outbuildings that make it seem so big.’

  One outbuilding. A workshop built by the previous owner which was destined to become Laura’s studio. It was barely bigger than a double garage.

  ‘Now James, you must tell me all about your exciting new job!’

  Excluded, Laura was happy to eat and listen and drink more wine. Until, that is, Olivia dropped her bombshell.

  ‘I have an appointment with an estate agent on Monday. If all goes well selling the house, I’ll be moving here, closer to you.’

  James was thrilled. Laura forced a smile. ‘That’s a big change,’ she murmured. ‘What made you decide?’

  ‘If you two can pack up and move halfway across the country, so can I.’ The look she gave Laura was almost a challenge. ‘I feel I need to be closer to my son.’

  Fixed smile still in place, Laura helped herself to more wine.

  Daisy

  Daisy stretched out on the sofa, her feet in Seth’s lap.

  ‘Mmmm,’ she said yawning. ‘I must have dozed off.’

  ‘Dozed?’ said Seth. ‘You’ve been snoring for hours.’

  Her favourite necklace had become caught in her hair while she slept and she tried to untangle it. Seth helped, holding her long hair while she freed the delicate fire opal.

  Daisy blinked at Match of the Day on the TV. ‘What happened at the end of the programme we were watching?’

  ‘Which one?’

  ‘The one about the woman and her awful mother-in-law.’

  ‘No idea what you are talking about,’ said Seth.

  She yawned again. ‘It was on earlier. Before I dozed off.’

  ‘Before you dozed off we were watching Star Wars. You must have been dreaming.’

  Dreaming? Daisy could still picture a man with a fake tan sitting at a dinner table holding court about his new house and his tedious new job while an older woman hung on his every word. No. Wait. There hadn’t just been two people at the table. There had been another woman there too. Daisy knew this because she had watched the entire scene through the second woman’s eyes. ‘If that’s true it was the most boring dream ever.’

  Seth laughed. ‘Cup of tea?’ he offered.

  She was fully awake now. ‘We sure know how to live it up on a Saturday night.’

  ‘We partied all afternoon. At our age that’s more than enough.’

  ‘Speak for yourself. Skip the tea, I’ll have some of that brandy Mark brought. And an early night.’

  ‘You can’t still be tired.’

  She grinned. ‘No. Not tired.’

  His smile broadened. ‘I’ll get the brandy.’

  *

  Sunday always meant breakfast in bed for Daisy and Seth. She stirred her tea, flicking through the Sunday supplements, her thoughts on Mark.

  He’d kept his distance yesterday at the party – not surprising with Seth there – but it had driven her crazy. She’d pinched his bum when he’d come into the kitchen to get some ice, laughing when he jumped away like a scalded cat.

  ‘Not here!’ he’d snapped, but his eyes glittered.

  ‘When can we meet?’ she’d whispered.

  ‘I’ll text.’

  Helping herself to more toast, Daisy casually checked her phone. No messages.

  ‘Not long now till our holiday,’ said Seth.

  Two weeks on a narrowboat was not Daisy’s idea of a holiday. ‘There’s still time to cancel,’ she said.

  He thought she was joking. ‘It’ll be fun. Do you think Bonnie will need a lifejacket?’

  Bonnie had her forepaws on the bed, and was staring intently at Daisy. ‘She’ll be a public embarrassment if she does. Actually, I was wondering about inviting some others along for part of the time.’ Mark was Seth’s best friend and business partner. Seth wouldn’t find it odd if he was one of the guests.

  ‘Really?’ He looked disappointed. ‘I was kind of looking forward to having you all to myself.’

  Ah well, it would do Mark good to miss her for a while. Absence and the heart and all that.

  Surreptitiously she checked her phone again. Nothing.

  Laura

  Laura woke late on Sunday morning, slowly emerging from another weird dream. That made three dreams about Daisy and Seth. Not a repeating dream, but each one completely different, like a soap opera playing in her head.

  She rolled over to tell James about the dreams but the other half of the bed was empty. Only then did she become aware of voices downstairs.

  When she ambled into the kitchen, James and Olivia were finishing breakfast.

  ‘Sorry, I didn’t make you anything,’ said Olivia. ‘I’m not sure when you normally get up.’

  ‘That’s OK.’

  ‘I suppose working from home you get used to sleeping late.’

  Laura let that go. Back in London she had frequently been in her rented studio hours before James got up for the office.

  ‘Mum and I thought we’d drive around, give her a feel for the local area,’ said James.

  ‘Good idea.’ Laura put the kettle on.

  ‘Want to come?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m sure Laura has plenty to do,’ said Olivia.

  ‘That’s right. I do. You two go,’ said Laura pleasantly.

  They left their dishes. So did Laura, carrying her coffee into the conservatory. There she took her necklace off and laid it carefully on the table. It could not be a coincidence that her “dreams” had started the first time she touched it.

  She stared at it from every angle. Poked the opal with a finger and suddenly the image of Seth, bare-chested and sitting up in bed with the Sunday papers, blasted into her mind.

  While it was a very nice image, she forced herself to “look” around. She could see Seth and the dog but she had no idea what Daisy looked like. In the visions, she was Daisy. Or rather, she could see what Daisy saw and hear what Daisy
said, though she only had the vaguest impression of her thoughts.

  Even more confused than ever, Laura slipped the necklace into her pocket. Tomorrow a return visit to Miss Moonshine’s shop appeared to be very much in order.

  *

  Laura survived Olivia’s barbed comments for the rest of the weekend. On Monday James was up early for work. Olivia rose even earlier to cook his breakfast. Sipping coffee, Laura could feel waves of disapproval coming off her mother-in-law, but James was a grown man. He made his own breakfast every day.

  After he had left, Olivia attempted small talk. ‘So what are your plans for the house?’

  ‘I’d like to lift all the carpets,’ said Laura. ‘Once I see what condition the floorboards are in, I’ll think about staining and varnishing them.’

  Olivia sucked air through her teeth. ‘I should imagine that will make the house very cold in winter and expensive to heat.’ She looked around the sunny kitchen. ‘What about these walls? Magnolia would make the room look bigger.’

  Laura had only finished painting the kitchen last week, in time for Olivia’s visit. The tin of primrose-yellow paint still sat on the windowsill and you could smell the new paint. ‘It’s an idea.’

  Thankfully Olivia left for her appointment with the estate agent before Laura killed her.

  Laura had planned to spend the day sorting out her studio. The thought filled her with anticipation but before starting she put her necklace on and drove into town, disappointed to find a sign in Miss Moonshine’s window declaring the shop closed for two weeks.

  Heading back to the car, she lingered for a moment on a footbridge over the canal, admiring the intricate artwork on the gaily coloured narrowboats and barges, which reminded her of Seth and Daisy’s holiday. Automatically her hand sought the necklace –

  Daisy

  On her way to work Daisy had checked her phone repeatedly, increasingly annoyed that there was still nothing from Mark. Of course, working alongside Seth made things difficult for him.

  Daisy loved Seth. He was a good man, thoughtful and generous, good to look at, and a good provider. She would never, ever leave him, but she had never been able to resist the adrenaline rush of an affair. The fact that Seth and Mark were friends only added to the thrill.