Chapter 22
For someone who never drank much, I didn’t feel anywhere near as hungover as I perhaps deserved to the next day, and that was a huge relief because Saturday was hectic and Sunday was the busiest day for Wynbrook Blooms so far. I had guessed that the weekends would be the most lucrative and with a cooling breeze coming off the sea and a fair bit of cloud cover, locals and tourists alike had abandoned the beach and flocked to the estate to buy both fruit and flowers.
I felt extremely stiff when I woke on Monday morning – a combination of the physical demands of my dream job and the bedroom gymnastics Josh and I had indulged in for much of Friday night – and I was pleased that I could now have a couple of days’ respite. From the most intense gardening jobs, at least. I was planning to see Josh again as soon as possible.
‘Well, hello you,’ I said quietly, as I went to eat breakfast on the veranda and little Luna, who usually bolted at the merest glimpse of me, stayed stretched out on her favoured rocking chair, pretending to be asleep. ‘How lovely of you to let me join you.’
She didn’t stay put for long because Dad then came ambling up the path with an envelope tucked under his arm.
‘Good morning!’ he called out and the cat shot off. ‘Is that the cat?’
‘It was the cat, yes.’ I smiled as I stood up stiffly.
Dad chuckled as I groaned.
‘Last week was a reminder of what hard work feels like, eh?’
I gave him a look.
‘I wasn’t being sarcastic,’ he insisted.
‘I know that,’ I told him. I could hardly tell him that it wasn’t all garden-related aches and pains I was suffering from, could I? ‘What have you got there? More seed catalogues or the latest braggy letter from Oz?’
‘Neither.’ Dad smiled. ‘Funnily enough, we haven’t heard back from Daniel since your mum emailed to say what a joy it is to have you back and how you’re now transforming the fortunes of the estate.’
I laughed at Mum’s description. Evidently, my cousin wasn’t the only one who liked to occasionally give the lily an extra gilding.
‘So, what is that then?’ I asked, still looking at the missive.
‘Something I have a feeling you might have been responsible for, Daisy.’
I twigged, and when he pulled the paperwork out of the envelope and I spotted the letterhead, my suspicions were confirmed.
‘Turns out it might not be too late for me to follow my dream, after all,’ Dad said, sounding thrilled. ‘Having read this, I can see there’s a way for me to follow your lead.’
‘I had a feeling the Open University would be a good fit,’ I said happily. ‘Are you going to apply?’
I held up two pairs of crossed fingers.
‘I already have,’ he then surprised me by saying. ‘I’ve got to do an access course first and then I can make a start on the degree.’
‘Oh, Dad,’ I choked out, as my phone began to ring loudly. ‘That’s wonderful. I’m so happy for you.’
‘Well,’ he said, ‘it’s down to you, love. I never would have given it a thought if you hadn’t sent off for the info. Do you need to answer that?’
‘No,’ I said, giving the phone a cursory glance where it was resting on the table next to my cereal bowl. ‘I don’t recognise the number.’
‘I’m astounded that the call has connected.’
‘Actually, so am I,’ I said, also feeling startled when I realised what he meant. ‘That’s the first spot of signal the phone has picked up on since I moved in.’
‘You’ll have to make a note of the exact location for future reference.’
I wrinkled my nose at the suggestion. The limited access was suiting me just fine.
‘You know,’ I said, ‘I don’t think I will. I rather like the radio silence. I’m using the internet up at the manor for the Wynbrook Blooms social media accounts of course, but so far, not much else.’
‘Well,’ said Dad. ‘I’ll leave you to get on. I just wanted to thank you for nudging me in the right direction. Have you got anything specific planned for today?’
‘I need to talk to Algy again,’ I sighed. For the first time ever, it wasn’t a prospect I was looking forward to. ‘He was in a rum mood last week.’
‘That he was,’ Dad agreed, letting out a breath. ‘Your mum and I both said the same, as you know. I’ll go and find him later as you’re going in this morning. He’s bound to be pleased about the cat.’
‘I hope he will be,’ I said, picking up my empty bowl and phone. ‘It would be nice if we could find something he was pleased about.’
Unfortunately, as a result of the message that had been left on my phone, I wasn’t feeling in a particularly cheerful mood myself as I got ready to walk up to the manor.
‘I don’t believe it,’ I gasped, as I listened to the message, left a terse text response and then immediately deleted the evidence and blocked the number, which belonged to my ex.
Had I known Laurence had changed his mobile number for some reason, I would never have listened to what he had to say, but without that knowledge, I had found myself subjected to his voice and words I very definitely did not want to hear.
Apparently, he’d been working away for a few weeks and therefore hadn’t realised that I had called the flat from the cottage phone until he returned and found the number logged. Thanks, Dad! He also cockily said he hoped I might be reconsidering my rash action of walking out and that I would now be pleased to hear from him. He seemed to be labouring under the misapprehension that giving me some space would have made me pine for what we’d had and that I would now be ready to forgive, forget and go back. What. An. Idiot.
My response to his stupidity had been to inform him that it was Dad who had called, not me, and that I had happily moved on with my life.
‘Come on, Daisy,’ I told myself, in my best sergeant-major tone. ‘You’ve dealt with it now. Let it go.’
To shift my mindset, as I showered and dressed in a floral tea dress and sandals rather than the usual shorts, T-shirt and safety boots that my new role dictated, I recalled the many ways I had moved on since my return to Wynbrook. My fling with Josh, my new home, my dream job, my happiness for my engaged friends, my repaired relationship with Dad… they were all wonderful things to celebrate.
And if, I pondered as I walked up to the manor with a spring in my step and my ponytail swinging, I could find a way to combine Josh with Wynbrook, then that really would be the flake in my cone.
‘But why is he so reluctant to visit here?’ I said aloud. ‘Why won’t he come?’
He was certainly curious about the estate – his listening ear when I had rambled on in the pub about my childhood and beyond, and the books he’d been studying in the cottage were proof enough of that – but for some reason he was remarkably reluctant to step over the cattle grid. Was there actually a reason for that or was I making too much of it?
I came out of my reverie as I heard Algy’s voice drift out of the conservatory and I changed direction towards it. Unfortunately, I was about to overhear what should have been a private conversation, although thankfully Algy sounded much happier than he had when he’d been talking to me a few days ago.
‘After all these years,’ I heard him say in a voice heavy with emotion, and I stopped dead in my tracks. ‘I can’t tell you what a joy it is to see you again and to actually have you here, at Wynbrook. Well, it’s a dream come true. More than I ever could have hoped for in my lifetime.’
I had no idea who he was talking to, but clearly what was being said wasn’t for my ears and I turned away, thinking I’d silently backtrack to the kitchen door and then work in the office until Algy was free to talk.
‘I’m only sorry it’s taken me so long to make my way here this summer,’ came the response to Algy’s delight at welcoming this visitor. ‘I can tell you – it really has taken me an age to find my courage and work my way up to doing it.’
I stopped again, only this time out of shock rather than discretion.
‘Josh,’ I mouthed.
His accent was unmistakeable. It was Josh who was sitting with Algy in the Wynbrook conservatory. But why? Suddenly, the flake in my cone I’d been wishing for just minutes before felt entirely unnecessary.
I rushed around to the kitchen door and clashed with Mum on the threshold.
‘Daisy!’ she gasped. ‘What’s got into you, flying in here like that?’
‘Who is Algy talking to?’ I asked, feeling a horrible combination of shock, nausea and upset. ‘Who is Algy talking to in the conservatory?’
‘I don’t know.’ Mum frowned. ‘I didn’t even know he had company. I’d better make some coffee if he’s got visitors. Are you all right? You look awfully pale.’
‘No,’ I stammered, backing away. ‘No, I’m not all right.’
A faint tinkling came from inside the house.
‘That blasted bell,’ Mum tutted. She had set Algy up with the tea bell his great-grandmother had used, after he’d had his tumble, to save him having to shout for her and clearly he hadn’t kicked the habit of using it. ‘I’m banishing that. He’s more than capable of using his feet to come and find me now.’
‘I’ll come back later,’ I said numbly, desperate to get away. ‘I have to go.’
‘I’d rather you didn’t,’ said Algy’s voice, suddenly close behind me, making me jump. ‘Because I’d just decided to use my feet to come and find you, Daisy.’
I sat in the conservatory opposite Algy, with my hands neatly folded in my lap and the world spinning around me, as Mum carried in a tray. Josh, smartly dressed in a navy polo shirt and with his hair tidier than I had ever seen it, jumped up to take it from her and with a slightly shaking hand, set it down on the table between us. I could see Mum was busting to ask a hundred questions, but Algy’s solemn demeanour didn’t suggest he was in the mood to chat and so she snatched up the offending bell and walked out again.
‘Daisy,’ Algy calmly said, ‘would you mind being mother?’
I poured coffee into each of the cups, but left out the cream, not wanting to presume preferences, even though I knew what both the men would like. I could tell Josh was looking at me intently when I passed him his cup, but I refused to meet his eye for fear of what I’d see reflected back at me. I was still feeling so wobbly; I wouldn’t trust myself not to cry or shout and those were the last reactions I wanted to display.
‘And now,’ Algy smiled at me, having added cream to his coffee and taken a sip, ‘I’d like to introduce you to my grandson. My grandson, who was taken from here more than two decades ago and who I hadn’t heard a word from since, until today.’
He sounded astounded rather than calm and my cup rattled so violently in its saucer that I put it down again, untouched. Josh didn’t say anything.
‘I know you know Josh already, because he’s told me,’ Algy carried on as if he wasn’t telling me anything particularly shocking at all. ‘I know now that you’ve known him since the day you came back to Wynbrook, Daisy, but what you haven’t been aware of—’
‘Is that he’s lied the whole time about who he really is,’ I snapped angrily.
No wonder Josh hadn’t wanted to visit the estate every time I had suggested it. He’d doubtless wanted to cherry-pick his moment instead and the information I’d supplied him with about Algy not being himself had obviously been deemed the ideal moment to appear. But for what purpose?
‘Not lying,’ Josh said quietly. ‘I’ve never lied. I just never—’
‘Told the truth,’ I cut in again, still furious.
Laurence’s earlier message might have been unwelcome, but it was nothing compared to Josh’s deception. I’d had him pinned quite simply as someone who was spending the summer in a quaint Norfolk village, enjoying the beach and having some fun, but I should have known there had to be more to his continued presence than that. It should have been glaringly obvious that there was some bigger reason than sunshine and a summer fling with a local to keep him here.
‘Perhaps if we gave you a little context, Daisy?’ Algy suggested.
‘No,’ I said, standing up abruptly. ‘I don’t want to hear it. I’ve already been made a fool of by one man this summer and I have absolutely no desire to allow it to happen again.’
As I walked out, I thought perhaps it was a little late for that, but I was determined to do what I could to limit the damage to my heart that Algy’s bombshell had just inflicted.
‘What’s on earth’s going on?’ Dad demanded. ‘What’s happened?’
On autopilot, I hadn’t realised I’d walked back to the cottage, rather than to the summerhouse, but I found him and Mum in the kitchen and just after I walked in, Nick and Penny arrived as well.
‘What’s happened?’ Nick asked Mum, who had clearly wasted no time in putting some feelers out. ‘Your message sounded urgent, Janet. Is it Algy?’
‘In a way,’ I said, answering on Mum’s behalf as I flopped down on a chair. Every last atom of energy felt as if it had floated out of me. ‘His grandson has turned up.’
‘What?’ Mum gasped, her hands flying to her chest. ‘Is that who that was?’
I had assumed she’d been listening at the door after delivering the coffee, but apparently not.
‘They’re sitting in the conservatory drinking your coffee as we speak,’ I said, ‘and Algy appears to have welcomed him with open arms and without question.’
‘No way!’ Penny said, adding her surprise to Mum’s.
‘When did this happen?’ Dad commanded, sounding ready to rally the troops. ‘Are they up there alone?’
I was intrigued to know what was behind his and Mum’s reaction. I knew I had every right to be flabbergasted and upset as a result of Josh’s duplicity, but why did they both appear less than thrilled? Was Algy in some danger from this returning relative? Was he going to need protecting from the handsome American interloper?
‘Does he look like Algy?’ Nick asked, then added, ‘By which I mean, how can we be sure that this person really is who they say they are?’
‘I couldn’t see a family resemblance myself,’ I told him, as I wondered why Sam hadn’t questioned Josh’s name when he booked his cottage. ‘But you’ll recognise him.’
‘How?’ Penny asked.
‘Because you already know him – it’s Josh. Algy Alford’s grandson is Josh.’ Penny’s mouth fell open. ‘That’s the guy I’ve been seeing,’ I added for Mum and Dad’s benefit because I couldn’t recall ever mentioning his name to them.
Mum turned to me.
‘And he never mentioned—’ she began and I quelled her with a look. ‘Of course, he didn’t. You would have said…’
‘I had no idea,’ I said, resting my head in my hands. ‘No idea at all.’
I didn’t mention the books full of Wynbrook photos or the fact that Josh had been unwilling to show his face on the estate but eager enough to listen to me tell him all about my childhood and Algy’s recent low mood. All of that combined could have given me a clue, but I’d had no reason to put them together, had I?
‘So,’ I sighed, looking again at Mum and Dad, ‘tell us why Algy doesn’t have anything to do with his son? It might give us an inkling as to his grandson’s motive for suddenly turning up unannounced.’
‘Assuming he does have a motive,’ Penny said.
‘I know you like to see the good in everyone, Pen,’ I huffed, ‘but on this occasion, there might not be any to find. Go on, Dad.’
‘Well,’ Dad began to explain, ‘Algy’s only son, Thomas, wanted him to sell the entire estate well over twenty years ago.’
‘Was that when most of the agricultural land was sold off?’ Nick asked. ‘Just before Algy set the fruit farm up?’
‘That’s right.’ Mum nodded. ‘Thomas wanted shot of the whole place. He reckoned there was no future in it and it would only sink into debt and decline with the loss of the arable land and farming income. He had no faith in his father’s soft fruit venture.’
‘But that wasn’t the real truth behind his desire to sell, was it?’ Dad said scathingly. ‘What he really wanted was to take what he thought would be his share of the money and run. He wanted Algy to sell the entire Alford legacy to the highest bidder so he could invest his chunk in his American father-in-law’s business, instead of waiting to inherit it in the usual way.’
‘But Algy would never have agreed to that,’ I said, shocked that he could be related to someone who was eager to part with his heritage for the sake of money.
My mind then conjured up an image of Laurence. He and Thomas sounded like they were both cut from the same cloth. My ex had become increasingly obsessed with wealth and status since I’d known him, which made me wonder why he was still interested in me. We were chalk and cheese when it came to what we thought was important in life.
‘Of course Algy wouldn’t,’ Dad agreed vehemently, making me forget about Laurence again. Had he not telephoned earlier, I was certain I wouldn’t have thought of him at all. ‘And anyone with half a brain would have known that.’
I thought that said a lot about Josh’s father.
‘So, it was an argument about selling the estate that caused the rift in the family,’ Penny surmised.
Dad nodded.
‘Algy wouldn’t entertain the idea of selling, and Thomas hated him for it, so he took his wife and son and told his father he’d never see him again. He cut all ties and left, everyone presumed, for America, and they haven’t been heard of since.’
‘Until now…’ I unnecessarily pointed out.
‘And now we know that Thomas did take the family to America,’ said Nick, ‘because Josh’s accent is a dead giveaway.’
‘I remember that little boy from when Thomas used to visit and argue with his father,’ Mum said sadly. ‘As I recall,’ she then upsettingly added, ‘he was packed off to boarding school when bartering with him didn’t work.’
‘That’s terrible,’ Penny sniffed.
‘It was,’ Mum agreed. ‘He couldn’t have been much more than seven. So I wonder why he’s come back. What does he want?’
‘Is he here to do his father’s bidding?’ Dad asked crossly.
‘Is he here to worm his way into an old man’s affections and succeed where his father failed?’ Mum joined in. ‘Is he going to convince Algy to sell up?’
I struggled to listen to their speculating. They were assuming the very worst of Josh, and even though I was devastated that he hadn’t been upfront with me about who he really was, the initial shock of discovering his true identity had started to wear off, and I just couldn’t see him as someone who would behave as badly as his father had done.
But then again, it wasn’t all that long ago that I had assumed Laurence was faithful to me and had then caught him with his trousers around his ankles, so I was hardly an expert in seeing through people. Given my track record, I could hardly defend Josh’s surprise appearance, could I?
‘I think I should go up there,’ said Dad, making for the door.
‘Me too,’ Mum joined in. ‘I shouldn’t have left really.’
‘No,’ I said emphatically. ‘Don’t go charging in. Give them some time. If Josh has got ideas above his station, then Algy is sharp enough to suss him out; he’s bound to be wary given what his son did.’
Algy hadn’t actually looked or sounded suspicious but I knew he wouldn’t welcome our interference, no matter how kindly meant, and if he pushed us away that would make the situation even harder to monitor.
‘If you go pushing in now,’ I therefore warned, ‘Algy will resent you for it, whatever the outcome with his grandson, and as a result, the damage to our relationship with him could be irreparable.’
‘Daisy’s right,’ Nick agreed and I was relieved to see Mum and Dad stand down.
Penny was the quietest of all of us and she looked confused too. I knew she was recalibrating her feelings about Josh, and she wasn’t the only one.