A Home On Bramble Hill: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile. Holly Martin
pick it up and the next thing, she’s squealing, her parents are squealing, my mum was crying, proper tears of joy and everything. I don’t even know how the ring got there, but it fitted Arielle like a glove, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she threw it on the floor in front of me. Well it quickly snowballed from there. Before I knew it there was an engagement party, marquees were ordered, a band, a harpist, flowers, the best champagne from France. I couldn’t stop it. I have never seen my Mum as happy as she has been over the last few months organising this wedding and I just couldn’t break her heart, I couldn’t do it.’
‘So you’re just going to get married? Live happily ever after with a woman you can’t stand?’
Casey sighed. ‘My dad died, three years ago.’
‘Oh Casey, I’m so sorry.’
‘Mum was a wreck, but after the initial grieving was over, the constant crying, she just became this empty shell, devoid of any life. She’d get up, get dressed, meet friends, she was involved with the village council, but… she wasn’t really there if you know what I mean. She was always this sparkling woman who laughed a lot, who had this zest for life, and when Dad died he took all that with him. Her eyes were flat, her skin was grey. She never laughed anymore. She moved through life, she engaged with people, but she was lifeless, a living corpse. It devastated me to see her like that and year after year, it never got any better. It was almost as if she was just biding her time until she could die herself and be reunited with him. This engagement has brought her out of that shell – she laughs now, she’s excited, she has plans, she has a purpose. My old mum is back and so yes, I’m going to marry Arielle if that’s what it takes to keep my mum happy and to keep the smile on her face, because I never want to see her go back to how she was before.’
‘Your mum would be devastated if she knew you were doing this for her,’ Joy said quietly.
‘I know, but I’m just enjoying her being happy again. I’ll deal with the fall out when it happens. It won’t last Joy, Arielle doesn’t like me either. I’m pretty sure she’s shagging our pool boy, or the gardener or maybe both.’
This was madness. ‘So why is she marrying you if she doesn’t like you?’
‘The Fallowfields are pretty high up in the social scheme of things. If there was a food chain made up of Lords, Ladies, Earls and Countesses, the Fallowfields would be at the very top. We’re richer than most of the nobles in this country.’
He wasn’t saying it to show off, in fact he seemed quite embarrassed by the whole thing. ‘So it’s safe to say you don’t actually need to work?’
‘No, I just enjoy it. But Arielle, despite her flashy clothes and car, would be down at the bottom of the food chain.’
Joy bit her lip. ‘Have you slept with her?’
‘No, lord no. I made the excuse that I wanted to wait until after we were married.’
‘Honeymoon?’
He let his head fall into his hands and nodded. ‘Two weeks in St Lucia. I think she’d like to try for a baby.’
‘Oh Casey. What are you going to do?’
‘Hope that I catch her with that pool boy before she walks down the aisle.’
*
Finn was busy tweaking things in his front garden, tying up the trailing clematis when the police car pulled up outside.
He had spent a good few hours tidying the two gardens of his clients earlier and had come back to work on his own. Joy had just left about ten minutes before to walk Darcy, dressed in that sexy jacket and cap again. She had flashed him a small smile as she walked past. He didn’t give one back; in fact he was pretty sure he glared. He cursed himself for getting involved, for feeling sorry enough for her to try to do something about the dog shit on her doorstep before she found out.
He straightened from pulling a stray weed out from near the roots of the clematis as he watched the police man and woman walk up Joy’s garden path.
‘She’s out,’ he said, wondering why he couldn’t stop himself from getting involved. ‘She’s just left.’
They turned to face him and gave him that look that most people gave him when they met him for the first time. The look of “My God, he’s huge.” He was used to it now. At six foot ten he always got that look. He was broad as well, and he understood that some people found him intimidating.
The policeman found his voice first. ‘Do you know which way she went; we really need to talk to her?’
Instinctively and not really knowing why, except having this intrinsic need to protect her, he found himself pointing in the opposite direction to the one she had just taken. ‘She normally walks through the village to The Pride and follows the little path up to the old beacon.’ God, now he was lying to the police as well.
The policeman nodded. ‘We would appreciate it if you didn’t tell her you saw us. We’d like to speak to her first. We wouldn’t want her to worry.’
‘No, of course not.’ Finn nodded, feeling his stomach clench with that exact same worry.
The police got back in their car and drove off in the direction that Finn had pointed. Finn threw down his tools, whistled for Billy and quickly followed in Joy’s footsteps.
Joy had made for the tallest peak in the range of hills. The one that looked like a face. Old Woman White, her dad used to call it or White Lady Hill to everyone else. It was a good long walk, but Darcy had enjoyed it. Joy knew, as she approached the side that held the hooked nose, she would have excellent views of the valley below. There would be the River Quail, which was nothing more than a tiny stream in this part of the country, it would curl lazily through Hollyhock Woods, down Blueberry Hill and most importantly straight past Blueberry Farm. It was the farm she was more interested in seeing than anything else. She hadn’t been brave enough to go and visit it yet. But when she did she would give the man that owned it a piece of her mind. For now she would settle for looking at it. Maybe she would sit for a while and remember.
Her dad had said that she should never look back, that dwelling on the past was a mistake. He said that time was well spent planning for the future, but more importantly it should be spent living for now, enjoying the moment, because you could never go back and change things, so there was no point wishing you could. She wondered if he would be disappointed that she had come to the farm that day, if he would be shaking his head over her plans.
As the farm came into view, she realised she had been holding her breath. She stood looking at it for a moment, then sat down to indulge in the past.
*
Finn had easily spotted her about a thousand yards ahead, her red hair flying like a scarlet banner behind her. He had followed her, slowly closing the gap between them, as she had walked with purpose across the range. As he drew closer she finally stopped and sat down, staring out on the view below. He approached, but now he was here he didn’t know whether to talk to her about the police or not. Surely it was best for both of them if he just kept walking. He really didn’t need to be there for her, or to know the reason for that sad, faraway look on her face. He would just keep on walking.
‘You see that farm down there Darcy, that’s my farm.’ Joy pointed down towards Blueberry Farm. Intrigued at the lie more than anything else, he moved to stand near her side.
She looked up, clearly embarrassed at being caught talking to her dog, and annoyed to see Finn was the one to disturb her, she moved to get up.
‘No don’t go on my account, I was just enjoying the view. Surely we can be civil enough to enjoy the same view at the same time.’
She nodded reluctantly and he sat next to her. They sat in awkward silence for a while, probably while she wondered if he had some sort of split personality disorder. He’d been scrubbing