The Newcomer. Fern Britton
3
Penny took a last look around her bedroom as she rummaged for her emergency packet of tights in her flight bag.
‘I hope Angela will like this place,’ she muttered uneasily.
Simon poked his head round the door. ‘Hurry up. I want us to get to church before Angela arrives. Jenna’s ready.’
‘I had a ladder so I’ve got to put these new ones on.’ She sat on the bed and rolled the expensive flesh-toned, ten-denier tights gently so as not to snag them.
‘We’ve got to go.’
‘I can’t hurry this. They snag so easi— oh shit, look what you’ve made me do.’ She glanced up to find he’d already gone and glanced back to see the pull in the fine mesh. ‘Bugger, bugger.’
Jenna came in wearing her new grey, buttoned coat, white socks and red shiny shoes. ‘Come on, Mumma, Daddy says he’s going without you.’
Penny pushed her feet into her taupe suede heels and grimaced at the pinch on her little toes.
‘OK, OK. I’m ready.’ She got to her feet, tottering slightly, then gained her balance. She sucked in her core muscles and made her way down the stairs in Jenna’s wake.
Simon was fussing with his dog collar. ‘Does it look all right?’
She gave him a once-over from top to bottom. ‘Perfect. How about me?’
Simon was already looking for the door keys. ‘Hmm?’
‘Will I do?’
Without turning his head, he replied, ‘Yes, yes. Lovely as always. Right, let’s go.’
The birds were singing in the churchyard and tulips and forget-me-nots were pushing their way up among the damp headstones. Simon strode ahead of Penny, deep in thought. Penny saw the tense set of his shoulders and the nervous way he had of reaching up to smooth his bald head. She understood that today was going to be difficult for him, difficult for them all, and her love and empathy flowed to him. The last couple of months had been fraught with things to organise and she had done her best to take the strain of the domestic arrangements from him.
Goodness only knew how the caretaker vicar, Angela, was feeling. Pendruggan was to be her first proper parish. The poor woman hadn’t even seen the vicarage yet, not in the flesh. Penny had shown her around on FaceTime but that was it. To make things easier, Angela and Robert had been delighted for Penny to leave her furniture behind so that there was the least upheaval for them all.
And now, the day to hand over the vicarage had arrived.
Penny and Jenna caught up with Simon as he unlocked the side door into the vestry. ‘Nice and warm. Good,’ he said, hanging his coat on the worn wooden peg above the radiator. He checked his watch. ‘Ten minutes before they are due.’
The door connecting the vestry to the main church opened and a well-built woman wearing a tweed suit and a steel head of hair strode in. ‘Morning, Vicar.’
‘Ah, good morning, Audrey. Thank Geoffrey for turning on the heating, would you. Most grateful.’
Audrey was at her most domineering. She was feared by almost everyone, Piran being the exception. She turned her gimlet eyes to Penny, who immediately felt inadequate. ‘Mrs Canter, perhaps you can solve the mystery of my floral decorations?’
Penny swallowed hard but stood her ground. ‘Do you mean my clematis?’
Audrey found the most withering of challenging looks in her arsenal of withering looks. ‘I do. Please explain.’
Penny stopped herself from buckling. ‘My early clematis has just come into bloom and I thought it might, er,’ she searched for the word, ‘soften the structure of your altar arrangements.’
‘Soften?’ Audrey boomed.
‘Yes, the, erm … boldness of your design was, er … striking indeed, but maybe a little too harsh for the … welcoming theme of the day?’ she ended limply.
‘Harsh, Mrs Canter?’ Audrey Tipton took a step towards Penny but was interrupted by the arrival of her husband, Geoffrey, a man so henpecked and blustering he was known by the villagers as Mr Audrey Tipton.
‘Ah, Audrey, there you are,’ he panted.
Audrey became alert. ‘Are they here?’
Simon swallowed nervously and felt for his dog collar. ‘Angela has arrived?’
‘Where?’ barked Audrey.
‘Just parking,’ replied Geoffrey.
Audrey moved to get through the vestry door and out to greet them ahead of Simon, but Simon beat her to it. Penny smiled sweetly and pushed past Audrey too, pulling Jenna behind her. ‘Welcome to Pendruggan,’ beamed Simon as Angela got out of the front passenger seat. ‘How was your journey?’
‘We were a little early.’ Angela smiled at her husband, Robert, who was stretching his legs and closing the driver’s door. ‘So we went down to Trevay to have a look at it. So pretty.’
Robert walked round the car and shook Simon’s hand. ‘Hello. Good to see you again.’
Penny stepped forward and kissed Angela. ‘Welcome, at last!’ She turned to Robert, who was even more handsome than she remembered. She tried not to gush. ‘Hi, Robert. Welcome to Pendruggan.’
Out of the back seat unfolded a tall girl wearing a pair of super-tight white jeans, a crop top and a leather biker jacket. Her hair was long and streaked. Her face had all the sullen chubbiness of a teenager but Penny could tell she was a chrysalis ready to emerge as a beautiful woman.
‘And this our daughter, Faith,’ said Angela proudly.
‘Hello,’ said Penny. She pointed to Jenna. ‘And this is our daughter, Jenna.’ The Tiptons were pushing forward now, Audrey ready to assert her status as head of virtually everything in the village.
And then she saw Robert and gulped.
Tall, dark and handsome. His navy-blue eyes took in the sight of the gathering crowd of gaping villagers. A devastatingly attractive smile grew on his lips.
Angela introduced him, ‘And this is Robert, my husband.’
Penny swore later that the gathered women, and a couple of the men, fairly swooned.
Simon, totally oblivious to this sudden swirl of sexual tension, took Angela’s arm and chatted his way with her into the church. ‘I am so looking forward to meeting everybody.’
The church was packed. Penny, in the front pew, had Jenna on her left, Robert on her right and Angela on his right. She couldn’t help but notice that not only did Robert look good, he smelt good too.
The congregation stood for the first hymn as Simon, the church warden and the choir processed from the back of the church to the altar.
Penny looked around for Helen and Piran but couldn’t see them. Nor could she see Queenie. A spasm of worry unsettled her again. What if something had happened to her? Were Helen and Piran calling an ambulance?
Robert noticed her fidgeting. ‘Are you OK?’ he whispered. ‘Can I do anything to help?’
Biting her lip, she shook her head. ‘Just looking for friends who should be here,’ she whispered back.
The service continued with Penny’s mind dithering between anxiety about Queenie and trying not to flirt with Robert. There was little space on the pews today and she was very aware of his muscular thigh and strong left arm pressed against hers.
It wasn’t until the second hymn that the ancient door at the back of the church cracked open and Helen and Piran crept in. Helen gave Penny a little wave and mouthed a sheepish, ‘Sorry.’