Second Hand Jane (40 page)

“A beef and
mushroom in red wine casserole.”

“Oh, that
sounds nice—very, er, hearty.”

He stopped
wiping and looked at her. “It is but that’s not why you came back,
is it? To see what I am cooking for dinner?”

“
Um, no, I came back to apologise, if
you’ll let me.” Jess took his silence for acquiescence and so she
told him of all that had transpired between her and her mother
after they had left that afternoon. “You were right in what you
said. It was me with the problem. I was trying to impress my Mum,
who didn’t want me to impress her at all. Even though she
was
impressed because she thinks
you are lovely, by the way. And as it turned out, that’s all she
has wanted for me all along—to be happy. Does that make
sense?”

“Aye, in a
roundabout way, it does.”

“The thing is,
Owen, I don’t think I can be happy without you. You are everything
I have ever wanted and it took me so long to find you that I am
absolutely terrified of losing you.” Jess felt her face flush with
the sentiment and her hands grow clammy at the fear that he would
reject her apology as being too little too late.

“Where is
Marian, by the way?”

Jess frowned;
she had just laid her heart on the line for him and he wanted to
know where her mother was. “She’s waiting in the car and she said I
am not allowed to come back out until we have kissed and made
up.”

“Well, then, we
better not keep her waiting.”

Owen took her
in his arms and in that fleeting second before Jess closed her
eyes, guiding her mouth to meet his, she saw the shadow of a young
dark-haired girl smiling at her before, with a wave that Jess
instinctively knew was goodbye, she faded away.

Then they
kissed and made up.

Two Years Later

Jess and Owen
both said ‘Aye’ do in a civil ceremony held in the grounds of
Glenariff Farm in high summer. All the guests said it was a
beautiful service that went off well and that nobody had really
noticed the celebrant’s mispronunciation of Jess’s surname thanks
to Marian stepping up so smartly to put her right—“It’s Beret,
dahling, not Bare.”

Jess shouted
her entire family over for the wedding with the proceeds of the
best-selling novel she wrote during her year’s sabbatical in
Ballymcguinness. The bride did not wear white as she didn’t feel it
was appropriate given the basketball-sized belly she was sporting.
She did, however, wear a vintage 1930s gown she let out around the
middle, having picked it up for a song at the Enable Ireland
charity shop on George Street in Dublin.

Nora, Brianna,
and Kelly weren’t happy about having to wear second-hand bridesmaid
dresses but once threatened by the bride-to-be with pink 80s
puffballs if they weren’t compliant, they stopped their complaining
and on the day looked gorgeous in their respective flapper dresses.
The mother of the bride, meanwhile, was radiant in an outfit
reminiscent of Mrs Middleton’s at William and Kate’s do.

The only real
hitch in the day was when Harry, Ethan, or Elliott (they each
pointed the finger at the other) left the gate to the paddock open
and several pigs—including Wilbur—tried to gate-crash the
proceedings.

Needless to
say, roast pork was not served at the wedding breakfast and Jemima
was not invited.

The End

Michelle Vernal
lives with her hubby Paul in the gorgeous wee South Island town of
Oxford in New Zealand. It is a place where the cheese scones are
superb and there is always loads more going on than meets the eye.
When her two boys are at school and she is not lamenting life with
her walking buddies or if it is that time of the month, hibernating
while she snaffles the aforementioned cheese scones she writes. She
has written two other novels, The Brazilian Job and Being Shirley.
All her ebooks are available at all better ebook retailers and she
is currently penning her fourth novel, The Little Black Cat of
Naxos a sequel to Being Shirley. If you’d like to be kept in the
loop as to whether she has her head down and fingers tip-tapping
you can sign up to her mailing list at:
[email protected]. She’d love to hear from you and if
you enjoyed this story taking the time to post a review on your
favourite ebook site would be so very much appreciated. You can
find Michelle at the following links:

www.michellevernal.com

https://www.facebook.com/michellevernalnovelist

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