The Queen of New Beginnings (39 page)

It had been a small wedding. A no-nonsense wedding. No unnecessary frills. No pretentious or cloying gimmicks. Just a gathering of close friends and family to share the special day. It had been a little perfunctory perhaps, but that had been the prerogative of the bride and groom. When exiting the church, never had a couple looked more thoroughly relieved to get things over and done with. And never, in Alice’s opinion, had a groom looked more terrified throughout the proceedings. He was a lot more relaxed now, now that he had a plate of food in his hands and had a few drinks inside him. With the aid of a chicken drumstick he was adding extra emphasis to his words by jabbing at the air in front of Alice’s face.

“I’ve got to tell you, Alice, I hardly knew you when you walked into the church. You’ve scrubbed up a treat. Nice dress.”

“Thank you, Bob.”

He winked and waved the drumstick just inches from her nose. “And to think you went to so much trouble specially for me.”

“That poor new wife of yours; how is she ever going to put up with you?”

“Kim will manage well enough. She’s a sensible woman and knows when she’s onto a good thing.”

“How did I ever let a catch like you slip through my hands?”

Bob laughed. “It’s not too late. We could cause a stir by running off together when the party’s over.”

“I can’t speak for Kim, but I think Clayton might not be too happy with that arrangement.”

“Where is that man of yours, then?”

Alice turned and pointed across the lawn to where Clayton was hunkered down beside Kim’s five-year-old son, Jake. They were having a very in-depth conversation about something.

Eleven months ago Bob had met Kim through work. He had been sent to fix a fault on her phone line and had ended up being fixed himself. Well, that was the way he told the story. Ronnetta’s version was that he had been smitten at first sight and had sent Kim a bunch of flowers the next day. Attached to the flowers was a note asking her out for a drink. Very smooth.

“You know what, that fella of yours is shaping up to be better than I thought he would,” Bob said.

Alice did an exaggerated double take. “Good God, did I hear right? Did you just pay Clayton a compliment? Marriage must already be mellowing you. Or is it the thought of impending fatherhood that’s making you be so nice?”

Simultaneously they both switched their gaze to where a hugely pregnant Kim was sitting on a bench sandwiched between her mother and Ronnetta. The bench was positioned in the shade of a gnarled old apple tree but the late August sunshine was oppressively hot and poor Kim, literally bursting at the seams in her wedding dress, was suffering badly. Her face was flushed and glistening with perspiration. She wiped her forehead with a paper napkin while the two women either side of her did their best to keep her cool by fanning her. Alice knew just how excited Ronnetta was at the prospect of becoming a grandmother in two months’ time, she talked of little else. As much as she already doted on Kim’s son from her first marriage she couldn’t wait for Bob’s own baby to be born.

“Kim’s looking well,” Alice said.

“You mean she looks like a beached whale. If this baby doesn’t come early I’ll have to get hold of some winching gear to heave her in and out of bed. I’m told all the women in her family balloon up something rotten when they’re pregnant.”

“I hope you’re treating her kindly.”

“No choice in the matter. With the hormones she’s got ripping through her I’d be a dead man to behave any other way.”

“Good. And I just know that beneath that bluff exterior there lies a loving and considerate husband and father-to-be.”

“I’m doing my bit, don’t you worry. I’ve been there at all the antenatal classes. I’m a black belt in back rubbing and breathing exercises. So when are you and Clayton going to get spliced? Or are you still unsure about him?”

Alice smiled. “Oh, I’m as sure about him as I’ll ever be.”

“So why not get married?”

“Why change things when we’re both happy with how things are? I don’t believe in change purely for the sake of change. Anyway, we’re too busy right now to think about anything like getting married.”

“Busy with the house?”

Again, they redirected their gaze; this time they both stared up at the house behind them. “We’re hoping to start work on the kitchen and bathrooms next month,” Alice said. “I can’t say I’m looking forward to the upheaval.”

“I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, Alice, it was good of you to let us have our wedding shindig here. Letting Kim’s mum and my mum have free reign here was brave of you.”

Alice shrugged. “Think nothing of it; it was my wedding present to you. No point in having a lovely garden like this and not sharing it with friends.”

Shortly after George’s funeral, Alice had received a solicitor’s letter saying that his client, a Miss Georgina Harrington-Smythe, had left Alice Well House. “But she couldn’t have,” Alice had said when she went to meet with the solicitor who had written to her. “There must be some kind of mistake.”

Affronted that his professionalism was being called into question, the balding man had replied crisply, “I can assure you, Miss Shoemaker, we are not in the business of making mistakes when it comes to wills. I personally drew up the last will and testament of Miss Harrington-Smythe.”

“But when?”

“I was summoned to visit my client when she was in hospital. She was very clear on her wishes, namely that she wanted you to have Well House. There is also a not inconsiderable amount of money that she has bequeathed to you.” He had lowered his eyes to the papers in front of him on his desk and said, “There is just one condition, though. You only inherit if you promise to take care of Percy for the rest of his life, and his girlfriends. Do you know who Percy is? Does this make sense to you?”

Alice had roared with laughter in the car on her way home. Then she had cried. Dear old George; what a wonderful woman she had been.

Looking about her now, Alice took in the garden that she remembered so fondly from her childhood and thought of all the plans she had for it. She was going to follow George’s example and grow lots of fruit and vegetables. She planned to change how things were laid out, though, and she even fancied the idea of keeping some bees. Clayton teased her that she was going to end up as eccentric as George.

They had only recently moved into Well House. Before either of them could contemplate doing so they had undertaken the job of clearing the place and sending in a team of professional cleaners. It had been sad to see so much of George disappear, but common sense had to prevail. They kept a few of the better pieces of furniture, both Alice and Clayton admitting that the house wouldn’t be the same if it was entirely devoid of anything of George’s.

Alice had yet to decide what to do with Dragonfly Cottage, but with Clayton needing to be in London so often, it made sense for him to keep his house down there.

Much to Alice’s amazement, Clayton had proved himself to be remarkably capable and enthusiastic when it came to the work that needed doing on Well House and occasionally she would come home from a job and find him knocking through a wall, nailing down floorboards or taking a door off its hinges to strip. It was fun not knowing what she might come back to.

But not everything was perfect at Well House. Percy did not approve of having a man living on his patch and would frequently demonstrate his disapproval by chasing Clayton. One day Percy had sneaked into the house through an open ground-floor window, despite being banned from doing so, and had crept up behind Clayton as he sat at his desk writing and had pecked him hard on the back of his leg. Clayton had jumped out of his skin and sent a full cup of coffee flying. Alice had tried to be sympathetic but had failed miserably; she hadn’t been able to stop laughing.

For the safety of the wedding guests today, Percy and his girls were securely under lock and key in the henhouse. Smiling to herself, Alice returned her attention to Bob. “Why don’t you go and talk to Kim? See if you can tempt her into eating something. We don’t want her fainting from hunger on her big day.”

• • •

Two days later Alice and Clayton were woken by the sound of a clanging bell. Alice went to the bedroom window and peered down to see who it was: the postman smiled up at her. “I’ll leave it in the porch, shall I?” he called out.

Alice went downstairs. The package had the words PLEASE DO NOT BEND written on it. It was addressed to Alice and Clayton, and taking it upstairs with her, Alice got back into bed with Clayton. She opened the package knowing what was inside—photographs that Isabel had taken last weekend when she and Grace, along with Bazza, had come to stay at Well House. They had been celebrating the success of
Reasons to be Cheerful
. The reviews had been excellent, as had the viewing figures.

Having previously made the mistake of turning himself into a very public figure, Bazza wasn’t making that mistake again and had spent the last year keeping his relationship with Isabel as much under wraps as he could. The press knew that there was someone new in his life, as they did with Clayton, but fortunately no one was hounding them over it.

“You’re looking incredibly serious in this photo,” Alice remarked.

“Really?” Clayton leaned over to get a better look. “Mmm…I can’t remember, was I suffering from brooding alpha male syndrome that day or constipation?”

Alice laughed and turned to the next photograph. It was a group shot, one that Alice remembered Isabel taking by using the timer device on her camera so that she could also be in the picture. “I’m going to frame this one,” she said decisively.

“Any reason why?”

“A very important reason; this shows everything wonderful in my life. This is my new family: you, Isabel and Grace, and Bazza.”

Clayton put his arm around her. “I’m glad you’ve forgiven Bazza for what he did. It means a lot to me.”

“I know. But how could I not forgive him when I know he’s going to marry Isabel?”

“You really think they’ll marry?”

“Without a shred of doubt. They’re so right together, don’t you agree?”

“Even though Bazza’s completely different from Bruce?”

“Perhaps that’s why they’re perfect together. Bazza isn’t a replacement for my father.”

They went through the rest of the photographs in silence. When they’d looked at them all, Clayton said, “George once said to me that she thought I was right for you because I reminded you of your father. Would I be very foolish to ask if that’s true?”

When Alice didn’t answer, Clayton said, “Don’t worry, there’s no right or wrong answer.”

“But if I say yes, then you’re going to think there’s something weird about me, that I have some form of Oedipus complex.”

“So I do remind you of him?”

“Only in that from time to time you make the same sort of wacky decisions he used to make. You’re complex, too. There’ll always be something new to discover about you. And you can be wildly unpredictable, like the day we went to Glen’s office to meet with Rufus and Natasha. I had absolutely no idea how you felt about me until then. And then afterwards you surprised me again when you bundled me into a taxi and whisked me off to the Ritz for cocktails.”

“Where better to convince you that I really did love you and didn’t ever want to be parted from you?”

She smiled. “Lucky for you the concierge was able to supply you with a tie or you would have been declaring your feelings out on the street again.”

“I like to do things spontaneously. I can’t prepare for all contingencies.”

“And that’s one of the many things I love about you. So don’t ever think of changing.”

“You must be the only woman in the world who doesn’t want the man in her life to change.”

“What can I say? I’m not like other women.”

Taking the photographs from her, Clayton sorted through them as if searching for one in particular. When he came to a photograph of him standing behind Alice with his arms around her, he studied it thoughtfully. Alice watched him closely. Eventually he looked up. “Can I ask you something else?” he said.

“Of course.”

“What would you say if I asked you to marry me?”

She slowly put a finger to her lip. “Is that a trick question?” she responded cautiously.

“It wasn’t meant to be, but I take your point; my question was too ambiguous.” He suddenly pushed back the duvet, slipped out of the bed and came round to her side of it. “OK, same question but with a hundred per cent clarity.” He got down on one knee. “Alice Shoemaker, will you marry me?”

She stared at him in shock. Her heart hammered. “I don’t know what to say.”

He looked disappointed. “That wasn’t quite the answer I was hoping for.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, flustered. “I just wasn’t expecting this. I thought you weren’t the marrying kind.”

“When did I ever say that?”

“I suppose I just…I just assumed. It’s not something we’ve ever talked about.”

“Well, you assumed wrong. And we’re talking about it now. I love you, Alice and want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

“You really want to get married? To
me?
”

“No Alice, I’m down here wrecking my knee on a whim, in the hope a passing stranger will want to marry me.”

“You’ve thought about this? I mean, you’ve really thought—”

“Geez, Alice! Stop dickering about and say yes before—”

“Before what?” she interrupted him. “Before you change your mind?”

“No, before my knee gives out completely. These floorboards are killing me.” Laughing, she threw her arms around him and pulled him back into bed. “Clayton Miller, I absolutely love you! And I love it when you’re so romantic.”

“I try, Alice. Honestly, I try.”

She kissed him but no sooner had her lips touched his than he pushed her away. “Oh, no you don’t, no distractions. I want my answer.”

“The answer is an unequivocal yes,” she said.

“You’re sure? I mean, it’s a big commitment taking on someone like me. It won’t be easy.”

“Oh, I reckon I’m more than capable of doing the job.”

He smiled. “I reckon you are too.” He held her closely and kissed her for a very long time.