The Way to a Woman's Heart (19 page)

Abandoning the age-old complexities of the eternal triangle, Poll stood up. ‘Now I really I must go and see to George – it’s way past his bedtime and he’ll be wanting his story. Trixie, thanks for the fairy names thing – it was fascinating. You must tell us more about the fairies really soon. But now we know about the names, does it mean we’ll have to call each other Gossamer and Pumpkin all the time in future?’

Trixie shook her head. ‘Definitely not, dear. Those names are only used when the Magic Comes Upon Us. Fairies are very secretive folk, you know.’

Billy laughed. ‘Thank the Lord for that. And your secret’s safe with me, Trixie. I swear I’ll never tell another living soul that I’ve got my very own fairy. Now, while Poll’s getting young Georgie tucked up in bed, what say that we start clearing this table and sort out some coffee?’

‘Good idea. You do the dishwasher, Mr Scoffer, and I’ll make the coffee if someone tells me where everything is.’ Trixie cast an arch glance at Billy. ‘And it’ll be just coffee, no herbal tinctures or magical fairy brews. At least, not this time.’

Billy laughed.

Poll beamed at them both. They seemed to be friendly
enough again now. Phew. She gathered her voluminous skirts up and squeezed along the table, pausing behind Ella’s chair. ‘I’m just getting George off to bed then we’ll have coffee in the garden.’

‘Lovely.’ Ella smiled up at her. ‘It all went brilliantly, Poll. Happy now?’

Poll nodded, then glanced at the empty chair beside Ella and lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘Where’s Onyx? I didn’t see her go.’

‘She’s just popped to the loo.’

‘Oh, right. So, how are you getting on? With her – Onyx?’

Ella sighed. ‘Oh, she’s lovely – I mean, not just beautiful, but a really fab person too… And she’s
clever –
and I really like her – sod it.’

Poll pulled a sympathetic face. ‘I know – even from the little I’ve seen of her, I do too.’ She raised her voice to a normal level. ‘So, maybe if you could just help Trixie find the coffee stuff while I do George’s bedtime?’

‘Of course.’ Ella nodded. ‘And Ash can help Billy clear the table and stack the dishwasher.’

Ash looked across the table. ‘Love to. And I will if he can hang on for a while. As soon as Onyx comes back from the loo we’re going to pop upstairs to my room so that she can say hi to Roy again – she hasn’t seen him for ages. Oh, and don’t count us in for coffee, sorry. I’m running Onyx back to Winterbrook because she’s working later tonight, and I’ve no idea when I’ll be home.’

‘. . . so you see, dear,’ Trixie said earnestly to Ella several days later as they, accompanied by all the dogs and most of the cats, collected eggs in the depths of the hens’ coop, ‘the fairies can help us all.’

‘Mmm, I’m sure they can.’ Ella pushed her hair behind her ears, adding another still warm egg to her basket. ‘And it’s all fascinating – especially the name thing. I quite like being Sunshine Strangeflower. But, maybe you shouldn’t go on about them, the fairies that is, too much… you know, away from here.’

‘In case people think I’m doolally?’ Trixie straightened up. ‘I’m used to that, dear. But you wait – one day I’ll be able to show you just what the fairies can do. One day, when you need their help, they’ll be there, then you won’t doubt their existence.’

‘Oh, I don’t,’ Ella said quickly, shutting the hen-house door behind them. ‘I wouldn’t dream of it.’

‘Now you’re teasing me,’ Trixie said, smiling, as they made their way back towards the kitchen. ‘But you wait. One day you’ll believe in them as much as I do.’

Ella strongly doubted it, but she liked Trixie and certainly didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

‘The fairies are very much linked to flowers and plants and all things natural,’ Trixie said happily as they trudged across the sun-baked garden. ‘See – here – there’s speedwell and cowslips and scarlet pimpernel just in this patch of grass.’

Ella, who knew nothing at all about wild flowers, stared at the arid ground. ‘Really?’

‘Yes, and they each have their own fairies – all dressed in bright blue and yellow and scarlet – and each fairy has a special day and a special magical task. They’ll appear exactly when you need them most. So pretty. And they each have their own little magical song, too.’

‘They do?’

‘Oh, yes.’

Trixie suddenly grabbed her floral dirndl skirt in her one free hand, swished it from side to side in a carefree girlish manner, then threw back her tightly permed head and sang in a frighteningly high-pitched warble, ‘Pretty speedwell blue as the sky/Pimpernel red is nature’s spy/While cowslip yellow/Makes folk mellow/Tra-la-la.’

Trixie stopped singing and dropped a small curtsey. ‘There’s lots more verses, dear, and they should be three separate songs. I sort of concertina’d those three in together to give you some idea – and of course I didn’t want to awaken the fairy magic.’

‘Oh, of course not.’ Ella stared at Trixie, completely stunned. ‘Er, yes, lovely… And, er, each fairy has a flower and a song? How, um, lovely.’

‘Oh, it is, dear.’ Trixie trotted happily towards the kitchen door. ‘Oh, and that reminds me, I really must get a complete set of Cicely Mary Barker for young George.’

‘Who?’

‘The Flower Fairies, dear.’ Trixie looked shocked. ‘Surely you know all about the Flower Fairies? Cecily Mary had it spot on.’

‘Ah, yes, I do know the Flower Fairies books.’ Ella, still completely bewildered, nodded. ‘Lovely, but I’m not sure they’ll replace Thomas the Tank Engine in George’s affections.’

‘Maybe not –’ Trixie hefted her egg basket on to the kitchen table ‘– but everyone should keep an open mind, don’t you think? And it’s always better to teach children these things from a really early age before cynicism sets in. Right, now I’m going to sort out my smalls – I do like a tidy knicker drawer, don’t you, dear? What have you got planned?’

Blinking slightly at the sudden switch to such a prosaic subject, Ella shook her head. ‘Um, nothing very exciting. Poll’s just taken a cool box down to Billy in the barn so she’ll be gone for ages, and it must be ninety degrees already, so I’m going to take George out in the car – probably to Fiddlesticks so we can paddle and have ice cream.’

‘I’ll happily join you on the first, but please don’t mention the second,’ Ash said with a laugh as he opened the kitchen door. ‘I’ve already had enough of ice cream to last me a lifetime.’

Ella raised mocking eyebrows. ‘After what, you lightweight? Less than a week?’

‘Less than a week of the hottest days anyone can ever remember,’ Ash pointed out. ‘When every man, woman and child wants ice cream. And wants it
now
. This is the hardest job I’ve ever had in my life. Give me a sweltering kitchen, a full restaurant and a homicidal chef any time.’

‘Excuse me, dear.’ Trixie eased past him in the doorway. ‘I’ve got a lingerie drawer to sort out and a little herbal tincture with my name on it waiting upstairs.’

Ash chuckled, watching Trixie head for the staircase. ‘Lingerie? And these herbal tinctures?’

‘G and t I reckon,’ Ella said. ‘And who knows what Trixie’s underwear is like.’

‘Not a subject I want to spend much time pondering on, thanks.’

‘Ash, she just sang at me.’

‘Who? Trixie?’

‘Yep. A song about fairies and flowers. It was really scary.’

‘I can imagine. Wish I’d been there.’

‘No, seriously, she really does believe in all this fairy magic stuff. She isn’t – well – certifiable, is she?’

‘I doubt it. No more than the rest of us.’ Ash opened the fridge-freezer. ‘Sorry, frozen furry thing alert – avert your eyes. I’ve just fed Roy.’

‘Oh, ugh. And why aren’t you at work?’

‘I’m on lates today, lucky me.’ Ash straightened up. ‘Which means I have the joy of parking outside the schools this afternoon and being roundly abused by pock-faced lads
who wanna win
X Fac’or
and plump girls whose life ambition is to marry a foo’baller. None of whom have ever learned to say please or thank you.’

‘My-my.’ Ella grinned. ‘You do have a high opinion of your customers, don’t you?’

‘Some of them are really lovely,’ Ash admitted, ‘and I am very grateful to have a job – any job – at last, but there’s nothing like being exposed to the Great British Public en masse when they’re hot and tired and irritable, and when I’m the same, to bring out the worst in all concerned. Which is why I was serious about coming out with you and George for a paddle.’

‘Oh…’ Ella hastily suppressed the beam of pleasure. ‘Oh, OK then. But no criticism of my driving.’

‘Sod it.’ Ash pulled a face. ‘You always spoil my fun.’

‘We’re lost,’ Ella said half an hour later as they drove along yet another high-hedge, flower-filled lane. ‘Aren’t we?’

‘Possibly, probably,’ Ash said, turning to the back seat. ‘George?’

George chattered and waved a small red plastic lorry to illustrate his theory.

‘He says it isn’t Fiddlesticks,’ Ella said, peering through the windscreen. ‘Thanks, George, but we knew that. Ooh, how annoying – just when I thought I’d got all these little lanes sussed.’

Her phone rang.

‘Your phone’s ringing,’ Ash said helpfully. ‘You should answer it. It might be
Dewberrys’ Dinners
urging you to apply
for the show before it’s too late,
or
– and this is more likely – it might be Trixie’s favourite Fairy Sat Nav to tell you exactly where you are.’

Laughing, Ella pulled into the side of the lane praying some tractor or other massive vehicle wouldn’t come thundering from the other direction.

‘If it’s private, shall I get out?’

‘No.’ She glanced at the phone and sighed. ‘It’s Mark – and please stay there. Hi. Yes, fine, thanks. You? Oh, really? Good.… Yes, scorching here too.… Are you… ? With who? Oh, right. Have a nice time, then. Look, I can’t talk now, I’m in the car. I’ll ring you later, when you’re back, OK? Bye.’

Pushing the phone back into her bag, she started the car again.

‘I could have got out,’ Ash said. ‘I didn’t want to spoil your chat. Poll told me – well, she told me that you had a boyfriend in London and, well, you must miss him.’

‘Mmm, yes it’s a bit odd being alone,’ Ella said noncommittally, hoping that Poll had kept her word and not divulged any of the rest of the Mark information. ‘Still, we both agreed on me taking this job and it’s hardly on the other side of the world, is it? And it’s not for ever. Anyway, now we have more important things to think about.’

And definitely not about Mark, she thought sadly. Mark, it appeared, was missing her, but not enough to prevent him embarking on a stag weekend to Prague with the lads. Not, she thought, that it would have stopped him going even if they’d still been together.

George suddenly chattered happily from his booster seat.

‘Did he just mention
Dewberrys’ Dinners
?’ Ash queried.

‘No – he said we were going the wrong way. You’re the one who keeps mentioning
Dewberrys’ Dinners
.’

‘Having withdrawal symptoms. Can’t wait for the next series – especially as it’s local. I wonder if they’ve chosen anyone yet?’

‘Doubtful –’ Ella pulled up at yet another minuscule and overgrown crossroads ‘– seeing as they haven’t even reached the closing date for applications yet. Why? Do you want to apply?’

‘Do you?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Me neither.’

‘OK – now, can you see any traffic from your direction?’

‘Nothing. Just a lot of hedge… Go straight on and we’ll find someone to ask.’

After a further five minutes of what seemed like driving through the Hampton Court maze, they emerged into fairly clear countryside and Ella gave a little yelp of recognition. ‘I know where we are!’

‘Fiddlesticks?’ Ash said hopefully.

‘Angel Meadows! I came here on my first day – I was lost then, too – and got directions to Hideaway. It’s a funny place but it does have a shop of sorts, so we should be able to find someone to ask.’

And with any luck, not the odd couple of her first visit, Ella thought, turning the corner towards the Miracle Mart.

‘Good God!’ Ash exclaimed. ‘Are they having a public hanging?’