Holly Martin - A Home On Bramble Hill

‘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.

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