Alex Brown - The Secret of Orchard Cottage - The feel-good number one bestseller

Later – it having taken almost an hour for Harvey, whose fruit farm was a few fields over and was actually very charming once he knew that April wasn’t a drug-fuelled, crap-covered burglar, to fix a wooden board at the broken window as a temporary repair – April persuaded Edie to put her feet up on the Dralon settee with a nice cup of Earl Grey tea and a generous slice of April’s exceedingly good madeira cake (according to Mark, the policeman, who enjoyed a quick slice too). It seemed that the old lady had indeed nodded off while attempting to clean the Aga, so April, who’d had a good wash and changed into a clean top and jeans, having also made a note to get the blockage by the back door seen to right away, was finishing the job while Aunt Edie pottered around in the sitting room looking for a pack of playing cards that she swore were just there on the sideboard. But after searching everywhere, even looking under the settee in case Edie had dropped them and then shuffled them underneath it with her slipper-clad foot, April still hadn’t been able to find them.

She had figured it best to leave her aunt to it, because Edie had been delighted by the offer of having her Aga cleaned, even though April wasn’t convinced it needed doing as it already looked immaculate to her. But it was a small thing to do to make an old lady happy, and if the truth be told, April still felt guilty for not having visited her aunt in over three years. Edie clearly wasn’t keeping on top of things and was finding it difficult to ask for help, not to mention her memory loss, and April felt as her only living relative that it was her responsibility to rectify that. And pronto. She may only be here for a couple of days but at least she could get the garden into some sort of tidy state, and perhaps tackle the hedgerow in the lane, before her great aunt got completely blocked in when the road became impassable. She’d see about getting a cleaner to come in and help out too, if Edie would agree to it – April was under no illusion that her aunt might take some persuading to allow a stranger into the cottage, especially to keep the place nice; Aunt Edie was old school and might very well take issue with having a cleaner. What if people thought she was lazy?

There was a brief knock on the front door and the woman from earlier appeared in the kitchen doorway.

‘Just thought I’d pop in and see how you’re getting on? I’m Molly by the way, don’t think we were properly introduced, what with all the commotion that was going on.’ The woman chuckled and pushed out a hand towards April. ‘You must be Winnie. Old Edie often mentions you. We always have a little chat when she calls up with her meat order – I’m Cooper’s wife, we own the butchers’ shop in Tindledale High Street,’ Molly finished explaining.

‘Oh, um pleased to meet you again!’ April smiled and pushed her hair off her face with the top of her forearm. ‘But no, I’m not Winnie. I’m April. Edie is my great aunt.’

‘Ahh, that’s nice and a turn up for the books – I didn’t think Old Edie had any relatives left … apart from Winnie of course and from what I gather she looks just like you – dark curly hair, handsome and petite, is what Edie says. Well there you go, just goes to show.’ Molly lifted her eyebrows. ‘And it’s very nice to meet you, April.’ She nodded resolutely. ‘You gave us quite a scare before … when we thought you were a burglar.’ Molly chuckled heartily, making her shoulders bob up and down and her ample bosoms jiggle around.

‘Um, yes!’ April grinned as she stood up. ‘And I really am so very sorry to be the cause of such a drama in the village … it’s unlike me, I’m usually quite calm in a crisis but I guess, well, I panicked and …’ April paused to shrug. ‘I certainly shouldn’t have smashed the window, not when the door was open all along and my aunt was only sleeping, even if it was inside her oven … I feel like a prize fool now.’ She peeled the rubber gloves off her hands to reciprocate Molly’s handshake, pleased to see that the ferret wasn’t in attendance this time. It did have quite an acquired scent, which April was still being treated to a whiff of from time to time. But, thankfully, in the ferret’s place was a large white enamel pie dish covered with a navy striped tea towel from which a deliciously cosy aroma wafted.

‘Oh, don’t be daft, no need to apologise, love. Honestly, you did me a favour to be fair …’ Molly smiled as she took a place mat from the pile next to a fruit bowl and carefully set the pie dish down on the kitchen table.

‘I did?’ April asked, keenly eyeing the dish.

‘Steak and ale, just warm it through for your tea, and it’ll be lovely with some runners and mash,’ and Molly rummaged inside a reusable shopping bag looped over her left arm before producing a handful of super-sized runner beans followed by two large Maris Pipers which she placed on the table next to the pie. ‘Freshly pulled from my patch in the garden – thought you could do with a decent meal after your long journey, and then what with all that broken window shenanigans …’ She shook her head as she lifted the towel before instantly getting back to the conversation – leaving April with not even a second to acknowledge the kind gesture (instead she made a mental note to call into the butchers’ to return the dish and say a proper thank you, before she went back to Basingstoke). ‘Oh yes. Mark, he’s the policeman,’ Molly continued, ‘well, he came into the shop to pick up some pork and leek sausages for his tea …’ she paused to catch her breath. April nodded, liking Molly right away. ‘Anyway, I was up to my elbows in chicken giblets when the call came through to Mark on his radio and then, well, I just couldn’t help myself.’ Molly’s cheeks flushed. ‘I can’t remember the last time we had a bona fide emergency in Tindledale and it’s not every day that you get to see a crime unfolding right in front of your eyes so I hot-footed it down here …’ Her voice petered out and silence followed. ‘Blimey, I sound dreadful don’t I?’ Molly added a few seconds later. ‘What must you think of me?’

‘Not at all,’ April replied graciously to spare Molly’s obvious embarrassment – her neck was now covered in a myriad of red blotches. ‘Anyway, I’m glad you’ve come back to the cottage.’

‘You are?’ Molly looked relieved and the redness immediately started to diminish.

‘Sure. Because I can’t remember the last time someone brought me a homemade pie, so thank you.’ April beamed. ‘And I’m curious to know more about Winnie … what else has Edie told you about her?’

‘Oh, it’s my pleasure, I love baking,’ Molly said. ‘It’s so satisfying, and you can’t beat a good pie, don’t you think?’ April nodded. ‘And as for Winnie, um, well I don’t know very much, not in terms of where she lives and stuff. Only that Edie is very fond of her … I get the impression she’s a much younger relative, a niece or daughter perhaps. That’s why I assumed you were Winnie – Edie always says stuff like, “Our Winnie loves a nice rasher of bacon for her breakfast”, you know, when I bring down her order. I always pop in an extra few slices for Old Edie.’ Molly paused and lowered her voice. ‘Poor dear doesn’t have many pleasures in life, and I guess I feel a bit sorry for her … think she gets lonely, probably why she likes to go for a wander,’ she mouthed, indicating with her head towards the sitting room next door, ‘and that’s no way for a lovely old lady to end her days.’

‘A wander?’

‘Yes, you know, it’s happened a few times … I found her once in her slippers at the top of the lane. Driving past I was when I spotted her, and thank God I did as she only had a cotton sundress on and it was perishing outside.’ Molly shook her head. ‘Soon got her warmed up though after I popped her in the car and brought her back home, so disaster averted.’ And Molly chuckled like it really was no big deal … or, and April’s heart sank at the thought … maybe Molly, like Harvey, was just used to Old Edie’s muddled ways and impromptu jaunts around the village in her slippers!