Trisha Ashley - Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues

AVON

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollins Publishers 2012

Copyright © Trisha Ashley 2012

Trisha Ashley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © May 2012 ISBN: 9780007478408

Version: 2016-03-12

This one is for my friend Nora Neibergall,

distant only in miles.

Contents

Cover

Title page TRISHA ASHLEY Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues

Copyright Copyright AVON An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2012 Copyright © Trisha Ashley 2012 Trisha Ashley asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Ebook Edition © May 2012 ISBN: 9780007478408 Version: 2016-03-12

Dedication Dedication This one is for my friend Nora Neibergall, distant only in miles.

Prologue: June 1945

Chapter 1: Christmas Present

Chapter 2: Frosted Knots

Chapter 3: Trashed

Chapter 4: Philtred Out

Chapter 5: Charlie’s Aunt

Chapter 6: True Lovers Not

Chapter 7: Old Valentines

Chapter 8: Amazing Grace

Chapter 9: Barking Mad

Chapter 10: Cat Flap

Chapter 11: Cross Patch

Chapter 12: Summoned by Bells

Chapter 13: Fresh as Paint

Chapter 14: Bell de Jour

Chapter 15: Luscious

Chapter 16: Blessed

Chapter 17: Typecast

Chapter 18: Dead as my Love

Chapter 19: Overtures

Chapter 20: Sister Act

Chapter 21: Fat Rascals

Chapter 22: April Fool

Chapter 23: Well Knotted

Chapter 24: Sweet Music

Chapter 25: Good in Parts

Chapter 26: The Birds and the Bees

Chapter 27: Late Calls

Chapter 28: Mixed Messages

Chapter 29: Describing Circles

Chapter 30: Bananas

Chapter 31: Lovers All Untrue

Chapter 32: Chicken Run

Chapter 33: Mayday!

Chapter 34: Porkers

Chapter 35: Shared

Chapter 36: Wishes

Chapter 37: Wrecked

Chapter 38: Uninvited Guests

Chapter 39: June Bug

Chapter 40: A Delightful Plot

Exclusive Recipes from Trisha Ashley

Keep Reading

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

Nancy had to walk quite a way to the red call box near the village green, then stand in an unseasonably cold wind waiting for a large woman in a spotted headscarf tied turban-fashion round her head to stop talking and come out, before she could place the call to her sister.

‘At last! What kept you?’ Violet exclaimed.

‘Never mind that now,’ Nancy said tersely. ‘I’m in the phone box, so call me back. You’re the one with all the brass.’

She dropped the black phone back onto its rest, thinking that brass was something her sister had never been short of. But her latest scheme – well, that really took the biscuit …

The phone rang almost immediately. ‘I was starting to wonder if you’d got my letter,’ Violet said.

‘Oh, I got it all right – and Mother and Father got theirs, too. But what on earth are you thinking of, Violet? This mad plan of yours will never work!’

‘Viola,’ her sister corrected her automatically. ‘And of course it will – why shouldn’t it?’

‘I can think of at least five reasons off the top of my head. And you might have asked me first.’

‘We’re sisters, so why wouldn’t we help each other out of a sticky spot? And I’ve got it all planned. I’m going to rent somewhere quiet, where no one knows us, and in a couple of months you’ll be home again as if nothing had ever happened and can put it right out of your head.’

‘But something will have happened. And if I suddenly vanish like that, then reappear, don’t you think there’ll be talk? You know how rumours get around in the village.’

‘Oh, probably no one will notice,’ Violet said optimistically, ‘and if they do, they won’t know , that’s the main thing.’

‘Vi, I can’t let you do this – and don’t you think your husband might have something to say about it, when he finds out? No, we’ll have to find another way.’

‘Too late, because I’ve already written to Peter explaining everything, though goodness knows when he’ll get the letter,’ Violet said triumphantly. Despite the recent VE Day celebrations, many men were still fighting out in the Far East, Violet’s husband among them.

‘You’ve actually sent it? Without asking me first?’

‘Of course, because it was obviously the only way out of the situation. So you see, we’ll have to go through with it now. Peter will be fine about it when he comes home. I can twist him round my little finger,’ Violet added. ‘There’s no fool like an old fool.’

‘You shouldn’t speak like that about your husband. You chose to marry a much older man when you were barely in your twenties, Violet, no one forced you!’

Nancy could almost see her sister shrug her thin shoulders. ‘So, when are you coming?’

‘Violet, we can’t possibly do this. You’re quite mad to even think it!’

‘You mean you won’t come, Nancy? You’ll just tell Mother and Father the truth? Mother will probably have another stroke from the shock and shame.’

‘You’ve got Mother upset already, telling her you’d been ill again and were going to convalesce somewhere quiet and wanted me to keep you company. She was all set to come down herself and look after you, but Father wouldn’t entertain the idea for a minute,’ Nancy said. Their mother had suffered a mild stroke the previous year and, though she had made a good recovery, she was still not fully fit.