Page 62 of Watch For Me By Candlelight

* * *

A soft breeze cooled Kate’s damp cheek and she realised she’d been crying. She was clutching the poor flowers so tightly that she felt she’d all but throttled them on their stalks.

‘That didn’t happen. I can’t believe that happened.’ An image of Will’s smiling face, or it might have been Theo’s, drifted into her mind and the tears began again. Poor Cat! She’d never had her happy ever after. She’d lost him, before they’d even begun.

Trembling and sniffing, Kate walked over to the table in the window and unwrapped the newspaper, thinking how bloody ironic it was that she’d walked in here with a newspaper and on one evening, so many years ago, a newspaper in this very room had wrecked a young girl’s life. She arranged the flowers mechanically in the new vase that was ready and waiting as promised, and brutally crumpled up the paper, as if it was at fault for bringing such news to Cat.

Trying to anchor herself in reality again, Kate fluffed up the flowers to make them look less like they’d been dumped in the vase by an amateur. They were, she realised, overwhelmingly blue. The colour scheme seemed appropriate, somehow, for a room with a miniature of Millie in it. Hadn’t Cassie called her the girl in the blue dress? Kate collected herself and went over to the fireplace, looking at the paintings that were dotted around the wall. There must have been about fifteen of them, from silhouettes to pencil sketches through oils and watercolours and pastels.

For a moment, she despaired. How would she know which one was—

Then she saw her. Set into a silver oval, there was a strawberry-blonde girl, dimpling a smile. She was the epitome of beautiful, confident and happy. Kate envied her a little bit on Cat’s behalf. This was her cousin; rich, privileged, undoubtedly adored by everyone she met: Cat’s confidante and her best friend.

‘Hello Millie,’ Kate whispered. She touched the frame gently, running her fingertips over the discreetly engraved silver. She was exactly as she’d seen her in the visions of Cat’s life. The picture wasn’t dated, so she didn’t know when it had been painted or by whom. She had a feeling it wouldn’t have been Cat who had done it — she seemed to be like Kate; a much more practical person with very little artistic talent. She was glad Cat had Millie in her life. Kate imagined she’d been the perfect person for Cat to be with when the news of Will came out.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ Kate promised the picture. ‘If I don’t see you in person, I know you’re just here. You’re lovely. I do so wish I could know you properly.’

She took one last look at the miniature and her floral arrangement and headed out of the dining room. Next time she was inveigled into assisting Cassie as a room guide, she would specifically request a spot in the dining room, next to the fireplace.

But today, she thought, winding her way back through the whispering corridors, trying to shake off the misery of Cat’s bereavement, she had to sell ice-cream and avoid Theo Kent — in no particular order.

* * *

Part of him was desperate to see Kate again, and part of him wanted to hide in the stables, maybe beneath a pile of hay, just to be sure of avoiding her.

It wasn’t that Theo regretted what had happened last night — far from it. But they all had real lives to get on with after this weekend and he didn’t want to leave a trail of destruction behind him. Come Tuesday, he’d be back in Derbyshire picking up his other life and he didn’t know if he would have to consider Poppy in his future or not. It wasn’t fair on Kate and he couldn’t even plan a life for himself, never mind Kate — although he was desperate to be with her, one way or another.

But Hughie still needed attention and there were plenty of tasks for Theo to be getting on with, so he couldn’t second guess himself too much. He’d put himself at the Hall’s disposal for the whole weekend, quite deliberately, and there was good reason for doing that. He needed, for example, to tighten the nuts on the wheels of the Gypsy Tea Caravan, because they’d been wobbling a bit towards the end of the day yesterday.

Yes; he had plenty to do — and plenty of things to keep him well away from a certain red-headed ice-cream seller. All he needed was some willpower.

* * *

The morning stretched into the afternoon and Kate was so busy that she barely had any time to think about — not to mention scan the horizon for — horses, and people who looked like they worked with horses. She tried to convince herself she didn’t really want to see him at all. And tried very hard to carry that thought through the day.

Cassie checked in at lunchtime again and offered to send Hughie and his caravan down so Kate could have a break.

‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘It’s fine. I brought my lunch today.’ It was a complete fib of course. She just didn’t want anyone turning up to check Hughie’s hooves, for example, when the horse was stationed at the Spa. She ended up eating a double-sized ice-cream with a fine dollop of clotted cream on the top for lunch, and at least it filled her up.

There was one point where she was forcibly reminded of the picnic from the previous evening though; Delilah herself came over, weaving her way through the noise and bustle, looking cheerful and relaxed and clutching a huge, plastic box.

‘Hello, my lovely!’ she said. ‘Trade doing well, is it?’

‘Not too bad, thanks,’ Kate replied with a smile. ‘And thank you for the picnic yesterday. It was very kind of you.’

Delilah shrugged. ‘Well, I know how hard you were working and I thought you might need a treat or two. I thought you’d be too busy worrying about your museum with that Jenna in charge — so I went along with the excuse of the picnic just to check things out, so I could report back if I had to, you know. And it was fine. She had the place under control and she still had her clothes on, which was a bonus.’ Jenna had once been spotted skinny-dipping in the river with a group of Danish tourists. Delilah’s opinion was that if she, Delilah, had a figure like that, she would have been happy to flaunt it bare-naked as well. Regardless, Delilah winked. ‘And then there was that lovely man with the horses. I was sure he would be busy as well, so I thought why not? You can share it all.’

‘The lovely man with the horses,’ Kate said wryly. ‘I still don’t know where you spotted us or why you thought we were having fun.’

‘I saw you chatting by the Faerie Bridge yesterday. I had a delivery to make then as well.’ She raised the empty box. ‘Any excuse to get over to the Hall and make sure the crowds are fed.’ Delilah’s cake-supply chain worked well for everyone concerned. ‘I’d seen the chap with Horace earlier and you both looked tired and hungry and hot. And as I say, it was a good excuse to visit the museum to check on things.’

‘You look after us well, Delilah.’ Delilah and Margaret seemingly looked after everyone — all of the parentless and parentless-by-proxy young adults in the village. Delilah and Margaret, and Elodie’s family, in fact, had practically brought Alex and Cassie up, as their mother abandoned them and their father had been adorable but clueless. Elodie had also benefitted from their kindness over the years, especially when she had been struggling with the pregnancy, and her parents were miles away in France. Her new-born twins had never been short of a surrogate Granny or two either. Really, the village was held together by the villagers and Kate loved it there. It was like Cassie said — Hartsford would always draw you back.

A little shiver ran up and down Kate’s shoulder blades. Not for the first time, she wondered whether that was the reason she had pitched up here; how the museum was just conveniently ready for a new manager when she was looking to start on the next rung of her career. Perhaps Cat and Kate had more in common than she thought. Perhaps Hartsford Hall had called her back for a purpose — or to finish something that she started years ago. It was an odd feeling.

It was fairly exhausting, trying to avoid Theo. Kate couldn’t relax and was on edge all day, wondering if he’d appear for a late-afternoon ice-cream like he’d done yesterday.

But after a successful day of Theo-avoidance, ironically, it was almost with a sense of disappointment that she began packing up with the last of the visitors. Part of her, she had realised by that point, really really wanted to see him.