Page 18 of Summer at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Hi, all.’

‘Hey Mummy, Tom helped me with my jigsaw yesterday, and he took me out to see Petie in his truck.’

‘Thought I’d give Ruth a bit of a breather,’ he smiled.

‘Aw, thanks, that’s so thoughtful of you.’

‘And I went and helped Dan in the Pantry. We made cheese scones together … but they were triangle ones and not circles. He’s not as good as you, Grandma …’

‘Well, you have been busy,’ replied Grandma Jill with a grin.

‘Cupcake, Tom?’ Ruth passed the plate across. ‘Double chocolate sprinkles, courtesy of Maisy.’ She gave a wry smile.

‘Don’t mind if I do.’ He took one, and gave a thumbs-up to Maisy, who beamed with pride.

‘So, everything’s been fine with the farm?’ Rachel asked, turning to Tom.

‘Yeah, just one of your ewes got a bit tangled in a fence. I got her out okay, but she’s got a deep nick on her foreleg. Treated it with the purple spray; looks like it’ll heal okay.’

‘Ah, there’s always some trouble, hey?’

The usual farmyard niggles.

‘You’ll find her in the Top Field, still limping a bit this morning.’

‘Well, thank you. It was great knowing Primrose Farm was in good hands.’

‘You’re welcome. And Maisy filled me in on lots of things while we were out and about. I’ve learnt all kinds of things while you were away.’ His eyes were twinkling mischievously.

‘Hah, I bet she did, little chatterbox.’ Rachel squeezed her daughter’s cheek affectionately.

Back in the fold of Primrose Farm: Moss stretched out by the Aga, his tail rhythmically giving a happy thump on the tiles, the Baking Bible set there high on the shelf above the well-used food mixer, and the glorious view of the valley beyond the square-paned window, green and lush. Sitting in the hub of the kitchen with her fiancé and her family, Rachel felt such warmth. There was a glow of happy love around that table. It felt good, and Rachel was so thankful. Her mind drifted to her best friend Eve, and the recent revelation that had rocked her. She sent a silent prayer that Eve was feeling that same warmth on her arrival home.

8

EVE

Eve walked up the path to her cottage with her suitcase and the precious dress carrier in tow, and saw Ben and Amelia waiting on the doorstep. Her daughter dashed out to greet her in a rush of miss-you hugs and chatter, telling her all about her weekend.

‘Maisy was here and we had pizza and ice creams … and Haribo … and we stayed up till eleven o’clock!’ her cute six-year-old voice raced on.

Argh, so that’s what happened when she wasn’t around. Eve raised an eyebrow sharply at Ben, just as Ben gave Amelia a cheeky shush, that’s enough, kind of look. She couldn’t really be cross, though – a late night once in a blue moon probably wasn’t going to hurt. It was good to think that they’d been having fun together. She knew that Ben was a lovely dad to Amelia, it was nice for them to have some father–daughter bonding time. And, she had been away herself, having a brilliant time with the girls.

‘Hey …’ Ben was there at the doorway, helping to take her case before brushing her cheek with a kiss. ‘Had a good time then?’

‘Yeah, it was great.’

The three of them bundled in over the threshold, Eve finding a safe place to hang the dress, using the top ledge of the open lounge door. ‘And Rachel so loved the dress, phew.’

‘Well, that’s good,’ Ben replied, a little distractedly.

The number of hours Eve had spent on the dress had already caused some tension between her and Ben, that and trying to keep up with all her Etsy orders online. Her craft business was doing well, and she made soft toys, knits and home decorations to sell at the Pudding Pantry and at local craft fairs, but all this took time and sometimes stole into their evenings. The dress was yet more work, but she really wanted to make her best friend’s wedding extra special. After hearing from Jill about the frock that Rachel had left behind, she couldn’t get her friend’s disappointment out of her mind, and she had been determined to play Fairy Godmother. Ben had huffed and puffed his way through many an evening of late as she sat stitching chiffon flowers onto the skirt, saying he couldn’t see why Rachel couldn’t just go and buy a wedding dress like most other people did.

‘You load so much pressure on yourself already,’ he’d commented. ‘You don’t have to take even more on.’

But Eve wanted Rachel’s big day to be perfect for her bestie, and was almost as excited about Tom and Rachel’s wedding as the happy couple were.

Ben was looking at her. ‘So, what did you get up to? What was it like there? It sounded a great place.’