Page 16 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

Annie sighed as she glanced at the crockery. ‘I don’t know how it gets so messy.’

‘There are a lot more people here these days, aren’t there?’ asked Lily.

‘Oh, yes. There’s Arthur, of course,’ began Annie.

‘I hope that’s not my name being taken in vain,’ said Arthur, appearing at the top of the stairs before beginning to step down gingerly, holding a walking cane in one hand.

A fall a few years previously had slowed him a little, but otherwise he was still full of life despite the air of fragility about his slim frame, encased now in a tweed jacket and old worn trousers.

‘How are you, my dear?’ said Arthur in his clipped, aristocratic way of speaking as he walked across the kitchen.

Lily leapt up to shake his hand. ‘Very well, thank you.’

‘And your parents?’ Arthur’s grey eyebrows crossed into a frown. ‘I must pay your father a visit. It’s been too long since I last saw him.’

‘Thank you. He’s OK.’ Lily blushed and shrugged her shoulders. ‘Well, you know. He’s keeping busy.’

Arthur had been wonderful when the terrible car accident had taken place. He had refused to take any rent from the family for the cottage until her father was back home from the hospital. Afterwards, Arthur had kept the rent as low as possible.

‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Arthur. ‘Please pass on my regards to him and I shall give him a call this week to arrange a suitable time to visit him.’

Annie came over to them both, carrying two mugs of tea. ‘There you go,’ she said, placing them on the table.

Just then, the back door was flung open and a woman with purple hair came into the kitchen.

Annie smiled. ‘See? I told you that everyone’s always coming and going,’ she said. ‘Hi, Skye!’

‘Hello,’ said Skye, beaming. ‘Lovely day out there.’

‘Have you met Lily Harper?’ said Arthur, doing the introductions. ‘She’s one of our tenants. The Harper family have been in the village for as long as the Harris family. Lily, please allow me to introduce my granddaughter-in-law Skye Harris.’

‘Lovely to meet you,’ said Lily as Skye came across to shake her hand.

She had heard that Arthur’s youngest grandson, Will, had recently got married, but this was the first time that she had met his bride. Skye’s bohemian taste in clothes and purple hair were a stark contrast to the sharply dressed playboy that Lily could remember from having seen Will at a distance.

‘Harper? Is Bert the gardener any relation?’ asked Skye, frowning in thought.

‘He’s my grandad,’ said Lily.

Skye’s eyes widened in recognition. ‘Ah! Thought the surname was familiar.’

‘I’m less grumpy,’ Lily told her, to which Skye laughed.

‘I was just going to check on the stables,’ said Skye to Arthur. ‘Did you want to come with me for your afternoon walk?’

‘That sounds lovely, my dear,’ said Arthur, smiling.

‘What about your meeting?’ asked Annie.

‘All done,’ Arthur told her. ‘I left Sam chatting to his old school chum. Seems a very nice chap.’

‘Oh!’ said Annie, getting up. ‘I wanted to meet him as well. Lily, come with me and then you can see Sam. He’s probably almost done with his meeting, anyway.’

Without waiting for Lily’s answer, Annie headed up the steps so Lily had no choice but to follow her towards the entrance hall. They were just passing the grand staircase when Lily noticed the French doors at the back of the hall open.

She recognised Sam, of course, as he strode in from the grounds at the back. He had been the handsome groom at the wedding the previous December. He was chatting to a man who was hidden behind him.

But it was only as Sam moved to one side that Lily came face to face with her past.