Hope Blooms in Tuppenny Bridge (Tuppenny Bridge #5)

Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

‘Will you be going?’

Daisy glanced up at the sound of a familiar voice, frowning in confusion as she saw Rita Pennyfeather standing in front of her, smiling.

‘Sorry?’

‘To that.’ Rita nodded at the bench beside Daisy, who, looking down realised someone had dropped a leaflet advertising the annual sheep fair at the end of September. ‘You weren’t here for the last one, were you? Or were you?’ She shook her head. ‘My bloody memory’s shocking. You could have been standing right next to me and I wouldn’t remember.’

‘I hadn’t moved here then,’ Daisy reminded her gently, ‘but I did visit. I came with my brother and his girlfriend.’

Then did a runner because I saw Eliot on the stage, showing one of his sheep, and worse than that, he saw me!

‘Ah, right. So you know how much fun it is then.’

Rita picked up the leaflet and sat down next to Daisy on the bench in the market square. It was Monday afternoon, and Daisy had escaped the café for ten minutes, leaving it in Rowan’s capable hands. The lunchtime rush had long since quietened and her assistant had sent her outside to soak up the early September sunshine, breathe in the fresh air and, hopefully, chase away the headache that had been building for the last hour.

‘Maybe a storm’s coming in,’ Rowan had said, nodding sagely. ‘My mam always gets a headache just before one strikes.’

Daisy couldn’t imagine a storm was on its way, but it had to be said that the nights were drawing in and the clocks would be going back next month. Some of the business owners had already started to decorate their premises for autumn. The market square had splashes of colour as pubs and shops were festooned with garlands of gold and orange foliage, fake pumpkins, and rich, red berries.

These were the dying days of summer. Dark evenings, and cold and rainy days would be upon them before they could blink. And then what?

It would make it so much harder to go for hikes in the countryside. She had Sunday’s walk to look forward to but after that… She’d hardly seen Noah since before he’d started back at school, and she could only see things getting more difficult for them. It was hard to stay optimistic.

‘Don’t look so glum,’ Rita said, nudging her. ‘I won’t make you go if you don’t want to.’

‘Huh?’ For a moment Daisy was baffled, then she realised Rita was still talking about the sheep fair and laughed. ‘Oh, it’s okay. I enjoyed it. Mostly. Besides, I’m hardly going to be able to avoid it, am I? This whole market square will be taken over by it, and since my café’s just there I’m not going to miss it.’

‘Well, I’m glad,’ Rita said, patting her arm. ‘All work and no play makes Daisy a very dull girl, and we don’t want that.’

‘Er, no. We don’t.’ Daisy wasn’t sure how to respond. Rita was behaving rather strangely.

‘So, do you like it here then?’ Rita asked, evidently determined to spend some time with her. Daisy sighed inwardly. So much for taking a break for peace and quiet.

‘I do,’ she said, massaging her temples. ‘It’s a smashing town, and I love my flat and the café. I feel really lucky. Everything just came together so perfectly.’

‘Yes, almost like fate,’ Rita said thoughtfully. ‘If you believe in such things, naturally.’

‘You’re in a very odd mood today, Rita,’ Daisy said, eyeing her curiously. ‘Is everything okay?’

‘Oh yes, everything’s fine, love. Ignore me. I’m a daft old bugger as anyone will tell you. Eugenie’s always saying so, and you know her. She’s not backwards in coming forwards, is she? Mind you, sometimes she’s not that bright herself. Misses things. Thinks she knows it all, but she doesn’t.’ She tapped the side of her nose. ‘Although, that might be because she doesn’t want to see it, don’t you think?’

Daisy had no idea what to say to that, so she just made a vague, ‘Mm,’ sound.

Rita hesitated then she said quickly, ‘No, I can’t do it! Bloody subtlety was never my strong point. Birdie told me to keep out of it, but I said to her, if that was our Kat I’d want her to know.’

‘Know what?’ Daisy asked, alarmed.

‘The fact is, love…’ Rita glanced around her then leaned closer to Daisy. ‘Eugenie knows,’ she said solemnly.

Daisy’s forehead creased in confusion. ‘Knows what?’

Rita sighed and sat up straight again. ‘Well, what do you think? About you and Noah.’

Daisy’s heart raced as the horror of what Rita had just said sank in. ‘Wh-what?’

‘She had a polite word with him, so she says. But knowing her she’s read him the riot act. She’ll have been laying down the law, no doubt about it. Telling him to stay away from you or else. Oh, I can just hear her, and I think it’s all wrong. He’s a grown man and he should make his own decisions. Besides,’ she added, nudging Daisy, ‘you’re a much better match for him than Miss Snooty Drawers. What he ever saw in her I will never understand.’

Daisy swallowed. ‘Rita, there’s nothing going on with me and Noah.’

‘Oh, don’t do that. Don’t kid a kidder.’ Rita shook her head. ‘Birdie saw him sneaking into your flat one evening. She fancied some fish and chips and went out in the rain, even though I warned her she’d catch her death. She was over the moon when she got back. She was so excited she let her chips go cold.’

‘Oh no,’ Daisy murmured.

‘She did! Don’t worry, we stuck them in the microwave. And the thing is, love, I’ll hold my hands up, I’m a gossip. I like to know what’s going on, and sometimes it pays off. Ask the vicar. We’ve given quite a lot to the Tuppenny Bridge Fund over the years with our little sideline. But I couldn’t resist telling Eugenie what Birdie had seen. I mean, she is our best friend, God help us. And he is her nephew. Well, great nephew. She loves him to bits, like we love Kat, and she’d want to know. But of course, she reacted badly. Can’t see the wood for the trees, you see, and it’s all about the precious Lavender reputation.’

Daisy’s mouth felt dry. ‘So, you told Miss Lavender that Noah visited me at my flat? And she’s spoken to him about it?’

‘Yep. Saturday. She called him round and although she didn’t tell us what was said, I can imagine. She wasn’t too impressed, put it that way. But you know, she doesn’t see what we see, because she doesn’t want to. I mean, that Isobel. Who does she think she’s kidding?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘We’ve heard the rumours. Noah’s beating her up!’ She snorted. ‘Is he buggery! But that’s what she’d like us to believe, and I’ll tell you why. Because she’s a nasty, vindictive bully, that’s why, and she’s done nothing but try to isolate him since she married him. You never knew him before then, but he was such an outgoing, happy young lad. And I’ll tell you something else, he hasn’t got a bad bone in his body, so there you go.’

Daisy could have hugged her, even though she’d admitted to telling Eugenie about Noah’s visit to the flat. ‘You don’t believe he’s hurting Isobel! Oh, thank God. I don’t either.’

‘Most people round here don’t. Even the ones who are talking about looking out for her. Deep down, they have their doubts but what can they do? And they’re right, of course. They should look out for her. Fair’s fair, we wouldn’t want to see any woman go through that, would we? But no one really believes it.’

‘Kat does,’ Daisy said. ‘And Sally. And who knows who else?’

‘They’re just trying to be open minded,’ Rita said. ‘Too daft if you ask me. Me and Birdie—we keep our eyes and ears open, and we know there’s summat very wrong with that lass. Isobel, I mean. Course, with her background she hasn’t had much of an example of happy family life, but that’s no excuse. You pick your own path in this life. You make a choice to be good or bad, and she’s rotten if you ask me. Noah would be happier with you, and I’ve no doubt he knows it. But Eugenie won’t see it because that would mean opening her eyes to how bloody miserable he’s been all these years, and she can’t face that.’

She sighed again. ‘We all want what’s best for our kith and kin, and sometimes we make big mistakes because we’ve read the situation all wrong. Now what I think is—’ She broke off and stared over Daisy’s shoulder. ‘Ey up, what’s going on there then?’

Daisy turned to look and saw a crowd gathered outside Pennyfeather’s Craft Shop.

Rita got to her feet. ‘It’s our Kat!’ she cried. ‘What’s happened?’

Daisy’s heart leapt into her throat. Oh no! Not the baby, surely? But then she heard Kat yelling, ‘When I get my hands on them, I’ll swing for them! You just wait and see.’

Weak with relief, she followed Rita over to the shop, where Kat was surrounded by passers-by who’d stopped to hear her rant. Jonah was looking grim-faced but was trying to calm his wife down.

Dolly had clearly heard the commotion as she’d joined them, leaving Clemmie to mind the shop. ‘The miserable sods,’ she said angrily. ‘By, there’s some bad buggers in this world, but this takes the biscuit.’

‘We’ll sort it,’ Jonah soothed, putting his arm around Kat. ‘Don’t get yourself worked up, love. Think of your blood pressure!’

‘My blood pressure!’ Kat cried. ‘It’s not my health you want to be worrying about. I swear, I’ll murder them!’

‘Whoa, what the heck’s going on?’ Rita pushed her way through the crowd and appeared to be staring at something in shocked dismay. Daisy managed to join her and followed her gaze. Her hand flew to her mouth.

‘Oh, my God! What happened?’

‘That,’ Jonah said, ‘is what we intend to find out.’

They all gazed down at the pram—or what was left of it. It was soaking wet, covered in mud, and had been slashed to ribbons, as if someone had attacked it with a knife.

‘Oh, Katherine,’ Rita said mournfully, so upset she’d used Kat’s Sunday name for once, ‘who would have done this?’

‘I fished it out of the river ten minutes ago,’ Jonah explained. ‘We haven’t used the carry-cot bit—you know, the bit that converts it into a pram—since Hattie outgrew it. She’s always in her fold-up buggy these days, you see, so I thought I’d take it out of the spare room and get it all cleaned up and ready for the baby’s arrival. I gave it a good scrub and cleaned the pram frame and put them in the garden to dry, but when I went out back later to fetch it in, I found the gate open and the pram missing.’

He nodded at what remained of the expensive pram that the mystery donor had bought for Kat. The pram she’d been talking about at her baby shower just days ago.

‘I got in the van and went looking for it and found it. Someone’s chucked it into the river from the bridge by the look of it. Took me ages to get it out.’

‘I don’t get it,’ Daisy gasped. ‘Who’d want to do that to it? Why?’

‘Morons!’ Kat said bitterly. ‘Bit of fun. They probably broke into the garden hoping to raid the shed for expensive tools or something, but when all they found was this pram, they decided to take out their frustration on it. Now look at the result. And that means we’ll have to buy a new pram, which is just what we need.’

‘For this to happen in Tuppenny Bridge, of all places,’ Rita said. ‘Things like that don’t happen here. Aw, Kat, love, I’m that sorry. But don’t worry, we’ll all chip in. We’ll get you a new pram, I promise.’

‘That’s not the point.’ Kat’s anger seemed to leave her suddenly, and she dissolved into tears. ‘Who’d do this? My lovely pram.’

‘Oh, Kat! What on earth’s happened?’

Daisy spun round, her stomach flipping as she saw not only Isobel but Noah standing behind her. Noah’s eyes briefly flitted to hers but then he looked back at the pram, shock clear on his face.

‘Someone stole it from the garden and dumped it in the Skimmer,’ Jonah explained curtly. ‘Looks like they’ve had a field day first, cutting it to ribbons.’

‘Kat, I’m so sorry.’ Isobel shook her head. ‘This is awful. You don’t expect something like this to happen in this town, do you?’

Daisy noticed she was wearing her shop overall, with the Petalicious logo embroidered on it. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Petalicious delivery van parked in the market square. Isobel must have been on her way to deliver some flowers and spotted the crowd. As for Noah…

She glanced at the clock on the church tower and realised it was gone four. Bloody hell! She should have shut the café up by now. Maybe Rowan had already done it? Noah had obviously left work for the day. Maybe he’d been coming to see her? Her heart did a little skip at the thought, but she ignored it. This wasn’t the time when poor Kat was so upset.

‘I’m really sorry about this, Kat,’ Noah said, sounding choked. ‘You too, Jonah. It just doesn’t make sense. There are some terribly cruel, selfish people around.’

‘There are,’ Isobel agreed, nodding vehemently. ‘I feel a bit scared thinking about it. I mean, your children play in that garden, Kat. What if they’d been there when whoever it was broke in? Tuppenny Bridge used to be such a quiet little town, but when something like this happens it makes me wonder if we should think about moving, Noah. Somewhere I’d feel safer. Maybe we could discuss it later.’

Noah looked shocked but kept his eyes firmly averted from Daisy’s. She didn’t blame him because the last thing they needed was for Isobel to notice, but it was hard standing so close to him and pretending he meant nothing. It was also deeply uncomfortable with Rita at her side, knowing what she knew. Fortunately—or rather, unfortunately—Rita seemed far too distressed to notice.

‘Have you called the police?’ Dolly asked.

‘What would be the point?’ The fight seemed to have gone out of Kat completely. She sounded exhausted. ‘And we hadn’t taken out insurance for theft from the garden so that’s that.’

‘I’m sure everyone will chip in,’ Rita said eagerly. She cast pleading eyes on everyone who was standing round. ‘Won’t we?’

‘Of course,’ Noah murmured.

‘Naturally,’ Isobel said at once. ‘I’m sure everyone who loves you will be only too eager to buy you a replacement.’

‘It’s all right,’ Jonah said gruffly. ‘Thanks for the offer and that, but we’ll manage fine. I can buy my own baby a pram, don’t worry.’

‘Oh, I’m sure no one was meaning to imply that you couldn’t,’ Isobel said hastily. ‘After all, things are very different this time around. Money was an issue when Kat was expecting Hattie, what with the father being—well, not on the scene. But now she has you and naturally you want to provide for your own. Still,’ she reached out and ran her hands along the tattered, muddy pram apron, ‘it is a shame. You just never know, do you? The things that are in people’s hearts, I mean. What they’re capable of.’

‘Right, let’s get you home, love,’ Jonah said briskly. ‘No point in hanging round here, and you’re looking done in.’

Kat glanced at the shop. ‘But I haven’t finished?—’

‘I’ll step in for now,’ Rita said. ‘It’s only another hour, and I can lock up. You get off home and put your feet up.’

‘I’d better be going back to the shop,’ Dolly said apologetically. ‘I told Clemmie I’d only be a minute.’

‘I should go, too,’ Isobel agreed. ‘Kelly will be wondering where I am. I’ve just got back from delivering a bouquet to a house in Lingham-on-Skimmer. Are you going straight home, Noah?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. I’ve got lots of work to do.’ He patted his briefcase.

‘Oh, really? Shame. I was hoping for one of your delicious spaghetti Bolognese for dinner tonight. I really don’t feel up to cooking, and I haven’t had one of your specialities for ages, but it’s okay of course. I’ll cook something for us when I get home.’

Noah cleared his throat. ‘N-no, if you want spaghetti Bolognese then of course I’ll make it. I’ll pop to Maister’s for the things I haven’t got in.’

‘Are you sure?’ Isobel’s eyes widened. ‘I wouldn’t want to put you to any trouble.’

‘No trouble,’ he said flatly.

‘Oh, thank you, darling. You’re very kind.’ She kissed him on the cheek.

Daisy couldn’t stomach this display any longer. ‘Right, I’d better get the café closed up,’ she said loudly, and pushed her way through the crowd to the door, pausing to squeeze Kat’s shoulder. ‘I really am sorry about the pram.’

As Kat nodded, Daisy’s eyes met Noah’s. She could see the apology in them but there was something else, too. Something she couldn’t put a name to.

Sadly, she turned away and headed back to work.