Page 17 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

Meadow smiled. ‘I’m not sure I want to know.’

Leah finished Star’s hair. ‘Right, you’re all done, why don’t you go and watch Charlie perform his tricks.’

Star hopped down from the stool and ran over to join the other children who were all watching Charlie with awe.

Leah was studying Meadow patiently.

Meadow sighed. ‘Oh go on then, tell me, what did you see in my cards?’

‘A wedding and a baby.’

‘Well that will be River’s obviously. I just told you that.’

‘I did your cards, not River’s.’

‘But surely, if I’m going to their wedding and I’ll be here when their baby is born, if the cards are able to pick up my future that’s what they’ve seen.’

‘That’s not how the cards work. The baby is yours.’

Meadow swallowed a lump in her throat at that thought and then pushed it away. ‘I suppose it’s possible. I’ve decided to try dating after all these years of living a spinster life. I’ve signed up to online dating and I’m also doing these dating events like speed dating where I’ll be meeting people face to face. I suppose I might get lucky and find someone I want to marry one day and I guess one day there might be more children.’

‘The wedding will be this year, the baby shortly after.’

‘Wow, that’s fast work, even for me,’ Meadow said, not believing in any of this despite wanting to.

‘Me and Charlie married four weeks after we’d said we love each other for the first time. It would have been sooner, but the registry office won’t let you do that. There was no point hanging around for us, we both knew we wanted forever with each other, so why wait?’

‘That’s lovely that you two have found each other after so long,’ Meadow said, trying to distract her.

‘The cards say you marry a dear friend too.’

‘Oh come on, you’ve been trying to get me together with Bear for years,’ Meadow laughed.

‘Because I can see what you two absolutely refuse to see. You love each other, and that is as clear as day and now the cards have backed it up.’

‘Well, I promise to invite you to the wedding if we do get married.’

‘The cards predicted that too. Apparently I wear a big hat.’

CHAPTERTEN

Bear stepped inside the wedding chapel treehouse and looked around. River and Heath were busy in one corner, hammering and drilling away, and hadn’t noticed his arrival yet. It was the first time he’d been inside since they’d started building it a few weeks before. He had to give it to his brothers, once they put their minds to building something, it often came together very quickly. River just had an eye for these things whereby he could see the bigger picture and Heath was quick and efficient with the way he worked. This place had been Meadow and Indigo’s idea; he’d looked at the plans and the drawings and he could see his brothers had captured what Meadow and Indigo wanted perfectly.

It was going to hold thirty guests so future weddings would be small affairs, but the rustic walls, and the candles and the fairy lights they were going to have, were the perfect backdrop. It didn’t need to be anything extravagant. He could imagine how some simple flowers around the room would be the only other decoration they’d need to have. The roof was partly finished but the part that wasn’t was up the far end near where the couple would stand while getting married, and actually the lack of roof enhanced the beauty of the place, letting nature inside. There was a large open arch-shaped hole at the end, too, where the plan was to have some kind of modern stained-glass window. At the moment there was no glass in it, but with the stunning view of the sea and the woods just outside, maybe they didn’t need a stained-glass window after all.

He watched his brothers working seamlessly together, passing each other tools or parts mostly without any kind of instruction or request. They had always been more practical than academic but what they had achieved here at Wishing Wood was nothing short of spectacular. With thirty-two incredible treehouses, each one charming, unique, luxurious and strong enough to withstand the fiercest storms, he couldn’t have been prouder to be a part of this place, even if his contribution wasn’t as hands-on as his brothers.

He smirked and shook his head as Heath danced and sang along to the radio. While his carpentry and architectural skills were second to none, his singing and dancing left a lot to be desired. Heath didn’t seem to care though. He was always upbeat and happy about everything.

The three of them had always been so close growing up, despite Heath being three years older than Bear and River two years older than Heath. They had to be close because in reality they only had each other. Both of their parents had walked out on them when they were little and they’d been raised unofficially by a host of different friends and relatives who would come and stay for a few weeks before passing the baton to the next person who wanted a few weeks’ holiday by the beach.

Their uncle Michael, who had owned this place, had been there for them more than any other relative so it made sense that they came to live with him when their parents died in a car accident. The powers that be needed something more official in place for their upbringing than the casual arrangement that had been in place for the many years before then. Michael fed them, looked after them, went to all the school events. On the surface he did everything a parent would, but he’d never been able to give the brothers the complete and unconditional love they’d needed. He was definitely lacking in any kind of visible affection, which just made the bond between the three brothers even stronger. So it had been a hard pill to swallow when Heath had got Meadow pregnant and then married her. Although Heath had had no idea about Bear’s feelings for her so he couldn’t really be angry at his brother. And when Star had been born premature and Heath was a complete mess, Bear had known he had to be there for him just like Heath had been there for him so many times before. And although there were times when Bear had thought Heath was wrong for sleeping with other women while he’d been married to Meadow, the three of them had still remained close over the years. And that was one of the things he loved about working here: he was part of the team and he liked that the team now included children and other halves too.

‘This place looks great,’ Bear said. ‘You two have done a fantastic job.’

River turned to look at him, a big grin on his face. ‘It’s looking good, isn’t it?’

‘It really is. I actually like that there’s no roof up that end. I know it isn’t practical if it rains but we could put a glass roof up instead. The light is wonderful and you can see the tops of the trees and the sky, it feels more natural.’

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