Page 1 of Sunny Sundays at Primrose Hall

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‘Drive carefully! And let us know when you get there,’ Pia called. She stood alongside Jackson and Tom in front of the magnificence of Primrose Hall, as the early-morning sunshine broke through the clouds and cast a golden glow over the stonework. Pia wrapped her arms around her chest and watched as Ronnie carefully manoeuvred the camper van around the gravel driveway.

Rex, who was sitting in the passenger seat, had the side window wound down and leant out, a big grin on his face.

‘Well, we’re not sure where we’re going yet, but we’ll definitely let you know when we get there! Wish me luck!’ His eyes widened and his mouth twisted in mock horror, but Pia knew he was only joshing, the exaggerated grimace for comedy effect only. The pair of them, much more happily divorced than they’d ever been married, were heading off on an adventure to the Continent. Ronnie, always a free spirit, had a bad case of wanderlust and insisted that she wanted to go off on her travels, in her camper van, for one last time. Once Ronnie had managed to persuade Rex to accompany her, after recently rekindling their romance, there was absolutely no stopping her.

‘Rather him than me,’ said Jackson beneath his breath.

‘Oh, don’t!’ Pia nudged Jackson in the side with her elbow. ‘I’m going to miss them. Especially Ronnie, and our putting-the-world-to-rights sessions around the kitchen table every morning. I hope they don’t prefer wherever it is they’re going and decide to stay away.’

‘There’s absolutely no chance of that. I know from experience that Ronnie always turns up, like a bad penny.’

‘Stop it!’ Pia chided him.

‘Besides, she has Dad to keep her in check. And she’s given me strict instructions not to start making any plans for the wedding until they get home again so she won’t want to stay away too long. We need to make the most of the peace and quiet while we can.’

Jackson wrapped an arm around Pia’s shoulder, squeezing her in an embrace. Tom stood alongside and Bertie, the Dalmatian, wound his way in between their legs, always eager to be at the centre of any proceedings. Little Teddy, the newest member of the family, ran up and down, yapping excitedly. With a toot of the horn, Ronnie gave a wave and the camper trundled off down the driveway, with Rex still leaning out the window, calling their farewells. They all waited and watched as the van disappeared into the distance, and only shifted from their spot when the departing campers were finally out of sight.

‘I hate goodbyes,’ said Pia with a sigh, blinking away the tears in her eyes. ‘They always make me feel so sad.’ She turned to Tom, noticing that he’d been rather subdued too. Perhaps he felt the same way about farewells. ‘Come on, let’s go and have some coffee and cake to cheer us up.’

Back inside, as they gathered in the country farmhouse kitchen, Jackson made the coffees while Pia cut slices of carrot cake and laid them out on a colourful hand-painted plate,placing it in the middle of the long oak table. Tom accepted his coffee gratefully, and took a seat.

‘I’m glad I came down to see them off. I know they’ll only be away for a few months, but it feels strange waving Dad off when I’ve only just got to know him. It was almost as though, in that moment, I came to realise how much it’s meant to me, having him in my life. I’ll miss not having him around.’

Pia nodded in sympathy. So she hadn’t been the only one experiencing a wave of unexpected emotion this morning. Although Jackson was clearly immune to the highly charged atmosphere as he gave an unmistakable roll of his eyes and shook his head.

‘Honestly, what are you two like? They’ll be back before you know it and it will be as if they’ve never been away. Knowing that pair, they’ll probably have a huge falling out before they’ve even crossed the Channel. I wouldn’t be surprised if they turn around and come straight back home tonight.’

‘You don’t mean that!’ Pia chided Jackson. ‘I think it’s lovely that your mum and dad are getting on so fabulously these days, making up for all that lost time they spent apart. It’s very romantic.’

Jackson raised an eyebrow and twisted his lips in an undisguised display of doubt.

‘Hmmm, well, they’re hardly love’s young dream, and I’m still not convinced it will last, but I guess they have both mellowed over the years and if it keeps them happy and out of mischief then who am I to judge?’

‘Exactly!’ said Pia, triumphantly.

‘If you hadn’t told me otherwise, it would be easy to believe that they’d been happily married for a lifetime. They seem very well suited, and clearly adore each other,’ said Tom, who was still getting to grips with the family dynamics at Primrose Hall.

It was only last year that Tom had turned up in Rex’s life, breaking the news that he was his long-lost son. It had been a huge shock to Rex, realising that the short-lived fling he’d had with Diane, Tom’s mother, decades earlier had resulted in a child that he’d never known about. When the initial shock had subsided, it was replaced with a sense of wonder and joy, and father and son had been enjoying getting to know each other as adults, making up for all the years they’d been apart.

It had been a big adjustment for everyone. At first, Ronnie had felt threatened by Tom’s arrival, worried that she might be sidelined in Rex’s affections, but that hadn’t proved to be the case, and she and Tom had hit it off as soon as they met, bonding over a glass of red wine and a slice of Parkin on a cold November night. Now they were always delighted to see each other, picking up their conversation easily from the last time they’d met.

Jackson and Tom’s relationship hadn’t been quite so smooth in the making. Jackson by nature was reserved and self-contained, only opening up and trusting a few people within his inner circle. He felt no natural affinity to Tom just because they shared a father and Jackson only agreed to meet Tom in the first place to appease Rex. Since then, there had been a misunderstanding over Pia, which resulted in a scrap between the brothers in the kitchen at Primrose Hall, but thankfully since that low point they had found some common ground. They played squash together every fortnight and Jackson always extended an invitation to Tom to Sunday lunch at the hall and any other family celebrations.

‘Well, don’t be a stranger while your dad’s away,’ Pia told Tom now. ‘You’re always welcome here, you know that.’

‘Thanks, Pia. That’s kind of you.’ Tom cast a glance towards Jackson, relieved to see him nod his agreement as well.

‘I’ve been meaning to ask, how are you fixed workwise these days?’ Jackson pulled out a chair at the table.

‘I’m still doing some days down at the builders’ merchants and helping out at the estate agents on an ad-hoc basis with the viewings, which I enjoy. I find it really interesting. I get to meet a wide range of people and it gives me the chance to have a nose around all sorts of properties. You should see some of them! I should probably start to think about getting a proper job again, but I can’t say the idea appeals much.’

Tom had given up a successful career in pharmaceutical sales last year, after discovering the truth about his father. Knowing that his late mother, who he’d adored, had lied to him for the entirety of his life had made him question everything he knew about himself. He had to contemplate who he really was, where had he come from? As well as throwing in his job, his relationship with his long-term girlfriend, Anna, was another casualty and he’d walked away from their home together, to start afresh. Finding Rex, his biological father, and a brother, Jackson, who he hadn’t known existed either, had been the starting point in coming to terms with this new version of himself. He’d never met anyone before that looked like him, who shared his colouring and his mannerisms, so to see himself reflected in the faces of Rex and Jackson had been a revelation.

‘Well, if you’re after any more work then I’m looking for someone to oversee the open days at the stables. They’ll be starting up again at the end of the month and we’ll be running them fortnightly this year.’

Tom’s eyes widened in interest as Jackson spoke.

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