Page 60 of A French Country Escape
Eliza smiled. ‘Definitely.’ She looked at the family history in front of her and shook her head in disbelief. ‘I find it hard to take in that I now have relatives. I always longed to have at least an aunt and a cousin; now I have…’ She stopped. ‘What do I have exactly?’
Peter took her hand. ‘You have a whole family of new relations. We’ll work out all the family links later, but you and I are definitely related.’
Alice arrived shortly afterwards to take Eliza home. As Peter walked her to the car, he mentioned the fete.
‘Tomorrow’s the village fete. You are coming, aren’t you? Good,’ he said when Eliza nodded. ‘And in the evening, we’re having a private party for family and friends in the orangery, to which you are naturally invited. So we’ll see you again tomorrow, cousin.’ And Peter leant in and kissed her cheek.
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Alice, as organizer-in-chief of the fete, had taken the decision to keep all the events close to the main entrance. ‘Easier for people to see everything and not have to walk too far through the estate, especially if it rains.’ She’d worked out a plan of where each stall or event would go and pinned it to a makeshift sandwich board by the tarmacked area where cars would park. Peter and Penny were primed to stand by to show people where to place their stands and equipment and to generally help them to get organised.
Thankfully, the early morning clouds had disappeared and the sun was high in the sky by midday, most of the stalls were in place and the frantic feelings of ‘will we ever be ready’ had been dispelled. As Alice walked slowly around the stalls checking everything was in order, Freddie was ‘testing, testing’ the sound system he’d set up, ready for the vicar to officially open the fete at two o’clock prompt.
The first visitors started to appear before two o’clock and happily paid their one euro entrance fee. By the time the vicar had arrived and given his welcoming speech, all the stalls had people eager to either buy what was on offer, play boules or takepart in the lucky dip. The trio with their Celtic music and songs entertained visitors all afternoon and the ice cream van had a queue from the moment it parked on the drive.
Sasha, in a quiet moment at the tombola stall, watched as Maddie and Jade stopped to talk to Freddie, who was again adjusting something on the sound system. Sasha saw him pick up Jade and swing her around, before gently setting her back down. Maddie seemed intent on saying something to Freddie and Sasha saw him smile before he answered Maddie, ruffled Jade’s hair and walked away. She’d ask him what was going on later.
‘Sasha, I’d like you to meet Dawn who saved my life a few months ago,’ Penny said, appearing with a tall dark-haired woman in front of the stall.
‘Well, somebody had to rescue you from you know who,’ Dawn said.
‘Lovely to meet you,’ Sasha said. ‘Have you come to stay?’
‘No. I had a few days’ holiday due and I thought I’d surprise Penny and see how she was. I miss her. I needed to make sure she was okay. I’m staying at?—’
‘Here, at least for the night,’ Penny interrupted. ‘We’re having a family party this evening and I insist you stay. Your help was crucial to me escaping from an unpleasant situation and a certain person. I can never thank you enough. And I know Mum and Dad will want to thank you too.’
Dawn looked uncertain. Sasha, sensing that Penny really wanted her friend to stay, said, ‘You can’t possibly turn down the offer of staying in the château. It’s amazing.’
‘Yes,’ Penny laughed. ‘The next time you come, you’ll be roughing it in the oldMaison du Jardinierwith me.’
‘In that case, I give in,’ Dawn said, laughing. ‘Thank you. I’d love to stay tonight.’
It was gone six o’clock when the vicar thanked everyone for coming and spending money to help the church, wished them a good evening at the fireworks in Carhaix if they were going, and told them the fete was now officially closed.
As she and Freddie helped clear rubbish away, Sasha said, ‘I saw you with Jade and Maddie earlier. Are you okay? Maddie wasn’t pressuring you to change your mind or anything?’
Freddie gave a rueful smile. ‘How did you guess? But don’t worry. My mind is not for changing.’
Lucas, who had been wanting to talk to Penny all day, finally managed to track her down as she and Dawn stacked some chairs near the orangery for later in the evening, ready for their own family and friends’ Bastille Day party.
‘There you are,’ Lucas said. ‘I am looking everywhere for you.’
‘And now you’ve found me,’ Penny said, her voice flat.
Dawn looked from one to the other, not sure what was going on but deciding the two of them didn’t need an audience. ‘I’ll go and see if I can help anyone else,’ Dawn said and quickly walked away from them.
‘Why do I get the feeling you avoid me since our afternoon in the Valley of the Saints?’ Lucas said.
‘Because Ihavebeen avoiding you. Avoiding having this conversation. A conversation I have no desire to have,’ Penny said, close to tears now the moment had come. ‘You have to realise we cannot have a future together other than as friends,’ she said quietly.
‘Why? I don’t understand. I thought after the Valley of the Saints…’ His voice trailed away.
‘Oh, come on, Lucas, you were there when the box was opened and your grandmother’s family history was discovered.’
‘Yes, I was there, but I don’t see how or why it affect us?’
‘How can you say that? Of course it affects us. We are related. It might be distantly, but we are both in the same family tree.’
