‘Did you see Ma?’ Pip asked his dad. ‘She was asking after you, so I pointed her to the kitchen to see if you’d finished clearing up.’
‘No.’ Gabe furrowed his forehead briefly, before shaking it off with a shrug.
‘Still hanging in there, Mammaw?’ Gabe asked Aster, pulling out the empty chair on one side of her, while I took a seat beside Pip, who instantly took my hand beneath the table, causing my insides to melt like warm caramel.
‘I was waiting for Pip’s girl to come back. I wanted to ask her something.’
‘She’s not Pip’s—’ Lily gave an apologetic glance in our direction, before stopping mid-sentence. ‘What? Hang on? Are you two…?Is she?’
Flora, leaning up against her da, a novel about Robin Hood open about an inch from her nose, pursed her lips, murmuring, ‘Keep up, Mother.’
Her uncle tried to look cool, but a grin kept escaping the side of his mouth. Mercifully, we were prevented from being grilled any further by Rosemary stomping up to the opposite side of the table to her husband, arms folded across a heaving chest.
‘Are you all right, my love?’ Gabe asked. ‘Is there a problem?’
Rosemary’s hair was askew, her cheeks crimson. She clearly wasn’t all right.
‘I’m fine,’ she huffed. ‘No problem that wants addressing in the middle of our daughter’s wedding celebration.’
She threw a quick glance in my direction. Any sense of carefree joy evaporated as my whole body braced itself. Something else must have happened to make me look bad. And if it wasn’t Celine, busy chatting to Violet and Barnie at the next table, who was it, and what had they done this time?
‘Are you sure?’
Rosemary gave a firm nod.
‘Come and sit with me, then?’
Rosemary ignored him, twisting her body to face the empty dance floor.
‘What did you want to ask Emmie, Mammaw?’ Pip asked, breaking the painful silence.
‘Ah, yes. Well. I’ve been trying to work out who she is,’ Aster said, nodding briskly in my direction. ‘Your hair. Those eyes. The way you hold your hands when you stand. I knew it was familiar. And then I tried your pasty, and it clicked. I’ve only known one woman who can make a pastry crust so light and flaky, crisp and soft all at the same time. And you? Well, you’relike one of those Russian dolls that would have fitted inside her. Then Lily said your mother lived here, once. It’s her, isn’t it? You’re Nellie’s girl?’
‘Who?’ Lily asked, looking puzzled.
‘Nellie!’
‘Nellie Brown. Otherwise known as the witch who stole my husband away and tried to destroy the farm,’ Rosemary suddenly shrieked, one slender finger pointing straight at me. Our whole table froze.
Most of the people nearby were also jolted into silence as they turned towards the sudden commotion.
‘Ma, what are you talking about?’ Lily stood up, reaching for her mother’s hand, but Rosemary shook it off.
Rosemary was well beyond listening.
‘Why is she here, Gabriel? Why have you welcomed her with open arms? How could you disrespect me like that?What are you doing with her?’
‘Nothing!’ Gabe stood up now. ‘I’ve done nothing to disrespect you.’
‘What? Sneaking around pretending to talk about chickens?’ Rosemary spat. ‘I saw you, not ten minutes ago, embracing in the dark! Muttering sweet nothings about how much you loved that shrew, and how you wished you were still with her, not me. Nothing to disrespect me? You’ve disrespected your children, your farm. All of it!’
‘What?’ Iris had hurried over, dress swishing. She stared at her father. ‘What is she talking about, Da?’
‘I did give Emmie a hug outside, yes,’ Gabe said, his voice sounding as old as time. ‘We’d been talking about her mother, who, yes, was my wife for almost four years, before anything happened between me and your ma. It was an emotional conversation. Nell passed a couple of years ago, and Emmie only recently found out that her mother had been married.Inevitably, she had questions about that, and it was only fair I provided some answers.’
‘One of which being that you wished you were still with her?’ Lily snapped.
‘No! I expressed that I wished she was still here, as in still alive. I said I’d loved her, because I had. Rosemary, you know this. I have always been honest about that with you.’
