Page 104 of A Recipe for Love
‘…that you were close.’
Flinty didn’t budge. ‘Well we’ve known each other our whole lives, like I said. Say what you mean, lass.’
Right. In for a penny. ‘Are you banging Lady Lowbridge?’
‘No, I am not currently, as you put it, “banging” Veronica Lowbridge.’ Flinty turned back towards her washing up.
‘I’m sorry.’ Bella couldn’t imagine now what had come over her. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything. Anna got me wondering, and it was silly and…’ Flinty’s reply ran through Bella’s mind again. Wait a second. She stared at her friend. ‘What do you mean “currently”?’
Was there the tug of a smile at the corner of Flinty’s lips?
Bella felt of surge of anger on Flinty’s behalf. ‘Oh my God! So she was outing you? That’s not OK.’
‘I don’t think she was trying to “out” us, as you put it.’ Flinty paused. ‘She’s protective of me; her and Hugh both are. They think I gave my life up to drag along after her. And maybe I did, but that was my decision. It was never asked for or expected.’
Bella was still processing. ‘So, can I ask?’
‘You can ask whatever you like. Not to say I’ll answer.’
‘So when? What happened? Is it still a thing? Are you still into her?’ Flinty was here every day, despite claims of retirement. ‘You are still into her, aren’t you? Does she know?’
Flinty let out a deep sigh. ‘Well…’
Whatever she had been intending to say next was cut off by a shout from the front hallway. Bella thought of Darcy straight away. She was the one most given to histrionics. Veronica was more of a cold-hearted assassin type, but it wasn’t Darcy yelling this time. Bella dropped her tea towel and ran towards the voices.
‘Get that woman out of my house this second!’
Adam was standing by the front doors with a woman Bella had never seen before. Veronica was opposite them with a demeanour that Bella only recognised from nature documentaries. It was somewhere in the region of rabid lioness defending her cub. Darcy came down the stairs and stopped when she saw the newcomer.
‘Penny!’
The stranger nodded. ‘I was sorry when I heard about Alexander. He was a good man.’
Darcy didn’t reply. She was frozen in place on the bottom step.
‘Well,’ Flinty broke the standoff. ‘Why don’t we all take this into the Blue Room?’
‘No.’ Veronica hadn’t budged.
‘Grandmother.’ Adam’s voice was tense.
The newcomer shook her head. ‘It’s fine. I’m not going to stay. I just wanted to meet…’ She scanned around the group until her gaze landed on Bella. ‘You must be the fiancée.’
‘Yeah. I’m sorry. Who are…?’
Bella’s question seemed to jerk Adam back into life. ‘Sorry. Bel, this is my mother. Mother, this is Bella Smith.’
Adam’s mother. She was such an ephemeral figure in the way he spoke about his life that Bella had never anticipated meeting her. She stepped forward and held out her hand, only to find herself enveloped in a hug scented with seaweed and lavender. It reminded her in an instant of the fragrance and soap packs her nan used to make to sell at festivals in the summertime.
Penny pulled back from the hug and looked Bella up and down. ‘So how are you finding Lowbridge?’
‘I’m settling in.’
‘A bit different from where you’ve been before though?’
That was true. Even if Adam had only told her the bare essentials about his bride-to-be there was no arguing with simple fact. Bella wasn’t from here. She shouldn’t belong, but there was something about the tone Penny adopted – about the way it seemed to imply that they were both the same – that got Bella’s back up. She’d run away from her child with no explanation. Only in her darkest terrors could Bella imagine doing that. ‘Like I said, I’m settling in.’
‘Ow!’ Penny shuddered.
