Page 78 of A December to Remember
“Ooh, that sounds good. I might pop in,” said Simone.
“Maybe we all should,” Maggie suggested. “I can’t remember the last time I ate out.”
“We’d love to see you. Now while I’ve got you, Simone, I’ve got this shoulder, just needs a tweak...”
Oh, for goodness’ sake!“Honestly, I’d like to help you, but there are certain protocols...”
“Tell you what, let’s not even mention your professional credentials and just call this one friend lending another her expertise. Five minutes of your time. Miss Radley described you as having sorcerer’s fingers.”
“Good god. I’d forgotten what it was like living here,” Simone grumbled. The audacity levels in Rowan Thorp were far higher than in Greenwich.
Maggie laughed. Kev was already taking his jacket off.
“You can use the storeroom,” she called.
“Lovely jubbly!” said Kev.
Seven minutes later they emerged from the storeroom. Kev was windmilling his left arm delightedly.
“Old Miss Radley wasn’t wrong. You’ve got a gift. All your dinners are on me tomorrow. I’ll book you in for three p.m.,” he called over his shoulder as he left the shop, swiftly followed by Doreen, who waved energetic goodbyes.
“I am going to start pimping out your ‘sorcerer’s fingers,’ ” Maggie chortled. “I wonder what else I could get for free?”
“If Evette leaves me, maybe I’ll move down here and start my own practice,” she said dryly.
Verity looked up, mid–pom-pom, her expression quizzical. “Mama, what’s pimping?”
34
Star had goneto bed on Saturday night floating on a cloud of romance and possibilities but had woken early Sunday morning knowing that before she let this go any further, she had to be straight with Duncan. She liked him. A lot. But her commitment to Simone came first, and she knew it wasn’t a straightforward thing for a potential boyfriend to have to accept that his would-be girlfriend might be about to become pregnant with her sister’s baby. She wouldn’t blame him if he couldn’t hack it, but equally, she couldn’t be with someone who couldn’t respect her decisions with regards to her own body.
She had called him early and asked him to meet her in the tree house because there was something she needed to tell him. And now she waited, sitting among the piles of cushions and warm throws she’d hauled up into her old hideaway in the trees.
The weather was bright and cold and her old china tea set, now Verity’s, was covered in a sheen of condensation. The woodland had frosted to a crisp that crunched underfoot and sparkled in the dappled shards of winter sun. In this frozen otherworld, sugar-dusted thorns lost their menace and thediamond-clustered rowan berries made fitting jewels for a snow queen.
“Dear Universe,” she prayed, her entreaties carried in a cloud of her breath, “I don’t often ask to have my cake and eat it, but please, if there is a way I could have Simone’s babyandkeep Duncan, that would be great!”
She pulled a blanket around her like a cape and leaned her back against the solid tree house wall while she waited for Duncan. This place had always been her escape; she felt safe within the organic structure, ensconced in nature, which was why she had suggested meeting here.
She smiled when his head appeared at the bottom of the doorway and waited as he scaled the last few rungs and clambered into the tree house.
“Thanks for meeting me,” she said, tugging the sherpa blanket tighter. “Pull up a cushion and help yourself to a blanket.”
Duncan did as he was told.
They took up position on cushions opposite each other. Star produced a fresh dressing and bandage from the first aid kit she’d brought with her. “Here,” she said, motioning to his hand. “Let me change the dressing while we talk.”
He gulped but held out his hand. “All right, hit me with it. What do you need to tell me?” His eyes scrunched tightly closed as she unwrapped the bandage.
Suddenly this was much harder than she’d expected. Her stomach wound into knots as she tried to find her words.
“I have offered to be a surrogate for Simone and Evette’s baby.”
She watched Duncan’s face for his reaction, but his eyes stayed tightly shut. A moment later, the words having finally registered, he opened his eyes and looked at her.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“I have offered them my services as a surrogate mother so that they can have a baby. Simone has been trying for a baby and it hasn’t worked, and she’s sad and desperate, so I said I would help her.” She blurted it all out, watching the micro changes in Duncan’s expression as he absorbed each nugget of quick-fired information.
