Page 83 of A Year at Appleyard Farm
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A missing PE kit had cut a huge swathe through Willow’s available time this morning, and she barely had time to talk to Jude beyond vehement assurances that she was now fine and that he was not to worry about her. He rushed out of the house as soon as he could, claiming he needed an early start.
They had slept entwined together, just like they had in the early days of their relationship when they could scarcely bear to be apart for more than a few minutes. Jude’s breathing had eased in time during the night as his dream passed, and Willow held him close, stroking his cheek and gazing at the face of the man too scared to share his fears with her for dread of seeming weak, a failure in her eyes, just like he had been in his father’s his whole life. All he had ever wanted was to be loved, and although hate was not an emotion that Willow agreed with, in that moment she had never loathed Andrew more.
She knew now that the business deal that Jude was on the verge of was not one to sell their land, but somehow to save it. She had no idea why or how this had come about, or indeed where Henry came into it, but, given the urgency she now sensed in Jude, she realised the axe was about to fall one way or another. Whatever happened, Willow would not let another day pass without speaking to Jude and discovering the truth. Yesterday, she had convinced herself that her fledgling business was sheer folly, an exercise in flattering her ego and nothing more, but now she wondered whether her original thoughts had been right; that Willowberries might possibly be a viable alternative for their future.
The room at the end of the hallway beckoned to her once more and, scooping up a pile of letters from the doormat, she slowly walked its length, savouring the moment before she pushed open the door and breathed in the sweet smell of summer. Once inside she tossed the letters onto the table and smiled broadly as if greeting an old friend. It was time to get down to business.
One of the first things she needed to do was find Peter. She had shamefully left him to his own devices over the last day or so, and she couldn’t blame him for keeping out of her way. Yesterday, she had told him she had a migraine and, whether or not he believed her, she had probably been quite short with him. He hadn’t appeared at all yet this morning. She had an apology to make, but she also needed to ask him something very important. She gathered up the crate of elderflowers that had indeed withered the day before and carried them out of the back door. Dead things had no place inside a house for the living. This afternoon she would replace them, and another batch of cordial would be underway.
She collected a stray mug from the table and picked up the letters again, scanning the envelopes for anything more exciting than the electricity bill. She was still staring open-mouthed in shock at the letter in her hand when Jude came flying through the back door, her shouted name on his lips.
There was a moment’s hesitation as he grinned at her before scooping her up and whirling her around. A stray splash of coffee flew from the cup and splattered against the wall, but neither of them saw it.
‘Oh God, Willow, I’ve done it!’ shouted Jude. ‘I’m finally free…we’re free!’ he bellowed, too excited to restrain himself. He set her down momentarily before grinning like a loon and picking her up once more. He buried his face in the side of her neck, kissing her over and over.
Willow giggled. ‘Put me down,’ she managed through her laughter, struggling to hold onto the things in her hands. ‘What on earth has got into you? The last time I saw you this excited…well, I can’t actually remember ever seeing you this excited before.’
He did as she asked, stepping away slightly to look at her better. His chest was heaving, his eyes shining, and yet bizarrely he looked calmer and more relaxed than she had seen him in weeks.
‘Do you want to come and sit down and tell me what it is that’s got you so worked up? I don’t think I can stand the suspense.’
Jude raked a hand through his hair. ‘Yes…no…I don’t think I can. I don’t think I can sit still for that long.’
Willow put her hands on her hips and gave him her best ‘I’m standing no nonsense’ stare. ‘I’ll superglue your trousers to the chair if I have to.’
Willow’s heart was pounding too, she realised, but her own news would have to wait a while. Whatever Jude was trying to tell her must surely be connected with the source of their dreams. She had a feeling she might remember this moment for some time to come.
She sat at the table and waited for him to join her, watching his face expectantly, but his expression hardly changed. He looked overjoyed, and excited, but something else glittered in his eyes, and as his gaze met hers, she understood what it was. He looked jubilant.
‘I don’t really know where to start,’ he began, ‘and I know I probably should have discussed this with you before, but when I tell you I hope you’ll understand why I didn’t.’ He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. ‘It’s complicated, but maybe I should start at the end and work backwards.’
Willow nodded encouragement as Jude took a deep breath.
‘I’ve sold the business,’ he said, laying down the sentence in the room like an unexploded bomb. ‘I no longer have any share in Middleton Estates,’ he added as if his previous statement wasn’t clear enough.
Whatever Willow had expected him to tell her, it wasn’t that. Her mouth hung open slightly as she tried to take it in. That didn’t altogether sound like their land was safe after all.
‘But what about Andrew?’
A cloud crossed Jude’s face for an instant. ‘I’ll tell you about that later.’ Willow was about to ask a further question, when Jude jumped in again. ‘And I know that probably sounds like the most horrendous news you’ve ever heard, but you’re not to worry. Financially, the deal was a very good one, so we’re not going to be penniless for a good while yet; besides it’s more a matter of what I want to do with the rest of my life, or more importantly whatwewant to do with the rest of our lives.’
Willow’s letter was growing hot in her hand. ‘And what do you want to do with the rest of your life?’ she asked cautiously.
Jude plucked the letter out of her grasp and took both her hands in his. He raised them to his mouth and gently kissed each one in turn.
‘I want to spend some more time with my gorgeous wife, and find out just how incredible her talents are. I want to watch our girls growing up instead of blinking and waving them off to university as virtual strangers, and I want never to have to wear a tie again…well, not often anyway.’ He grinned. ‘But most importantly, I want to nurture our family and the land around us. Other people can buy and sell property and land for huge sums of money, but I’m not going to be one of them, not any more.’
Willow watched Jude as he spoke, a mixture of emotions playing across his face. Mostly excitement, but now also a little nervous, as if unsure how his momentous decision would be received.
‘Well, I’m not sure that I want you around all day, under my feet, getting in the way, making a mess…’
She winked at his astonished face.
‘…Actually, I can’t think of anything nicer,’ she admitted. ‘To be honest, I wish you’d done it years ago – all this striving for an even bigger pot of money that we didn’t need, when pretty much everything we could wish for is right here…’ She gave a twinkly smile. ‘And anything else is on next-day delivery from Amazon.’
Jude visibly relaxed. ‘You really don’t mind then? I know I should have talked things over with you before, but there was so much to go wrong, and even up until the last minute, I wasn’t sure it would all go through. I didn’t want us to start to believe in the kind of life we could make for ourselves and then have it all torn away from us if things didn’t work out. I didn’t think I could bear that for you.’ He rubbed a thumb over the back of her hand. ‘Although…by some weird stroke of fate, I think you might be one step ahead of me anyway…or have I got that wrong?’
