Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall Read online

  They got out of the car and Lily watched as her grandad wandered around the side of the house towards the walled vegetable garden at the rear of the house. She gulped and then went up to the front door. Could she really work in this amazing place as a housekeeper? She honestly didn’t know.

  She was somewhat relieved that it was Annie who opened the huge front door.

  ‘You’re here! Come in,’ she said, with a wide smile.

  They went into the entrance hall. Lily had been there for Annie and Sam’s wedding the previous December. That had been the first time she had ever been inside the main house, as the summer fetes had always been held on the front lawn when she was younger.

  On a cold, winter’s night, in the soft glow of candlelight and fairy lights, it had been glittering and magical. On a late summer’s day, it was just as magnificent. Despite the deep red walls, it was a light and airy room. From the double-heighted ceiling hung a chandelier, glittering in the afternoon sunshine. A large fireplace was waiting to be lit when winter arrived.

  ‘This is lovely,’ said Lily.

  ‘I’m so lucky,’ Annie told her, nodding in agreement. ‘Come on. We all tend to gather in the kitchen most of the time.’

  Lily followed Annie through a corridor off the side of the entrance hall and down a couple of stone steps into the large but welcoming kitchen.

  ‘Wow! You weren’t kidding about how great the renovation was,’ said Lily, staring around the room in wonder.

  Lily tried to imagine how run-down the place must have been, but it was hard to see past the baby-blue cupboards and long oak worktops. In the middle of the room was a large island in matching colours.

  Annie gestured for Lily to sit down in one of the comfy chairs that had been placed either side of the large fireplace, near the long oak table.

  ‘The whole place was falling apart but now it’s my favourite room,’ Annie told her. ‘We always end up chatting in here at some stage of the day. Especially now there’s so many of us. Tea?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ said Lily. She watched Annie head past the table, which was laden with paperwork, and then past the sink, which appeared to be full of mugs.

  Annie sighed as she glanced at the crockery. ‘I don’t know how it gets so messy.’

  ‘There are a lot more people here these days, aren’t there?’ asked Lily.

  ‘Oh, yes. There’s Arthur, of course,’ began Annie.

  ‘I hope that’s not my name being taken in vain,’ said Arthur, appearing at the top of the stairs before beginning to step down gingerly, holding a walking cane in one hand.

  A fall a few years previously had slowed him a little, but otherwise he was still full of life despite the air of fragility about his slim frame, encased now in a tweed jacket and old worn trousers.

  ‘How are you, my dear?’ said Arthur in his clipped, aristocratic way of speaking as he walked across the kitchen.

  Lily leapt up to shake his hand. ‘Very well, thank you.’

  ‘And your parents?’ Arthur’s grey eyebrows crossed into a frown. ‘I must pay your father a visit. It’s been too long since I last saw him.’

  ‘Thank you. He’s OK.’ Lily blushed and shrugged her shoulders. ‘Well, you know. He’s keeping busy.’

  Arthur had been wonderful when the terrible car accident had taken place. He had refused to take any rent from the family for the cottage until her father was back home from the hospital. Afterwards, Arthur had kept the rent as low as possible.

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Arthur. ‘Please pass on my regards to him and I shall give him a call this week to arrange a suitable time to visit him.’

  Annie came over to them both, carrying two mugs of tea. ‘There you go,’ she said, placing them on the table.

  Just then, the back door was flung open and a woman with purple hair came into the kitchen.

  Annie smiled. ‘See? I told you that everyone’s always coming and going,’ she said. ‘Hi, Skye!’

  ‘Hello,’ said Skye, beaming. ‘Lovely day out there.’

  ‘Have you met Lily Harper?’ said Arthur, doing the introductions. ‘She’s one of our tenants. The Harper family have been in the village for as long as the Harris family. Lily, please allow me to introduce my granddaughter-in-law Skye Harris.’

  ‘Lovely to meet you,’ said Lily as Skye came across to shake her hand.

  She had heard that Arthur’s youngest grandson, Will, had recently got married, but this was the first time that she had met his bride. Skye’s bohemian taste in clothes and purple hair were a stark contrast to the sharply dressed playboy that Lily could remember from having seen Will at a distance.

  ‘Harper? Is Bert the gardener any relation?’ asked Skye, frowning in thought.

  ‘He’s my grandad,’ said Lily.

  Skye’s eyes widened in recognition. ‘Ah! Thought the surname was familiar.’

  ‘I’m less grumpy,’ Lily told her, to which Skye laughed.

  ‘I was just going to check on the stables,’ said Skye to Arthur. ‘Did you want to come with me for your afternoon walk?’

  ‘That sounds lovely, my dear,’ said Arthur, smiling.

  ‘What about your meeting?’ asked Annie.

  ‘All done,’ Arthur told her. ‘I left Sam chatting to his old school chum. Seems a very nice chap.’

  ‘Oh!’ said Annie, getting up. ‘I wanted to meet him as well. Lily, come with me and then you can see Sam. He’s probably almost done with his meeting, anyway.’

  Without waiting for Lily’s answer, Annie headed up the steps so Lily had no choice but to follow her towards the entrance hall. They were just passing the grand staircase when Lily noticed the French doors at the back of the hall open.

  She recognised Sam, of course, as he strode in from the grounds at the back. He had been the handsome groom at the wedding the previous December. He was chatting to a man who was hidden behind him.

  But it was only as Sam moved to one side that Lily came face to face with her past.

  There, in the large, elegant entrance hall of Willow Tree Hall, stood the man who had broken her heart all those years ago. She stood and stared at Jack Carter.

  7

  Jack stared at the woman in shock. He couldn’t believe it was really Lily Harper standing there in front of him.

  ‘Hi,’ she was saying, walking over to shake Sam’s hand. But she appeared to be in some kind of daze, as she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Jack. ‘Nice to see you again.’

  Jack found he couldn’t break eye contact with her either.

  He was an idiot. Of course there had been a chance that she would be at Willow Tree Hall of all places. Her parents lived in the village, didn’t they? He had wrongly assumed she would have long since left, such had been her desire to break free of the place all those years ago.

  How long had it been since he had last seen her? He had been eighteen and was about to leave college. She had been sixteen at the time.

  Her hair had changed. Not the gorgeous red colour, of course. But these days it was fixed in a neat ponytail, as opposed to the wild and wavy mane around her shoulders that he remembered. Her face was a little older, but her smooth, pale skin wasn’t lined. She was smartly dressed in a pair of skinny trousers and a silk T-shirt.

  But when her eyes flashed back at him it was like instantly going back in time. That same vivid green. The deep emerald staring at him. That was the same.

  He realised that somebody had spoken.

  ‘Do you two know each other?’ asked Sam, looking from one to the other.

  ‘From a long time ago,’ said Lily. She broke into a smile but it didn’t meet her green eyes. ‘It’s been a while, Jack. How are you?’

  Her words were polite but the tone of her voice was hard. Who could blame her for being upset with him, even after all this time?

  ‘Very well, thank you,’ he replied.

  He felt Sam and Annie exchange a look. ‘Sam, can you just check something for me?’ said Annie, dragging her husband away.

  Then it was just the two of them standing alone in the entrance hall.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ said Lily, when she finally spoke.

  ‘I was having a meeting with Sam and Arthur about the possible future development of the Hall,’ Jack told her.

  ‘I see.’ But she was frowning as she looked him up and down. ‘You’re in a suit.’

  He glanced down. ‘Yeah,’ he told her. ‘How times change, eh?’

  She nodded in thought. ‘They really do.’

  He supposed that the last time he had seen her he had been wearing his battered leather jacket and jeans. And she would have been wearing that little silver vest top with the lacy straps that he loved seeing her in. Those long legs bare in her tiny denim shorts…

  Jack was desperately trying to keep his wits about him. But he was having trouble concentrating on anything as Lily stood in front of him.

  It had been so many years, and yet seeing her like this had jolted him right back to his miserable teenage years. She represented all that he hated about himself.

  He had tried to push the thought of what he had done to her away, but the guilt still ate away at him each and every day. How she must hate him.

  After all, he would always be the man who had promised that they would run away together. Instead, he had left her on the night of her school prom and taken off by himself.

  *

  Lily was trying very hard to be professional and not let her shock at seeing Jack ruin the job she had come to Willow Tree Hall for.

  And yet, here he was after all these years.

  She was cross with herself for struggling to think straight. She was definitely angry with Jack for showing up like this. And she was angry with herself for being cross with Jack.

  She needed this job. Wanted it, too, she realised. And now Jack of all people was here at Willow Tree Hall!

  Why on earth was he back? From what she had heard whenever her mum mentioned bumping into his parents, he never visited Cranley.

  What a mess! But she had an interview to get to and, by golly, she was going to get to it.

  She fixed a smile on her face. ‘Well, I’d better go and see Annie. Nice to see you again.’

  She had hoped that he would pick up the hint that she wanted to leave. But he stayed silent and continued to stare at her. She wasn’t surprised. He had always been mean and moody. Of course, he was older now. Leaner. Still handsome. She could see the hard muscles of his stomach through his T-shirt and gulped, hating herself and him for having that effect on her more than a decade later.

  He cleared his throat as she went to leave. ‘So, how are you?’

  ‘Good, thanks,’ she replied.

  ‘And your family? They’re well?’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ If he was hoping that she would be making this easy for him, he was very much mistaken.

  ‘And your dad is well? Hard at work?’

  Lily gave a start. Why on earth would Jack expect her dad to be at work? She shook her head. ‘He’s, er, mostly at home these days.’

  ‘Took early retirement, eh? Good for him.’

  Lily gazed at him, utterly aghast. Something must have shown in her face as the smile on Jack’s face began to fade. To her dismay, tears filled her eyes, which caused to her blink furiously as if that would make them disappear.

  ‘You don’t know?’ she finally managed to say in a thick voice.

  Jack shook his head. ‘No. What is it?’

  ‘He never went back to work after the car accident,’ she said, brushing away the stray tears that had appeared on her cheek.

  ‘Oh, God,’ he muttered. ‘I had no idea. I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Your parents didn’t mention it?’

  He looked uncomfortable once more as he shook his head in reply.

  They stared at each other for a while in stunned silence until Jack opened his mouth to say something, but Lily shook her head to stop him. She didn’t want to hear what he had to tell her.

  ‘Don’t bother,’ she told him. ‘It was a long time ago.’ Lily hitched her handbag higher on her shoulder. ‘Besides, after the accident it didn’t really matter any more. Nothing did, to be honest.’

  She was relieved to see Annie and Sam suddenly appear from the nearby corridor.

  ‘I was just saying that I’d better come and find you,’ said Lily in an overly bright voice.

  Annie raised her eyebrows but merely smiled. ‘Yes, I think that cup of tea will be well and truly stewed by now.’

  ‘Nice to see you,’ said Lily to Sam. She forced herself to look at Jack. ‘You too,’ she added, and walked away.

  Thankfully, she was leading the way towards the kitchen so that Annie didn’t see the tears streaming down her face as she went down the steps.

  *

  Jack walked back outside through the front door with Sam towards his car. He felt dazed and was still trying to take it all in.

  ‘Nice Mercedes,’ said Sam, admiring the company car.

  ‘Thanks,’ said Jack. ‘And thanks for meeting with me. It’s a shame that the offer wasn’t any good for you. But it was good to see you again and meet your grandad.’

  ‘Any time you’re in the area, pop in and say hi,’ said Sam. ‘You’re always welcome.’

  ‘I will do,’ said Jack, getting in the car. ‘Thanks.’

  He waved his hand as he started up the engine and pulled away back down the driveway.

  But he felt so numb as he pulled out of the driveway onto the road that he had to swerve to avoid a car coming in the other direction.

  Jack brought the car to a stop at the side of the road. His breathing was still rapid in his chest as he glanced down at himself and the car bonnet. But both were intact. He had missed the other car.

  But that wasn’t what was making his pulse race. He shook his head. Lily. Wild Lily Harper. After all these years.

  Memories flooded back before he could stop them. He could see Lily laughing as she leapt off the bridge into the river below. Pulling on his leather jacket when she became cold late at night and snuggling in closer to him. Crying as he told her that he had never loved her and that she’d be better off without him.

  He shouldn’t have come back to Cranley. Lily was a ghost from his past that wouldn’t let him go.

  He stared up at the blue sky and swore to himself. He was an idiot. Why didn’t he know that her father had never recovered from the accident? He should have known. Why on earth hadn’t his parents told him?

  Because you never speak to them, came the reply from deep within. You never talk for more than a few moments. You hardly ever visit them. When would they have the time or the opportunity to let you know?

  He hung his head in shame. The fault didn’t rest with them. It was his fault alone.

  How she must hate him.

  Her face had been so white when he had told her that she couldn’t run away with him. Standing there in her pretty, long dress, all dressed up for the prom.

  And then a short time later there had been an accident and her dad had been severely injured.

  Of course Lily hated him. How could she not? But not as much as he already hated himself each and every day.

  8

  Lily was still trying to keep her emotions under control as she reached the kitchen.

  Annie hadn’t said anything about her tear-stained cheeks, instead just giving her a sad look.

  Lily swallowed hard. She couldn’t believe that he was back after all this time.

  The shock of seeing Jack Carter was enough to make the job interview fade into second place in her ‘things to be most stressed about’ list for that day.

  After all, he never came home these days, did he? It had been, what, ten years?

  Fourteen years, her smug inner voice reminded her.

  Annie gestured for Lily to join her at the table.

  ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ she asked gently.

  ‘Not much to tell,’ said Lily, her voice cracking a little. ‘He was the first one to break my heart.’ She took a deep breath. ‘We almost went to the prom together.’

  ‘Almost?’ prompted Annie.

  Lily sighed. ‘We’d got to know each other that winter.’ She allowed herself a small smile. ‘I had a huge crush on him, to be honest. He was so cool and handsome. You know, the typical bad boy hanging around the village.’

  ‘Except he went to school with Sam and Will,’ added Annie. ‘That’s a pretty posh school for a bad boy.’

  Lily shrugged her shoulders. ‘I never quite worked out the deal with that. I don’t know why he rebelled against his adoptive parents. Maybe because they were too rich. Anyway, he was only a day pupil so he was around every night and weekend. We met one afternoon down the river and that was it. Or so I thought.’

  She had been so bored, so restless with dull village life as a teenager. And then Jack had appeared and it was as if a light bulb had switched on inside her. He would be her future and they would make it an exciting one. At least, that’s what she had hoped at the time.

  ‘Did you go on a few dates?’ asked Annie.

  Lily shook her head. ‘We met in secret for around six months. You know how uptight Mum is. She would never have approved of him. Besides, I was getting into trouble at school, so there was so much else going on at the time. But we might have shared a kiss or two.’ She blushed at the memory, even now after all these years.

  ‘He was your first love,’ said Annie, smiling. ‘I get that. Mine was a bad boy as well.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Lily was surprised.

  ‘But he turned out to be a total loser.’ Annie shrugged her shoulders. ‘I thought Jack seemed nice.’

  ‘I thought so too,’ said Lily, frowning. ‘He was kinder and softer than I first thought. More gentle than he initially appeared. And when he asked if he could be my date for the prom, I jumped at the chance. I had all these visions of walking in with this great guy in his tux. Me in my purple dress. King and Queen of the prom!’ She laughed bitterly.

  ‘What happened?’ asked Annie.