At twelve o’clock, people started arriving. At first, it was some people from the village who remembered Lilith with humour and affection; probably, said Frankie spitefully, because they barely knew her. By quarter past, guests were arriving thick and fast. Rousseau was trying to welcome each one personally but was inevitably unable to tear himself away from friends and creating a terrible bottleneck in the hallway as he gathered them into a rapidly growing group.
‘You take this one, Frankie,’ said Juliet. ‘I’m going to go outside and make sure the early arrivals are all still happy. Martha should stay here funnelling people through.’
As she went out into the garden, she could hear her younger sister’s piercing tones ordering their father and his entourage into the garden, with the promise of champagne, and she knew they were in good hands.
‘Hello, Father Benedict,’ she said, spotting the vicar who had so encouraged her bread-making. ‘Thank you for coming.’
‘Not at all,’ he replied, beaming. ‘I was fond of your mother, you know, Juliet, even if she only ever wanted to rebuke me for my belief. I’m glad to have the opportunity to remember her in such lovely surroundings. It looks like it’s going to be quite the party.’
‘I agree. Do let me get you a drink. Champagne?’
‘Oh no, no, not for me. Just something soft would be delicious, thank you.’
Juliet went over to the drinks table and poured some of the elderflower and blackberry leaf cordial that her aunt had made. She was reaching for a glass of champagne for herself when a hand swept in, picked one up and handed it to her and a familiar voice said, ‘Hello, Lettie.’
Cold tendrils of dread wrapped themselves around her. She turned reluctantly to face him.
‘Toby? What are you doing here? Did Martha invite you?’
‘No,’ he said peevishly. ‘Given that I knew your mother well, I was rather hurt that no one in the family got in contact to invite me today.’
Don’t apologise, thought Juliet, desperately fighting down the urge to smooth things over whenever Toby started to show displeasure, for fear of how it would escalate.Don’t apologise and don’t try to explain. She kept her voice light.
‘But you came anyway.’
‘I did. I heard that there was something of an open invitation, and I wanted to come and pay my respects.’
Juliet set her face into a neutral expression.
‘Thank you. Now I must go and give the vicar his drink.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
Juliet shrunk away from him but didn’t want to risk a scene by trying to dissuade Toby from following her. Instead, she turned and walked briskly back across the lawn, hoping wildly that he might be swooped up by a passing eagle, or fall into aconvenient sinkhole. No such luck. She felt relief wash over her when she reached the vicar.
‘Here you are, Father Benedict.’ She handed him his drink.
‘Ah, thank you. Hello, I don’t think we’ve met?’
‘Toby Bartholomew.’ The two men shook hands. ‘I’m an old friend of Juliet’s and I just adored Lilith. So sad.’
‘Indeed. She was a very vivacious woman.’
‘She was hilarious. Lettie, do you remember that time we went for drinks at the Lawson? It’s a very smart bar in Mayfair,’ he added, for Father Benedict’s benefit. ‘Our waiter had only started that evening and was completely hapless – couldn’t remember a cocktail order to save his life and kept coming back with the oddest concoctions. Lilith kept veering between wondering in a loud stage whisper about hissuitabilityfor the job, my darlings, and patting the seat next to her so he could sit down while she talked him through how to make a Cosmopolitan.’
Juliet’s shock and repulsion at seeing Toby faded as she was taken back to that night. He had managed to dredge up one of the few happy memories as an adult she had of her mother. She smiled.
‘That’s right, itwasfunny. Once she’d walked him through the classics, she started moving on to some bizarre combinations, but we drank them up. The headache I had the next day was something else. Didn’t she give him a ginormous tip at the end of the evening?’
‘That’s right, and a glowing endorsement to the manager. She could be so kind, and very generous.’
The champagne was beginning to wind its way through Juliet’s body, and she smiled up at Toby, grateful and surprised that the day was taking a more positive turn than she had expected. Then she felt a hand in the small of her back.
‘Oh,bonjour,’ drawled Toby, and she turned to see Léo, giving her a questioning smile. She stepped closer to him, his presence a balm of comfort, even after the awkwardness over the photo. He ignored Toby and spoke directly to Juliet.
‘The food is all in hand, so I have a few moments and I thought I would find you. How are you doing? I did not know that he was going to be here.’
‘Neither did I, but I think word spread about today; there are lots of people who weren’t actually invited but knew Mum. We were just talking about a funny evening we spent together. Years ago.’
