Cam winked at Molly, who was lapping up the jovial atmosphere in the room. There were so many questions she wanted to ask Bree, but first she was itching to get over to her old house and delve into the suitcase to see if there was anything of interest. She sat on the stool and watched as they worked together creating the chocolate bar. Bree was in her element, her eyes sparkling, her smile wide.
‘The Belgian chocolate needs to be melted at forty-two degrees, gradually cooling to twenty-nine. Do you have any polycarbonate moulds?’ asked Bree.
Molly jumped off the stool and retrieved the moulds from the cupboard and placed them on the worktop next to Bree.
‘Perfect.’ Bree looked over them and pointed. ‘This one.’ She passed the mould to Cam. ‘We’re going to make two slabs of chocolate so to start we need to dispense a layer into the mould and wait for the chocolate to cool and shrink. Then we are going to make chocolate brownies and cookies. Once everything is cool, we take the chocolate out of the mould and then leave a 3mm edge around the bar, drizzle with caramel, add the brownies and cookies, along with a sprinkle of The Old Bakehouse secret ingredient, and layer it all between to the two slabs of chocolate.’
‘The Old Bakehouse secret ingredient… Which is?’ asked Cam
‘Exactly that, a secret,’ replied Bree with a chuckle. ‘Top with a drizzle of white chocolate and marshmallow and once more let it cool. This will be our starter bar and from here we can play around with other fillings in the chocolate slab if you don’t want to use brownies for your entry.’
‘Can I be chief taster?’ asked a wide-eyed George, peering over the counter.
‘You certainly can,’ replied Bree. For a second Molly noticed a flicker of sadness in her eyes and wondered what had prompted it. Perhaps she always used to be ‘chief taster’ when it was just her and Lilian?
‘You are so lucky to have such a wonderful family,’ added Bree.
‘It sounds to me like you were too, so let’s bake and do Lilian proud,’ replied Molly with a smile. ‘And with not many weeks to go until this one is born’ – she patted her stomach – ‘I best eat my body weight in chocolate because I’m not going to get away with it much longer.’
Bree laughed as she straightened the hat on top of her head. ‘Let’s bake!’ she trilled.
Molly watched Cam and Bree closely as they set to work. What exactly would happen next if Molly discovered she and Bree had the same mother?
Chapter Thirteen
Cam’s jaw dropped open as he and Molly sat in bed with fresh cups of tea later that night. His head was spinning with the information that Molly had just shared with him.
‘And you think there’s a possibility you have the same mother just because she made a comment about the moon. Does Bree have any idea this is what you’re thinking?’
‘You think I’m mad, don’t you?’
‘I’m not sure what to think. Is it even possible?’
‘It is. I’ve been doing the sums. If Lilian had a baby at sixteen – me – and she had Bree at thirty-one, it’s very possible.’
‘Indeed, possible, but a little…’
‘I know what you’re thinking, but since Bree came across my path, I’ve begun to have flashbacks to my own past with my mother.’
Cam blew out a breath. ‘Flashbacks? What sort of flashbacks?’
Molly told Cam all about the visions that had been coming to her more frequently. ‘Meeting Bree triggered something. It’s strange.’
‘Do you think you’ve been repressing these memories?’
‘Possibly. Maybe I didn’t want to know the truth about the past because my present was always so happy.’ She shrugged. ‘I never really thought about being adopted because Di and Doug loved me so solidly. I never felt I missed out on being raised by my biological parents because Di and Dougweremy parents.’
‘And now?’
‘I’m curious. I was under the impression that my mother’s past was dark – that maybe there was addiction involved – but this doesn’t add up to the picture that Bree has painted of her mother. I mean, you heard her this afternoon when we were all baking together.’
‘I did notice the way Bree came to life when she talked about Lilian. It didn’t sound like they had much money but they spent a lot of quality time together. Lilian was clearly a hard worker with the number of jobs she had, and what a baking talent she must have been. Was it Tutbury where they lived? Maybe Google would throw something up, you never know.’
‘I’ll take a look tomorrow. It was lovely when you lit the candle and placed it on top of the chocolate slab. I could see the tears welling up in Bree’s eyes when we sang “Happy Birthday” to Lilian. It was a nice touch.’
‘George seems to like her too. I’m sorry I misjudged her initially.’
‘You had a lot on your mind,’ replied Molly.
