Sixteen
‘Yoo-hoo! Grace!’
Grace turned as she heard her name, and quickly wished she hadn’t. The last person she wanted to see today was Barbra Brimble. She gave the woman a brief wave and marched off in the opposite direction.
Griff had just finished his speech to declare the Betancourt Summer Fayre officially open and he was now mingling with the crowds, as were Russell, Archie, and Tabby. Grace was meant to be mingling too, but she wasn’t feeling particularly jolly this morning.
The same could be said for Russell. He had been like a bear with a sore head ever since he’d come home drunk last night. So drunk that Griff had had to help him into bed. Yet there he was, doing his bit as a Betancourt, pretending everything was fine.
Well it was far from fine, and Grace was fairly certain that whatever Barbra wanted to say, would only make things worse. She would avoid the woman for as long as she could.
At least Grace now knew the truth about the gossip concerning Hanna and Griff. In his drunken stupor last night, Russell hadannounced that all the gossip was true. That Hanna had told him so herself that very afternoon. She did love Griff.
‘I’ve been a fool,’ he’d said. ‘A complete and utter idiot. I’ve been blind and stupid, and so have all of you. We all have. Hanna loves Griff. She said so. And then she left. Just like that. And now she won’t answer her phone. Or her door. I stopped at her cottage on the way home and it was dark. All dark. Was she hiding? Who knows?’ He collapsed onto the sofa. ‘She loves Griff. How did I not see that? Why did I think that maybe, just maybe, she might … she might. Who cares? Not me. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt and the badge.’
‘What did she tell you?’ Grace had asked.
‘That she loves Griff,’ he’d replied.
‘Did she just come right out with it?’
‘She said she loves Griff,’ he’d repeated.
‘We’re not going to get much sense out of him tonight,’ Griff had said. ‘Come on, Russell. I’m taking you to your room.’
They hadn’t got much sense out of him this morning at breakfast either.
‘I’ve got the headache from Hell and I don’t want to talk unless it’s a matter of life or death. I definitely don’t want to talk about Hanna Shaw. I’ve said all I’ve got to say on that subject. She loves Griff. She said so. Now you have your answer.’
No matter how much Grace had tried to coax him to elaborate, his lips were sealed. He’d even made a zipping gesture with his forefinger and thumb by swiping them along his lips, and then he’d got up and gone back to his room, saying, ‘Wake me half an hour before we open the gates for the Summer Fayre, please.’
‘Will do,’ said Griff.
‘Is that it?’ Grace snapped.
‘I think we should leave it be, darling,’ Griff said. ‘What we must decide now is how we intend to deal with this. I think we should give her time. She knows you’re the only woman I’ve everloved and ever will love, so she knows she needs to get over whatever it is she thinks she feels. I’m still not convinced she loves me. But she is coming to our wedding, and if you’d rather she didn’t, then now is the time to tell her. In the nicest way we can.’
‘She’s not coming. Definitely not. I know we can’t choose who we love, and I do like her. I really do. And I feel sorry for her. But this wedding should be a beautiful day, and it won’t be if I’m worried about what she might do or what she might say.’
‘Then we’ll tell her. I’m sure she’ll understand. She may decide she doesn’t want to be there in any event. She’s usually such a sensible person. I don’t understand this at all. But don’t worry, darling. We’ll sort this out. I’ll sort this out. I’ll go and have a chat with her later today. For now, we must concentrate on making this year’s Summer Fayre the best one yet.’
Grace wasn’t certain that she liked the idea of Griff seeing Hanna alone. Not because she didn’t trust him. She did. But if anyone saw him go inside Catkin Cottage, there’d be a whole new batch of gossip by tomorrow.
So here they all were, on the manicured lawns of Betancourt, pretending they were having fun. At least Grace was pretending. She was searching the crowds for Hanna, and would be all day, just in case Hanna turned up.
‘Grace! There you are!’ It was Barbra’s voice. And the woman was right behind her. Grace closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and turned around to face the person who had started all the gossip.
‘Hello, Barbra. I’m a little busy today so I don’t have time for a chat.’
‘I’m sure you are, dear, but I just wanted you to know how pleased we all are that Hanna has done the right thing.’
‘Done … done the right thing? What does that mean?’
‘That she’s left the village! Didn’t you know? Of course no one knows how long she’ll be gone, but she had two large holdalls when she got back in the cab yesterday afternoon. That young girl, Honesty, who works for Naomi Hart and Lucas Dove was putting some rubbish in the bins at Betancourt Bay Café and she saw Hanna arrive in the cab and dash inside her cottage. Honesty then came back out with a second bag of rubbish and that’s when she saw Hanna get back in the cab with the two holdalls. She told Naomi. Vera and Rita Boot were in the café, and so was Daisy Copeland, so it’s definitely true. It was just gone three-thirty when the cab drove away. They synchronised their watches.’
‘Barbra,’ Griff said, smiling broadly. ‘How lovely to see you. But I hope you’ll excuse us. I need my darling fiancée to help me with something.’ He took Grace’s hand in his and virtually dragged her away. ‘I thought you’d need rescuing.’
‘I thought I would too, but you’ll never believe what she told me.’
