Chocolate Wishes (21 page)

Apart from Zillah’s reassurance (for what it was worth) I knew Raffy really was OK because Poppy popped in after the latest Parish Council meeting and said his visit to Mann-Drake seemed to have been a bit of a damp squib.

‘I mean, I don’t know what Miss Winter and your grandfather were imagining would happen to Raffy, but he just said that Mann-Drake had been polite, but unforthcoming about both his personal beliefs and his business plans.’

‘I knew Mann-Drake hadn’t turned him into a frog, because he couldn’t have driven back if he had little stumpy legs and webbed feet,’ I said, and she giggled.

‘I can’t see Raffy as a frog, can you? Anyway, a queue of women a mile long would instantly form, ready to kiss him back into a prince. Effie Yatton would be one of them. She called him “dear boy” twice at the meeting and she keeps bringing him food.’

I pushed the box of truffles we were sharing back in her direction and she selected one covered in chopped nuts, then said, ‘We had some really good news for the householders
on the Green that Mann-Drake is trying to extort money from. Miss Winter’s solicitor found a similar case that had been recently successfully contested.’

‘That
is
good news,’ I agreed.

‘Yes, and the Rights of Way Act was changed after it, so that if you’ve had at least twenty years’ right of access across common land, no one can impose a charge – and that’s all of the houses along there.’

I’d picked up another truffle, a rum one but, feeling slightly sick, put it back again: you can have too much, even of good chocolate. Poppy’s complexion, however, remained a healthy pink although she had eaten twice as many as I had. ‘So Mann-Drake hasn’t got a leg to stand on?’

‘Not even a little, green, stumpy webbed one,’ she agreed happily. ‘The solicitor is going to send a letter to him pointing this out, though he thinks he probably already knows about it and just hoped to panic everyone into paying the charge before they discovered it.’

‘So that’s one problem solved, at least,’ I said.

‘We’re going to announce it at the meeting tomorrow night in the village hall – you are going, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, it looks like we’re all going and I’m taking a big chocolate cake as our contribution to the buffet.’

‘Oh, good! I love your chocolate cake,’ she said, taking a last truffle and tucking it into her cheek like a hamster. Then she got up, dusting cocoa powder off her hands. ‘Better go,’ she said indistinctly. ‘See you tomorrow!’

I didn’t see Raffy again until the meeting, unless you counted brief, early morning glimpses when he walked Arlo past my window – or rather, dragged him past, since Arlo always seemed determined to come in.

I think I may have become what they call a curtain-twitcher.

We Lyons were out in force at the meeting: Grumps, Zillah and Jake had decided to go, and Kat was there with her parents, so we would all get to meet them at last – and vice versa. Janey arrived under her own steam and even Clive Snowball was there; he must have left his mother and Molly in charge of the pub.

Raffy chaired the meeting, with the whole Parish Council, including Felix and a very self-conscious Poppy, sitting on the stage and taking questions. As usual, Miss Winter answered most of them, though she did graciously defer to the vicar from time to time.

There was lots of indignation about this stranger daring to come into their midst and trying to change things, though one or two of the local businesses that he patronised were slightly more forgiving.

‘I spoke to Mr Mann-Drake myself,’ Raffy said, ‘and he was adamant that he intended selling the tennis court and the lido land for housing development. He seemed confident that he’d be able to obtain planning permission on appeal, because the areas are within the village boundary.’

‘The junior tennis club gives the kids something to do in summer,’ a man’s voice called from the back of the hall and someone else said, ‘That’s right, and most of us have learned to swim up at the lido, and the Guides and Scouts have their annual camp there.’

‘The tennis club problem is easily solved,’ Miss Winter announced. ‘The vicar is renovating the court at the rear of the vicarage, which he has generously offered to let us use instead.’

‘The court and pavilion should be ready by the end of
next month, when the lease on the other site runs out,’ Raffy agreed. ‘I’m making access to it by the side gate onto Church Way, and Miss Yatton will have the keys and run it as before.’

‘In fact, I think it will be a distinct improvement,’ Effie said. ‘The current one floods most of the winter, so there’s always a lot of clearing up to do in the spring.’

‘But of course!’ Laurence Yatton exclaimed. ‘
That’s
why the tennis court land was never built on – seasonal floods! They affect the edge of the lido field too. I’d quite forgotten, and I don’t suppose Mann-Drake would know that at all, not being from the area.’

‘We will have to make sure any potential property developers
are
fully aware of it,’ Hebe Winter said thoughtfully.

‘Hear! Hear!’ someone called, and there were echoes around the room.

‘I can speak to my cousin Conrad,’ suggested Poppy. ‘He’ll probably learn about any interest in the site first, being the main local estate agent – or he can find out.’

‘That would be really useful, thank you, Poppy,’ Raffy said, and she went quite pink with pleasure.

‘Isn’t there a line on the side of the tennis pavilion, marking the highest floodwater levels?’ asked Mike, the village policeman.

‘I think it just shows how high the great flood of ’36 got,’ Effie said. ‘There’s a plaque too, but its paint has peeled off.’

‘It should be repainted so it’s nice and clear,’ suggested Felix, and someone in the hall volunteered to do that.

Then Laurence Yatton proposed that a group could be organised to go and picket the Town Hall in Merchester and protest about the lido field, and by the end of the
meeting there was a general air of having declared battle and of everyone being ready for action, once they knew exactly in what direction to proceed.

The main business of the meeting wound up with Hebe Winter graciously thanking the vicar for coming to the rescue with the tennis courts and also for taking on the repairs to the village hall annexe.

Everyone enthusiastically gave three loud cheers and then made a dive for the refreshments while Mr Lees, who had been sitting at the piano next to the stage with his black Labrador sprawled across his feet, now lifted the lid and played a Beatles medley, to everyone’s amazement.

Kat introduced her parents to Grumps, who was gracious, Zillah, who grinned glintingly from ear to ear, and then to me, by which time they looked slightly stunned, though they told me what a nice boy Jake was. Then they left, taking him with them, which was probably easier than trying to disentangle him from Kat.

‘That went really well,’ I said to Felix and Poppy when I caught up with them by the buffet table. Felix had piled his plate up so high that it looked like one of those Continental choux pastry wedding confections. ‘It doesn’t sound like the tennis courts are going to be quite the valuable asset Mr Mann-Drake thought they would be, does it?’

‘No, and I’m sure we can get lots of protesters out with placards, and coverage in the newspapers if any developers show interest in building there, or on the lido field,’ Felix agreed.

Poppy said earnestly, ‘Yes – I mean, it’s not that we’re against having
any
new homes in Sticklepond, just that they look so much better slotted in here and there, rather than a whole estate of little boxes dropped down in one place.
I’ll see if I can get Conrad to be my mole about what’s happening.’

‘I wonder if there were houses on the lido field before the Plague?’ I mused. ‘I could ask Grumps to look on one of his old maps.’

I noticed that Felix and Poppy seemed to be sticking together much more than usual, though there was no sign of any special awareness between them, so either the love potion didn’t work, which was just as I thought, or I simply hadn’t put enough in. But there was still a little left and I had it with me…

‘I’ll get you both some more coffee, before it runs out,’ I suggested. ‘Back in a mo.’

The crowd had thinned out over by the urns and, by keeping my back to the room, I managed to pour the last drops of the potion into two cups…only to find Zillah at my elbow, watching me with interest. I started guiltily.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Poppy got one of Hebe Winter’s love potions and I stole it, because I think she and Felix would be perfect together!’ I hissed. ‘I put some in their drinks the other night, only it doesn’t seem to have worked, so I’m doing it again.’

‘We all hoped you and Felix would get together, because he’s a nice man and better than that David. But I see things working out differently in the cards now.’

‘I don’t want either of them,’ I told her, then noticed that Poppy and Felix were coming over. ‘Sssh!’

‘Here you are,’ I said, handing over the coffee. ‘Sorry I was ages. I got talking to Zillah.’

‘But I’m off now,’ said Zillah. ‘I only came over to tell you Clive’s giving your granddad and me a lift back, so you don’t have to bother.’

‘Grumps has been the sensation of the evening, hasn’t he?’

‘Yes, I heard several children ask their parents if he was Gandalf or, even better, Dumbledore,’ Poppy said.

‘I got you the last sausage roll.’ Felix handed it to me wrapped in a greasy paper napkin. He had three on his own plate, but you have to love a man who thinks of snaffling you the last savoury from under the nose of the hungry masses.

Mind you, most of the female half of those masses were currently clustered ten deep round Raffy, with Janey practically plastered up his side like a poultice.

As if he felt my gaze, he suddenly turned his head and gave me a half-despairing and somehow strangely intimate smile…

I turned away abruptly and said brightly to the others, ‘It’s early yet. Shall we go to the Falling Star for a while?’

As soon as Chas arrived next day I knew that he’d found out the results of the DNA test and it
wasn’t
good news, because it was written all over his naturally lugubrious face so that all his features seemed to be sliding sadly downwards, like tears.

However, I kissed his cheek as usual, made him the strong Indian tea he likes and cut him a slice of fruitcake.

‘This is really nice,’ he said, looking round the little sitting room. ‘And is the Chocolate Wishes business booming?’

‘Yes, I’m making very good money and for something I love doing, so it couldn’t be better. I still do a bit of secretarial work for Grumps too, which I can fit in easily enough. He’s been so kind and he’s even giving me this cottage.’

‘That’s great – a home of your own! And Jake is well?’

‘Yes, he’s actually working quite hard, which is the
influence of his new girlfriend,’ I said. I never asked about Chas’s wife, or his children, who were all grown up and off into the world, and he never volunteered the information.

‘Good, good…I’m glad everything is going so well,’ he said abstractedly and sipped his tea, looking utterly miserable.

‘You’ve had the DNA results, haven’t you?’ I asked, and he nodded.

‘And you’re
not
my biological father?’

‘No,’ he admitted. ‘And I can’t say it was a complete shock, because I’ve often wondered about it over the years, especially since you’ve never looked like me in the least.’

‘But you still came to see me and brought me presents anyway?’

‘Well yes, but I
could
have been, and anyway, I grew fond of you. And now I
feel
like your father, even if I’m not.’

‘You’re the nearest thing to one I ever had and I wanted it to be you, Chas. You’ve always been kind, though it can’t have been easy, especially when your wife found out about me.’

‘It was a difficult time, but she forgave me,’ he said and smiled reassuringly.

He is such a nice man, despite his weak moment with Mum!

‘But now that we know it isn’t you, and Mum lied about that, I’m wondering if she also lied about this other man she was blackmailing. My biological father could be someone else entirely!’

He looked up from his tea. ‘Who is the other man – would I know him?’

I hesitated. ‘He’s still married too, with four children.’

‘I have complete fellow feeling with him – I wouldn’t tell anyone else.’

‘No, of course not. His name’s Carr Blackstock and he’s a Shakespearian actor, but he’s done a bit of TV work, too.’

Chas frowned. ‘Yes, I think I know who you mean, though I haven’t met him. I expect I know friends of friends of his, it’s a small world. I could get an introduction and try and talk to him for you, if you like?’

‘Oh,
would
you? I don’t know how to go about it without sounding as if I’m after something, or about to make a big scandal. I don’t want to meet him, or hear from him, or
anything
, only to find out the truth, one way or another.’

‘I’ll do my best and let you know.’

Zillah, who likes Chas, had seen his car outside and came in to say hello. I asked her once why Grumps hadn’t tried to ill-wish Chas for getting his only daughter pregnant. She replied that the words ‘fly’ and ‘spider’ came to mind where Chas and Lou were concerned and it was hardly worth bothering with the fly once it hit the web, because it was a doomed victim.

After she’d gone, Chas pulled out a little gift-wrapped parcel and a card and gave them to me before he left. ‘Happy birthday in advance,’ he said, kissing my cheek and, oddly enough, at that moment he felt more like my real father than ever before.

We agreed that we were not going to let this discovery change things between us, so if this Carr Blackstock did turn out to be my real father it would suit me very well, since evidently he wanted nothing to do with me.

Chas was father enough.

My life has been a really mixed bag lately, just like my mother.

Later I went up to Stirrups in search of Poppy and a shoulder to cry on, and luckily found her alone. Janey could be
distantly seen in one of the paddocks, putting her bay horse through an odd dressage manoeuvre that made it look as if it was trotting on the spot.