Happy Ever After (5 page)

“Angel! How could you do this?” shouted Poppy. “You ruin all my stuff. It was better before you were born!”

Angel began to cry. “Solly, Pop,” she said over and over again. “Angel bad girl!”

“Poppy!” cried Mum. “Do you have to get so angry? Angel is only a baby.”

“Lavender, I can understand why Poppy's upset – just look at those sandals,” said Dad, feeling sorry for his elder daughter. “She saved up for those, remember?”

“Are we going to deal with discipline as a team or not, James?” snapped Mum.

Poppy flushed. “I'm sorry, Mum,” she said. “I should never have lost my temper. I just loved those sandals.”

“I know, darling, and Angel has been very naughty. I'm sorry as well,” said Mum. “You have a lot to put up with, Poppy. It's just, well, you know, she doesn't mean to do these things – and maybe we can get the felt pen marks off them.”

Dad tutted. “Honestly, Lavender. You need to be firm and keep a proper eye on the twins.”

Mum exploded. “Why don't
you
keep an eye on them?”

Oh no
, thought Poppy. Now she'd caused another fight between Mum and Dad. It was so easy to set them off.

Poppy knew that she had to get Mum and Dad out on this date before it was too late.

Chapter Six

THE NEXT DAY
Poppy wandered over to the Lavender Valley Garden Centre, as she often did when she was at a loose end. Every time she'd been there lately, Sally was chatting to Sol about the wedding plans: it all sounded brilliant. Poppy had to admit that it was much more fun here than at her house.

“What do you think of this, Poppy?” Sally asked on one occasion. “Sol and I are going to Paris for our honeymoon!”

“That sounds amazing!” Poppy replied. She had heard that Paris was a very romantic city.

Sally and Sol were always laughing and
having
fun together, plus they were so nice to Poppy. They seemed to have all the time in the world to listen to her.

As Poppy walked home, her heart was very heavy. Why couldn't Mum and Dad be more like Sally and Sol? Poppy was beginning to wish that
they
were her parents – they were so much more fun to be around and they never argued. She really hoped that the surprise she was planning for Mum and Dad would make them more like Sally and Sol.

Rather than go home right away, Poppy decided to visit Honey. She wanted to tell her
about
an idea she'd had to make her parents' date even more special.

“Hi, Honey,” said Poppy. “Guess what? I've come up with another brilliant idea for Mum and Dad's special evening. Do you want to hear what it is?”

“Yes please,” said Honey eagerly.

“As well as giving them a deeelicious meal under the oak tree in our garden, I'm going to make them a memory box to remind them how amazing their wedding day was and leave it under the tree for them to find.”

“Wow! That's such a cool idea, Poppy.”

“Thanks! I found their wedding guest list in
Mum
's wedding box in the attic so I'm going to write a letter to everyone to see whether they've got anything connected with the wedding day that I can put in the memory box.”

“But how will you get all the stuff without your parents seeing it?” asked Honey.

“Um, I hadn't got that far,” confessed Poppy, suddenly feeling rather deflated.

“Maybe my granny will help,” suggested Honey. “She loves surprises – I bet she's got some good stuff to put in the box too.”

“That's a brilliant idea! Let's go and ask her now!” replied Poppy.

The girls raced over to Bumble Bee's Teashop and told Granny Bumble all about the plan.

“What a lovely idea. You are a thoughtful girl, Poppy. I'm sure I have a recipe for their wedding cake somewhere. We could put that in, couldn't we? It was a special one as they didn't want rich fruit or chocolate cake. They had rose-scented Victoria sponge cake with soft peppermint icing and butter-cream filling. Oh, it was absolutely scrummy even if I do say so myself. I'll frame the recipe with a photo of the cake and give you that for your box, if you like.”

“Oh, thank you, that would be lovely,” Poppy said, delighted. “Actually, I wondered whether it would be OK if I ask everyone to leave the special box things here with you – that way Mum won't find out what I'm planning.”

“No problem, love. Do you mind if I ask what is bringing all this on?” asked Granny Bumble. “Is it because of Sally's wedding?”

“Sort of. You see, it's nearly Mum and Dad's tenth anniversary and they don't act anything like Sally and Sol do, so I'm planning a surprise date for them,” explained Poppy, not quite revealing the whole truth.

Granny Bumble chuckled. “That sounds wonderful. And what does that entail?” she asked.

“Well, Saffron thought that a yummy meal with wine and music would be the best thing. I'm going to set it out at the bottom of our garden under the big oak tree. Me and Honey are going to decorate it like a fairyland so that it is really magical – just like their wedding day,” said Poppy proudly.

“It sounds like you've got it all worked out. Aren't you girls clever?” said Granny Bumble. “But who's going to look after the twins and who will do the cooking?”

“I'm going to ask Saffron to babysit – she loves taking care of Angel and Archie,” replied Poppy, “but I might need some help with the cooking . . .”

“I'll help,” offered Granny Bumble immediately. “I'm all in favour of exhausted parents having a good meal in peace. And I think I know all their favourite things. I'll make it so it's very easy to serve. They don't want us hovering around while they're having their anniversary dinner, now do they?”

“I suppose not,” said Poppy, who
had
thought of spying from the tree house. However, she realized Granny Bumble was right. They needed complete privacy for their magical dinner date to work.

Chapter Seven

POPPY WENT HOME
and wrote a letter to everyone on her parents' wedding guest list. Some were from college, which was where Mum and Dad first met. Her dad had been studying landscape gardening, and her mum had been in the year below him, studying hat making. Poppy imagined they'd had great fun back in those days when they were both students living in the big market town of Merrivale Marsh, which was about thirty miles from Honeypot Hill.