Tim was in the pub one evening recently when Ben and I were meeting our elderly hippie friends, Mark and Stella (who unfortunately seem to take the smell of goat with them everywhere, though you get used to it after a bit).
I asked him if he remembered playing tennis with me and Libby when we were teenagers and he said he didbut he was just being polite; I could see he didnt really. But that was hardly surprising, because we were two awkward, immature schoolgirls and he was almost grown up. He seemed very nice, though he has a permanently anxious look in his blue eyesan eager-to-please expressionand that shock of white-blond hair makes him look a bit startled. He has a nervous habit of constantly trying to smooth it down, though regular haircuts would be a more practical idea.
But anyway, I was right about the eager-to-please bit, because he certainly seemed to have pleased Libby Id just started to wonder how many hours it took to show somebody round a house, even a substantial Elizabethan town house, when she phoned to say Tim had invited her out to dinner and she didnt know what time she would be getting back!
If I hadnt been so surprised I would have told her to call in for the front door key on her way, but by the time it occurred to me and I phoned back, she had switched her mobile off.
I went back to marzipanning my Diamonds Are Forever anniversary cake, but I was a bit distractedWhat was Libby up to? Trying to beat the poor man down on the price?
She staggered in looking glazed at about one in the morning, after hammering on the door to wake me because by then Id fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room.
Did you have a nice time? I asked sleepily as she removed her coat and kicked off her stilettos with a sigh of relief.
Bliss! she said enthusiastically. Sorry to make you stay up, though. I wasnt thinking straight when I phoned you earlier becausewell, you wont believe this, Josie, but Im in love!
I creaked my eyelids open a bit wider. You do mean with Blessings, dont you?
No! Well, yes, she qualified, its the sweetest little Elizabethan house imaginable. But Ive fallen in love with Tim too. Oh, Josie, this is it love at first sight.
Again? I said, putting the kettle on for cocoa.
This is different! I fell in love with Phillip and Joe, of course, but not the very second I set eyes on them, she said indignantly. But when Tim opened the door, we just gazed into each others eyes andwell, we couldnt look away. And after that she heaved a voluptuous sigh, we talked and talked. Then we realised how late it was and thought wed better go out for something to eatOh, I feel like weve been soul mates for ever!
Thats a bit how I felt when I first saw Ben, I said, with a reminiscent sigh. Though I suppose I was so young I didnt understand it was love.
She snapped back to reality, her blue eyes wide, and said, No, it was nothing like that, though admittedly you and Ben had a bit of a Juliet and Romeo thing going on. Lucky there were family objections only on his sideit takes two families to start a good, tragic feud.
I let that go. I played Juliet to Bens Romeo in the school play one year, and I hated the end, though if they had both got up and run off hand in hand, I suppose it wouldnt be a tragedy.
Did you actually find time to look around Blessingsremember, the house you were so keen to buy that you flew all the way over from Pisa with a viewing order?
Of course I did, and its even more wonderful than I remembered, though its so run down and shabby! Those plaster walls with funny little animals and shields and stuff moulded into them, and the huge beams and little diamond-paned windows with ripply glass. Tim adores the place and, do you know, he loves Italy too. Hes been to Pisa but always wanted to go back for long enough to explore it properly! Isnt that a coincidence?
Mmm I said, starting to feel sleepy again. This was way past my bedtime.
In fact, we seemed to agree about everything. And the great thing is, theres no need to buy Blessings if Tim and I are getting married so I can spend the money renovating it instead.
I missed my mouth entirely with the last dregs of my cocoa and it went down the front of my dressing gown. Married? Libby, you only met him two seconds ago!
Thats all it took for us to fall in love and know we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, she said simply. Tomorrow were going to buy an engagement ring and Im moving into Blessings.
Bloody hell! I gazed at her anxiously. Look, Libby, hadnt you better think about it a bit first and not do anything hasty? I mean, I know you fell in love with your first two husbands quickly and married almost immediately, and it worked out fine, but this is hugely rash. And hes not rich, either.
I know, but it doesnt matter. Then she bleated, Resistance is useless, in a Dalek voice, and giggled like a teenager.
Youve gone mad, Libs!
Yes, but mad in a good way. Tims handsome, sweet, funny, and kindeverything I could possibly want
I gave her the sweet and kind, but he definitely wasnt handsome. So it must be love.
Wed like to get married tomorrow.
Well, you cant, I pointed out. I really think you ought to consider all this in the cold light of day, not get carried away and
Break out the elderflower champagne and lets celebrate! she interrupted gaily. Come on, Josie, dont I always know exactly what Im doing?
You did, I conceded, but that was before you turned into Love-Crazed of Pisa!
But by then, being Libby, she had taken out a little pink leather-bound notebook from her handbag and started to make a to-do list.
Whats the name of the vicar? she asked, looking up.
She was still in the same state next morning, except the list was now two pages long.
Over breakfast I showed her the Country at Heart article, which she read through twice, and then commented, It doesnt sound like you at all!
It isnt. Im quite positive I didnt say most of that. In fact, some of it is quite idiotic.
The average reader probably wont think that, and its great publicity for the cakesand for Ben too, come to that. She peered more closely at the photograph of him in his studio. Im not sure about whatever it is hes working on, though. It looks like an explosion in a half-set black pudding.
His work has been a bit odd lately, I admitted. I dont like it very much, but it must be good or he wouldnt have won that prize.
I tell you what, Libby said, tapping the page with her long, French-manicured nails, I bet lots of Skint Old Northern Woman readers get this magazine too, and they will put two and two together. Your cover will be blown.
Oh, I hope not. Id have to be so careful what I said if everyone knew who I was!
Shed got me worried, but later, when I got Ben on the phone and told him, he said he didnt think the readership of a little niche magazine like SONW would be the same as that for an expensive glossy like Country at Heart. But he was pleased he was in it, I could tell from his voice.
I didnt mention the Libby and Tim situation. I thought Id give it twenty-four hours and see if it wore off.
Chapter Four Love, Actually
A friend is suddenly moving back to the village after dividing her time between Italy and London for several yearsin fact, she is here!
She always had a fancy to live in a nearby small Elizabethan house and, when it recently came onto the market, she snapped it upand the owner with it. Reader, she married him!
Ive had to quickly finish off the Diamonds Are Forever anniversary cake I was making (a special order) so I could start on my friends bridal cake
Cakes and Ale
Libby and Tim certainly didnt let the grass grow beneath their feet, and by the time Ben returned from London only a few days later, they were engaged, living together and planning their imminent nuptials.
Id finally broken the news to Ben on the phone, but I wasnt sure he quite believed me until he got back and I showed him the announcement in the local paper, which had just come out.
This has to be the most unlikely pairing ever! I said. I mean, A marriage has been arranged between Mrs Elizabeth Cazzini of London and Pisa, and Mr Timothy Rowland-Knowles of Blessings, Neatslake, may sound very well, but everyone around here knows that she started life as plain Libby Martin from the council estate. And if her mother wasnt actually on the game, she sailed perilously close to the edge! Libby doesnt even have a father to give her away; she says shes going to do it herself. Mrs Talkalot at the post office says the village is reeling with shock, but she personally doesnt think Libby is after Tims money. I told her Libs is much better off than Tim so, if anything, it would be the other way round, but Im not sure she believed me.
Even two rich and elderly husbands later, transformed into a wealthy and sophisticated widow, I was sure there would always be people who would try to put her down. Not that they would manage it. Libby might look like the fairy off the top of the Christmas tree, but her backbone is pure steel.
That sort of class snobbishness doesnt seem to matter so much these days, does it? Ben said rather absently, staring at the newspaper.
It was on the tip of my tongue to blurt out that it certainly did matter to his parents, who had never thought me good enough for their blue-eyed boy, but I heroically managed to stop myself in time. It was mostly his mothers jealousy and spite, anyway.
I suppose youre right and perhaps no one will take much notice, especially since Libbys mum moved down to Brighton years ago to live with her other daughter, I conceded, though if Gloria Martin turned up at the weddingand there is no way you cant invite your own mother, regardless of what you think of her lifestyle choices, is there?then it might rake things up again. Tim doesnt care who her parents are. Dorrie Spottiswode did think Libby was a gold-digger at first, but she quickly warmed to her once she discovered she was a well-off widow, and shes started going on about vigorous plebeian blood enriching the atrophied Rowland-Knowles family tree, now.
Libbys certainly a fast worker; Ive only been away a few days. Ben didnt sound admiring, more thoughtful, but as Ive said, hed always been a bit jealous of our close friendship. Perhaps it was because Libby and I shared a bond that deep. We both had sadness in our pasts and a yearning for security, even if our ideas of what that entails, and how to obtain it, were entirely different. I often suspected a bit of Bens parents snobbish attitude had rubbed off on him too, so no matter how smart and rich she became, in his mind she remained Libby Martin from the dysfunctional family at the wrong end of the village.
She didnt have to work at it, Ben, because she and Tim fell in love the instant they set eyes on each other again. Its terribly romantic! He showed her over the house and then they went out to dinnerand by next day they were cruising Lord Street in Southport, looking for an engagement ring, and sending out the announcement to the newspapers. They just caught the deadline for this weeks issue.
Does she have enough room on her finger for any more rings? he asked sarcastically.
His attitude was really starting to annoy me. Dont be silly. She took off Joes ring when she put on Tims, just as she did with her first husbands when she married Joe. The rings terribly prettyrose diamonds in a platinum setting.
I tried not to sound too wistful. The only ring I possessed was Grannys old worn wedding band, upstairs in a box of treasures; but then, when I spent most of my days either up to the elbows in earth or cake mix, it wouldnt be practical to wear jewellery anyway, would it? But it would have been nice to have the option!
Marry in haste, repent at leisure, Ben quoted smugly.
Oh, honestly, Ben! I snapped. What is the matter with you? Libbys married in haste twice before and been very happy, so I think she knows what shes doing. And it will be lovely to have her living nearbyshell be company when youre away. Theyve asked us both over for a drink tomorrow evening, so that you and Tim can get to know each other.
We do know each other. Weve met a couple of times down at the Griffin.
Oh, have you? I know we ran into him there once when we were with Stella and Mark, but we didnt talk much. Ben does sometimes walk down there in the evening with Harry and then stays for a drink, and to most men, exchanging a few words at the bar is enough to constitute a friendship. Well, its kind of them to invite us round for a drink, isnt it?
He grunted unenthusiastically, but I expect he was just tired. As usual on his return from these trips, he was looking exhausted and glad to be home, but I had a feeling there was also something on his mind
Libby showed me over Blessings yesterday and the Elizabethan part does want a lot doing to it. Tims stepmother really let it go. Its not even clean. That Portuguese couple who worked for her dont seem to have been very efficient at all, so Im helping her have a good spring-clean. Just as well its not that big a house, more of a town house than a manor.
Havent you got enough to do, Josie? I hardly see you as it is. Youre always off looking after Harry, walking the dog, making cakes or doing errands for the Three Graces.
But these days youre shut away in the studio working most of the time youre home, Ben, so I dont see much of you either, unless you come to talk to me while Im gardening, I pointed out.
I want to finish that second series of paintings, he said, but if youre out half the time, you arent going to know whether Ive been looking for you or not, are you?
Actually, I did have a pretty good idea, because once he was down in the studio he was lost to the world until called in for meals or to help with something. Hed even constructed a little lean-to kitchen area at the side, with a cold-water sink and a kettle, and took a Thermos of cold milk down with him for his tea. I kept the biscuit barrel stocked up, and popped down with hot scones and other treats from time to time. Sometimes he used the kitchen area as a darkroom and I lived in fear that one day hed absent-mindedly make his tea with developing fluid, or something.