The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane-Part One_New beginnings Read online

  The

  Cottage on

  Lily Pond Lane

  Part One

  Emily Harvale

  Copyright

  Copyright © Emily Harvale 2018

  All rights reserved

  Emily Harvale has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organisations, businesses, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Crescent Gate Publishing

  E-edition published worldwide 2018

  ISBN 978-1-909917-30-9

  Cover design © JR and Emily Harvale

  Edited by Christina Harkness

  This book is dedicated to David Cleworth.

  Thank you for always being there.

  Table of contents

  Title

  Dedication

  Also by

  A note from Emily

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Acknowledgements

  Contact

  Coming Soon

  Also by Emily Harvale

  Highland Fling

  Lizzie Marshall's Wedding

  The Golf Widows' Club

  Sailing Solo

  Carole Singer's Christmas

  Christmas Wishes

  A Slippery Slope

  The Perfect Christmas Plan

  Be Mine

  It Takes Two

  The Goldebury Bay series:

  Ninety Days of Summer – book 1

  Ninety Steps to Summerhill – book 2

  Ninety Days to Christmas – book 3

  The Hideaway Down series:

  A Christmas Hideaway – book 1

  Catch A Falling Star – book 2

  Walking on Sunshine – book 3

  Dancing in the Rain – book 4

  Hall's Cross series

  Deck the Halls – book 1

  The Starlight Ball – book 2

  Michaelmas Bay series

  Christmas Secrets in Snowflake Cove – book 1

  Blame it on the Moonlight – book 2

  Chapter One

  Mia Ward tugged on the handbrake of her newly-purchased, second-hand 4X4 and breathed a sigh of relief that she had made it. At least as far as the outskirts of Little Pondale. She stared at the signpost to her right, still unable to fully take in the fact that she, a city-girl to the core, was moving to a thatched cottage in this tiny and remote seaside village – a village she didn't know existed until seven weeks ago.

  It was all so unbelievable. A fairy tale come true, some might say. Although Mia wasn't convinced this one would have a happy ending. Muddy fields, trampled by a variety of animals ranging from horses, cows and sheep, to ducks, geese and chickens, not to mention the field full of Llamas, yes Llamas, she had passed five minutes ago, might appeal to some, but not one of the creatures was on Mia's list of favourite things. Neither were seagulls, which had been bombarding her vehicle with foul-smelling bombs of bird poo since the moment she had turned onto Seaside Road. She felt about as welcome to the south coast of England as the German Luftwaffe had been in the Second World War.

  Despite her apprehension and a niggling worry that she may be trampled to death by large, unpleasant farm creatures the minute she got out of her vehicle, she had to admit she was excited. She couldn't wait to see the cottage.

  Sunbeam Cottage on Lily Pond Lane.

  Even the name sounded jolly, bright and optimistic. And she could do with some of that.

  Seven weeks ago she had been struggling to pay her rent after losing both her job and her boyfriend in rapid succession. Although in truth neither was a great loss. Whitley, Smythe and Black might be one of the top five accountancy firms in London but the pay was dismal and the working conditions weren't much better. The partners had plush, gleaming white offices so large that it took a good two minutes to walk across the dove-grey carpet from the doorway, to the floor to ceiling window of each overlooking the traffic-jammed streets below. Mia and the other admin staff were squeezed into row upon row of miniscule, soul-less 'pods'; the only light beamed down on them from halogen bulbs, like mini UFOs, embedded in white, false ceilings. Several times, Mia had wished that one of them would 'beam her up'. The air conditioning was so cold the staff all had to wear cardigans or jumpers even when it was 80 degrees outside with steam rising from the roads. Scrooge himself, might have had qualms.

  Mia was definitely better off without her rat of a boyfriend. One week after losing her job he dumped her because, he said, she wasn't spontaneous enough for his liking. The irony of that wasn't lost on her considering the reason she had been fired was due to her spontaneity. Admittedly on that occasion it was probably more to do with the copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed, but even so. She had been spontaneous. So much so that she and 'the rat' had been caught, almost having sex on her boss's desk at the annual, end-of-the-financial-year office party. They didn't actually get as far as doing the deed, but far enough for her boss to nearly have an apoplexy on the spot when he opened the door and found them. A few days later, Mia no longer had a job. Some things, it seemed, were unforgivable in the eyes of Whitley, Smythe and Black, but over-billing clients and acting for several rather shady characters was apparently fine. Not that Mia was bitter or anything.

  She could have fought her dismissal. But this wasn't her first warning. She had also received a warning last Christmas, for asking one of the firm's 'celebrity' clients whether it was really necessary to wear a real fur coat in this day and age and explaining just how abhorrent that was to most people. Another act of spontaneity on Mia's part, as she had reminded the rat when he dumped her.

  It was okay for him. He could afford to be spontaneous. He lived on a trust fund and had a life-long career at his dad's law firm. Mia had a student loan she was still trying to repay – and her dad died two weeks after she left university. That was how she had come to work at Whitley, Smythe and Black. A friend of a friend of her mum's had offered her a temporary job at the firm to "help take her mind off the tragedy". That was nearly twelve years ago. Mia had been stuck in a soul-less pod at Whitley, Smythe and Black ever since.

  Perhaps the rat did have a point after all.

  The only downside of being fired was that Mia hadn't realised just how hard it would be to find a new job. Particularly without a glowing reference. The rat, she soon discovered, she could easily live without. Money was another matter. And she couldn't ask her mum for a loan. Not again. At least not until her miniscule savings ran out. Lori Ward would willingly hand over the cash, but it would be accompanied by a lengthy but well-meaning lecture on her on
ly daughter's choices, and endless concerned questions about where, exactly, Mia was heading in life. And Mia wasn't ready for that, especially as she appeared to be heading nowhere.

  But her dad's two favourite sayings of 'time changes everything' and 'when one door closes, somewhere a window opens' seemed to be true. Time had definitely changed everything, and it wasn't merely a window that had opened. It was the door to an entire cottage. Someone called Matilda Ward had died, at the ripe old age of ninety-nine from natural causes, and left her great-niece, Mia Ward, a substantial legacy.

  Seven weeks ago, Mia had not known that she had a great-aunt Matilda, let alone that she would be a beneficiary in Matilda's will. Now Mia had inherited Sunbeam Cottage and all its contents, on Lily Pond Lane in the seaside village of Little Pondale. There was just one condition. She had to live in the cottage for one entire year, after which, it was Mia's to do with as she pleased. There was an additional bequest of ten thousand pounds which was to be paid to Mia immediately and was hers, regardless.

  Mia may not have heard of Matilda Ward but Matilda clearly knew about Mia. And that was a bit of a mystery. A mystery Mia was now determined to solve.

  Mia glanced at her best friend Ella, who was snoring softly beside her in the passenger seat, before checking the rear-view mirror to ensure that Ella's brother, Garrick, was still following behind in his van. In a moment, she would take the turning three metres ahead on the right and after another four metres, she would reach her destination. A fact the Satnav had now informed her for the third time as she waited for the tractor in front of her to move. She had no idea why it had stopped in the middle of the narrow lane. It appeared from a field, without warning, a mile or so back and trundled along at a pace even a snail would find tedious before suddenly coming to a halt. Now it seemed to be turning, although the driver gave no indication of quite what he was intending to do. He shunted back and forth and Mia craned her neck to try to see where he could possibly be going. Was he trying to turn around and go back the way he'd come? She suddenly spotted a small gap between the hedge. He appeared to be manoeuvring to reverse through the gap. If he managed that, she'd applaud him although why he didn't simply drive straight in was beyond her comprehension.

  Ella let out a yawn and stretched as Mia turned off the Satnav midway through its fourth pronouncement.

  'Did I nod off? Sorry. Are we there yet?'

  Mia grinned at her. 'Yes to both. We're on what is laughingly called Seaside Road. As you can see it's no more than a lane. According to the signpost,' she said, pointing to it, 'we're now in Little Pondale and the Satnav informed me several times that we're only seven metres or so from our destination. We've got to take the next turning on the right and that should take us directly into Lily Pond Lane. But unless this guy gets a spurt on, we may not get there until after dark.'

  Ella sat upright, shook her mop of blonde curls and, yawning again, peered through the windscreen.

  'So where's the sea?'

  Mia shrugged. 'I caught a glimpse of it a couple of miles back but the minute we turned onto Seaside Road it disappeared behind a wall of green stuff.'

  'What's this guy doing?' Ella nodded at the tractor.

  'Trying to perform a small miracle. He seems to be attempting to get that large tractor into that tiny opening.'

  Ella grinned. 'Said the tart to the vicar.' She winked and leant forward as Mia tutted loudly. Since Ella had spent Easter at her elderly uncle Bert's, she had picked up his favourite quip – and used it every chance she got, no matter how stupid or inappropriate it was. 'Now what's he doing?'

  Ella and Mia exchanged glances as the hunky looking driver got out of the tractor and vanished into the hedge. A moment later he reappeared. With a brief wave of his hand, he doffed his flat cap, smiled, got back in and reversed the tractor out of sight in a matter of seconds.

  Ella gasped. 'Bloody Nora! Did you see that?'

  Bloody Nora was another little gem from Ella's uncle Bert's repertoire. Mia loved her best friend to bits, but sometimes she wished Ella wasn't quite so easily influenced.

  Mia nodded. 'It was incredible. He's a better driver than I thought.'

  'Driver? I meant him, Mia. Did you see him?'

  'Of course I saw him.'

  'Then why aren't you having palpitations? Unless my eyes are deceiving me, that guy puts the yum into yummy. He looked gorgeous.'

  Mia frowned. 'I didn't notice his looks but he did seem rather hunky.' She was clearly more pre-occupied than she realised. 'Where would he be on the list?'

  The list was a non-existent document containing the attributes required by men for Ella and Mia to consider them 'the perfect man'. The more attributes each man had, the higher up the list they went. The rat had made it halfway up. The list needed revising, in Mia's opinion. As far as 'the perfect man' was concerned, the rat had been a long way off.

  'Pretty close to the top, from what I could see.' Ella fanned herself with her phone. 'Damn. I should've taken his picture.'

  A toot of a horn made them both jump.

  Mia glanced in the rear-view mirror. 'Garrick's clearly getting impatient.'

  Now that the tractor was out of the way, she let the handbrake off and pressed her foot gently down on the accelerator. As they neared the gap in the hedge at a crawl, both she and Ella turned their heads to the left. The tractor driver had got out again and was closing a gate. He glanced up, took off his flat cap, shook his lustrous hair which was the colour of midnight, winked and smiled at them as they drove past.

  Ella was right. He would definitely be near the top of the list. Mia was so busy taking stock of his visual attributes, she had to swerve to avoid driving into the hedge.

  Chapter Two

  'This is Lily Pond Lane,' Mia announced, driving slowly into the lane after turning off Seaside Road.

  The first thing Mia spotted was the large pond to her left, its glass-like blue-grey surface shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Brightly coloured ducks swam serenely between huge Lily leaves and pink Lily buds, whilst a conga-like trail of fluffy ducklings paddled feverishly behind their mother, bumping into the leaves, and each other, in their haste, like tiny dodgem cars. It was the picture of tranquillity, even to a city-girl like her. The pond was surrounded by meadow-grass with clumps of tulips and wild, spring flowers and one ancient-looking tree, dressed in pink blossom. A cherry tree perhaps. Mia's knowledge of trees extended to the fact that each one had a trunk, branches and leaves and one or two had blossoms of varying colours. That was about it. Which made this move even more bizarre. As her mum, Lori had reminded her when Mia said she intended to move to the cottage she had inherited.

  Ella fidgeted in her seat. 'Bloody Nora, Mia! I'm sure I've seen this place on a box of chocolates.' She glanced at Mia and the grin turned to a look of concern. 'Is this it? Is this Little Pondale? Just this lane, that pond, that sort of village green, the church at the end, that hill and a couple of rows of cottages?'

  Mia shook her head and a strand of golden-brown hair that had worked its way free from her ponytail, flopped into her eyes. She pushed it behind her ear and looked Ella in the eye.

  'It seemed bigger on Google maps. I think there's another lane of cottages behind the church because I can see some rooftops.' She tipped her head towards the church directly ahead and the lane snaking up the hill behind it, dotted with cottages and then pointed to the other side of the pond and village green. 'And another leading from the church, heading in the opposite direction but that's about it.'

  'No Starbucks? No pizzeria? No shops? There must at least be a pub! Please tell me there's a pub.' Ella grabbed Mia's forearm, harder than she had possibly intended, causing Mia to swerve slightly to the left.

  'Don't panic or we'll end up in that pond. I'm sure there was a pub. Yes look! There it is. Right beside the church. The Frog and Lily, I think the sign says.'

  Mia slammed on the brakes and even though she hadn't been driving at more than fifteen miles per hour, the scre
ech of tyres behind told her that Garrick's van had almost hit her 4x4. Ella's hands shot to the dashboard in a dramatic fashion as if to stop her careering forward.

  'Jesus, Mia! I almost went through the windscreen.'

  'Don't exaggerate. Sorry, but I just realised, if I can see the pub then I might've passed the cottage. I remember it being about halfway up the lane, according to the map. She turned in her seat to look behind her down the lane. 'Oh my God!' She almost jumped out of her skin as Garrick's face appeared at her window. He didn't look pleased.

  'I nearly rear-ended you. Why the hell did you swerve then stop like that? And earlier, you almost drove into a hedge. Or did that have something to do with the pair of you ogling that farmer?' He frowned at Mia and ran a hand through his mop of sandy-brown hair. 'I know you've only had this car for two days and you're still getting used to it, but please be careful. God alone knows where the nearest garage is. Or the hospital. Let's at least get you moved in before we need to find either one.' He let out a sigh and rested one tanned forearm on the open window, appearing more relaxed as he glanced over his shoulder. 'Is this it?'

  Mia shrugged an apology. 'Sorry. I don't know. I just know it was halfway up.'

  'Said the vicar to the tart,' Ella quipped. 'Why don't these cottages have numbers? At least then we'd have some idea.'

  'They have names instead,' Mia pointed out.

  'Then they should be in alphabetical order. Go and look, Garrick. What's that one called?'

  Garrick frowned at his twin sister but crossed the lane and looked for the name of the thatched cottage opposite while Ella rummaged in her bag for something and Mia tried, yet again, to get this whole thing to sink in.

  'I still can't really believe this. Seven weeks ago I was having Sunday lunch with Mum and Vernon and now I'm here in Little Pondale.'

  Vernon Brett, the family solicitor and life-long family friend, had been the one to give Mia the news of her inheritance. He had been contacted by great-aunt Matilda's solicitor who had been told to get in touch with Vernon in the event of Matilda's death. Matilda's solicitor had written to Vernon with details of the will and informed him that the keys to Sunbeam Cottage, together with the sum of ten thousand pounds would be handed over once Mia had signed various documents. It all happened so fast that Mia half-expected to wake up and discover it had all been a rather wonderful but mysterious dream. Yet here she was, seven weeks later, scanning a row of thatched cottages to find Sunbeam Cottage – her new home.