A Year at Meadowbrook Manor by Faith Bleasdale

Author:Faith Bleasdale [Bleasdale, Faith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008259808
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-12-20T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

‘Oh God, it’s going to rain,’ Pippa lamented as she discarded the piece of toast she had been playing with.

‘Pip, it’ll be fine,’ Harriet replied, trying to comfort her sister. The summer fête meant a lot to all of them and all their nerves were a little shredded. However, as usual, Harriet felt that she had to be the one to keep it together. She looked out of the window and her confidence dipped slightly. The dove grey sky looked a little threatening.

‘Besides, we’ve set up a lot of marquees,’ Freddie stated calmly. ‘We’ll just shove as much as we can undercover if we need to.’ Freddie and Pippa actually made a complementary team; he was laid-back, she was slightly neurotic; a perfect mix to organise a summer fête, it seemed. They had also become closer than ever, which was doing Freddie no end of good. He had drunk a lot less and been busier than Harriet had ever seen him. She hadn’t wanted to make too much of a big deal about his drinking, Gus had warned her against it, but they had all cut down. Not having wine every night, or brandies or cocktail hour, and Freddie had joined them. He even said waking up without hangovers was a revelation. But then he was busy and happy, which probably helped keep him away from alcohol a bit more.

‘And anyway, we all have the Meadowbrook spirit, we won’t let a bit of rain ruin the village’s best annual event,’ Gus announced. ‘The gardens have never looked better. We’re expecting a record number of visitors.’

‘And I’ve spent hours training Hilda,’ Fleur piped up. Harriet smiled. The dog show was going to be quite an event. Not in the same league as Crufts, more ‘Crusts’, as Freddie had named it. But what their rescue dogs lacked in pedigree and talent they made up for in enthusiasm and personality. Everyone involved in the sanctuary plus the volunteers from the dog walking group were taking part, the aim being to rehome some of the poor loves. Connor had reluctantly agreed to host the show and Fleur had begged to be allowed to partner with Hilda.

It had given Harriet an opportunity to spend more time with Fleur, and Gus, as he always came out to watch Fleur trying, and mainly failing, to get Hilda to do what she was told. It had been a good, no, a necessary bonding time for them all. Gus was beginning to learn that what Fleur needed from him wasn’t money, but love and time. It wasn’t that Gus didn’t want to spend time with her, it was that he didn’t know how. Harriet thought that his ex-wife, Rachel, had sapped so much of Gus’s confidence that he didn’t know how to be himself, and the way she controlled his relationship with their daughter had ensured that Gus was always insecure around Fleur. But Fleur, twelve, very mature in many ways, and about to turn thirteen, was developing

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