Love in an English Garden by Victoria Connelly

Author:Victoria Connelly [Connelly, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503942264
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2017-03-14T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

‘You were out. All night!’

Vanessa jumped as her mother-in-law crept into the kitchen. Turning around to face Dolly, she noted the red face glaring back at her as if the old woman had been hoarding all the resentment of the night before, ready to unleash now.

‘You’re exaggerating. I was home well before eleven. Not that it’s any of your business,’ Vanessa said, turning her back on Dolly as she cleared away the breakfast things.

‘It jolly well is my business whilst you’re living under my roof.’

Vanessa didn’t rise to the bait. They’d had this argument so many times in the past and she didn’t have the energy for it this morning. Besides, she was in a good mood. The more she thought about her evening with Jonathan, the more she realised how much she liked him. He was a good man. A kind man. And how often did you find one of those? Okay, so their conversation had hit a few walls, but perhaps they’d been going too fast too soon.

Too fast too soon. Honestly, it was as if she were dating again, which she certainly was not. She must stop putting such notions in her head. They were friends – friends who still knew relatively little about each other, but who were content with things the way they were.

‘Where were you anyway?’ Dolly asked.

‘Are you still here?’

‘Of course I’m still here. Where else would I be?’ She made a derisive noise.

Vanessa could think of all sorts of amusing responses to that particular question, but held her tongue.

‘Well,’ Dolly said at last, ‘I can’t be standing here all day. Hermione’s on her way.’

‘Don’t let me keep you,’ Vanessa said, deciding to steer clear of Dolly’s old crony. Hermione Warbouys was one of Dolly’s oldest friends and would come to Orley every week or so. Vanessa wasn’t really sure what they talked about, but she had a feeling that she got more than a few mentions judging by the evil looks she received from Hermione whenever they happened to cross paths. One thing Vanessa took comfort in was the fact that Oliver hadn’t been able to stand Hermione.

‘The Witch of Ridwell’, he’d called her, because she used to terrify him as a child and things hadn’t got much better when he’d grown up. Now, she was terrifying Vanessa.

Perhaps it would be better if she took her cup of tea into the garden, she thought, moving quickly in order to get away from Dolly and avoid Hermione, but she didn’t move fast enough because she ran right into Hermione as she opened the front door.

‘Oh, it’s you,’ Hermione said. Like Dolly, she was in her late eighties.

‘Good morning, Hermione,’ Vanessa said politely. She had always been polite to this woman even though she’d never received a civil word from her. ‘What a lovely morning. I’m just on my way out.’

‘With a cup of tea?’

‘Yes.’

The old woman tutted. ‘And what does Dolly have to say about you taking the family china out of the house?’

‘She can say what she likes.

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