New Beginnings for Bryony Bennett by Katy Lilley & Joanne Robinson

Author:Katy Lilley & Joanne Robinson [Lilley, Katy & Robinson, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-08-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The church was crowded, which Bryony decided was probably to be expected, if a well loved—or disliked for that matter—stand in for the vicar was making his last appearance. When she got the chance, she must ask Maddie if it was a normal, an ‘ohh dear, no, we will miss him, he is great,’ reaction, or a ‘thank goodness he’s going, lets cheer him on his way’ turn out. For all she knew, this was the normal congregation. It was she supposed, shameful she didn’t have a clue, so she really ought to discover that as well. Was she the only resident of Little Brindish who wasn’t a regular churchgoer? Surely not.

An unknown man handed her a hymnal and stared at her intently. It made her wonder if she had a black mark on her cheek—she’d checked Lottie’s handprint had faded—or a spider in her hair.

‘So lovely to meet you at last,’ he said, as he shook her hand with a grip so tight, she wondered if she’d have any unbroken fingers left. ‘Giles Henderson.’

‘Nice to meet you. Er… Bryony Bennett.’

‘Oh, I know,’ He beamed. ‘It’s excellent to put a face to the name. Although, I had expected to see you here earlier, but I’m sure we will see a lot more of you now.’

He was? She had no answer to that but luckily someone else came to take his attention and she was able to move on. Actually, she thought, as she glanced around the building, she was a regular church goer. Christmas Eve every year. That was shameful. She wasn’t anti church, far from it. She didn’t even have the excuse of having worked on a Sunday, because her boss at the bookshop was a regular churchgoer every week and didn’t open the shop on Sundays. It had been, Bryony supposed, a habit of a long walk with Mop, a coffee at the café in the park—outside weather permitting—and a day to catch up with the washing, ironing, and papers. Plus, if she were honest, her local church had been a bit too highbrow for her, and not really full of Christian charity. The vicar had been a brilliant theologian but not a brilliant Christian. Maybe now she’d change her habits, who knew?

Bryony took note of several tombs and one rather beautiful stained-glass window and decided she would have to come back soon and have a good, and unencumbered, look around. But for now, she had better find her seat. Ahead of her, Maddie waved in a wide sweep of her arm from a pew near the front of the church, and beckoned Bryony to go and join her. Bryony fixed a smile on her face and made her way up the aisle towards her friend. It was the strangest stroll ever. She wanted to run so people stopped staring at her but knew if she did they would stare more. Never was she more pleased than when she reached Maddie’s side. She had intended to arrive

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