Since Ben and Joss Beckett took over The Fair Maid and Falcon, they have had to deal with ghosts, gangsters and well dodgy goings-on. Despite that they have their own family of twin daughters and dogs, and a fabulous ‘found family’ of friends.
Once I was sure he’d gone I allowed myself to wilt against the hard wall of Ben’s chest.
“Sheesh that was weird.”
“It was. Who the heck was that?”
“I dunno. But I do know he’s a person to be reckoned with. The hardest of the hard at a guess. But he knelt down in the sodden grass in the orchard and I guess he really did pray.”
Ben looked down at me and I could feel him thinking, he kissed the top of my head.
“Are you thinking about the colour orange?” He asked.
“I am. Though I’d like confirmation if we could get it. I just don’t see how.”
He fiddled with his phone and showed me the screen. Cormac’s ice-eyed face looked at me.
“How’d you get that?”
“I didn’t. Ellen stuck her phone out of the back corridor and took a burst of shots.”
“Sheesh. She’s got bottle, though I’m not sure she ought to have done that.”
“Me neither. I told her off, but she laughed at me. Said he was too busy drowning in your eyes to notice a phone at floor level.”
“Drowning in my eyes? What the actual fuck?”
“It’s a truth. You have the clearest, calmest eyes, and they feel like cool river water when you look into them.”
I could feel myself frowning and he rubbed his thumb across my forehead.
“Never mind, love.”
I gave him a brisk hug. “Okay. I’m just going to file that one under Joss Bennett mythology and not pick at it. Meanwhile will you please send that image to Mark. And tell him I don’t want to know who our visitor was.”
“I can do that. If you will go home for an hour and have a sandwich and a bit of respite.”
“I can do that.” I saluted him and skipped off before he could exact vengeance.
It was still absolutely pissing down, although the electrical storm had passed over. I slid my arms into the sleeves of my yellow jacket and rammed the matching sou’wester firmly onto my head.
“C’mon dogs. Let’s go see what Roz and Allie are up to.”
We ran across the garden and more or less erupted into the kitchen/family room that was one of the delights of my heart. Sian and the twins sat at one end of the big, oak table. Sian was reading aloud and I recognised ‘The Secret Garden’, which sweet old-fashioned fantasy seemed ideal for such a dramatic day. The girls were absolutely entranced sitting as quiet as mice as the story drew them into Misselthwaite Manor and its secrets.
I signalled for Sian to carry on reading and hung my wet stuff in the boot room. Stan and Ollie made the staffies shove over so they too could lay beside the fire, while I made myself a sandwich. I sat at the other end of the table and ate my late lunch with a good appetite. Sian finished a chapter and gently closed the book.
“More tomorrow,” she said.
The twins nodded and Roz came over to lean on my leg.
“The bad man won’t be coming back. Grandmother said you satisfied his curiosity and gave ease to his troubled soul.”
“I never knew I’d done that. All I did was tell him the truth and let him see where you two found Cherry.”
Allie came to my other side. “Mis Finoula telled me one time that you are a person who does the right thing for its own sake. And that you don’t do things for praise or profit.”
“Well. She’s maybe partly right. But I do run the pub for profit.”
“We know that. Daddy Beckett explained us about how everyone relies on the pub making the money to pay their bills.”
Allie yawned enormously. “If we wasn’t nearly seven years old we could maybe take a nap.”
Sian chuckled. “How old is your Uncle Neil?”
“Eleven-ty fifteen,” Roz chortled.
“So he is. And he still has afternoon naps.”
“He does?”
“Yes. So there’s absolutely no reason why you pair shouldn’t have a rest. I’ll tuck you in.”
She ushered them bed-wards and I enjoyed a rare moment of nothing at all to do.
When Sian returned I was sitting having a bit of a think. She grinned at me.
“There’s a rarity. Joss relaxing.”
“I think the latest ‘bad man’ wiped me out a bit.”
She looked quizzical.
“He was even more beautifully tailored than Mark, and he had the coldest most reptilian eyes it has ever been my misfortune to look into. But. He dressed himself in that ratty old parka from the dog bed by the back door and a pair of wholly repulsive wellies and followed me into the orchard. When I showed him the tree he knelt in the mud and actually prayed. It was all too surreal.”
Sian smiled wisely. “Them boots belong to Jack Ellis and he wears them when he’s clearing out the slurry pits. Left them here last night because Brenda wouldn’t get in the Land Rover with them.”
“How did you?”
“Mum called me, because she needed to laugh.” Then she stood sword straight in front of me with her hands behind her back. “I’m afraid I overstepped.”
“How’s that, love?”
“The dog leads.”
I laughed. “No. It was a bit surprising, but nothing to be bothered about.”
“Thanks Joss. Thing is it was their idea.”
I thought about that for ten seconds then laughed.
“Why am I not surprised? Tell me all.”
She relaxed. “They wanted to go outside and see the storm. I said fine, but you have to promise me you will stay on the flagstones and under the roof. But they couldn’t promise so I said no outside then. They went into one of their huddles and disappeared. They came back with Bud and Lew’s leads. They each hitched a lead onto the other’s jeans then handed the leads to me. ‘Now we can’t be bad,’ they said. I went along with it, only now I’m thinking perhaps I shouldn’t have.”
I stood up and hugged her. “I’d a done precisely the same. One thing being these two’s mother has taught me is that the unconventional is often the only way to deal with them.”
Her smile was as bright as the sky was dark.
My phone made a peculiar noise before telling me Ben wanted a word. I poked the screen.
“What is your pleasure my beloved. But before you reply you should perhaps take note that Sian is standing beside me.”
He blew me a raspberry. “Look. There’s nothing over here that needs your attention. Morgan has the office, with help from Ellen. Stella’s on duty for afternoon tea and expecting to be bored. And there’s a full brigade on for tonight.”
“That’s all sense. Does it make me redundant?”
He chuckled. “Yup. Unless you feel like making supper for the family. About half nine maybe?”
“Family?”
“Me, You, the monsters, Stella, Neil, Ellen, Sian, Morgan and Simeon.”
“I could do that. But maybe not the twins. Nine thirty’s a bit late for them to eat.”
“That’s true. Will you explain to them?”
“I will. See what’s what. They are having an afternoon nap so maybe they can stay up.”
“It’d be nice.”
He ended the call and I looked at Sian. “If I give you a basket will you go over to the kitchen and steal some stuff?”
“If you give me a list as well.”
“I will.”
She scurried off and I got started. When she returned, staggering theatrically, I relieved her of her load and she scrubbed up. We worked together in amiable accord until everything was as prepared as it could be. I slid a huge chicken and red wine casserole into the oven while Sian finished loading the dishwasher. She set it going and grinned at me.
“I always like cooking here with you.”
“And I with you.”
We moved over to where the wood burner simmered away gently and sat chatting quietly as the wind and rain howled around the sturdy walls.
There will be more from Joss, Ben and their friends, courtesy of Jane Jago, next week, or you can catch up with their earlier adventures in Who Put Her In and Who Pulled Her Out.
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