Coming Home to Jasmine Cottage Read online

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  First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2017

  Copyright © Zara Stoneley 2017

  Cover design by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017

  Cover images © Shutterstock.com

  Zara Stoneley asserts the moral right

  to be identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue record for this book is

  available from the British Library

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

  The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are

  the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to

  actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is

  entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved under International

  and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.

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  No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted,

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  hereinafter invented, without the express

  written permission of HarperCollins.

  Source ISBN: 9780008241087

  Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008237981

  Version 2017-09-05

  For Hilda, my nana, who loved animals, people and life.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Map

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Acknowledgements

  A Note From the Author

  Also by Zara Stoneley

  About the Author

  About HarperImpulse

  About the Publisher

  Chapter 1

  Lucy Jacobs stared out of the window, and tried to ignore the little shiver of excitement that had sent a rash of goosebumps down her arms.

  Could she do this? Was she brave enough to cut the last tie, change her life for ever?

  The words danced about in her head in much the same way as the chickens in the garden were doing.

  Yesterday they’d flounced in indignantly when the first spots of rain had fallen. They hated the damp, and had spent most of the day sulking and shivering, but this morning after poking their sharp little beaks out, and craning their necks, they’d discovered sunshine. She’d had to laugh as they’d jostled their way out, like a group of pointy-elbowed bargain hunters in the January sales.

  Today the good weather had put a skip in their step – they were scratching around in the soil, with an occasional dash across the garden if they suspected one of their group had found something worth fighting over. And the news had brought a secret smile to her lips, she couldn’t help it. This could be the start of a massive adventure.

  ‘Are you still there? Miss Jacobs?’

  She was still here. And she knew it was time to stop behaving like a hen and to make a decision. If she did this she was shutting a door for good. Moving on. Which was exciting. But scary.

  ‘Miss Jacobs?’ The tetchy tones scratched their way over the airwaves.

  ‘Yes, sorry.’ She tried to concentrate on what the estate agent was saying, and block out all the conflicting thoughts that were bouncing around in her head.

  She much preferred talking to the young, jolly Simon Proofit who made everything sound like a good idea, than to Mr Bannister who had never told her his first name, and insisted on calling her Miss Jacobs and making her sound like some old spinster.

  It was strange really, Mr Bannister had lived in the village of Langtry Meadows all his life, but his whole manner suggested a brusque, efficient city type. Whereas Simon, who had over an hour’s commute from a suburb of the closest city, always made it seem like working in this tiny village was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  ‘I suppose you need time to think about it?’ The sharp words were followed by a resigned sigh that rolled towards her in large waves of disappointment. Mr Bannister really wasn’t the man you wanted to start your weekend with. He was enough to rain on anybody’s parade, as her gran would have said.

  The hen that she’d not-so-originally nicknamed Squeak darted forward and tried to wrestle a long worm from Bubble’s beak. They looked like lovers sharing a strand of spaghetti. Bubble flapped with indignation, and Squeak, well squeaked before bustling off in a huff to scratch under the apple tree. She kept cocking her head to one side though, keeping a beady eye on the other hen. Just in case.

  Lucy smiled to herself. Who’d have thought she, Lucy Jacobs, would become an expert on poultry? Well maybe not an expert, but her life had changed beyond recognition in the last twelve months. She’d swapped the hustle and bustle of a city centre school, nestled next to the M6 motorway, for a tiny primary school overlooking a village green, and somehow found time to look after a pig, goose, chickens, cat and fat, naughty pony.

  Taking on a teaching position in the village of Langtry Meadows had, it was fair to say, changed her life. Renting Annie’s cute home, with its overflowing cottage garden and menagerie of animals had, at first, seemed a step too far from her clean and tidy semi-detached house – the only reminder of her old life she’d hung on to.

  She’d rented her home out, fully intending to go back there one day – after her cover position at Langtry Meadows Primary School came to an end. But she’d accepted a permanent position now, and whilst the rent was handy she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever go back there.

  And one day, in the not too distant future, Annie would return from her travels, which could leave her in a bit of a mess if she wasn’t careful. She really did need a plan.

  The city would seem so large, impersonal now. Although she knew that was partly what had originally drawn her there. But living in Langtry Meadows had changed her, she’d realised that this close community of caring people was what she wanted in her life. Not anonymity. And she also wanted a rather gorgeous vet called Charlie sharing her breakfast table, which was part of the problem …

  She hoped her sigh hadn’t travelled down the phone, and decided she better say something just in case he had heard, and thought she wasn’t interested.

  ‘Well, no. I mean yes, I …’ If she did this, if she bought the house that Mr Bannister had told her had just come up for sale in the village, and she sold her house, she was saying goodbye to her old life. She didn’t need to keep a foot in the past, just in case things didn’t work out, did she?

  No, no, she really
didn’t. After a fabulous summer of getting to know Charlie Davenport, the village vet, she had to admit, she had dreamed up this strange fantasy that when, if, she settled permanently then it would be in a cottage made for two. Not one.

  But his life was far too complicated for that at the moment. He had a child to consider. They had a child to consider. Adorable little Maisie had to be their main priority.

  Lucy knew what it was like growing up with only one parent, thinking that she wasn’t good enough, thinking she wasn’t loved, wasn’t wanted – and she was determined that Maisie would never feel that way. The little girl would know that Charlie, her father, loved her with all his heart. That Lucy wasn’t going to steal him away.

  When Josie, Charlie’s ex, returned from her six month contract abroad, then it would be the right time for her and Charlie to spend more time together, be more involved, maybe, just maybe, settle down in that dream cottage together. But for now, making sure Maisie felt secure, was happy, was what really mattered.

  She felt the small smile creep over her face as she thought about Charlie. They’d agreed at the start of the summer that they’d take things slowly, see how it went and it had gone – she knew her smile had grown – wonderfully.

  But they didn’t know when Josie would be back, didn’t know what would happen when she returned – whether she’d settle locally with Maisie or not. And until they did, it was hard to see what the future held. What if Josie moved away? What if the only way Charlie could see his daughter was to move as well? What if she couldn’t find a new job close to where they went? What if, what if, there were just so many ‘ifs’, which Lucy wasn’t keen on at all. For a girl who liked to have a plan, be organised, the uncertainty was difficult. But she was learning, getting better at taking each day as it came.

  So really, if she was going to be sensible about this, she had to decide what she really wanted. Now. And worry about the future later – after all if she bought a cottage now, she could always sell it.

  She really had never thought the whole question of buying a house would raise its head for months though, years!

  The estate agent’s crisp tone cut into her thoughts. ‘It would be in your interests to move quickly. It does, as I have mentioned, require a fair amount of modernisation, but opportunities like this don’t come up very often. A cottage for sale in Langtry Meadows is a rare occurrence, and I’d have normally already contacted interested parties, but Miss Harrington persuaded me to give you first option. I’d advise you not to dally about too long.’

  Ah. So that explained the unexpected phone call from Bannister & Poole’s Estate Agency. She’d made an offhand comment to the elderly Elsie Harrington about needing to look for a permanent home, and as if by magic a solution had appeared.

  ‘I won’t, dally that is. I’d love to look round.’ It really was an opportunity she couldn’t pass on, she had to at least look. And ‘modernisation’ might mean that it had an outside toilet and a well – which would put it way beyond her humble budget.

  ‘I’ll email the details through, although they are currently just draft ones, they haven’t been approved.’ She could hear him shuffling papers in the background. ‘I can meet you there at 11 a.m. if that suits?’

  ‘Well, I.’ She would really have liked to share the news with Charlie first, see what he thought, but he’d be busy seeing clients. And she did want to stay in Langtry Meadows, whatever the future held for her and the man she’d fallen head over heels for. ‘Today? This morning?’

  ‘We do close at midday, it is Saturday you know.’

  Which meant Charlie couldn’t go with her, but she could check it out first. It could be totally unsuitable anyway. ‘That suits perfectly, and er, thank you, Mr Ba—’ He cut her off mid-sentence, and Lucy slowly took the phone away from her ear and stared back out at the garden, knowing she had a stupid grin on her face.

  Lucy glanced down at her pyjama bottoms, then up at the kitchen clock. This was not how she’d expected her last weekend of freedom to start. The new school term started on Wednesday, and they had an inset day on Tuesday, and she was officially the teacher of Classes 1 and 2. The last few days of the holiday were supposed to be about relaxing, chilling, preparing herself for the chaotic weeks ahead. She hadn’t factored in being woken up by a phone call from a bossy estate agent, and the kind of stomach churning, exciting news that had left her feeling all butterfly stomach-ey and jittery.

  Her brain wasn’t exactly functioning either, which was how she always felt before the first strong coffee of the day. Lucy was not a morning person, she wasn’t really a night owl either. She was guaranteed to be the one that had to be in bed by midnight or she risked falling asleep on the shoulder of the nearest person and no doubt snoring and drooling in a very unattractive way. She was the one the rest of the students had drawn a moustache on when she was at college, as she slept through oblivious.

  Her mobile gave a cheery bleep announcing an incoming message. Coffee. She needed coffee and a chance to wake up properly, then she’d shower and dress, and then she’d read the email that the efficient and officious Mr Bannister had already pinged off from his clean and tidy office, determined to disrupt the peace of her sleepy cottage in Langtry Meadows.

  She’d only got as far as the bottom of the stairs, when a loud honk stopped her in her tracks. A warning honk, not the kind of gentle ‘go away’ noise that Gertie the goose often directed at unwelcome visitors. This had more urgency. And volume.

  Rushing to the front door, Lucy threw it open, expecting some kind of carnage.

  Gertie was having a fit. The type she normally reserved for straying men – as in they’d strayed on to her property and nothing to do with their morals. Well, to be more precise the goose was flapping her big white wings like some avenging angel and dipping her head backwards and forwards towards a mysterious object just inside the garden gate. Gertie didn’t like mysterious objects. She didn’t like most things, to be honest. And Lucy didn’t know if that was a ‘goose’ thing, or just a Gertie thing.

  Lucy folded her arms, relieved that it was nothing more serious. ‘What have you got?’

  Gertie glared back accusingly.

  Lucy was used to parcels being left just inside the gate. Her regular postman knew all about how to deal with Gertie, but most strangers took one look at the bird as she hurtled round the corner of the cottage in response to the click of the gate catch, and scarpered. She couldn’t blame them.

  ‘Okay, I’m coming.’ She slipped her feet into the pink wellingtons that were in the porch. The wellies were her secret defence – with them on Gertie was putty (well not exactly putty, but no longer quite as lethal) in her hands. Gertie loved the boots; they were, as Annie had told her, the first thing she had seen and she thought they were her mother. She would happily follow them anywhere.

  The parcel moved. Rocked. Gertie gave it a prod. It made a strange, wheezy noise and the goose drew herself up to her full height, gave a loud honk, then turned on her heel and marched off in search of something more interesting.

  Frowning, Lucy lifted a corner flap cautiously. It sounded like there was something alive in there, and for all she knew it could be a box of snakes. Or worse. Rats.

  Two eyes stared up at her out of the dark shadows of the box. One chocolate brown, the other the clearest blue she’d ever seen, spring water in a crystal clear stream.

  Quiet trusting eyes.

  She stooped down and opened the flaps of the box wider. It was a puppy, the blinking of its eyes the only movement as it gazed up at her. Over one eye was a patch of black, but most of its coat was the softest grey, splashed with black as though a careless artist had tired of finishing the painting, its paws and chest a damp, stained white with a smudge of tea-stains.

  The puppy shivered and its chin sank down onto its paws as though it was exhausted.

  ‘Hang on.’ It didn’t respond. Not even the slightest wag of its fluffy tail, which sent a shiver of alarm through Lucy. Her ins
tinctive response would have been to reach in and cuddle the poor animal, but something told her not to. It was poorly, very poorly.

  She reluctantly closed the flaps of the box back down as gently as she could and ran back inside, grabbing her mobile phone as she dashed up the narrow stairs. She couldn’t ring Charlie to discuss something like a house for sale, but this was altogether different. ‘Charlie?’

  ‘Morning, gorgeous, you’re up early for a non-school day!’

  ‘I know you’re not open yet, but …’

  ‘Are you okay?’ His voice lost some of its cheery tone as he picked up the worry that tinged her words.

  ‘Somebody’s dumped a puppy in the garden. It’s in a box, but it looks really sick, it’s just lying there and shivering, and it’s …’

  ‘How sick?’ The cheeky edge had gone altogether now, replaced with professional concern in an instant, and she could imagine his frown, the narrowing of his eyes as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  ‘It looks like it’s been sick in the box, all its chest is damp and stained,’ she put the phone on speakerphone and dropped it on the bed, rifling through the drawer for clean underwear, ‘and it looks so thin and pathetic. I know I’m no expert, but it hardly even moved when I opened the box up, puppies just aren’t supposed to behave like that, are they?’

  ‘Bring it straight down, Luce.’

  ‘I’m just getting clothes on,’ she was breathless as she yanked her jeans up, fumbling with the zip with one hand, ‘I’ll be there in five minutes.’

  Vet Charlie Davenport headed out of the surgery as soon as he spotted Lucy. He got the same familiar rush of pleasure he always did when he saw her. Along with the desire to take her in his arms and kiss her. Which would be very unprofessional.