Summer at the Star and Sixpence by Holly Hepburn Read Free Book Online

what she’d say to him anyway. The walk back from the woods had been pleasant enough and he’d kissed her on the cheek when
they’d parted, but she’d seen a guarded look in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. After Kathryn’s revelation about Eliza, Nessie didn’t know what to think. But
it was easier to keep her distance than to face the certainty that their relationship might be over before it had really even begun.
    Sam seemed just as preoccupied. Nessie had found her staring out of the narrow attic windows several times, a distant expression on her face. It was so out of character that Nessie had asked if
she was having problems with Joss.
    ‘It’s nothing like that,’ Sam had replied. ‘I’m just worried about the wedding.’
    And Nessie had let it go. She knew from experience that Sam only shared what she wanted to share. But she found it was adding to her own sense of disquiet. She tried to shake it off but it
stuck, so much so that Ruby commented when she called into the Star and Sixpence on Monday afternoon.
    ‘Is everything all right, Nessie?’ the older woman asked a few minutes into their conversation.
    ‘Fine,’ Nessie said, knowing her voice was too bright. ‘I think Sam and I will be glad once JoJo’s wedding is out of the way.’ Ruby raised an immaculate eyebrow,
causing Nessie to replay the last sentence in her head. ‘Not out of the way. Underway.’
    Ruby nodded. ‘You do mean out of the way and who can blame you? It’s not every day you have a friend’s wedding to cater for, and an important friend at that.’ She let out
a contented sigh. ‘I do love a summer wedding, though, especially when the whole village joins in. I can’t remember the last time we had one. Of course, Andrew and I planned a big
celebration for ours but it wasn’t to be, sadly.’
    Nessie blinked. Ruby and her father had been
engaged
? That was news to her. Once again she was reminded that the Andrew Chapman who ran the Star and Sixpence was not the same man she
knew. ‘He proposed?’ she said, trying to keep the surprise from her voice.
    ‘Not in so many words,’ Ruby said, waving a dismissive hand. ‘But we had an understanding, darling. I suppose you might call it a pact. One day we’d stand before God and
forsake all others to make a fresh start. In your father’s case it meant giving up the booze, which is probably why we never quite made it down the aisle.’
    It was hard for Nessie to imagine her father sober. She couldn’t picture him without a glass in his hand, could only recall him drunk and the arguments it had caused. She remembered her
mother weeping late at night too, when she thought her daughters were fast asleep. Her memories of those years were ingrained with the scent of whiskey and tobacco and the salty taste of tears.
    ‘I think you would have liked him better in your adult years,’ Ruby went on. ‘Or maybe
liked
is the wrong word – you might have
understood
him better, been
able to see past the booze to what lay underneath. He was a good man who tried his best to do the right thing.’
    Tell that to the wife he abandoned, Nessie thought, but she didn’t say it. ‘Maybe I would.’
    Ruby gave a small smile. ‘He dreamed of seeing you and Sam again, of making up for all those lost years. He’d cut down a lot on the drinking but he didn’t want to get in touch
with you until he was completely sober. He didn’t want to let you down again.’
    ‘Do you think he’d have managed it?’ Nessie asked, swallowing to dislodge the sudden lump Ruby’s last sentence had caused. ‘Stopped drinking, I mean.’
    Ruby gave an elegant shrug. ‘I like to think he would. I had a dress all picked out, ready for the day he made an honest woman of me. Then he went and died on me and now we’ll never
know.’
    Nessie wanted to hug her. Whatever she thought about her father, it was clear Ruby had adored him. ‘It’s just a piece of paper. I’m sure he loved you just