Zac took her ankles in his hands and pretended to canter into the house, making Melody squeal with excitement. He went into the hall and almost collided into his mother as she came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of nibbles.
‘For pity’s sake, Zac,’ she shouted, swerving to stop from banging into him. ‘Why can’t you act your age occasionally?’
‘Sorry, Mum,’ he said, pulling a face and pressing his lips together to stop from laughing.
‘Sorry, Lindy,’ Melody said, trying to climb down.
Zac let go of her legs and saw she was blushing. ‘Don’t worry. Mum wasn’t really cross.’
‘No,’ Lindy said from down the hallway. ‘But I would have been if this lot had crashed to the floor.’ She turned to them. ‘While you’re there, you can fetch the rest of them and bring them outside. Everyone is starving.’
As they passed the living room Zac heard voices. Unable to hear what was being said but seeing a serious expression on his father’s face, he stepped into the room to check his father was all right.
‘Everything OK, Dad?’ The words were just out of his mouth when he noticed Brodie standing behind one of the chairs looking awkward. When his father didn’t immediately reply, Zac turned his attention to his friend. ‘Brodie? Anything the matter?’
Brodie shook his head at the same time Gareth said, ‘All fine in here, thanks. If you’ll give us a moment, Zac, then we’ll join the rest of you outside.’
Confused, Zac did as he was asked, leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
‘I wonder what that was about?’ Melody said quietly.
Zac shrugged. ‘No idea. Come on, let’s get those trays for Mum.’
They went into the kitchen and each picked up two trays. Studying the blinis with smoked salmon, others with cream cheese and another tray of rolled pieces of Parma ham, slices of melon and strawberries, Zac breathed in the smell of the delicious food he couldn’t wait to eat. ‘These smell as good as they look.’
‘As do these,’ Melody said, holding her two trays in front of him so he could see the array of cheeses, meats and crackers. ‘Let’s get a move on.’
He wondered what had been going on between his father and Brodie. Maybe it was something to do with one of the animals and his father was simply asking for Brodie’s advice. He had no idea but hoped there wasn’t anything for him to worry about.
As soon as they stepped outside, Lettie hurried over and took a tray from each of them. ‘Thank heavens – I thought you’d never get here,’ she teased. ‘Get yourselves drinks and take a seat,’ she said. ‘You must both be exhausted and I want to thank everyone for all you’ve done during the run-up and over the past two days.’
Zac took the other tray from Melody. ‘Go and sit down – that blister must be smarting badly.’
‘It is a bit.’ She went to sit at one of the tables where there were two seats left.
‘Shall I get your usual?’ he asked, liking that he knew what her usual was.
‘Please.’
A few minutes later with a bottle of lager in one hand and a glass of white wine spritzer for Melody, Zac went to sit down next to her. ‘There you go.’ He took a sip from his bottle. ‘I hopemy sister doesn’t speak to us for too long. I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until I smelt that food.’
His mother placed one of the trays of blinis in front of him and Melody. ‘There you go,’ she said, her eyes twinkling in amusement. ‘Try not to eat them all.’
When his mother had gone, he turned to Melody and keeping his voice low whispered, ‘She’s always had amazing hearing. It’s scary sometimes.’
Melody laughed. ‘Stop being dramatic.’
‘There’s nothing dramatic about it. She heard what I’d said and I was only speaking to you.’
‘You have a loud voice, Zac.’ Melody grinned. ‘Maybe her hearing is perfectly normal and she just happened to overhear you moaning about being hungry.’
He had to admit that probably was the case. ‘You go first.’ He indicated the food and as soon as Melody had taken one for herself, picked up a blini and popped it into his mouth. ‘Mmm, they really are tasty.’
31
MELODY
After the excitement of the previous two days, Melody felt much better. It was a massive relief that everything had gone to plan, or at least had ended up working out. She thought of Zac and how different he would have been as a husband than Rhys. Not that she knew for certain but having spent more time with Zac and seeing him interact with people of all ages, as well as knowing how he behaved towards her both in front of company and alone, she was already certain that he was a much better man than Rhys could ever hope to be.
