Page 118 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

What must he think of her?

She had tried texting him, but the texts were unread. He had switched off his phone. He would probably never talk to her again, such was the level of trust that she had just broken.

She felt utterly miserable and didn’t know what to do.

Thankfully, the day was spent rushing around finishing tidying up after the album launch and she barely had any time to think. Because if she stopped and thought about how much she had hurt him, she would fall apart.

She didn’t even realise it was late until the lights were being switched on inside the Hall and she noticed that it was dark outside.

‘Annie has had a healthy, bouncing baby boy of seven-and-a-half pounds,’ announced Skye, rushing into the drawing room.

‘How lovely,’ said Lily. ‘Are they both OK?’

‘Absolutely fine,’ said Skye, beaming.

Rose rushed into the room after her. ‘They’re calling him Edward after his late grandfather,’ she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

‘Such a lovely idea,’ said Skye, looking a little teary.

‘Little Eddie is an absolute beauty,’ said Rose, showing everyone the photographs on her phone. ‘We’re all heading up to the maternity unit in a while. Are you coming?’

Lily shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I’ll leave it just to the family for now. There’s still some tidying up to do now that the band and Alex have left.’

The family began to gather in the entrance hall, all chatting excitedly to each other.

‘Where’s Arthur?’ asked Rose, impatiently.

‘I was just taking a very important phone call,’ said Arthur, appearing from the west wing.

‘What’s more important than your great-grandson?’ asked Rose, crossly.

‘Nothing,’ said Arthur. ‘Although Willow Tree Hall comes a close second, of course.’

‘What are you talking about?’ asked Skye.

‘That plate that Jack found in the orchard,’ began Arthur. ‘They think it’s fourth-century. Roman.’

‘In our apple orchard?’ said Rose, in amazement. ‘What on earth was it doing there?’

‘They’re going to send a few chaps out tomorrow to have a sniff around,’ said Arthur, wrapping his scarf around his neck. ‘They think that it’s highly likely that there may be more Roman artefacts in the ground around here.’

‘I don’t believe it!’ said Will.

‘Of course, this means that some kind of covenant will probably be placed on the land if it’s a historical find,’ carried on Arthur, smiling to himself.

‘What does that mean?’ asked Skye.

‘It means that grubby Eric Thatcher can’t get his hands on our land!’ said Rose, triumphantly. She stepped forward to give her brother a hug. ‘Oh, what a day!’

Skye and Will were also hugging each other and looking emotional.

‘I wish Jack were here so that we could thank him,’ said Rose, wiping away a tear. ‘Where did he get to today?’

‘Said he needed a day at home,’ Will told her. ‘Come on. We’d better head to the hospital.’

‘If you see Jack, tell him we owe him a huge drink,’ called out Rose.

‘And our grateful thanks for saving us,’ added Arthur, as they went out of the front door.