Page 45 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘Morning, sweetie!’ she said, giving Lily an exuberant kiss on the cheek. ‘What do you think? I’m in pillar-box red for the occasion. It’s the colour of war, you know!’ Rose was wearing a scarlet skirt suit with many ropes of pearls around her neck. ‘You’ll find the girls in the kitchen, so you go and join them. I’m gathering together the WI for an emergency breakfast meeting. Forewarned is forearmed! The fight starts today!’

She strode off towards a nearby car, which Lily realised Will was driving. He gave her a short wave as he set off down the driveway.

Lily watched the car drive away, thinking that maybe, just maybe, there was a little ray of hope for their village. After all, who could possibly refuse Rose anything?

She carried on into the kitchen and found Annie huddled over a mug of coffee, along with Megan and Eleanor.

‘Hi!’ said Annie, looking up. Her eyes were red and she had obviously been crying.

‘Hey,’ said Megan. ‘Come and join the misery party.’

‘There’s nothing to be miserable about,’ said Eleanor, in a cross tone of voice. ‘It’s never going to happen. You heard what Rose said just now. Nobody’s getting rid of my village.’

But despite her strong words, Eleanor was scratching at her hands in worry.

‘Ourvillage,’ said Megan, leaning across the table to stop Eleanor from scratching her skin.

‘Old habits,’ muttered Eleanor, rubbing at her skin.

‘You’ll make yourself ill,’ Megan told her.

Lily sat down at the table and looked at Annie. ‘How are you this morning?’

‘Hormonal,’ said Annie. ‘What about you? I figured you’d probably gone home to talk to your family.’

Lily nodded grimly. ‘Mum’s keeping calm and carrying on.’

Megan nodded. ‘Quite right. It’s all a load of hot air.’

‘Rose has gone off talking of battles and people of influence,’ said Eleanor, with a grin. ‘I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of an angry bunch of WI women.’

‘What are they going to do?’ muttered Megan. ‘Disarm them with a Victoria sponge?’

Eleanor shrugged her shoulders. ‘I dunno. Rose thought they might know someone who knew someone who’s on the council.’

‘Well, that’s a start,’ said Lily.

‘In the meantime, I’ve got soaps to make,’ said Eleanor. ‘We’ve got the summer fete this weekend, remember?’

‘At least it’s more or less organised,’ said Annie, blowing out a long sigh. ‘I didn’t realise that it might be the last one here, though.’

‘It won’t be,’ said Megan, looking across to Lily. ‘Tell her, would you?’

‘There’s no point getting ahead of ourselves,’ said Lily. ‘Megan’s right. We’ve got to think positive. Nothing’s set. I’m sure it’ll all be forgotten about.’

Although she was feeling less positive later that morning when faced with a tearful Lauren, who was holding another broken item: this time a vase.

‘They’re going to sack me, aren’t they?’ muttered the teenager. ‘What will my mum say?’

‘No,’ said Lily, taking a deep breath. ‘You’re not going to lose your job over this, but you must be more careful.’

The trouble was that Lauren just wasn’t cut out for dusting cautiously around much-loved antiques. So Lily ended up taking on the task of dusting and let Lauren do the hoovering instead.

But all the additional work meant that Lily was running behind with her long list of things to do for that day, including the bread-making, which she had offered to take on. Later, she stared down at the flat loaf.

‘I don’t understand,’ said Lily, tapping it against the counter. It was almost rock hard.

‘You didn’t let it prove long enough,’ said Lauren, who was mopping the floor nearby.