Page 65 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

‘Annie!’ he cried, rushing through the back door and across the room before taking her in his arms. ‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m having the baby a month early,’ his wife said, sobbing and holding her stomach. ‘That’s bad, isn’t it?’

‘Is the ambulance on its way?’ asked Sam, looking at Lily with worried eyes.

‘Yes,’ she told him. ‘There’s nothing to worry about.’

But Lily stood by the window anyway, praying and hoping for any sign that the ambulance would come shortly.

‘Maybe the hospital got the dates wrong,’ she heard Sam trying to reassure his wife.

Annie shook her head. ‘I think it was the shock,’ she said, grabbing her phone and thrusting it at her husband. ‘Look at the venue! Look what Lily’s done!’

Lily gulped and hung her head in shame. She should have left it alone. She should have trusted Annie. But she had taken over and made a mess of everything.

Sam quickly scanned the invitation, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise as he read the final few lines.

Then he stuffed her phone into the pocket of his shorts. ‘It doesn’t matter now,’ he told her. ‘All that matters is you and the baby.’

Lily was relieved that the ambulance arrived soon afterwards.

The paramedics quickly checked Annie over. Her blood pressure was low and she was dehydrated, they told her. So it was decided that she should head to the hospital to get checked over.

As they helped Annie into the back of the ambulance, Lily thrust the spare birthing bag at Sam.

‘Here you are,’ she said. ‘Just in case.’

But Sam seemed to be in just as much shock as Annie.

‘Good luck!’ called out Lily as the doors closed.

But nobody replied. She didn’t blame them. She’d hurt Annie and may have even caused her baby to come early.

She had mucked everything up. The maid had left. She had upset everyone. She’d lose her job and then she couldn’t support her family either.

It was a disaster.Shewas a disaster. For all her planning and back-up plans, nothing had gone right.

She couldn’t do anything right. Jack was right. She had turned into a robot, and yet she couldn’t handle any of it.

Feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and wretched, she rushed out of the kitchen and into the grounds at the back of the house.

26

Jack was feeling incredibly guilty about the way he had talked to Lily. She had obviously been very upset.

He had instantly regretted his words about her being cold and unfeeling. Surely that was him, not her? But the change in her during their absent years continued to shock him and, in the end, he had been unable to stop himself from speaking out.

He had watched in dismay as she had rushed out. He was thinking about whether to follow her, when he saw Sam hurtle up the driveway at a mad speed a few minutes later.

Once Jack discovered that Annie was possibly in early labour, he spent the next hour running around gathering up all the family from around the grounds to let them know what was going on. After the Harris family had left to go en masse to the hospital, it was just Jack left behind in the empty house.

He checked in every room but all was silent. It was strange to be in the hall without anyone around. He realised how much life the family brought to the place when they were around. The chatter, the laughter: it was all missing and he didn’t like it.

He also didn’t like the fact that Lily was not inside the Hall either. She was normally so on the ball with what was going on that he started to feel concerned about her.

Feeling worried, he headed through the French doors at the back of the entrance hall and onto the patio. At some point, the sun had begun to sink lower towards the horizon and a cool wind was blowing across the grass.

He looked across the huge grounds before he was able to spot Bert, who was walking up towards the house, his hands full of tomatoes. Perhaps she had gone to find her grandfather, as her car was still parked at the front of the house.