Page 69 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

Bert grunted. ‘There’s about to be a lot of shouting.’

Jack grimaced. He remembered Lily’s mother’s disdain from many years ago when he had appeared to take her daughter to the prom. He immediately braced himself for the worst as she reached them.

But to his surprise, she was almost calm.

‘Are you alright?’ she said, checking her father-in-law over with her eyes. ‘How’s your heart? Is the smoke inhalation bad?’

‘You know about the fire?’ asked Bert.

‘Of course I know about the fire!’ snapped Lily’s mother, briefly flaring into anger. ‘The whole village knows! Mavis Cartwright phoned me half an hour ago to inform me that you have both been saved from a serious fire! Where’s my daughter?’

‘She’s fine,’ Jack told her, pointing nearby. ‘Although a little drunk. She’s over there.’

‘What on earth happened?’ asked Lily’s mum.

Jack locked eyes with Bert before making to walk away and check on Lily. He thought this conversation was better off without his input.

But Lily’s mother grabbed Jack’s arm as he went to leave. ‘Well?’ she asked. ‘What have you done to my family this time?’

Jack wanted to walk away but didn’t want to shake off her firm grip on his arm.

‘That’s enough!’ snapped Bert, finally coming to life.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ muttered Jack, thinking that it was probably best that he just get out of there and leave the family to it. He was used to getting the blame for everything from the old days of living in the village. This would be no different.

But he still didn’t want to shrug off her hand on his arm.

‘It’s not his fault.’

They turned to look at Bert, who took a deep but shaky breath. ‘It’s my fault. There was something in the shed that oughtn’t to have been there.’

‘Poison?’ gasped Lily’s mother, letting go of Jack’s arm to clutch her chest. ‘Drugs?’

Bert rolled his eyes. ‘None of that. Just a homemade brew.’

Celia looked confused. ‘A what?’

‘Moonshine,’ Bert told her, after a beat.

‘Moonshine! Homemade! By whom?’ Her mother glared at Jack once more.

‘Made by me,’ said Bert. ‘Arthur and I were experimenting.’

Her mother crossed herself. ‘Dear lord! And what about the fire? Were you going to burn down Willow Tree Hall as well?’

‘That was an accident!’ said Bert.

‘Caused by illegal alcohol!’ Celia was about to carry on ranting when Lily wandered up to them.

‘Hello, Mummy,’ she said, with a drunken smile.

‘Darling!’ said her mother, giving her a hug before checking her over. She smoothed down her daughter’s hair before rubbing some soot from her cheek. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Jus’ lovely,’ mumbled Lily, still quite drunk.

Celia drew in a long breath. ‘She’s very pale.’

‘It was pretty strong stuff, but the paramedic said she’ll be fine once she’s slept it off,’ Jack told her. ‘Although she’s likely to have one hell of a headache in the morning.’