Page 1 of The Village of Lost and Found

1

‘What on earth were you thinking?’

Lucy Conway glanced around the hospital ward and was not surprised to see the other male patients staring across at them after the shouting they had just heard.

She looked back at Uncle Frank, who was sitting up in bed looking extremely agitated. ‘Could you please stop yelling and take it easy,’ she whispered to him. ‘Otherwise you’re going to have another episode or whatever it was.’

Frank Conway slumped back against the pillows, his face paling once more as his anger faded. ‘I’m fine,’ he told her with a wave of his hand. ‘And it wasn’t an episode. The tests will confirm that. I just tripped over my own feet and I’ll be back home tomorrow hopefully. So it’s nothing for you to worry about.’

‘Great,’ drawled Lucy, rolling her eyes. ‘Maybe we can go out for a ten-mile run later if you’re not too busy.’

He gave a grunt of humour in reply before following her gaze to where his heavily swollen foot was resting on top of the covers, covered in bruises. He had fallen badly earlier that day. ‘It’s only a small bone fracture,’ he said. But his sixty-seven-year-old face was etched with pain.

Lucy glanced at the drip which was attached to his arm and felt a pang of fear. She didn’t know what she’d do if she ever lost Uncle Frank. He was her rock and the only member of the family that seemed to genuinely care about her these days.

Lucy sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything,’ she said, feeling cross with herself that she had upset him when he was already in hospital.

Frank looked at her, his hazel eyes softening. ‘You’re my favourite niece. We talk nearly every day. You tell me everything, so why should today be any different?’

‘Because you’re in hospital today,’ she said, reaching out to take his hand and hold it tightly in hers. ‘By the way, I’m youronlyniece.’

He smiled at her. ‘You’re still my favourite though.’

They were both silent for a moment as Lucy relished the strength she drew from the hand squeezing hers. Her fingers touched the gold band on his third finger. Uncle Frank still wore his wedding ring, five years after losing his beloved wife. The loss of her Aunt Jane still weighed heavily on both of them. What they would have given to have her calming, comforting nature with them that afternoon. Lucy missed her more than ever in that moment.

‘Jamie Watkins,’ murmured Frank, with a small shake of his head.

‘Don’t upset yourself,’ said Lucy with a grimace. ‘He’s not worth it.’

‘He’s awful,’ said Frank, looking dismayed. ‘What were you even doing going out with someone like that?’

Lucy rolled her eyes. ‘Trying and failing to please my parents, as per usual.’ She had spent all of her thirty years attempting to achieve something that might be a kind of accomplishment in her parents’ eyes. Unfortunately being headline news in the tabloids wasn’t quite what they had in mind.

Uncle Frank squeezed her hand again. ‘I guess they were hoping that your days of being in the news were long over.’

‘So was I,’ said Lucy, grabbing the newspaper which had been lying on Uncle Frank’s lap.

Married Media Mogul Jamie and Wild Child Lucy!screamed the lurid headline.Jamie Watkins has been having a steamy affair with ultimate party girl Lucy Conway behind his wife’s back!

Lucy groaned. Ultimate party girl! Since when? It made her sound like a perfect airhead.

Of course, the wild child label was a little closer to the truth. But it had been ten years since she had last been on the London social scene and even then it had been a brief sojourn. She had left that life a long time ago. But now it had all come rushing back once more and she felt sick to her stomach.

The two photographs made her feel even worse. The first photo was of Jamie, his wife and two children posing in some sunny garden somewhere and looking like the perfect family. The other was of Lucy at some party from a decade ago that she didn’t even remember, holding a glass of champagne and grinning for the camera. She looked like some kind of dark-haired bimbo, especially as her top appeared to have been dragged lower and was showing quite a lot of cleavage.

The final insult was that every word of the story was wrong, but, of course, nobody would know that apart from her and Jamie.

She quickly thrust the newspaper out of sight, deciding to swear off men forever. She truly was better off alone.

‘He told me his marriage was over,’ she said, dragging a hand through her long dark hair. ‘And I stupidly believed him.’

She sighed heavily as she thought about Jamie. He owned one of the biggest daily newspapers in the country. Sitting next to him at one of her parents’ dull dinner parties, she had been unexpectedly won over by his smooth charm. They had been dating for three months, during which time he had completely forgotten to mention that he was actually still married and not separated from his wife at all.

Lucy hung her head in shame. She had always hated cheats and now she was one of them, according to the press.

She finally looked up into Uncle Frank’s sympathetic eyes. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve embarrassed you again,’ she told him.

‘You’ve never done that,’ he said softly. ‘Dare I ask how my dear sister-in-law is taking the news?’