Page 33 of The Twilight Garden

Gemma glanced from the screen to Leo’s face, her mouth suddenly gaping open. ‘Were built later, on what looks like the original stable block…’ She whipped her head back the way they’d come. ‘So where’s the house from the photos?’ she asked. ‘The huge house with the big portico and staff lined up outside. Where did that go?’

‘I have no idea,’ replied Leo, grinning. ‘But that aside, I think we’re standing in what was once its grounds. Bloody hell, Gemma, I think you’ve found it!’

Gemma took the laptop from his hands, eyes roving the details on the sketched map, followings its lines, its markings. Then she looked up, staring towards the river and then back in the other direction towards the field where she’d slipped over. She quickly clicked back to the open tab showing the photos, scrolling through them in turn until she found the one she was looking for.

‘Oh my God,’ she said, staring at Leo. ‘Look at this. There was a garden here. A beautiful garden…’

12

If it hadn’t been for her ankle, Gemma would have leapt out of bed. As it was, she hopped around her room at speed, flinging on clothes and dragging a hairbrush through her curls. It wasn’t until she reached the hallway outside that she realised it was the first day in a very long while that she was actually looking forward to, instead of wanting to hide herself away from.

Everyone else had still beaten her to the kitchen, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even care that Mulligan was there and would have knocked her over were it not for a sudden loud warning from Leo. Mulligan dropped to a crouch at her feet, escorting her the rest of the way to the table in small leaps and bounds, just like a child might who hadn’t yet worked out that jumping required both feet to leave the floor. He waited until she was seated before squishing his body up against her legs, wiggling slightly with excitement. Her hand found his head. ‘Morning, Mulligan…’

Willow plonked a mug of tea in front of her. ‘I can’t believe you found it,’ she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Rowan was already at the table, cramming toast into his mouth. He waved a hand as he chewed hurriedly and swallowed. ‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘But from what Leo’s showed us it looks like it’s a perfect match for the site.’

‘Oh…’ Gemma’s heart registered a small pang of disappointment. Had they already been out to look? Without her?

‘On paper, that is,’ added Willow quickly. ‘We wouldn’t go and see it until you were up.’

‘Well, in that case…’ Gemma returned Willow’s grin and, picking up her mug, swallowed its contents almost in one go, despite the heat of the liquid inside. ‘Shall we go and look now? Breakfast can wait.’

She got to her feet, looking around for her stick, before realising she’d left it in her room. ‘I’ll just go and get my⁠—’

‘Oh God, this is painful,’ said Leo, groaning. He turned around so that his back was facing her. ‘Get on,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘Get on,’ he repeated. ‘Piggy back. I don’t think I can bear to wait the length of time it’s going to take you to hobble there and back.’

‘Charming,’ muttered Gemma, but she was smiling. Getting on, however, was an entirely different proposition. For one, discounting the time when she’d first hurt her ankle, it had been a very long time since she’d been in such close proximity to Leo’s body, and two, an even longer time since he’d given her a piggy back. The last time must have been when… She stopped and covered her cheeks with her hands. This was madness. Madness, but a necessary evil – she was desperate to go and look at the site in daylight, too.

She placed a tentative hand on his shoulder, shuffling closer. Immediately she felt his hand feeling for the back of her knee. She lifted it slightly higher to accommodate him, and then without warning, he had her tight in his grip, hitching her higher until, with the addition of a small hop, she was being carried, legs wrapped around his waist. It was undignified, embarrassing and alarming all at the same time.

Ignoring looks from both Willow and Rowan, she waved her hand towards the kitchen door. ‘Come on then,’ she said. ‘Oh, and someone bring the laptop.’

The journey to the old farmhouse seemed thankfully very much shorter than it had been the night before, and she was grateful when Leo lowered her gently to the ground. That he’d been carrying a grown woman on his back didn’t seem to register at all as he turned to face her, still grinning.

‘You do the honours,’ he said, indicating the laptop which Willow held in her arms.

‘It wasn’t just my discovery,’ she said. ‘In fact, I’m not sure it was mine at all. You were the one who spotted the similarities between the sketch and our site here.’

‘Which would have been of no use at all if you hadn’t shown me the document about Brenant House in the first place. And that’s after you’d made the connection with the valley, the nant, where you thought the house might be located.’

Willow handed Gemma the laptop. ‘It’s yours,’ she said firmly.

Opening the lid, Gemma waited until the screen came to life and then followed the same explanation which Leo had given her the night before. ‘So… we don’t know where the big house went, but your dilapidated farmhouse is built in the footprint of the original stable block, just like you thought – meaning where I fell over would probably have been parkland. The avenue of trees would have flanked the original driveway. And your kitchen garden, Willow, is right where it would have been all those years ago. Look…’ She showed them the photos which, even in black and white, couldn’t hide its grandeur.

Willow stared back at the space where she had been working day in, day out. ‘I knew it,’ she said. ‘I knew there was something about it. The day I started work on it, I walked round and round the site, do you remember, Rowan? And I kept coming back to that spot. In some ways it wasn’t ideal because it was quite long and thin, but I could see it in my mind’s eye. See how it would look when it was burgeoning with produce…’ She put a hand over her mouth as a sudden wave of emotion hit her. ‘Thank you,’ she said to Gemma. ‘It all makes sense now.’ Willow stared at her in wonder. ‘All those years ago… How many years?’ she asked.

‘Ah… that’s the bit we don’t know yet,’ said Gemma.

Willow dropped her gaze back to the screen. ‘And what’s this?’ she asked, frowning. ‘It looks like…’ She stared at Gemma, open-mouthed.

‘It is,’ replied Gemma. ‘It’s a beautiful garden. The kind which belonged to a stately home. And it was right here, somewhere at the back of where the farmhouse is now.’

Willow looked at Rowan, then at Leo, before finally returning to Gemma, her eyes shining. ‘The very first day you came here, you told me you’d liked gardening once upon a time. And now you’re the one to discover this. Doesn’t that tell you something? When I asked if you wanted to restore the garden, I had no idea what had been here in the past. I know it would be a miracle if anything was left of it now, but if anyone can find it, it’s you. You’ve got to do it, Gemma. I think this garden has been waiting for you.’