Page 41 of The Twilight Garden

‘Is this what I think it is?’ he asked, looking up into her eyes. ‘Because if it is… this is incredible.’ He balanced the book on a splayed-open palm, and lightly touched the page with his other hand, his fingers pressing the spine gently to flatten the pages even further. ‘This is it. This is what the garden looked like.’ He looked up, his gaze travelling the space in front of them.

She nodded, feeling a smile rise up from her boots. She’d been keeping it contained for a while, but now all her excitement, all her joy came welling up. ‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’ She studied the pages again, taking in every last detail of the garden which had once stood there. The garden that was still there, waiting.

‘You can see it all. Look… There was a fountain, and stone benches in a circle, all the paths lined with box hedging. A little herb garden… It’s just how I imagined it might be.’

Leo was silent for a few moments more, like her, still taking in the wonder of what Gemma had found. There was a look on his face which… Despite the hard work of the day, and the awful events which preceded it, he looked happy, she realised. At peace.

He smiled, and handed her back the book. ‘Can we do this?’ he asked. ‘Can you do this? Is it even possible to make it like it was? We have so little of what we need. Even less now…’

‘I know.’ She nodded sadly. ‘But we have to hope. It’s not going to happen overnight, but even just uncovering the layout would be something. We can work on it a bit at a time. It isn’t going anywhere.’

‘True.’ Leo nodded, deep in thought. ‘But what about you? I thought you were only planning to stay for a few months.’

Her heart sank, the reality of his words biting hard. In all her excitement she’d almost forgotten that living here was only ever meant to be temporary. Three months had already gone by, and now only three remained.

‘There’s still a lot we can do,’ she replied. ‘I’ll just have to make the most of the time and crack on.’

‘Hmm… provided we have the tools to do so.’

Gemma thought for a moment. ‘I don’t have a huge amount of money,’ she said. ‘But I have enough to replace some of the things which were lost. What do you think?’

Leo was shaking his head. ‘Don’t,’ he said. ‘I’ve made a similar offer in the past, but Rowan wouldn’t hear of it. He’s adamant that self-sufficiency means just that, and not relying on other people for handouts. He was very grateful for the offer but he wouldn’t budge, and I can understand that. This place means the world to him and Willow, but they’re doing things their way and you have to respect that.’

Gemma nodded. There was a question she wasn’t sure she could ask, yet one she was sure she should… ‘Are you going to be all right sleeping in the farmhouse?’ The memory of his earlier words was fresh in her mind.

He nodded. ‘I have a mattress, a thick sleeping bag and a hot-water bottle…’ He swallowed a mouthful of cocoa. ‘I’ll be fine.’

He certainly looked cheerful enough about it.

‘It’s very kind of you, what you’re doing,’ she said.

‘It has been known.’

‘I know,’ she said softly, because she did know. She paused. ‘What you said earlier – about when you first started up your business. Did you really have nowhere to sleep?’

He held her look for a moment and she could see the tussle on his face, the urge to respond with the hurt he had been feeling back then, against his need to be somebody different now.

‘For a while I didn’t, no. I’d used up the goodwill of friends. Sofa surfing sounds like it ought to be no big thing, except it is, when it really comes down to it. Invading someone’s space. Never having any of your own…’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t really think you’d… Well, I didn’t really think.’ The words about what would happen when you left hovered in the air between them.

Leo’s mug stilled a moment, halfway to his lips. ‘Perhaps…’ He glanced at her briefly. ‘Perhaps you already had too much to think about. Understandable. I didn’t blame you. It was as much my choice as yours.’

She thought back to that time, remembering all the things that had been filling her head. There were too many. Horrible things. Unbearable things. But… had it been his choice to leave? Because she really wasn’t sure…

She shifted her position on the crate, aware that something was digging into her. When it didn’t ease, she put down her mug on the ground and reached around to check for the cause, realising as she did so that she still had the screws in her pocket that she’d picked up from the old farmhouse floor. She held them in her palm, staring at them, deep in thought.

‘What have you got there?’ asked Leo.

She looked up, surprised to find him watching her.

‘Just some screws I found on the floor when we were clearing up. From all the shelves, I guess.’

Leo nodded. ‘You have a very odd expression on your face, though,’ he said. ‘Is there something particularly significant about them?’

‘Not really,’ replied Gemma. ‘At least, I don’t think so, just that…’ She trailed off, frowning at the memory of what she had seen earlier. ‘You know how none of us heard the break-in?’ Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘There’s something which struck me as odd. Because the lock on the door hadn’t been forced, which is fair enough, but as Willow said earlier, half of the windows are broken and if not that then rattling in their frames. A good shove would have knocked them out and someone could have got inside that way, so why go to the bother of dealing with the lock?’

‘Quieter, I guess…?’