Page 73 of The Twilight Garden

Ashley stared ahead, past Gemma and out towards the avenue of trees where once a grand driveway had led visitors to an even grander house.

‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘Really… thank you.’

Gemma watched as Ashley crossed the yard. She couldn’t imagine how she must be feeling, how scared she must be. But then again, perhaps she could…

‘Ashley?’ she called.

She waited until Ashley had turned back around to face her.

‘Good luck,’ she said. And then she smiled.

30

Moments later, Gemma heard the slow crawl of a car coming along the track. Her head was buzzing, full of noise like water crashing against rocks, filled with everything that Ashley had told her. And she still wasn’t sure how she felt. Gemma had come to Thistledown as a last hope, not expecting anything beyond a place to stay, to grieve, and a place to hide away from the chaos her life had become. And for the first few weeks that’s all it had been, until slowly the farm and the people in it had begun to weave their magic, changing the way she felt, changing her view of the world, changing her future. So if it could happen to her, surely she should understand how it could happen to someone else? She thought that Leo had let her down too, once upon a time, until she realised that there was always more than one point of view to any situation. So couldn’t the same be said for Ashley?

The car had almost reached her and whatever thoughts were yet to be sifted would have to wait. This day was about repairing the damage that Ashley and her family had caused, and there was much still to do.

She blinked rapidly, pasting on a smile to try to brighten her face, but as she watched the car coming into view, she saw that it was not one, but two, the other following close behind. Her smile widened when she saw that the first was a Land Rover, and widened even more when she realised that the driver was not the only person in the vehicle. She was trying to count how many more heads she could see, but it was impossible.

‘Sorry we’re late,’ said the first woman to climb from the car. ‘Had a slight emergency with the husband this morning, but all’s well that ends well. No stitches needed, just a bandage and some painkillers.’

‘Oh…’ Gemma’s face fell. ‘Are you sure you don’t need to be at home?’

The woman stared at her. ‘Definitely not. He’s fine. Got the whole day to himself, sole custody of the TV remote and an array of drinks and snacks to keep him going. He’ll have the most marvellous time. I’m Gilly, by the way,’ she said. ‘We spoke on the phone.’

She thrust out her hand which Gemma took in somewhat of a daze. This was the woman from the gardening club who had given her such short shrift when she’d called. But by the time everyone else had climbed from both vehicles, she was surrounded by nine people.

‘I know you said to bring tools,’ she continued. ‘But we weren’t sure what you needed. We’ve managed to rustle up a fair few, good excuse for a clear-out. I had four spades when I rounded them all up. Not really sure why…’ She shook her head as if totally perplexed by this mystery.

Gemma’s brow wrinkled. ‘Um… sorry, when I said bring tools, I just meant for you to use today. We’ve got some, but we weren’t sure how many people would come so there might not have been enough to go around.’

‘Oh right, bit of a mix-up, well, never mind. I’m sure you can make use of them.’

A short while later the ground was piled with all manner of hardware.

‘Some of them might need oiling, gone a bit rusty in places, but perfectly serviceable all the same.’

‘I don’t know what to say,’ said Gemma. ‘That’s amazing, thank you.’ She looked at the crowd of people gathered around her. ‘I’ll take you down to the garden then, shall I?’ she said. ‘Rowan and Willow are both there and they can run through what we’re aiming to do today, and show you where we need help. Is that okay? And we’ve got refreshments set up in the old farmhouse here, so whenever you’re ready, just pop back. There’s tea, coffee, squash, cakes, sandwiches too.’

‘Very kind.’ Gilly nodded at her fellow club members. ‘Now, we’re all pretty good with veg and—’ She stopped. Three more cars were pulling into the yard. ‘I was about to say we’ll look after ourselves depending on how busy you are, but it looks like you might have need of some extra help. Would it be useful for a few of us to split off from the rest and help anyone who might not have much experience? Don’t want to overstep the mark, but…’

‘Oh, would you? What a brilliant idea.’

‘And then perhaps if you ask folk when they arrive what kind of experience they’ve got, and if they’re fine on their own, great stuff. If not, point them in our direction and we’ll do our best to get everyone on the right track.’

‘I can’t thank you enough,’ said Gemma. ‘I know Rowan and Willow will really appreciate it. And given that you don’t know us from Adam, it’s incredibly generous of you.’

‘Not a bit of it. That’s how you get to know folk, isn’t it? None of us knew each other before we started this club. Well, Mo and I did, but then we’re neighbours. The rest were all perfect strangers.’ She eyed the incoming cars. ‘You’re going to have your hands full for a bit, so why don’t you just point us in the right direction and we’ll make a start.’

Gemma nodded. ‘Just head for the line of trees,’ she said. ‘And you can’t miss it.’

The cars contained a husband and wife who had heard about their plight on the radio, two sisters who were not only keen gardeners but avid bookworms, and had been told about what was going on by Hannah at the library, and two more volunteers from the food bank.

After that came a contingent from the first gardening club Gemma had called, and then Amy from the radio station along with her two children, the youngest of whom was clutching a set of bright red hand tools.

‘I got these for my birthday,’ she revealed, proud as punch.

‘We mostly dig up worms at the moment,’ whispered Amy. ‘But I’m hoping we’ll move on to plants really soon.’