Christmas on Lily Pond Lane: A fabulously festive, heartwarming romance (a standalone in the Lily Pond Lane series) Read online

  Christmas

  on

  Lily Pond Lane

  Emily Harvale

  Copyright

  Copyright © Emily Harvale 2018

  All rights reserved

  Emily Harvale has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organisations, businesses, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Published by Crescent Gate Publishing

  E-edition published worldwide 2018

  ISBN 978-1-909917-37-8

  Cover design © JR and Emily Harvale

  Edited by Christina Harkness

  For Mattie. And for all the brave and courageous women in this world.

  Table of contents

  Title

  Dedication

  Also by

  A note from Emily

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Acknowledgements

  Contact

  Coming Soon

  Also by Emily Harvale

  Highland Fling

  Lizzie Marshall's Wedding

  The Golf Widows' Club

  Sailing Solo

  Carole Singer's Christmas

  Christmas Wishes

  A Slippery Slope

  The Perfect Christmas Plan

  Be Mine

  It Takes Two

  The Goldebury Bay series:

  Ninety Days of Summer – book 1

  Ninety Steps to Summerhill – book 2

  Ninety Days to Christmas – book 3

  The Hideaway Down series:

  A Christmas Hideaway – book 1

  Catch A Falling Star – book 2

  Walking on Sunshine – book 3

  Dancing in the Rain – book 4

  Hall's Cross series

  Deck the Halls – book 1

  The Starlight Ball – book 2

  Michaelmas Bay series

  Christmas Secrets in Snowflake Cove – book 1

  Blame it on the Moonlight – book 2

  Lily Pond Lane series

  The Cottage on Lily Pond Lane – four-part serial

  Part One – New beginnings

  Part Two – Summer secrets

  Part Three – Autumn leaves

  Part Four – Trick or treat

  Christmas on Lily Pond Lane – standalone novel

  Chapter One

  'No, Jet. Not there. To the left a bit. Up a fraction. Yes. That's it.' Mia Ward brushed a wayward lock of golden-brown hair from her cheek, smiled up at her boyfriend and sighed contentedly. 'That's perfect. Now make sure it doesn't fall off.'

  Jet Cross raised an eyebrow, shook his head and grinned. 'You could do it yourself, you know.'

  Mia grinned back as she tucked her scarf, decorated with snowmen, beneath the upturned collar of her cashmere coat. 'No thanks. You and Gill are doing a good job. What do you think, Ella?'

  Mia's best friend, Ella Swann walked towards her across the crisp, frost-covered front lawn. She was carrying a tray with four mugs of coffee, and four iced cinnamon swirls that Mia had bought earlier from Lake's Bakes, which was just across the village green, on the other side of the pond.

  Ella glanced up at the roof of Sunbeam Cottage and grinned mischievously. 'Are you sure the roof is strong enough to hold that lot?'

  Mia tutted. 'That's exactly what Jet and Gill said when I sent them up there. But you were the one who wanted the four reindeer. I would've been happy with just the snowman and the coloured lights.'

  'Is that coffee?' Ella's boyfriend Guillaume asked. 'Does that mean we can come down? It's freezing up here.'

  'Hold on for one more second, Gill.' Mia stepped farther back to get a better view.

  Jet and Gill were balanced precariously on the thatched roof, where they'd been for the last hour, fixing coloured fairy lights around the roof soffits and placing four large reindeer made from interwoven twigs by a local craftsman, and an even larger, plastic snowman, into the perfect positions. Mia had changed her mind several times on what the perfect positions were.

  'I'm not sure we've got enough decorations,' Ella said, laughing. 'We want to make sure we're got the most decorated cottage in Little Pondale. Stay there while we find some more.'

  'In your dreams,' Jet replied. 'We're coming down. Okay?' He glanced at Mia and she nodded.

  'Yeah. You can come down. I'm happy.'

  She was happy. Exceedingly happy. She'd been so since Halloween, the night Jet Cross had told her he loved her. The night they'd slept together for the very first time. The night she knew that, barring falling foul of the curse of Frog's Hollow, or any other unforeseen accidents, she would be ecstatically happy for the rest of her life.

  She still couldn't believe it. So much had happened this year and it seemed incredible that she had only lived in the tiny, seaside village of Little Pondale since May, when she, Ella and Ella's twin brother, Garrick had moved into Sunbeam Cottage; the cottage she'd inherited from her – at the time unknown – great-aunt. Garrick had long since left, having returned to Scotland to be with his previous girlfriend and mother to be, Fiona. It was only after Mia had found happiness with Jet that she could bring herself to think of Garrick without a twinge of sadness. And she definitely had found happiness with Jet. Happiness and joy beyond her wildest dreams. Which was exactly what the fortune-teller at the Summer Fête had predicted. Virtually everything that woman had foretold had come to pass. Justin Lake, the former owner of the bakery had become an instant success in Hollywood in spite of the fact that his film wasn't even out yet. Ella and Gill were now quite clearly head over heels about each other, and Lori, Mia's mum, was happily living with her hunky Texan, Franklin in a cottage on Little Pond Farm.

  The months Mia and Ella had spent in Little Pondale hadn't all been happy: Garrick leaving. The threats Mia had received. The lies and the betrayals. The attempts on Jet's life. Even now, the former vicar, Tom Tyburn was awaiting trial
for that, and also for embezzling church funds, while his girlfriend, Alexia Bywater had already been tried for obstruction and assaulting a police officer. She was given one month's imprisonment and a £2,000 fine and would be released within the next few days, but no one expected her to re-join her family in the village pub, The Frog and Lily. Her brother Toby had mentioned to Mia and Jet that his parents were thinking of spending the holidays with a relative in Spain because his mum was desperate to be reunited with her daughter, despite the awful things Alexia had said and done, and Alexia had made it clear she wanted to get away from England for a time.

  Yes, quite a lot had happened since Mia had moved to Little Pondale. Not only had she inherited Sunbeam Cottage, she'd also inherited her great-aunt's entire estate. The solicitor was still tying up loose ends and finalising matters, but he had confirmed that Corner Cottage, the blue-painted, thatched cottage at the beginning of Lily Pond Lane, also belonged to Mia. She'd offered it to her mum and Franklin, but Lori had said they were happy where they were. Ella and Gill had said the same.

  'Why not rent it out for Christmas?' Ella suggested as soon as it officially became Mia's in early December. 'It's a shame to leave it empty but I think it's a bit too soon for me and Gill to actually move in together. At least living here, we have separate rooms, even if we do only use mine. Besides, if Gill moved out, you'd have no one to cook for you.'

  'That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of that.' Mia had never really learnt to cook. Nor had Ella, come to that. It wasn't something either of them particularly enjoyed. Mia still couldn't see what was so wrong about eating pizza, or ding dinners (microwaveable ready meals) each night. For some reason, Gill considered the microwave to be an instrument of evil, and the only pizza he would eat was one he'd made from scratch.

  After discussing with Jet what she should do about Corner Cottage, Mia decided to take Ella's suggestion and rent it out. Fred Turner, who had recently married Hettie Burnstall, Mia's elderly friend and cleaning lady, was a whizz with technology, despite the fact he was in his early eighties. He'd put together a website to advertise the cottage and within two days, enquiries and phone calls had come flooding in. Several people had been put off when they were told that, yes, it was correct that mobile phone reception was non-existent in the village – unless you climbed the three hundred steps in the church steeple, or went to the very top of Frog Hill. A few more balked at the prospect of staying in a village with only one pub and no shops except a small bakery, and Little Pond Farm, which sold fresh milk, freshly laid eggs, and handmade butter and cheese. One or two were astonished that the cottage had no TV. Why these people bothered to phone Mia's landline, or send her emails to check these things when it was made clear on the website, was beyond her. But one person said they'd called to check because “in this day and age, it was incomprehensible that a rental property should be so lacking in basic necessities”. That made Mia laugh, but she remembered how shocked she and Ella had been when they'd discovered that Sunbeam Cottage had no TV. Grace Tyburn, the former owner of Corner Cottage had clearly felt the same about TV as had Mia's great-aunt, Mattie. But then Grace had lost a fortune on online gambling. Broadband was one thing nearly every cottage had, and since fibre optic had recently been installed, one or two had very fast connections. Not Corner Cottage though and not Sunbeam Cottage either. Mia had meant to get it upgraded, but she hadn't got around to it. Despite all the apparent 'issues' with Corner Cottage, someone had finally said that it was perfect. Exactly what they were looking for. And they would be arriving this week.

  Mia took a mug of coffee and a cinnamon swirl from Ella's tray and offered them to Jet the moment he stepped off the ladder onto the frost-covered ground. Instead of taking them, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. She almost spilt the coffee but she managed to keep the mug fairly level as she savoured his kiss. Until he pressed a cold hand against her cheek.

  'God, Jet! Your hand's freezing. And now you've made me spill your coffee.'

  He gave her a cheeky grin and grabbed another mug from the tray Ella held towards him and Gill.

  'Your coffee,' Jet said, winking at Mia. 'I'm having this one. I just wanted you to know how cold it was up there. But because I love you, I'd brave arctic conditions to make you happy.'

  Ella laughed and rolled her eyes. 'Does he think that scores him extra Brownie points?'

  'It does,' Mia said, smilingly lovingly at Jet before taking a bite of the cinnamon swirl. 'Wow. This is delicious. I know we all thought we'd miss Justin's buns when he left, but I'm beginning to think it was a good thing he went. Jenny's buns are even better.' Jenny Lake was Justin's cousin and she had renamed the bakery, Lake's Bakes when she'd taken over in November.

  'I know it was a good thing,' Gill said, kissing Ella as he took his coffee and cake. 'If he hadn't, Ella might still be with him instead of going out with me.'

  'Aww.' Ella grinned and tossed the now empty tray on the white-tipped grass. 'Isn't this sweet? We're all loved up and getting ready to spend our first Christmas together.'

  'I can't believe it's only just over one week away,' Mia said. 'I think we should put some decorations up at Corner Cottage later today. Not quite as many as we've got here. Just some lights and stuff.'

  She glanced up at the reindeers and snowman on the roof and then down to the row of colourful fairy lights; down farther to the holly wreath on the front door and the row of light-up, red and white striped candy canes running along the length of the path. The inflatable snowman stood proud on the front lawn to her left as did the gorgeous Norway Spruce tree to her right, decorated with frost-proof lights and baubles. It was possible that she and Ella had gone a tad overboard. But hey. They both loved Christmas and they were happy. That was reason enough to go a bit OTT.

  'So you want me and Gill to clamber over another roof?' Jet asked, giving her a rather sexy, sideways glance. 'That's going to cost you.'

  'I'll happily pay any price.' She winked at him and returned his suggestive grin. 'I only want a few lights on the roof. And possibly some of these light-up candy canes. I'd like it to look festive when the Hardmans arrive but perhaps not quite as festive as this.'

  'And a snowman,' Ella said. 'You've got to give them a snowman. Kids love snowmen.' She gave Mia a questioning look. 'Did you say Hardmans?'

  'Kids?' Mia said at the same time. 'I didn't know they were bringing kids. They told me it was four adults. Two adult brothers and their parents.'

  Ella shook her head. 'No. It's two single mums, each with one young kid. And I'm sure neither of them was called Hardman.'

  'No. I spoke to one of the brothers myself. He sounded about our age or possibly a bit older and he said he wanted the cottage from Friday the 21st of December until Wednesday the 2nd of January for him, his younger brother and their parents. He told me that he and his brother would only be here from the 21st until Boxing Day but his parents would be here for the whole time. It's their Ruby Wedding anniversary and they actually met in this village over forty years ago.'

  Ella shook her head again. 'Absolutely not. I spoke to someone called Cathy. She's booked the cottage for two weeks from this coming Wednesday, the 19th until Wednesday the 2nd, for her and her friend Christy. She said they each have a child and they want to give them an old-fashioned Christmas.'

  'But the Hardmans have already booked it.' Mia shot an anxious look from Ella to Jet and back again.

  'But so has Cathy whatshername. I told you about it last week. You never mentioned the Hardmans then.' Ella looked equally anxious. 'At least, I think I told you. I definitely wrote it on the pad beside the living room phone. I remember Gill and I were dashing out to the pub when the phone rang and you were at Jet's. I'm sure I told you the following day. Didn't I?'

  Mia sighed and shook her head. 'No, Ella. You didn't.'

  'Damn. I meant to.'

  'You've got to stop writing things on that notepad and not telling me.'

  'It's not my fault. If you made sure you
looked at it every day, I wouldn't have to remember to tell you. We need to sort out some kind of system. Perhaps we should get one of those cork board things and hang it in the kitchen, near the kettle, and pin messages to it. That way we would both see it.'

  'That's a good idea. But not a cork board. I don't like those things. Perhaps we could get one of those pretty blackboards I showed you in one of those online shops the other day. But how could I be sure you'd actually remember to write the message on it?'

  'Excuse me,' Jet said, shaking his head. 'I think you've got something more important than a message board to sort out. It seems to me that you've got eight people arriving this week and they're all expecting to spend Christmas in Corner Cottage, which, if I remember correctly, only has four bedrooms. And even if it had more, I'm not sure either party would want to spend their holiday with another set of complete strangers.'

  Mia blinked several times and stared from Jet to Ella, her mouth falling open as she did so.

  'Oh. My. God. Jet's right! You're going to have to call your lot back and tell them there's been an error and they'll have to look for somewhere else.'

  'Somewhere else? The woman told me she'd spent days on the internet looking for somewhere and everything she'd tried was booked. I can't tell her, her friend and their young kids that they'll have to spend Christmas at home. It'll break her heart. You didn't hear how excited she was. She would've gone on and on for hours if I hadn't told her I had to deal with an emergency.'

  'What emergency?' Gill asked, furrowing his brows. 'I don't recall any emergencies last week.'

  'I needed a glass of wine and we'd run out, remember?'

  Mia tutted. 'Well, I can't tell the Hardmans. I told you. It's the parents' Ruby Wedding anniversary and they met here, in this village. Going somewhere else would ruin the whole thing for them.'

  'Not as much as sharing a bathroom with someone you've never met,' Jet said, his mouth twitching at the corner.