‘I’m beginning to think you don’t want to tell him,’ Sue said.

‘I do. I mean, I don’t because it will be hard but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand that I need to.’

‘It’s taken you all week. It’s one sentence. Haydon, Molly is your daughter. Done. How hard can it be?’

‘Mum!’ Ashley hissed, glancing at the doors to the house as they stood at the far end of the veranda. The morning was bright and fresh and already, despite the early hour, the house was buzzing with activity for the big event, the thing they were all there for – Aunt Violette’s birthday party.

‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Sue said tartly, ‘nobody in there can hear us. There’s too much going on for a start.’

‘And it isn’t as simple as one sentence, is it? There’s the fallout – what comes afterwards.’

‘About sixteen years of child maintenance should come afterwards.’

‘You know what I mean.’

‘Nobody’s pretending it’s going to be easy but that doesn’t change the fact that it needs to be done.’ Sue rubbed her hands on the apron she was wearing. ‘You should have done it when you first clapped eyes on him on the beach. As far as I can tell you’ve had plenty of time so you’re just stalling.’

‘Maybe I am, but it’s not that simple.’

‘You’re too kind, sparing his feelings.’

‘It’s not only his feelings I’m sparing, though. There’s Molly, me… Ella, when it comes to it. It’s far bigger now than either of us.’

‘All this heartache for ten minutes of lust,’ Sue said briskly. ‘I hope it was worth it.’

Ashley swallowed the retort that burned her mouth. It had been so much more than ten minutes of lust and now that she’d had time to get to know Haydon better she could see how much it could have been if they hadn’t been cursed with such shitty luck.

‘If we can get Ella out of the way for an hour I can nip over and see him today.’

‘That’s another thing – all this creeping around his daughter… his other one. She’s going to find out anyway.’

Ashley frowned. ‘Really, Mum? You really want her to find out like that? That’s not like you; you’re much kinder than that.’

‘I’m sick of it is what I am. All this pussyfooting around. She’s had the childhood that Molly should have had.’

‘You’re saying Molly’s childhood wasn’t good? Just because she didn’t have a dad didn’t mean she couldn’t still be happy. I did my best—’

‘I know; that came out wrong. I just mean, they’re both going to find out soon enough so why all this secrecy?’

‘Because I want them both to find out in the right way and only when Haydon and I have had time to discuss it.’

Nanette came out of the house with an armful of tablecloths. She stopped and stared at them and Ashley felt the heat rush to her face, as if she’d been caught doing something she wasn’t meant to be.

‘Is all well?’ she asked, and from the expression on her face it was clear that she didn’t think all was well. Anyone who took more than a second’s notice of Ashley and her mum at this moment could tell that all wasn’t well – not a bit of it.

‘Fine,’ Sue replied with a tight smile. ‘We were just discussing some arrangements for the party later. Is there anything we can do to help you?’

‘Perhaps some assistance with the decorations?’ Nanette replied carefully, glancing from Sue to Ashley and back again as if trying to work out what was going on. Ashley couldn’t blame her for that.

‘Absolutely. No problem. I’ll just be a tick.’

‘There is no rush,’ Nanette said. ‘We have plenty of time. Violette has waited a hundred years for this so I think she will be able to wait a few hours more.’

‘Yes,’ Sue said, though her smile looked as if a gentle shake might crack it. ‘I suppose that’s true.’

‘Nanette…’ Ashley called her back as she made for the garden. ‘I don’t suppose there’s any possibility that Molly could have a guest at the party… the girl who’s staying at the villa across the fields? They get on so well I thought it might be nice for her to have another girl her own age around.’

‘Molly seems happy in Bastien’s company,’ Nanette said doubtfully.

‘Well, yes, she is. But she does like Ella and I think it might be nice for Ella to have some company her own age too.’

‘Will her father come?’

‘I don’t think so – at least I don’t think he’d necessarily expect an invite. And I don’t imagine Ella will be much trouble – we’ll hardly notice her, I bet.’

‘I can ask my aunt if you like.’

‘That would be great. I’d ask her myself but…’

‘That conversation might take a long time,’ Nanette said with a wry smile.

‘Exactly,’ Ashley replied. She glanced at her mum, who simply clamped her mouth shut and looked away. ‘So you’ll let me know what your aunt says and if it’s OK I’ll get a message to Ella’s dad?’

‘Yes, I can do that.’

Nanette left them and Sue turned to Ashley now.

‘Ridiculous,’ she said. ‘All this fuss. Do you know what would be the simplest thing? I go across that field right now and tell him myself.’

‘But you won’t do that,’ Ashley said with a small smile. ‘Because you’re too nice, and if the boot was on the other foot you’d be doing exactly what I am now.’

‘You think so?’

‘I know it.’

‘Perhaps, but even you must be able to see that this has gone on for too long. Tell me honestly – do you have feelings for him?’

‘Yes.’

‘Is that what this is all about?’

‘Perhaps a little.’

‘You think you’ll lose him?’

‘I already lost him once.’

‘If he’s a man who deserves you then he’ll deal with the news like an adult and it shouldn’t be a problem. If he doesn’t then he’s not that man and you shouldn’t be wasting your time on him.’

‘I know all this in my head but my heart is scared.’

‘Does he have feelings for you too?’

‘I think so. He says he does.’

‘So you’ve been able to discuss all this with the kids around but not the other thing?’

‘Mum…’

‘I’m just saying.’

‘And we’re going round in circles. Anyway, we didn’t exactly discuss it with the kids around—’

‘No, you just demonstrated it.’

‘What?’

‘Molly told me they caught you kissing.’

Ashley frowned. ‘We didn’t—’

‘That’s not what Molly says.’

Ashley let out a sigh. It was a huge thing for Molly, she supposed, especially when you considered that this was the first time a man had been introduced into their lives – at least in a romantic capacity – since her last disastrous, three-timing rat of a boyfriend. She probably felt as uncertain about it all as Ashley herself did and it was only natural she’d want to offload on someone. The grandmother she’d always been close to was the perfect candidate. For Ashley, however, it just complicated her problems in ways she didn’t need.

‘If you like him as much as it seems then it’s more important than ever you come clean with him.’

Ashley nodded. ‘Today, as soon as Ella arrives here, I’ll go across and see him.’

---

Cousins, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters and mums and dads all arrived at Violette Dupont’s house throughout the morning and pretty soon Ashley wondered whether the entire population of France was somehow related to her because it felt as if most of them were here. Each new arrival brought gifts carefully wrapped, balloons, streamers, flowers or food. They brought laughter and gossip too, and soon the villa was alive with chatter. Ashley tried to make herself agreeable, though her heart wasn’t entirely in it, and she wished she could shake the feeling of dread that the thought of seeing Haydon later brought with it. She’d been so looking forward to the party of this incredible little lady who’d welcomed her and Molly into her home as if they were her blood relatives and she felt that anything less than a cheery smile would ruin the day – if only the smile didn’t feel as if it needed the surgical placement of a coat hanger to keep it in position.

Relatives jostled for space in the kitchen as they prepared food, bickered with a gentle humour about the state of each other’s attempts at house decoration and argued rather more enthusiastically about which wines they were going to bring up from Violette’s cellar. In between all this Maurice dusted off an old accordion he’d found in an unused reception room behind Violette’s equally unused piano and wandered around the house like a troubadour, amusing and irritating everyone in equal measure and finding it all hilarious as he played not-entirely-in-tune tunes. Sue asked him whether he’d already started drinking and he answered with a mischievous tap to the side of his nose, which just about confirmed that she was right. There wasn’t a lot she could do about this but throw her hands up in the air and declare him impossible, which only made him laugh more.

Towards noon Ashley took a moment to breathe while everyone agreed that, although there was enough food being prepared for the evening to feed Saint-Raphaël in its entirety, they needed to prepare more for lunch in the interim, and realised she hadn’t seen Molly for some time.

‘Do you know where Molly is?’ she asked Maurice.

He shrugged. ‘Perhaps she is with Bastien – I have not seen him for some time either.’

Ashley frowned. She had enough on her plate without having to search for her daughter and possibly break up some ill-advised teenage tryst. Marching out to the veranda, now decked with bunting and lights and tables set with crockery, she scanned the garden for them. Apart from more tables and more chairs almost covering the lawns, there was no sign of life. Then came the sound of giggling from the summer house.

‘Bloody hell,’ she muttered, making a beeline for the source of the sound. Opening the door she discovered Molly and Bastien engaged in what could only be described as snogging. And this was in the most literal, behind-the-bike-sheds way. It was hard to tell where one face ended and the other began, but they leapt apart as they realised they’d been rumbled.

‘There’s a time and a place,’ Ashley said, looking from one to another. ‘And this isn’t it.’

Without another word, she turned and left them both looking – to their credit – suitably shamefaced. Of all the days Molly could have chosen to go full-on hormonal, it had to be this one. It wasn’t that Ashley had any delusions about her daughter and she was quite sure it wasn’t the first time she’d sucked the face off a boy, but it was lucky that another member of the family hadn’t caught them and Ashley just wasn’t in the mood to deal with it. Oh, how she longed for this day to be over, but that seemed like a long way off right now.

Haydon stared at his phone again. The screen was unlocked and his finger poised to type out a message, but then he locked it once more and put it back into his pocket. Nothing from Ashley that morning and after blowing her off last night he wondered whether he’d offended her. Three or four times he’d wanted to text but then decided against it. He hadn’t dated someone for a long time but he couldn’t recall it being this full of endless uncertainties. And yet, he was so desperate for things to work with Ashley that he was almost paralysed with fear, constantly second-guessing each action until he didn’t dare take any action at all.

Ella padded into the kitchen where he sat at the table with a coffee, taking refuge from the mid-morning sun for a while. She dripped at the doorway, a towel pulled around her.

‘I thought you were going to swim in the pool with me.’

‘I am. Just as soon as I finish this coffee.’

‘You said that last time I came in.’

‘Maybe that’s because last time you came in was only about five minutes ago and I can’t drink it that fast.’

‘It’s boring on my own.’

‘You’re missing Molly?’

‘She’s stuck at that party. I wouldn’t miss her if you were swimming with me.’

‘I’ll be out in a minute – promise.’

Ella let out a sigh and turned to leave.

‘You’ve got sun cream on today?’ Haydon asked.

She turned back with a withering look. ‘I’m not five.’

‘No, but yesterday you got burnt,’ he replied with more patience than his churning stomach would suggest. ‘I’m only trying to look out for you.’

‘You can look out for me in the pool outside.’

He paused, and then couldn’t help a grin. ‘Always ready with a smart answer, aren’t you?’ Downing the last of his coffee he pulled out his phone and glanced at it to see there were still no messages. He put it away again and was about to tell Ella that she’d won the battle when they were hailed from the garden.

‘HELLO! Are you at home, Monsieur?’

Haydon exchanged a puzzled look with Ella before going out to the veranda. Ella followed.

‘Good morning,’ Nanette called from the gate. ‘How are you?’

‘We’re good,’ Haydon replied, jogging down the path to meet her. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘Do you have plans for today?’

‘Well, not exactly…’

‘Bon. Then my aunt Violette would like you to come to her party.’

‘Oh… well, that’s very kind of you but—’

‘Molly and Bastien will be there,’ Ella cut in.

Nanette inclined her head. ‘Of course.’ She smiled. ‘It was Ashley’s idea that you should come to spend time with Molly. Naturally my aunt would not hear of your father being left out and so she would like him to come too.’

Haydon considered the invite for a moment. Ashley had instigated Ella’s invite but she hadn’t asked for him to be invited. That could mean one of two things: either she didn’t want to see him, or she did want to see him but alone, with Ella busy elsewhere. Quickly, though uncertainly, he decided that the latter was the case. She’d said she’d figure something out. Was this it?

‘Perhaps you ought to go without me,’ he said to Ella. ‘It sounds as if the invite was really only for you.’

‘No, no,’ Nanette said. ‘The invite is for you too. My aunt would not hear of you spending the evening alone in your house when we are all having fun.’

‘You have to come, Dad, or Aunt Violette will be upset.’ She threw him a sly grin. ‘And Ashley will be there.’

He smiled back. He’d really rather Ashley wasn’t there but somewhere else with him. Nanette raised her eyebrows but she didn’t ask for more information about Ella’s statement and Haydon wasn’t about to volunteer any. So much for Ashley’s plan – if there ever had been a plan. If she’d wanted him to stay away from her it didn’t look as if he’d be able to, and if she’d wanted him to wait at the villa for her it didn’t look as if she was going to get that either. A text would have been helpful so at least he knew what he was working with here.

‘Thank you,’ he said finally, turning to Nanette. ‘It’s very kind of your aunt to invite us and we’d love to come.’

‘Wonderful,’ Nanette said. ‘We will begin at seven.’

Haydon nodded and watched as Nanette let herself out of the gate and walked towards the path that skirted the field. As her figure grew smaller, he turned to Ella with a half-smile.

‘Right then. You’d better get dressed because we’re going to have to go shopping for a birthday gift. Though God only knows what you buy a hundred-year-old woman for her birthday…’

‘Honey,’ Ella said airily as she poked her feet into the flip-flops she’d left at the side of the pool. ‘Molly says she eats loads of it.’

‘Honey?’

‘Yup.’

‘OK…’ Haydon said doubtfully. He didn’t think for a moment that was an appropriate present but he didn’t have any better ideas. ‘I suppose we’d better get down to the market then.’ And, he almost added, but thought better of it, we’d better hope we don’t run into Audrey down there…

Molly didn’t speak to her all through lunch. She glowered across the table at Ashley and barely had two words for anyone else either, apart from Bastien, who sat next to her and whispered in her ear every so often. She was sulking, probably mortified at being caught in a situation she knew was wrong, and Ashley recognised the backlash only too well from her own teenage years – she’d have reacted in just the same way if her own mother had caught her in a summer house in full face-sucking mode with a boy when she was supposed to be helping the adults out.

After lunch Violette took a nap so she’d have plenty of energy to last the evening and the house was quieter in respect of this as the preparation for the party continued.

‘You will come to Paris perhaps?’ One of Bastien’s aunts smoothed a hand over Molly’s hair and smiled as they polished wine glasses together. ‘We would be happy to see you and we have an empty bedroom. You would love it very much, I think.’

Ashley looked across to see Molly give her a dazzling smile. Typically, Molly was being a perfect angel in the company of a woman who was not related to her but she supposed she had to be thankful for that much. Her daughter had always known instinctively who she needed to work hard to charm and who she could let rip with, and it was a skill that would probably get her far in life.

‘I’d love to,’ Molly said. ‘I’ve never been to Paris.’

‘Never?’ Bastien’s aunt pretended to swoon with shock. Ashley searched for her name – there were so many to remember. Fleur? It sounded right, though she couldn’t be sure. ‘Then you have not lived!’ she continued.

‘I’d love to see a concert at the Philharmonie de Paris,’ Molly said, her eyes lighting up as the idea occurred to her.

‘You would? But you are so young!’

Molly laughed. ‘Not all teenagers like rap, you know.’

‘Of course – I remember now that you play the violin.’

‘Yes. I’d like to play in a world-famous orchestra one day but for now I have to be happy to watch them. Not that I get much opportunity.’

‘Why not?’

‘The tickets cost a lot for the big ones and that’s when they come to our town, which is not as often as I’d like. Plus all of my friends hate classical music and Mum’s always working so it’s hard to find someone to take me.’

‘Not even Maurice?’

Molly shrugged. ‘I don’t like to keep asking him.’

‘You are sixteen now?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then you could go alone.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘But it is no fun?’

‘Not so much. I suppose I’ll have to get used to it.’

‘Does your father like it?’

Ashley froze, waiting for Molly’s reply. It wasn’t as if Molly had never been asked the question before and she wasn’t quite sure why it put her on edge so much this time when she knew Molly would answer it in the same, matter-of-fact way she always did.

‘I think Ella listens to classical music,’ Ashley called over from where she was cutting flowers for a vase, unable to bear the suspense any longer. ‘She’s learning pieces for her piano grades but she likes to listen to them regardless of that.’

‘Yes, but she’s going to live in London and we’re in York,’ Molly said.

‘I’m sure we could go and visit them and see a concert at the same time; there’d be plenty on in London.’

Molly’s eyes widened. ‘Seriously?’

‘Probably. We’d have to check the finances and my work rota first, of course.’

For the first time since their awkward moment in the summer house, Molly broke into a smile that was just for her mother.

Fleur (possibly her name) moved down the table to start on a new batch of glasses and Molly sidled up to Ashley.

‘I’m sorry, Mum.’

‘Me too,’ Ashley said, kissing her lightly. ‘I probably overreacted.’

‘You didn’t. I was supposed to be helping out and I messed up.’

‘You’ve never messed up in your life.’ Ashley smiled and folded her arms around her. ‘Let’s call it a blip and move on.’

‘Yeah, OK.’

Ashley went back to her flowers as Molly picked one up and held it to her nose.

‘You like Bastien then,’ she said.

‘I do, Mum. I really like him.’

‘It’ll be difficult to maintain when you’re back home.’

‘I know. We’re not going out – just messing around. We both know there’s no point in going out properly.’

Ashley nodded. ‘Probably wise. You won’t be too upset to leave him behind tomorrow then?’

‘A bit, but that’s life, isn’t it?’

‘I suppose so.’

‘What about Haydon? Is it serious with you?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘But you could see him again, couldn’t you?’

‘What do you think? Could you cope with him in our lives?’

‘I like him; he’s OK.’

‘Only OK?’

‘Well, I hardly know him, do I?’

‘I don’t suppose so.’

‘Does he seem like a good dad to you?’

Molly popped the rose in amongst the flowers Ashley was arranging in the vase. ‘He seems OK. It’s hard to know because I don’t have anything to measure him against. I wouldn’t know a good dad if one slapped me.’

Ashley smiled. ‘I don’t think that would make him particularly good for a start.’

‘No,’ Molly said. ‘But Ella’s happy so that’s got to be quite a good sign.’

‘Do you think he’s a good man then?’

Molly narrowed her eyes. ‘What’s with these questions? You’re not going to marry him, are you?’

‘God no!’ Ashley laughed, a bit too heartily. ‘No. I’m just wondering…’

‘It’s really nothing to do with me as long as you like him,’ Molly sniffed.

‘Maybe that’s the case with other people but not me. I would never be with someone you didn’t like.’

‘That’s just daft. What if you were totally in love and I wasn’t keen? You’d give him up?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’d hate that. I’d feel guilty for the rest of my life.’

‘And I’d feel guilty being with someone you didn’t approve of.’

‘OK, so I approve of Haydon. So now you can date him with my pointless blessing.’

‘Thanks.’ Ashley smiled. ‘You’re not just saying that?’

‘Mum!’

‘OK, OK! Just kidding.’

From the corner of her eye Ashley noticed Nanette come into the kitchen with the old accordion Maurice had been tormenting everyone with stashed under her arm.

‘I will push this down my brother’s throat if he does not stop playing it!’ she growled and Molly giggled.

‘It’d be better if he could actually play it.’

‘It would still sound like an awful noise,’ Nanette grumbled.

‘Moll,’ Ashley cut in, ‘would you just go and check where your grandma wants these flowers?’

Molly nodded and skipped off.

‘Nanette…’ Ashley continued, turning to Maurice’s sister. ‘Did you manage to talk to your aunt Violette?’

‘Yes. She was happy and I have arranged the invitation.’

‘But I thought you were going to let me know so I could arrange it?’

‘It was easy for me to walk to the house. You were busy and I have saved you the bother.’

Ashley gnawed on her lip for a moment. It wasn’t what they’d agreed but she didn’t want to offend Nanette by saying so. It meant that she’d somehow have to make sure Haydon understood that he was supposed to wait at his villa for her to come over.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘Of course.’

Before they’d had time to get any further Maurice came in looking sheepish. He held his arms out for the accordion and Nanette scowled.

‘Do you want to make us all crazy in the head?’

‘I want to fill the house with joy.’

‘Then stop playing this and we will all be joyful!’

As Maurice and Nanette’s quips continued to ricochet off each other, Ashley took the opportunity of their distraction to type out a message to Haydon.

So that was simple enough. As soon as everyone got settled here and the party was in full swing she’d slip out and head across the field. A nice, uncomplicated plan that couldn’t possibly go wrong.