Page 66 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

Jack went forward to meet him. ‘Hi,’ he said, clearing his throat. Bert always made him feel like a naughty schoolchild and about ten years old.

Bert didn’t reply, merely nodding his assent that he had heard him and continuing on his path towards the Hall, but Jack stopped him.

‘Have you seen Lily?’ he asked.

Bert shook his head. ‘Been in the vegetable garden.’

‘Annie’s gone into early labour,’ Jack told him. ‘The family have all gone to the hospital.’

‘She’s probably gone with them, then.’

‘No, she didn’t go. But I can’t find her in the house at all.’ Jack shuffled from foot to foot. ‘She was a bit upset about something and I thought she might have come and found you.’

‘Upset?’ Bert finally looked at him. ‘What’s the matter with her?’

‘We just had words, that’s all.’ Jack looked away from Bert’s unswerving gaze. ‘Have you got her phone number?’

‘I don’t have no phone.’

Jack thought hard. ‘Anyway, I thought perhaps she might have headed towards the garden.’

Bert shook his head. ‘I never saw her.’

Jack was silent for a beat. ‘Do you think she might go into your shed to wait for you?’

The older man stiffened. ‘She wouldn’t go in there.’

‘Why not?’ asked Jack.

‘Because I told her she shouldn’t.’

Jack had a brief memory of a younger Lily, wild and stubborn, hating to be told what she could and couldn’t do.

‘But if she’s upset maybe she forgot that you’d warned her,’ said Jack.

Bert frowned and didn’t reply.

‘Is there a chance she could be trapped in there?’ asked Jack, thinking out loud. ‘I thought I saw a lock on the outside when Will and I passed by there earlier.’

Bert took in a sharp breath. ‘It should be locked. Nobody should be going in there. I’ll go and check.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

Bert hesitated, making Jack wonder what on earth was making him so secretive.

‘Look,’ Jack told him, ‘it’s a relatively warm day. She could be trapped in there without anything to drink. We need to make sure your granddaughter is OK.’

Bert gulped. ‘She’ll have something to drink,’ he muttered, before looking up at Jack in horror.

‘What are you talking about?’ asked Jack.

But Bert had quickly deposited his tomatoes onto the ground and was now walking quicker than Jack had ever seen him, half running in his haste to get to the shed now.

‘We can’t tell her mother about this,’ he said, puffing at the speed of his exertion.

‘About what?’ asked Jack, keeping pace with him. ‘I don’t understand.’

They reached the shed and Bert swore under his breath. Jack glanced down and saw that the lock was open and the door slightly ajar.