Page 77 of Moonlight Kisses at Willow Tree Hall

He led them through the busy bar and back outside into the warm sunshine. There were quite a few tables lining the terrace that overlooked the village green. He showed them to one right by a stream that had a reserved sign on it.

‘Best table in this house,’ said Danny, removing the sign. ‘Only the best for you, Jacky boy.’

‘Excellent,’ said Jack, sitting down. ‘How about some food?’

Danny produced a couple of menus, which they quickly ordered from. He then disappeared into the pub again.

‘Jacky boy?’ said Lily in a soft tone.

Jack smiled. ‘Tell anyone back in Cranley and I’ll cut your heart out.’

You already have, she thought with a sudden jolt. He continued smiling at her until her throat felt so constricted she could barely swallow.

‘This is lovely,’ she said, quickly turning to look out across the stream, which was glittering under the midday sun.

‘He definitely chose the right place,’ said Jack. ‘The pub is always busy, summer or winter.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ she replied. ‘It’s a prime location.’

She felt as if she had gone on holiday. The sunshine. The different setting. She looked back across the table at Jack, who was staring out across the river. He was different too. The closed-off young man she had first met all those years ago didn’t exist in her eyes any more.

The wild boy she had known had calmed down and matured into the wise man opposite her.

Danny arrived with a bread basket. He and Jack chatted some more about how busy the pub had become over the summer months.

Once he had gone, Lily asked. ‘So, how did you meet him?’

‘Danny?’ Jack blew out a long sigh as he turned to look at the trees. ‘I came across him in one of my many foster homes,’ he replied eventually. ‘He was normally in a fight of some kind. Trying to defend one of the younger kids.’

‘Did he always want to run a pub?’ she asked.

‘He was more into breaking and entering when we first left school.’

Lily was shocked. ‘He’s been in prison?’

Jack nodded. ‘But I kept in touch even after I was adopted. Watched as he reformed both himself and many other offenders as well.’

She kept quiet, not knowing what to say.

‘Never forget where you come from,’ said Jack. ‘It’s what makes you the person you are today. Our paths were different but we remained friends, despite me leaving the country.’

‘You’re certainly a long way from where you started, especially in a country manor house.’

He grinned. ‘Sam and Will were a bit of a contrast to Danny, that’s for sure. They’d both been brought up in comfortable surroundings instead of the rough beginning I had to endure. We’re all pretty different, but somehow there was a bond there.’ He turned to look back at the stream, where a duck was paddling in the shallow water. ‘Danny always wanted to own a pub. It was a lifelong dream. So I helped him out. There’s no point having money if you can’t spread the wealth about a bit.’

She watched him turn the signet ring on his little finger round and around. ‘Is that ring from your early years as well?’

‘My ring?’

‘You fiddle with it whenever you talk about the past,’ she told him.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise. ‘I do? I never knew.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Yes, the ring was my father’s. I think he gave it to me to play with when I was only a couple of years old. Before he did his disappearing act, of course. Whether he meant to leave it with me, I’ll never know. But it reminds me that you can’t forget your past.’

‘But you can’t remain in it, either.’

He laughed. ‘Oh, yes? What about you? Isn’t it time to leave the comfort zone of your past as well? Uncertainty is a fact of life. Something is going to be unexpected and test you. If you wrap your life in cotton wool, that’s not living. That’s just tip-toeing around life. You can’t just settle. You need to go for it.’

‘But what about you?’ she said, not wanting to think about her own problems at that moment.