Page 1 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

1

‘Will you marry me?’

Belle Clarke’s heart thumped wildly in her chest as the anxiety began to rise deep inside of her.

She glanced across to the front door in the hope of a quick getaway, but her exit was pretty much blocked. Unbelievably, The Black Swan Inn of Cranbridge was actually quite busy that evening, which was a rarity in itself.

Just her luck.

Her gaze flicked over towards the other people in the inn to see if anyone else agreed with her dismay, but everyone was looking at Josh Kennedy who was down on one knee in the middle of the room holding out a diamond ring in front of him.

And, at Amber Green too, who was blushing furiously as she looked down at her boyfriend.

‘Yes,’ Amber finally replied, breaking into a soft smile. ‘Of course I’ll marry you.’

A huge cheer went up as Josh stood to take Amber into his arms. Belle could see that her best friend was both equally thrilled and embarrassed at the attention. Amber was naturally shy and would always let anyone else take the limelight away from her. But on that September evening, Amber smiled and laughed as everyone crowded around the happy couple with their congratulations and best wishes.

Of course, everyone knew Josh and Amber, as together they had run The Cranbridge Stores – the popular village shop – for the past year and over the winter their business partnership had become a romantic one as well.

Belle watched as their other best friends, Lucy and Molly, stepped forward to hug Amber and exclaim their delight at the proposal. Belle could hear the excited chatter from where she stood behind the bar, rooted temporarily to the floorboards with shock.

‘How wonderful!’ she heard Lucy cry. ‘I’m so happy for you both.’

‘It’s just so romantic!’ said Molly, near to tears.

Belle knew that she should rush over and join her friends to congratulate Amber. After all, they were a close-knit group. But she was afraid that she would end up blurting out, ‘Stop! Wait! Don’t do it!’ instead.

Even though she loved Amber and Josh very much. Even though she knew how much Josh loved Amber and would never hurt her. Even though they were one of the best suited and happiest couples that she had ever known.

Despite all of that, Belle felt like dragging the glittering diamond solitaire that was now on Amber’s finger and throwing it into the river outside.

To trust in love was bad enough with all the heartache that always followed, but marriage ruined everything, didn’t they know that? Why couldn’t Amber and Josh just stay as happy as they were at the moment?

In her hesitation about how well she could fake her reaction to Amber’s engagement, she was still hovering behind the bar counter when Uncle Mick joined her.

‘Isn’t it smashing?’ said Mick, nodding and smiling along with everyone else. ‘Ain’t young love grand? And we could all do with a bit of good news these days, eh?’

Uncle Mick didn’t notice his niece’s frown and was giving everyone his usual amiable smile as he looked around at his customers. With his round, jolly face, he suited the role of congenial landlord very well, having been in the job for over forty years. He was always smiling at anyone, apart from at his own wife.

‘Champagne for everyone!’ announced Mick to a resounding cheer from the crowd in front of them.

This brought Belle’s Aunty Angie rushing along the bar to join them in a fit of barely concealed rage.

‘Are you mad?’ hissed Angie, her heavily mascaraed eyes almost popping out of their sockets as she glared at her husband. ‘We can’t afford that.’

‘Give it a rest for just one night,’ muttered Mick, rolling his eyes. ‘Besides, we’ve got that massive magnum of the stuff in the cellar just sitting there.’

‘Which we might be able to sell, rather than you giving it away for free,’ carried on Angie, placing one hand on the bar, where her long orange nails tapped in irritation. The other hand went to her red leather skirt.

Whereas Belle always dressed in dark colours, eager not to draw attention to herself, Aunty Angie’s view of clothing, hair and make-up was that you needed to be seen from outer space. Preferably without the need of a telescope.

‘Nobody ever orders champagne in here anyway,’ snapped Mick. ‘It’ll go to waste otherwise.’

‘Humph,’ said Angie, shaking her head. ‘Well, I suppose you’re right, for once. No point keeping it when the inn’s going up for sale anyway.’

Belle took a sharp intake of breath at her aunt’s words. Despite her own worries about her friend’s future marriage, that was nothing compared to Belle’s anxiety about the state of the inn. The Black Swan had struggled for so many years, but she knew that it was now teetering on the brink of closure and nothing appeared to be able to save it. Putting it up for sale would be the only solution to their money worries, Uncle Mick had told her. But it made Belle feel ill to even think about it even though she had tried her best not to.

Mick turned around and began to head towards the cellar steps, intent on collecting the champagne, with his wife in hot pursuit. Their heated words could still be heard even as they went downstairs.