Page 22 of The Village Inn of Secret Dream

‘She was?’ Pete felt a slight lightening of his heart at the thought that he had somehow stopped Belle from crying any more. The memory of her being so upset the previous night was too awful to think of.

Which was the reason why he was in this mess, he had to admit to himself. It had been the only solution that he had thought of to stop her being upset. To give her the security that she had always craved so much. To keep her home and livelihood intact.

However, he obviously hadn’t been thinking straight, he realised. Buying The Black Swan was a crazy idea. But perhaps he could get something out of his mistake and be out of Cranbridge by the end of winter. And maybe even his bank account could profit as well.

After all, he had been thinking of investing his savings in some kind of business. Of course, he had planned that it would be some trendy bar in Soho. But perhaps the inn would be a prudent investment, however much his gut instinct was that it was a terrible error of judgement.

He sighed to himself. It turned out that he hadn’t needed his Dracula outfit for the previous night’s party to become the scariest night of them all.

He could joke all he liked to his brother, but the joke really was on him. Because staying in Cranbridge would mean that he would have to work even harder to keep the family safe from the secret that threatened all of their happiness.

11

Belle woke up feeling unbelievably happy that morning. She had a feeling of calm that she hadn’t felt for a very long time. Since first arriving in Cranbridge all those years ago, in fact.

Well, that and an enormous hangover, as the celebrations that the inn was going to be kept open by a local family had meant that the party had gone on into the early hours.

She was still having to pinch herself after all the many nights of sleepless worry. The inn was saved! She was still a bit hazy on the details, but at some point the previous evening, Pete had approached Uncle Mick and offered to buy the inn!

She still couldn’t quite take in the incredible news. After all, it was a strange decision that Pete had made, not that she wasn’t truly and utterly grateful. Pete was no inn landlord and all of his jobs so far had entailed working in the financial markets. She couldn’t see what on earth had tempted him to offer to buy the place.

But she was pleased that he seemed to have finally come around to the idea of staying in Cranbridge. And maybe he might even need a barmaid to help out too, she wondered, finding that she was smiling to herself in expectation. After all, they were old friends, weren’t they?

Of course, there was still the question of what on earth her aunt and uncle would do now, but without the threat of foreclosure hanging over them all, it did feel as if a lot of the stress of the last few years had faded away. Surely they could walk away with enough profit to have some savings to their name, at least.

She hadn’t been able to speak to Pete the previous evening. As soon as Uncle Mick had made the announcement, Pete had been surrounded by well-wishers eager to congratulate him.

So when he knocked on the front door of the inn late in the morning, she couldn’t stop herself from rushing forward to give him a huge hug.

‘Thank you so much,’ she said, hating how gushing she sounded but for once ignoring it. It was too important now for any kind of pride on her part. ‘This means the absolute world to me, I mean, to us,’ she carried on, hearing the tremulous sound in her voice which was filled with emotion. She was just so relieved that all the worrying was over. ‘Buying the inn is such a huge thing that you’ve done. For all the family, I mean.’

Pete looked embarrassed, dragging a hand through his hair as he shuffled from foot to foot.

‘Belle—’ he began.

‘How about a drink?’ she said, talking over him. He was being modest and obviously uncomfortable at all the attention he was getting. Which was strange because this was Pete, after all.

‘Not sure I’ve got the stomach for anything after your uncle’s punch, to be honest,’ he replied with a small smile.

‘I know what you mean,’ she told him. ‘But I do pour a mean non-alcoholic cocktail, if I do say so myself. After all, I’ve got so many years’ experience as a barmaid.’

She was still smiling at him expectantly when her aunt and uncle appeared from upstairs.

‘Pete!’ cried Mick, heading straight over to the door to shake his hand vigorously. ‘Oh, mate, you don’t know the weight you’ve taken off my mind. I’ve had the first decent night sleep in years. Years, I tell you!’

‘That’s great,’ said Pete. ‘But…’

He didn’t have time to finish his sentence as Angie was giving him a huge hug. ‘Oh, you lovely man!’ she cried. ‘You’ve no idea how much this means to us. We’ve got a real future planned at last. No more debts. No more worry. I still can’t believe it.’

Belle was looking at her family and beaming a smile at their happiness. She was still a little stunned by the quick succession of events. Only twelve hours earlier she had been crying in Amber’s arms at the thought of having to move out of the inn forever. Now, suddenly, there was real hope that The Black Swan would stay open and perhaps there was a job in it for her as well.

‘Isn’t it amazing?’ said her aunt, turning to look at her with a wide smile. Her heavy eye make-up was streaked down her face somewhat, due to what Belle expected was relieved tears of joy.

‘Incredible,’ replied Belle.

‘We’ve spent all morning planning our cruise,’ carried on her aunt. ‘Your uncle wants to go to Europe, but I told him, let’s go for it. How often am I going to see the Caribbean, eh?’

Belle was confused. ‘Cruise?’ she stammered, looking from her aunt to her uncle and back again.