Page 70 of The Inn on Bluebell Lane
“The noticeboard?” Jess confirmed with a ragged sigh. “Yeah. But it didn’t have to be such a big deal. I know that, but…”
“This has been hard on you, Jess. Perhaps on you most of all, since you’re older than the others. I’m sorry I haven’t been more understanding. I should have been, especially considering how I was struggling, too!” She let out a sad laugh as she shook her head. When she’d been feeling lonely and adrift, why hadn’t she realized her daughter would be too, but even more so?
“I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult,” Jess whispered. “Especially with Granny being so sick.” She drew back, her face pale and pinched with anxiety. “Is she okay…?”
“She’s doing much better on the antibiotics, and she should be home in a few days.” Ellie hugged her again. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“I bought a plane ticket, Mom,” Jess confessed. “On your credit card. I’m sorry. I’ll pay you back…”
“That doesn’t matter,” Ellie replied firmly. They could sort out the repercussions and consequences later. Much later. “Let’s just get you home.”
Exhausted by the day, Jess curled up in the passenger seat and was asleep by the time Ellie pulled onto the M4. She glanced across at her daughter, looking so young and vulnerable, and her heart ached with love. She realized afresh how, in the midst of all the busyness as well as her own difficult adjustment to life in Llandrigg, she had forgotten to look beneath the sulks and scowls of her children. They’d been having a hard time, too. Of course they had.
But now, she hoped and prayed, they’d be able to pull together rather than apart. Become stronger than ever, supporting each other, learning and loving and growing together.
By the time Ellie pulled into Bluebell Lane at nearly one o’clock in the morning, she was gritty-eyed with fatigue. Matthew met her at the door, pulling her into his arms for a quick hug before he went to help a very sleepy Jess into the house.
“It’s going to be okay,” he told her once Jess was settled in bed, and they were getting ready to go to sleep. “I know this has been hard, Ellie, hard on all of us in different ways. We’ve all made mistakes, me especially. I’ll be the first to admit that, but we will get through this, stronger than ever. I’ll make sure of it.”
Ellie smiled at him, utterly weary, yet also unbelievably thankful that they’d come this far—together. “I know,” she replied.
“Did I tell you the new idea I had for the B&B?” Matthew said, his eyes alight with enthusiasm as he climbed into bed.
Ellie let out a tired laugh. “You mean besides the family rooms and board games? No, I don’t think you did.”
“Well, along the lines you were talking about, I was thinking about making an obstacle course for kids in the back of the garden. Using some old tires and beams and things like that. It’s about my speed when it comes to carpentry, and Ben and Josh could help, too. I think they’d like it.”
Ellie climbed into bed and snuggled into Matthew’s arms, her cheek resting against his chest. “I think,” she said as she let out a yawn and fatigue crashed over her, “that sounds brilliant.”
As she drifted off to sleep, she felt her body relax in a way it hadn’t maybe in all the time she’d been in Llandrigg—a softening from the inside out, the tension that had clenched her stomach and knotted between her shoulder blades since she’d arrived, finally, thankfully gone.
Maybe, she thought sleepily, that was because she was finally where she needed to be—home.
EPILOGUE
NINE MONTHS LATER
It was a beautiful day in early June, everything sparkling with sunlight and dew, the world reborn. Bluebell Family Bed and Breakfast was having a rebirth as well, and this summer afternoon was its opening celebration.
A bright blue ribbon was stretched between the gateposts and a new sign, hand-painted by a local artist and mum from the village school, stood proudly by the gate. The house was freshly whitewashed, the shutters at every window painted the exact violet-blue shade of the bluebells that clustered in the shady corners of the garden.
“Where should I put this, Granny?” Jess asked as she came outside with a pitcher of fresh American-style lemonade. It had been her idea to incorporate some of their American heritage into the B&B, including fluffy pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast, and an American flag flying by the Welsh one in the front garden.
“On the table there, by the gazebo, I think,” Gwen said. She felt both excited and nervous for the day—what if no one showed up? What if too many did, and they ran out of the gorgeous pistachio macaroons Sarah had baked for the occasion, another soon-to-be Bluebell specialty?
Back in October, after she’d got out of hospital following her infection, and Jess had come home safely, and Matthew had finally got the cast off his arm, they’d all had a big family consultation around the kitchen table—complete with tea and Welsh cakes. Sarah and Nathan had come too, along with Owen and Mairi, and everyone had listened to Ellie and Matthew talk about their ideas for the better-than-ever B&B, before opening it up for questions, concerns, and ideas.
There had been all three—of course—with Sarah, somewhat predictably, concerned that it wasn’t viable economically. Gwen knew Nathan’s job was still in doubt and money was foremost on her daughter’s mind.
“There’s only one way to find out,” Matthew had told his sister, “but I have done some market research and there just isn’t this kind of venue right now—there are family camping and even glamping sites, but not a proper B&B.”
Sarah had been grudgingly convinced, and offered to do the bookkeeping; Owen and Mairi, showing more enthusiasm than Gwen had seen from them in a long while, had asked if they could help Matthew with the obstacle course, along with Ben and Josh. Jess and her friend Sophie were in charge of the games room, and Ava was helping Gwen in the garden. Ellie, and her friend Emma, were managing the publicity and event planning. Everybody had a job, Gwen had thought, and everybody was working together.
Of course, there had been the expected—and some unexpected—jolts and bumps along the way. They’d had to put in more fire doors, and the obstacle course needed a health and safety inspection. The website Ellie had designed had crashed, and the advertising had been far more expensive than anyone had expected. Knocking through a wall to make a family suite had nearly caused the ceiling to come down again, and for the first week the website went live, there hadn’t been a single booking. Ellie had been white-faced with panic, but Gwen had told her the word would spread—and it had. They were now fully booked for the next month.
She could hardly believe they’d accomplished so much, in such a short amount of time. Together.
They had all come together to work to create something new and unique, and it had taken not just the whole family, but the whole village. Each bedroom had a handmade cover quilted by a local craftswoman, and a hand-thrown pottery jug of flowers, also made locally. The honey, butter, milk, and jam had all been made locally, or by Gwen herself, who had finished her last course of chemotherapy two months ago. At her scan next month, she’d find out if she was in remission, but she felt well, and that was a huge blessing. It had been a long, hard nine months in many ways, but Gwen was thankful to be where she was—standing on her own two feet, with her loving family all around her.