The Chocolatier's Secret (Magnolia Creek, Book 2) Read online

  ‘I’ll walk you home, and then it’s back to school for me,’ said Gemma.

  Andrew looked to Molly and Ben. ‘Feel free to stay here as long as you like, I’ll be downstairs.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Molly. ‘I’ll come and see you before we go.’

  Andrew helped his dad down the stairs, Louis stopping more than a few times, Gemma continuously asking whether he was okay.

  ‘Do you need me to help him home?’ Andrew whispered to Gemma when Louis sat down and she went to retrieve her bag from the office where Andrew had put it for safekeeping.

  ‘We’ll be fine, thanks.’

  When they went on their way, Andrew checked the chocolate mould and it was setting nicely already. He opened the door to the fridge and then lifted the mould carefully to carry it over. But before he could slot it onto the shelf, he heard Gemma, screaming Louis’ name over and over again, yelling about an ambulance.

  The mould crashed to the floor, and chocolate went everywhere, as the plastic shattered into a million pieces.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Molly

  ‘I feel so useless.’ Molly’s body sagged against Ben, who was sitting behind her. In a few short weeks, her family had grown with Louis, Andrew and Gemma, and the thought of losing one of them was unimaginable. At the hospital Louis had been rushed away, Andrew and Gemma had gone with him and Ben sat holding Molly’s hand. She gripped him tight, afraid to let go.

  Molly and Ben had been upstairs in the chocolaterie, looking out over the beauty of the bush, enjoying the autumn sun on their faces, when they’d heard screams. They’d run downstairs to find Gemma yelling, telling everyone to hurry. Ben had run straight to the front door of the shop to help Louis, who was lying on the ground outside. Stephanie was at his side, Gemma was panicking and Andrew watched on as though he was some kind of ghost at the side of the room, hovering like this wasn’t really happening at all. Molly had taken a couple of steps closer, her body moving slowly, her mind nowhere near catching up. She remembered Stephanie coming over and putting an arm around her. She remembered Bella Finnegan crossing the street outside when she saw the commotion, Owen and Rosie standing outside, hands across their mouths in shock, Emilio still in his brown apron with the business logo, waving arms frantically and standing in the road to flag down the ambulance.

  ‘Can I get you anything?’ It was the first time Ben had stroked her hair so tenderly, the closest she’d felt to him, even more so than the night they’d shared the spa.

  ‘I think I need to phone my mum and dad,’ she said.

  Ben squeezed her hand as she stood.

  Molly floated down the corridors, through the maze of the hospital, not hearing any sounds, barely seeing anything apart from the green dimly lit exit signs as she made her way outside to make the call. She didn’t register the nurses who looked her way to see whether she was okay, she didn’t take in the little girl who called after her to tell her a tissue had fallen from her pocket. All she saw was daylight shimmering at the front entrance, pulling her outside.

  She dialled the number without even checking the time.

  Her dad picked up the phone. ‘Molly, what’s wrong?’ The time difference must have given her identity away.

  And all Molly could do was cry.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Andrew

  Andrew watched Louis, lying in a bed that looked too big for him, stared at his skin that seemed to be the only layer left of Louis Bennett. The smell of antiseptic was rife in intensive care. Hands were scrubbed, including his own, each time they came in here. It was quiet save for the sound of machines and hushed voices. Louis wasn’t conscious, but Andrew told himself his dad would pull through. They’d go ahead with the kidney transplant and everything would be okay. Louis would live in the annexe until he was well into his nineties, shuffling along the pathway every evening in his blue slippers to join them for a meal.

  But deep down he knew it wasn’t true.

  Andrew closed his hand over Louis’. A monitor next to the bed kept an eye on his vital signs, wires led from it to his body, attached by sensors. But Andrew didn’t see any of the technical details. He simply saw Louis, the man he’d had his whole life, the man he hoped he’d get a chance to share more of his life with.

  ‘Dad?’ Andrew’s voice came out in a whisper and Louis didn’t answer, but Andrew was convinced he’d felt his hand move beneath his, if only a fraction.

  ‘You can fight this,’ Andrew insisted as Gemma came into the room and sat down beside him. ‘You have to.’

  ‘Andrew.’ Gemma’s hand lifted to her husband’s shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. ‘Why don’t you take a break, grab a cup of coffee. I’ll sit with him.’ Her voice fell softly on his ears.

  ‘No. I’m staying.’ He’d spent weeks being furious with Louis and avoiding him. He wasn’t leaving his side now.

  ‘I’m sorry I treated you so badly.’ Andrew spoke as though they were on their own in the room and Louis could hear everything he was saying. ‘I didn’t know how to deal with what had happened, I didn’t know how to forgive you. But I know now that what you did, you did for me. You were right. At fifteen years old neither Julia nor I knew a thing about being in love, we knew nothing of what it took to be a parent and the commitment involved.

  ‘I can’t rewrite the past, Dad. None of us can. But we can control our future.’

  He rested his head on Louis’ bed, his forehead against the coolness of Louis’ forearm. ‘To be a parent you need to be strong, you need to be there, you need to put your child first, and you did. You did that for me. And I’ve had a good life, a really good life, and I found Gemma.’

  He felt Gemma’s hand against his back. ‘Molly’s here,’ he told Louis. ‘Your granddaughter is here, waiting for you. Even after everything that’s happened, she wants to be a part of our family, and watching you two today was one of the most special experiences of my life.’

  A nurse checking the charts and the machine left them to it. Andrew had barely registered her presence.

  ‘I’m going to get a coffee,’ said Gemma. ‘I’ll give you some privacy.’

  Andrew nodded and when she was gone he carried on.

  ‘I think about Julia, you know. I wonder how her life turned out. It’s hard enough for me to know a child of mine was given away, a child I never knew about. I can’t even begin to think about what it felt like to grow Molly for nine months when she thought her boyfriend had abandoned her, when she was taken away to live in Ireland without her friends, everything that was familiar to her.’

  Andrew let his head rest for longer, feeling every slight twitch in his father’s body. Maybe he’d imagined movement, maybe he hadn’t. But he felt comforted being here, he felt close, he felt he could make peace between them.

  Andrew smiled now. ‘You know, I think I might make it over to Europe one day. I’ll visit all those places we talked about … the Swiss chocolate shops, the Belgian chocolate places. I have the perfect excuse when Molly lives in England.’

  He watched his father’s hand, lifeless beneath his own. Maybe he really had imagined any movement.

  Louis’ eyes were shut, but Andrew looked at them as though they were open when he said, ‘I forgive you, Dad. For everything that happened, I forgive you.’

  He sat in silence, holding Louis’ hand until Gemma returned.

  ‘Any change?’ she asked.

  He shook his head.

  ‘Molly’s asking to see him again.’

  It was the first time Andrew had smiled. And like any concerned father, he’d already adapted to worrying about Molly, happy Ben didn’t appear to have left her side since they arrived.

  Molly appeared ten minutes later, the smell of antiseptic coming with her from her washed hands before she was allowed into intensive care.

  ‘How is he?’ She sat next to Andrew.

  His voice came out small. ‘Same as before.’

  Molly tentatively put her hand on the be
d next to Louis.

  ‘You can touch his hand,’ Andrew assured her. ‘You never know, he might be able to hear us.’

  ‘It feels weird. I’ve only spoken with him a couple of times.’

  ‘I bet you don’t talk to expectant mothers for long before you’re holding their hand, helping them through labour.’

  ‘Good point.’ Molly reached out and jumped as her skin made contact with Louis’ and Andrew knew it was because of the temperature. Louis’ hands were cold, small, weak and such a contrast to anyone who was walking around freely right now.

  ‘Do you think he’ll wake up?’ she asked.

  ‘I hope so.’

  Andrew wondered whether she’d been crying. The glow on her cheeks reminded him of Julia. In the winter time, when it was freezing and her head was all warm and beneath a woolly hat, Julia always did have the rosiest cheeks, and more times than he could remember he’d reached out his hands and put them either side of her face to warm them up. Funny, he’d forgotten about it until now.

  Molly asked all about the plans for the Easter Egg Hunt, presumably to take both their minds off the gravity of the situation, and Andrew happily complied, telling her all about the morning of the hunt when they hoped and prayed it wouldn’t be raining so they could go and scatter the wrapped chocolate eggs over the lawns of Magnolia House.

  ‘The kids are going to love it,’ said Molly.

  ‘I think your Ben is going to like it too.’

  Molly looked coy. ‘He’s not my Ben.’

  ‘He is.’ Andrew pushed. ‘Enjoy it.’

  ‘He was unexpected, that’s all. I haven’t had a serious boyfriend in years, I’ve been too busy having fun, working, going out with friends. I can’t believe it’s happened here, on the other side of the world.’ She turned to him. ‘But who knows what the future holds, right?’

  They chatted some more about her family and her phone call with her parents earlier.

  ‘I bet you’ve got them worried.’ Andrew was already in the worry zone when it came to Molly. He couldn’t imagine how much that would be heightened had he been her dad for the last thirty years.

  ‘We talked for ages. Dad called me back on my mobile, Lord knows what the phone bill will be.’ She smiled. ‘I needed to hear their voices.’

  Strangely enough, he wasn’t jealous. There wasn’t room for jealousy if he was going to be a part of Molly’s life from now on.

  ‘I’ve texted mainly, given the time difference,’ she told him. ‘This was the longest chat we’d had. It got a bit emotional.’

  ‘It’s a big thing,’ said Andrew, his hand gesturing first to her and then to himself. ‘Us, I mean.’

  She nodded in agreement. ‘I leave on Good Friday. How can I leave when Louis is like this?’

  For the first time Andrew put a hand on Molly’s arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘We’ll all miss you,’ he said.

  They talked more about her family, her brother and the upcoming wedding over in America. Molly told Andrew all about the bridesmaid dress she’d be wearing – silver, strapless, with beading which shimmered beneath the sunlight, and he knew she’d look stunning.

  ‘Dad and I talked of visiting Europe one day, but we never got round to it.’ Andrew looked at Molly now, her hand still covering Louis’ as though one of them needed to hold on to him constantly for him to stay with them. ‘I think I’d like to start with England.’

  ‘I’d like that.’ She smiled at him. ‘There’s an amazing chocolate shop in London, with the best name: Choccywoccydoodah.’

  He laughed, relaxed for what felt like the first time in ages. ‘What a fantastic name. Dad would’ve loved it.’

  ‘I’m sure he would’ve heard of it. It has the most amazing, flamboyant creations. I’ll tell you what …’ She paused, unsure of herself. ‘When you come over, we’ll go. We’ll make a day of it and go round London visiting Choccywoccydoodah and other chocolate places. You can see how they do it in the northern hemisphere.’

  His mind grabbed hold of the words ‘when you come over’. This was the start of a special relationship, and he felt glad she was letting him into her life.

  The hours ticked by and as the skies outside grew dark, Andrew’s tummy rumbled. ‘Molly. Would you like to get something to eat? There’s a café not far from here, and it’s open until seven o’clock. Would you like to join me? Ben’s welcome to come.’

  She hesitated.

  ‘Oh, you don’t have to,’ he said, suddenly unsure of himself. ‘I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.’

  ‘You didn’t.’ Molly smiled. ‘But I’d love it to be just the two of us.’

  ‘Sounds perfect,’ he said.

  *

  ‘I’ll take this over hospital canteen food any day,’ said Molly after they’d sat in the café and chosen the All Day Breakfast with extra sides of spinach and mushrooms.

  ‘Gemma had a sandwich earlier, said it wasn’t bad.’ Andrew poured two glasses of water from the carafe in the middle of the table.

  ‘I like Gemma,’ Molly told him.

  ‘She likes you.’

  Molly looked at the table but eventually met his gaze. ‘I’m glad. It makes it easier.’

  ‘It certainly does. She’s a good person. I’m sorry you walked into a bit of a minefield, what with everything the family has going on.’

  ‘It is a minefield, but then again, so are a lot of families. I’ve got friends whose parents had a bitter divorce, other friends who detest their siblings, a colleague who no longer speaks to her own mother. I think you guys are pretty normal.’

  ‘We’re not so bad once you get to know us.’ Andrew smiled.

  They chatted and laughed as they ate, and by the time they walked back to the hospital, the temperature had dropped ten degrees and the sky was blanketed in darkness, stars twinkling above them.

  They sauntered along slowly, enjoying one another’s company.

  They only broke into a run when Gemma’s phone call came through.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Molly

  Molly sat on the front pew between Andrew and Ben, among the people she’d known only a few short weeks, as they said goodbye to a man she’d taken seconds to like, moments to respect and understand.

  While they’d been at dinner in the café, only a short walk from the hospital, Louis had suffered a second, catastrophic heart attack. Gemma had been with him, and by the time Andrew and Molly reached his bedside, he was gone. There were no nurses or doctors calling for help, nobody pushing on his chest to do compressions and revive him. A nurse was gently peeling away the sticky white circles that had been allowing the wires to send signals to the machines to monitor his vital signs; the machines were silent. Gemma was crying, but Andrew froze on the spot, stunned. Even when his wife hugged him, his eyes had been fixed on Louis and he couldn’t look away.

  ‘It was a beautiful service,’ Bella told Gemma now as they made their way outside the chapel.

  ‘I’ll miss him.’ Stephanie sobbed onto Gemma’s shoulder. The Bennetts had only been in the community a short while, but Molly could see the impact they’d had, knew the impact they’d had on her alone.

  ‘How are you holding up?’ Ben was by her side.

  ‘Thanks for coming.’

  ‘Hey, where else would I be?’ He tilted her chin up so she looked him in the eye. ‘I know this must be an impossible day for you.’

  Molly crumpled. ‘I only just got to know him.’

  Ben pulled her to him and held her as she cried, quiet tears that were no less powerful than those of anyone who had known Louis Bennett for years.

  Despite the sombre mood at the chapel, the wake at the pub was filled with celebration of Louis’ life. Andrew, dressed in a black suit and tie, cleanly shaven, looking so different to the Andrew Bennett who was so often covered in chocolate as he created new masterpieces, recounted stories he knew about his dad, times when he was growing up and he’d clashed with Louis. This man in front of h
er now was a man Molly was proud to call her father – not her dad, she already had a dad who’d been there since she was a baby, and that would never change – but a father she was tied to in a different way and one she felt glad she’d got to know.

  Molly wasn’t angry with Julia any more. If any good came out of Louis’ passing, it was that all of them had learnt about forgiveness. The Bennetts, and Molly, all had a deeper understanding of what the word really meant. And Molly was grateful. Julia had named Andrew on her birth certificate. She was glad too that Julia had contacted him and told him of her existence, because in some way it showed Julia was dealing with things in her own, albeit slow, way. But most of all she would be forever grateful that Julia hadn’t gone through with the abortion in 1985. Molly was glad she’d been given a chance to live.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Gemma

  ‘It’s too early,’ Gemma groaned when the alarm went off. She nudged Andrew, who turned over to face her and squinted when she turned on the bedside lamp. Even the sun was still sleeping somewhere beyond the moon.

  She kissed Andrew gently on the mouth. ‘Don’t go back to sleep,’ she urged as she got out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown, ready to go downstairs to make a cup of tea for them both. It was five o’clock, but they had too much to do to even think of having a lie-in. Today was the day of the Easter Egg Hunt at Magnolia House and somehow the laughter and excitement of it all was helping the pain of losing Louis a week ago. The funeral on Friday was still fresh in their minds, but this was a big distraction today and Gemma hoped it would help Andrew cope.

  But it was also the day when Andrew would have to say goodbye to Molly, and Gemma knew it was at the forefront of both their minds as they prepared to start their day.