Picnics and Promises at Strawberry Fields, page 1
PICNICS AND PROMISES AT STRAWBERRY FIELDS
VICTORIA WALTERS
To Kiley Dunbar and Mary Jayne Baker for always being there for me.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Epilogue
Thank you!
More from Victoria Walters
Acknowledgements
Playlist for Picnics and Promises at Strawberry Fields
About the Author
Also by Victoria Walters
Boldwood Ever After
About Boldwood Books
1
I stood outside Birchbrook Café wearing a wedding dress, my heart pounding. The whole journey here, my pulse was racing and I was trying to take deep breaths to warn off the panic that threatened to overwhelm me. I had become an expert at pushing it to one side but today, it was proving harder than usual to beat.
Sucking in one more deep breath, I walked inside the café, all conversations ceasing instantly as I had feared they would. Even the staff behind the counter froze to take a look. I longed to shout out, Have you never seen a woman in a wedding dress, trainers and her hair in pin curls before?! but I settled instead on looking around at the staring faces for the one I had come in to find.
‘Daisy!’ The woman I wanted to see jumped up and hurried over to where I hovered by the door. ‘Your text freaked me out; I was about to leave to come to your wedding. Are you okay?’
‘The wedding is off,’ I said, conscious that everyone was still staring and blatantly listening to our conversation. ‘Maybe we could…’ I gestured outside.
‘Oh yeah, of course, come on,’ she said, grabbing my arm and steering me out of the cute café with her into the High Street, which was currently bathed in late-May sunshine. We walked out of sight of the large window and my cousin, Willow, pulled me in for a tight hug. I leaned against her, the adrenaline of the last two hours draining out of me. ‘What happened? Are you okay?’
I half-fell against her, my heart still thumping. ‘Not really, but I hope I will be.’
Willow leaned back to look at me. My bridal make-up made me look most unlike myself, I knew. She frowned with concern.
We hadn’t seen each other for five years but she looked just the same to me. Her glossy brunette hair was in its usual messy bun, her dark brown eyes pretty and large, and her frame was still petite. But unusually for her, she wore a dress ready for my ‘big day’. It was midi-length and floaty floral, and I felt guilty seeing how lovely she looked in it, knowing she wouldn’t need to keep it on now.
‘Have you really run out on your wedding?’
I winced at the words even though they were true. I stepped out of her embrace and nodded. ‘Yeah, I have. I didn’t know where else to go.’
‘You did the right thing in coming to Birchbrook. Come on, let’s go to the farm and you can tell me what happened. Plus, you probably want to get out of your wedding dress.’ Her lips twitched and despite the situation not being at all funny, she let out a giggle. And just like that, the panic slipped out of me and I laughed along with her. I knew, in that moment, I had done the right thing in coming to see Willow.
‘How did you get here?’ Willow asked me as we started to walk to where her car was parked.
‘I jumped into a taxi that had brought a guest to my wedding,’ I said, the irony not lost on me. I had sent a message to Willow as I approached the town to make sure she hadn’t left yet for my wedding, and she told me she was in the local café picking up a coffee so I’d headed straight there to see her.
‘Alone?’ she asked me gently.
‘Yeah.’ I looked away. Willow had been the only guest coming to the wedding just for me. Everyone else had been invited by my groom-to-be’s parents. I tried not to feel the sting of Willow being my only family or friend invited but it was impossible not to. Right now, I felt alone. And that was something I had been desperate to avoid for five years.
‘It must have been so hard to leave on your own,’ she said, her eyes full of empathy. I knew she understood. To a point. She lost her mother five years ago. I didn’t have either of my parents, though.
‘It was,’ I whispered, unable to fully comprehend that I had left Henry.
She slung an arm around my shoulders. ‘Don’t worry. You’re not on your own now. It’s really good to see you again. It’s been too long.’
I nodded, grateful that she was being so kind to me. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’ It had been mostly my fault. The last time I had been to Willow’s home, Birch Tree Farm, was the day of Willow’s mum’s funeral. The wake had taken place there, and the farm, which had given me such joy growing up, felt forever changed. That day had brought up so many painful memories of my parents’ tragic car accident two years before that I left feeling like I needed to get away from it all. I’d decided to move to the city, a few hours away from Birchbrook, and we had grown apart.
Five years later though, I was running away from the new life I had made there.
We reached Willow’s car then and as she opened it, she glanced over and said, ‘Let’s go home.’
My heart swelled with gratitude for my cousin. Willow could have turned me away but that wasn’t my her style, thank goodness. My wedding venue, a stunning countryside stately home, was only an hour away from Birchbrook so I had managed to get here before she left to come to the wedding.
We climbed into the car and set off towards the farm. ‘I know that I never met Henry,’ Willow said as she drove, ‘but your wedding invite was beautiful and that venue is gorgeous. It sounded like it was going to be a fairy tale. What went wrong?’
I sighed. ‘It’s a long story.’
‘I bet. You don’t have to explain. You can relax at the farm first.’
‘That sounds good. I felt like such a fraud today. I didn’t feel at all like me. I want to feel like me again.’
Willow glanced across at me. ‘You do look very different. Gorgeous, Daisy, as always but…’ she trailed off uncertainly.
I glanced out of the window, catching a glimpse of my reflection. And I saw myself through Willow’s eyes. I was only a couple of years older than her but I looked more than that today.
My light-brown hair had been highlighted into a honey-blonde colour. I had on bright-red lipstick. The sweetheart neckline of my lace wedding dress, which had been designed to fit to the curves of my body perfectly, had such a full skirt, I rolled it up to get into the car. Still on my finger was the huge diamond ring I’d been wearing for six months. It was so expensive, I was terrified of it being stolen or lost. But at least I’d had time to swap the designer stilettos I was nervous to walk down the aisle in for my trainers before diving into the taxi.
And underneath all the make-up and shiny hair, there were dark circles under my green eyes and my skin was pale from the lack of sleep and anxiety I had wrestled with ahead of the wedding.
It was supposed to be the happiest day of your life but it had felt like the exact opposite.
‘I didn’t get to choose any of this,’ I told Willow, gesturing to my bridal look.
‘Why not?’ she asked, her eyebrows raised.
‘As soon as I said yes and Henry’s grandmother’s ring was on my finger,’ I said, waving my hand so she could see the huge rock that sat there, ‘I was swept up in this event that his family had paid for and were creating supposedly on our behalf. But it didn’t feel like my wedding. None of it felt like me. Including my fiancé. They didn’t ask me to choose anything. They didn’t… let me.’ I whispered the last two words.
‘Let you?’ she repeated in disbelief that I needed anyone to let me do anything.
That realisation was what had finally woken me up. ‘I spent the past five years going along with everything that they wanted and the wedding was more of the same. But then this morning, I stood in the room I was getting ready in and I looked around and realised my wedding was completely different to how I had ever pictured it would be. There was no one in that room who meant something to me. I had a hairdresser, a make-up artist, Henry’s mother and his little cousin who was going to be my bridesmaid, but that was it. I realised that all my friends were partners of Henry’s friends. I couldn’t confide in them. I had no family there.’
Willow shook her head. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t come earlier; the farm is so busy right now. Dad wanted to come but he would have found th e day too hard; his arthritis is worse. And my boyfriend needed to look after things while I was gone,’ she said.
‘I’m not blaming you. It was just a fact.’ I looked across at her. ‘I thought about you coming then. You would have walked in and thought everything was perfect. And that’s what it seemed like: perfect. But I knew none of it was real. I panicked then. What if the rest of my life was just the same? Looking perfect on the outside, but a complete lie on the inside?’ I exhaled shakily. ‘Then Henry’s mum started talking about the future. God, Willow. What she said… I couldn’t believe it. What if I spent my whole life with Henry going along with what he and his parents wanted for me, and not choosing anything for myself?’ My breaths came out faster and shallower then as I thought about how I’d almost given up everything I wanted.
And I knew why.
I was scared to be alone.
But even worse, I was scared to love.
2
‘You have to choose the life that you want,’ Willow said, nodding furiously. ‘Life is too short; we know that more than most people. And you deserve to be happy, Daisy.’
I shook my head as I wasn’t so sure about that but then I looked out of the window, catching sight of the wooden sign that declared we were turning into Birch Tree Farm. Thoughts of my wedding faded as I saw the farm again for the first time in five years.
Willow turned into the drive that was lined by beautiful birch trees, in full green bloom, swaying in the gentle, early-summer breeze as if they were directing me to somewhere safe.
‘You don’t think I’m a real bitch, do you?’ I asked Willow as she drove towards the quaint, red-bricked farmhouse ahead of us. ‘For leaving Henry pretty much at the altar?’
‘How do you feel now you’ve left?’ she asked.
‘Relieved. Like I am finally… free,’ I admitted.
‘Then you did what you had to do,’ Willow said firmly. ‘Come on, we need tea and cake, and… did you bring anything with you?’
‘No,’ I said. ‘I just… ran.’
‘Okay, don’t worry. I can lend you clothes so you can change out of that dress.’
I let out a snort. ‘That would be great, thanks.’
Willow parked her car outside the farmhouse as the door to it swung open.
Out stepped Willow’s dad and her border collie dog, followed by a handsome man I hadn’t seen before. I braced myself. I had been so nervous to come back to the farm in case it had lost all its warmth and comfort, and now I had to face all its inhabitants and their questions as to why I was a runaway bride. I tried to keep my nerves at bay but it was proving to be very difficult.
‘Are you sure about me coming in?’ I asked Willow uncertainly before she could climb out of her car. ‘You really don’t mind me turning up like this after so long?’ I bit my lip.
Willow shook her head. ‘Of course not. Daisy – we’re family. We have always loved you being here. We’ve got you. It will all be okay.’
Her words were the reassurance I desperately needed. I broke into a relieved smile. ‘Thank you, Willow.’
‘Come on.’ She jumped out and I watched as she beamed at the sight of the three people – and animal – who were clearly her favourite in the world. I realised then just how badly I had needed to hear that things would be okay.
Before I followed her, I felt my phone buzz in the pocket of my wedding dress – which had been sewn just so I could have my phone in there. Henry’s family liked me to have my phone with me at all times. I pulled it out. There were fifty-plus notifications. I gulped and opened the glove compartment, chucked my phone in, shut it up and climbed out after Willow, deciding that I couldn’t face any of what was on it just yet.
‘Welcome back, Daisy,’ my Uncle Adam said, giving me a tight hug. I guessed, by the lack of shock on his face, that Willow had warned him I was on the way. Adam had been my dad’s elder brother and it was always a shock to the system to see the similarities between them. He looked much older than he had five years ago. An age my father would sadly never reach. My uncle was now completely salt-and-pepper grey and there were lines on his face that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him. I knew he suffered with arthritis, and his movements were a little stiff as he pulled back from me, but his smile was warm and welcoming just as it had been when I was growing up.
‘This is my boyfriend, Dylan,’ Willow said then.
Dylan smiled and held out a hand for me to shake. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you.’ He was tall with almost-black hair and bright-blue eyes. He had a posh accent too.
‘I would ask if it was all good but under the circumstances…’ I gestured to the white elephant in the room – my dress – with a grimace.
‘Oh, well, it definitely was,’ Dylan said, clearing his throat uncomfortably.
Willow nudged me. ‘You should style it out – act like it’s the new latest fashion trend for spring/summer.’
I chuckled – she had always been good at diffusing any awkwardness. ‘Yeah…’ I trailed off at the sound of a car on the driveway behind me. For a moment, I was worried it was Henry chasing me from the wedding. But when I turned around, I soon realised with relief that I didn’t recognise the car.
‘Shit, I forgot that Blake was coming now,’ Dylan said then.
‘Oh, that’s right,’ Willow said, giving me an apologetic smile. ‘One of Dylan’s old friends – he’s coming to stay for a couple of weeks in one of our Airbnb cottages.’
My heart sank a little bit. It was hard enough to be back at the farm again, let alone meeting new people. I’d had to deal with meeting Willow’s boyfriend and now I had to face one of his friends too. In my current frame of mind, and dress, I wasn’t at my most social. I tried to push my shoulders back and stay confident but I was on the verge of crumbling.
Out of the car climbed a man who did a half-handshake, half-hug with Dylan, who had headed over to greet him. Willow and Uncle Adam also approached, while I hung back self-consciously.
‘You must be Blake,’ Willow said, smiling and holding her hand out.
‘This is my girlfriend, Willow Connor, and this is Blake Daniels,’ Dylan introduced them and Willow and Blake shook hands. Then Blake moved to greet my uncle. ‘Her dad, Adam.’
‘It’s nice to meet you all,’ Blake said.
Dylan looked behind to where I stood, feeling out of place. ‘And this is Willow’s cousin, Daisy.’
Blake turned to look at me and his eyes widened as his gaze looked me up and down, taking in what I was wearing.
‘Rocking this season’s “it” dress,’ Willow joked as I looked back at Blake.
He was so tall, I had to lift my face up slightly. He must have been six foot five. He had light-brown hair that was short and tidy and a line of stubble around his chin. He wore chinos and canvas shoes with a white shirt – kind of preppy-looking, the opposite of Dylan in his beat-up farm clothes. I started to smile but his gaze flicked over me, looking at my dress, his hazel eyes cold when our gazes met. ‘Is this some kind of sick joke?’ he spat out, his deep voice suddenly sounding bitter.
There were a couple of seconds of shocked silence.
‘Um… no…’ Dylan said awkwardly. ‘Daisy is…’ he trailed off, stumped.
‘Wearing a wedding dress,’ I supplied, hating that I was making everyone so uncomfortable. ‘This was supposed to be my wedding day but I couldn’t go through with it.’
‘You left your fiancé at the altar?!’ Blake said incredulously. He stepped back a few steps like I might be contagious.
