Tom’s expression brightened. ‘Your version of Mary Berry’s chocolate cake?’

‘The one and the same.’ She loved to please Tom; he was one of those people whose gratitude shone out of his face.

‘Is the fête always as well attended?’ asked Rick.

‘Yes,’ replied Naomi. ‘What’s more, we’re consistently lucky with the weather. I can’t recall the last time we had rain to contend with.’

He looked about him at the assorted stalls – at the plants, books, white elephant, bottle tombola, bran tub and the numerous local artisan craft stalls. ‘It must be quite the money spinner,’ he remarked. ‘Where do the profits go?’

‘It’s split evenly between the church and the village school,’ Naomi answered him, just as the tannoy system crackled into life again and Ellis announced that the tug of war was about to take place.

‘All are welcome to take part,’ he informed the crowd. ‘Ladies, don’t be shy, you can have a go as well! Children too!’

Tom turned to Rick. ‘How about it, Rick, are you game?’

Downing the last of his Pimm’s, Rick laughed. ‘Don’t tell me, this is some kind of quaint initiation for a new member of the family?’

‘Not at all,’ said Naomi, sensing that Rick didn’t much care for the idea. Maybe he was finding a humble village fête a bit too parochial. There was, she noticed, a slight air of belligerence to his manner which hadn’t been there before, but perhaps that had something to do with Jennifer’s lethal Pimm’s. ‘We’ve all done it in our time,’ she explained. ‘How about you, girls? Are you going to join in like you usually do?’

‘What do you reckon, Martha,’ said Willow, ‘shall we? Just to show these boys what we’re made of.’

With an abruptness that took Naomi completely by surprise, Rick let rip with an almighty scoff of disapproval.

‘Are you out of your mind?’ he demanded. ‘In your condition!’

His words had the instant effect of freezing them as if in time. It was Willow who spoke first and unlocked the moment.

‘You promised you wouldn’t say anything!’ she said. ‘You promised!’

‘Oh, what does it matter?’ he said. ‘We couldn’t go on hiding it for very much longer, could we?’

‘Hide what?’ asked Naomi. Although she had a pretty good idea what the answer was.

‘Willow is pregnant, Mum,’ said Martha, matter-of-factly.

Willow gasped. ‘You knew?’

‘Yes, Willow, I knew. Rick told me weeks ago.’

Her eyes wide, Willow stared at him. ‘Why? Why did you do that when I said we had to keep it a secret? Oh Rick, how could you? And how could you keep that from me?’

‘Like I said, what does it really matter?’

‘It matters because … because Martha’s my sister and I didn’t want her to be upset by me being pregnant and her not. I told you that! I told you that repeatedly!’

‘Come on, Willow,’ he said, ‘see for yourself, your sister’s not upset. She’s happy for us. Isn’t that right, Martha?’