‘Something’s happened, though,’ said Elle, and she told Hazel of her run in with the bank manager that morning. ‘It puts everything in jeopardy,’ she said. ‘How can I go ahead now, knowing that there is such a very good chance I won’t be able to follow through?’

‘You just go ahead as planned,’ said Hazel, drawing herself up. She was wearing a bright red dress with a plunging neckline and deep red lipstick, and she looked very vampy. She told Elle she so very rarely dressed up she wanted to wear a colour that would make up for the denim dungarees she wore every day. ‘You can’t give up now, can’t falter. There’s still a chance.’

Molly’s hard work with the dinner preparations had paid off. The guests sat at the long tables and ate a starter of salmon vol-au-vents with an apple and walnut salad. Each course was paired with a complementary wine, donated from The Grapevine wine store, just off Main Street. By using the extra help from the restaurant, the hotel proved that it could still cater to such a large crowd and big occasion, the plates appearing and being removed seamlessly. The other helpers, local teenage regulars from Pebbles Café, had been warned: No dawdling or messing and no idle chatter.

The arrival of the second course brought a collective chuckle from the guests: it was Anna’s famous roast chicken, with a side of her colcannon, green beans and honey glazed carrots. Elle had been unsure how this course would be received, wondering if perhaps people might expect something that was more ‘high cuisine’.

But it was perfect. It had been one of the things Anna was best known for, after all.

Dessert was decadent slivers of chocolate fudge cake, mini-chocolate and vanilla cheesecakes (Elle had tried her utmost to revive the famed recipe from her childhood) and a selection of fresh fruit from SunBurst Organics. Everything was petite so as not to overfill the guests for what was to come next.

At the end of dinner, Elle stood up and raised her glass. ‘I would like to thank you all for coming,’ she said. ‘We are here tonight in the hope of saving the hotel, but most of all, we are also here to remember our wonderful mother. Anna would have loved an evening like this, and she especially would have enjoyed what is to follow.’ She grinned. ‘I hope you’ve all brought some energy, because you’re going to need it!’

Chapter 34

Ned went into the kitchen and congratulated the kitchen staff on a job well done.

‘Leave these dishes to the youngsters,’ he said to Molly. ‘You’ve earned yourself a rest.’

The older woman’s eyes were shining. ‘Anna would have been so proud,’ she said. ‘Wouldn’t it have been brilliant if . . .’ Then she smiled, as if comforted by the thought that her old friend was indeed there in spirit.