Page 53 of A Recipe for Romance

‘But I know you’re so busy at the moment,’ I protested, remembering what Poppy had said.

‘If I can set it up for early next week, I’ll be able to do it.

We can leave right after morning prayers and then perhaps Mike will say the evening ones, if he’s free, or people can just have private prayer if not.

We’ll be back next day. But if it’s not early next week, then it will have to be after Easter, I’m afraid. ’

‘Thank you, that would make everything very much easier,’ I said, because I found I did want to see the man who had so carelessly fathered me, from sheer curiosity if for no other reason, even if I was also very nervous about it.

Raffy walked me back home and came in for long enough to get Carr Blackstock’s email address. I gave him a jar of my chocolate and ginger spread too, since I’d made enough for Jake as well as Zillah, forgetting he was going to be away. It doesn’t keep that long.

I only hope Maria Minchin doesn’t come after me with a steak tenderiser, but I don’t really think murder runs in families, and anyway, Salford’s was a crime passionnel , not a spat over a jar of ganache.

Raffy came back again next day – or rather, he visited Grumps and then Zillah let him through the museum door into the cottage.

‘Gentleman caller!’ she announced, just like last time.

‘Hi,’ I said from the desk, where I was just finishing typing up Grumps’ latest chapter of Satan’s Child . Unless he suddenly went off at a tangent again, tomorrow’s chapter should be the last.

I rattled off the final sentence and pressed save, then swivelled round. ‘Finished! Come through to the sitting room. Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?’

‘I didn’t want to disturb you, if you’re busy.’

‘I’ll have to start packing chocolate orders in a minute, but I would have had a drink and ten minutes first, anyway. So, what’s it to be?’

‘Not tea – I’ve had enough of that doing my visits. It’s usually either that or very weak instant coffee.’

‘It was pretty keen of you to decide to visit everyone in the parish. I mean, most of them don’t go to church at all, and those who do probably go to a different one.’

‘You’d be surprised how welcoming most of them are, though. I just want to meet them all and say I’m there for them, no matter what denomination they are, and also that they are welcome to join me at evening prayers, if they want to.’

‘And do they?’

‘Quite a few drift in and sit for a while. Perhaps they find a moment’s peace after a busy day.’

‘Mmm…’ I was brewing up hot chocolate, while thinking that I still found it hard to replace the old Raffy with the new one. He may have had a Damascene conversion, but I hadn’t. Sometimes I managed to get one transparency on top of the other, but then they would suddenly slide apart again.

‘You know, for years I thought you were a cheap blended forastero chocolate, but then I started to think maybe you were a reasonable criollo, after all.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ he said with a grin. That smile and the sparkling eyes must have been laying waste to the hearts of his female parishioners.

He’d come to tell me that he’d emailed Carr Blackstock on my behalf and already had a reply. We were to have our meeting at Raffy’s Notting Hill flat after lunch on Tuesday!

‘My name obviously didn’t mean anything to him, but he seemed reassured that your vicar would vouch for you having no intention of trying to profit from the relationship.’

‘Thank you for organising that,’ I said gratefully.

‘We’ll set out early in the morning, right after prayers, if that’s OK?

I’ve already spoken to Mike and he’s free to go in that evening, and Mr Lees will make sure the church is unlocked in the morning and locked at night, as usual.

I’ll leave Arlo with the Minchins, because he’s really taken to Salford.

He’s taken to you too – he tries to drag me in here every time we pass. ’

‘I expect it’s the smell of the chocolate, though it isn’t good for dogs.’ I paused. ‘It really is kind of you to set all this up and go with me to London. I feel much braver knowing you’ll be there, because Carr Blackstock doesn’t sound terribly friendly.’

‘It’s the least I can do – and don’t worry,’ he said reassuringly, ‘I’ll look after you.’

I finally told Zillah about the letters I’d found, and my father turning out to be someone other than Chas, and she was not in the least surprised. I expect she’ll tell all to Grumps too, which will save me having to do it.

‘I always knew it wasn’t Chas Wilde,’ she said.

‘I only wish it was,’ I replied, and then when I explained about Raffy arranging the meeting and mediating, she insisted on reading my cards again.

They looked complicated, but she read them quickly, while I was still trying to figure the meaning out upside down, then whipped the pack back together.

‘Just as I thought,’ she said darkly, but then infuriatingly refused to explain.

Felix and Poppy would probably barely register my absence. They kept drifting together like two magnetic ladybirds, but without seeming to get any further. What kind of push would it take actually to propel them into each other’s arms?

Perhaps, I thought I should get Raffy, in his capacity as vicar, to ask Felix if his intentions towards Poppy are honourable.

Practically the whole village turned out for the Palm Sunday walk around the boundaries, brought together by a spirit of solidarity and, in my case, gratitude to Raffy and a desire to distract myself from worrying about Tuesday’s meeting.

The local press and TV station were out in force to cover the blessing of the Plague Pit Field, which Raffy performed very movingly, speaking with a sincerity you couldn’t mistake, while also looking ravishingly handsome with the wind catching his black hair and flipping his white surplice about.

I reckoned I was slowly getting used to this new, improved Raffy…