The Newcomer

Penny smiled at the memory.

And now Brazil was only a week away.

The essentials for their new life were already crated and stowed on the deck of a container ship, crossing the Atlantic.

Penny looked for the big roll of parcel tape and placed the last two of Jenna’s belongings – a magic set and a radio-controlled puppy – into the final box, sticking it down securely.

‘Right, you lot,’ she said, straightening up. ‘It’s only for a year. Twelve little months and we’ll have you out of storage and back here before you know it.’ She looked around the familiar room. ‘And you four walls, you are going to be home to the new family. Look after them, but don’t forget us.’

A woman’s voice called up the stairs, ‘Hello-o! Anyone fancy a sandwich?’

Penny went to the landing and looked over the banisters to see the auburn hair and freckly face of her best friend, Helen.

‘You are an angel. What you got?’

Helen beamed up at her and swung a Marks and Spencer bag. ‘Prawn salad, cheese and pickle or cream cheese and cucumber.’

‘Crisps?’

‘Salt and vinegar.’

Later, the kitchen table strewn with the remains of the ad hoc lunch and glasses of squash, Simon dusted the crumbs from his fleece and stood up.

‘Thank you, Helen. Would you think me rude if I whizzed off to the tip? I’ve got the car loaded and I want to empty it before I pick Jenna up from school.’

‘Go for it,’ Helen approved.

Penny chipped in, ‘There’s a pile of bin liners full of rubbish at the bottom of the stairs, if you can fit them in.’

He dropped a kiss onto the top of her head. ‘No problem. See you later.’

Penny patted his bum as he went by her. ‘Jenna loves it when you pick her up.’

Once Penny and Helen were alone, Helen leant across the table and put her hand over her friend’s. ‘How are you feeling? Really?’

Penny slumped her head onto the table. ‘Exhausted. Anxious. Homesick already.’

‘I’d be the same.’

Penny lifted her head. ‘Would you? I’ve tried so hard to keep upbeat for Simon because this is so important to him.’

‘Tell me what you’re worried about.’

‘Jenna getting ill and no decent hospital to look after her. Insects in the house. Snakes. Lizards. Robbers. Earthquakes.’

Helen began to smile. ‘So, not much then.’

‘And worst of all, I’m going to miss you.’ Penny gripped Helen’s hand. ‘What is a woman without her best friend? The woman who knows all her secrets. Who’s going to make me laugh, bring sandwiches, wine and gossip?’

‘How do you think I’ll feel without you?’ countered Helen. ‘Who am I going to complain about Piran to?’

Penny sniffed and wiped her eyes. ‘You’ll just have to strangle him.’

‘You’re right.’ Helen sighed. ‘Easier than divorce.’

‘You’re not married,’ said Penny.

‘Oh, yeah. Well, I could walk out on him.’

‘But you don’t even live together,’ Penny smiled.

‘Thank God!’ Helen laughed.

Penny stood and went to the fridge. ‘I’ve got half a bottle of rosé that needs drinking. Fancy a drop?’

‘Is my name Helen Merrifield?’

Penny took two glasses from a cupboard and poured equal measures of wine into them.

‘To me,’ she said, raising her glass.

‘To you,’ replied Helen. She took a mouthful. ‘I wonder if the new vicar drinks?’

‘Probably not. She looks a bit mousy. No, that’s unfair. Shall we say, natural. No make-up. Very petite. I think she might be one of those women who run for fun.’

‘But her husband is a dish.’

‘Did I tell you that?’

‘Several times.’

‘Well, he is. When we met them at Bishop William’s, I couldn’t believe how handsome he was. Think Cary Grant with a drop of George Clooney.’

‘I am.’

‘And he’s nice. Charming. Very attentive to Angela.’

‘What does he do?’

‘I think he said he was a political writer. To be honest, I was so busy looking at him that I forgot to listen to what he was saying. I’m expecting you to get all the lowdown and Skype me with every detail.’

‘What about the daughter?’

‘I didn’t meet her. But I think she’s around fourteen or fifteen. Something like that. Probably at the fat and spotty stage.’

Helen gave Penny a knowing look. ‘You’re feeling better. I can always tell. Your inner bitch comes out.’

As they laughed together as only old friends can, a wave of homesickness overwhelmed Penny.

‘Oh, I do hope we’ll be OK, and that they will be happy here – this house, this village … well, I couldn’t have been happier here and–’

Helen interrupted her before she could get into a panic. ‘You’ll be home before you know it. What could possibly go wrong in a vicarage?’

And with knowing smiles, they settled in for a good old gossip.

‘Don’t use the sitting room,’ Penny yelled four days later as Simon put his hand to the door handle.

He blinked. ‘I only want to watch the news.’

‘You’ll have to watch it on the little telly in the kitchen.’ She steered him away. ‘Also, no using the downstairs loo, or either of the spare bedrooms or your office.’

‘But I need my office.’

‘Out of bounds, I’m afraid,’ said Penny, pushing him towards the kitchen. ‘Helen and I scrubbed this house from top to bottom. Forensics would never know we lived here.’

‘This is slightly ridiculous. Angela and Robert don’t arrive until the day after tomorrow,’ Simon said, exasperated.

Penny shrugged. ‘Them’s the rules, I’m afraid. And tonight’s supper is fish and chips from the chip shop because I’ve cleaned the Aga. And tomorrow night, Helen and Piran are cooking for us. Our last supper.’

Simon took Penny in his arms and squeezed her. ‘I haven’t said thank you, have I?’

Penny tipped her head up to look at her husband. ‘What for?’

‘For doing all this for me.’ His chocolate eyes behind their glasses took in her deep blue ones. ‘For taking on this huge upheaval and not complaining once.’

‘Haven’t I? I’m sure I have.’

‘Shut up. Just, thank you.’

‘My pleasure.’ She reached up and kissed him. ‘Now go and get the fish and chips.’

The following evening, Simon, Penny and Jenna trooped across the village green to Helen’s little cottage. Gull’s Cry was as welcoming as always, sitting in its beautiful garden, the path lined with lavender from gate to front door. Wisteria was starting to break into flower around the eaves and, as ever, a fat candle sitting in a bell jar shone in each of the two downstairs windows. The thick front door with its heavy metal dolphin knocker opened before they got to it and a small Jack Russell bounded out to greet them.

The silhouette of Piran Ambrose stood framed in the glow spilling from within.

‘Come in, come in, me ’andsome.’ He shook Simon’s hand. They were old and unlikely friends, who had grown up together.

‘’Ello, maid, come in out of the cold,’ he said to Jenna, putting his huge fisherman’s hand onto the little girl’s shoulder. ‘The fire’s lit.’

‘Hello Uncle Piran.’ She smiled shyly at the man she adored and bent down to tickle the little dog. ‘Hello, Jack.’

Penny entered last and Piran kissed her cheek. ‘All right, Pen? All set for the big day?’

‘I think so. Too late if we’re not.’

Helen came from the kitchen drying her hands on a tea towel and welcomed them all. ‘Piran, open the wine, would you, and there’s a bottle of elderflower cordial for Jenna.’

‘Something smells good,’ sniffed Simon appreciatively.

‘Piran has made his famous lobster curry for you,’ Helen told them. ‘Couldn’t let you go without a proper Saturday night supper in you.’

‘That was delicious,’ Simon said, putting his knife and fork together neatly on his plate.

‘You’ll be eating some different kind of grub in Brazil, I ’spect,’ said Piran, wiping up the last of the curry sauce with a slice of French bread.

‘I’m going to miss you, Uncle Piran.’ Jenna had eaten every scrap. ‘I love your cooking.’

‘Now listen, maid, it won’t be too long before me and thee are back on Trevay harbour pulling in those mackerel.’

‘Can I gut them when I come back? I’ll be eight by then.’

‘Eight, is it? You’m growing up fast. I tell you what, when you get back I’ll have a proper fisherman’s knife waiting for you. How about that?’

Penny butted in, ‘Is that a good idea?’

Simon stopped her. ‘It’s a very good idea. Jenna is growing up a Cornish woman and a Cornish woman knows how to use a knife and gut a fish.’ He turned to Jenna. ‘It’s in your blood.’

‘Is it?’ she asked, looking at her hands and spreading the fingers. ‘Cool.’

‘Absolutely,’ agreed Piran. ‘Now, there’s a little tube of Smarties in the sitting room waiting for you, as long as Jack hasn’t had ’em. You can sit on the sofa and watch some telly together.’

Jenna needed no further encouragement and skipped off, calling Jack to join her.

‘It’s going to be a big change for her,’ said Piran, watching them, ‘but it’ll do her the world of good. Growing up in a little village ain’t always a good thing.’

‘It was good enough for us.’ Simon reminded him. ‘You couldn’t wait to come back after you got your Ph.D. Cornish history is in your DNA.’

‘True, true. But where would I be if I didn’t have you to keep me on the straight and narrow? My best mate a vicar. I’m still in shock.’

Helen placed a cup of coffee in front of him. ‘You’d be a bloody rogue without Simon acting as your conscience. He’s your Jiminy Cricket.’ She handed Penny and Simon their coffees and sat down. ‘So how is tomorrow shaping up? Angela and Robert still coming to be introduced to us all?’

‘Yes.’ Simon spooned some brown sugar into his mug. ‘They’re staying over in Lostwithiel tonight with an old friend of Robert’s. I think they were at school together. Then they’ll drive over. Should only take half an hour at that time on a Sunday morning.’

‘The handover will be the hardest thing,’ said Penny. ‘But better to keep it short.’

‘You’ll have a full church tomorrow, mind,’ said Piran, smiling. ‘They nosy lot round here will be breaking their necks to check out the new vicar. They’m desperate to see the woman. Audrey Tipton and her wet husband will be front of the queue, you’ll see.’

Penny laughed. ‘You’re so right. And Queenie. I was in the shop the other day and she was desperately mining me for information.’

‘Oh God, she’ll bring out the ancient mothballed fur coat for the great occasion,’ laughed Helen.

‘The fur and perhaps the green velvet hat with the feathers and the net veil that she thinks make her look like the Duchess of Cornwall,’ chuckled Penny fondly.

‘How does she keep going with the post office and all those cigarettes she smokes? I do worry about her. How old do you think she is now?’ Helen asked.

‘She came here from the East End as an evacuee as a young girl,’ said Simon. ‘So she must be …’ he shut his eyes and calculated, ‘… about eighty-five-ish?’

A chill ran through Penny. ‘I hope nothing happens to her while we are away.’

Helen tutted. ‘Nothing is going to happen to her. She’s pickled in nicotine and her mind is as sharp as a razor. She can still add up quicker than a bookie. I promise you, she’s not going anywhere.’

‘Mumma?’ A tired Jenna wandered in, cuddling little Jack like a baby. His paws were limp and his eyes blinking. ‘Can we go now?’

Piran lifted Jack from her. ‘Bleddy dog. Spoilt, he is.’ He ruffled Jack’s ears and kissed his nose.

‘He loves that dog more than he loves me,’ said Helen, shaking her head.

‘Well, I’ve known ’im longer than I’ve known you. We share history.’

‘Bye-bye, Jack,’ said Jenna sleepily. ‘Bye-bye, Uncle Piran. You won’t forget my fisherman’s knife, will you?’

‘Certainly not. Auntie Helen and I will have it here the minute you get back.’

Saying their goodbyes, Simon scooped Jenna up in his arms, and led his beloved little family back to the vicarage.

Later, snuggled in bed with the lights out, Penny had a sense of foreboding. She fidgeted over to Simon, whose warmth comforted her. He reached an arm around her. ‘You OK?’ he asked sleepily.

‘Yes. Just thinking about how different the village might be when we get back.’

‘It’ll be the same as always,’ Simon told her. ‘Nothing changes in Pendruggan. Take it from me.’

That night, Penny had a torrid dream. Their container ship was sunk by a terrible Atlantic storm, taking all their possessions to the seabed. Her father was there and tried desperately to save everything but, after many dives, was finally swallowed into the murky depths. She woke up gasping, but as she lay in her bed next to her sleeping husband, she heard the high-pitched wail of a strong wind coming off the sea and the rattle of heavy rain.

She turned over to be closer to Simon and tried to shake off the bad feeling that still lingered.

‘It’s just an ordinary Cornish storm,’ she told herself. ‘And a simple anxiety dream. Everything will be OK.’

Eventually she did sleep, while outside, the storm raged, shaking Jenna’s cherry tree and running up the beach on Shellsand Bay to wash away the great walls of the sand dunes.

But when Simon woke, first as he usually did, the sky was the cleanest, washed-out blue, without a cloud. The sun was rising and bringing with it the first promise of summer warmth.

In the kitchen as he waited for the kettle to boil, he opened the back door and saw the wind-strewn leaves of Jenna’s cherry tree on the lawn and the slender necks of the daffodils bent to the earth. But today was not a day to grieve over nature. Today he needed all his emotional strength to hand his flock over to their new caretaker, Angela.

2

‘Well?’ The suspense was killing Robert. ‘Are we going to Cornwall?’

Angela’s heart was racing, the pulse in her throat throbbing. She lifted her eyes from the letter in her hand and said, in a quivering voice, ‘Yes.’

Robert ran to where she stood in the hall. ‘Woo hoo.’ He lifted her off her feet. ‘Congratulations.’ He squeezed her hard and without letting her go called up the stairs, ‘Faith! Mum got the job! We are going to live by the sea for a whole year!’

‘Great,’ came the muffled reply.

‘Well, come on. Come down and I’ll make a celebratory breakfast. Bacon sandwiches all round!’

‘Dad, it’s Saturday. I want to sleep.’

‘Let her be,’ said Angela fondly.

‘But it’s already eleven. She should be down here with us, celebrating.’

‘Darling.’ She kissed the top of his handsome head. ‘Put me down and we’ll have breakfast together. Just the two of us.’

‘I’m so proud of you.’ He gave her another tight hug, then set her back on her feet.

A short while later, Robert placed the bacon sandwich in front of her. ‘Tea or coffee?’

‘Tea, please.’ Angela bit into the soft white bread and butter, and found the bacon crispy and warm. ‘The food of the gods,’ she said.

Robert put a mug of tea in front of her, then sat down with his own sandwich and coffee. ‘The vicarage is going to feel huge after this little house.’

‘It will.’ Angela looked out of the kitchen window onto their tiny but neat courtyard garden. ‘I shall miss this, though.’

‘Oh, I won’t,’ Robert said through a mouthful of bread. ‘Farewell west London, hello west coast.’

‘You’ll miss work.’

‘No.’

‘Yes, you will. It’s your meat and drink.’

He wiped his mouth with a piece of kitchen towel. ‘We have talked all this through. Finish your sandwich.’

‘When will you let work know?’

‘I’ll talk to Gordon on Monday. It won’t come as a surprise. He told me you’d get the job.’

‘He’s been so good to you. To us.’

‘Yeah. He’s a good bloke.’

Angela stirred her tea. ‘And you are sure? About having a year off?’

He put the last of his sandwich in his mouth. ‘Absolutely. All those dark rainy nights standing on College Green or outside the door of Number Ten, shouting questions that won’t or can’t be answered to politicians who are as clueless as the rest of us.’

‘I’m not sure Cornwall will offer any of the excitement you’re used to.’

‘But I shall have a new job. Househusband extraordinaire …’

‘Not quite as exciting.’

He shook his head. ‘Look, you have always been there for me, never minding when the office ring at ungodly hours to send me out on a story, never refusing a camera crew a bed for the night, always taking the burden of domestic responsibility. It’s my turn to look after you.’

Angela put her hand on his knee and her head on his shoulder. ‘I am so lucky.’

‘The good people of Penwhatsit are luckier.’

‘Pendruggan.’

He raised his coffee mug. ‘To my wife. The vicar of Pendruggan.’

She laughed. ‘Vicar for a year, anyway. I hope I can do it.’

Robert grew serious. ‘Darling, Ange.’ He took the hand she had on his knee and lifted it to his lips. ‘What you will be doing is a million times more worthwhile than any television news report. You are doing yourself and me and Faith proud.’

‘I hope Mum would be proud of me too.’

‘She’s smiling down on you as we speak.’

3

Penny took a last look around her bedroom as she rummaged for her emergency packet of tights in her flight bag.

‘I hope Angela will like this place,’ she muttered uneasily.

Simon poked his head round the door. ‘Hurry up. I want us to get to church before Angela arrives. Jenna’s ready.’

‘I had a ladder so I’ve got to put these new ones on.’ She sat on the bed and rolled the expensive flesh-toned, ten-denier tights gently so as not to snag them.

‘We’ve got to go.’

‘I can’t hurry this. They snag so easi— oh shit, look what you’ve made me do.’ She glanced up to find he’d already gone and glanced back to see the pull in the fine mesh. ‘Bugger, bugger.’

Jenna came in wearing her new grey, buttoned coat, white socks and red shiny shoes. ‘Come on, Mumma, Daddy says he’s going without you.’

Penny pushed her feet into her taupe suede heels and grimaced at the pinch on her little toes.

‘OK, OK. I’m ready.’ She got to her feet, tottering slightly, then gained her balance. She sucked in her core muscles and made her way down the stairs in Jenna’s wake.

Simon was fussing with his dog collar. ‘Does it look all right?’

She gave him a once-over from top to bottom. ‘Perfect. How about me?’

Simon was already looking for the door keys. ‘Hmm?’

‘Will I do?’

Without turning his head, he replied, ‘Yes, yes. Lovely as always. Right, let’s go.’

The birds were singing in the churchyard and tulips and forget-me-nots were pushing their way up among the damp headstones. Simon strode ahead of Penny, deep in thought. Penny saw the tense set of his shoulders and the nervous way he had of reaching up to smooth his bald head. She understood that today was going to be difficult for him, difficult for them all, and her love and empathy flowed to him. The last couple of months had been fraught with things to organise and she had done her best to take the strain of the domestic arrangements from him.

Goodness only knew how the caretaker vicar, Angela, was feeling. Pendruggan was to be her first proper parish. The poor woman hadn’t even seen the vicarage yet, not in the flesh. Penny had shown her around on FaceTime but that was it. To make things easier, Angela and Robert had been delighted for Penny to leave her furniture behind so that there was the least upheaval for them all.

And now, the day to hand over the vicarage had arrived.

Penny and Jenna caught up with Simon as he unlocked the side door into the vestry. ‘Nice and warm. Good,’ he said, hanging his coat on the worn wooden peg above the radiator. He checked his watch. ‘Ten minutes before they are due.’

The door connecting the vestry to the main church opened and a well-built woman wearing a tweed suit and a steel head of hair strode in. ‘Morning, Vicar.’

‘Ah, good morning, Audrey. Thank Geoffrey for turning on the heating, would you. Most grateful.’

Audrey was at her most domineering. She was feared by almost everyone, Piran being the exception. She turned her gimlet eyes to Penny, who immediately felt inadequate. ‘Mrs Canter, perhaps you can solve the mystery of my floral decorations?’

Penny swallowed hard but stood her ground. ‘Do you mean my clematis?’

Audrey found the most withering of challenging looks in her arsenal of withering looks. ‘I do. Please explain.’

Penny stopped herself from buckling. ‘My early clematis has just come into bloom and I thought it might, er,’ she searched for the word, ‘soften the structure of your altar arrangements.’

‘Soften?’ Audrey boomed.

‘Yes, the, erm … boldness of your design was, er … striking indeed, but maybe a little too harsh for the … welcoming theme of the day?’ she ended limply.

‘Harsh, Mrs Canter?’ Audrey Tipton took a step towards Penny but was interrupted by the arrival of her husband, Geoffrey, a man so henpecked and blustering he was known by the villagers as Mr Audrey Tipton.

‘Ah, Audrey, there you are,’ he panted.

Audrey became alert. ‘Are they here?’

Simon swallowed nervously and felt for his dog collar. ‘Angela has arrived?’

‘Where?’ barked Audrey.

‘Just parking,’ replied Geoffrey.

Audrey moved to get through the vestry door and out to greet them ahead of Simon, but Simon beat her to it. Penny smiled sweetly and pushed past Audrey too, pulling Jenna behind her. ‘Welcome to Pendruggan,’ beamed Simon as Angela got out of the front passenger seat. ‘How was your journey?’

‘We were a little early.’ Angela smiled at her husband, Robert, who was stretching his legs and closing the driver’s door. ‘So we went down to Trevay to have a look at it. So pretty.’

Robert walked round the car and shook Simon’s hand. ‘Hello. Good to see you again.’

Penny stepped forward and kissed Angela. ‘Welcome, at last!’ She turned to Robert, who was even more handsome than she remembered. She tried not to gush. ‘Hi, Robert. Welcome to Pendruggan.’

Out of the back seat unfolded a tall girl wearing a pair of super-tight white jeans, a crop top and a leather biker jacket. Her hair was long and streaked. Her face had all the sullen chubbiness of a teenager but Penny could tell she was a chrysalis ready to emerge as a beautiful woman.

‘And this our daughter, Faith,’ said Angela proudly.

‘Hello,’ said Penny. She pointed to Jenna. ‘And this is our daughter, Jenna.’ The Tiptons were pushing forward now, Audrey ready to assert her status as head of virtually everything in the village.

And then she saw Robert and gulped.

Tall, dark and handsome. His navy-blue eyes took in the sight of the gathering crowd of gaping villagers. A devastatingly attractive smile grew on his lips.

Angela introduced him, ‘And this is Robert, my husband.’

Penny swore later that the gathered women, and a couple of the men, fairly swooned.

Simon, totally oblivious to this sudden swirl of sexual tension, took Angela’s arm and chatted his way with her into the church. ‘I am so looking forward to meeting everybody.’

The church was packed. Penny, in the front pew, had Jenna on her left, Robert on her right and Angela on his right. She couldn’t help but notice that not only did Robert look good, he smelt good too.

The congregation stood for the first hymn as Simon, the church warden and the choir processed from the back of the church to the altar.

Penny looked around for Helen and Piran but couldn’t see them. Nor could she see Queenie. A spasm of worry unsettled her again. What if something had happened to her? Were Helen and Piran calling an ambulance?

Robert noticed her fidgeting. ‘Are you OK?’ he whispered. ‘Can I do anything to help?’