The winter solstice celebration at Rowan Thorp was a tradition now firmly set in the hearts of the villagers. Each year, more and more people gathered to dance about the bonfire and sing songs of old and join the procession around the village, bestowing blessings on one another and the land and welcoming the spirit of thankfulness into their hearts.
The blessings certainly seemed to have worked on Gerry and Parminder’s orchard. Their crops had been so plentiful in the last few years that as well as donating cider to the winter solstice celebration, they had taken to bottling their own wassail and selling it in the local shops. It was very popular with tourists.
While the general merriment was open to all, the winter solstice banquet remained a village affair only. Though the village hall roof had long since been made watertight and the option of a marquee on the green was still in the cards, it was unanimously decided that the banquet should always be held in the clearing of the rowan tree woods. The patchwork tarp had been mended and reinforced, and the crockery was still a colorful mishmash pulled from many cupboards.
Star had acted as a surrogate for Simone and Evette and delivered to them little Ava North, who was now three. A few months after Ava was born, she fell unexpectedly pregnant again—this time with Duncan’s baby—and nine months later Primrose North was welcomed into the world. All her previous ambivalence at the idea of having children of her own had evaporated the moment she’d held Primrose in her arms. Star was obsessed; she hadn’t imagined a love so all-encompassing was possible until that moment. There was a time when she’d had to search for her daily dose of magic, but now her daughter supplied her with all the magic moments she could ever need.
That said, Star was not a woman who glowed during pregnancy. It had tested every ounce of her natural spark. Duncan had been consummately patient as the love of his life grumbled and grimaced her way through heartburn, swollen ankles, mood swings, backaches, insomnia, all-day sickness, and constipation during her pregnancy with Ava. Simone had once described Star’s pregnancy temperament as a cross between the Wicked Witch of the West and the Hulk, and Star, ever self-aware, had agreed with her.
When she fell pregnant again so soon after, it was decided that if she and Duncan could get through another nine months like the last, they could get through anything else life threw at them in the future. Star’s midwife was less than pleased to see her again so soon, given the risks of tightly spaced pregnancies. But despite being a self-confessed miserable cow and grumpy mule, Star was also as healthy as a horse. When their beloved Primrose finally arrived, Star immediately got a contraceptive implant and Duncan underwent a vasectomy to be doubly sure. She and Duncan were united in their decision to pour all their love into their daughter and that Star should never become pregnant again.
After a happy trial run, Simone and Evette moved permanently to Rowan Thorp. They opened a joint practice on the high street, called Mind & Body, where Simone eased the villagers’ physical aches and Evette took care of their mental health. Simone’s days of freebie physiotherapy consultations in storerooms around the village were thankfully a thing of the past and she now received proper remuneration for her professional services. A year after Ava was born, the couple welcomed a daughter into their family via adoption, a four-year-old named Natalia, who epitomized all the mischief of the North sisters combined, and their family was complete.
The three little cousins were the apples of everyone’s eyes and had their aunty Maggie and uncle Joe wrapped around their little fingers. It was an endless source of joy to Simone and Star that their children would grow up so close together, both in age and proximity.
Star and Duncan reopened North Novelties & Curios, and it was by far the most popular shop on the high street, bringing in tourists from far and wide. Duncan kept his links with Sotheby’s and still did some freelance appraisal work for them. Star surprised everyone by completing an Open University degree in art history, and her natural eye for spotting a hidden gem at flea markets was even keener than Augustus’s.
When Patrick finished his degree, he got a job in Dorset, and Louella joined him soon after. Joe had become Patrick’s go-to for all matters of electric, career, and man-to-man advice. Patrick and Louella saved enough holiday each year so that they could spend three weeks in Rowan Thorp at Christmas. Maggie always cried happy tears when Patrick finally arrived and she had all her ducks in a row.
Verity was now fifteen with a stroppy age exactly appropriate for a fifteen-year-old. She was rebellious and forthright, and Maggie secretly loved that her daughter was such a force of nature, even as she grounded her and slapped her with curfews on school nights. She didn’t even really mind the tattoo that Verity had had done illegally, though she’d made a good show of parental outrage at the time. Despite her often prickly demeanor, Verity was a gooey blob of softness with her little cousins. Natalia had already decided she was going to have tattoos like Verity when she was a big girl.
With the proceeds from sales of the Hilliard and several other choice items, Maggie and Joe had saved enough money to take over the mortgage from the village of Rowan Thorp and now owned the grocer’s and the large flat above it outright. Between them, they had completely refurbished the flat and made it truly their own. They had also taken on two part-time employees in the grocer’s, which meant Saturday mornings were now for staying snuggled up in bed till 8 a.m. followed by a leisurely breakfast for two at Betty’s.
That first flush of love and passion had never waned for Maggie and Joe, and it continued to grow year on year as they settled into a life of togetherness. Maggie would never tire of stealing kisses with Joe and Joe would never stop feeling proud to have Maggie by his side; after having to hide their love for so long, Joe still reveled in the feeling of Maggie’s hand clasped in his as they walked down the street.
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It was the morning of December 21, the day of the winter solstice celebration, and the North family were sat together in Star and Duncan’s garden—formerly Augustus’s—on four large garden sofas. They wore thick coats and hats and hugged steaming paper cups of coffee—hot chocolate for the children—which Maggie and Joe had brought from Betty’s café. Artemis was curled up asleep on a folded blanket. It was the quiet before the storm . . . well, relatively speaking; the children were definitely making themselves heard.
“This coffee doesn’t taste very strong. Is this a single shot?” Verity asked.
“Yes,” said Joe.
“I have a double shot now,” she replied, in that way teenagers have of making statements lilt up at the end like a question.