The Barn on Half Moon Hill Read Free Page A

own unique way.
    â€˜S’dim byd fedrwch chi wancyrs ddim cocio fyny’n llwyr, y ffycars rhyngwladol ddiwerth
?’ He was screaming at them.
    Is there nothing you wankers couldn’t totally cock-up, you worthless international f**kers?
    Any other day, Jacques would have laughed, but smiles weren’t on his horizon at the moment. Eve turned and Jacques waved to her, moving forwards as if he had just arrived and had not been
standing watching her.
    Poor old Huw Jones the engineer was getting forty lashes from Effin’s tongue now for some adjustment or other that he’d made to the Nutcracker Express. The train either ran at a
snail’s pace or warp speed, he couldn’t seem to find any middle ground.
    â€˜Fedri di ddim wancio heb gyfarwyddiadau, fedri di, Huw Jones?’
    You couldn’t wank without instructions, could you, Huw Jones?
    â€˜What are you up to then, wifey?’ Jacques bellowed, forcing a light cheerful note in his voice.
    â€˜Oh, nothing much,’ said Eve. He noticed that her green eyes were too bright, as if she’d been crying recently. ‘Just brought an apple up for Ivan.’
    â€˜He’s better fed than me,’ said Jacques, reaching over to scratch the pony’s head. ‘He fancies you.’
    â€˜He’s an animal, Jacques,’ tutted Eve. ‘He wants my apples not my body.’
    I want your body
, Jacques was about to say but clamped his mouth shut.
    â€˜Effin’s going to have a heart attack with all that shouting,’ she went on, hearing a fresh salvo of vicious-sounding Welsh. Strangely enough, Effin’s thoughts were in
harmony with hers.
    â€˜Cocs Cymreig a phrics Pwyleg . . . newch chi fastads roi harten imi rywddydd!
’
    Welsh cocks and Polish pricks . . . you bastards will give me a heart attack someday.
    Jacques smiled. ‘He just wants everything perfect for our guest of honour.’
    â€˜I can’t believe you actually managed to get Franco Mezzaluna to come here.’ Eve shook her head, as she had so many times before at this. ‘And for free? You really can
charm the birds off the trees, can’t you?’
    But I can’t charm you at the moment, can I, my darling?
thought Jacques.
    He shrugged his shoulders modestly. ‘Don’t ask, don’t get,’ he said. ‘Which brings me to say: would you like to have lunch with me at The Sun Arms? Nothing flash.
Pie and mash, though I might throw in a tiramisu if you’re a good girl.’
    Eve opened her mouth to say that she wasn’t really hungry then she saw in Jacques’s eyes that he suspected she was going to say no. And she really shouldn’t turn him down. She
had something important to say to him but couldn’t find the words so she had shut him out and it was hurting him. He didn’t deserve to be messed around while she took time out to decide
what to do for the best.
    â€˜I’d love to,’ she said. And saw the relief flooding into his eyes.

Chapter 2
    â€˜Big day tomorrow then,’ said Becky, tossing her newly highlighted locks over her shoulder. ‘You’re seeing your
boyfriend again. You must introduce
us.’
    â€˜I will, if he can see me in the crowds,’ replied Cariad, trying to hold onto the contents of her stomach. Oh, why had she said that stupid thing all those months ago? If she
hadn’t, she would be looking forward to a night sleepless with excitement and not fear, and tomorrow would have been one of the best days of her life, seeing Franco at last, up close and
personal. If only she hadn’t been so impulsive with her money, she could have bought herself a nice flat and she wouldn’t have had to share with these two horrors. But then everyone was
wiser in retrospect, as her da always said.
    Lacey was sitting at the kitchen table, trying, and failing, not to giggle. Both she and Becky were taking the day off tomorrow to go to Winterworld