The Beekeeper's Daughter Read Free

her mouth shut.’
    Grace sighed. ‘I’m afraid Evelyn’s probably right. Trixie has fallen for a young man who plays in a band. I don’t mind that, he’s perfectly nice, I’m sure, but . . .’
    ‘You haven’t met him?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘She told me she was going to stay the weekend in Cape Cod with her friend Suzie . . .’
    Big raised her eyebrows cynically. ‘Suzie Redford! That girl’s trouble, and wherever there’s trouble, she’s in the middle of it.’
    ‘I would honestly say they’re as bad as each other.’ Grace smiled indulgently. ‘But they’re having fun, Big, and Trixie’s in love for the first time.’
    Big looked at Grace’s gentle face, her soft hazel eyes and soft windblown hair, and shook her head at the sheer softness of the woman. ‘What am I going to do with you, Grace? You’re much too kind-hearted. So, tell me, where did they really go?’
    ‘With the band.’
    ‘Where, with the band?’
    ‘To a private concert they were giving in Cape Cod for a friend of Joe Hornby, who’s in the industry.’
    Big sipped her cocktail thoughtfully. ‘But she was found out.’
    ‘Yes, Lucy saw them all returning on a boat this morning and told her mother. Now, I imagine the whole island is talking about it. Trixie came clean before she went off to work. You know she’s got a summer job at Captain Jack’s. Anyway, I didn’t have time to talk to her. In spite of her rebelliousness, Big, she’s a good girl at heart. She confessed, at least.’
    ‘Only because she was spotted by Lucy. I’m sure she wouldn’t have told you if she thought she had got away with it. I’m afraid she’s a disgrace, my dear, and you should ground her for the rest of the holidays. In my day I would have been beaten for less.’
    ‘But it’s not your day, Big, and it’s not my day, either. Times are changing. Young people are freer than we ever were and perhaps it’s a good thing. We can disapprove of the music they listen to and the inappropriate clothes they wear, but they’re young and full of passion. They demonstrate against inequality and war – goodness, you only have to look at my poor Freddie with his one eye and that terrible scar down his face to know that there are no winners in war. They’re brave and outspoken and I rather admire them for that.’ She pressed her rough fingers against the bee brooch on her shirt. ‘They’re idealistic and foolish, perhaps, but they realize that love is the only thing that really matters.’ She turned her hazel eyes to the sea and smiled pensively. ‘I think I’d like to be young now with my whole life ahead of me.’
    Big sipped her cocktail. ‘Heavens, Grace, you baffle me sometimes. When everyone else is pulling in the reins, you’re letting them out. Is that a British trait, I wonder? Or are you just contrary? Tell me, does Freddie know about Trixie’s little adventure?’
    The mention of her husband cast a shadow over Grace’s face. ‘I haven’t told him yet,’ she replied quietly.
    ‘But you will?’
    ‘I don’t want to. He’ll be furious. But I’ll have to. Otherwise he’ll hear it from someone else. Bill Durlacher teeing off at the fifth hole, most likely!’ She laughed out of anxiety rather than merriment.
    Big’s large bosom expanded over the table at the thought of Bill Durlacher gossiping on the golf course. ‘Bill’s as bad as his wife,’ she retorted. ‘But you’re right to tell Freddie. He won’t want to be the last person on the island to know.’
    ‘He’ll be horrified, Big. He’ll give her a lecture on discipline and probably put her under house arrest for the remainder of the summer. Then she’ll spend all her time finding ways to see this boy behind our backs.’ She chuckled. ‘I know Trixie. She’s got more of me in her than she knows.’
    Big looked surprised. ‘I can’t imagine you breaking any rules, Grace.’
    ‘Oh, I wasn’t always so well-behaved.’ She smiled wistfully at the memory