Return to Whisper Lane

By Elizabeth Walton

This book is a continuation of the book Whisper Lane. Both books are set in a lovely village, Marton cum Tiddleworth. The village is very friendly and picturesque, a wonderful place to live anyway, but several magical events happen in this village, making it even more special.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Mar 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781546289630

Elizabeth Walton

The author lives in West Yorkshire and is married with two daughters. The authors family continue to be supportive with the writing of this, the authors third book. The author has worked for many years as a nurse but as always had a passion for reading. It is this passion that has helped the author to continue writing. The author would like to thank good friend Sharon Stoner and daughter, Nicola Jayne Hill, with all the help and suggestions they have given.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

TODAY WAS SUCH A PLEASANT early spring day in 2009. Sally was outside in the garden hanging out the washing. Her three month old baby Daniel was also outside sleeping peacefully in his pram and Daniel`s three year old sister Sophie was playing close by. James, Sally’s husband, was at work today as it was a Friday. However James was taking the following week off as his sister, Melissa, was coming to stay with them for a few days.

Melissa had attended James and Sally’s wedding a few years earlier, but since then they had seen very little of her, as she had been working and living abroad. Over the last few years she had only been home to England for one or two quick trips. Sally therefore hardly knew Melissa, she had not really seen that much of her before their wedding. She had not yet met the children, her niece and nephew. Melissa had been staying for a few weeks with her parents, but now she was coming over to the village of Marton cum Tiddleworth on Sunday to stay with James and Sally, only for a few days, so she could hopefully get to know Sophie and Daniel.

Melissa had been living abroad for several years, but this time abroad came to an end after a long term relationship had broken down. The relationship had been somewhat stormy towards the end. James was not sure if Melissa was still upset over this, or maybe she was relieved that it was now over. After the relationship had broken down Melissa felt it was time for a change, and so she had decided to move back to England. Melissa was currently staying on a temporary basis with her parents while she was looking for work and was also hopefully trying to find a place of her own to live.

Sally had been looking forward to her visit, but she was also a little apprehensive as she was very aware of how little she knew Melissa. She just hoped that they would get along well together and hopefully one day they would become friends.

The house was now as clean and tidy as it was possible to be, with two small children around. The guest room was all ready for Melissa. Sally just needed to do a big supermarket shop the following day. She had planned to do this on the Saturday when she would be able to leave Sophie and Daniel with James, she knew she would be able to get round the supermarket much quicker by herself.

Sally gave a big sigh, there was not much more she could do at present. She tried to sit down for ten minutes to catch her breath and to enjoy the sunshine. Sophie though would not allow this and insisted on them both playing a game together on the lawn. Before too long however Daniel woke up. He needed to be fed and changed. Despite being busy Sally could not help but feel content with her life. She knew she should enjoy this precious time with her children, before too long it would be September and Sally would be returning to her work as a junior school teacher, although at least when she did go back it would be on a part time basis.

Friday and Saturday soon passed by and on Sunday Melissa arrived in Marton cum Tiddleworth late morning, as she had planned. Sophie had been excited all morning, jumping up and down and continually running to the window to look out for a car. Sally had just fed Daniel, and put him down for a nap. Sally thought she could hear a car coming down the narrow track, Whisper Lane, which lead to their house.

Sophie, however, was more on the ball. Mummy, Daddy, car, is this Aunty Melissa? So very few cars came down this track, the only place it led to was their house, this car therefore had to be James sister, they were certainly not expecting any other visitors.

James was quickly out of the door to greet his sister and to help with her luggage, Sophie was right behind him. Before too long, very soon after she had stepped inside the house, before she even had time to sit down, Melissa was given a tour of the house, mainly by Sophie and with a little help from James. Melissa’s case was left in the guest room for her, she would leave the unpacking until later, she wanted to catch up with the family news and gossip first.

After the tour of the house, they all settled down in the garden. Melissa told Sally how impressed she was with the house. Mum and Dad have said that you have both done well with this house, that there was a lot of renovation work to do when you first bought it, but I can see you must have put a lot of thought into the design and decoration, the house is not only large, it does also look very lovely and homely.

Today was another pleasant day, it was far too nice to be spent inside. They each had a warm drink and some homemade biscuits and enjoyed the time outdoors, catching up with the news. Daniel was once again being fed by Sally.

While they were sat there in the garden, Sally glanced up at a nearby flower bed, there were several early butterflies around, and also a small cluster of fairies. Sophie had also noticed the fairies and pointed these out excitedly to Melissa. Wow, you really do have fairies at the bottom of your garden?

James replied quite quickly to this comment, Sophie likes to think that these are fairies, but as you can see, they really are dragonflies, we do seem to get rather a lot of them, they are quite colourful.

James and Sally glanced at each other and gave each other a knowing look. They had already discussed that they would have to be very careful and not give away any of the magical secrets of their garden, or of the village itself.

Sally soon knew that she had been wrong to have felt apprehensive at all about this visit. As they were sitting there Sally started to relax, she knew Melissa would be a lovely, easy house guest, she was very cheerful and friendly. Melissa had already promised that she would babysit one evening during her stay so that James and Sally could go out for an hour or two, this would be a rare treat for them both. Melissa had already been told by her parents a little about the village and that in particular the village pub was good, with tasty home made food. She was also hoping to have a chance to visit it.

The time passed quickly and after an hour or so of relaxing in the garden Melissa went upstairs to unpack and, despite some help from Sophie, this didn’t take too long. Once Melissa had unpacked, she wanted to stretch her legs and to go and have a look at the surrounding area. They all set off together for a walk up to and around the village. Sophie led the way. Sally had remembered to take some bread for the ducks. They had a slow, leisurely walk towards the village. Sophie was constantly stopping, distracted by a bird or a butterfly or a pretty flower. Aunty Melissa was all too happy, and she had plenty of patience, to stop and have a look with Sophie.

When they arrived in the village itself they stopped for a while to feed the ducks on the village pond. Since the weather was still pleasantly warm, they also stopped to have a drink in the Duck and Cow, the village pub. Daniel had been lulled to sleep on the walk and he was now still fast asleep in his pram. They all sat together on a bench outside the pub overlooking the village green. Melissa was rather taken by just how quaint and picturesque the village was. Mum and Dad have told me a little about the village, but I hadn’t realised just how pretty it all is, you are lucky to be living here.

James and Melissa went in to the pub together to get the drinks, Melissa was also curious to see the inside of the pub. James` friend, Tony, was also in the pub. He was behind the bar serving drinks. James introduced him to Melissa, however they didn’t have any time to chat today as Tony was too busy; the good weather had brought out several of the villagers and also a good few walkers. The village and surrounding countryside was a popular place for walkers. Melissa however couldn’t help notice Tony`s lovely long wavy hair, which was caught up in a pony tail, and also his very warm, friendly smile. She was rather hoping that she might get another chance, while she was staying here in the village to spend a little more time with him, preferably at a time when he wasn`t working.

James, Sally and Melissa sat for the best part of an hour outside the pub with their drinks. Daniel slept peacefully and Sophie was quite happy running around the village green. They only stayed there for the one drink. Sally wanted to get home as she knew that very soon Daniel would need feeding again, and Sophie would also be soon getting hungry. It was also still only early spring, and by now the day had started to get a little cooler.

The rest of the day passed by pleasantly. Sally was relieved to see that Melissa was relaxed and seemed to have settled in well. She was more than happy to help out with the children. Sophie was particularly pleased when Aunty Melissa helped out at bath time.

The week of Melissa`s visit soon passed by. They had a few trips out to places that would keep Sophie amused and also to show off the surrounding district to Melissa. They also had the opportunity for a few more walks around the village. Towards the end of her stay Melissa managed to persuade James and Sally to go out for a meal one evening to the Duck and Cow, she was only too happy to look after the children. Sally did not want to leave Daniel for too long, but she was still happy to get out for an hour or two, and she enjoyed her bit of freedom.

The following day was the last of Melissa’s stay. Melissa was pleased to hear that Tony had been invited to come and share their evening meal. Tony was always pleasant company anyway, but it was good to see Tony and Melissa getting along well together; in fact they did seem to get on very well. James and Sally left them alone together for about ten minutes or so while they went to see to the children. During this time both Tony and Melissa had moved places from where they had been sitting in the living room, and they were now sitting quite cosily together on the settee, sharing and laughing over some story or other.

Melissa left the following morning, they were all rather sad to see her go, Sophie in particular. Melissa had to return to her parents house and she now had to do some serious job hunting. They agreed to keep in touch over the following weeks, mainly with phone calls, the bond between them all had grown stronger.

Only two or three weeks after Melissa’s stay, she phoned Sally and asked if she could come and spend another night or two with them. Melissa had a job interview in their area, not too far from Marton cum Tiddleworth. Melissa had not necessarily planned to move to this area, but she found that she had had to widen her search and this particular job had cropped up here, it seemed more than suitable. James would be working over these couple of days when Melissa came to stay again, but Sally was more than happy for the company.

Melissa arrived early in the afternoon. Her job interview was scheduled for the following morning in a town about ten miles away. Sally had managed to get the routine housework done early that morning, with of course some help from Sophie. When Melissa did arrive Sally was able to relax a bit so they could spend some time together. Sophie had been excited previously when Melissa had visited, at that time she was only a mysterious aunt; this time however now she knew her Aunty Melissa, Sophie was even more excited and chattered about the visit for much of the morning.

Sally thought again of how fortunate they were having such a pleasant house guest; within minutes of walking into the house Melissa had made herself at home and was very soon sitting on the floor with Sophie, joining in with a dolls tea party. The four of them spent a lovely couple of hours together, even Daniel was more than happy to be cuddled by his Aunt Melissa.

The afternoon had been very pleasant. Sally gave Sophie an early tea before bath and bed. Sally and Melissa ate later when the children were tucked up in bed and when James was home from work. They were able to have an adult conversation without being disturbed. James and Sally were both keen to hear about the job interview.

I have had several interviews and only one job offer so far. The job offer somehow just didn’t feel right. I have only been looking for work fairly close to Mum and Dads house, it just seemed easier to do so. I have now though decided to try to look for something a little further away. I had thought I would just continue to live with Mum and Dad for the time being, but I do not really want to do this for too long. If I am fortunate enough to get this job tomorrow, is there any chance you could put up with me as a lodger for a while?

James looked across at Sally who nodded consent, Sally was more than happy to consider this. The house is plenty big enough for all of us, it will also be great having such a handy baby sitter!

If I am fortunate and do move in, I will try not to outstay my welcome, and of course I will be happy to do what I can to help. Fingers crossed then, replied Sally, lets hope you are successful with this job interview. It would be lovely having you to stay.

Melissa`s interview was scheduled for ten the following morning. Therefore the three of them had a reasonably early night, James of course was working the following day and so he had to be up early. Sally could never be sure if she was going to be disturbed at some point during the night by Daniel, so she did not like to stay up too late anyway.

They were all up in good time the following morning, Sally had no choice as Daniel as usual had woken her up early, James left for work in good time, Melissa too had allowed herself plenty of time to get ready for her interview, she did look smart. She set off in good time to allow for traffic and to find somewhere to park. Afterwards Melissa had felt that the interview had gone reasonably well. She hoped it had as the working environment also seemed to be very welcoming. She would now just have to wait and see.

After she had left the interview Melissa spent some time wandering around the town trying to imagine what it would be like to live there if she had hopefully been successful. Melissa found a lovely cafe where she had a coffee. Having enjoyed her coffee she continued to wander for a while longer, the town did feel pleasant. Melissa had felt the interview had gone well, but she would not get to find out, if she had been successful or not, for another day or so yet. She did not wish to get too hopeful just in case she had not been successful, but the job had felt so right.

Melissa later returned to James and Sally’s house. She had been very easily persuaded to stay there for another night. She spent some time playing with the children and then later relaxed with James and Sally over their evening meal. Melissa left the following morning, she did not like to outstay her welcome, but promised to let Sally know as soon as there was some news.

The good news did arrive sooner then expected. Melissa phoned to let them know that same evening, she phoned once she knew the children would be tucked up in bed. James answered the phone. Melissa was so pleased with the job; the hours, the money and the working environment had all felt right. Her main concern now though was having to relocate to another area. James reassured his sister that she was more than welcome to stay with them for as long as she needed to.

We have the space, and it will be great to have such a convenient baby sitter, he teased. It will give you time to have a good look round the area and for you to find somewhere suitable where you would really like to live.

James and Sally had already between them discussed the implications of having Melissa to stay for a while. Sally had reassured James that she didn’t mind. Melissa was an easy house guest and good company.

We will have to be careful though about what we do say in front of Melissa obviously about the mysteries of this house and of the whole village. We will both have to put a stop to the visits to the old village of Marton cum Tiddleworth while Melissa is around.

From their house on Whisper Lane, they had the amazing opportunity of being able to travel back in time to their village as it was one hundred years ago. They both had friends over there and regularly enjoyed outings to their old village.

James did usually time travel back to the old village of Marton