The Spring of Second Chances - Tilly Tennant Page 0,1

After Vik’s death, she had locked her heart away and it had withered. She had believed that nothing or no one could bring her back from that point. But that was before Jack’s blue eyes had smiled at her, before those dimples that played at the corners of his mouth had worked their peculiar magic, before his soft voice and attentive nature had taken her by surprise with their power to charm and heal what she thought was forever broken. Some days she was frightened by it all. Sometimes, in her darker moments, the old pangs of guilt returned, and she clung onto the memory of Vik, forcing herself to remember his face and his voice for fear they would disappear for good. And in those darker moments were the conflicting emotions, the fear that by conjuring up Vik, she was somehow being unfaithful to Jack, and that karma or fate, or whatever strange and invisible power ruled the universe, would take him and Maria from her as punishment for her ingratitude. The only thing she ever knew for certain was that when she was with Jack, everything felt right and good. She held onto those feelings and tried to cherish them while she could.

‘Come on!’ Jack called, shaking Phoebe from her musings. ‘Maria’s got two already!’

She realised, with some surprise, that she was standing in the middle of the still frosted lawn. She must have looked like a brain-addled loon, staring into space with the absent smile she could feel on her lips.

‘Three!’ Maria shouted from the depths of the Leylandi hedge.

Phoebe adjusted her own rabbit headband, waggled her bum to shake the bunny tail she had attached, and twitched her nose, sticking her teeth out and sniffing the air. ‘Bunny powers – activate!’ she cried as Maria, watching her, dissolved into a fit of new giggles. ‘All the chocolate will be mine!’

Racing over to the trees, she pretended to barge Maria aside and proceeded to snuffle around in the bedding plants like a deranged pig on a crack-fuelled truffle hunt. Maria’s giggles became shrieks of delight, all thoughts of her own search forgotten as she watched Phoebe’s larking about become more and more absurd. She glanced up to see that Jack was watching too, a huge grin spread across his face. Phoebe sent a radiant smile back, and then pulled Maria’s arm to join her.

‘We’re bunnies!’ Maria protested in between gales of laughter.

‘We’re bunny-pig mutants,’ Phoebe replied. ‘Go with it girl!’

‘Found another one!’ Maria suddenly squeaked, pulling a bright pink egg from the undergrowth and holding it aloft with a look of triumph.

‘You’re good…’ Phoebe held up her hand for a high five. ‘I need to get a move on or there’ll be nothing left.’

And that was when she saw it, glinting from within the thorny branches of a wild raspberry bush: a sliver of gold. ‘Aha!’ she cried, carefully reaching inside to retrieve it. She winked at Maria. ‘I do believe that’s now four: one. Never underestimate the Man United of Easter egg hunting; comebacks are always possible.’ As she dropped it into her basket, she noticed this particular egg gave a dull clunk, as if it was made of something harder than chocolate. Then she saw the label.

To Phoebe. A special egg.

With a glance at Maria, who was now scouring a patch of primula as if her life depended on it, Phoebe turned her attention back to the egg with a puzzled frown.

‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ Jack asked from behind her.

‘You made me jump!’ Phoebe laughed, blushing without knowing why.

‘Well?’

‘It’s against the rules of the game, isn’t it?’

‘I don’t think anyone’s looking,’ he whispered.

Her hand was trembling a little now, but she did as she was asked, and carefully removed the gold wrapping. Beneath, was an enamel egg, decorated with intricate gold swirls and interlocking spring flowers. She held it up and gave him a brief kiss. ‘It’s lovely. Thank you.’

‘Open it.’

Now, her heart was beating like a steam engine. Fear of what she might find inside crept in. This was too soon, wasn’t it? How could she say no without ruining everything they had? But how could she say yes? They’d been together barely four months. She was happy now; why did he have to go and complicate things?

‘I haven’t put a bomb in there, if that’s what you’re worried about,’ he said with a playful nudge.

A bomb might feel less dangerous right now, Phoebe thought. Locating the seam, she took a deep