Free Happy Birthday, Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly

when Doris Norris walked out of Winchester train station and looked around anxiously. She’d travelled from the Cotswolds and was meant to be meeting someone and couldn’t help feeling a mite nervous at the prospect. What would everyone at Purley Hall say? Doris had told Robyn, of course, and the sweet girl had said it was absolutely fine and had told Doris not to worry but she couldn’t help worrying all the same.
    She tutted to herself as she remembered the events that had led to her current predicament. She’d just taken a walk into the village to pick up her copy of Crochet Today and to treat herself to a bag of mint toffees when a booming voice sounded from the door of the little shop.
    ‘Don’t just stand in the doorway like that! I can’t get through!’
    Doris would have recognised that voice anywhere and turned to see the bulky figure of Mrs Soames filling the shop doorway and startling the locals.
    Mrs Soames in her village! It had been something of a shock at first but she’d soon been informed that Mrs Soames’s daughter lived in the village and that she was visiting because, in Mrs Soames’s words, she’d“gone and lost her job.”
    ‘Silly girl!’ Mrs Soames had declared, shaking her head so that her chins had wobbled most alarmingly. ‘As though jobs grow on trees these days! What was she thinking?’
    ‘Well, I’m sure it wasn’t her fault,’ Doris said with a sympathetic smile.
    Mrs Soames clicked her tongue as though nothing could be further from the truth.
    One thing had led to another and Doris had invited her back to her house for a cup of tea. She’d brought out her best china cups from the dresser but Mrs Soames grimaced as she picked hers up.
    ‘It’s chipped,’ she complained, her face sour.
    ‘Oh, I am sorry, my dear,’ Doris said. ‘My Henry chipped that in the garden one summer with his secateurs and I can’t bear to part with it. Let me get you another one.’
    Doris left the room for a brief moment and that’s when Mrs Soames had seen Katherine and Warwick’s wedding invitation sitting on the mantelpiece above the fire, her eyes scanning the words.
    Cordially invited ... Doris Norris and guest ... Purley Hall, Hampshire.
    Mrs Soames’s chest had heaved upwards as she clocked it.
    ‘And who is your guest?’ she boomed, her mouth a thin line across her face.
    Doris had simpered and dithered for a few seconds before finally relenting and inviting Mrs Soames but now, standing outside Winchester train station underneath her National Trust umbrella, she wondered if she’d made the right decision.
     
    ‘Just look at the time!’ Dame Pamela said, fanning herself with a menu. ‘For goodness’ sake, Dan, go and see if Warwick’s all right. We can’t have a wedding without the groom!’
    Dan nodded and ran up the stairs or rather he half -ran because he was now wearing his Regency attire and didn’t want to come a cropper in his fine breeches. When he reached Warwick’s room, he paused for a moment.
    ‘Keep calm,’ he told himself. ‘Don’t show him that you’re anxious. Just play it cool.’
    He rapped lightly on the door. After a few seconds had gone by, he knocked again, louder this time. ‘Warwick?’ He grimaced. His voice had sounded horribly anxious. ‘Can I come in?’ His hand closed around the door knob and he entered the room.
    And there was Warwick – still sat at the dressing table, pen in hand, wearing his old shirt and a pair of jeans.
    ‘Dan!’ he said, looking up from his writing.
    ‘Hello,’ Dan said, looking at his wrist watch in an attempt to show Warwick the importance of his call. ‘You okay?’
    ‘Super,’ Warwick said.
    ‘Only, you’re not dressed.’
    ‘No,’ Warwick said. ‘What’s the time?’
    ‘It’s three o’clock,’ Dan said.
    ‘Oh, plenty of time then,’ Warwick said and his head bowed down towards his writing again.
    Dan gulped. ‘Erm, Warwick,’ he began uneasily, ‘now’s really not the