“Amber, how come Lil is calling herself Lily now?”
“She came home from school one day and said she was fed up of being called Lil because some of the other kids were calling her Lil Lil. She announced there and then that she wanted to be called Lily.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Of course I am. As long as she’s happy, I don’t mind. I should’ve stuck to my guns and called her Lily when she was born. It would’ve saved all this messing around.”
“Fair enough. I still don’t understand how Aunt Lucy’s garden won the competition. When I saw it, it was in a terrible mess.”
“Maybe all the other entries were rubbish too,” Pearl said.
“Her next-door neighbour’s garden is beautiful. Even if all the other entries were pants, I would still have expected him to win.”
“I guess we’ll soon find out.”
Aunt Lucy was looking through the front window. As soon as she spotted us, she came running out of the house, took all three of the girls into her arms, and gave them a great big hug.
“It’s so lovely to see all three of you together at last. Are you having fun, Florence?”
“Yes, thank you, Aunt Lucy. Lily and Lily are my best friends here in Candlefield.”
“That’s lovely. I have cake and pop inside for you.”
“I’m full, Aunt Lucy.” Florence rubbed her tummy. “I had a milkshake and a bun in Cuppy C.”
“What about you two?”
The two Lilys couldn’t eat another crumb either.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
“That’s okay. Come on in. Barry’s waiting to meet you, Florence.”
“He won’t growl at me, will he?” Florence was clearly still a little nervous.
“Barry? No. He’s a big soft thing. Come on. I’ll introduce you to him.”
Florence was soon stroking Barry, who was on his best behaviour. Aunt Lucy had no doubt warned him that he mustn’t jump up around the little girls.
“Barry’s a lot bigger than Buddy, isn’t he, Mummy?”
“He is, and he has a lot more hair too.” I turned to Aunt Lucy. “What’s this the twins tell me about you winning the Candlefield in Bloom competition?”
“I did indeed.” She beamed. “Wait there.” She nipped into the lounge and came back a few moments later, holding a small silver trophy. “And here’s the proof.”
“That’s fantastic, but how did you manage it? The last time I was here, the flower bed had been wrecked.”
“Why don’t you all come and see for yourselves?”
She led the way through the house and out into the back garden.
“Wow!” I was gobsmacked to see that the flower bed was back to its former glory. “How did you manage to do that so quickly?”
“I didn’t. I woke up yesterday morning and it was like that.”
“If you didn’t do it, who did?”
“I don’t know, but I suspect it was Charlie from next door. He’s such a good sort. I think he must have come over and worked on it during the night. He’s such a selfless man because if I hadn’t won the competition, I’m sure he would’ve taken first place. As it turned out, he came second.”
“Have you asked him if he did it?”
“I haven’t had the chance. I’ve been around there a couple of times, but he wasn’t in. I think he must have gone away, which is a little surprising because he’d been really looking forward to the competition.”
Florence’s first visit to Candlefield had been a resounding success. She’d made two new friends in Lily and Lily, and even Barry had won her over. But the highlight of the visit was when Rhymes had presented her with a poem, which he’d written especially for her.
When it was time for us to go home, Florence didn’t want to leave, but I promised that we would make regular visits to Candlefield. After giving Aunt Lucy and the twins a kiss, she said goodbye to Lily, Lily and Barry, then she took my hand, and I magicked us back to the old watermill.
“Daddy!” She ran into the lounge where Jack was on the sofa. “Candlefield is brilliant.” She jumped onto his lap, crumpling the newspaper he’d been reading. “I made two new best friends called Lily and Lily.”
“That’s lovely, darling, but I thought one of the girls was called Lil?”
“No, silly, they’re both called Lily.”
Jack shot me a puzzled look.
“Lil decided she wanted to be called Lily,” I said, by way of explanation.
“Barry’s much bigger than Buddy, Daddy.”
“Is he nice?”
“Yes, he’s really friendly. We were playing with him in the back garden. And Rhymes wrote a poem for me. Would you like to hear it?”
“I—err—”
“Of course he would,” I chimed in. “Daddy loves Rhymes’ poetry.”
She took the sheet of paper out of her pocket and read out loud.
Florence is a pretty girl,
Who’s very clever as well,
The only thing that would make her better,
Is if she had a shell.
“Do you like it, Daddy?”
“It’s really great. It sounds like you had a lovely time in Candlefield.”
“I did.” Her face fell a little. “I wish you could come with us, Daddy.”
“So do I, darling, but it’s alright. I don’t mind. As long as you enjoy yourself, that’s all that matters.”
“Mummy says we can go back there again soon.” She jumped out of his lap. “Is it time to go freaky now?”
“Not yet, darling,” I said. “Freaking Tweaking doesn’t start until after lunch.”
She gave me a puzzled look. “But we’ve been in Candlefield for ages.”
“Don’t you remember what I told you? When we go to Candlefield, the time here doesn’t change.”
“Why?”
“No one really knows. When we left here, it was ten o’clock. It’s only five past ten now.”
“That’s silly. How long is it until freaky, then?”
“A couple of hours.”
“That’s ages.” She sighed.
“It isn’t all
