Part 22

"What time do we have to get there, Lex?" Archie called from the
kitchen.

"Well the entries have to be there by 2 so the judging can start,"
she shouted back.

"Then we'd better get a move on. We can't have the May Fayre open
without the prize exhibit can we?"

Archie stood back to admire his handiwork. He had been slaving over
the stove all morning working on his own special recipe for
chocolate cake. It was one that he had worked on years before when
he worked in the restaurant trade in London but since then, he had
to admit, Lexie had given him one or two pointers that now put his
cake in a league of its own. He was justifiably proud of his
creation and was eager to show it off in the annual cake competition
at the May Fayre.

Lexie hurried into the kitchen and looked at the cake in the centre
of the table. It certainly looked like one of Archie's better jobs
and she knew from previous experience that it would taste even
scrummier than it looked. She smiled as she remembered the time that
she had got Archie to try her secret ingredient for the first time.
It was not long after they had been married and Lexie had been still
struggling to relieve herself of the reputation for 'burnt
offerings' that had been established in her first days at Glenbogle.

Since those early times when Molly had, perhaps fortunately, taken
her on untested as a rookie cook/housekeeper she had worked hard on
her culinary skills until she now felt she could match anybody in
the kitchen ... including Archie. However it still irked her that
people assumed Archie was the supremo in the kitchen and she was the
chef's assistant.

"Come on Lex, we've got to get the car loaded up with all the stuff
for the pig roast and get it over there so that Matt can get things
started."

She came to from her thoughts. "Oh, sorry Arch. Don't know what I
was thinking about there. Are we loading then. Don't forget the
stuff for the pig roast will you."

Archie laughed, picked up a tea towel and threw it at her.

"Wake up. I just said that. Can you find that box you had for the
cake. We've got to make sure we get it there in one piece after all
my effort."

"All your effort," she scoffed, "and what about all the effort I put
in last night getting everything ready while you were playing squash
with Matt. Oh, and then there was all the effort you put in raising
that glass to your mouth in the pub afterwards."

Archie put on a hurt look. "That was a planning meeting. We had to
make sure we knew what we were doing today. Besides you wouldn't
have wanted to be there – Dan was hogging the bar all night."

The mention of Dan sent a shiver along Lexie's spine. What was
wrong with the man. Couldn't he see she wasn't interested.

"He's not going to be at the fayre is he Arch?"

"Well I imagine he's definitely going to be there. Don't forget the
pub is sponsoring the competition tent and donating some of the
prizes."

"Urgh," she pulled a face, "Well keep him away from me then. The
man's a creep. I'm so glad we've got enough business at the moment
to not have to consider working with him. Come on let's get this
car loaded."

Lexie gently slid Archie's cake into the box while he found all the
necessary equipment for the pig roast that he and Matt had been
persuaded to organise as part of the medieval feast that would round
things off that evening. It was going to be quite an event for the
village, with musical entertainment included, and many of the
inhabitants were planning to attend in appropriate costume.

"Right, I think that's it now," shouted Archie from the car.

"OK then," yelled Lexie from the kitchen, "I'll be out in a second."

She dashed out of the back door to the house and headed for the
industrial kitchen where she picked up a box that had been hidden
out of sight and gently carried it back to the waiting car. Archie
already had the car revving and turned to look at her pushing the
box in at the back. "What's that?"

"Oh, didn't I tell you. Jill asked if we could bring a few serving
dishes over for the salads. I nearly forgot."

"Well make sure we get them back again."

Lexie came to attention as she climbed in the front of the car and gave a mock salute. "Yes, sir!"

They set off gently down the lane to the May Fayre field and parked
up close to the large marquee that had been erected there for the
competition entries.

Although the official opening wasn't until 2, things were already
buzzing. At the far end of the field the fun fair was open for
business with a carousel, dodgems and a coconut shy. A small arena
had been roped off for the various outdoor activities like fancy
dress competitions, marching displays and tug of war. There were a
number of stalls dotted around the edge of the field and they could
see Mary over on the far side with the tombola, looking very busy
already.

"I hope Mary doesn't run out too soon," observed Lexie.

"Well if she does it is not through lack of donations from us.
We've been living off air pie this last week since you gave her
every tin and packet in the house," laughed Archie.

"Oh, Arch you know it's for a good cause. Hadn't you better get
this cake into the marquee while I take those dishes over to Jill."
She had spotted Jill and Emily talking to Lucy next to the bran
tub.

Archie headed off with his cake and Lexie picked up the box that she
had put into the car at the last minute and headed for the bran tub.
Jill saw her coming.

"Is that it?" Lexie nodded and Jill looked at her quizzically,
"And has he suspected anything?"

"Not a thing."

"Good, then hand it over and you try and distract him while I sneak
it in."

Lexie passed the box to Jill who opened one corner and looked
inside. "It looks fantastic Lex. I'd better be careful with it."

"Thanks Jill."

"Lexie?"

"Yes Emily, how's my favourite girl then?"

"Can you come on the roundabout with me. Mummy doesn't want to and
Daddy's gone to do the fire."

"Well I might just manage that and when we've been on that I could
take you on the dodgems if mummy doesn't mind." She looked up at
Jill who nodded her agreement. "Would you like that?"

"Yes please, I've never been on dodgems before. Can I drive?"

"Well maybe not this time. You have to be a bit bigger before they
let you in the driving seat. How about you Lucy? Are you going to
join us?"

"Not just yet. I have to stay here and look after the bran tub for
the next hour and then I'm going to watch the prize giving. Do you
know who's giving out the prizes?"

Lucy gave Lexie a rather strange look.

"No, never heard about that. Who is it then? Some local aristocrat
or a minor soap star?"

"No, it's Dan, because the pub put up most of the prize money,"
answered Lucy.

"Great!" Lexie was momentarily stunned. "Look I know he's a
relative of yours but he's not exactly my favourite person."

Lucy smiled back. "Oh, don't worry about that. He's not
particularly popular in our family either, or with anyone else round
here. Between ourselves, I think all this prize money that he's put
up is just a way of trying to get in with the villagers, but I don't
think it's going to work. I'm afraid his reputation goes before
him."

She hesitated as if she wanted to tell Lexie more but she saw Emily
looking at them impatiently and merely added, "Make sure you go past
the stocks on your way to the fairground," and stifled a giggle.

Lexie headed off with Emily and was soon joined by Archie who was
confidently boasting that the other entries in the cake competition
didn't stand a chance.

"Where are you off to," he asked.

"We're off to the fair aren't we Emily and we have to take a look at
the stocks on the way."

"Why's that?"

"Lucy seemed to think that we would find it particularly
interesting."

They walked down the side of the arena and, as they approached the
area earmarked for various persons to put themselves up for a
dowsing in the stocks, they could see that there was already quite a
large queue forming. Archie craned his neck and reported back.

"You're not going to believe this one."

"What am I not going to believe?"

"Well I don't know what induced him to do it but Dan is in the
stocks and from the look of it he's a very popular target. He just
got a very wet sponge straight between the eyes."

Lexie giggled. "Ooh, this I must see. Come along Emily let's go and
have a look shall we?"

Lexie and Emily walked around the queue to get a better view. Dan
was stuck in the stocks with his hands trapped on either side of his
head and it appeared most of the village had come out to have a
throw at him. He was soaked through and grinning through clenched
teeth.

"I see you're enjoying my nephew in the stocks, then."

Lexie looked round to see that they had been joined by Margaret
Mason.

"He didn't want to do it," she continued, "but I persuaded him that
everyone would think he was such a good sport if he did." She
looked over Emily's head at Lexie and winked. "He's definitely
popular isn't he?" They grinned at each other and continued
watching as the ferocious sponge hurling went on.

Finally Emily tugged at Lexie's shirt. "Look Lexie, it's Archie."

They all looked across and watched as Archie fired the first of his
three sponges. It landed just above Dan's head and the water
trickled down onto his neck. The second one somehow ended up on
Dan's shirt and left a lovely damp patch. For the third one Archie
took a few steps back, took careful aim and stepped forward to hurl
the sponge with as much force as he could muster. The sponge found
its mark almost instinctively, right on Dan's nose and seemed to
explode the water all over his face. Dan spluttered and spit and
tried to shake off as much water as he could.

"Good shot Arch," yelled Lexie clapping as she ran over with Emily
to give him a hug while Dan just glared.

The fairground proved to be a tremendous draw and they all enjoyed the rides enormously. Emily insisted on going on the dodgems with
both Lexie and Archie and was very pleased with the pink rabbit that
Archie managed to win for her at the shooting gallery. They were
joined by Jill and Matt later and they all had some candy floss and
an ice cream.

"Can I go on the roundabout again? Please mummy. I know Lexie
wants to go again don't you Lexie?" pleaded Emily.

"Well maybe not for a while. Not just after all you've eaten,"
explained Jill. "Besides, I think it must be nearly time for them
to announce the results of the competitions. We need to get back to
the arena or we'll miss it."

They headed back to the find a spot on the edge of the little arena
and on the way noticed that Dan had been replaced by Jill's
headmaster who did not seem to be half as popular judging by the
queue.

"Mind if I join you?" It was Lucy, now relieved from her bran tub
duties.

A small group of people now approached the podium set up in the
centre with various trophies set upon it. Dan was there of course
and a couple of people they did not recognise and another that they
did.

"What's Margaret doing up there!" exclaimed Lexie.

"Oh, she's chairman of judges. Didn't you know?" explained Lucy.

They stood watching as Margaret Mason tapped the microphone to test
it and then introduced the prize giving. She thanked Dan profusely
for his "most generous" support and hoped that he was not going to
get a cold after his stint in the stocks. The prize giving went on
for some time as there were many different classes for things such as
flower arranging, furniture making, wine making and macramé. Each
time the results were read out in reverse order and the winner went
up to collect a medal or a trophy of some sort. Eventually she came
to the cookery classes.

"Now we come to the special class for chocolate cake making. We
had a number of very good entries for this class and the panel
agreed that in third place we would place the excellent entry from
Nicola Graham." There was a pause for a small ripple of applause.

"I saw that one," commented Archie, "It looked a little too risen I
think."

Margaret continued, "Now we come to the second place and I think I
have to say here that it was a very difficult job for the judges.
We had two delicious cakes to choose from and, despite being
remarkably similar in taste and appearance, the judges had to make a
final decision based upon moistness and texture. I am pleased to
say however that we did finally come to a decision and second place
goes to ....... Archie Macdonald.

Archie looked a little stunned for a second and then recomposed his
face into a broad smile as the ripple of applause went round again
and people began looking at him.

"As I said before the final decision rested upon the actual feel of
the cake and by the narrowest of margins the judges decided to award
first prize and the Mason Cup, provided by my family I have to say,
to an outstanding entry from someone new to the village ....... Alex
McTavish .... " There was a round of applause and then a pause as
Margaret came to the microphone.

"Is the winner here to receive his or her trophy?"

"Well it must have been a darn good cake to beat mine," muttered
Archie, looking round with everyone else to see who the winner was.

"It was." came a voice from right beside him. He looked round
astonished and stared at Lexie while pointing a finger at her.
"You?"

"Yes, of course, me. Had you forgotten my maiden name already.
Alex .... Alexandra .... McTavish."

Lexie took Archie's arm and kissed him. "Well when you were so
confident that you made the best chocolate cake in Northumbria I
thought about how I'd given you that secret ingredient and I decided
two could play at this game. So I set to and made mine last night
while you were out with Matt. I thought I did quite a good job and
the judges obviously agree." She grinned at him.

"Is Alex McTavish here?" repeated Margaret into the microphone.

"Yes, Margaret. I'm here," volunteered Lexie and she stepped up to
the podium to collect the cup from an already leering Dan. She had
been so caught up in the moment that she had forgotten that she
would have to pick up the prize from him. As she approached with
her hand out to shake his she would rather have been anywhere else
at that moment.

"Well now, not only the sexiest lady in Northumbria but also the
best cake maker in the business, there seems to be no end to your
hidden talents." smarmed Dan, "I can see that I still have a lot to
learn about you."

Ignoring her outstretched hand, Dan leaned in to kiss her and she
felt herself being caught in a bear hug as his strong arms pulled
her closer. She could feel his sweaty breath as his mouth pushed
down on hers and she struggled to free herself.

"Dan Shaw, you get off that girl," a woman's voice suddenly shrieked
from the crowd. Dan drew away in shock as everyone parted to let a
young woman come out of the crowd and approach the podium. She had
a young boy with her of about two years old.

"So this is what you get up to now is it? I can see that things
don't change. If you're so rich now that you can donate all these
prizes then I think perhaps you might be able to spare a bit of cash
to support your wife and child."

There was a gasp from the crowd and they turned to look at Dan.

He hesitated before replying. "Look everyone this is all a big
mistake. Yes, this is my wife. She's nothing but a tart. She left
me and went off with another man. I bet that's his son ... or maybe
she found someone else."

The woman looked at him coldly.

"Dan Shaw, I don't know how you can stand there and say that. You
know as well as I do that this boy is yours. You walked out when I
was six months pregnant and its taken me this long to catch up with
you. You owe us - big time – and I'm going to get the Child
Support Agency on to you. As for other men – then you're wrong.
You were the only man for me. Can't believe what a fool I was -
thinking that you would forget all your philandering once we were
married. You're never going to change. Who's this - your latest
conquest? Wouldn't have thought she was your type but no accounting
for taste."

Dan grabbed hold of Lexie, wrapping his arm tightly round her waist
and holding her there. "Yes, that's right ... and she's a lot warmer
to snuggle up to than you ever were, you slapper." Lexie's eyes
opened wide in shock as Dan scanned the audience and fixed on
Archie. "That's right isn't it Archie? I don't suppose she told
you what happened that day you didn't turn up for our business
meeting, did she? Very accommodating she was."

"You sleazebag!"

Dan's wife dropped her son's hand, dashed at the podium and started
to pull Dan towards the edge. He began to wrestle himself away and
Lexie took advantage of his distraction to free herself. She leapt
from the podium and bolted through the crowd towards Archie who
continued to fix his gaze on Dan.