‘How did she knew about you?’
‘Apparently he wasn’t as good at covering his tracks as he thought. But it was weird because she was so cold, like a robot as she spoke. Almost as if she’d rehearsed the words or said them before.’
‘Oh dear.’
‘She also said that as long as I didn’t force the issue with him, I was welcome to carry on seeing him. But there’s no way I would after finding out he was married. What would that make me, Mum? I’m not a cheat and a bitch and I would never want to hurt another woman or her children.’
‘I know, love, I know.’
‘I told her I had no idea he was married and that if I had, I’d never have had anything to do with him. She just stared at me in that same detached away then told me she pitied me and walked away. Right into his arms. You know… the worst thing was that he watched her speaking to me from across the room, then when she rejoined him, he met my eyes and gave a small nod. As if he thought we would carry on now with his wife’s approval. I ran outside and threw up all down the hotel steps then grabbed a taxi to the station.’
‘What a complete shit!’ Allie muttered.
Mandy gave a wry laugh.
‘Yeah… but I guess I had a lucky escape. Imagine being with a man who loved your money more than you. I just feel sorry for her and their children.’
‘Children grow up and where will they be then? That poor woman.’
‘She knows what she’s got though, doesn’t she? I didn’t know what I was getting into. I made a big mistake and it’s one I certainly won’t be repeating.’
‘What about your job? I know how much you love it.’
‘I don’t have to see him very often and he was talking about a promotion to a different department anyway. He said he’d delayed it so he could still see me but I suspect he’ll be keen to avoid me now.’
‘Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry you went through all that.’
‘Life eh, Mum. And you know what… Speaking to you about it and being back in Heatherlea really helps.’
‘Do you need to ring work to tell them you’re sick?’
‘Not today as it’s a Bank Holiday but I’ll ring in tomorrow and say I’ll be back on Wednesday, perhaps even next week. I need to catch my breath and I’m owed some holiday.’
‘You can stay here as long as you like.’
‘Thanks, Mum.’
‘Don’t thank me. That’s what I’m here for.’
As Allie hugged her daughter tight, she sent out a silent thank you that Mandy was a survivor, that she was strong enough to pull through this. Better now than later when she could have children of her own. Better that she could walk away from this man and his deceit and start again.
Chris appeared in the back doorway. ‘Did you hear knocking? I think someone’s at the front door.’
He pulled off his gardening gloves and strode through the kitchen and into the hallway. Allie and Mandy listened as he opened the door.
When he returned to the kitchen, Dawn and Camilla were with him.
‘Hi ladies.’ Allie stood up. ‘To what do we owe this pleasure?’
They both looked at Mandy then back at Allie.
‘What is it? You both look like you woke up to find someone stole the milk from your doorsteps.’
‘Everything okay?’ Dawn asked, as she nodded in Mandy’s direction.
‘I’m fine thank you, Dawn. Well, I will be anyway.’ Mandy smiled.
‘Ah… good. Glad to hear it. Could… uh… could Camilla and I have a word, Allie?’
‘Of course. Do you want a cuppa?’
Camilla shook her head. ‘No, thanks. Better to get this over and done with.’
Allie placed the kettle back on its stand and looked at her friends. ‘You’re scaring me now. What on earth is wrong?’
‘It’s… it’s Ebony.’
‘Ebony?’
‘Yes…’ Dawn released a long sigh then rubbed her cheeks. You see… this morning I… I found something terrible. And I’m so sorry to have to deliver this bad news now but…’
Dawn’s jaw dropped and she stared at the open back door where the sunlight was warming the tiles of the kitchen floor.
‘Oh. My. God!’
13
Dawn
‘I don’t believe it.’ Dawn’s hand flew out and tapped Camilla’s arm.
‘Ouch! Careful, Dawn!’
‘But it’s…’
‘I can bloody well see what it is. It’s Ebony. And she’s here.’
‘Of course it’s Ebony.’ Allie frowned. ‘Where else would she be?’
‘At Tom’s surgery…’ Camilla offered, her raised eyebrows suggesting she didn’t believe that for one minute.
‘What would she be doing there?’ Allie asked.
‘Oh no!’ Dawn covered her mouth. ‘I’ve only gone and picked up someone else’s cat.’
‘Indeed you have.’ Camilla folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. ‘Why didn’t you check properly?’
‘Tom checked the cat over and he couldn’t tell that it wasn’t Ebony. Besides which, you saw the state it was in; there wasn’t much to check. Although…’ Dawn turned to her sister. ‘It seems there was enough to make you vomit. I never thought of you as being squeamish.’
Allie was staring at them, her eyes wide, and Mandy was watching their exchange with a matching bemused expression.
‘Camilla was sick when Tom got the cat out of the bag.’
‘The bag?’
‘Yes, see, I found a squashed cat this morning and I went to Honey’s for a spade and a bag then I scooped it up and took it to the vet.’
‘Why?’ Allie was shaking her head.
‘I thought it was Ebony and I didn’t want you to see her like that.’
‘Oh, Dawn, you softy.’
‘She is a softy.’ Camilla nodded.
‘You could have called me, Dawn. I would’ve come to get her.’ Chris went to the kettle and switched it on.
‘I couldn’t do that. You had Mandy here and I knew you’d be busy.’
‘Well thank goodness it isn’t Ebony.’ Allie sighed. ‘I don’t think I could have coped with that on top of everything else.’
They all looked at the black cat currently lying on her side in the patch of sunlight, legs stretched out and tail gently flicking back and forth. As if on cue, Ebony started purring.
‘Yes, thank goodness.’ Dawn nodded.
‘So whose cat is it?’ Mandy asked.
‘No idea but I’d better go back and let Tom know.’ Camilla licked her lips. ‘Could I have a glass of water first though, please? I have such a dry mouth this morning.’
‘Of course.’
Allie filled a glass from the tap and handed it to Camilla.
‘I’d better get going too. I left Alison with Honey.’ Dawn pushed her hair back from her forehead.
‘Why? Where’s Rick?’ Allie asked.
‘It’s a long story but basically he’s still in bed, as are Laura and James. Anyway, I’ll catch up with you later.’
Camilla handed Allie the empty glass then they walked to the front door and Allie waved them off.
‘I can’t believe that just happened.’ Dawn tutted as they walked along the street.
‘Me either. But you did the right thing.’
‘I guess so. You go and tell Tom and I’ll let Honey and Dane know about the mistaken identity of the black cat.’
‘The cat you let out of the bag?’
‘Ha! Ha!’
‘Okay, ring you later.’
‘Bye!’
Dawn headed back towards Honey’s cottage, feeling a lot lighter than she had done half an hour ago. So she’d cleaned up someone’s dead cat but thankfully it wasn’t Ebony. So much for good deeds. Although it was very sad that a poor cat had suffered that awful fate. Still, it would make an interesting anecdote to share with Rick when she got home, that she went around picking up squashed cats.
The positive thing about
the morning though, was that Mandy had looked all right when they’d walked into Allie’s kitchen, so hopefully her situation wasn’t as bad as it had seemed yesterday.
Things were looking up.
Weren’t they?
14
Camilla
Camilla was walking back to the surgery, running the events of that morning through her head, when she stopped suddenly. Dawn was right; she wasn’t usually that squeamish. But something about the situation: the smell and the thought of what was in the bag and how upset Allie would be had combined to make her head spin, causing her to throw up.
She decided to take a quick detour and pop into her cottage, as she wanted to use some mouthwash and Tom hadn’t had any at his cottage. She let herself in and closed the door behind her then went straight up the stairs to the bathroom. She filled the cap of the bottle with peppermint mouthwash then swilled it around her mouth before spitting it into the sink.
As she placed it back in the cabinet, something caught her eye. She reached for the small cardboard packet full of small blue pills and turned it over in her hands.
Then she did a quick calculation.
She’d been so busy lately with Tom, work and caught up with Dawn and her new baby, as well as her recently reunited parents, that she’d not been as careful with her contraceptive pill as she used to be. She’d taken it at different times of the day, sometimes the following day if she’d stayed the night at Tom’s and forgotten to take the pills with her, but she’d just assumed she’d be fine.
Hadn’t she?
Or had she been deliberately lax?
She shook her head at her reflection. Camilla was sensible, reliable, a career woman.
Her reflection stared back at her: huge green eyes, porcelain skin and short dark hair. There was something different about her eyes, for sure. They’d always been large but now they seemed positively luminescent, even though, apart from that, she didn’t look well; a bit peaky, as her mum would say.
She couldn’t be… could she?
There was that one night when she was at the end of her packet and she’d left it at home, and the next day, she thought it wouldn’t matter as it was the end of the three weeks and she was due her pill-free week. She needed to speak to Dawn, see what her sister thought of the situation. Dawn had experience in these matters, having been pregnant three times, the third pregnancy being an accident, if a very happy one. If Camilla was pregnant, then what a pair of sisters they were, getting caught out and at their ages!
She shrugged. What would be would be. And it was highly likely that this was all in her mind and her period would arrive tomorrow. She padded down the stairs and back out into the sunlight then made her way to Dawn’s. When she got there she knocked gently on the door. No answer.
Wasn’t Dawn back yet then? She had needed to collect Alison from Honey’s, so perhaps she’d stopped for a cuppa.
She heard a noise inside then Rick appeared at the door in a pair of blue and grey striped pyjama bottoms with a white T-shirt on top. He frowned at her then ran a hand over his face.
‘Morning, Camilla. I don’t suppose you’ve seen my wife, have you?’
‘I have actually. Can I come in.’
‘Of course.’ He stepped back. ‘Is she all right?’
‘She’s fine.’
‘Okay… Cup of tea?’
‘Please.’
She followed him through to the kitchen and took a chair at the kitchen table while he filled the kettle and switched it on.
‘Dawn went out for walk earlier with Alison. She said she didn’t want to wake you and hoped the fresh air might help the baby sleep this morning.’
‘Ah… thought it might be something like that.’ Rick nodded. ‘Where is she now though and how did you bump into her? You doing the walk of shame or something?’
‘What?’
‘You know; sneaking home early in the morning in the clothes you wore the night before.’
‘Ha! No, not at all. Dawn came to Tom’s because she’d found a dead cat and thought it was Ebony.’
‘Allie’s cat?’
‘Yes.’
‘Was it?’
‘No, thank goodness. Allie would have been devastated. We went to tell Allie that we thought it was Ebony and the cat was sunning herself in the kitchen.’
‘So Tom now has a dead cat and you don’t know whose it is?’
Camilla nodded, swallowing hard as that strange feeling crawled over her again at the thought of that poor squashed creature.
‘Fancy a bacon sandwich?’ Rick asked.
Camilla shook her head. ‘No. No thanks. Got to… use the bathroom.’
‘The downstairs loo’s not working. James broke the flush. Better go upstairs!’
She rushed to the stairs, hurried up them then locked herself in the cool white space that smelt of lemons and toothpaste. She knelt in front of the toilet and took some slow breaths until the churning stopped then she sat back on her haunches and looked around. Her sister’s bathroom was a perfect family space with its clean white bathroom suite and large walk-in shower cubicle. Along the side of the bath, Laura and James’s toys were lined up, from toy dinosaurs to a Barbie wearing a bright pink swimming costume. Along the windowsill were bottles of baby shampoo, bubble bath and conditioner. The lemon aroma was the result of the bathroom cleaner that sat high up on top of the cabinet, out of the children’s reach.
Camilla wondered what she would be like as a mother, if it ever happened for her. She’d tried to imagine it in the past but it just wasn’t a role she could picture herself in easily. She’d probably forget to put the bleach and spray up out of reach or use normal shampoo on the baby and make its eyes sting. Some women, like Dawn, were natural mothers but Camilla hadn’t experienced that powerful maternal instinct and didn’t think she’d know what to do.
And what on earth would Tom think?
She shuddered, then stood up and opened the bathroom cabinet, hoping she’d find some paracetamol as her head had started to throb.
She moved a few things and came across a long thin white box with blue writing. She pulled it out and read the side then she shook her head. There was no need for that. Overreaction or what? But her hand just wouldn’t let go of the box, so in the end she closed the cupboard and leant against the sink, staring at the blue writing as if it could tell her what to do for the best.
This would clear things up, wouldn’t it? If she used one of these, she’d know one way or the other for sure. She was about to open the box when there was a frantic hammering at the door.
‘Mummy? Is that you?’
‘No, it’s me.’
‘Auntie Camilla?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh. What’re you doing here?’
‘I came to visit.’ Camilla stuffed the box into the back of the waistband of her jeans then tucked her shirt over it.
‘Where’s Mummy?’
‘Gone for a walk. She won’t be long.’
‘Auntie Camilla?’
‘Yes?’
‘Can I use the toilet? I’m bursting.’
‘Oh! Of course.’
Camilla opened the door and smiled at her pretty niece, but the smell of bacon cooking hit her full force so she turned on her heel and rushed to the toilet, emptying her stomach for the second time that morning.
15
Honey
‘It’s not funny you two.’ Dane frowned at Honey and Dawn as they giggled together at the kitchen table. Dawn had arrived just after Honey had succeeded in rescuing Dane from Henifer Aniston. He’d been visibly shaken at his encounter with the bossy hen.
‘Oh Dane but it was very amusing. You have to see the funny side of it.’ Honey wiped her eyes on her sleeve then sipped her tea.
‘For you maybe but you didn’t have your legs and toes pecked.’
‘He really is henpecked and he’s only just moved in.’ Dawn snorted and Honey joined her in a fresh fit of giggles.
‘Well I thin
k it’s roast chicken for dinner.’ Dane folded his arms across his broad chest.
‘Don’t you dare. None of my hens are ever going to end up on a plate.’ Honey nudged him. ‘They’re my girls and anyway, you wait and see. They’ll come round and warm to you.’
‘When he comes out of his shell a bit.’ Dawn’s eyes widened at her own joke.
‘And conquers his fear of the poultrygeist.’
‘Right that’s it! I’m going to make some more tea.’ Dane stood up then picked up their mugs. ‘Actually… I’ve just thought of one.’
‘Go on then…’ Honey watched him. ‘If you’re up to it after your hen-counter.’
Dane’s lips twitched. ‘Right, here goes… How do baby chickens dance?’
Honey and Dawn shook their heads.
‘Chick-to-chick.’ He smiled. ‘Actually, Honey, after that attack, I think I need you to do a thorough eggsamination of me.’
Dawn and Honey laughed until Honey’s sides ached.
A murmur from the pram at Dawn’s side made her peer into the pram.
‘Ah, I’d better get going. I didn’t mean to stay this long anyway and Rick’s probably up by now.’
‘I’ll see you out.’
Honey walked Dawn and Alison to the door.
‘Hope she sleeps for you today.’
‘Yeah, me too. Still, at least Rick’s had a lie-in, so he’ll be there if I need to grab a nap.’
‘I still can’t believe you went to all that trouble only to find it wasn’t even Ebony.’
‘I know, but I couldn’t leave the cat there, could I?’
Honey shook her head. ‘At least it wasn’t Ebony.’
‘There is that.’
‘What will Tom do with the cat now?’
‘Probably cremation, I suppose. If no one claims it. It could well be feral.’
Honey shivered. ‘Poor thing.’
‘I know.’
‘Anyway, thanks for watching Alison.’
‘It was a pleasure. She’s beautiful.’
Honey closed the door then went back through to the kitchen. Dane was standing at the backdoor peering out into the garden.
A Wedding at The Cosy Cottage Café_A delightful romantic comedy to make you smile this summer Page 5
