by Heidi Swain
‘Non-existent,’ I said truthfully.
‘Well never mind,’ said Marie. ‘We’ll soon have you up to speed.’
Steve and I carried the bags over to the Land Rover and he explained that the wreath-making was another seasonal event at the town hall, only on this occasion wreaths and table decorations were the order of the day rather than cakes and biscuits. It sounded like another hugely popular event.
‘Mum organises and runs most of it,’ he said. ‘She’s a trained florist. She used to have her own shop, but now she runs things from her side of the stall and uses the warehouse to make up any orders that come in.’
‘What happened to the shop?’ I asked.
Looking around the market square I could see there were lots of interesting little shops and I couldn’t help thinking that a proper florist shop would have fitted in a treat. I looked back at Steve, who had gone quiet.
‘My brother was killed in a motorbike accident,’ he said quietly as we were almost back at the stall. ‘Lots of things changed for all of us after that.’
‘I see,’ I nodded, his admission striking a chord.
‘I’d love to come tomorrow,’ I told Marie enthusiastically. It felt good taking charge of lining up a festive event for myself, but I hoped Jamie wouldn’t take it the wrong way and think that I was prepared to manage without him. I still hadn’t forgotten the deal we had made under the stars and wanted to see it through, even if denying my feelings for him was making it awkward. ‘But you’ll have to tell me what to do,’ I added.
Steve rolled his eyes.
‘Don’t give her permission to order you about,’ he laughed. ‘She’s bad enough without it.’
Laughing, we parted company and Dorothy went to join the queue at the butcher’s while I was dispatched to the bakery.
‘I’m pleased you’ve decided to come with me tomorrow,’ she said later, as we sat sharing a chicken baguette in the Land Rover cab, waiting for our toes to defrost. ‘It will take your mind off meeting the rest of the family.’
‘I am a bit nervous about that,’ I admitted.
I had been wondering what they would all make of me and my undefined role.
‘That’s only natural,’ said Dorothy. ‘Especially when you might end up like the rest of us.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘A permanent fixture,’ she smiled. ‘You can’t possibly really be thinking of moving on in January, can you?’
I didn’t say anything.
‘I know you haven’t been with us all that long,’ she said kindly, ‘but you’re part of the furniture already and I know Jamie would be mortified if you went.’
‘Would he?’
Had everybody noticed the chemistry between us, I wondered?
‘Of course,’ she laughed.
‘Well,’ I admitted, ‘I have been thinking about staying; especially now everyone thinks setting up the charity is a good idea.’
‘I’m relieved to hear it,’ she said. ‘For Jamie’s sake, if no one else’s.’
‘I think you’re reading too much into Jamie’s feelings, Dorothy.’
She shook her head.
‘Because I’m sure he has women the world over ready to fall at his feet.’
‘Doesn’t matter,’ she shrugged.
‘Why not?’
‘Because,’ she said, affecting a southern American accent and shocking me to my core, ‘unless you are completely stupid, that boy is head over heels in love with you!’
I choked on my baguette and twisted round in my seat to look at her. It wasn’t only what she had said that was a huge shock, but also the way she’d chosen to say it.
‘Top Gun?’ I swallowed.
It wasn’t word for word but it wasn’t far off.
‘God I love that film,’ she giggled with an impish grin.
Unfortunately we didn’t make it back to the hall as early as planned because we got lost on the journey from Wynbridge to Skylark Farm to collect the leg of pork Dorothy was planning to cook for Sunday dinner.
‘If anyone asks, we’ll blame Jerry Lee Lewis,’ she laughed, as we finally swung onto the drive.
She had insisted on a rather raucous chorus or three of Great Balls of Fire and consequently her internal satnav had gone a little awry. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed so much and knew exactly what I was going to be buying my passenger for Christmas now.
‘Finally,’ huffed Jamie, as I pulled up outside the stable yard to offload the bags of shopping.
He didn’t look at all happy and Dorothy and I exchanged glances as I pulled on the handbrake and cut the engine.
‘Where the hell have you been?’
‘To town,’ I said, jumping out. ‘We had things to collect.’
‘Your mum said it would be fine,’ said Dorothy, waving him away so she could open the back door.
‘Well, poor Hayley’s waiting to get home,’ he said. ‘She should have gone hours ago.’
‘So why didn’t you just take my car?’ I snapped back, annoyed that he seemed so determined to stamp all over my good mood. ‘The keys are in the kitchen.’
‘Come to that,’ said Dorothy, ‘why couldn’t you take your dad’s car?’
‘Flat battery,’ he muttered, ‘and I didn’t want to jump it from yours,’ he said before I had a chance to suggest it, ‘because there’s enough happening already without throwing something else going wrong into the mix.’
‘What is it?’ I demanded, my hand reaching for his arm. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Oh, I daresay it will turn out to be nothing,’ he said, running his hands through his hair before my hand came to rest.
The gesture didn’t go unnoticed and I guessed he didn’t want me touching him. Since I had given him the brush-off I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it did hurt a little.
‘Go on,’ I encouraged.
‘It’s Dad,’ he sighed. ‘He still isn’t back.’
‘You mean he’s been gone all day?’ questioned Dorothy as she handed Mick, who had come out to help, a couple of the bags.
‘Looks that way,’ he said. ‘We’re starting a proper search. I thought I’d found him when his phone rang but he’d left it in the playroom.’
The playroom, I had discovered, was the one room in the hall assigned exclusively to Angus. No one went in there and nothing was ever tidied. He was king of the castle within those four walls, and having somewhere specific to fiddle and invent did seem to stop him spreading his mess too far and wide.
‘Is your mum worried?’ I asked.
‘What do you think?’ said Jamie witheringly. ‘Just like the rest of us she hadn’t even noticed he wasn’t back until her friends commented on the time and left, and now she feels terrible.’
‘And I don’t suppose it helped that we were so late,’ I said, biting my lip.
Had Dorothy been home to serve tea on time, as she usually did every day, then we all would have realised he hadn’t been seen and would have initiated a search when there was at least a little light left.
‘I told you Jerry would get us in trouble,’ Dorothy said to me.
‘Who?’ asked Jamie.
‘Never mind,’ I said quickly.
Mick looked at his colleague and I guessed he knew of her fondness for young Mr Cruise and his fast-flying friends.
‘So what are we going to do?’
‘Well, I’m going to get Hayley home,’ said Jamie, jumping into the Land Rover as Hayley finally appeared. ‘She still isn’t feeling too great and needs to get to bed.’
I took a look at her and saw he was right. She looked decidedly less than chipper, but I still didn’t appreciate the way he seemed to be directing his annoyance about everything that had happened towards me.
‘I’m all right,’ Hayley sniffed, sounding anything but. ‘I’ll see you in the morning and don’t worry about misery guts,’ she said of Jamie. ‘He’s been in a foul mood all afternoon.’
‘Don’t do anything until I get back!�
�� Jamie called from his post behind the steering wheel.
‘I’m sure he will have turned up by then!’ Dorothy called back, but she didn’t get a response. ‘Come on,’ she said to me. ‘Let’s have a bite to eat and decide where to start looking for the silly old fool.’
Chapter 21
I didn’t even make it halfway through the warming mug of marshmallow-topped hot chocolate Dorothy had quickly whipped up while Jamie was driving Hayley back to town.
‘I can’t just sit here and do nothing,’ I said, dumping my mug back on the table and looking at the concerned faces around me. ‘Are you absolutely sure he isn’t anywhere here in the hall?’
‘We’ve checked the playroom and the lofts,’ said Mick, ‘twice.’
‘And every other room we can think of,’ added Catherine with a shake of her head.
‘He’s been nosing about in the stables quite a bit during the last few days,’ I said, my brain ticking over as I tried to think about all of the other places he could possibly be.
I didn’t even want to entertain the idea that he might be hurt somewhere outside and unable to alert us as to his whereabouts.
‘I’ve looked in there,’ said Mick. ‘In the stables and up in the hayloft.’
I glanced up at the clock on the wall.
‘And the woods,’ I asked. ‘What about there?’
‘Jamie and I have been working out there today,’ Mick confirmed. ‘We would have seen him. We’ve even had Molly on the case. If Angus was somewhere in the woods, she’d know about it.’
‘Well, I can’t just sit here,’ I said again.
‘But didn’t Jamie say to wait?’ Dorothy reminded me.
‘He did,’ I said, standing up and pulling on my coat again, ‘but I have to do something. It’s getting really cold out there now and if he isn’t in here somewhere then he must be outside.’
Dorothy nodded and Catherine didn’t try to stop me.
‘I’ll take a torch,’ I said, ‘and Mick, will you check the playroom just once more, just to be sure?’
‘Will do,’ he said, also abandoning his drink.
‘I’ll probably be back before Jamie, hopefully with Angus in tow, but I’ve got my phone in case you find him before I do.’
It was freezing outside and the sky was clear, the stars bright. I didn’t know where I was going to look that hadn’t already been investigated, but I headed towards the stable yard looking for clues. It didn’t take many seconds to find one.
The yard itself was decidedly empty and I couldn’t believe that no one had taken on board the fact that the little tractor and cherry picker had been moved. Penny to a pound, if I found them, I’d find Angus. Pulling my coat tighter around me I set off into the garden. I’d give it ten minutes and if I hadn’t found him by then I’d just go back to the hall and call 999.
Stumbling along, I’d soon visited every spot in the garden that was accessible to such cumbersome equipment and I jogged back towards the hall to see if there was any sign of either Angus or the machinery around the actual building. Scanning up and down, my torch missed the muddle of cables on the path and as I stepped into them, they snagged around my ankle and sent me sprawling.
‘Shit,’ I muttered as I pulled myself to my feet and felt a warm trickle running from my knees down the inside of my jeans. ‘Shit.’
Two grazed knees for Christmas, how lovely, but at least I’d found my quarry.
‘Angus!’ I shouted, as the beam of my torch sought out the silhouette of the cherry picker at full stretch leaning up the side of the hall. ‘Angus!’
Mick had been telling him not to use the wretched thing because it kept getting stuck, but the daft old bugger had obviously ignored him and was now doubtless trapped in the bucket, which was almost as high as the eaves. But what was he doing up there? I looked again at the muddle of cables and the ‘eureka’ moment struck. Of course! That would account for the plethora of parcels. He was putting up Christmas lights, no doubt trying to surprise everyone by doing a Clark Griswold.
‘Angus!’ I called again.
He had to be up there, but why wasn’t he answering? I tried pressing the button to lower the blasted bucket and pulled at the levers but nothing happened. I hesitated just for a second, then sent Jamie a text explaining where I was and what I thought had happened and then I began to climb.
It hadn’t looked so far from the ground, but when I heard the gravel crunching below, far below, as footsteps came running and I dared to look down I soon realised I wouldn’t survive the fall without a fair few broken bones.
‘What the actual fuck are you doing?’ shouted Jamie.
‘What, in life?’ I called back. ‘Or right at this moment?’
My attempt to make light of my foolish decision didn’t go down well at all.
‘Are you completely mad?’
He sounded absolutely furious and I hoped my hunch about his father was right because it was the only thing that was going to help me survive his wrath. Now was certainly not the time to remind him that the hall did at least have a comprehensive public liability insurance policy should I slip and break my neck.
‘I’m sure he’s up here!’ I called down.
I tried to shake my hair out of my eyes and my hands slipped a little against the icy drainpipe I was attempting to climb up. Had it not been for the ivy clinging to the walls and the gnarled trunk of the ancient wisteria which was giving me a reasonable foothold, I don’t think I would have made it far at all.
‘Jesus, Anna!’ Jamie bawled. ‘You’re going to kill yourself!’
My arms were aching by the time I was level with the bottom of the bucket, but there was no way I was going back down.
‘He’s definitely in there,’ came a voice from somewhere high above my head. ‘I can see him.’
It was Mick. He was at the very top of the house, leaning out of a window and looking down.
‘But he’s not moving.’
I wondered for a moment if it would have been better, safer even, if I had climbed out of the window and down, but thinking about the wide ledges up there I knew I couldn’t have summoned the courage to go over the edge, and anyway it didn’t matter now. The only way was up, and quickly before my arms gave up completely.
Using the last of my energy and throwing out what had to be the most unusual wish to the Wishing Tree, I let go of the drainpipe, momentarily trusting the strength of the ivy, and made a sideways grab for the edge of the bucket before hauling myself inside.
‘Yes, he’s here!’ I shouted down to Jamie. The whole machine swayed as I leant over the side. ‘But he isn’t conscious.’
Mick’s head disappeared from view and, in the torchlight, as best I could, I put into practice the first-aid skills everyone hopes they’ll never have to use when they turn up to take the course. In the tiny space I manhandled Angus into the best recovery position I could manage and stripped off as many warm layers to cover him in as I dared without risking hypothermia myself. It was a huge relief to hear him groan as I shuffled about in the cramped conditions.
‘I’m going to throw some blankets down,’ said Mick.
A coat would have been better, but I was grateful for anything he could quickly lay his hands on.
‘And the ambulance is here,’ Jamie called up, rushing away in the dark to give them directions.
Unfortunately the fire crew took longer to arrive, no doubt because of the hazardous travelling conditions, and while I waited all I could think about was trying to get Angus warm and keep him breathing.
By the time I had shouted various details down to the paramedics I could see the blue beams of the fire engine lights flashing through the trees and into the wider landscape and knew that no matter how wonderful the display Angus had been planning, nothing would have been able to lift my spirits more than those lights telling me that help was on its way.
It took what felt like hours for Mick and the guys on the ground to try and work around the machine’s dodgy wi
ring, but eventually they freed the stuck mechanics and the contraption made its jerky descent, with me shaking like a leaf and hanging on for dear life inside. The glacial conditions finally began to have an impact as I gradually ran out of adrenalin, and my ankle and knees began to throb.
‘Jesus, Anna,’ scolded Jamie, once his father was safely transferred to the back of the ambulance and was being checked over. ‘Of all the dumb-arse things I’ve ever seen, that has to take first place.’
I knew he was only having a go at me because he was scared, but a quick thank you wouldn’t have gone amiss. Perhaps it would come later, when he’d had time to calm down.
‘I thought she was actually rather brave,’ winked the fireman who had lifted me out of the bucket and set me back on terra firma. ‘Her quick thinking has probably made all the difference to your dad.’
He tossed me another blanket to wrap around my shoulders, as I still hadn’t got back the clothes I had stripped off to try and raise Angus’s temperature.
‘Have you ever thought about joining the fire service?’ the guy carried on. ‘We could use a nimble little thing like you to help us out in tight spots.’
I felt myself blush and Jamie muttered under his breath before stalking around the side of the hall to where the ambulance was parked. I hobbled on behind as best I could and listened in on the conversation.
‘Looks like hypothermia,’ the paramedic explained, ‘and possible concussion. We think he might have had a bump on the head.’
No doubt it was hard for them to tell with Angus.
‘He’s a bit out of it,’ carried on the younger attendant, ‘but don’t worry, we’ve seen worse.’
‘This one might need a quick check-over,’ said Jamie, who had spotted my bloody knees.
‘No,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘You get off. I’m fine. It’s just a scratch from when I tripped over.’
Jamie shrugged and the crew slammed the ambulance doors shut before heading off.
‘I’ll go and tell Mum what’s happened,’ said Jamie as he watched the blue lights disappear from sight.
Fortunately, Dorothy had been able to keep Catherine inside the hall while the drama was playing out. Seeing her husband being loaded into the back of an ambulance was the last thing she needed. I looked up at the hall to see if I could spot any tell-tale cabling that would give Angus’s antics away, but as far as I could tell, there was nothing. Either he’d crashed out before he got started or he’d hidden the cables very well.
