Creature Comforts

by Trisha Ashley

  ‘You’re alive!’ said a deep voice, thankfully.

  Turning me the right way up, the man waded to the side and laid me down on the stone edging, before climbing out.

  I sat up, still coughing up water, and exclaimed indignantly, ‘Of course I’m alive, you idiot! I was swimming!’

  ‘My God,’ he said blankly, looking down at me from a great height, ‘I’ve rescued a pixie!’

  His hair was darkly plastered to his head and his clothes dripping, but there was something strangely familiar about him. Then, when he reached down and hauled me to my feet, I found myself staring up, stunned, into a distinctive and unforgettable pair of eyes the soft green of sea-washed bottle glass, edged with smudgy black around the iris.

  ‘Harry?’ I whispered, my heart suddenly stopping, then restarting, but faster and more erratically.

  It was he who broke the long eye contact, frowning and letting go of his grip on my arms so suddenly that I nearly sank down again.

  ‘I’m Rufus – Rufus Carlyle,’ he said, looking at me strangely.

  And of course, after that first brief shock I could see he was a total stranger. He might be much the same age as Harry, his half-brother, would have been by now, but other than the eyes, his face was entirely different, all planes and angles, with a cleft chin and a Roman nose that wouldn’t have looked out of place under a plumed helmet on the obverse of an ancient coin.

  In fact, it occurred to me that if he hadn’t been wearing clothes, he would have been a dead ringer for the fantasy Roman soldiers I’d often imagined sharing the pool with me.

  I felt a slightly hysterical bubble of laughter trying to escape my lips and clamped them together, but I must have looked weird, because he asked tersely, ‘Are you all right?’

  I nodded and then swallowed. ‘Yes. Or at least I was, until you started half-drowning me and bashing me around.’

  ‘Only because you were floating face down and looked drowned. What on earth were you doing in there, anyway? The place is closed to visitors until two. Did you climb over the fence?’

  He looked me up and down and then added, before I’d had a chance to get a word in among all the questions, ‘Presumably not dressed like that. You looked so small in the pool I thought you were a child – but now, obviously not.’

  I’d forgotten what I was wearing – or not wearing. My old and modest one-piece swimsuit appeared to have vanished in my absence, so I’d grabbed the first alternative that came to hand, the white bikini I’d bought years before when going on holiday to Corfu with Lulu and her parents. It hadn’t looked particularly skimpy when I was a skinny teenager, but I’d acquired a few curves since then and I have to admit it had been a struggle to fasten the top …

  I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. ‘I’m local, so I’ve got a token to get through the turnstile and Tom doesn’t mind my having a swim whenever I want one.’

  ‘So, who are you?’

  ‘I’m Izzy,’ I said reluctantly. ‘Isabella Dane.’

  He took a sudden step back, as if I’d offered him a poisoned chalice and suggested he take a tiny sip for his health’s sake.

  ‘You’re Izzy Dane? Dan Clew told me all about you, but he said you lived abroad.’

  ‘I bet he’s told you all about me,’ I said bitterly. ‘And I was living and working abroad, but now I’m back. For good. And we didn’t even know you existed till a few weeks ago. Debo thinks you’re probably an impostor,’ I added, even though I’d known straight away that he wasn’t.

  ‘Then she’s wrong,’ he snapped. ‘You think I wanted to discover the man I’d thought was my father all my life, wasn’t?’

  We stared at each other, and then I shivered violently.

  ‘Presumably even pixies can get pneumonia,’ he said. ‘Hadn’t you better get changed? Or do you walk around the woods like that?’

  I gave him a look and stalked off across the grass to the changing hut, slamming the door after me. The sun was well down now, one stray beam shining through the heart-shaped cut-out high in the door, like a celestial message. I only wished I knew what it was saying.

  When I came out, towelling my urchin crop into an even more pixie state, he was still there, dripping gently onto the short turf.

  He’d taken his fleecy blue sweatshirt off and was wringing it out, revealing a broad-shouldered frame tapering to a narrow waist. He wasn’t heavily muscled, but either he worked out, or wrestling heavy bits of garden antiquities about was more strenuous than I’d imagined.

  With some difficulty, he put the garment back on again. ‘I’m not sure that’s an improvement,’ he said.

  ‘I thought you’d have gone home: you’re going to catch your death, hanging about in wet clothes,’ I said, and this actually seemed a good idea to me, so I didn’t offer him my towel to dry his hair with.

  ‘We’re presumably going the same way, since I expect you walked through the estate from the Lodge?’

  ‘It’s actually an ancient right of way,’ I said defensively, wondering how it was that he constantly made me feel in the wrong. ‘It goes all the way from Middlemoss, across the main road at the bottom of the hill, and then up behind the pub to here. Then it cuts through the corner of your estate and comes out by the Sweetwell gates. That’s why there’s that wooden door in the wall just there.’

  He frowned. ‘Which door?’

  ‘You probably didn’t notice it because it’s painted the same green as the ivy. But most people just walk up to your drive and then go through the gates, because they’re always open.’

  ‘Dan said the path wasn’t a right of way above the Spring; it ends here.’

  ‘Dan says a lot of stupid things,’ I remarked, pushing through the turnstile and setting off home. He followed suit and then fell into step beside me, squelching.

  ‘So, it wasn’t true when he said you’d killed my half-brother, Harry, drink-driving?’

  I stopped and glared at him. ‘I may have been driving, but I certainly wasn’t drunk – and it was an accident!’

  ‘Oh, well, that’s all right then,’ he said sarcastically.

  ‘Look, I don’t even remember what happened, because I had a head injury,’ I said angrily.

  ‘That’s lucky,’ he remarked. He seemed to be a very bitter and nasty person and I strongly felt I could do without his company.

  ‘Well, that’s good, coming from the son of the woman responsible for the death of my mother!’ I snapped furiously, without thinking what I was saying. ‘I bet she didn’t tell you that when she found out Debo was living at the Lodge.’

  ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ He gazed at me in astonishment. ‘My mother’s done a lot of crazy things, but at least, unlike you, she’s never killed anyone.’

  My fists clenched and goodness knew what I would have said to him next if my attention hadn’t been distracted by a sudden loud crashing noise in the bushes. A vast, black hairy creature bounded out and threw itself at me and I fell flat on my back.

  The monster landed on top of me with all four giant feet, and then started licking my face with a tongue like a sheet of wet sandpaper.

  ‘Get off, Babybelle!’ I ordered crossly, when I’d managed to gasp some air into my lungs, and tried to push her away, to no avail.

  ‘And you –’ I said to the man – ‘don’t just stand there, but this time do something useful, before she suffocates me. Haul her off!’

  Obediently, he took hold of Belle’s collar and pulled. She resisted, but eventually gave in, so he must be pretty strong. I got up gingerly, picking leaves out of my hair. ‘I’m bruised all over, you stupid creature!’

  ‘Which one of us?’ he asked, though through lips so tight he could have started a new career as a ventriloquist.

  ‘Both,’ I said shortly, then threading the belt of my jeans through her collar, I hauled Belle off towards home. She followed me like a lamb … as did Rufus Carlyle – or so I thought, until I reached the drive and turned to find he’d vanish
ed silently, presumably up the side path.

  I tried not to wish pneumonia on him … just a teeny, but very snotty, running cold.

  Judy was standing on the drive and looked relieved when she spotted us.

  ‘Oh, you’ve got her! Debo headed up towards the house, because Sandy saw her go that way.’

  ‘The daft creature suddenly jumped on me while I was walking back and knocked me flat.’

  Babybelle took the opportunity to sit down, mostly on my feet, and pant in a pleased sort of way, as if she’d rescued me from mortal peril.

  ‘I’m bruised all over, though actually some of that was from being manhandled by Rufus Carlyle.’

  ‘What on earth do you mean?’

  ‘He thought I was drowning in the pool and rescued me. He’s a horrible man, because when he found out who I was, he said Dan had told him I’d killed his half-brother, by driving while drunk.’

  ‘That Dan Clew is poison,’ Judy said. ‘I’ll give him a piece of my mind next time I see him.’

  Debo appeared round the bend and we waved before heading for the Lodge, Babybelle plodding after us.

  ‘I told him that was rich, considering his mother had killed mine,’ I confessed to Judy. ‘I didn’t mean to, he just made me angry.’

  ‘Well … possibly that was slightly rash, considering he has the power to make our lives difficult if he wants to,’ she said, ‘but it was probably irresistible, given the provocation. And Debo’s just as likely to speak her mind when she finally meets him – you know what she’s like.’

  And it was true: Debo was prone to saying exactly what was in her head, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

  ‘Let’s not tell Debo I’ve had a run-in with him just yet,’ I suggested. ‘She looks much more cheerful now.’

  ‘She is, because she’s decided that, having carefully not touched your money for years, it’s now perfectly OK to accept it as a loan. She’s convinced she’ll be able to pay you back, though you do realise that that’s unlikely, don’t you?’

  ‘Oh, yes, and I don’t want it back. I’ve put aside enough to get the business going.’

  ‘Don’t you think you should wait till you can see Kieran again before making a final decision? I mean, if he’s worth his salt and loves you, he’ll move north, and then you might want some of the money for a house deposit after all.’

  ‘No I won’t. I never agreed to use it to buy one in Oxford in the first place, and anyway, at the moment I’m not sure I even want to see him again, let alone marry him.’

  ‘He still hasn’t rung, or anything?’

  ‘No, not even a text message to say he’s back,’ I said shortly, and she let it lie.

  Debo caught us up and after a tussle we got Belle back in her kennel, though I had a feeling she could get out again any time she liked, just by leaning on the fence till it gave way and then walking over it, much as she’d walked over me.

  I hoped I hadn’t let Rufus Carlyle walk all over me too … but on the whole, I thought that honours were so far about even.

  Chapter 7: Regeneration

  I walked down to the Hut early for Lulu’s Halfhidden Regeneration Scheme meeting, but Rita and Freddie Tompion, who ran a clock repair shop in the village, were already there, carrying out stacks of tubular metal and canvas chairs from the curtained-off storage area and arranging them in neat rows.

  It looked like they were expecting a full house.

  From the tiny church of St Mary’s next door, the strains of a small organ playing ‘Nearer, my God, to Thee’ wafted across. Jonas was giving the pedals some welly. Now he’d moved in with his daughter, Lottie, he was practically next door, so I expected he often popped in to practise. He played for the monthly service when the new young Middlemoss vicar came over, too.

  It was lovely to see Lulu again and give her a big hug – and even better that already she looked subtly different from the last time we’d met, when she was still firmly under the thumb of the increasingly jealous and controlling Guy. Cam and I had been so worried about her.

  She hadn’t yet entirely lost the slight look of apprehension, but she was no longer quite so worryingly skinny and the blue shadows had gone from under her eyes. She’d always been the confident, gregarious, lively one of the three of us, till Guy got his hands on her, so now we’d just have to help her get some zippity back into her doo-dah.

  She returned the hug, looking both pleased and relieved to see me. ‘Thank goodness you’re here!’

  ‘You said to come early, but it doesn’t look like you need me except for support, because you’re very well organised.’

  She had a flip chart, a blown-up wall map of the whole valley, with numbered stickers all over it, and a stack of printed leaflets. She also carried a fat notebook and had a pencil stuck in the thick dark curls behind one ear.

  ‘Outwardly, perhaps, but inside I’m petrified!’ she confessed.

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ I assured her. ‘Come on, I’ve got some pecan biscuits here from Judy, for refreshment time, so let’s add them to the supplies.’

  There wasn’t a kitchen as such because the Hut was too small, but tea, coffee, milk and a kettle were arranged by the small sink in the curtained-off storage alcove, along with a stack of paper cups and plates. There was a biscuit tin there already.

  ‘Myra’s bringing one of her famous marmalade cakes and Bruce’s latest batch of madeleines are in that tin,’ she said, following me over. ‘He says he’s perfected them now, but he’s had so many attempts lately, we’re all completely sick of them.’

  Her brother was an excellent chef and since he and his wife, Kate, took over the restaurant side of the Screaming Skull, I’d heard it had gained quite a reputation for good food. When I said so, Lulu sighed.

  ‘He and Kate have really made a success of it and Mum and Dad could manage the hotel and pub side of things in their sleep, so I know they only gave me the Haunted Weekend breaks to give me something to do. I really feel I’ve got to make my own mark by expanding the holiday bookings.’

  ‘Well, that’s what tonight’s all about, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes, and that’s what’s making me nervous, because maybe I’m being too ambitious in trying to involve everyone else. And you do look lovely, by the way,’ she added enviously. ‘Is that dress made of sari material?’

  ‘Yes, do you like it?’ I gave a twirl. ‘My own design, and it’s going to feature in my first collection, with a matching quilted patchwork jacket.’

  ‘It wouldn’t suit me, now I’m so skinny.’

  She’d always had more curves than I, so it was odd that now I was the one with a modest figure, though if Bruce kept feeding her up with madeleines, she could soon overtake me again.

  ‘I’m sure it would look good on you because I’ve draped it sari-style and saris suit every size and shape. But I’ll design something especially for you one of these days, and then you can model the prototype for the online catalogue. Meanwhile, here’s a little something I brought you back.’

  I gave her an amber silk scarf, which was a colour that really suited her, and a pair of silver and citrine earrings. She put them on straight away and draped the scarf around her neck so the two ends drifted behind her as she walked. It looked a little incongruous with her plain white T-shirt and jeans, but then, I liked incongruity. The clothes I was designing might be inspired by my collection of vintage Indian cotton garments from the seventies, but there was also more than a hint of classical Greek drapery and other influences thrown into the mix.

  ‘I’ve had an eventful afternoon,’ I told her, after the Tompions, having decided we might need yet more chairs, had gone to raid the stack kept in the church vestry. By then, Jonas had switched seamlessly to ‘Jerusalem’, by way of ‘Lead, kindly Light’.

  ‘I went down to the Spring for a dip just after lunch and had a run-in with Dan Clew on the way, which I’ll tell you all about later. But then I had another – with Rufus Carlyle!’

  ‘Who?�
� she said absently. She was now riffling through her notebook, her mind obviously elsewhere.

  ‘The new owner of Sweetwell! You know, the missing heir who popped up just in time to scoop the jackpot when Baz had the heart attack?’

  ‘Oh, right.’ She looked up and focused. ‘Is he living in Sweetwell now, then? I knew he was moving his business here from Devon because there’s a garden antiques sign over the gateway, but if I’d known he’d be around, I’d have invited him to the meeting.’

  ‘Judy said Myra wasn’t expecting him till tomorrow, so running into him earlier was a bit of a shock … especially when I wasn’t wearing any clothes.’

  ‘What?’ she said, giving me her full attention at last.

  ‘Remember when we both bought white bikinis, for that holiday in Greece with your parents?’

  She nodded. ‘I still have mine somewhere, but I don’t know why, because I haven’t been that plump for a good ten years and it would just drop off me.’

  ‘I have the opposite problem, because I’ve definitely got much more hip and boob than I used to. Anyway, I couldn’t find my old cossie and I haven’t unpacked my bags yet, so I grabbed the bikini instead. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be around at that time of day, not even Tom, but once I realised how tight the bikini was I double-checked that the clearing was deserted before I left the changing hut.’

  I gave her a graphic description of my ‘rescue’.

  ‘There wasn’t a soul about when I got into the water and I was floating there feeling soothed and quite happy, considering I’d not only just broken up with the love of my life but also had an encounter with the ghastly Dan … Then suddenly, a total stranger had me draped over one arm and was thumping me on the back, before tossing me out onto the side of the pool like a drowned rabbit.’