‘You do know that Matt’s been known to add an ingredient or two of his own?’ Jill’s eyes were twinkling.
‘Believe me, I won’t care. Elsie did mention it, she also said she thinks we should prime the vicar so he can start ringing the church bells if George’s speech gets out of hand.’
‘Or him and Timothy start fisticuffs.’
‘Don’t!’ Lucy frowned. ‘You don’t mean that?’
‘Oh chill! Honestly, it will be fine and the chaos adds to the fun. It gives everybody something to talk about for months afterwards.’
Lucy had to admit, Langtry Meadows always seemed to surprise her, so maybe this would be the best Christmas celebration she’d ever been part of. ‘Oh heck, I didn’t realise it was that late. I need to get a move on or I’ll miss visiting hours at the hospital. I can find out if Jim’ll be fit to play Santa, though from what Timothy said he’ll be strapped up, then be on crutches for a bit.’
‘Oh don’t worry, we’ll soon find somebody else. I could maybe even persuade Matt?’
‘Matt eh?’ Lucy raised an eyebrow at the second mention of Matt in so many minutes, and Jill turned bright pink. ‘He’s being very helpful.’
‘He is.’ Jill shuffled an already tidy pile of books about. ‘He’s surprised me actually.’ Her voice was soft. ‘Under all that jokey stuff he’s kind.’
‘So, when are you two going to …?’
A smile suddenly lit up Jill’s face, and she looked much younger, and slightly mischievous. ‘Now don’t go jumping the gun, we’re keeping it casual.’
‘But you do like him, don’t you?’
‘I do, and,’ she paused, ‘it’s nice to have a man in my life again. When I lost Mark, it was like I’d lost everything, it never even crossed my mind for a second that there would ever be anybody else. For ages it just never even occurred to me. Does that make me sound mad?’
‘It makes you sound like you were in love, Jill.’
‘It was like it was meant to be.’ She looked down, self-conscious. ‘I met him at college, and we never looked back.’
Lucy waited, hoping that Jill would say more. She’d never, ever mentioned anything about Mark before – other than that he’d died, and Lucy had a feeling she’d not really been ready to openly chat about it.
‘He was gorgeous, in his heart he was the nicest man you could meet. I always wondered why he even looked twice at me.’
‘Because you’re gorgeous too, Jill. Inside and out.’ Kind wasn’t a big enough word for Jill, the children loved her, the whole village did, and Lucy had been working at the school for some time before she’d even had the slightest hint that any kind of sadness lurked behind Jill’s happy smile. She’d been shocked, and felt very guilty, the day that they’d been discussing past problems, and Jill had told her that her husband had died. And then she’d brushed over it and moved on, and Lucy had let her because she’d been a stranger then – why would Jill confide in her?
‘I never thought it was going to end. I mean you don’t, do you? Then we found out.’ She took a gulp of air.
‘You don’t have to …’
‘I want to. I had that outpouring of grief straight after, but it hit me the other day when I was chatting to Matt about him, that I’ve not actually talked to anybody about Mark for ages. I talk to him at home, chatter when I’m doing things, like some mad woman.’
‘You’re not mad.’
‘It doesn’t feel mad, it feels natural now. But to anybody else.’ She shrugged. ‘You lose the habit of telling people though, they’re not interested any more once the initial grief has gone. You’re supposed to move on.’
‘I wouldn’t imagine anybody would just move on.’
‘To tell the truth, Lucy, I don’t want to. I don’t want to forget him, but it’s getting harder. I used to be able to smell him on his clothes, sheets, towels, and it’s all fading. When I look at his photo I can still imagine him laughing, but I can’t hear him quite the same, he doesn’t talk to me like he did.’
‘Maybe he’s helping you move on, maybe he knows you’re ready.’
‘Maybe.’ She sighed. ‘For ages after I really wasn’t bothered at all about dating, then I felt a bit guilty for even thinking about it.’ She shrugged. ‘But you could be right, it feels okay now. Mark would think it was funny, he always said Matt had hidden depths.’
‘Sally said much the same to me.’
‘Mark was always trying to matchmake for me, after we found out he was ill. He made a game of it, joking about what kind of guy I needed. Who’d live up to his high standards.’ She blinked. ‘I think he told Matt to look after me, he said he was solid, he wouldn’t let me down. Maybe he knew something I didn’t.’
‘Mark sounds a smart guy.’
‘He was.’
‘Sally reckoned Matt just needed to meet the right person.’
Jill laughed self-consciously. ‘Well I don’t know about that.’ I think I do, Lucy thought, but didn’t dare say it. ‘Who’d have thought my first date would be with a flirt like Matt Harwood?’
‘He’s fun, and actually I’d have thought it. He has been after you for so long, lurking by the school gate. Anywhere else he’d have been arrested! And he got me in trouble with Charlie, who was convinced that he was hanging round me, not you.’
‘You’re kidding?’
‘Oh you know what he’s like, all huggy and easy going. Charlie just took it the wrong way. He even took it the wrong way when he caught Jamie at my place the other week, what does he think I am?’ Lucy laughed. Charlie really had jumped to the wrong conclusion about her and Matt, but that was a long time ago. Before they really knew each other. Now she was sure he trusted her, they trusted each other.
‘He has been rather stressed out, he’s not normally like that. In fact I’ve never seen him jealous. I reckon,’ Jill grinned, ‘it’s because you’re so important to him. He’s scared.’
‘Scared? I’m not scary!’
‘Of losing you, you noddle. I mean put yourself in his shoes, he thought he’d lost Maisie and she means the world to him.’
‘He still could.’ Lucy suddenly felt gloomy.
‘He could, but there’s a good chance he won’t. Isn’t there?’
‘I hope so.’ Frustration gnawed away inside Lucy. It was a waiting game, and she kept feeling on the verge of losing her nerve, of having to storm in and ask Josie what she was playing at. But it wasn’t her battle. She’d only make things worse. Charlie was doing everything his solicitor Malcolm advised, being fair, being open, not allowing himself to be drawn into any arguments or agreements that could influence a court. ‘Josie has gone very quiet since Maisie ran away, and I’m half expecting everything to turn nasty at Christmas. She’s coming home, which is nice for Maisie.’ But could be horrible for her and Charlie.
‘Lucy, I’m not going to say it’ll work out fine because we don’t know. Everybody said it would be fine for Mark at first, but we knew there were no guarantees. You’ve just got to make the most of every day, and hope that you get another one. One day at a time.’
‘I know.’ Lucy hugged her. ‘Oh Jill, I’m so pleased for you and Matt.’
‘I might just be another notch …’
‘Rubbish. He wouldn’t do that to you. To Mark.’
‘Go away Lucy Jacobs before I get all maudlin. Go on. Shoo. Give Jim my love, he’s a star.’
‘I will.’ Lucy grinned, and picked up her bag.
‘Here, don’t forget the card Maisie did for him.’ Jill picked up the still-damp painting, which showed a very big tree, a diminutive stick figure with one foot in what looked like a very big plaster cast stuck out at right angles (which Lucy decided had to be Jim), and a dog that was floating mid-air. ‘I think you need to read it.’ She tipped her head on one side and smiled, so Lucy took the sticky card and carefully peeled it open.
‘Deer jim. Thank yoo. I howp yur leg is beter soon and we can tayk Lucy to the tree so she can beelong heer to. From Maisie and Roo x’
>
Tears sprung to her eyes, and as she blinked them away the lump in her throat was a physical pain. They had to find a way of all belonging here.
Chapter 20
Jim looked quite out of place lying on the crisp white sheets in the sterile environment of the hospital. He was however surrounded by cards, and had the biggest bunch of grapes Lucy had ever seen.
‘Well now, if it isn’t my favourite teacher.’ He patted the chair at the side of the bed. ‘Come and sit down, love and fill me in on what I’ve missed.’
‘You’re the biggest story of the village, Jim.’ Lucy leant forward impulsively and kissed him on the cheek, before sitting down. ‘You deserve a medal.’
‘Nonsense.’ His voice was gruff and he coloured-up with pleasure. ‘So how’s the little ’un?’
‘She sent this.’ Lucy grinned, holding the card by a corner. ‘It’s still a bit damp I’m afraid.’
Jim took the paper, oblivious to the smears of paint he was daubing the pristine sheet with, and guffawed at the picture, then blinked when he read the words inside. ‘Little treasure.’ His voice was gruff as he pointed to the tray at the foot of his bed. ‘Prop it up on there, love then I can see it. Okay then is she?’
‘She’s fine, and that’s all down to you. She had a good night’s sleep and was back at school today none the worse for her big adventure.’
‘Nothing wrong with running away, I’ve done it more than once myself.’
Lucy didn’t like to say that times had changed, and when a child disappeared for as little as an hour then it caused palpitations – even in a lovely village like Langtry Meadows.
‘How on earth did you know where she was? We’d looked everywhere.’
‘Well,’ he stroked his beard and grinned knowingly so that she could see his chipped tooth. ‘Soon as that pup came back all muddy, I had a feeling,’ he tapped the side of his nose, ‘that they could have been down by the fishing pit. Spent many a day down there as a lad I did, draws kids like a magnet.’
‘I’m surprised she found it, she said you took her down over the summer?’
‘Aye well, that was my fault. Took the little ’un down there one day I did.’
‘Fishing?’ Lucy tried to temper the incredulous tone in her voice. ‘She wasn’t at all keen when we had a pond-dipping session at school a few weeks ago.’
‘No.’ Jim shook his head. ‘The pond is what a lot of them like, but it’s not that she was interested in, it was the tree.’
‘She did mention something about a tree, on the way out of school.’
‘Very taken with it she was.’ Jim shuffled about, pulling himself up on the pillows, and made himself more comfortable. ‘It’s a big old oak tree there, like on that picture she’s painted. Been there forever it has. If you want to find out who’s lived in Langtry Meadows, that tree is even better than one of Elsie’s photo albums.’
This was sounding a little bit crazy, and she wondered for a moment exactly what painkillers poor Jim was on.
‘I went there as a nipper, my old man took me and he helped me scratch my initials into that tree. ‘’E’d done the same as a lad, even posh George has done it,’ he chuckled, ‘though he’s got so many flamin’ initials it’s like The Lord’s Prayer. Worse than one of his speeches, if you can believe that.’ There was another deep chuckle, which rumbled its way through his body. ‘Anyhow, I took the nipper down there in the summer, when Charlie was busy. He’d come out to look at one of Ed’s cows and brought the lass and dog with him. Turned out a bigger job than he’d thought, breech calf I think, anyhow I’d come to drop a bit of cake off that Elsie had made. Does it as thank you she does, like an exchange because Ed gives her bags of muck for the roses.’
Lucy was glad she’d sat down, this was turning into quite a story. But however long it was, she was happy to listen – without Jim they might never have found Maisie. And she wanted to hear about the tree that had made such an impact on the little girl.
‘No hardship for me to entertain the kiddie for a bit, she’s a clever one, chatters away for Britain once she gets going, and it cheers me up it does.’ He paused for breath. Lucy had never heard him say more than a couple of sentences at one time, even though he was always kind and friendly. ‘Well, I showed the lass where I’d scratched my initials in, and I found Charlie’s too. Quite taken with it she was, asked me where yours was and I told her you were new like she is, so hadn’t been there yet. She wanted to take you down there, desperate to she was. Giggled when I showed her where Timothy Parry had done his neat little mark and where my Annie had tried to draw a goose, but it looked more like a two-legged giraffe.’ He sighed. ‘Bloody mistake trying to cross that ditch though.’ Grimacing he put a hand on the top of his leg. ‘You’d think I’d have learned.’
‘You certainly would, you should know better at your age.’
They both turned at the clipped tones, and Lucy was surprised to see Elsie Harrington, dressed as immaculately as ever, her grey hair drawn back into a neat chignon, high heels on her feet despite the weather and her age, standing at the foot of the bed. ‘You never grow up, you boys, do you?’
Jim chuckled. ‘And you never stop telling me off, Elsie Harrington.’ He winked at Lucy. ‘Been doing that since I was in short trousers. Even Elsie here knows about that old oak tree though, don’t you?’
‘It’s one of the few living things in this village that’s older than me.’ Her tone was dry, but there was a hint of a smile at the corner of her mouth.
Lucy smiled and pulled a chair up next to his bed for the visitor. ‘He did an amazing job of finding her, nobody else had a clue.’
‘It sounds like you won’t be fit to clear my garden or take Molly out for a while.’ Elsie looked disapproving, then her voice softened as she sat down. ‘She misses you.’
‘I miss her too.’ Lucy was surprised how gruff Jim’s tone was, he did a lot for Elsie and was obviously fonder of her than he admitted to. And the feeling was mutual from the look on Elsie’s face, despite her slightly tart words. ‘And how would you know about how long I’ll be out of action?’
‘The consultant tells me you’ll be on crutches then you might need ligament surgery, which to my mind isn’t a five minute job. I only asked because he was getting a coffee when I was. I suppose,’ she pursed her lips, ‘plenty of light exercise is what you will need afterwards, once the splint is off, so your dog walking will be ideal.’
‘Ideal.’ His eyes twinkled as he glanced from Elsie back to Lucy. ‘Wrenched the bugger I did, twisted it, meant to jump the flaming ditch but I landed right plonk in it with one foot, and got stuck fast. I was daft enough to try and turn, and ping.’ He threw up his hands, and Elsie flinched. ‘I think my whole knee popped out, hurt like buggery it did. Good job the young ’un was there, though I was bothered I’d frighten her.’
‘A good job you were there.’ Elsie sounded slightly more conciliatory, but Lucy was sure this was about a lot more than her losing her odd-job man and companion, she was genuinely upset and doing her best to hide it under bluster and sharp words. The very fact that she’d made her way over to the hospital was a surprise.
‘Poor lass was lost, she’d had fun with the dog in the pit, then he’d scampered off and didn’t come back, hadn’t a clue which way home was. And she was cold, poor mite.’
‘I doubt she’s ever been that far down the fields on her own.’
‘Bright little thing she is, I told Charlie. Lad was beside himself he was, and was all for shouting until he saw the look on her face. I couldn’t get to grips with the phone, hard enough hitting them bloody silly little letters on a good day, but I could hardly see to do it. Once I got the number up though and told her what to write she was a little gem. Spelling them words out like a trooper.’
‘She is bright.’ Lucy nodded. ‘She’s a good girl.’
‘She is that, and I told Charlie not to be hard on her, even though he’d had a scare. Had quite a chat we did, me and little Maisie
while we were waiting.’ He gave Lucy a piercing look. ‘Not much escapes her.’
‘I know.’
‘Can’t be easy for her, all the moving. I was born in Langtry Meadows and I’ve never been anywhere else. Got my roots down as firmly as that flaming oak tree.’ He chuckled, and shook his head. ‘Poor little thing.’
‘Charlie is doing his best, it’s difficult.’
‘I know it is.’ He nodded. ‘But kiddies don’t understand good intentions do they?’ Lucy tried not to flinch. ‘They understand the things you do, not what you’re thinking about doing. That’s no good to them, is it? Got a bit confused she has, if you ask me. I always says it’s best to keep things simple, if you know what I mean.’
‘I think you’re right, Jim.’
‘Nothing that a few hugs won’t put right.’ He frowned. ‘And what are you giving me that look for, Elsie Harrington?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Elsie sniffed. ‘I think your medication must be too strong.’ She tapped her stick on the floor.
Jim’s eyes were twinkling, he knew Elsie far too well to be upset by her words. He winked at Lucy.
‘Well she’s quite attached to you she is Lucy, reckon we all need our mothers at times, and if they’re not there then we need somebody to stand in.’
Elsie made a harrumph sound. ‘And what would you know about that, Jim Stafford?’
‘Well I know that when our mam went, our Annie stepped up to the mark she did. Made sure I was okay.’
‘You were a grown man!’
‘Aye, doesn’t matter how old you are, now does it Elsie? We all need a hug sometimes, even you, you daft bat.’
‘I’m not sure …’
‘And you’re the one little Maisie wants to turn to, aren’t you, Lucy?’
Lucy nodded. ‘We just thought it might confuse her, and it might aggravate the situation.’
‘The only one it will confuse is that mother of hers, and she needs a shake if you ask me. Right now, enough of that, what’s the verdict Doc Elsie? When are they going to let me out of here? I’ve Christmas plans to make.’
Coming Home to Jasmine Cottage Page 21
