Springtime at Wildacre: the gorgeously uplifting, feel-good romance (Animal Ark Revisited Book 3)

by Lucy Daniels

  But Abi had put down her brush and stuck out her bottom lip. ‘I don’t want them to go,’ she said. Mandy’s heart sank. She was trying to do the right thing, but Abi was going to see her as the bad guy again.

  ‘You understand, don’t you, Max?’ Mandy asked, hoping against hope that Max would say something positive.

  ‘I do see,’ he said, his voice earnest as ever. ‘But it does seem sad to get to know them when they’re going away so soon. Will it really help if we brush them?’

  ‘It really will,’ Mandy assured him and was pleased when he picked up the currycomb that Abi had dropped and set to with brushing Holly’s soft coat. ‘And Rainbow Hill isn’t too far away. I’m sure when the farm’s ready for visitors we can go and see them.’

  After a few moments, Abi picked up the body brush and made a start on brushing Robin’s legs, but Mandy suspected the damage was done.

  ‘Thanks very much for all the effort you’ve gone to,’ Jimmy whispered as he hugged her half an hour later.

  ‘Thank you. The kittens were lovely,’ Max said as he stood at the gate, waiting to go home.

  Abi stood a few feet away with her back to them.

  ‘Say thank you to Mandy,’ Jimmy told her.

  For a moment, Mandy thought the girl would refuse, but without turning round, she muttered, ‘Thank you.’ Jimmy’s smile was apologetic. Mandy just shrugged and shook her head. It wasn’t his fault. Not that it was exactly Abi’s either, she reasoned as the three of them got into the car. It was an impossible situation for all of them, and it certainly made sense that Abi wasn’t the biggest fan of things changing suddenly, after Jimmy and Belle’s break-up.

  Despite Jimmy’s whispered words, she found herself hoping that he would back off a little on his plans to get her familiar with the twins for now. Though Max was polite enough, he was hardly gushing with enthusiasm, and Abi obviously didn’t want to get to know Mandy at the moment. Surely the adults should respect their feelings? There would be time later when they could get to know each other. She waved as the car drove off, but only Jimmy was looking. With a feeling of resignation, she walked back inside.

  Her eyes fell on the wildlife camera Jimmy had left. Feeling that a quick walk would do her good, Mandy picked it up, slipped Sky’s lead on and headed towards the little fir wood.

  I need to find my proof before everybody turns against me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ‘So where are you and Seb planning to go on holiday?’ Monday morning surgery had been fully booked. Emily was still in the adjoining consulting room with her own client, but Mandy’s last client of the day had cancelled, so she was leaning against the wall beside the desk while Helen worked at the computer.

  ‘We’re thinking about Portugal,’ Helen replied.

  Mandy was about to ask where in Portugal when a loud crash from the consulting room made both of them jump.

  Helen jumped down from her stool, but Mandy had already reached the closed door. Before opening it, she knocked. If one of Emily’s feline patients was doing the wall of death round the shelves, the last thing she wanted to do was let it escape.

  A worried voice called out, ‘Come in.’ Mandy shoved the door open. To her horror, her mum was spread-eagled on the tiled floor. Several metal bowls lay scattered around the room and a kidney bowl full of water was upended underneath the table. Roo Dhanjal was crouching at Mum’s side, with her two cats still in their baskets by the door.

  Mandy rushed over and knelt down next to Roo and grabbed her mum’s hand. Emily’s face was deathly pale. Her eyes were open but confused.

  ‘What happened?’ Mandy raised her eyes to Roo.

  Roo looked stricken. ‘One minute she was fine, then she went white as a sheet. She grabbed at the shelf, but she went down before I could do anything.’

  Mandy’s eyes dropped again to her mum’s face. Though she was still white, she was at least breathing regularly. Her head was bleeding. As Mandy watched, a trickle of blood ran from the side of her forehead onto her hair and dripped onto the floor. Helen too had come into the room. She reached for the pack of gauze swabs that lay on the side. Bending, she pressed the swabs gently onto the wound. Emily stirred. The hand Mandy was clutching moved, the fingers squeezing Mandy’s tightly.

  ‘Mandy?’ Emily’s voice was shaking. For a moment her expression was so bewildered that she seemed like a stranger.

  ‘I’m here, Mum.’

  To Mandy’s relief, Emily’s eyes cleared a little and she looked up. ‘Did I fall?’ she said, then frowned as she saw Helen and Roo.

  ‘It’s okay, Mum.’ Emily’s hand was still in hers. She didn’t want to let go. ‘Can you call an ambulance, please?’ she asked Helen.

  Emily’s eyes widened and she shook her head, dislodging the swabs. ‘I don’t need an ambulance,’ she objected. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute.’ Blood began to seep from the wound again.

  Helen put another bundle of swabs on Emily’s head, then looked at Mandy, eyebrows raised, waiting for a decision.

  ‘I don’t want an ambulance,’ Emily insisted, trying to sit up. Mandy supported her until she seemed steadier, then between them, they helped her into a chair. ‘See, I’m fine,’ she said. ‘They did say I’d be up and down.’

  ‘I don’t think they meant this!’ Mandy said. She was gripping her mother’s hand. It felt incredibly warm. She tested her forehead, and that was hot too. ‘I want to go with her,’ she told Helen. ‘If anyone calls, you can give Dad a shout. Roo,’ she looked at her friend, ‘could you bring the cats back tomorrow, please, and I’ll see to them. I need to take Mum to hospital.’

  ‘Of course I will.’ Roo pressed her lips together. She still looked concerned for Emily, but she lifted up her cats in their carriers and nodded to Mandy. ‘I hope you feel better soon,’ she told Emily, then with a final glance, she left.

  Helen was still standing beside the door. ‘Will you take her yourself, or did you want an ambulance?’ she asked Mandy. Mandy glanced at Emily.

  ‘Will you take me?’ Emily pleaded. ‘I don’t want to go in an ambulance.’ She looked scared, Mandy thought.

  ‘Yes of course.’ Mandy felt relieved that her mum was agreeing to go at all.

  ‘I’m sorry to be such an inconvenience.’ Emily’s mouth quivered.

  Mandy managed a smile. ‘Mum, you’ve never been an inconvenience to anyone in your life,’ she said.

  Emily closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute,’ she said again.

  Mandy put an arm around her shoulders. ‘I’ll go and bring the car round to the door,’ she said. ‘Helen will stay with you. I’ll only be a minute.’ Helen took her place at Emily’s side, crouching down beside the chair.

  By the time Mandy brought the car round, Emily seemed to have rallied a little. She still seemed shaky as she made her way to the car, but some colour had returned to her face in the form of two red spots in the centres of her cheeks.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ she asked Mandy after they had been driving for a few minutes.

  ‘Northallerton,’ Mandy replied. She had considered taking Mum to the minor injuries unit in Ripon, but if Emily needed a CT scan, then Northallerton was the right place. Emily made no objection.

  There were a lot of people waiting at the hospital. Having given in Emily’s details at the desk, Mandy helped her mum to a seat, but they were only there a few moments before a nurse wearing dark blue scrubs appeared and scanned the waiting room.

  ‘Emily Hope?’ he called and smiled as Mandy waved a hand. Mandy steadied her mum as she stood up. It was alarming to see her so weak, Mandy thought. They made it to a cubicle and the nurse helped Emily onto a trolley.

  ‘There were an awful lot of people here before me,’ Emily objected. ‘I had migraine. I only fainted.’

  ‘Well, you’re at the top of my triage list,’ the nurse told her. He had taken Emily’s hand and was smiling, but his words gave Mandy a nasty feeling in her st
omach. Being top of the list was not good news, and she knew Emily knew it too – hopefully she was reassured, and not frightened. Mandy was very glad they had come to the hospital. ‘I’m going to take a quick look at you,’ the nurse explained, ‘then the doctor will come and see you in a few minutes.’ He fetched a machine to measure Emily’s blood pressure and heart rate. Mandy watched the numbers on the screen. Both were fine.

  Within fifteen minutes, the doctor came. Her white coat was clean but crumpled and she had a stethoscope slung round her neck. Mandy listened as Emily recounted her symptoms.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever really got rid of my migraine,’ she said. ‘My left eye’s still blurry. It’s worse when I’ve been working hard.’ Mandy frowned, dismayed, and her unease only deepened as Emily explained that her left foot had gradually become numb, right to the knee. The only time Mum had mentioned numbness had been the day she’d told Sky she’d been sitting on her foot too long.

  That was the same day Peter Warry first phoned, Mandy realised. What else haven’t you told us, Mum?

  The doctor seemed efficient. She examined the wound on Emily’s head and pronounced that it didn’t need stitching, but she ordered a CT scan and blood samples. ‘We’ll take a spinal fluid sample as well, so all our bases are covered,’ she said. ‘You’ll have to wait a little while. Once we’ve got the results, I’ll come back, okay?’

  Despite the bright lights and the bustle of the department all round them, Emily seemed to drift off into sleep. Mandy checked with the nurse that her mum was okay, then sat back in her orange plastic seat and watched the back and forth of doctors, nurses and auxiliary staff as they went about their business. She called home to check in and update her dad. He sounded anxious, but said he and Helen were managing in the clinic and not to worry. She told him the same, and hoped she sounded confident.

  Within an hour, the tests had all been done. Back in the cubicle, Emily went to sleep again. Three hours later the doctor returned, looking more crumpled than ever. Mandy reached out and squeezed Emily’s hand to rouse her.

  ‘The blood tests were all clear,’ the doctor said, ‘as was the CT. Most of the spinal fluid results won’t be back till tomorrow.’ She had lifted the information sheet on its clipboard and was looking at it. ‘Have you had migraines before?’ she asked, lifting her eyes from the page to look at Emily.

  Mandy glanced from her to her mum. ‘Not often,’ Emily replied, ‘and it was years ago. Do you think that’s all it is? Did you check vitamin B12? I was anaemic a few months ago, but I’ve been taking iron. Was that all normal?’

  ‘B12 and haemoglobin were both fine,’ the doctor assured her. ‘It’s difficult to say exactly what’s causing it.’ She flipped over the top sheet to study the readings taken by the nurse, then looked up again. ‘We can keep you in overnight if you prefer, just to be on the safe side, but either way, we’ll have to refer you for further tests. I’m going to recommend you have an MRI and I want to get a neurologist to look at you.’

  ‘Today?’ Emily looked as if she was going to start objecting that she was fine again.

  The doctor smiled and shook her head. Her certainty was reassuring. ‘Not today,’ she said. ‘You’ll be seen as an outpatient. It shouldn’t be long. In the meantime, you can go home so long as there’s someone who can be with you over the next twenty-four hours.’

  She glanced over at Mandy, who nodded. ‘Not a problem,’ she told the doctor.

  ‘Well, in that case,’ she said to Emily, ‘good luck with the investigation and I hope you feel much better soon.’

  ‘Thank you very much,’ Emily had a look of relief on her face. She sat up, turned on the trolley, put her feet down and waited for a moment before standing up.

  ‘I feel much better already,’ she told Mandy. She did look better, Mandy thought. She had slept quite a long time. She must have been exhausted.

  Adam came out as soon as he heard the car arriving. He gave a sympathetic smile when he saw Emily with her bandaged head and pulled her into a big hug.

  ‘That doesn’t look too bad,’ he said. ‘From what Helen told me, I was sure they’d keep you in. Come inside, you.’ He held out an arm and supported Emily as she walked slowly to the sitting room. Despite it being May, the fire was burning brightly, and he settled Emily into one of the comfortable chairs. ‘The kettle’s on,’ he said. ‘I’ll just get you a cup of tea.’

  ‘What did the doctor say?’ he asked Mandy, as soon as they were outside the door.

  ‘She’s going to get her referred for more tests,’ Mandy told him. ‘She said an MRI and that she wanted her to see a neurologist. Has Mum had migraines before? I don’t remember.’

  ‘She did a few times when she was much younger,’ Adam said, ‘but not recently. Is that what she thinks it is?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Mandy admitted. ‘The doctor asked her that and I wondered.’ There was no point in trying to guess what was in the doctor’s mind, she realised. If she’d thought it urgent, she would have kept Emily in. They would just have to wait for the referral. ‘The doctor said the neurologist’s appointment wouldn’t be too long,’ she added.

  Adam sighed and started cutting up some sandwiches he’d apparently made while they were on the way back. ‘Well, at least one of us should be able to stay here this evening,’ he said, as the kettle finished boiling and Mandy made Emily’s tea. ‘And if a lot of emergency cases come up at once, we’ll call on Gran and Grandad.’

  Between them, they carried the tea and sandwiches through to Emily and sat down together for a quick lunch. The sandwiches were thickly sliced with cheese and tomato. Mandy was so hungry after her long wait in A&E that she tucked into several, all washed down with strong tea. Emily only ate a little. She was still pale.

  Once they had eaten, Adam took Mandy back out of Emily’s earshot. ‘We’re going to have to be very organised with the cases,’ he said. ‘I’ll continue mostly with the small animals, if that’s okay?’

  ‘Of course it is,’ Mandy assured him. Though he was trying to appear calm, she could tell the ground was shifting under his feet. He wanted to be in and around the clinic, in case Emily needed him. So, she would do the farm work, and be around for Emily when she could. ‘I can ask Nicole to do some extra shifts in Hope Meadows,’ she said. ‘I’m sure she’d help out for Mum’s sake.’ Emily had looked after Nicole one day when she’d fallen off her bike on the way to Animal Ark. Nicole had also told Mandy that if she needed extra help in an emergency, all she needed to do was ask.

  ‘Gran and Grandad’ll help out in Hope Meadows too,’ Adam told Mandy. ‘Dad loves helping.’

  ‘I’ll give them a call,’ Mandy said, reaching out and giving Dad’s hand a squeeze. She would check with them whether they would be around this evening as well, just in case. A few moments later, she was speaking to Gran.

  ‘We’ll be around tonight,’ Gran assured her. ‘Just give us a shout if you need anything. I’ll talk to your grandad. We’ll work out a timetable for the rescue centre. Give my love to your mum and dad, won’t you?’

  Mandy put down the phone feeling a little easier in her mind. Gran really was wonderful. She and Grandad would help. Helen would chip in too, as would Rachel. And perhaps even if Wildacre was ready she would hold off on the move, just until Emily had a clean bill of health from the neurologist. It would be easier for everyone if she stayed in easy reach.

  Hopefully, by the summer, all Emily’s tests would be done, and they would have some answers at last. She didn’t want to think beyond that point at the moment. Mum would be fine. It would all be all right again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘How’s your mum this morning?’ Gran and Grandad had turned up bright and early, just as they had promised.

  ‘She seems okay,’ Mandy told her grandfather. ‘She was up and having breakfast when I came out. She said she’d slept well.’

  ‘I’ll pop in and see her in a few minutes,’ Gran said, holding out a Tupperware conta
iner. ‘I brought her some biscuits to cheer her up.’ She lifted the lid and showed Mandy the shortbread inside. Despite having just eaten breakfast, the sweet aroma made Mandy’s mouth water. Gran’s baking was enough to brighten anyone’s day.

  ‘So where would you like us to start?’ Grandad asked. ‘If you need to get on with your vet work, we can manage here.’ He stood straight-backed, his eyes bright.

  I’m so lucky, Mandy thought. This wonderful, extended, adopted family. They never let me down.

  ‘I don’t need to go just yet,’ she said. ‘Surgery doesn’t start for another forty minutes and it wasn’t looking too busy. Dad said I could get on out here.’

  ‘Shall we make a start cleaning out the cages?’ Grandad suggested.

  ‘That would be great,’ Mandy said. ‘If you could do that, I can get the morning feeds sorted out.’ Most of the feeding was routine, but one of the dogs was on special food for arthritis, an older cat needed a kidney diet and of course there was Mumma, who needed encouragement. Gran would love to help giving milk to the kittens later.

  ‘I’ll start with the dogs.’ Tom Hope squared his shoulders.

  ‘And I’ll sort out the rabbits,’ Dorothy said with a smile that lifted Mandy’s heart.

  An hour later, the three of them were sitting in the reception room, facing the huge glass window that looked out onto the fellside. Grandad was holding Myler, Gran had Button and Mandy was feeding Jasper.

  ‘What a sweetie,’ Gran said as she looked down at Button. The kitten had her eyes closed in ecstasy as she suckled. Her tiny paws were kneading Gran’s arm. Mandy smiled. The kittens had brought so much pleasure to her and Nicole. It was lovely to share them with her grandparents. Grandad seemed smitten as well.

  ‘Did you manage to get any more information about your planning permission?’ Grandad asked, looking up. ‘We saw your notice in the post office.’

  ‘There’s been a lot of chatter about it in the village,’ Gran added.