A Family Forever (Contemporary Romance Novella)

by Taylor, Helen Scott

  He glanced at her blue eyes glowing with enthusiasm, a smile on her shapely lips. She was not a sophisticated beauty, but pretty in a down-to-earth sort of way. If he'd met her under different circumstances, he might have been interested in getting to know her better.

  He pushed the thought from his mind and lowered his hands to the ground.

  "Look, Dad. Aren't they cool?"

  A large prickly creature was curled around three small prickly creatures, their brown hairy snouts sticking out of the spines. A ripe stink rose from the box, but a smile stretched Adam's lips. They were kind of cute.

  "What do you think?" Victoria said from behind him.

  He suddenly realized he was now the one with his rear end on display. He backed out and stood, brushing fruitlessly at the mud on his knees. "Very interesting. How many boxes do you have in this garden?"

  "I'll have to check my location plan for the latest figure, but my guess is around thirty."

  "And they all have babies in them right now?"

  "Many of them do. It's that time of year."

  That's what he was afraid of. Worst case scenario, thirty boxes each with a mum and three babies inside. That was an awful lot of cute, prickly creatures he was about to disturb when the development went ahead.

  Harry appeared at his side, a grin splitting his face. "I've got some awesome photos. Hedgehogs are way cool."

  "Yes. Very cool," Adam said.

  Harry shot Sophie a sheepish glance. "Don't say cool, Dad. It sounds stupid when old people say it."

  "I'm not ready to draw my pension yet, thank you." Adam shared a rueful smile with Victoria, her blue eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth that gave him a warm feeling inside.

  "So, is it okay for me to continue using your garden as a release site? I'll make sure to knock when I arrive in the future, then you'll know I'm here," she said.

  "Yes. About that." Adam rubbed a hand over his lips, not quite sure how to deal with this. His phone chimed, buying him much-needed time. He fished it from his pocket and checked the screen. The call was from the project manager at his Florida condo development. He had to take it. "Joel, hang on a moment," he said answering.

  He returned his attention to Victoria. "Sorry to be rude. This is important. Tomorrow's Saturday. Why don't you and Sophie stop by in the morning for a cup of coffee? We'll have a chat about the hedgehogs. Bring the plan you mentioned, the one that shows the locations of the boxes. I'm interested to know where they are."

  "Okay." A frown flitted across Victoria's face. Had she picked up on his reluctance? He hoped not. He didn't want her to worry yet, although right now he was having trouble thinking of a way around this problem that didn't involve moving all the hedgehogs.

  ***

  Victoria strode along the footpath through the field towards home as fast as she could, hoping she didn't have another encounter with the farmer. What with the earlier confrontation and then meeting Adam Cantrell, her nerves were a little frayed. Stopping to chat with the new owner of Larchfield had put her behind; now she had to hurry or she'd be up all night marking her students' work.

  Despite her earlier run-in with Farmer Andrews, she didn't have time to stick to the footpath. With a quick glance to check he wasn't around, she dashed to the fence at the end of her garden, lifted Sophie over, and then climbed over herself.

  "Is Harry going to live at Larchfield, Mum?"

  Sophie's question focused Victoria's mind back on the gorgeous Mr. Cantrell. She wouldn't mind having him as a neighbor, but handsome men with money always had a beautiful wife or girlfriend in tow.

  Not that she had time for a relationship. She was usually hard-pressed to find time to sleep, let alone date.

  "Looks like it, love." She squeezed her daughter's hand as they hurried up the strip of lawn past the wooden outbuildings that housed the rescued hedgehogs. The grass could do with being mown, but it would have to wait a few more days. She might squeeze that job in on Sunday if she got up very early and it didn't rain.

  Victoria unlocked the back door with the key she kept under a pot of herbs and dragged in a breath, steeling herself for the endless tasks she had to finish before bedtime. First job on the agenda was to fix Sophie some dinner. "How about fish fingers?"

  "Not again, Mum." Sophie pulled a sour face as she kicked off her tennis shoes.

  "I'm sorry, love. You know how busy I am."

  Sophie pouted and dropped down on a chair at the kitchen table. "All right then."

  A frisson of guilt stole through Victoria. She tried to make time for Sophie and included her in as much of her work as possible. But it was so hard to strike a balance now she had a reputation as the hedgehog lady.

  Local people called her at all hours of the day and night with injured animals. It was impossible to turn them away. She adored the little spiny creatures and couldn't bear to think of a hedgehog being hurt or distressed with no one to help it.

  "Will Harry go to my school?" Sophie asked.

  "Probably." Victoria pulled the fish finger carton from the freezer and spread some on the grill. "He might go to a private school, though."

  "What's that?"

  "A school for rich kids."

  Sophie's face dropped. Victoria ran a hand over her daughter's hair, smoothing down the wispy escapees that had been pulled out of her braids by the undergrowth. "You like Harry, don't you?"

  Sophie shrugged, but it had been obvious her daughter had taken a shine to the handsome boy.

  As she prepared their meal and Sophie set the table, Victoria went back over their encounter with Adam Cantrell. He seemed like a decent guy, but very much a city type with his dress slacks and polished shoes. He certainly wasn't the sort of person she'd expected to buy Larchfield Hall.

  Although she hadn't really expected anyone to purchase the run-down estate—or maybe that had been wishful thinking. She'd worried for months that a new owner might stop her releasing hedgehogs in the garden.

  Adam had showed an interest in the creatures, but he hadn't given her the okay to continue using his land. A shiver of foreboding ran down her spine. There had been something a little strange about his attitude that she couldn't quite pin down.

  The phone rang and she answered, keeping an eye on the grill. She arranged for a man to drop off a hedgehog he'd picked up on the edge of the road. She served up the meal and had just started eating when the phone rang again. This time it was a woman who'd found an orphaned baby hedgehog in her garden.

  Victoria bolted down her food and dashed outside to do the rounds of her patients. Sophie, her trusty assistant, mixed up the dried puppy milk they used to feed the orphaned babies. Together they checked the heating pads under the boxes were working, syringe-fed the five babies currently in their care, and then fed kitten food to the four injured adults, and replenished their water.

  When they got back inside the phone rang again. Running a bath and sorting out clean nightclothes for Sophie with one hand, Victoria held the phone in the other and tried to calm down a man who thought he'd run over a hedgehog with his car.

  She had just tucked Sophie in bed when the first new patient arrived, shortly followed by the orphaned baby, squealing with fear and hunger. Victoria thanked the woman profusely for rescuing the tiny creature, her heart contracting with pity for the poor little thing. However many times she dealt with the tiny creatures, she never grew immune to their plight.

  By the time she'd settled it in and treated and fed a third new arrival, the time was past ten. She still had twenty short films to grade for the media class she taught at the local art college.

  After once more drip-feeding the baby hedgehogs, she stumbled into bed at nearly two in the morning, her eyes gritty with exhaustion.

  If she lost Larchfield, she didn't know how she'd find time to traipse all over the place, checking on the animals she released. She hoped Adam Cantrell was the nice guy he seemed, and he would let her keep using his garden.

  ***

  After
a pleasant meal at the local village pub where Adam had booked to stay, he sat at the desk in the twin bedded room. He opened his laptop, connected to the Internet, and typed the word "hedgehogs" into a search engine.

  While Harry slept peacefully a few feet away, Adam rested his head in his hands and fretted as he read a selection of articles about hedgehogs on wildlife conservation websites. Then he checked the government legislation covering the animals.

  He made notes on a pad beside his laptop, the tension in his shoulders growing steadily more painful as he absorbed the details of the Wildlife and Countryside Act. It seemed hedgehogs weren't specifically protected like bats were. He'd run up against bats before and they were a developer's nightmare.

  If one found bats on a property for renovation in the UK, then work had to stop. They had more rights than people! He'd feared hedgehogs might enjoy similar protection, but from what he'd read it sounded as though the hedgehogs' habitat was not protected. The law just protected the animals from being captured or harmed.

  He ran his hands back through his hair on a sigh of relief. In theory, he could simply ignore them, clear the site, and build the houses. But as he read on, he knew he couldn't do so. The population of hedgehogs had decreased dramatically over the last twenty-five years due to habitat destruction. They might soon be extinct. He could not in good conscience bulldoze the homes of ninety hedgehogs.

  He glanced over his shoulder at his son's peaceful face as he slept. He didn't want to leave Harry's generation with a world denuded of wildlife just so he could pocket a bit of extra cash. But this did pose a huge problem.

  His reputation for quality and reliability was such that he always sold his developments off plan before they were built. Most of the houses to be erected at Larchfield had already been pre-sold. He couldn't abandon the development without seriously denting his professional reputation—and having to pay back deposits and default fees.

  The only feasible option was to move the hedgehogs. As Victoria had released them in the first place, he couldn't see a problem with catching them and re-releasing them elsewhere. But he had a feeling she was not going to be happy with him.

  Chapter Three

  Victoria knocked on the solid wooden front door of Larchfield Hall with a hefty dose of trepidation. She tried to project positive vibes to persuade Adam Cantrell to agree to her releasing hedgehogs on his land. It wasn't likely to inconvenience him much, apart from her being in his garden regularly. She supposed some people might not like that.

  The door creaked open, and Harry greeted them. "Come in. Dad's just making the coffee."

  Their footsteps echoed hollowly in the almost empty entrance hall. Victoria's heart faltered as she looked around. Larchfield Hall lived on in her childhood memories as an awe-inspiring house full of treasures and beauty. She'd loved visiting with her grandmother.

  Now discolored rectangles on the wallpaper marked the places where paintings used to hang, and bare wires dangled instead of the Victorian glass lampshades. But hints of the property's classy pedigree still remained. The grand staircase rose majestically up to the next floor and the wood paneling and decorative plasterwork retained its faded grandeur.

  Most of the furniture had been disposed of by the executors of Lady Welland's estate before the house was sold, but the odd piece remained here and there. An old-fashioned telephone rested on a table against the wall, and an overstuffed chair where Lady Welland's old Labrador used to sleep sat just inside the sitting room door.

  She hoped Adam realized the enormous task he'd taken on. A lot of money would be required to bring the property up-to-date and make it comfortable. It would be nice to see the place lived in and brought back from the dead, though.

  As Victoria and Sophie followed Harry along the corridor towards the back of the house, Adam appeared at the kitchen door. "Good morning." He smiled, but he looked pale. The tiny lines at the corners of his eyes were more pronounced today as if he hadn't slept well.

  Maybe he was realizing the enormity of the project. "The hall's rather old-fashioned. Did you manage okay last night?" she said.

  "We didn't stay here. I booked a room at the Plume of Feathers in the village. There's no Internet at Larchfield yet, and I needed to do some work."

  Victoria laughed at his warped priorities. "So you don't care about beds and running water as long as your phone and laptop work?"

  He acknowledged her joke with a little quirk of his lips. "Upstairs, there's a massive old four-poster, but I wouldn't want to use it. I think the mattress is stuffed with horsehair."

  "It wouldn't surprise me. Lady Welland did rather live in the past. I think she yearned for a bygone era."

  "Like a lot of old people, I suppose." Adam tapped the door frame. "They knew how to build houses back then, though. I plan to keep as many of the original features as possible."

  The smell of coffee wafted enticingly through the kitchen door and Adam extended a hand, ushering her inside. The scrubbed wooden table and chairs that Victoria remembered still stood on the faded linoleum in the middle of the large kitchen. Cupboards warped with age and rusty iron kitchen implements sat around the room, many that had probably been installed when the house was built.

  In complete contrast, a new coffeemaker stood on the kitchen table with two white mugs and a carton of milk.

  "This is rather like camping inside," Adam quipped as he poured their coffee and offered the children cans of soda.

  "You could always do that, camp here," Victoria said. "About five miles away there's a huge outdoors equipment superstore. I'm sure they sell sleeping bags and camp beds."

  "Can we, Dad?" Harry chipped in.

  "I guess we could think about it."

  They all sat around the table and Harry started showing Sophie how his camera worked.

  Adam looked completely different today, and Victoria liked the change. Faded denim jeans and a navy T-shirt showcased a trim, muscular body. His forearms were lean, corded with muscle, and dusted with dark hair. He might be a townie, but he obviously kept fit. His dark brown gaze met hers, and a tingle of awareness raced through her.

  His hands were bare of rings but that didn't mean he wasn't attached. Even as she reminded herself she didn't have time for a man, she admitted she was definitely interested in the delicious Mr. Cantrell.

  "Is your wife going to be joining you?" Victoria tried to sound casual.

  "I'm not married."

  "So it's just you and Harry?"

  Adam's lips twitched and he nodded, obviously aware she was fishing for information about him.

  Her cheeks flushed with heat and she quickly changed the subject. "I guess you'll make quite a lot of improvements to the hall before you move in properly?"

  His smile faded, his expression becoming guarded. "There'll be major work done here. I'm having Larchfield converted into four luxury apartments. But I won't be living here."

  "You're not staying?" She couldn't hide the note of disappointment in her voice.

  "Nope." Adam shook his head.

  The significance of this hit her. The gardens would be communally owned. Once Adam sold the flats, he'd have no say in what was done here. No wonder he'd been cagey when she asked him if she could keep releasing hedgehogs in the garden.

  "That's not all I plan to do, I'm afraid." Adam glanced down and wrapped his hands around his mug. "The development will include ten new properties on the land."

  Shock jolted Victoria. "You're turning the garden into a housing estate?"

  "Not a housing estate. These are individual architect-designed properties that will each have an acre of ground."

  Victoria pressed a hand over her mouth as the full implications hit her. She had far more to worry about than where she would release new hedgehogs. What on earth would she do with the ones that already lived on Larchfield land?

  ***

  Adam watched the news hit Victoria and the color drain from her face. He enjoyed chatting with her. He would like to get to
know her better, but she wouldn't be feeling too friendly towards him now.

  He wished he didn't have to drop this problem on her out of the blue, but it was best to get the issue out in the open and work on finding a solution. "I'm sorry. I had no idea about your arrangement with Lady Welland. Hedgehogs were never mentioned when I bought the property."

  Victoria sucked in a breath and her eyes widened. "You can't start building houses yet. I'll have to find safe sites to relocate the animals you have here, first. That could take weeks."

  "Don't worry. I'll do whatever I can to help. I'm willing to postpone the start date for a while until we move your hedgehogs."

  "Move the hedgehogs?" Harry's voice squeaked in his rush to get out the words. "You can't do that, Dad."

  Harry and Sophie both stared at him as though he'd just kicked a puppy. Adam threw up his hands in frustration. "You kids don't understand. I have no choice. People have put down deposits. The houses have to be built."

  "Build them somewhere else," Sophie said, frowning. "There're heaps of fields around here with nothing in them. Use one of those for your houses."

  Adam tried to keep his tone gentle. "Sophie, I don't own the fields. I own Larchfield. Had I known about the hedgehog issue, I wouldn't have bought the place. But I wasn't told. I have planning permission to build here. So here's where the houses are going, I'm afraid."

  The children continued to glare at him. He was wasting his breath trying to explain the legalities to them. But Victoria must understand. She blinked at him, looking shell-shocked. He opened his mouth to apologize again as her mobile phone rang.

  She snatched the device from her pocket and put it to her ear. "Hello." Her glazed eyes immediately sharpened and she stared down at her hand spread on the table. "Is it injured? Uh-huh. Badly? Okay. There's not too much blood though?" She nodded to herself. "Find a shoe box. Then fill a hot water bottle, wrap it in a towel, and lay the hedgehog on it in the shoe box so it's warm and snug. I'll be over as soon as I can."

  Victoria pushed her phone back in her pocket and stood. "Sorry, Adam. We'll have to talk again later. I have an emergency, a baby that's been mauled by a dog. Come on, Soph."