“We’ll have to hope he thinks it’s all a big adventure. Chin up, Honey, we’ll find him,” Guy said with a confidence he didn’t feel.
“The cellar! Did anyone check the cellar,” Betty called out. No-one had but again they drew a blank. There was an air of desperation in the room, by no means alleviated when the sergeant asked if Tom had ever run away before.
“What can we do, Officer? We can’t just sit here and wait.”
“I’m afraid there’s not much else you can do, other than search the grounds again if you’re sure he’s not in the house. Meanwhile we’ll start making enquiries further afield.” The sergeant coughed before asking the next question. “Would he have gone with someone; erm, even a stranger?”
“As soon as anyone spoke to him they were his friend. Yes, yes, he would. Oh my God, you think he’s been abducted!”
“We have to consider it as a possibility. I won’t insult you by saying try not to worry but there are set procedures in cases like this and we’ll do everything we can to find him.”
None of them knew what to do with themselves. Inaction was the greatest torture.
“Why don’t you and Basil go back home? Tom may have headed for the tearooms. It’s a straight walk from here. He could be sitting on the doorstep waiting for you.”
They jumped at the suggestion and were out of the door almost before Honey had finished speaking. Guy looked at her.
“Do you think he might have done that?”
“I don’t know but at least it’s given them something to do. I wish I could think of something for myself.”
“How long is it since you last saw him, Henry?”
Henry was feeling guilt-ridden. He’d been the last to talk to Tom and felt now that he should have made sure the boy had returned to the house. It wasn’t true of course. The natural assumption was that he would have done so, but Guy knew how Henry was suffering and in his case it was multiplied several times over. Tom had been in his charge; his responsibility. If anyone was to blame it was him.
“Nor more’n two hours. He said his tummy was rumbling and he was off for his tea. I didn’t know; I thought…”
“No-one is criticising you, Henry. We’d have all thought the same. If anyone is at fault it’s me. I shouldn’t have left him unsupervised. It wasn’t anybody else’s responsibility to watch over him. You all had your own jobs to do here. Why don’t you go home now? Your shift is finished and there’s nothing more you can do here.”
“If it’s all the same to you, Sir, I think I’ll just take a wander up the lane, just in case. The lad might have gone for a walk and twisted his ankle or something.”
Guy smiled his gratitude which made the old retainer feel much better.
“Have you got your mobile with you? You’ll give us a call obviously, if you find him.” Guy added as Henry nodded his assent. He turned to Betty.
“You’ve got more than enough to do here, Betty. They’ll all soon be screaming for their supper. I’m taking Honey in the car. If Henry’s walking up the lane we’ll start a bit further along in case he’s gone that way and gone beyond. Okay, Honey,” he said, turning to ask her but she was already on her way out of the door.
Honey was feeling a cold chill which had nothing to do with the weather. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what her brother and sister-in-law were going through. They’d sent a message to say they were back at the teashop and had drawn a blank but would be staying put just in case that’s where Tom was heading. When he wasn’t on the doorstep Basil had rushed across to the pub to see if he’d gone back there. Though no one had seen him he even went as far as to look up in the room, just in case Tom had crept in and was fast asleep while panic was going on all around. He wasn’t and Lucy could tell by his drooping shoulders long before he was near enough to tell her.
“He’s five, Guy! Where could he have gone? Do you really think somebody could have taken him?”
This was her worst dread but she had to be reassured by Guy’s answer.
“He was at The Grange. There wasn’t anybody there who could have taken him. No, I’m convinced he’s done what any five-year-old would have done. He knows he’s all right so it wouldn’t occur to him that anyone else could think otherwise.”
“But where could he be?” Honey said, her fear evident in the raised level of her voice.
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
“You see those interviews with the police on the television, where the family are there pleading for whoever has taken their child to return him. Is that what they’ll be doing? Guy, I can’t bear it.”
“I imagine it’s normal procedure but you must remember, Honey, it was minutes rather than hours when we realised Tom was missing. We should be ahead of the game.”
“Ahead of the game! Game! This is my nephew we’re talking about and it most certainly isn’t a game.”
Guy chose to ignore this last remark and the note of hysteria he could hear in Honey’s voice and continued to drive very slowly up the lane with his headlights on full beam. There were times when he’d had to dip them. It wasn’t a busy road but he managed to incur the anger of quite a few drivers as they waited impatiently for passing places. He could feel rather than see the glare as they overtook him. He didn’t give a toss. Tom was the only thing that was important now. Every few yards they would stop and jump out, calling his name in case he’d fallen into a ditch or had encountered some other hazard. Progress was slow and fear forced a wedge between them rather than binding them together. Eventually Guy stopped the car and turned to look at Honey.
“He can’t have got any further than this, not on his own two feet.”
“You’re giving up?” she asked, incredulity in her voice and face.
“No, of course not. Just wondering what else we can try. Be realistic, Honey, he could never have walked this far on his own, not even in two hours.”
“We’d better go back then; see if anyone else has any news,” but they knew they wouldn’t have. Everyone had a mobile phone. Nobody was going to wait to spread good news if it had come.
Honey’s phone rang as they walked back into The Grange. It was Basil.
“They’ve found him! He’s at the hospital.”
“Oh my God! Is he hurt? Has he had an accident? Is he all right. Basil? Is he going to be okay?”
She could hear her brother laughing. Presumably not hurt then.
“He went to see Mum. Can you believe it? He thought we might still be there so he went to meet us as he hadn’t seen her today.”
“The hospital! But how did he get there? It’s miles.”
“Can you come and get us? I’ll tell you on the way. Meantime I’d better phone the police and tell them we’ve found him.”
Basil passed the good news around, not just to the police but to everyone else who’d been involved, and in no time they were bowling along the lane Guy and Honey had crawled along a short time before.
“Apparently he got the bus.”
“He what!”
“That’s what he told them at the hospital. He waited at the bus stop. Children travel free so presumably that’s why the driver didn’t query it when he got on. Just thought he must be a bit small for his age to be travelling on his own like that. Said as much to Tom apparently. ‘Will you put me off at the hospital,’ he asked, cool as a cucumber. ‘I’m going to see my Grandma’. So that’s what he did.”
“But how did he know where to go.”
“Well, he’d been with us enough times to know the direction. In any case, there is only one bus through the town and it stops quite close to the main entrance. The worst he could have done was caught one going in the wrong direction and that wasn’t likely.”
“I’ll kill him when I get hold of him,” Guy said.
“Stand in line. I’m his father and I’m first.”
“So how did you find out where he was?”
“That’s the most amazing thing of all. He made it to the hospital; found
the right ward, God knows how, and when they came round with Mum’s supper they just assumed one of us was with him and had gone to the loo. It was only when they did the rounds with the medication and he was still there that they thought to query it.”
“Okay, I grant you have priority, Bas, but I’m definitely second on the list.”
“You will not lay a finger on my son,” said Lucy. “Actually I think he’s been very clever and he didn’t know he was doing anything wrong. I’m proud of him.”
With that she burst into tears but she was smiling through them. They were all smiling.
All Change
Alexandra had been absent during the crisis. She had of all things gone on a guided tour to Bath, with no great expectation other than the fear she would be mixing with a ‘different class of person’ as she put it. Like many selfish people she could be charming when she liked and had struck up an acquaintance with an old army major who’d been sitting next to her on the coach.
“Apparently he lost his wife recently and it’s where they used to live. He told me he was taking a trip down memory lane. We spent the whole day together and he knew much more than the guide.”
She spoke with authority, as if the knowledge was her own, unable to resist taking a poke at somebody but Guy was delighted his mother had enjoyed herself and even more so by the information that they were to meet again. Major Cartwright would be calling ere long. Perhaps they could visit Gloucester next time. With something to focus on Alexandra became almost pleasant and only managed to put her son’s back up three or four times, most particularly when she remarked that Tom needed a good spanking and she hoped he would be punished for his misdemeanour.
“No, Mother, he won’t be punished. What he did was potentially dangerous but he did it out of the goodness of his heart.” He paused, wondering if she’d recognise the dig but there was no reaction. “If anyone deserves punishment it’s me. He was in my charge and I left him to his own devices. I am absolutely mortified.”
“You! Why on earth would you take the blame? I thought it was a bit much them foisting him on you in the first place.”
“He wasn’t foisted on me. I offered. He’s my godson and I should have taken better care of him. I can only be grateful that nothing bad happened and I will have the opportunity to do so, which brings me to the point. I want him under my own roof and this time I’ll take make sure he’s properly looked after. Comfortable as it is, a hotel cum inn is no place for a five year old. I must insist you find somewhere else to stay.”
Alexandra opened her mouth to protest but something in Guy’s bearing warned her it would be better not to.
“I can’t for the life of me think why you didn’t go to a hotel in the first place. You would be pampered; your every whim pandered to.”
“I can’t afford a hotel,” she said in what was for her a very small voice.
She seemed diminished somehow and for the first time in his life Guy felt sorry for her.
“I am happy to pay for your accommodation, within reason of course, until such time as things are sorted out between you and my father, though I can’t understand why you don’t have a sufficient allowance.”
“We were extravagant, you see.”
Guy chose to ignore the comment. “In the meantime you could do worse than concentrate on where you’d like to spend your future. Perhaps a town like Bath where there is enough of culture to satisfy even you. You’d be far better off in a bustling city than a small town like Rills Ford. Just think of the opportunities it would present you with.”
Guy had spoken with little hope of engaging his mother’s interest and was astonished when her eyes lit up with something that looked almost like enthusiasm. He pressed home his advantage.
“If you would prefer I can lease a cottage for a few months while you decide what to do on a more permanent basis.”
This, it seemed, would not do. Guy could imagine what was going through Alexandra’s mind. Rubber gloves, washing up, dusting, cooking – something she’d never been keen on and a role which had fallen to Betty in days gone by. On the other hand in a hotel she would be waited on hand a foot, her bed would be made, food would be presented to her. She’d literally have it on a plate. No contest.
“It would be nice if we could find somewhere with a private sitting room or a suite as I shall probably be there for some time.”
For Guy there was no contest either. The money he could afford; the presence of his mother he could not abide.
“I’ll start browsing the net. Where does this major live? Maybe we could find somewhere close by to enable your outings together.”
“The coach picked him up in the next town.”
Close but not too close, Guy hoped.
“Okay, I’ll begin my search there. In the meantime I know you won’t like it but I’m afraid you’re going to have to swap with me and Tom.”
Alexandra knew when she was beaten and in some strange way was quite proud of the fact that her son had turned out to be such a good adversary. She couldn’t resist having the last word though.
“I presume it will be all right for me to leave some of my things here for the time being.”
Guy went off to tell Betty the good news. She was the one person next to himself who had been most affected by Alexandra’s presence at The Grange and she did nothing to mask her pleasure when apprised of the situation. The next day Alexandra left and Daisy came home.
Daisy’s return home altered everyone’s lives, not the least being her own. Tom, with an abundance of toys to keep him occupied, spent much of each day with his grandmother. What are godparents for was the sentiment both Honey and Guy had expressed when his parents protested they were spoiling him. While Daisy was never going to be able to return to the Honey Bun to live, not only had she made a remarkable full recovery from the stroke but her limbs were also healing well. Having relaxed into retirement, as she called it, she found she rather liked being taken care of. The Grange would do very nicely thank you. Without exception they all put her amazing comeback down to her delight in her grandson and the stimulation she received from him, that and her true grit personality. Honey was dreading the time her brother and his family had to return home, and that time was fast approaching. Would her mother regress? No, she’d come back fighting; it’s who she was. Tom couldn’t be with her forever and she understood that. Lucy and Basil broke the news of their impending parenthood and though Honey and Guy tried to look surprised they didn’t quite manage to pull it off. Basil raised an eyebrow at his son; just that, no words.
“I couldn’t help it, Dad. It just came out, when we were having dinner at the Rose and Crown and the lady on the next table asked if Honey and Guy were having a baby.”
Everyone looked a bit startled but Guy chuckled.
“That’s not exactly what happened and if you can’t get your story right, Tom, perhaps you’d better learn to keep your tongue between your teeth.”
“But that would hurt, wouldn’t it; biting my tongue?”
Impossible to be cross with him.
“Has anyone noticed what a lovely day it is? I would suggest you get one of the wheelchairs out and take Daisy for a walk,” Betty said, popping into the room during her rounds.
“That’s a great idea. It wouldn’t do the rest of us any harm either.”
So it was that the group walked into the town. Tom tried to be very helpful as his father pushed the chair but was persuaded it would be much better for Grandma if he held her hand.
“You know how good you are for her.”
Like anyone else Tom was not averse to a bit of flattery and spent the rest of the time walking beside rather than behind the wheelchair, a more comfortable arrangement for everyone. Honey was chatting with Lucy and Guy brought up the rear as it was impossible to go more than two abreast. From this vantage position he was able to see the whole group and felt more than ever the pull of happily family life, something that had so long eluded him and what he now wanted mor
e than anything else in the world.
Mrs Worthington joined them, coming out of her cottage just as they were walking past, and fell in next to Guy.
“Surely you weren’t looking out of your window, were you, Mrs Worthington?” Guy asked with a light in his eye that belied the serious expression on his face.
“As if I would, and don’t you be so cheeky, young man. I was just on my way to the teashop for my daily outing. Is that where you’re going?”
It seemed it was and Honey was delighted to find Suzie in charge when they got there. Basil manoeuvred the wheelchair through the doorway and chairs were moved inside to accommodate it. Once more the dynamics changed. Daisy, already obviously enjoying the outing, became animated rather than agitated as Honey had feared she might. This had after all been her home and her life for so many years. Mrs Worthington sat at the table with her old friend and needed only the odd word from Daisy to maintain a long conversation in which both seemed to take great delight. The rest of the family sat at a different table leaving room for old acquaintances to join the two ladies. Honey went behind the counter to help Suzie with the sudden influx of people.
“I can’t think why I never thought to bring her here before.”
“It could be something to do with an inability to be in two places at the same time. Remember, you’re usually here on your own.”
“Yes, I know, but Henry would have brought her, I’m sure. Look at her, Suzie. I haven’t seen her this animated for ages, except when Tom’s been with her of course and he’ll be going soon.”
“Well maybe this is just what she needs. Because you haven’t done it before doesn’t mean you can’t in the future.”
“Suzie, I can’t tell you how grateful I am to you. To everybody who responded to your article. Why would anyone ever want to live anywhere else?”
“I often ask myself the same question.”
“Lucy told me they’d seen you having dinner with Jack. Don’t tell me he’s finally seen what’s under his nose.”
Honey Bun Page 9
