Love Heart Lane

by Christie Barlow

  ‘Everyone is doing their best to comfort one another. We don’t know what’s going to happen, or when the bridge will be repaired. The mood in the village is very sombre at the moment.’

  ‘Environmental Minister Annie Boyd has promised Heartcross is her first priority, how do the villagers feel about this commitment?’

  ‘Everyone is grateful for all the help we can receive. The village had supplies delivered just before the storm hit and we’ve held an emergency meeting of the residents to pool our provisions and open up a food kitchen which will be run by myself and other villagers.’

  ‘We also have Glensheil’s local councillor standing here next to me.’ Aidy turned the microphone towards a stout man in his early sixties, dressed in a flat cap, waterproof coat and trousers with green wellington boots. His cheeks were rosy, and his spectacles perched on the end of his nose. ‘What is the first plan to help Felicity and the residents of Heartcross?’

  ‘We are holding an emergency meeting tomorrow morning with the Environmental Minister. We need to discuss the repair of the bridge and the cost.’

  ‘Surely the first priority is to make sure the bridge is repaired as soon as possible? And that normal service is resumed for the residents of Heartcross?’

  The local councillor seemed to hesitate. ‘The bridge is Grade II listed, the actual cost to rebuild it will be phenomenal, but we are currently working with the military, the Scottish highways and the department of transport on the best way forward.’

  Aidy turned back towards the screen. ‘We will keep you updated on events throughout the day. This is Aidy Redfern reporting for BBC Scotland.’

  ‘Look at you, on the TV,’ exclaimed Rona.

  ‘It was only my voice and they cut loads of the interview out,’ replied Felicity, still staring at the screen.

  ‘That’s what they always do.’

  They both watched the rest of the news in silence. The storms and unruly weather were affecting the entire country.

  ‘The bridge repair isn’t going to happen overnight, is it?’ sighed Felicity, thinking about the news report and the look on the councillor’s face.

  Rona shook her head. ‘The cost is going to be astronomical, and in the meantime, the long trek over the mountain top might be the only access in and out of Heartcross.’

  Felicity knew there was no way they could rely on that route. Trucks wouldn’t be able to use that pass and it would take people hours to walk it. They’d need a temporary footbridge that could be erected straight away even if it meant no vehicles could travel over it. Then at least they’d have access to the other side. She picked up her iPad and logged on to Facebook and was amazed to see that villagers were marking themselves safe in the Heartcross Bridge collapse. She clicked on her notifications and saw she’d been invited to like a Facebook page which had been set up by Allie. There was a photo of Felicity, with the title Heartcross Spokeswoman. Other residents had already liked the page and tonight’s meeting had already been posted inviting all the residents to attend the teashop at six o’clock.

  Felicity noticed some of the questions and comments that had been posted too. One was from Julia at the B&B, aimed at the council. She wanted to know the answer to the question that was on everyone’s mind – how much it would cost to erect a temporary bridge across the river. An answer had been posted which suggested in the region of £300,000. Reading through the questions, Felicity tried to catch her breath; she wasn’t sure how they’d even be able to raise that sort of cash unless the government offered to fund it.

  ‘What are you looking at?’ asked Rona, noticing Felicity had gone quiet.

  ‘It looks like Allie has set up a Facebook page, so we can keep all updates on Heartcross and questions in one place.’

  ‘That’s a good idea,’ exclaimed Rona, who wasn’t hot on technology and would rely on Felicity to keep her updated.

  ‘I think, looking at some of the questions, people want answers and things to move right away, but according to the council it isn’t going to be that easy.’ Felicity scrolled through some more of the comments.

  ‘It really isn’t going to be that easy,’ answered Rona. ‘Money and manpower won’t come cheap.’

  Hearing the iPad ping, Felicity clicked on the notification and saw it was a message from Polly.

  Flick…Waving hello from London and sending you lots of hugs. We’ve just heard you on the TV in the pub and can’t believe what’s happening up there in Heartcross.

  Everyone sends their love and we hope to see you back in London very soon! Take care.

  Love Polly x

  ‘It’s Polly, she’s seen the news.’

  ‘Your friend from London?’

  Felicity nodded. ‘Hoping to see me back in London very soon.’

  ‘You’ll need to email your boss,’ said Rona. ‘Let her know you won’t be back when you’re meant to be.’

  Even though Felicity had made her mind up that she wasn’t going back to work in the department store she knew she needed to email Eleanor Ramsbottom ASAP. It wasn’t as though she’d be getting out of Heartcross anytime soon anyway. She opened her email and began to type.

  Dear Eleanor,

  As you may have seen on the news, the Heartcross Bridge has collapsed in the storms and unfortunately I am currently stranded in the village with no way out. Therefore, I won’t be returning to work as planned next week.

  Yours sincerely,

  Felicity Simons.

  The email was short and sweet.

  After hitting ‘send’ Felicity scrolled through the rest of her emails and noticed a rather official one sitting at the top from Councillor Smith. She opened it up to find a virtual invitation to a meeting being held by Skype in the morning to discuss the way forward for the residents of Heartcross. This would give her direct insight to how the Environmental Minister would help them. She immediately accepted the invitation and posted on the Facebook page of the newly formed group to let them know that she would be attending.

  Almost immediately, a barrage of questions was put forward from residents who were carefully watching the page. Felicity began to write them down.

  ‘I’m not sure if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,’ sighed Felicity. ‘Everyone seems to think I’ve got a magic wand and by end of tomorrow another bridge is going to be erected.’

  Rona raised her eyebrows. ‘They are in for a shock.’

  ‘I hope they don’t go blaming me if things take a little time.’

  ‘They won’t, and anyway Annie Boyd, the environmental woman, said she was making Heartcross a priority. They can’t ask for more than that.’

  ‘Let’s hope so, because Bert from the care home is holding no prisoners on this Facebook page.’

  Flicking through the rest of Facebook, Felicity turned the iPad towards her mum. ‘Isla and Drew have welcomed Angus to the world with their first official family photograph … take a look.’

  Rona flapped a hand in front of her eyes as they welled up. ‘He’s gorgeous. He’s definitely got Drew’s nose.’

  ‘How can you tell, he’s only a few hours old,’ chuckled Felicity, who’d promised Isla she’d try and nip back later today.

  ‘You can always tell,’ stated Rona, meaning every word. ‘And how are you? That must have been a bit of shock delivering the baby.’

  Felicity felt that familiar twinge of sadness.

  ‘I’m okay, honestly I am,’ she answered. ‘I just went into autopilot and did what anyone else would do … well, everyone except Allie,’ laughed Felicity. ‘I’ve never seen anyone move so fast when the options were looking after Finn and Esme or delivering a baby.’

  ‘Was Fergus there with Esme?’

  Felicity nodded. ‘He left with the others but came back once they’d gone to check I was okay.’

  Rona raised an eyebrow. ‘That was very kind of him.’

  Felicity agreed. ‘It was… the storm has died a little, I’m going to go and get changed then nip back up to the
farm and see if there’s anything I can do for Isla and Drew,’ said Felicity, standing up and pulling the belt tight on her dressing gown.

  ‘Pass on my best wishes, and I’ll be up to give the little man a wee squeeze very soon.’

  Within five minutes, Felicity was on her way to Foxglove Farm. She noticed a cluster of villagers standing on the hill looking over towards where the bridge had once stood. There were now helicopters circulating up above that had dropped sand bags all along the burst river banks which would help keep the flooding under control. The only saving grace for the residents of Heartcross was that their dwellings and businesses were up the mountainous track so at least they weren’t flooded too. As Felicity carried on past the school she noticed the sign pinned to the door: ‘closed until further notice.’

  She stopped walking for a moment and leant against the fence. Taking in a breath and closing her eyes, she tilted her face towards the sky. Without warning, her thoughts filtered back to the past and all of a sudden her legs took her off in another direction to a place where she’d spent a lot of time as a child and through her teenage years. With the wind in her hair she scrambled over the stile at the top of Love Heart Lane and began to climb the small incline towards the pass, where she stumbled along the rocky path for approximately ten minutes. The view from up there was one of outstanding beauty, where you could see for miles and miles. This was a place she hadn’t walked for over ten years, off the beaten track, untouched by time amongst the majestic mountain-scape, yet it was all still so familiar to her.

  Then she saw it, up in the distance, the small brick building that, as kids, she and the others had spent many a summer holiday hanging out in. She felt a flutter of excitement inside her stomach, remembering the time Fergus had entwined his fingers around hers inside the hideaway and gently kissed her for the first time.

  As she continued to walk towards it, she noticed the windows were now broken and it looked weathered, but there was still something magical about the old place that brought back good memories. Felicity twisted the knob on the door and pushed it open, feeling a little anxious as she looked around.

  The place only consisted of two small rooms. There was an old battered musty sofa in the corner and litter strewn over the concrete floor. She guessed someone had been sleeping rough here, maybe sheltering from the chilling winter weather. She stood for a minute remembering all the times as a child that she’d brought picnics up here with Isla and Allie and they pretended it was their house, occupying themselves for hours before returning down the rocky mountainous terrain towards home.

  Felicity knew the last time she’d been here and blinked back the tears in her eyes – it only seemed like yesterday. She went back outside and took the shingle path to the back of the small brick building and exhaled as the view took her breath away. There was a bench and somehow the snowdrops on the ground hadn’t been destroyed in the wind. Instead they stood proud and danced in the breeze.

  Felicity had no idea why this building was even here. She’d no clue what it had ever been used for but she remembered the day she’d discovered it alongside Isla and Allie. They’d been splashing around in the narrow stream that ran down the mountain when Isla had decided they were going to discover where the water began. The three of them were forbidden to venture up this rocky terrain without an adult, but with the sun beating down on their backs one summer’s day they had set off on their little adventure. And once they’d discovered the building they’d played in it all day, until time had run away with them. For the rest of the school holidays they’d always disappeared to their new den, just the three of them, until the boys had spotted them vanishing upstream and followed them, soon joining their summer holiday gang. That was when Felicity and Fergus had become inseparable, and each morning of the school holidays had made her heart leap, knowing they’d be hanging out together. As they’d messed around in the water and hung out in their hideout, they’d shared their dreams and planned to live happily ever after, together forever.

  As Felicity found herself swathed in happy memories of her childhood, she wondered why adult life wasn’t as easy and carefree. She wandered over to the huge tree that had shielded them from many an afternoon sun; now its wintery bare branches waved madly above her. This tree was special to Felicity, and as she stood in front of the trunk she swallowed a lump in her throat. There, carved in the tree, was a heart with the words F & F forever etched inside it. Felicity traced the heart with her finger, ‘Fergus and Flick … blooming memories,’ she said to herself, brushing away a tear with the back of her hand.

  A snap of a twig behind Felicity caused her to spin round, breaking her reverie. For a moment, she thought she was still dreaming. Fergus looked as handsome as ever standing in front of her. He swept his hair out of his eyes leaving them fixed on her.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ Her heart thumped faster as the question left her lips.

  ‘I saw you climb over the stile.’

  ‘And you followed me?’ Felicity narrowed her eyes.

  ‘Well, I’m here,’ he answered, digging his hands into the pockets of his coat. ‘I knew this was where you’d be heading.’

  Felicity watched as he walked over to the tree and he too traced his finger around the heart. ‘It’s still there … young love, eh,’ he said softly, turning back towards her.

  Felicity sat down on the bench, not knowing what to say. In the past she’d planned out so many conversations in her head with Fergus, but now she didn’t know where to start. She was lost for words.

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  Fergus was looking up at the sky. ‘I wanted to make sure you were okay.’

  Numerous questions were swimming around in Felicity’s mind and she didn’t know which one to ask first. She took a minute then spoke. ‘Do you ever think about us?’

  She noticed Fergus taking his hands out of his pockets and rub them together, something he did when he was nervous.

  ‘Sometimes,’ he admitted, still looking up at the sky. ‘But times have moved on, Flick.’

  ‘Have they?’ The words had slipped out of Felicity’s mouth before she could stop them.

  Fergus looked towards her. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Nothing, it doesn’t matter,’ she answered, knowing deep down inside she wanted to tell him she still had feelings for him, even after all this time.

  Again, they sat in silence staring into space.

  ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you.’ Felicity finally broke the silence.

  ‘It was a long time ago.’ His voice was steady.

  She looked in his direction and noticed his eyes were bleary.

  ‘I couldn’t have given you what you wanted,’ she said softly.

  He held her gaze. ‘You tried to second guess what I wanted, I told you at the time all I wanted was you. It was your choice not to believe me and run.’

  ‘Do you blame me?’

  He looked towards her in puzzlement. ‘Blame you for what? The miscarriages? Of course I don’t. Why would I? I loved you.’

  The pain twisted in Felicity’s heart when she heard the word loved. ‘No, for running away,’ she stuttered.

  He stole a second to answer. ‘It took me a long time to get over it, a very long time. You left me. I was grieving for our loss and you. At the time I thought we were a team. We would have got through it together. I would have made sure we did. But you didn’t trust what I was saying to you. You made the decision to leave and I had to somehow pick myself up, brush myself down and carry on existing. I learnt to move on.’

  ‘Which you obviously did.’

  Fergus gave her a look that was far from impressed. ‘That’s really not fair, Flick. Put yourself in my shoes. Walk those months, those first six months, hoping and praying each day you’d walk back into my life.’

  Felicity looked at the ground and didn’t speak.

  ‘What did you expect me to do, wait around forever? Wait until you gave me the time of day, remembered I was h
ere suffering as much as you … just put my life on hold?’

  ‘I was the mother,’ she replied.

  ‘And I was the father who loved the mother with all his heart.’

  Felicity didn’t reply; she felt sad knowing what she’d put Fergus through. He was one of the good guys and look how she’d treated him.

  ‘I never thought I would ever get that feeling back. And then Lorna walked into my life.’ He took a breath. ‘I never thought I’d be able to trust another girl; I didn’t want to get close to anyone in case they abandoned me again. The fear of rejection was way too much to bear.’ Fergus sniffed, and Flick handed him a tissue from her pocket.

  ‘When Lorna came along she taught me how to love and trust again. She gave me a new zest for life and I loved her.’ He wiped away his tears.

  Felicity felt a tiny pang of jealousy hearing those words, even though she knew it was ridiculous. She still didn’t want to think of Fergus loving anyone else.

  ‘And Esme is the best thing that could have ever happened to me.’

  Felicity couldn’t help herself. ‘So I did do the right thing by leaving.’

  Fergus shook his head. ‘That’s a little unfair, how am I meant to answer that? It’s been hard Flick, Esme losing her mother … it’s been difficult for me too, ensuring she doesn’t feel different from her friends and giving her the love and attention of both parents.’ Fergus’s voice wobbled.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘It was never my intention to hurt you.’ She closed her eyes and took a breath.

  ‘I know … but you did Felicity, you did. I thought my world had ended.’

  ‘Mine too,’ breathed Felicity, moving her hand to his.

  He shook his head, realising his mistake. ‘I shouldn’t have followed you.’ He moved his hand away and Felicity’s heart came crashing down.

  ‘We can’t turn back time.’ He looked directly at her. ‘You broke my heart, Flick. I was hurting too, but you abandoned me without a second thought. I truly believed we would have been together forever but now…’