Jo had cooked roast chicken and potatoes. It was Hattie’s favourite dish – at least, her favourite from Jo’s very traditional repertoire – and Jo knew this because Hattie had told her. Hattie also knew that Jo hadn’t intended to cook roast chicken for this evening’s meal because she’d taken minced beef out of the freezer to thaw the night before. And when Hattie went snooping after they’d washed up she found the minced beef cooked and cooling, presumably ready to use the following day instead. Hattie wondered if the chicken was Jo’s way of apologising.
‘Chicken’s from the farm shop before you ask,’ Jo said, plonking the plate down in front of Hattie.
‘Do you think Norbert will be alright?’ Hattie asked as she cut into a crisp roast potato.
‘Seth’ll do his best.’ Jo sat across from her with her own dinner and reached for the salt.
‘I suppose so. He didn’t say what’s caused him to get colic? He said it was a symptom, right?’
‘He doesn’t know yet. Tests will be back soon enough.’
Hattie nodded and began to eat again. They were silent for a minute or two, the only sound that of cutlery scraping against china. But then Hattie spoke again.
‘Jo… is it somehow my fault that Norbert’s ill? Did I do something wrong? Have I done something I shouldn’t have done or not done something I should? Did I not check his feed properly for mould? I feel like maybe I haven’t looked after him properly—’
‘If there’s a blame it lies with both of us. We’ve both looked after him. It might be nobody’s fault. Sometimes it’s just how things are.’
‘I can’t stop thinking about it.’
Jo looked up from her meal and Hattie was startled to see something like tenderness in her expression.
‘I’m sure it’s nothing you’ve done,’ she said. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’
Hattie nodded again and Jo turned back to her dinner.
‘I shouldn’t have been short with you today,’ Jo said without looking up. ‘I forget that just because Sweet Briar is my whole life it shouldn’t have to be yours.’
‘I do love it here, though.’
‘I’m sure you do but there’s more to life than this.’ Jo chewed solemnly on a slice of chicken but then she looked up again. ‘Did you like your life in Paris?’
‘Paris?’
Hattie was floored. Was Jo actually interested in her? Interested further than delegating the next chore?
‘I suppose so. I don’t really think about it much now, though.’
‘You don’t want to go back there?’
‘Oh, no. That’s all out of my system now.’
‘So you’re not leaving me yet?’
Yet? It sounded as if Jo had decided that Hattie’s leaving was inevitable. Perhaps she would one day, but Jo’s choice of words made it sound as if she thought she’d already lost Hattie.
‘Not at all,’ Hattie said.
Jo didn’t reply. She looked down at her plate again, all her concentration on sawing at a potato.
‘My dad says there’s some activity on the donation page we set up for the sanctuary,’ Hattie continued, more for something to say than because she thought Jo would get excited about it. ‘I haven’t had a minute to check yet, but my dad seems to think we’ll be pleased when we look.’
Jo sprinkled more salt on her dinner. ‘It was a good idea. I appreciate everything you’re doing for this place.’
‘Well, it benefits me too,’ Hattie said modestly. Now she knew she was dreaming. Any moment now she was going to wake up and the old Jo who never thanked or praised her was going to be shouting her down for breakfast.
The room became silent again apart from the sounds of them finishing their meal. After a few minutes more, Jo shovelled the last forkful into her mouth and got up, still chewing, to put her plate in the sink.
‘Checking on the animals,’ she said, grabbing her coat from the hook on the wall and heading out. Hattie was pretty sure that there was one animal in particular that Jo really wanted to check on. She’d have offered to go with her but she also got the impression that Jo would rather go alone. Instead, Hattie finished her own meal in silence and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.
When she was done, she added her own plate to the dishes soaking in the sink, washed them quickly and then headed upstairs to get out her laptop. While it was booting up, Hattie wandered to her bedroom window. The sun was low in the sky, not quite set but hovering just above the ribbon of sea beyond the headland, clouds rolling by to obscure it every now and again. The day had ended more brightly than it had begun in more ways than one.
Who is Jenny?
The thought came to her again now as she cast her mind back to the terrible rain of the morning and how it had woken her just in time to witness Jo’s nightmare. Jo being so nice to her this evening had made Hattie more curious than ever. What had made her do that? Were the nightmare and Jo’s change of heart connected? Was Jenny the key? Was Jenny the reason Jo hated being around people?
Hattie shook herself and turned from the window to see her homepage had appeared on the screen of her laptop. She logged into Sweet Briar’s website and clicked onto the donation page. There had actually been half a dozen since she’d last checked – mostly small amounts: five, ten pounds. No fortune by anyone’s standard but progress. But then her eyes widened as they settled on the one her dad must have meant. She sucked in a breath. It was far, far more than any of the others, probably a good few months’ salary for someone. They could do a lot with that. They could… It was enough… Hattie thought for a moment.
They could pay Seth.
Hattie grabbed her phone and dialled her dad’s number.
‘Twice in one day,’ he said as he picked up. ‘I’m honoured.’
‘Dad, you promise you didn’t make this donation?’ she asked.
‘I said it wasn’t me. Honestly, why would I do that?’
‘Because it’s a rounded-up version of the amount we owe Seth Bryson and only you, me, Seth and Jo know how much that is. As neither Jo nor me have enough money to make this sort of donation and the coincidence is too huge, that makes me think—’
‘Have you considered it might be a coincidence?’ her dad asked with that amused tone again. ‘Stranger things have happened.’
‘Dad…’
‘Hattie – I’m not one for false modesty or acting the unsung hero; you know that. If I’m telling you I didn’t make the donation then I didn’t.’
‘But then who did?’
‘If I were you I’d stop worrying about where it came from and go and pay Seth… again.’
Hattie was thoughtful for a moment as she studied the screen, her dad’s joke washing over her. Anon, the tag said. An anonymous donation for almost exactly the amount they desperately needed to pay their biggest debt? Who would do that? No matter what her dad said, she couldn’t just let it slide and she couldn’t believe that it was a coincidence.
Seth? Could Seth have done it to help them out? His way of wiping the slate clean for them? Jo would never accept help from him willingly but this might work. But why would Seth do that? Surely he needed to be paid no matter how much he might want to strike off the debt for them?
No, Hattie decided. Seth had been to see them that day and he was caring for Norbert still, so that would mean the cost was continuing to build. This amount would have settled the bill as it had been but probably not as it was now. Maybe it was just a coincidence, after all? Maybe somebody out there did just really like donkeys that much.
‘Is there anything else?’ Nigel asked. Hattie shook her head slowly.
‘Sorry, Dad. I didn’t mean to go all kamikaze on you.’
‘Congratulations. It looks as if your idea is working out after all.’
‘It does, doesn’t it? With lots of help, of course.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Hattie smiled now. ‘Thanks, Dad. Bye.’
She ended the call and put her phone on t
he bed. She really wanted to tell Jo about this and she wanted Jo to be happy, but Jo was so unpredictable right now that she wasn’t sure the result of that conversation would be the one she expected. Then again, they did need the money – at least, Sweet Briar did – and surely her employer could be pragmatic about it if only for the sake of her precious sanctuary? What did it matter where the money came from? Though if that were true, why did Hattie feel uneasy about it? She couldn’t honestly expect Jo to be comfortable with it if even she herself wasn’t.
She needed to talk to Jo, and the sooner the better. Grabbing the laptop, she headed downstairs to find her.
When Hattie got to the kitchen, Jo was hanging her coat up.
‘How is he?’ Hattie asked.
‘Quiet,’ Jo said. ‘About the same.’
‘You’re worried?’
Jo went to the sink to wash her hands. ‘You washed the dishes,’ she said.
‘Jo, I need you to see this.’
‘In a minute… stove needs wiping down.’
‘I think you should see it now.’
If Jo was surprised at Hattie’s tone she didn’t show it. She came over and looked at where Hattie was pointing on the screen of her laptop.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘Someone’s given it to us.’
‘What?’
‘It’s a donation for the sanctuary.’
Jo stared at the screen. She looked vaguely horrified. Hattie had expected many reactions but that wasn’t one of them. And then Jo shook her head forcefully.
‘Send it back.’
‘What do you mean, send it back?’
‘Send it back.’
‘I can’t.’ Hattie looked up at Jo. ‘Why would we do that anyway? We could do a lot with this, couldn’t we?’
‘I said send it back!’
‘I don’t know how to.’
‘Then tell them to take it back!’
‘It’s anonymous! How can I tell them to take it back when I don’t know who they are?’
Jo opened her mouth to argue, but then it seemed Hattie’s argument had finally sunk in and she closed it again. She shook her head, looking at the screen. ‘I don’t understand it,’ she said after a moment. ‘Why would someone give us that much?’
‘I wondered that,’ Hattie replied. ‘But they have and they obviously wanted us to use it. We could do a lot with that money, couldn’t we? I mean, we could… say… pay the vet’s bills…? Norbert’s treatment might cost a lot,’ she added quickly, ‘and then there’s Speedy’s leg and all the worming we did for the chickens when they arrived…’
Hattie stopped as Jo stared at her.
‘I mean, it was just a suggestion,’ Hattie finished lamely, wondering if she’d already said too much.
‘I knew that newspaper business would be trouble,’ Jo said, picking the teapot up from the table and taking it to the sink to empty out the old teabags.
‘But it’s brilliant, isn’t it? Doesn’t it help? That’s what the donation page was set up for, after all, and we can’t really complain about a donation that generous, can we?’
‘That amount of money,’ Jo said, swilling the teapot under the tap, her voice irritatingly level again. The few seconds of actual reaction, of actual emotion had gone, replaced by that cold, distant Jo once more. ‘There’s bound to be a catch.’
‘Well maybe somebody just wanted to be nice!’ Hattie slammed the lid down on the laptop. ‘It’s not that unheard of, you know!’
The sound of Jo running the tap faded as Hattie went back to her room, frustrated and angry. She’d really believed they’d connected tonight, that they were finally coming to a new understanding, that Jo was finally beginning to realise that Hattie was on her side, that not everyone was out to get her, but Jo was just as stubborn as ever. So much for progress.
Chapter Twenty-One
The next morning was bright and clear. When Hattie came downstairs Jo was making a pan of hearty porridge. Hattie sat at the table without a word, gazing out of the window at a sky that was blue as cornflowers, wondering what to say. She looked around as Jo placed a bowl in front of her and sat down with her own breakfast.
‘Thanks,’ Hattie said, but Jo simply picked up her spoon and began to eat. Hattie had struggled to fall asleep the night before and she’d started to wonder whether she’d been a bit short-tempered and unfair to Jo – after all, it wasn’t her fault that she struggled with people, and Hattie wondered if she hated the way she was as much as others did. It had to be a lonely existence; at least, Hattie thought so.
‘Have you been out to the stables this morning?’ she asked finally, guessing that Jo would have and it was at least something they could communicate about.
Jo nodded as she sunk her spoon into the bowl of oats in front of her.
‘And?’ Hattie pressed.
‘He seemed brighter.’
Hattie heaved a silent sigh of relief. If Norbert was through the worst of it then that was one less thing to worry about. ‘He’ll be OK then?’
‘We’ll know soon enough – Seth’s coming over later.’
‘Right. Should we take Norbert up to the field this morning?’
‘Perhaps not. We can leave Blue down here with him if he’s staying in the stable a while – parting them will only make Norbert worse. Donkeys are sensitive to that sort of thing.’
‘Want me to take the others?’
‘See to the chickens – I’ll do it.’
Hattie turned to her own breakfast again. It was stodgy and wholesome and another very traditional dish that Jo seemed to get just right. It was a shame she wasn’t so skilled when it came to making Hattie feel like a real part of the farm.
After breakfast Hattie went to see Norbert before going to do the chores Jo had delegated to her. He was standing in his stall, those gentle old eyes looking dolefully out at her.
‘Morning, mister…’ she said, running a hand down his shaggy nose. ‘What have you been chewing on now?’
He gave her a nudge of recognition but he wasn’t himself at all. Hattie’s eyes filled with tears but she sniffed them back. Didn’t Jo say that Seth was coming to see him and Jo thought he was on the mend? So what was there to cry about?
She put her face close to his neck. ‘Don’t worry – Seth will have you good as new in no time.’
‘I can only hope.’
Hattie’s head whipped up to see Seth standing in the doorway. Hastily she dried her eyes.
‘I didn’t see you arrive.’
‘Stealthy like a ninja,’ he said with a tight smile. ‘I thought I’d better come and check on him before surgery starts rather than leave it all morning, in case the poor guy’s in pain.’
‘You think he is?’
‘Probably,’ Seth replied with a grim nod.
‘Have you managed to figure out what’s causing it yet?’ Hattie asked, not wanting to dwell on the possibility and feeling powerless to do anything about it.
‘There’s a list of possible reasons as long as my arm. I can rule some of them out fairly confidently with a good physical examination, but some are going to have to wait for test results, and, unfortunately…’ he rolled up his shirt sleeves and stepped into Norbert’s enclosure, ‘the lab’s got a backlog so they haven’t got anything for me yet.’
‘When will they have them?’
‘Monday possibly. I’ve asked them to process as urgent. I can’t say I’m pleased about the delay, and all I can do in the meantime is keep Norbert comfortable and stable. If I think it will help I might hospitalise him over the weekend. I need to chat to Jo about that.’ He pulled a stethoscope from his bag and pressed it to Norbert’s belly.
‘His heart’s there?’ Hattie asked with a frown.
‘No.’ Seth smiled. ‘I’m listening to his stomach to see what sort of sounds it’s making.’
‘Oh.’ Hattie watched him work for a moment, keeping as quiet as she could.
‘Is Jo around?’ he asked,
putting the stethoscope away again.
‘She’s transferring the others up to the field,’ Hattie said. ‘Except for Blue…’ She nodded at the donkey in the next stall.
‘Norbert’s best pal?’
Hattie nodded.
‘Probably wise,’ Seth said, looking satisfied with the arrangement. ‘Although I’m afraid I might have to part them later anyway. Jo will have to keep an eye on Blue to make sure he doesn’t show signs of distress. Norbert will be OK – I’ll have him on medication.’
‘We’ll do our best for Blue,’ Hattie said.
Seth shoved his hands into his pockets and held Hattie in an approving gaze. ‘I know you will,’ he said gently.
‘Seth… can I ask you something? It’s going to sound a bit… well, maybe it will sound a bit silly.’
‘Ask away. I’m sure it’s not.’
‘Well, it’s just that we got a donation recently on the charity page of our new website and it just so happens to be around the amount we owe you.’
‘I didn’t know you had a charity page. Good idea.’
‘Didn’t you?’ Hattie replied. She’d been certain that she had mentioned it but was now doubting herself.
‘It’s a stroke of luck for you, getting a good donation. But I’m not going to press you for the money if that’s what you’re thinking. That’s why you’re telling me? If you’ve got more immediate uses for the money then I completely understand. I said I could wait – you don’t need to worry that I won’t treat Norbert just because you have a little outstanding balance.’
It was a big outstanding balance, Hattie thought, and if he thought it was small what kind of amounts must others run up? But she gave a hesitant smile. It certainly didn’t look as if Seth knew anything about their mystery donor. Either that or he’d missed his true vocation as an actor. So if it wasn’t Seth and it wasn’t her dad, then who did give them the money? Was it really just a happy coincidence, after all?
‘Does that clear it up?’ he asked.
‘Um, yes… but I expect Jo will want to pay you when she can. I have to process the money and transfer it into our account and I’m not quite sure how to do that yet. It might take a few days.’
Hattie's Home for Broken Hearts: A heartwarming laugh out loud romantic comedy Page 19
