by Penny Parkes
‘It’s amazing how well she’s adapting, don’t you think?’ Holly asked Plum quietly, acknowledging to herself recently that while she may be a mother, it was actually Plum who had more experience on the childcare front.
Plum nodded. ‘She is a brave little one. I think truly she’s just happier for a little security and routine. Have you noticed how she copies everything Ben does? That’s her way of saying “you look happy, I’ll do what you’re doing”.’ She paused, instinctively lowering her voice. ‘Is there any more news from the hospital?’
Holly shook her head; that morning’s updates had not been good for Keira or May, both sequestered away on their different wards. ‘There’s lots of reasons for wishing them well, but mainly our focus has to be giving this little one a few days of normality, a little family life, before the next bombshell.’
Almost as though the very word had summoned her, Elsie arrived in the front hall with a flourish, clearly rather tipsy, letting the front door slam loudly in her wake. She tossed her Mulberry handbag and fur-trimmed parka to the floor and sat down beside Holly with a whoosh. ‘Lovely man, that Teddy Kingsley. He gave me lovely bubbles with my lovely lunch.’ She sighed contentedly. ‘I love snow days.’
Holly and Plum exchanged amused smiles, it took quite a lot of ‘lovely bubbles’ to get Elsie this sloshed. ‘And why would he do a thing like that?’ Holly asked, intrigued. ‘And please tell me you ate more than a salad?’ She passed Elsie the platter of breadsticks and was amazed to see Elsie, the habitual epitome of elegance, dive in with both hands.
Plum giggled beside her, not quite sure what to make of this uncharacteristic behaviour.
‘I’m schel-ee-brating, you see?’ said Elsie once she’d inhaled every last breadstick on the plate. ‘It’s been soooo long and now . . .’ She threw out her arms and hiccuped. ‘I can tell you my lovely, lovely, lovely secret.’
Holly paused, waiting, almost holding her breath, her eyes instinctively checking out the third finger of Elsie’s left hand.
Empty.
‘And?’ Holly prompted after a moment, when it looked as though Elsie was on the verge of nodding off mid-sentence.
‘And what?’ asked Elsie, all innocence. ‘Do you want to know my lovely secret too, Holly-Bolly-Polly?’ She smiled and clasped Holly’s hand tightly to her chest. ‘I love you,’ she sighed.
‘And I love you too,’ said Holly, just the tiniest hint of frustration colouring the sentiment.
‘So,’ Elsie said, ‘I decided I didn’t want to be away from all this, you see.’ She looked Holly straight in the eye. ‘I was missing you all too much.’
Holly softened instantly. ‘We’ve been missing you too. That’s why it’s been so heavenly having you back these last few weeks. I know it’s not the same, and you’re willy-nilly back and forth to Sarandon Hall, but—’
‘Oooh, no!’ said Elsie with feeling. ‘Ghastly place. Too much money, not enough class. Got chucked out of there months ago. Not a minute too soon either.’ She hiccuped again. ‘And don’t go looking so shocked. It had to be done.’
‘You mean, you got chucked out – on purpose?’ Holly checked.
Elsie gave a secretive chuckle. ‘Only way, darling. Couldn’t wait to give me my money back. Hush-hush, you know? Because of the scandal.’
‘The scandal?’ managed Holly weakly.
‘Tha’s right,’ confirmed Elsie with a nod. ‘But don’t you worry, my darling. I have been working on a very clever, very secret plan of my own. Which is why,’ she said, jabbing her finger in Holly’s direction, ‘we’re schel-ebrating.’
Holly didn’t even bother asking what exactly they were celebrating at that point, simply waiting for the dramatist in Elsie to have her moment.
‘You, my darling, are looking at your new next-door neighbour.’ Elsie pulled a set of keys on a Tiffany key-ring from her pocket and twirled them around her fingers, until they went flying off under the sofa. ‘Oops. And yes, it was me all along with the noisy builders! I was in such a hurry, you see, to get it all beautiful and sorted and perfect and just everything I have ever wanted in a house all for myself.’ Her words tumbled over one another in their haste to be free. ‘Not a single compromise have I made.’ She smiled beatifically. ‘I wanted it to be perfect, so you wouldn’t worry, my darling. So you wouldn’t think you were going to be lumbered with me when you found out the truth about Sharadoo, I mean, Sharada – oh blast – that god-awful, nouveau-riche, socially climbing, waiting-for-God, hell hole.’
‘So,’ said Holly, with a smile that lit up her entire face, ‘you’re coming home then? Just one door over and with your favourite people right next door?’
‘Exactly,’ said Elsie emphatically, wrapping her arms around herself in delight. ‘Right. Next. Door,’ she said and promptly fell asleep.
*
‘Only me!’ called Dan from the hallway, letting himself in without hesitation, stamping the snow from his boots. ‘I’ve come to give Louise her check-up?’ He barely even acknowledged the slumbering pensioner in their midst, so intent was he on getting an update. ‘How’s she doing today? Taffy said she slept okay? Any progress?’
Holly nodded, still completely astounded by Elsie’s well-lubricated confession. She couldn’t help but wonder how much of it Elsie had actually intended to share . . .
‘Earth to Holly?’ Dan said, after a moment, when no answer was forthcoming. ‘Have I come at a bad time?’
‘Sorry, just a lot going on today.’ She blinked and tried to recalibrate, Dan looking at her strangely. ‘So, right – yes, all good actually. I think she was just exhausted, to be honest. If we’re going to have issues, my money’s on tonight. Although you’d think she’d be worn out from making snow angels all morning. She’s got a fearsome appetite for one so small. She seems seriously underweight to me, though.’
‘I thought so too,’ said Dan with a frown. ‘At least she’s here now.’
‘Exactly,’ said Holly, ‘but it’s hardly a long-term solution, is it?’
‘Nope,’ said Dan. ‘But Keira’s much happier about her staying with you, informally as a friend, while they make a plan. Better than going into the foster system. Grace managed to have a frank conversation with the oncology team this morning. Only the next few weeks will tell if we’re looking at palliative care options, or if there’s still a chance.’
Holly sighed, still somehow hoping that she’d been wrong in her original assessment. She could only be grateful that Keira had called in to The Practice last year, after months of being given the run-around. IBS, her own GP had maintained, unsympathetic to her tiredness, pain and bloating. The notion of ovarian cancer was still overlooked far too often. It was small comfort that they’d bought another year for Keira – too little, too late. ‘And there’s no other family?’ Holly asked.
‘None,’ said Dan.
He really was a sight for sore eyes, Holly decided moments later, his fringe flopping into his face as he attempted to cross his long legs, sitting on the floor, so the kids could crowd around him. Ben and Tom, of course, were only too familiar with Uncle Dan, but even Lulu was tempted over. Holly glanced up with a smile, half expecting Plum to be as captivated by the sight as she was, but other than an easy smile of greeting, Plum had busied herself scooping the younger girls onto her lap, as their pudgy starfish hands reached out for the little bowls of cereal and quartered grapes that Holly had prepared earlier.
Dan and Holly worked together seamlessly to assess Lulu, in the hope that she wasn’t even aware she was getting a check-up, just a chat and a game. Her legs were skinny and her belly a little bloated, but she could almost be mistaken for a different child to the one who had arrived there the day before. ‘And she still hasn’t said a word?’ Dan clarified quietly.
Holly shook her head. ‘She understands everything, though. In fact, she seems quite switched on, just a little withdrawn, you know?’
‘Hardly surprising when you think what she’s been through,’ Dan
agreed. ‘And I know it’s tricky with the weather and everything, but are you really okay to have an extra child for a while? And don’t forget, if the power goes out, Teddy Kingsley’s got his generator rigged up at the pub again this year, so we can all congregate there for some hot food.’
Holly nodded. ‘We’ll be fine. The Aga’s on here and we’ve no shortage of logs for the wood burner. Plum and I are working as a team, so hopefully nothing too big will slip through the cracks.’ She didn’t dwell on the fact that a few things almost certainly had; she just couldn’t quite put her finger on what they actually were. ‘Besides, I’m not sure anyone’s being terribly efficient today, are they?’ Certainly the Market Place had been filled with delighted school children hurling snowballs earlier, not to mention their equally chilled parents enjoying an unscheduled day off work. No doubt some of them would actually welcome a lock-in with Teddy at the pub should the power go out later.
Holly sat down on the sofa and relieved Plum of the girls. ‘Plum, can you rug up the boys and pop them outside for a bit while the sun’s still out? They can wear off a little more steam before it gets too cold.’ Elsie slumbered on regardless, every now and again giving a very genteel snore that made everyone giggle. ‘Lulu?’ said Holly. ‘Can you stay here with me and Dan? We’d like you to do some lovely pictures?’
It was some testament to Dan’s patience that he managed to coax anything out of Lulu at all, even as the boys’ shrieks and laughter could be heard from the back garden. Her eyes seemed to flit about, searching for a constant, and it took quite a while to settle her down with a few crayons and a sheet of paper. Neither of them were particularly surprised when she picked up a red crayon and began to scribble minute marks in the corner of the page. It was all too telling of a frightened, shy child, presumably outside of her comfort zone – assuming she even had one.
As Dan picked up blues and greens and yellows and began to doodle silly faces, Lulu put down her own crayon and snuggled in beside him, clapping her hand over her mouth should a laugh dare to escape. Her eyes followed his every move. After five minutes or so, she reached out and took the green crayon, slowly and carefully making marks in an attempt to imitate Dan’s. She looked up at him trustingly and then down at the page. ‘Mine,’ she said clearly.
Holly wasn’t the only one in the room to shed a tear.
*
Even as Dan ignored call after call on his mobile, no doubt summoning him back to work, Holly didn’t have the heart to show him the door, to risk severing the tentative bond that was blooming in her playroom.
‘Mine’ had been swiftly followed by ‘doggy’, ‘oink-oink’ and ‘cake’. It was very clear what had impressed itself most upon Lulu’s mind since she’d arrived at Holly’s house.
Dan leaned in and gave Lulu another rendition of his frog-on-a-log song that soon had the little girl’s eyes dancing with mischief. Not a laugh exactly, but so very nearly there.
‘Right, young Miss Lulu,’ said Dan, as he ignored yet another call. ‘I have to go to work now and make some people better.’
‘No,’ said Lulu firmly.
‘Maybe I can visit again tomorrow?’ Dan asked, as though it were entirely dependent upon her inviting him.
Lulu just shrugged, seemingly shrinking before their eyes. She waited until Dan was halfway out of the playroom door. ‘Bye,’ she said and returned to the crayons.
Plum’s endless efficiency meant the boys were now dried off, flushed with happiness and exhausted, having earned their time in front of the TV, and she stepped in to help with the three girls.
Holly walked Dan to the front door. ‘I’m so glad you popped round,’ she said with feeling. It wasn’t only Elsie’s news and Lulu’s progress that had made her day; watching Dan connect with that little girl had been almost wondrous. If only Grace had been here to see it, Holly couldn’t help but think it would have given her hope too. After all, for a man who had decried the concept of ever being able to take in someone else’s child, he’d done a pretty good job of nurturing that little soul this afternoon.
She pulled open the front door to let him out and almost walked straight into Mike Urquhart.
‘Sorry I’m a bit early,’ he said, shaking Holly’s hand warmly. ‘Matthew and I got things organised in record time. He’s a wonder, that boy.’
Holly managed a polite hello, the niggling sense of having forgotten something important finally resolving itself.
‘Dan Carter,’ Dan said, holding out his own hand. ‘Mike, isn’t it? From the Rugby Club?’
‘Nice to meet you, Dan,’ Mike said. ‘You work with Holly at The Practice, I gather? Young Matthew speaks very highly about the whole team.’
Dan nodded. ‘Well, it’s lovely to see him finding his own groove around here. Thanks for helping him out with the sponsorship. Is that what you’re here for, because I could stay? I mean, it’s lovely of Holly to keep doing all the liaison, but she is technically on maternity leave and we’re all wary of putting on her. Hands full, children everywhere and all that.’ He laughed uncomfortably at the stony reception his humour had received.
‘We’re good; you get back to work. Hands full, patients everywhere and all that,’ Holly said tightly, annoyed that both Dan and Taffy seemed to have slotted her into a box marked ‘New mother – do not disturb’. Unless they wanted childcare, of course, she thought irritably, before stamping down hard on her annoyance. She knew that bringing Lulu here had been the right thing to do; she just couldn’t quite correlate her own identity anymore, and Dan standing on her doorstep like a Viking protector wasn’t exactly helping.
‘No wonder you were so distracted when I arrived,’ Dan whispered intently with a meaningful look as he kissed her briefly on the cheek to say goodbye. Holly didn’t know how to tell him; he truly didn’t know the half of it. She still couldn’t quite believe that she’d comprehensively forgotten Mike was even coming over.
She tried not to read more into that than she should.
And promptly failed.
‘Come on in,’ she said warmly. ‘I’ve an inebriated pensioner asleep on the sofa, five children on the rampage – one of whom is in emergency foster care – and a sulking hormonal Gloucester Old Spot in the back garden, pining for his youth. Cup of tea? Or something stronger?’
Mike followed her through to the kitchen, shrugging off his Bath-Rugby-branded ski jacket, not even missing a beat when she instantly abandoned him to check that Plum had the kids – and Elsie – under control.
‘One of those days, huh?’ he said as she returned, noticing that he’d already filled the kettle and popped it on the Aga to boil.
‘Something like that,’ Holly said with a smile. ‘Although they seem to be happening with increasing regularity.’
‘It sounds like you’d actually be coming to work for a rest,’ he said jovially, unflinching at the chaos on the kitchen table, even as Holly deftly tidied away her scribbled plans and Post-its.
She didn’t feel it was prudent to confess that, with everything going on here for the last twenty-four hours, she hadn’t even given a thought as to how the job on offer would fit into her life and she felt instantly lousy. He’d vouched for her with the board, pushed for a tempting package to win her over, and she hadn’t spared him a moment’s thought since Lulu arrived.
Seriously, Holly, she chastised herself, how hard would it have been to call and postpone and save him the journey, a journey that could have hardly been straightforward, today of all days. Harder to do, of course, if your mind conveniently erased the appointment altogether.
‘Look, there’s no pressure from me,’ Mike laughed. ‘You’ve clearly got your hands full this week, but I guess I’d just like to get a feel for where you’re at.’ His words were in complete contradiction to his demeanour, leaning forward, keen as mustard.
All plans are made to be changed, Holly thought to herself. In all her consideration of goals and plans, not once had she stopped to build in the contingency that real
life required.
Money was nice, a sense of being courted for a prestigious job even nicer, but would it actually tick the box in her soul where she got to make a difference?
‘I’m so sorry, Mike—’ she began.
He held up a hand, persistent in the face of Holly’s imminent refusal. ‘Don’t say no just yet. At least let the dust settle? Or the snow melt?’ His smile couldn’t disguise his genuine disappointment. ‘We have the budget,’ he said, for maybe the sixth time since they’d been discussing the project, as though the money were burning a hole in his pocket.
‘Well,’ said Holly with a tentative smile, ‘I’ve been giving that some thought, actually, and to wildly misquote Pretty Woman: I can help you spend it, sir.’
Chapter 24
Connor couldn’t help but wonder what his bandmates would think of his new life in Larkford. Whereas they, for the most part, still skulked around London in dark glasses and grimy t-shirts, being shuttled from glamorous hotels to fancy parties and nightclubs, being fêted for their achievements, he himself now counted an amiable, shaggy donkey as his confidant and companion, Nigel seemingly proving a salve to the roiling anxiety that hovered in his peripheral vision every moment of every day.
Together, they’d just had the most blissful day with Kitty getting the dwarf goats settled into their cosy new home, watching as they gambolled endearingly in the tythe barn, leaping from straw bale to bale with exuberant delight, each one disconcertingly named after the dowagers of Larkford. Although he’d had to draw the line at adding ‘Elsie’ to his herd.
Rural life, he decided, was definitely softer on the soul. He hadn’t even missed a beat when Holly had suggested he might like to add the attention-seeking Nineteen to his ever-growing menagerie, setting up residence in the orchard – come summer there would be apples and pears as far as his little porky eye could see. The more the merrier, as far as he was concerned; Blackleigh Farm was fast becoming a refuge for the lost and adrift in their animal community. An anchor of reality for Connor when he needed it the most; animals needed constant care and attention, limiting the time available for introspection and anxiety.