Rachel's Pudding Pantry

by Caroline Roberts

  ‘Yeah, we’ve still got a reasonable selection of puddings to put out to keep us going for the afternoon, but there are only a couple of brownies left, and only one carrot cake. Maisy here has been selling like a trooper.’

  ‘Hello again, Maisy. I can see you’re doing a great job helping out.’

  ‘Thank you, and I’m five,’ she announced.

  ‘Wow, well, you’re very grown up for five.’

  ‘Five going on fifteen.’ Rachel grinned.

  ‘A shopkeeper in the making.’ Emma smiled.

  ‘I think she might well be. Or, what is it you said you wanted to be, Maisy? An astronaut, or a farmer, or a tooth fairy?’

  ‘Ah yes, well the world’s an exciting place. Always best to keep your options open, young lady. Good thinking.’

  With that, there was another flurry of customers for both stalls.

  It was just after 3 p.m. when Ben appeared with Amelia, ready to take the girls around the show and the fairground rides as promised.

  Rachel handed him a ten-pound note from the takings to treat them to the rides and some ice creams. ‘Thanks so much for taking her, Ben.’

  ‘That’s no problem at all. It’ll cheer up Amelia no end, who was getting bored at the stall.’

  Again, it dawned on Rachel that there was still no word from Jake. He’d not even had the guts to call her up or send a message to apologise – the selfish git. There was Amelia holding tight to her daddy’s hand, taking it for granted, and that’s exactly how it should be. Rachel felt a soreness in her heart for her little girl. Being a single parent was tough sometimes, but being a single child tougher.

  ‘Okay then, Maisy? You go and have some fun with Amelia.’

  Her little girl nodded, seeming quieter than usual.

  Ben knew about their situation and mouthed, ‘No sign of Jake yet?’ as the girls started chatting together. Rachel shook her head. He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes.

  Maisy then took his spare hand, so he had one girl each side and they set off together. Rachel was at least happy that she was in safe hands with Ben.

  When it was time to start packing up, Rachel noticed a tall, attractive man turn up at Emma’s stall. He gave Emma a warm hug and a sweet kiss, before asking how the day had gone for her.

  ‘It’s been great, Max, really worthwhile.’

  Rachel tried not to be too nosey, but couldn’t help watching them as they started to pack up the stall together; it was obvious they were very happy in their relationship. Aw, that was so nice to see, yet it made her own heart feel even sorer.

  The food tent was definitely quietening down, but she’d wait for Ben to come back with Maisy before packing up properly. She might as well leave her last few wares out in case any stragglers were wanting some last-minute treats to take home. Just then, in the nick of time, she remembered the chocolates she wanted to buy for Mum.

  ‘Oh, Emma, can I buy a box of chocolates from you before they’re all packed up?’

  ‘Yeah, of course. What kind would you like?’

  ‘Oh, just a selection really, they all look delicious.’

  ‘Yep, got just the thing. Here you go, a fiver will do fine.’

  Rachel had seen earlier that the price should be more like eight pounds. ‘You sure?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s fine. Oh, and before I go, here, take my card. I know you said you were just setting up, so feel free to ring me, if you have any questions about the business, or you just want a friendly ear.’

  ‘Aw, thanks.’ She seemed so genuine and warm.

  ‘And if you are ever going Warkton way, be sure to stop by.’

  ‘I might just do that. I could bring Maisy across one afternoon.’ It would be nice to have a little trip out sometime. They didn’t do that often enough. Rachel always seemed to be too busy with life and work at the farm, but it’d do them good, and make a lovely break.

  Ben arrived back with Maisy and Amelia who were licking the last of their ice-cream cones.

  ‘Hi, we’ve had a good time. Made sure we did the Tea Cups before the ice creams.’ Ben grinned.

  ‘Did you have fun, girls?’

  ‘Yes! We had two goes on the Cups,’ Amelia chimed.

  Maisy’s reply was a more subdued, ‘Yeah.’

  ‘She doesn’t seem quite herself,’ Ben whispered. ‘I’m wondering if she might be a bit run down.’

  ‘Thanks for letting me know. Her dad’s still not shown.’

  ‘Bless her, she’ll be disappointed.’ He shook his head in empathy.

  ‘Yeah, I think that’s what’s behind it. But, thanks for the heads up.’

  ‘No worries. Look are you all right packing up here? Need a hand at all?’

  ‘To be honest, we’ve not got a lot of stock left, so I’m sure I’ll be fine. There’s not that much to take to the truck really.’

  ‘Mumm-ee, I need a wee,’ Maisy chanted, with a hint of desperation, already doing a little jig and crossing her legs.

  ‘Ah, actually, can you mind the stall for a few minutes, Ben?’

  ‘Sure, that’s fine.’

  ‘We won’t be long.’

  Rachel took Maisy’s hand in their dash for the Portaloos. They made it just in time.

  As they came out, Rachel realised they were just beside the horticultural tent. She’d never had a chance to find out how Mum’s sticky toffee and her carrot cake had fared in the competition. There might just be time for a quick look before it all got packed away. She was sure Ben wouldn’t mind waiting for five minutes more.

  ‘Come on, Maisy, let’s take a quick look in and see if Grandma’s pudding’s on show.’

  ‘Okay.’

  In they went, to be greeted by a stunning display of flowers and vegetables, which had evidently been lovingly nurtured and displayed at their prime.

  ‘These are pretty, Mummy.’ Maisy pointed at some big blooms of dahlia in bold pinks and orange. They’d won the first prize and had a red rosette.

  They had a quick scoot around, oohing and ahhing as they passed all the gorgeous colours and arrangements, until they found the baking section.

  Maisy skipped on ahead, scanning the labels and prize-winner rosettes.

  ‘Mummy, Mummy, I think this is Grandma Jill’s!’

  There it was, Jill’s sticky toffee pudding sporting the first prize red rosette. Yes! Rachel felt a tear form in her eye. She was so proud of her mum, of how much she’d put into the Pudding Pantry, of how far they’d come.

  ‘Hey, that’s brilliant. I can’t wait to tell her.’

  ‘Can I tell her? I saw it first.’

  ‘Of course, let’s take a picture on my phone and you can show her it when we get back.’

  ‘Yes.’

  She sounded a bit brighter, bless her.

  ‘Where’s yours, Mummy?’

  ‘Oh yes, better find that one too.’ It didn’t really matter that much, thought Rachel, especially now that Jill had won the big prize.

  There was a table of cakes displayed: a courgette cake, two carrot cakes, oh and look there, her carrot cake was standing with a very creditable blue second prize rosette beside it. Wow – not bad at all. Rachel peered closer at the other contenders. The first prize had been given to an amazing beetroot and chocolate cake, which she had to admit looked divine – no shame in coming second to that. And the third yellow rosette was sitting next to another carrot cake, by … Vanessa Palmer-Pilkington. Who would have thought it! Rachel couldn’t help but smile to herself.

  ‘Well done. Mummy. You’ve won a blue.’

  ‘Thanks, petal.’

  It was then that Rachel heard a loud, plummy and unmistakeable voice behind her. ‘Well, I do think it’s been very poorly judged this year. I’ve never had a third in all the years I’ve entered.’

  Rachel gave a quick glance over her shoulder to see an indignant Vanessa P-P moaning away to the poor woman she was with. Rachel caught Vanessa’s eye and gave a broad, friendly smile. No words needed to be said. T
he rictus smile that Vanessa gave in return was tight and forced. Touché.

  They were just about to leave the tent when an all too familiar face appeared. Rachel froze. She hadn’t seen him since their chat in the lane, and here was Tom, just metres away from her.

  ‘Hey,’ he said, tentatively.

  ‘Hi.’ Well, this was awkward. Argh. He was smiling gently and the thing was … he looked so bloody gorgeous.

  Luckily Maisy was there to break the second or two of silence that followed. ‘Tom, Mummy’s got a prize for her cake.’

  ‘Well, that’s good. Well done you.’ He gave Rachel a friendly nod.

  ‘And …’ Maisy was on a roll with the news, ‘Grandma won the puddings!’

  ‘Brilliant.’

  ‘The sticky toffee one,’ Maisy added.

  ‘Oh yes. Well, I could have told you she’d get a first prize for that. That’s my all-time favourite.’

  He and Maisy grinned at each other. It was nice to see Maisy a bit happier now.

  ‘I’ve only just got here,’ Tom explained. ‘Just finished the other barley field. That’s the last of the arable done for now. Thought I’d nip down, see what’s going on at the show. I love this tent … The work that must go into getting the vegetables just right, they’re like works of art.’ He was filling the space between them with inane chat.

  ‘Ah, yes. There’s so much expertise gone into that,’ Rachel agreed. The conversation then stalled awkwardly. ‘Right, well we were just nipping away, got Ben and Amelia minding the stall for us. Better get back.’

  ‘Oh yes, of course … Has it gone okay today?’

  ‘Yeah, great thanks.’

  ‘That’s good. I hope everything goes well for you.’ His words seemed genuinely caring, but there was a new distance between them, a sense of detachment.

  There was a heart-breaking pause. ‘We’d better go.’

  ‘It’s good to see you, Rach.’

  ‘Yeah, you too.’ Keep walking, keep going. Do not give in to silly poignant emotions, or romantic notions.

  Chapter 40

  SUMMER STORMS AND SEARCHING

  ‘Right then, I’ve got it all tidied up in the kitchen now.’ Jill came back over to the Pudding Pantry, where Rachel was putting away the last bits of stock she’d brought back from the show. ‘It was a bit chaotic getting organised this morning, what with all the last-minute baking and stuff to take,’ Jill continued.

  Rachel felt a sense of nervous anticipation – she was about to sit down and count up the stall’s takings. ‘That’s good. Where’s Maisy by the way?’ she asked.

  ‘Ah, I thought she was here with you.’

  ‘Nope, I thought she was in the farmhouse with you.’

  ‘Oh, I see …’

  ‘Okay, no worries, she was with me a short while ago,’ Rachel confirmed. ‘She’s probably just playing somewhere close by. Maybe on her slide in the garden, though it looks like it’s about to pour it down out there.’ The sky had turned an ominous leaden grey, with late-summer storm clouds brewing. ‘I’ll go find her.’

  Rachel headed for the garden, calling, ‘Maisy, Maisy.’

  There was no answer, and as Rachel peered over the hedge and into the garden there was no sign of her there either. Hmm, maybe she’d gone to check the hens for eggs, seeing as they’d been out all day. After going to the chicken coop with no luck, Rachel began to feel concerned. Maisy hadn’t said anything about going to do something in particular, and she usually stuck close to her or Jill at all times.

  Big plops of rain began to fall as Rachel made her way back to her mum in the barn. ‘It’s odd, there’s no sign of her.’

  With that, a crack of thunder went off like a shotgun, with a boom that shook the barn.

  ‘Oh my,’ said Jill.

  ‘Right, we’d better get looking further.’ Maisy hated storms and Rachel knew she’d be frightened, wherever she was.

  ‘Maybe she’s gone upstairs in the house, up to her room or something, and I just hadn’t noticed?’ Jill said.

  ‘Yes, perhaps. We were both so busy getting things straight after the show. I just took my eyes off her for a few minutes, and I’d assumed she’d gone to you.’

  ‘Don’t worry, love. She won’t be far,’ Jill said reassuringly.

  ‘Well, if you go back and check through the house, I’ll try the lambing shed and the outbuildings here. We both have our phones, yeah, so the first to find her can ring the other.’

  ‘Yes, okay, will do.’

  They split up and Rachel checked the Pudding Pantry again, calling out Maisy’s name, then the lambing shed, then the cattle shed and a small outbuilding next to it that they rarely used. The only other building in the farmyard was the old stable. Just the sight of it made Rachel’s gut twist. But she knew she had to check it out in case Maisy had somehow found her way in. With some trepidation, she fetched the padlock key from the farm kitchen. She could hear Jill padding about upstairs, calling Maisy’s name.

  Rachel headed across the yard and took the padlock off the stable door. She took a deep breath before giving it a push. It was dark in there as the old wooden door creaked open. She flicked on the electric bulb, and felt her chest restrict as the place that haunted her nightmares and fears came into focus. She called Maisy’s name again, somewhat shakily, and looked around all the nooks and crannies – but still no sign of her daughter.

  She found Jill back out in the yard.

  ‘Any luck?’

  ‘No sign of her in the house.’ Jill was looking concerned now.

  ‘Nor in the outbuildings. Mum, she was really quiet and upset in the car as we came home … about Jake not coming back to see her. I’m worried, Mum, it’s not like her to go off.’

  Shit. Rachel felt sick to the pit of her stomach. What if something had happened to her?

  ‘Okay love, let’s just stay calm and think of any other places she might go.’

  ‘Eve’s, she might try and go there. To see Amelia or something. I’ll ring them.’

  Her heart was racing as she dialled her friend’s number, hoping that that was the answer. But no, Eve said she hadn’t seen her since the show. Rachel was trying not to panic now, but the fear was mounting and making her feel light-headed.

  ‘Hang on,’ Eve’s voice came down the line. ‘Ben says he’ll come and help look for her with you. I’ll stay here with Amelia in case she turns up here.’

  ‘Thanks, okay, that’s so helpful.’

  Where else? Where else might she go? Rachel stood in the yard, racking her brains, with the rain and wind whipping up around her, as another crack of thunder ricocheted through her body. It wasn’t like her little girl to go wandering off – she just wasn’t that kind of a kid. Had she fallen and hurt herself? Perhaps she couldn’t walk back to them? Was she frightened and hiding from the storm? But surely she’d call out if she’d heard their voices?

  ‘No good?’ Mum asked, already knowing the answer from the look on Rachel’s face.

  ‘No, she’s not with Eve.’ They were wasting time. ‘I’m going to go off around the fields on the quad with Moss. He might be able to trace her scent. You stay here and look over everywhere again just in case we’ve missed something.’

  ‘Okay, will do.’

  As she reached the quad, Rachel thought of Tom. Could Maisy have gone there? She’d call him, it was worth a try, hopefully he’d be back from the show by now. She took her mobile out.

  ‘Tom … Maisy’s gone missing.’ Rachel tried to stop her voice from shaking.

  ‘From the farm?’

  ‘Yes, we’ve been back around fifteen minutes from the show. She was with me at the Pantry barn, but then she just disappeared. I thought she was with Mum who was over in the house …’

  ‘Okay. She hasn’t called here, as far as I know. I’ll get out on the quad and start looking. She can’t have gone too far in that time.’

  What if it was Jake – if he’d finally turned up and just taken her? Surely, he wasn�
�t capable of that, not without telling anyone? All sorts of weird thoughts were entering her head. But then, did you ever really know a person fully – what they were capable of?

  ‘Thanks, I’ve got my mobile on me. I’m going to check the whole farm area and Mum’s staying near the house just in case. Oh God, Tom, I hope she’s not hurt.’

  ‘Try not to worry, Rach. We’ll find her soon, I’m sure. What was she wearing?’

  ‘Umm, a pink top and jeans. Oh, and her spotty red rain mac.’ She’d put that on to get out of the Land Rover, as it had begun spitting with rain.

  ‘Well, that’s nice and bright to look out for.’

  ‘Right, yes. Okay, well I’m going to get going.’ She quelled the rising panic inside. She needed to keep a cool head to help find her little girl.

  Rachel started up the quad, called Moss to her side who leapt up, and off they set, calling as they drove slowly around the farmyard first, then out to The Stackyard field. They drove on, searching the perimeters of each acre, carefully scouring the gulleys and hedgerows. The wind and the rain battering them as they went.

  She then set Moss down and drove slowly, sure that he’d sniff the little girl out if he could. ‘Maisy, where’s Maisy, Moss? Go find her.’

  She checked her phone every now and then, in case Mum or Tom or Eve had called, but still nothing. The rain streamed down over the phone screen like heaven’s tears. It was teeming down, and every now and then was another boom of threatening thunder.

  She’d looked in every field, every hedgerow, under every tree – where else might she be? Think, Rachel, think. She decided to head back to the farmyard; there were more places Maisy might hide in, or shelter there. A cupboard in the house, a silly game of hide-and-seek gone wrong? But, she’d been upset about her dad … Rachel felt that was key to this.

  Mum was at the door of the farmhouse as she arrived back. She was standing there shaking her head, looking ashen, saddened to see no Maisy beside Rachel. Rachel’s face must have echoed her mum’s. Still no Maisy.

  ‘I’ll search the buildings again, and take Moss this time,’ she said. ‘Did you check all the cupboards? Under the beds?’

  Jill nodded. ‘I’ll do the Pantry again. That’s where you last saw her, wasn’t it?’