‘What for?’
‘You’re part of the family, Meadowbrook needs you, the sanctuary needs you. I don’t want you to run back to New York because of me.’
‘Bit egotistical, isn’t it? It’s not just you, this year has been a huge upheaval for me. Trying to learn to run the sanctuary, losing Dad, losing my job, not to mention the whole business with Freddie and Pippa. I said I would try my best to get the money before the year is up, I’ll do all in my power, but really, staying is not an option.’
‘Harry, are you sure? Your siblings, well, I think they need you?’
‘What about you, Connor?’ She glared at him, as Agnes ambled away slightly.
‘I’m your friend, H, you know that, I love you.’
‘It’s not enough,’ Harriet said. ‘I can’t do this, Connor, I can’t be around you like this, and please, please, don’t you think the way I’m dressed is humiliating enough, I don’t need you to humiliate me further.’
‘But—’
‘Go and find Bella, Connor.’
Harriet stood up and with all the dignity that she could muster with a stocking that had fallen around her ankle and a slightly tilted wig, she stalked off.
Chapter 31
Harriet felt marginally better. The Easter egg hunt was so successful – she had even got over her terrible costume – the open gardens a big hit, and having counted the money, this month they had added another four thousand pounds to the annual total. Ten cats and seven dogs had been rehomed this month as well, which was a record for the sanctuary. She worried about Hilda now she was leaving. Oh goodness, she really didn’t know what she would do about her. She was thinking of asking Pip, who said she always wanted a dog, to take her but something stopped her from doing so, just yet.
She picked up the phone and called Bella. Not that she wanted to but she was desperate. There was no answer which was annoying, so she left a voicemail. She looked at her list. She had five companies to try to hit up for the remaining money, Harriet’s idea was to go back to her roots; to go corporate. She was going to approach – attack – local companies, offering them sponsorship deals for the sanctuary in return for money. Some could sponsor actual animals and have that plastered over social media, they could also have their names associated with the events which were growing in popularity. She assumed Pippa and Freddie would continue to organise them, not that they had decided that. The Meadowbrook gardens were already attracting people from much further afield and they’d had enquiries about having coach trips come down in the summer. So she was going to present it as an investment, sell the hell out of it and raise the money before the end of the year. Failure was not an option, but having to do without Bella was irritating. Anyway, Harriet picked up the phone. She just had to raise that money.
Freddie walked into the office just as she finished with her list. It had gone OK. Not wonderful, but she had used her best sales skill and secured another couple of thousand pounds. They were close now, so close.
‘Freddie, have you heard from Bella?’
‘Ah, yes, I was going to talk to you about that. Pippa, well, she said that Bella is no longer working with Meadowbrook.’
‘What? Why?’
‘Well I think you’ll have to ask our favourite vet. But we have lost a bloody good PR thanks to him.’
‘They’ve split up?’ Harriet’s heart sped up.
Freddie sat down in the chair opposite. ‘I think so, but she wouldn’t really say, according to Pip.’
‘Where is Pip?’
‘Dog walking.’
‘Right, well you’ll have to do. We are close, very close, we need four thousand pounds to take us just over target, which sounds like nothing, but to be honest I’m not exactly sure where we’ll get it. I have another few companies coming back to me later so I’m hopeful, but I don’t want to leave anything to chance. Ideas?’
‘Call Hector.’
‘What, he’ll give us the money?’
‘Probably not, but he’s just been confirmed as going in that celebrity show where they have to learn to do all sorts of modern dance. It’s quite a big show, so he’s about to embark on a big media round of interviews …’
‘Great thinking.’ Harriet picked up the phone.
Freddie stayed put so she put the phone on speaker.
‘Hector, it’s Harriet.’
‘And Freddie.’
‘Hi, guys, are you well?’ Harriet was fonder of Hector than she ever thought she would be. He was actually quite a sweetheart.
‘Very and congratulations on the dance thing. I might even watch this one.’
‘You’re too good to me, Harry.’
‘I know. And I am about to ask you a massive favour so perhaps I should have buttered you up a bit more.’
‘Harriet, you know I would do anything for you.’
‘Well good to know, because we need money.’
‘OK, how much?’
‘No, Hector, I am not asking you to give it to us, although you can if you like, but I thought perhaps now you’re doing all this media for the TV show you could ask for donations or something.’
‘Yes, you know, you could link our JustGiving page to your social media and stuff,’ Freddie added.
‘OK, but why would people just give money?’ Hector asked.
‘Because they like you?’ Harriet suggested.
‘Well, yes, there is that but, you know, I think perhaps if you want to raise serious money we need to offer something.’
‘How about we auction something off?’ Harriet said, thinking of her overpriced charity purchases.
‘Oh yes, let’s auction off a date with you,’ Freddie said, springing out of his chair.
‘Great idea.’ Harriet felt enthused. ‘People will bid to go out for dinner with you.’
‘But I could end up having to go out with anyone!’ Hector sounded a little scared.
‘Yes, but they might be nice.’
‘Or gay, you’re very popular with gay men,’ Freddie unhelpfully pointed out.
‘Oh God, what am I getting into? Can I agree on the condition that Edie doesn’t win me,’ Hector said.
‘She’s got no money, which would be no good to us. Right, Hector get your social media people on it right now so we can then share and retweet, and let’s get that money.’
‘How much do you actually think people will pay to go out with me?’
‘I’m hoping a few thousand at least,’ Harriet said. God, that might just bring them up to the target. What would someone pay for a date with Hector though? She had no idea, after all she didn’t fancy it, but hopefully, fingers crossed, someone would.
‘Gosh, not sure I’m worth that much, but you know I’m on Radio One this week, so I can push it then, and I’m in the gossip magazines, so I can mention it … You know, Harriet, this might just work.’
‘Bloody hope so, Hector, and thank you, you might have just saved the animal sanctuary.’
‘Really? Greg would love it if he could put that on my CV.’
Harriet chuckled as she hung up.
‘This might just work, you know.’ She had a good feeling.
‘I’ll go and get our social media all ready,’ Freddie said, leaving her to it.
Her phone rang then. She looked at the screen, it was Connor.
‘Why’s Bella quit? What the hell is going on?’ she snapped.
‘Oh hello to you too, H,’ Connor replied.
‘So?’ she demanded. She wasn’t in the mood for small talk. ‘Did you guys have an argument? I mean, I know we didn’t pay her but she was good at her job and I for one could have done with her help right now.’
‘Look, I’ll explain everything, but first of all there’s something I need to tell you.’
‘What?’
‘It’s Hilda, she’s been adopted.’
‘No, but how—’ Harriet couldn’t believe how much hearing the news physically hurt her. She felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. W
as everything and everyone she cared about being taken away from her? She knew she was leaving Hilda for New York, but she hadn’t allowed herself to think about that, and now she realised why. She adored the bloody dog.
‘I know, I know, it’s very sudden, and I wanted you to be the first to know. Listen, I’m taking her for a last walk, meet me by the lake.’
Harriet’s heart was already broken but now it was shattering into thousands of pieces. ‘I don’t think I can,’ Harriet breathed.
Surely there were no tears left; rock bottom just found a new low.
‘But, H, you need to say goodbye. You need to, if you don’t then you’ll never forgive yourself.’ Connor’s voice was gentle.
‘Like with Dad?’
She hung up and let the tears flow. As soon as the hiccupy sobs subsided she knew she had to go. Rushing to the back door, she pulled on her wellies, and a coat – how funny to think in a few months she would be back in her high heels and suits, she thought, as she made her way as quickly as she could.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Connor, looking so handsome standing by the lake with her beautiful Hilda by his side. She wasn’t sure she could bear it as tears filled her eyes once more and she wrapped her coat around her, tightly. The sky was grey and threatening, matching her mood. She slowed as she approached them, terrified about how she would manage to say goodbye to Hilda, and a loud sob involuntarily escaped from her lips. She realised how much Hilda meant to her, how much of a companion she had been. Their daily jogs, walks, how she had sat at Harriet’s feet in the office at the sanctuary, how she had stopped her from feeling alone.
Hilda jumped up, tail wagging as soon as she reached her. Harriet fell to the wet ground, letting Hilda climb all over her as she fussed her, before she looked at Connor, eyes blurred.
‘She’s been adopted?’ she said, her voice choked. She wanted nothing more for Hilda than a loving home, but the selfish part of her almost couldn’t bear it. As if the last piece of her heart was being snatched away.
‘Yes,’ Connor said simply.
‘Who?’ Her words cracked in the middle. ‘I mean I hope they’re nice.’
‘I hope so too. It’s me, H.’
Harriet felt her heart skip, she looked at him. ‘What? I don’t understand.’
‘I decided the other day. When the Queen of Hearts talked to me.’ Connor sat on the grass next to Harriet. Hilda was sat on her legs, rendering her immobile as her heart thumped. ‘I saw her, all dressed up, in a ridiculous wig and awful make-up, cuddling a blind sheep and it hit me, but I couldn’t find the words.’
‘What?’ she stuttered.
‘After you stormed off, I realised, or I admitted, that I had loved you all my life. That I was so scared that you didn’t want the same things as me, that I couldn’t even think about being with you. Liz wanted the same as me, I thought you and I would never be able to want the same things.’ He laughed, nervously.
‘You would have hated London.’ She understood how right he was.
‘Yes, I would, and you would never have wanted to move to Yorkshire with me while I started work.’
‘No, I don’t suppose I would.’ Harriet accepted that although they loved each other, they had wanted such different things back then. But now? ‘And that led to you deciding to adopt Hilda?’ She felt as if fireworks had been set off in her stomach.
‘I love Hilda, and I love you.’
‘Why did you tell me you didn’t feel the same as me when we talked?’ Her eyes widened with confusion. He looked at her and she almost drowned in his eyes; she could barely breathe.
‘Because I was scared, terrified. I pushed my feelings for you so far back that I didn’t think they were still there. But they were and I didn’t know how to tell you. You were so sophisticated, I wasn’t, and then there was Bella.’
‘But I lay my heart out for you and you, well, you rejected me!’
‘I know, it seemed like the best option at the time. I was scared, H, and confused.’
‘But now?’ Harriet couldn’t comprehend that he did have feelings for her, because if he did, he had hidden them so well. She looked up and saw a bird flying overhead, Hilda barked, the trees swayed in the breeze, her heart was swaying too, unsure what was happening to it right now.
‘I really didn’t think you would give your old life up, and then when you said you were going back to New York I thought maybe I was right. Then I got to thinking, perhaps you didn’t actually want to go back to New York, and I had to give this a chance, I couldn’t regret not telling you how I felt for the rest of my life.’
‘Oh God, you’re a bloody idiot.’ Harriet shook her head.
‘I know. But you have to understand, I was terrified of my feelings for you, I still am.’
‘But I love you. And I will never want anything else.’ She knew with even more certainty that it was the truth. ‘I don’t need New York, not if I’ve got you.’
‘I feel the same. No more nonsense, Harriet. I’m taking Hilda to live with me and, well, you have a bit of an open invitation on that front. After the year at the big house of course.’
‘What about Bella?’
‘We split up. I knew that my feelings for her weren’t strong enough when I realised how much I wanted you.’ Hilda went to sit on Connor’s lap, her tail wagging in his face.
She saw the Connor she’d always known. He was so gorgeous, clever, so good, yet scared, and she knew how he felt, because she was scared too. But this was her one chance at true happiness, and she wasn’t going to let it go again.
‘You know your cottage isn’t big enough for you and Hilda, let alone me,’ Harriet tried to joke. A million thoughts were whizzing in her brain. ‘I mean, if you meant what you said about us being together.’ A warmth spread through her cheeks.
‘There’s time for us to work out logistics, Harriet Singer, can’t you just enjoy the moment for once?’
‘You know how hard I find that!’ Harriet couldn’t believe the feelings she was experiencing. As if her heart was putting itself back together as they spoke, happiness swelled inside her. It was so much to process but it felt so right that, for once, she wasn’t second-guessing anything, especially not her feelings. Nothing had felt this right, and she had never been so certain.
‘So, what do you say? Could you stay here with me?’ he asked, as Hilda stood up and walked in a circle, barking at nothing as she did so.
‘I don’t know, after all, Con, we haven’t so much as kissed yet,’ she teased.
He grabbed her waist, pulling her into him, and kissed her. As she sank into him, she felt sensations she never knew existed. She pulled him as tightly into her as she could, and when they finally, reluctantly, parted, she knew everything.
‘Wow, that’s only taken me over half my life to do.’
‘It was worth the wait. And to answer your question, yes I can stay with you and Hilda, and yes, we can figure out logistics later and I can see myself working with the animals, and maybe one day I’ll do something else too, but now I just want to be with you.’
‘And what about New York?’ he asked, eyebrow raised.
‘What about it?’
A single white feather landed in her lap.
Epilogue
‘Any questions?’ David asked. The four Singer siblings shook their heads. They were in their father’s study, David behind the desk, the siblings spread out on the sofa, much as they had been when they first saw their father’s video. A year ago. Harriet could hardly believe that it really had been that long. ‘Right, well I’ll be off, but before I go I wanted to say how proud I am of you. This mad will of your father’s, well, even I tried to talk him out of it, but you’ve done it, you even raised the money for the sanctuary. You’ve all done amazingly well and your father would be overjoyed with each of you.’ They all nodded. David hugged Harriet and Pippa, shook Gus and Freddie’s hands, then left.
‘Wow,’ Gus said.
‘I can’t believe it,’
Pippa said.
‘I can. I mean all that bloody fuss with Mark and Loretta and we can’t sell the house anyway,’ Freddie laughed.
‘And all that pressure to raise the money, well that was just him testing us,’ Gus said.
‘You really thought Dad wouldn’t try to control our lives from beyond the grave?’ Harriet grinned.
The will had finally been read, a year to the day since they buried their father. There was no video message this time, no theatrics at all in fact, but the will terms were incredibly clear. The money that wasn’t bequeathed elsewhere – to Gwen and Connor, Fleur, and the animal sanctuary – was split equally between the four of them. And it was a large enough sum to keep them all in comfort, even after death duties and so on.
Their father had never lived a ridiculously extravagant life but he’d lived the one he wanted. And now he was asking them to do the same. They were charged with looking after the house, the gardens and the sanctuary as they had been a year ago and also of being mindful of the village they lived in and helping anyone who needed it.
They were allowed to do what they wanted with the house as long as they didn’t sell it. He made it clear he hoped the family would stay close, but he wasn’t going to tie them literally any more. Luckily, he didn’t need to. Harriet had already committed to the animal sanctuary, Gus to his gardening course, Freddie and Pippa hadn’t yet said what they were going to do but they both said they wanted to stay at Meadowbrook.
The sanctuary was safe. Her father had a contingency fund if for any reason they didn’t raise the money but he hadn’t told anyone that, not even Connor. And of course they had raised the money. It might have been the eleventh hour but they did it. Harriet’s local business idea brought in an extra five thousand pounds in the end, and Hector actually got ten thousand for a date with him – poor Edie was outbid by about nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-five pounds. It was a famous ex glamour model who frankly had been desperate to stay in the limelight and Hector was terrified, but it was worth it, and Harriet promised she would try to persuade Pippa to take him out to lunch to thank him if he survived the date. He still had a crush on Pippa and although Harriet couldn’t exactly see them together, stranger things had happened. Especially at Meadowbrook.
A Year at Meadowbrook Manor Page 28