by Jo Bartlett
‘Can Luke come with me?’ Tamara’s eyes suddenly widened again, but her face visibly relaxed as Anna nodded.
‘Absolutely and I can follow on in the car too, if you’d like. In case one or both of you needs to come back later, because they’ll probably want to keep Belle in for a night or two.’ Anna would have to text Brae to let him know what was going on. It was already far too late to make it to the hotel, but none of that seemed important any more.
‘I can follow them to the hospital. You’ve got loads to be getting on with.’ Toni gave her a pointed look.
‘It’s fine. I can do everything I need to do via an email. I’d rather be there to make sure Tamara, Luke and Belle get all the support they need.’ Anna didn’t often lay down the law as the unit’s most senior midwife, but occasionally it came in handy. ‘Anyway, you’re on duty tonight, aren’t you? So I need you back up at the unit, in case we get any more call-outs for home deliveries.’
‘One of the other midwives could cover that.’ Toni sighed, seeming to realise it was pointless to argue. ‘Okay, I can stay and sort everything out once the ambulance comes, so you can come back to a nice, tidy house.’
‘That would be brilliant, if you’re sure?’ Relief flooded Luke’s face and Anna could have kissed Toni. She knew enough about Tamara’s mental health to realise that coming back to the house and seeing any reminders of the trauma of Belle’s delivery, could present a trigger.
‘It’s no problem. If you’ve got a spare key you can leave me, Luke, I’ll just post it back through the door when I go.’
‘I’ll go and sort one out now and grab the hospital bag I’d packed for Tamara.’ Luke caught Anna’s eye for a split second. She hadn’t missed the fact that he’d been the one to pack the bag. Tamara had never had any intention of going into hospital to have the baby. Sometimes, though, even with the sort of control issues Tamara had, life had a way of taking things out of your hands.
16
Gwen was talking so quickly Anna wasn’t sure if she’d heard her right, which wasn’t helped by the fact that Gwen was also jumping up and down on the spot.
‘Did she just say what I thought she did?’ Anna looked over at Ella, who was furrowing her brow as Gwen let out another whoop.
‘If it’s that we’ve won the lottery, then yes.’ Ella grabbed hold of the older woman’s arm, in a vain attempt to stop her leaping up and down again. ‘Keep still for a minute, Gwen, and say that again but about ten times more slowly.’
‘We’ve got five numbers on the EuroMillions and I’ll finally be able to send Barry’s bags packing!’
‘Does that mean we’ve won? How much?’ Ella was still trying to hold on to Gwen as she asked the question, but Anna couldn’t work what all the excitement was about. Her ex-boyfriend had insisted that they stop doing the lottery when they’d matched five numbers on the UK version and got a payout of less than fifty pounds. Not even enough to cover a decent meal out, according to Greg. Admittedly the EuroMillions had a much bigger prize pot, but five numbers was still a long way off the jackpot.
Despite what had happened with Greg, when Gwen had set up a syndicate, Anna had been happy to join in. They each put in four pounds a week; half went towards the tickets and the rest went into Ella’s lifeboat station fund. Most of the midwives were members of the syndicate, along with some of their partners, including Brae and Dan. Gwen’s husband, Barry, had refused, although he still gave two pounds towards the lifeboat station fund each week. He’d said he was more likely to win Britain’s Got Talent than the EuroMillions and he wasn’t entering either of them. Although, according to Gwen, if they ever wanted someone with the talent to turn toast into the consistency of roof tiles, or burn water, then Barry was their man. If she was talking about packing Barry’s bags, then it looked like he was paying the ultimate price for refusing to be part of it all. Whatever they’d won, Anna was already wishing they hadn’t if it meant the end of Gwen and Barry. They’d always seemed so perfect together and the idea that it might just have been a facade was really horrible.
‘We’ve won £19,873 – and twenty pence! Between the seventeen of us in the syndicate that’s still over a thousand pounds each!’ Gwen sounded every bit as happy as if there were three more zeros after that number and Anna felt a surge of relief. If they’d all become millionaires, everything would have changed. Gwen might have been tempted to retire and most of the other midwives would probably have left the unit and maybe even moved away. It might be strange to value what you already had more than a substantial lottery win, but the thought made Anna smile. All this was just a bit of fun, an unexpected windfall they could enjoy planning how to spend. But it wouldn’t change anything and Anna was glad. Although she still had no idea what Gwen had in store for Barry.
‘That’s brilliant, but what did you mean about packing Barry’s bags?’ Anna looked at Gwen, who was still jigging about on the spot.
‘Not packing his bags, sending his bags packing!’ Gwen laughed. ‘He’s got them under his eyes and they make him look like Droopy, the cartoon dog. He could carry the shopping home from Lidl in them and he looks miserable even when he’s at his happiest, if you know what I mean. Barry always said if he came into any money he’d get them done. I’ve been saving up for it as a surprise. I didn’t quite think I’d make it in time for our fortieth anniversary, but this little bit extra will top it up to what we need. Although it’s going to cost him in other ways…’
‘How?’ Anna braced herself for the answer. Anything was possible with Gwen.
‘He said we had no chance of the syndicate winning the lottery, but if we ever did, he’d do three laps of the harbour wearing my underwear!’ Gwen did another little jig. ‘Now if we can just drum up some sponsorship for him to do it for the lifeboat station fund, then everyone really is a winner!’
As Anna had predicted, the members of the syndicate had no end of fun deciding how to spend their unexpected windfalls. Plans ranged from weekend trips to Disneyland Paris, new sofas and a colossal eighty-five-inch TV. Ella, Dan, Anna and Brae had all decided to donate half of their winnings to the lifeboat station fund, which left them just shy of six hundred pounds each.
Anna and Brae had considered just adding it to the wedding pot, but in the end they’d agreed it would be nice to buy something with it, something they could remember their little lottery windfall by, even when the money was long gone. When Brae had suggested that they both do their own thing with their individual wins, Anna had been taken by surprise at first. It was so unlike him. But Brae never did anything for himself, so if he wanted to buy some new fishing gear, or put it towards saving to upgrade the boat he’d shared with Dan, that was fine with her. God knows she never wanted him to take any risks out at sea after the last time, although he’d sworn any boat trips in the future would be about enjoying leisurely time in the sunshine, rather than going out to try and catch fish in the depths of winter.
As for what Anna would spend her winnings on, she’d had the germ of an idea for a while now and it seemed like fate had the same idea, stepping in to convince her it was the right thing to do. Okay, so maybe the timing wasn’t perfect, with the wedding and honeymoon coming up, but as soon as she’d made enquiries about the advert and been sent some pictures, she’d known she just had to find a way to make it work.
On the day she’d handed over her winnings in exchange for her purchase, she could hardly wait for Brae to get home. He’d walked to work, which meant she wasn’t listening out for the sound of his car. So, when what sounded like a transit van pulled up outside the house, she’d assumed it was a delivery, until someone started beeping the horn. If it turned out to be a delivery driver who was too damn lazy to get out of his van to drop off the parcel, he’d be getting a few choice words.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ Anna spotted Brae at the wheel of the ambulance parked outside their house, with the driver’s window wound right down, as soon as she stepped out of the door.
‘Br
inging Amber home.’ He patted the steering wheel and then swung open the door. ‘Come and take a look at her. She used to be an ambulance.’
‘I can see that, the question is what are you doing driving it?’ Anna just hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was. Brae had talked a few times about the possibility of getting a van to do mobile deliveries of fish and chips to some of the more rural villages inland from Port Agnes. She had to admire his entrepreneurial spirit, but anything that meant he was out of the house for even longer would cut down the time they had together between her shifts, and she didn’t want to trade that for any amount of extra income.
‘I saw an advert from this guy Chris, who buys decommissioned ambulances and does them up to sell to businesses. You know Jethro, the mobile mechanic? He’s got one.’
‘The Carbulance?’ Anna didn’t like the way this was going as Brae nodded. He’d have to be out most evenings if the business was going mobile.
‘That’s the one. Anyway, he bought too many of the old ambulances to have time to do up, so he put an ad out to sell on some of the older models that had been sitting in his yard for while, and Amber was one of them. He used to be a paramedic himself apparently, so he couldn’t bear to see any of them going to waste.’
‘Okay, but why did you buy one? And why do you keep calling her Amber?’ Anna had never worried about Brae disappearing to spend his nights with another woman, but now it looked like it might well be on the cards.
‘Because she’ll be our version of Vanna, of course! She’s going to need a lot of work and it’s going to take a while before we can take her out on the road, but I reckon she could be perfect eventually.’
‘Oh Brae.’ Anna burst into tears and he was out of the old ambulance in seconds, wrapping his arms around her.
‘What’s wrong, sweetheart? I’m sorry, I should have talked to you first. I know she’s not quite the same. I did think about looking for an old ice cream van, but I thought the similarities might be too much.’ He pulled her closer to him. ‘But if I’ve got it all wrong and you don’t want her, I can ask Chris to take her back or sell her to someone else.’
‘No!’ The strength of Anna’s response took them both by surprise. This was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her and she needed him to know it. ‘She’s perfect, I love her so much and I love you even more. But I thought we were waiting, with the wedding and everything. You can’t spend this much just because it’s something I wanted.’
‘Amber’s for us. She’s the family camper and, anyway, I got a really good deal. She’s an old girl with a few miles on the clock and Chris only wanted twelve hundred for her, but when he found out you were a midwife, he knocked it down to an even thousand. So with the money from the lottery win, it was nothing to top up the rest.’
‘She’s the best present ever.’ Anna was shaking as Brae relaxed his arms and she looked at the old ambulance again. They were going to have so many adventures in Amber and, even if it was a couple of years before she was ready for the road, the first thing Anna was going to do was order a road map – the sort that had been made almost obsolete by satnavs – so they could start planning their first trip. There was one other thing she had to tell Brae before that, though, because it wasn’t just going to be the two of them heading out in Amber.
‘I’ve bought something with my winnings too. It’s another family purchase, but mostly it’s yours, because I really wanted you to have it.’
‘Now you’ve really got me intrigued.’ Brae was grinning and she just hoped she’d read the situation right. If he loved her surprise half as much as she loved his, she’d be so happy.
‘Why don’t you lock Amber up and then come in? I’ll be waiting in the kitchen and you’ll find out what it’s all about.’
Dashing inside, while Brae shut the door of the old ambulance and made sure it was safely locked, Anna picked up the present she’d bought him, holding it in her arms as he opened the kitchen door.
‘Oh my God, you didn’t, did you? Is it really ours?’ Brae held out his arms to take the dog, which was already desperately squirming to get to its new master. ‘What’s he called? Is he a he?’
‘Yes he is and his name’s for you to decide.’ The pure white boxer dog puppy was doing its best to try and lick Brae’s face, making him duck and weave like another sort of boxer altogether. ‘He’s had a bit of a tough time; the breeders didn’t want to keep him because he’s completely white, so he’s no good as a stud dog. Then they knocked down the sale price because his mum stood on him and managed to injure his left ear so much that he lost part of it. Someone bought him, but they couldn’t cope with him because they didn’t realise how much work a dog could be, so he had to be rehomed again and that’s where we come in. There was another man interested, but he lives on the fifth floor of a block of flats, apparently, and he’s out at work all day, too far away to pop home and take him for a walk, like we can. It just doesn’t seem the right life for a puppy, even the breeder thought so, which was why she gave me first refusal. At least you’ll be able to nip back from work during the day, even if it’s just to let him have a run around the garden for ten minutes. I know it’s not ideal timing, with the wedding and everything, but as soon as I saw his picture I couldn’t say no.’
The minute Anna had seen the advert something had clicked. He was perfect for them; he needed to be a part of a family and they wanted to make their family bigger, one way or another. Everything she’d read about adopting a child had suggested that having a pet that the child could bond with first, was a great way of helping them to settle in. It also gave the child someone to share their problems with, someone who’d just listen, without judging them or even chipping in with their point of view, exactly as Jasper had done for Brae. She’d already booked the puppy a place at the doggy day care centre, which one of her former patients ran less than a two-minute walk from the fish and chip shop, so that he wouldn’t have to be on his own when they were out at work. She just hoped Brae thought it was a good idea too.
‘I’m thinking of Jones, as a name for him.’ The smile on Brae’s face wiped away any last little scrap of doubt she might have had. ‘That way we’ll have your old family name and our new one together, even after you’ve become a Penrose. What do you think? Jones Penrose, it’s got quite a ring to it.’
‘It’s brilliant.’ Anna slid an arm around Brae’s waist, planting a kiss on top of Jones’ head. All that worry about whether she’d done the right thing and in the end it had been so easy. And now there were three.
17
The Golowan festival in Port Agnes was one of the things that got Ella into the mood for summer when she was growing up. It wasn’t quite as big a part of life in Port Agnes as the Silver of the Sea celebrations, later in the summer, but Ella wasn’t going to miss out on it now that she was back living in her hometown. The Golowan festival had always fallen in the third week of June and had meant the long school summer holidays were just around the corner. It was an ancient festival to mark midsummer and there was a parade of lanterns, culminating in the lighting of bonfires on the cliffs above Port Agnes, with a fireworks display that illuminated the night sky. Nearly all the shopkeepers got involved and, ever since she could remember, her father had been on the organising committee. Each local business owner would choose a lantern bearer to represent their business and there was a competition to see who could come up with the best costume. Over the years, there had been everything from Spider-Man, to Neptune, God of the sea. One year, Jago had forced Ella to dress as a Cornish pasty, complete with fairy wings, to give her costume a slightly more Midsummer Night feel. Thankfully, this year he’d left it up to her.
As well as the contest for best costume, they were also requesting voluntary donations towards saving the lifeboat station. Ella was asking the lantern bearers to go all out with their outfits and make them as memorable as possible. The video of Brae pirouetting into a heap on the ice rink had got a few thousand views, and about 1,500 signature
s to go with it. Now they needed to continue building on that success, along with the movie scenes that he and Dan were still working their way through. One way to do that would be by making the lantern parade the biggest and best yet. It always drew in the crowds, but they needed it to go wide on social media too this time round – and the best way to do that was for the lantern bearers to look as camera-worthy as possible. Suddenly Jago’s Cornish pasty fairy seemed like a work of genius.
‘I can’t believe you’ve actually got us doing this.’ Toni fiddled with the false nose she was wearing and smoothed out the long ginger beard that hung down almost as far as her waist. The new look she’d adopted for the joint hen and stag do had disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived, and the hair she had hidden under her wig was back to a single shade of brown.
‘We said we were going to do a Disney theme to give us a wide appeal.’ Ella grinned. ‘And correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was you who suggested Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the first place?’
‘I was stupid enough to think I might get to play Snow White, or at least the Wicked Queen. I mean, Grumpy. That’s just typecasting!’
‘And I suppose making me dress as Dopey is too?’ Jess laughed. It was nice to see her happy; ever since Jess had told them about Dom putting pressure on her to meet up, she’d been really quiet and that wasn’t like her.
‘If we’re typecasting, then I take it you’re all suggesting I’m lazy?’ Anna pulled on the droopy hat that completed Sleepy’s costume, and got into character by giving a big yawn. ‘Although I think we chose the person with the best legs for Snow White.’
‘I want this noted on my performance review and I want to go up a least one increment just for wearing these tights.’ Bobby pulled out the sides of the blue dress he was wearing and did a curtsey. Ella, who was wearing the Wicked Queen’s costume, gave her best villainous cackle.