‘It’s not about being academically clever, is it? Pub quizzes are more about the useless bits of information that you store up over time.’
As Rona and Felicity squeezed up next to them the pub began to fill up. Teams gathered on tables and Meredith handed out pens and paper. Felicity noticed Hamish holding Heather’s hand under the table and smiled. He deserved happiness in his life and she hoped their date went well.
Just at that moment a blast of air gushed through the pub and everyone looked up to see Fergus coming through the door.
Drew waved to him and Fergus smiled back before he noticed Felicity sitting at the table.
‘Good day?’ asked Rory, patting him on the back. ‘Let me get you a drink.’
‘Thanks pal.’
Rory stood up and disappeared towards the bar, while Fergus sat down next to Drew.
‘How’s Aggie?’ asked Rona, while Felicity remained quiet. She felt a little awkward but she hitched a warm smile on her face.
‘She says she’s okay but this chest infection has certainly knocked her off her feet.’
‘Who’s looking after Esme?’ asked Felicity, the words out of her mouth before she could stop them.
Fergus looked at her.
‘She’s having tea with Finn and I’m going to drop her home after the quiz,’ chipped in Drew, not noticing the slight tension between Fergus and Felicity.
‘Rona, Rona,’ a voice beckoned.
They looked round to see Hamish waving Rona in their direction.
‘Come over on our team and leave the youngsters to it.’
‘I might just do that,’ said Rona, ‘You’ll be okay won’t you?’ she turned towards Felicity who resisted the urge not to pull a sulky face.
As Rona left the table, Rory sat back down and passed a pint of lager towards Fergus before Drew bellowed towards the door.
‘Jess … Jessica, over here.’
As Felicity looked over, Fergus was already up on his feet with his arms wide open.
‘Jess, so glad you made it.’
Without warning Felicity felt a twinge of jealousy towards Jessica as she watched Fergus hug her tight and kiss her cheek before leading her to the chair next to him.
‘Drink?’ asked Drew, standing up and Jessica ordered a glass of red wine.
‘Do you know Jessica?’ asked Rory, looking at Felicity who could feel her cheeks turning a crimson colour.
‘No, I don’t think we’ve met before.’
‘Finn’s school teacher,’ said Drew, passing Jessica a glass of wine and sitting back down.
Jessica smiled the most beautiful smile and held out her hand towards Felicity.
‘This is Felicity,’ introduced Rory.
Jessica’s smile seemed to falter for a split second. ‘Pleased to meet you,’ Felicity said politely, as she shook the other woman’s hand.
‘Are you back for a visit? London, isn’t it, where you live now?’
It was obvious to Felicity that some sort of conversation about her had taken place and she began to wonder what had been said about her and why.
‘Yes, London at the moment. I’m back for a couple of weeks but who knows? I’m kind of missing this place.’
There was a look between Fergus and Jessica before Jessica spoke. ‘I bet you don’t see snow like this in London,’ she said, keeping the conversation light.
‘No, not as bad as this.’
‘Any news on when the school is re-opening?’ Drew asked, looking at Jessica.
‘It’s definitely closed for the rest of the week. I bet that’s not what Isla wants to hear.’
Drew grinned. ‘That’s definitely not what Isla wants to hear in her condition.’
Jessica swung around towards Fergus, ‘And you tell our gorgeous Esme of course I will look after her tomorrow. I can’t wait to spend some time with her.’
The word ‘our’ pulsated inside Felicity’s mind.
‘I can even look after Aggie tomorrow too.’
Fergus leant over and kissed Jessica’s cheek, ‘Thank you, you’re the best. That’s a weight off my mind.’
‘In fact, let me look after Finn too, give Isla a rest.’ She smiled towards Drew who promptly accepted on Isla’s behalf.
Felicity felt saddened. She thought she’d made up her mind to come back to Heartcross and as much as Isla had welcomed her back with open arms, watching her old friends talk and laugh amongst themselves she suddenly felt out of the loop. There had been a time when she would have been the centre of attention, the one leading the conversation between her friends, but now she felt like an outsider watching from the sidelines, no one including her in their conversation.
She’d no idea how Fergus had met Jessica but anyone could see they got on like a house on fire. They were more than friendly and Felicity really didn’t like the feeling in the pit of her stomach. It suddenly hit Felicity that life in Heartcross had carried on without her. Fergus had kept the bond with her old friends, and they all had their own place in the community. But even though she was Heartcross born and bred, Felicity knew that her place here had long been lost.
Just at that second, Fraser blew into the microphone, making everyone jump. He ordered quiet and the chatter died down as he explained the rules of the quiz.
Hamish was muttering under his breath and the table next to him shushed him in a good-natured, friendly way as Fraser began to read out the first question.
Everyone was in good spirits except for Felicity who wasn’t concentrating on anything at all. Her gaze was fixed firmly on Fergus and Jessica, and feelings of jealousy were creeping through her body. She suddenly wanted to be anywhere else but here. She attempted to paint a smile on her face, but deep inside she felt sad knowing someone else now had that playful connection with Fergus that she’d once had.
Rory and Drew argued over who was writing the answers down when Jessica took control of the pen.
Felicity wasn’t much help at all. In fact, the way the others interacted with each other only made her feel like even more of an outsider.
‘No! That’s not the answer,’ laughed Rory, playfully bickering with Drew.
‘It’s only a suggestion, I wasn’t born in the 1930s. I’ve no idea.’ He threw his hands up in defeat.
‘Any ideas, Felicity?’ Jessica turned towards her.
Felicity knew she hadn’t even heard the question, never mind know what the answer would be.
‘No, sorry, I’m not much use, am I?’
Jessica scored a line through the number and they all waited for the next question.
Allie suddenly appeared at the table and slipped into the seat next to Felicity.
‘You okay?’ she whispered, realising that Felicity didn’t look like she was enjoying herself.
Felicity took a sip of her drink. ‘I’m actually feeling very tired. I don’t know what’s come over me. I think I may just go and get an early night.’
Allie cocked an eyebrow.
Just at that moment, Fraser declared that the round had come to an end; there was a brief pause and once everyone swapped their papers the chatter began once more.
Rory clapped his hands together. ‘More drinks?’
‘I’ll get these mate, you’re always getting the round in,’ insisted Fergus, standing up and reaching for his wallet. ‘Same again?’
Everyone nodded except Felicity, who was still thinking about leaving.
Fergus turned towards her. ‘Same again, Flick?’
Felicity’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of Fergus using her nickname and was completely taken by surprise for a moment. It reminded her of old times, when they’d been close, the times she missed. ‘Thank you,’ she replied and watched as Fergus disappeared towards the bar.
Allie smiled at her. ‘We both know he’s a decent guy and wouldn’t leave anyone out. He’s bigger than that.’
Felicity was about to answer when Fraser blew on the microphone and every head turned towards him.
‘I ha
ve news,’ he declared gleefully, with a huge beam on his face. ‘We’ve had confirmation that the supply trucks will be crossing the bridge in the morning. The shelves will be restocked!’
The whole pub erupted in cheers and clapped.
‘Thank God that crisis is over,’ said Allie. ‘The food stocks here were basically non-existent.’
The pub was again full of joyful chatter and Felicity glanced over towards the bar. Fergus’s hand was placed in the small of Jessica’s back. Leaning in towards each other they were laughing about something and seemed close. She remembered the way she’d laughed with Fergus, the closeness between them and the plans they’d once made for the future. Felicity felt a pang of regret – if only she’d been able to cope, think clearly at the time and stayed to talk things through with him, maybe it would have been okay? But then she felt anxious and remembered Esme. Things would have never been okay between them because Felicity knew she would have always tortured herself, wondering if she would be enough for Fergus. She’d never want to hold Fergus back because she was unable to have children. And even back then, she’d known he’d make a wonderful father, and, of course, now she knew that to be true. If she’d stayed around at least one thing would have been different for Fergus – he wouldn’t have had Esme.
She suddenly thought back to the day she’d discovered she was pregnant with Fergus’s baby. They had been so young but so much in love and Fergus had been overjoyed. They made plans to get married and had decided once the baby was born that Felicity would move into Aggie’s cottage while they saved for their own place.
Things had been perfect, but then just before their first scan, Felicity had felt a terrible pain and had collapsed. Within an hour she had been under anaesthesia, with the surgery revealing that she had a torsion alongside a giant cyst on her fallopian tube - a rare but serious condition.
She’d lost the baby and had been told her chances of getting pregnant were greatly reduced but that there was still hope. Fergus had looked after her, loved her and they’d clung to each other and the dreams they had made together.
Six months later, Felicity had fallen pregnant again, but this time with another devastating outcome. Her pregnancy was ectopic, and her remaining tube had erupted, resulting in that too being removed. Even after all these years, it still felt like yesterday to Felicity when she remembered the consultant standing by the side of her bed as he’d delivered the terrible news.
At first Felicity had blamed herself. What was wrong with her body? Why couldn’t she have a simple pregnancy? Then the anger came, as she’d lashed out at everyone who tried to help her – especially Fergus who had been by her side through it all. Then, finally, the fear had kicked in and she ran from Heartcross. As much as it hurt to the core, even now after all this time she knew Fergus was still the love of her life. No one had ever come close to what they’d once had. And although, she knew she’d done the right thing at the time, now she was back and faced with him once more, she was more certain than ever that her heart still very much belonged to Fergus Campbell.
Chapter 11
It was 6 a.m. when Felicity prised her tired eyes open and peeped at the clock. She was woken by the whistling wind and the rain hammering against the window. With all that torrential rain the snow would soon disappear, and she smiled from under the comfort of her duvet as she heard the drone of the trucks passing the bottom of Love Heart Lane towards the heart of the village. After the extreme weather conditions, supplies were finally being delivered and normality would once again prevail in Heartcross. Hamish would soon have the shelves re-stocked and normal business resumed.
As she lay there, Felicity thought more and more about her return to London. She didn’t relish the idea one bit and the more she thought about the opportunity to re-open the teashop and work alongside her mum, the more she was filled with excitement. She made the decision there and then that she was going to talk to her mum today about moving back home.
The comfort of Heartcross was drawing her back in, and she wasn’t sure how or why but something was telling her the time was right to come home.
She thought about the teashop and could picture her grandma bustling around the place with a huge smile on her face. Not once had Felicity ever heard her grumble or not enjoy a day’s work in the teashop. She’d put her heart and soul into running her empire and Felicity had butterflies in her stomach thinking about how she would carry on with her grandmother’s legacy. Even though her return to Heartcross had been under sad circumstances maybe the timing had been right. Working in partnership with her mum to run her grandma’s teashop would give her a project to focus on, and maybe give both of them a new zest for life. Felicity was even more determined to run the idea past her mum the second she set eyes on her, and with the snow thawing and supplies being delivered to the village once more, they could even be up and running by the end of the week.
Felicity was thankful to hear the clanging of the radiators which meant the boiler and heating were back to full working order.
Hearing a rap on the door, Felicity sat up in bed as her mum appeared around the door holding a mug of tea.
‘Just what I needed,’ said Felicity, plumping up her pillows and sitting up in bed.
‘The rain and the trucks woke me up.’
‘This rain is horrendous,’ agreed Felicity, ‘but at least the trucks have managed to drive over the bridge and up the hill.’
Rona perched on the end of the bed. ‘Aggie’s been taken to hospital. The ambulance came late last night.’
‘Oh no,’ exhaled Felicity.
‘Pneumonia, I think.’
‘Is there anything we can do?’ asked Felicity, thinking of Fergus and Esme and feeling worried for them both.
‘I’m sure Fergus has everything under control.’
Felicity nodded, but she knew she’d be hot-footing it over to Isla’s today at some point to hear all the news.
‘I’m going to pop over to Hamish’s when this rain eases and pick up some fresh bread.’
Felicity chewed on her bottom lip then opened her mouth to speak.
‘I know that look, what are you thinking about? Is there something you need from the shop?’ asked Rona, standing up.
‘Not right at this minute, but there’s something on my mind.’
Rona eyed her daughter. ‘Go on, it’s better out than in as your grandma used to say,’ she encouraged, waiting for Felicity to speak.
‘What happened to the suppliers that delivered to the teashop?’
Rona blew out a breath, ‘I had to cancel them when your grandma got ill.’
‘And what are your plans for re-opening?’ probed Felicity, gauging her mum’s reaction.
‘It’s quite daunting to think I’d have to re-open without your grandma by my side.’ The tears welled up in Rona’s eyes. ‘I’m not sure…’
‘What about…’ Felicity interrupted then paused while she fixed her gaze on her mum. ‘What about if I come home and we took on the shop together?’
Rona let out a tiny gasp and narrowed her eyes.
‘Of course, that would mean putting up with me every day,’ added Felicity with a cheeky grin.
‘What about London?’
‘This girl has had enough of the bright lights of the city.’
Rona’s face brightened. ‘Really? You actually want to come home and run the shop with me?’
‘Really,’ replied Felicity with a full-on beam.
A flush of warmth flooded through Rona as she flung her arms open and Felicity bounded out of bed straight into them.
‘But what’s brought this on all of a sudden?’ asked Rona.
‘I know I’ve let you and Grandma down … I should have been around more to help and support you both especially near the end.’ Felicity’s voice wobbled. ‘I am sorry, Mum … and in a way I suppose this is my way of trying to make everything right … make it up to you and Grandma.’
Rona cupped her hands around her daughter’s and stu
died her face. ‘You have to do what’s best for you, Flick. What about your job?’
Felicity snuggled back under her duvet and pulled it up to her chin. ‘It’s time for a change,’ she revealed. ‘It’s just not the same job anymore and I’m ready to come home. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now Mum, and since I’ve been back in the village, it’s only grown stronger, especially when I discovered the teashop was shut but then there’s…’
‘There’s what?’
Felicity sighed, ‘At the quiz, I actually felt like I’d lost my place here, does that sound silly?’
‘What do you mean?’ asked Rona.
‘When I was sitting there and everyone was so at ease in each other’s company, laughing and joking – I felt like an outsider.’
‘You’ve been away for a long time, Flick,’ said Rona softly. ‘But you are definitely not an outsider.’
‘I felt like they’d all left me behind.’
Rona could see that Felicity was upset. ‘Once you settle back in you’ll feel a part of your old friendship group again, part of the community. Heartcross will always be your home, you know.’
Felicity nodded and sat thinking for a second. She wanted to fit back into the community and be part of the village once more but knew it would take time.
‘I have a suggestion,’ she said. ‘Working in the teashop is going to be a new start for me and hopefully for you too, Mum. We will be keeping Grandma’s business alive … so how about we become partners?’
Rona’s eyes lit up. ‘That is the best suggestion. Partners!’ she repeated, as the two of them stared at each other with huge beams on their faces. Felicity felt excitement bubbling inside her and Rona felt the same for the first time in a long time.
‘And thank you.’
‘What are you thanking me for?’ asked Felicity.
‘Because after losing your grandma, I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to walk back in there without her by my side. It feels lonely enough without her conversation every day. But now I have you and that means a lot.’
Felicity took both of her mum’s hands and squeezed them tight. ‘We are going to do this as a team.’
Love Heart Lane Page 11