Fergus blew out a breath. ‘Felicity, what is it? You’re stalling. Just spit it out.’
For a brief second, she closed her eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she started, ‘and it’s more than likely you aren’t going to be happy with what I tell you, especially after your reaction to the Facebook stuff…’
Fergus looked like a cartoon character now; his face was reddening by the second and she was sure he was going to have steam bursting out of his ears any second. ‘But BBC Scotland have aired the video on TV, there’s a camera crew on the other side of the river. The community of Glensheil are fully behind us. They’ve made placards and the number of shares on social media is now phenomenal. Donations are flooding in, which is fantastic,’ she said, trying to keep everything positive.
‘Are you telling me Esme has been on TV?’
‘Not in person … but the video was shown on the news. Esme has become a little celebrity. Everyone wants to reunite her with Aggie as soon as possible,’ she replied, barely taking a breath.
There was no denying Fergus looked panic-stricken. He raked his hands through his hair. ‘What the hell have you done, Felicity?’ His tone was severe. He was shaking his head and looked like he was about to explode. ‘I don’t want Esme in videos or appearing on the news. Do you understand me? She’s my daughter, not yours, and now look what you’ve done.’
As much as she knew Fergus from old, Felicity had never quite seen a reaction like this from him before. She was flummoxed. In her mind, he was blowing all this out of proportion. Yes, she should have asked his permission, but it was only a short video and it was helping the community. In the grand scheme of things, it was madness, but if Heartcross could be reconnected again sooner rather than later than maybe businesses and people’s lives wouldn’t suffer too much. Surely Fergus could see that?
‘Why are you overreacting?’ She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Why does there have to be something going on?’ Fergus wouldn’t meet her gaze, and he looked shifty which puzzled Felicity.
‘Because this doesn’t make sense. It’s just a video…’
‘Don’t interfere Felicity, this is nothing to do with you.’
‘So there is something going on?’ she probed, trying to keep her voice calm and get to the bottom of what this was actually about.
Fergus was clearly agitated.
‘Look how much money we have raised now.’ Felicity dug into her pocket and retrieved her mobile phone. ‘I’m going to organise a meeting with a contractor once I’ve got the go ahead from Annie Boyd. My aim is to get this temporary bridge up and running as soon as possible. You’ll be able to visit your mum…’
But Fergus wasn’t listening, his mind was elsewhere.
‘Fergus … what is going on? Talk to me.’
‘I need to collect Esme and go home,’ he said, turning and grabbing his coat that was slung over the hay bales.
‘Fergus!’
But he didn’t answer.
Drew walked back into the barn, juggling a bag of heavy tools. ‘Here, grab these, mate,’ he said. ‘Who’s that shouting?’
‘Shouting?’ replied Felicity.
‘Yes, listen.’
All three of them stood quietly and listened.
‘Drew! Fergus … where are you?’
‘That doesn’t sound good, I know that tone,’ said Drew dropping the bag and rushing towards the barn door.
‘Isla,’ he bellowed, who spotted him immediately. She ran towards him, baby Angus swathed in her arms, while Finn was crying clutching on to her skirt. The distress clear on her pale face.
‘What is it? Is it the baby?’ asked Drew, immediately taking Angus from her arms.
‘No, he’s asleep.’ Her voice faltered.
‘Then what’s wrong?’ Drew passed Angus to Felicity before draping his arm around his wife’s shoulders. A tear-stricken Isla looked over towards Fergus. ‘It’s Esme … she’s gone.’
They all fell silent as the words registered.
‘What do you mean, she’s gone?’ asked Felicity, rocking Angus gently who was now beginning to stir.
‘One minute she was there and then she wasn’t!’
Fergus was beside himself. ‘What do you mean Isla? How long since you’ve last seen her?’
Isla looked down at Finn who shrugged, ‘Maybe about an hour ago?’ said Isla knowing that wasn’t what Fergus wanted to hear.
‘An hour … and you’ve only just noticed she’s missing?’ Fergus was now shouting and baby Angus woke and began to scream.
‘We were in the kitchen having a snack and drinks before I put a film on the TV for them both whilst I went upstairs to bath Angus.’ Isla looked down at Finn. ‘Tell them what you told me,’ Isla soothed. Finn looked too frightened to speak.
‘You aren’t in any trouble, just tell Fergus what happened next.’
‘Esme told me she didn’t want to watch Star Wars, it was boring—’
‘And?’ interrupted Fergus impatiently.
Drew put a hand on his shoulder. ‘And then what, Finn lad?’
‘She said she was going upstairs to help Mummy bath Angus. So, she did.’
‘Only she didn’t appear,’ said Isla. ‘We were up there for an hour, and after I bathed Angus I’ve been so tired recently, we fell asleep for a wee while.’
‘And Esme didn’t come back to watch the film,’ added Finn.
‘Have you checked the farmhouse from top to bottom?’ urged Drew.
‘Yes, every inch, then I noticed Esme’s shoes were gone.’
Fergus was now puffing out air, both hands raking through her hair. ‘It’s taken you an hour to notice she’s missing?’
‘It’s not Isla’s fault mate. Let’s not panic,’ said Drew, trying to restore some calm.
‘I’ve got you posting videos of her—’ Fergus stared at Felicity ‘—and you not keeping an eye on my daughter.’ Fergus was beside himself.
Felicity thought about saying again that it wasn’t her who had posted the video but it wasn’t the time to argue about that. She took his accusation on the chin.
‘I’m so sorry Fergus, I really am,’ said a distraught Isla.
‘It’s not your fault,’ Drew said again as he pressed a swift kiss to his wife’s head and gave Fergus a look telling him to pull himself together.
‘She can’t have gone far. I’ll ring Mum at the teashop. We know how much she loves the teashop, she may have gone there. Someone will have spotted her. Get Jessica on the phone too.’
‘Did anything happen this morning between you to make her want to run off, Fergus?’ asked Isla tentatively.
‘We had an argument this morning on the way to the farm. A silly argument,’ admitted Fergus, still pacing around.
‘What about?’
He looked directly at Felicity. ‘About you.’
Felicity was shocked at the anger and upset in Fergus’s eyes. Clearly he was still furious with her, even after her recent attempts to smooth over the past.
‘It doesn’t matter now,’ said Drew, trying to diffuse the situation a little. ‘All that matters is we find her. It’s freezing out there but at least we know there’s no getting out of Heartcross. She can’t have gone too far.’
‘Isla, you go back to the house with Finn and Angus. I’ll check the barns and Felicity, you start ringing around. Fergus you get yourself back to your cottage, check there first and let’s say we meet at the teashop in fifteen minutes?’ ordered Drew.
Felicity could see Fergus’s turmoil and she was on the verge of tears. Even though things were fraught between them she just wanted to put her arms around him and make everything all right, but she knew she couldn’t. She knew he would push her away.
Drew hurried from the barn whilst Isla took the children back to the farmhouse.
As Fergus headed out of the barn, Felicity shouted after him, ‘We will find her!’
He stopped and spun round. ‘My life was fine until you turned
back up,’ he yelled, kicking his boot in the ground in fury.
Felicity ignored the scatter of earth and spoke calmly. ‘She can’t have gone far. Ring me as soon as you know something.’
Fergus gave out a sound, like a wounded animal. ‘This is YOUR fault! If you hadn’t posted that video, this would never have happened.’
Felicity’s body felt heavy with emotion. Her heart shattered and she felt broken.
He staggered, and with a choice word righted himself and took off down the drive of Foxglove Farm.
Half blinded by tears, Felicity ran too, pushing her legs to run faster and faster. Somehow, they managed to carry her all the way back along Love Heart Lane without buckling underneath her, the anxiety swirling in the pit of her stomach.
Felicity burst through the teashop door. When she opened her mouth, the words came out fitfully. She was half-sobbing, ‘It’s Esme … she’s gone. She’s run away.’
Chapter 23
Immediately, Rona went into robot mode, asking all the relevant questions before organising Allie and Meredith. Felicity felt sick to her stomach with guilt; if she hadn’t taken that video this would never have happened and if she and Fergus hadn’t argued then Esme wouldn’t have run away. She looked out of the teashop window and dark clouds began to loom overhead. ‘What’s the weather forecast?’ she asked in horror, thinking about Esme being caught in a storm.
‘It’s not good,’ replied Allie, grabbing her coat. ‘But on the plus side, the whole of Heartcross will be out looking for her.’
Emotion swarmed Felicity, as her body began to shake and the tears began to cascade down her cheeks. ‘This is all my fault.’
Immediately, Meredith pulled her in for a hug. ‘There’s probably nothing to worry about. Jessica nipped back to the cottage over half an hour ago. We’ll probably discover they are sitting there enjoying a hot chocolate without a care in the world.’
Felicity shook her head. ‘No, because Jessica would know she shouldn’t be on her own and would have phoned Fergus as soon as she turned up.’
‘She might already have rung … let’s not panic. Did you say everyone was meeting back here?’
Felicity nodded. ‘I think so, but I can’t remember now,’ she answered, taking a worried glance out of the shop window.
‘We know she can’t go far. Do we know why she’d decided to run away … what’s happened?’ asked Meredith.
‘I’m what’s happened … Fergus hates me,’ sobbed Felicity, feeling absolutely distraught.
‘He doesn’t hate you,’ reassured Allie. ‘He’s always been overprotective, it’s just his way. Don’t worry, we’ll find her.’
‘Here they come now, but she’s not with Jessica.’ Meredith spotted Drew, Fergus and Jessica running towards the shop. Fergus was tapping on his mobile phone as the door swung open.
‘Anything?’ asked Felicity hopefully.
‘Nothing,’ replied Drew. ‘Rory’s rounding up the troops and they should be here in a minute. Hamish and Heather are currently checking their end of the village and Julia has been out and about all morning but hasn’t seen her.
Fergus cast his eyes upwards. ‘We need to find her,’ his urgent voice rang out.
‘Here’s Rory now,’ nodded Meredith. He was marching up the lane with Fraser by his side and an army of villagers right behind them.
Allie pulled open the door and Rory pecked her on the cheek before turning towards Fergus. ‘How long has she been gone mate?’
‘Nearly a couple of hours now.’
Rory cleared his throat and took control. ‘We need to split up into groups, that way we’ll cover ground more quickly.’
Everyone agreed and Rory and Drew organised everyone into groups with specific areas to cover.
Just before they left, Fergus turned towards Felicity. ‘If anything has happened to her…’ His voice was shaky and his eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
The intensity of his gaze made her shiver and tears pricked Felicity’s eyes. A huge dollop of fear descended over her. Nothing was going to calm her beating heart until Esme was found.
‘As soon as you find her, ring me or Fergus,’ instructed Drew, wearing an anxious expression as he raked his hand through his hair.
The villagers muttered their understanding.
Everyone spilled out of the teashop onto Love Heart Lane and went their separate ways.
Felicity had been instructed to walk the path down to the river and check along the river bank. In a daze she rushed down the rocky path towards the water’s edge. It was all her stupid fault. Why hadn’t she thought about her actions more? But she genuinely couldn’t see why Fergus had been so opposed to it.
What if she’d fallen in the cold water? Once Felicity had reached the riverbank she stared across the now tranquil river, a far cry from the raging waters of the storm. She could still see the film crew in the distance on the opposite side of the river, keeping the world updated on the collapsed bridge. She peered up at the sky, praying Esme would be found safe. There was no way across the river, but Felicity pounded the riverbank scanning every inch of the area looking for Esme.
‘Come on, where are you?’ muttered Felicity under her breath. The fear was now stabbing in the pit of her stomach as she checked her mobile phone, but there was nothing from anyone.
Her knees trembled as she turned back and walked the path back to Heartcross. She spotted Rory and Drew up ahead and shouted towards them. ‘Anything?’
‘Nothing,’ Rory shouted back whilst Drew hurriedly shook his head.
Felicity couldn’t see Fergus but now the villagers were out in force. She pushed forward towards the teashop. Her hands were numb with the cold and her cheeks were stinging so goodness knew how Esme would feel if she’d been out in the cold for nearly two hours now.
Felicity choked up thinking about it as she headed back into the teashop. Meredith had dropped off some polystyrene cups that were left over from the hog roast during the summer and Rona was currently handing out cups of tea to the searchers to keep them going.
‘There’s no sign of her by the river,’ said Felicity. ‘Where can she be?’
Allie and Jessica thundered through the door. ‘Anything?’ asked Jessica.
Reluctantly Rona shook her head and handed them both a warm drink.
‘Has anyone thought to ring the police?’ asked Allie, sipping her drink.
‘Constable Lees has radioed the station, which of course is over in Glensheil. They’ve asked to be kept informed. If there’s nothing in the next hour they’ll launch a boat across the river to help with the search but they are confident she’ll turn up.’
‘I’ll get back out there,’ said Felicity, giving her mum a quick hug before walking back outside into the cold. She hovered on Love Heart Lane. At first she thought she’d head towards the heart of the village, but she saw people were already checking cars and outhouses.
Felicity racked her brains – which way to go now?
She’d covered the riverbank and the village was being scaled with no stone left unturned.
Felicity glanced over to the stile, the one that took the ramblers over the top of the mountain. Maybe Esme had decided to climb the pass to try and reach Aggie that way?
Without thinking, Felicity hurled herself over the stile and after landing on the other side with a thud she began to stumble along the rocky terrain. ‘Esme!’ she shouted out, cupping her hands around her mouth. ‘ESME!’ But there was no answer.
Felicity searched every inch of the area but there was no trace of the little girl. She didn’t like the thought of Esme all alone, clambering over the rocky ground. Standing still, Felicity checked her phone and exhaled. Quickly she texted Allie, who replied instantly; still, there was nothing.
She was just about to turn around when she remembered the little hut where she’d sat with Fergus only a couple of days ago. Maybe she would just walk as far as there, then turn back. She continued to shout out Esme’s name into the wilde
rness.
Felicity could see the building in front of her and noticed the door was slightly ajar, but that didn’t mean anything. The wind could have blown it open.
‘Anyone there?’ called out Felicity. She thought she heard movement inside. The door creaked as she pushed it open but there was no one inside. The litter and the old battered sofa remained untouched. Dismayed, Felicity was just about to pull the door shut when she thought she heard a sniffle. She stopped dead in her tracks to listen and heard the sound again. She pushed the door open a touch further and stepped inside fully, peering behind the back of the door. A pair of teary alarmed eyes locked with Felicity’s, who exhaled and held a hand to her chest, her heart pounding. There was Esme, looking frightened and cold and Felicity’s heart soared with love for the little girl. Thank God she was safe. The feeling of relief was instant and immediately she scooped Esme up into her arms and hugged her tight.
‘Jeez, you frightened the life out of me.’ Felicity forced herself to breathe normally. ‘How long have you been here? You’re freezing.’ Felicity took off her coat and draped it around Esme’s shoulders to give her some extra warmth.
Esme shrugged and carried on sniffling.
‘Why have you run away?’ asked Felicity softly, leading Esme by her hand to the battered old sofa and gently sitting her on her knee. ‘Everyone is so worried about you.’ She squeezed Esme once more. ‘I need to let your dad know you’re safe,’ Felicity punched a text to Fergus’s mobile to let him know where they were.
Esme clung on to Felicity. ‘I’m sorry,’ she sobbed, her voice wobbly.
‘Do you want to tell me what made you run away?’ asked Felicity tentatively.
Esme looked like she was about to say something but changed her mind.
‘There must be a good reason?’
Esme shrugged. ‘Daddy’s angry. He’s been different.’
‘Did you argue with him?’
Esme nodded. ‘After he shouted at you, he told me I had to stay away from you, but I like you and I said no. Why does Daddy not like you?’
Felicity smiled at Esme. ‘I think your daddy does like me, but he’s just a bit angry with me too. He thinks I posted that video without asking his permission and that was wrong of me.’
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