Christmas at Mistletoe Cottage

by Lucy Daniels

  ‘We’re so proud of you,’ Grandad put in. ‘Getting Hope Meadows up and running without a sniff of trouble. We always knew you could do anything you wanted!’

  For a moment, Mandy toyed with the idea of telling them about Flame escaping and all the trouble with Geoff Hemmings. It was remarkable that Gran hadn’t been told about this juicy piece of gossip when she was in the post office. It would be better not to tell them, she decided. She hoped the matter had been sorted out now that she had spoken to PC Armstrong. It was old news already.

  ‘So how are things going with that nice young man from Running Wild?’ Gran was sitting back in her chair still, but Mandy could see that this was a topic that was close to her heart. Both her grandparents had been wonderfully supportive when she had parted from Simon, the boyfriend in Leeds, with whom she had been planning a very different life before her return to Welford. Though they hadn’t actively encouraged her to rush into a relationship with Jimmy, she knew that they had heard good things about him.

  ‘I’m seeing him again on Wednesday.’ Mandy felt a warm glow inside when she saw the approval on the two old faces that were gazing at her. Grandad, in particular, had been uneasy about Simon. She was pleased that he seemed to like Jimmy.

  ‘How lovely,’ Gran smiled as she held out her hand for Mandy’s empty bowl.

  ‘I saw him yesterday,’ Grandad put in. ‘He was coming out of Harper’s. He’d been buying food for those two gorgeous dogs of his.’

  Harper’s? The feeling of warmth drained from Mandy as she remembered the unpaid invoice.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Grandad was looking at her closely. He knew her too well. Gran had taken the dirty plates to the kitchen, but there was no way she could avoid telling her grandfather.

  ‘There was a mistake in the Harper’s bill,’ she admitted. ‘They hadn’t charged me for October. There’s not enough in the account to pay the whole thing. I meant to call Sally Harper today but I forgot all about it.’ Even as she spoke, she felt guilt rising. How could she have forgotten something so important?

  But her grandad was smiling his reassurance. ‘It’s hardly surprising you forgot,’ he told her. ‘It’s easily done when you’re so busy, but it’s easily rectified as well. It was their mistake and Sally is lovely. I’m sure she’ll do everything she can to help.’

  Mandy sighed. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘When I opened Hope Meadows, I knew that it wouldn’t always be plain sailing. Things have been ticking over up until now, but it’s just thrown everything out a bit.’

  Grandad reached out a hand and gave hers a squeeze. ‘Try not to worry,’ he said. ‘Get in touch with Sally tomorrow and if there is any problem, give me a ring. You know we love helping you out.’

  For a moment, Mandy felt tears prickling the backs of her eyes. Her grandparents had always been so supportive, but she wanted so badly to prove herself capable of managing. ‘Thanks,’ she said.

  The door swung open and Gran walked in with a delicious looking pink and white Battenburg cake. ‘I know it isn’t quite Christmas yet,’ she told Mandy, with a roguish grin ‘but I thought a practice run was quite in order.’

  Mandy found her smile again. Gran loved Christmas almost as much as she did and her baking had always been one of the highlights of the season. Grandad was right. Worrying wouldn’t help. She would call Sally in the morning and deal with whatever came her way.

  She watched as Dorothy Hope carved a generous slice of the cake and took the plate her grandmother held out to her, ‘Thank you. It looks wonderful,’ she said.

  It had started to rain by the time Mandy set out to walk back to Animal Ark. She strode up the lane, the droplets chilly on her face. Her leg muscles were aching, not just from today’s work but from a hard session yesterday evening, replacing a prolapsed uterus in a cow. It had taken ages to manipulate the swollen organ back into place. Her back was sore too. It hadn’t felt so bad earlier, but Mandy found herself wishing she could go straight into the cottage and fall into bed. Instead she had to go and check her rescue animals. Thankfully, everything was quiet. She stood for a moment with the lights off, gazing out of the rain-smeared window into the darkness, then made her way back over to the cottage and up the stairs.

  She met Emily on the landing. Her mum was in her dressing gown, obviously also on her way to bed. ‘Good dinner?’ her mum asked.

  ‘It was lovely,’ Mandy replied. The earlier phone conversation with Jimmy popped into her head. ‘Mum, could you and Dad spare me for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon, please?’

  ‘I don’t see why not,’ Emily replied. ‘I think you’ve earned a few hours off.’ Mandy was glad when Emily didn’t ask for more details. Both she and Adam had been very good since Mandy had moved back in. They rarely interfered or pried into her private life.

  Emily gave her a tired smile and Mandy was reminded of her concern for her mother’s health. The thought leaped into her mind that perhaps she should cancel Jimmy’s invitation and spend the afternoon with her mum instead. Emily had turned away, heading for her bedroom and for a moment Mandy toyed with the idea of calling her back, but it was too late tonight to call Jimmy anyway. She stood on the landing, gazing at the now closed bedroom door, then opened the door to her own room and went in.

  Chapter Six

  The week went so fast, Mandy was startled to realise it was already Wednesday, and time to meet Jimmy at the rope course. After a hasty lunch, Mandy headed upstairs to her bedroom and inspected herself in the mirror. She needed a haircut, she thought. She could wear her blonde hair tied back, but the layers that framed her face were far too long and were beginning to resemble spaniel’s ears.

  Pulling the door open, Mandy peered into her wardrobe in the hope of inspiration. Although the November sun was bright, there had been frost on the grass that morning and it was still chilly. She decided on jeans that didn’t normally get worn around the animals, and a soft woollen jumper with a matching red hat. To complete the outfit, she pulled on a short padded jacket. Whatever she wore, it had to be practical. They were climbing ropes, not going out on the town. But she wanted to make some kind of effort so she pulled out the mascara she had bought in the summer. The somewhat clumpy results were a marginal improvement, she decided.

  Sky was sitting nearby, watching with her head on one side. Sky’s lashes were long enough for anyone. ‘You’re just lucky in the eyelash department,’ Mandy told the collie. Sky tilted her head even further. Mandy smiled. ‘Now you’re rubbing it in,’ she teased.

  Mandy took the car up to Welford Hall and pulled into the parking area beside the gate. Stopping the engine, she jumped down and walked round to open the door for Sky. A sharp, cold wind whisked across Mandy’s face, lifting her hair and sending a shiver down her spine. There was the slightest hint of wood smoke in the air.

  Jimmy was on the far side of the closest paddock. He was wearing his waxed jacket and faded jeans over sturdy hiking boots, with a knitted hat pulled down over his ears. He was bent over a pile of rope, pulling it into a tidy coil.

  Mandy let herself into the paddock and set off across the grass, feeling butterflies in her stomach. Apart from the short meeting at the opening ceremony, and their brief chat on the phone, it had been more than a month since she had seen him, she realised. He had been in touch twice since and both times there had been an animal that needed her attention. Not that he would be angry with her. He wasn’t like that. The first time she had been unavoidably delayed helping Emily with a gastric torsion operation. The second, she had rushed through to York to help James with a kitten he had found. She hadn’t felt able to let her old friend down. Hope Meadows was important to James too; Paul’s legacy was inextricably linked to the centre.

  But Jimmy had sounded very disappointed when she’d told him. Hopefully he wouldn’t bring it up but it was complicated. Sometimes she felt she was investing so much time in her project that there was no space in her head for anything else.

  Sky had no such reservatio
ns. As soon as the gate swung open, she floated off across the field, a black and white streak racing to meet Zoe and Simba, Jimmy’s husky and German Shepherd. The three dogs greeted one another like old friends, tails high in the air, sniffing and circling. Mandy was glad of the distraction.

  When she looked up from the dogs, Jimmy was coming towards her, beaming. For a moment, Mandy wondered if he would try to kiss her, but to her relief he stopped short and nodded. ‘Hello,’ he said, and leaned down to stroke Sky, who had run over to greet him.

  ‘Hi.’ Mandy’s attention was instantly claimed by Simba and Zoe, who bounced around her demanding a fuss. Mandy bent over them, burying her fingers in their thick fur. As the two dogs licked her face, she could feel some of the tension dissipating.

  Jimmy waited until Zoe and Simba had launched themselves after Sky, leaving Mandy alone, before speaking. ‘Are you feeling fit?’ he asked with a grin.

  Mandy flexed her arms. ‘Just about!’ She took the lightweight leather gloves that Jimmy was holding out to her.

  ‘These will prevent any rope burn,’ he explained, pulling on his own pair. ‘But this isn’t going to be a serious test of military fitness, I promise!’

  Side by side, they walked towards the wooden steps that led up to the platform at the start of the course. There was wind in the upper branches of the trees, and Mandy had to duck a waving branch as she climbed. A stray leaf whirled through the air, landing on the ground below. Mandy felt a moment of dizziness.

  ‘Try not to look down!’ Jimmy called from the platform. ‘If you feel a bit dizzy, just stop and take a few deep breaths.’

  Mandy joined him on the wooden ledge. ‘I’m fine,’ she said, trying not to puff. She gazed around at the treetops. ‘What a stunning view!’

  Jimmy nodded. ‘It gets even better.’ He moved to the edge of the platform where a short, sturdy net stretched upwards, higher into the trees.

  Jimmy stepped off first, clambering expertly using the horizontal ropes as footholds and pulling himself up with the vertical pieces. Mandy watched him for a couple of moments, then followed. Below, the dogs circled the platform, tipping their heads back to look up. Mandy was tempted to call out but didn’t want Sky to try climbing the steps to reach her.

  The netting felt rough under her fingers, and she was glad of the leather gloves. Thank goodness her arms were strong from all the cattle work she had been doing. At the top, Jimmy was sitting astride a thick wooden pole. He nodded approvingly as Mandy hauled herself up to stand beside him, wobbling slightly as the net swayed.

  ‘Well done,’ he told her, the corners of his green eyes creasing as he smiled.

  Mandy grinned back. Jimmy already seemed less like a stranger, and although the ropes were taking Mandy a long way out of her comfort zone, she definitely felt better knowing he was there.

  ‘Now to get over,’ he said. ‘Come a bit higher so you can get your arm right over the top. Then grab one of the ropes on the far side with your right hand.’ He swung himself down so that he was standing next to Mandy and demonstrated. ‘Then,’ he continued, ‘grip one of the ropes on this side with your left hand. That way, you keep yourself stable as you climb over.’ He braced himself on either side of the net, then swung his legs effortlessly over the pole and ended up facing Mandy from the other side.

  Mandy followed, slightly less elegantly and with a bit of a scrabble to find the net with her left foot, but without losing her handholds.

  ‘That’s great,’ Jimmy said.

  From there, it was an easy scramble down the shorter side of the net to another platform. In front of them was a rope bridge.

  ‘You first.’ Jimmy nodded at Mandy to go ahead. His face was flushed from the exercise, and curls of brown hair were escaping from under his hat. Mandy had a glimpse of the small boy he must have once been, climbing trees around his home in the Lake District. It seemed odd that they had grown up more or less at the same time, either side of the Pennines, immersed in the countryside that would become their way of life.

  Mandy took hold of the parallel ropes above the knotted bridge and clung on to them as she worked her way across, stepping on the thickest parts of netting and using her core muscles to stop herself from swaying too much. She was halfway across when she felt Jimmy set off behind her. Despite her increasing confidence, she didn’t dare turn round and look. When she reached the far side, she felt a sense of breathless achievement. ‘This is wonderful,’ she enthused as Jimmy joined her on the wooden planking.

  Jimmy smiled at her, his head on one side. ‘Glad you like it,’ he said.

  Mandy studied the rest of the course which stretched around the edge of ancient woodland. She couldn’t help noticing that Jimmy had kept to his promise and stayed well away from the red kites’ nest, and from the centre of the copse where there was the greatest density of wildlife. There was another cargo net to be tackled first. Beyond it hung a series of rope swings, followed by a narrow ladder.

  Mandy felt a surge of enthusiasm. ‘I can do this!’ she whooped. She began pulling herself up the second net, glancing back down to where Jimmy was waiting. He gave her a few moments’ start and began to climb just as she slipped over the top. He made it look so easy, hand over hand, feet finding the outer edge of the gaps, close to the knots. As quickly as she could, Mandy made her way down the far side. When her feet touched the ground, she looked up as Jimmy was reaching the top.

  Instead of holding the net on both sides and rolling his body over the wooden pole, he leaned over to grab a horizontal rope with each hand, then launched himself head first over the top. For a moment, he hung there, facing outwards. Then with barely a pause, still facing Mandy, he began stepping down the ropes as if they were nothing more challenging than a staircase. Left foot, right foot, he descended, grinning. Mandy watched, marvelling at how nimble he was, and then all at once, Jimmy’s foot snagged and he lurched sideways, catching one of the vertical ropes just in time to stop himself landing headfirst on the bark chippings that covered the woodland floor.

  The look of alarm on his face was comical. Despite her fright, Mandy found herself laughing. She held out her hand and steadied him as he stepped onto the ground between the net and the next obstacle.

  Jimmy shook his head with a rueful grimace. ‘That’s what I get for trying to impress you,’ he said.

  ‘You should know better than to try and impress me near netting,’ she said. ‘You should have known someone would have to be rescued. First a startled deer, now a clumsy human!’ The very first time they met, they had freed a deer that had become tangled in some of Jimmy’s ropes.

  ‘Maybe next time I can rescue you,’ Jimmy murmured. He reached out a hand, brushing her waist, then his arms were round her, the firmness of his body pressed against hers as he leant down and kissed her, gently at first and then more deeply. His arms tightened. For a moment she felt the beat of his heart against hers, and her mind whirled with pleasure. Then a long furry nose was thrust between them and she found herself pulling away, breathing hard, as Sky tried to burrow into the non-existent gap between them. Her hands were shaking slightly. The kiss had been wonderful – but it had deepened so quickly, and the feelings it had churned up had been almost too intense.

  Jimmy grinned, oblivious to the strange feeling that was washing through her. ‘Your dog doesn’t approve,’ he said. His eyes were filled with amusement, but the nervousness Mandy had felt when she first saw him had returned. ‘I’ve thought a lot about you over the summer, Mandy,’ Jimmy admitted. He reached out his hand to take hers, and with an almost involuntary movement, Mandy took a step backwards. To her dismay, there was a lump in her throat.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ Jimmy asked. He looked worried.

  Mandy felt a rush of confusion. She swallowed and gave a tiny shake of her head. ‘Not really,’ she managed. ‘I wasn’t …’ She trailed off, then began again. ‘I’m not sure that I’m ready,’ she said. She stopped, the lump in her throat making it difficult to spe
ak.

  She had to explain, otherwise Jimmy would think she didn’t want him in her life and that wasn’t the case. There were just so many other things going on with the animals, her worries about how she was going to fund Hope Meadows, the complicated bookwork that she was having to learn. Plus there was the way she was still feeling about Paul’s death, and James – and all those big emotions had been mixed up even more by the kiss. ‘I’m just not ready,’ she said again, swallowing hard. ‘It’s too soon.’ Her toes were curling. She wanted to explain how she felt, but as happened so often when thoughts of Paul came into her head, she found herself fighting off tears.

  Jimmy’s eyes searched her face. Mandy wondered what he saw there. She knew she felt hot and flustered. Her cheeks burned. ‘It’s okay,’ he said after a long pause. ‘I wasn’t proposing marriage or anything. I just thought we were getting close. I’m sorry if I misread the situation.’ He glanced at the rope swings with their wooden planks. ‘Do you want to go home?’ he offered.

  Mandy shook her head. He had kept his voice steady, but she could see hurt in his eyes. ‘I don’t want to go home, but can we take things very slowly?’ she said. ‘It’s just, with Paul and everything and I’ve been so busy and …’ She trailed off. The last thing she wanted was to use Paul as an excuse. She turned away as a salty droplet escaped from her eye, and she wiped it from her face with fingers that trembled.

  ‘Of course.’ His face when she turned back to him was filled with compassion. ‘We’ll only go as fast as you like,’ he told her. Another tear escaped and he reached out and wiped it from her cheek with his thumb.

  ‘Can we change the subject please?’ Her voice was thin, but he smiled again and he did as she asked with a look of determination.

  ‘How are you getting on with Lamb’s Wood Cottage?’ he asked as he helped her up onto the next platform, then showed her how to grip the rope and swing across to the first plank.