6. Pearl
6
PEARL
A fter Pearl had walked to the garden café, she went around the back of the small building and let herself into the utility area where she kept things like the chicken feed, the birdseed, and garden tools. She located the chicken feed and filled a bucket with cold water, then she went back outside and crossed the garden to the chicken run.
She unlocked the gate to the large walk-in chicken run, then closed it behind her and opened the door to the coop. The rooster emerged first, large with glossy black feathers that seemed almost blue in some lights. His tail feathers were mainly black, but there were a few red and blue ones in there, too. His comb was red and fleshy, and his wattles hung below his beak like two deflated scarlet balloons.
‘Morning, gorgeous boy. How’re you?’ she asked. ‘Looking pretty good, Chris Hensworth!’
The rooster strutted around on his sturdy legs, looking like he’d been in the gym working out, and he exuded confidence and arrogance. He kept a watchful eye on his ladies, and Pearl knew he’d defend them should any predators come near.
‘Now where are your pretty hens?’ she asked, and as if on cue, he crowed and the chickens began trooping out of the coop too. When they spotted Pearl, they started clucking and gathering around her legs, keen to have their breakfast.
All rescue chickens, they were a variety of White Stars, Marans and Lohman Browns.
‘Hello there Princess Lay-a, Buffalo Wings, Chick Pea, Pecky Pudding, Eggs Benedict, Sunny Side Up, Poultry Geist, and Quackelina Jolie.’ The chickens trotted around her excitedly as if they knew their names, which Pearl sometimes believed they did, or perhaps it was just that they liked it when she talked to them.
After she’d filled the feeders and changed their water, she tidied up a bit, then let herself out of the run and locked it behind her. Before walking away, she double-checked the lock, aware from experience that not doing so could lead to the chickens escaping into the café gardens.
This was fine as long as the external gates to the gardens were closed, but it became a problem if the chickens got onto the road. The last thing she wanted was for any of them to get hurt or lost.
She returned to the café with the chicken feed that she stored back in the cupboard and she got out the wild birdseed. The bird feeders were a combination of some that hung from trees, some raised bird tables and some ground feeders for the pigeons. The feeders attracted a variety of birds throughout the year, depending on the seasons. Pearl liked to feed them all. It was, she thought, her way of helping nature out, which made her feel like she was doing something useful.
Once Pearl had fed the chickens and birds, she refilled the birdbaths located around the gardens with fresh water, returned everything to the utility room at the rear of the café, then went inside. After she had washed her hands and swapped her wellies for her sheepskin boots again, she went to the kitchen and put the kettle on. She made a coffee and while the ovens heated up; she perched on a stool at the kitchen island and wrote some plans for the week. At the café, she cherished this time of day for thinking and planning.
T he day passed quickly, and soon it was late afternoon. This time of day saw a different group of customers because it was when parents frequented the café with their children after school. Thora Mason, one of Pearl’s employees was in the kitchen clearing up, and Pearl was out front serving.
The door opened, and Jasper Holmes entered. He was a lovely local man and had two adorable children, seven-year-old Mabel and five-year-old Alfie. Jasper was a polite and quiet man, and Pearl often found herself worrying about him. He had been tragically widowed three years ago just after Christmas, when his wife, Kimberley Wu-Holmes, had been killed in a road traffic accident on her way to work. She’d been a consultant anaesthetist at a local hospital and a very clever and talented person. Kimberley had often visited the café with the children on her days off, and Pearl had liked her a lot. She’d been one of those people who had a glow about them, something that radiated goodness and kindness, and Pearl had been certain that Kimberley would have been excellent at her job. A petite woman with a shiny black bob and dark eyes, Kimberley could seem very serious at times, but once you got to know her, she was warm and funny. Jasper and Kimberley had been a beautiful couple. Their love for one another had been clear, as had their adoration of their two children. Pearl knew Kimberley worked long hours and was very dedicated to her job, but Kimberley was also dedicated to her family, and that made her tragic end all the sadder. Kimberley was a loss to her family, to the village, and to the patients she treated.
As Jasper settled his children at the table near the window where they debated over who would sit on the comfy dark green leather sofa, Pearl watched them from behind the counter. Jasper was a handsome man with his fair hair cropped close to his head in a way that made Pearl think of a U.S. Marine. He had a blonde beard dusted with some whites that caught the light on a sunny day, piercing blue eyes the colour of bright spring skies, shoulders broad enough to carry the weight of a lorry and still accelerate like a sports car, and he was well over six feet tall. In fact, Pearl thought he must be around six-four and he towered over most people. She often thought he reminded her of a big golden bear, the type of bear she might read about in one of the paranormal romance novels she so enjoyed. He looked like he could transform at any moment into a bear shifter, and it was no wonder that many of the single women in the village, and some men, swooned every time he walked into a room. But Jasper wasn’t just attractive, he was also a good person. He would do anything for anyone if they asked, but he never, ever, imposed upon others. Over the last three years, this had worried Pearl, because she had been concerned that he might be struggling with his grief, that he might be struggling as a single parent, and that he might be lonely. But whenever she had tried to speak to Jasper about these things, he had shaken his head and closed his eyes momentarily before meeting her gaze and replying that he was just fine. Pearl knew this probably wasn’t true, but she also knew that you could only help someone if they wanted to be helped. So she was as kind to him as she could be whenever she saw him, and she was equally kind to the children because the poor mites had lost their mum when they were little more than babies.
Pearl finished serving the customer in front of her, then waited for Jasper to come to the counter. When he did, he smiled at her in the way that made his face briefly light up and her heart squeezed because she wished he could smile this way every day.
‘Hello Jasper. How are you today?’
‘Not bad thanks, Pearl.’ He glanced over at where his children were sitting next to each other on the sofa now, looking at a book they’d got off the shelf behind them. ‘Thank goodness those two decided to sit together. There’s nothing worse than dealing with an argument over who’s going to sit where when there’s plenty of room for both of them.’ He laughed as he met her eyes. ‘Of course, they both say that they want to sit next to me, but I suspect that’s just so I’ll make the decision about who sits on the sofa.’
‘And you could never decide between them, obviously,’ Pearl said.
‘Never in a month of Sundays.’ He shook his head and gazed over at the children, his expression softening in the way it did whenever he looked at them or spoke about them. ‘They are my absolute world.’ His hand moved to his chest unconsciously as if to rest above his heart, and Pearl felt a lump rising in her throat. It seemed so unfair that this beautiful young man had lost his wife and that their children had lost their mother, but as Pearl knew well, there was no rhyme or reason to the cards life dealt. No rhyme or reason at all.
She served Jasper and he made his way back to his children with the tray of drinks, then returned for the cakes he had ordered for the three of them. There was a buttered tea cake for Jasper, a chocolate eclair for Mabel, and a strawberry doughnut for Alfie. Jasper turned to walk back to the table just as the door to the café opened and, along with the gust of fresh air, came a surprise.
‘My goodness!’ Pearl exclaimed as she set her eyes on the person who had just walked into the café. ‘I had no idea you would be visiting today.’
The woman’s eyes flickered to Jasper where he had frozen on his way to the table. It was like time stood still and the air in the café crackled with electricity. Perhaps Pearl had been reading too many paranormal romance novels, but she was convinced that something palpable passed between Jasper and the new arrival.
And then, as with all moments, that one passed on and normality resumed. Jasper went to his table and the woman approached the counter, dragging two large suitcases in her wake. The suitcases looked heavy but suggested Ellie might be home for a while, which excited her.
‘Hello Gran,’ Ellie said with a big smile but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
‘Hello yourself.’ Pearl came around the counter and placed her hands on her granddaughter’s shoulders. ‘It’s so good to see you, my darling.’ She opened her arms and Ellie let go of the suitcase handles and hugged her gran hard.
‘Oh Gran,’ Ellie mumbled against Pearl’s shoulder. ‘I have missed you.’
‘I’ve missed you too.’ Pearl hugged Ellie tight, breathing in her amber and vanilla perfume and the coconut conditioner she’d used on her hair. ‘But … I didn’t know you were coming home.’
‘Neither did I until recently and then I wasn’t sure when I’d be back so I thought I’d surprise you. And here I am.’ Ellie smiled again, but her green eyes were cloudy.
‘For long?’ Pearl asked.
Ellie’s gaze dropped to the floor and she worried her bottom lip. ‘I’m not sure. For a while … whatever a while is.’
‘OK, my darling, well take a seat and you can tell me all about it.’
‘Thanks, Gran, but I’m exhausted. Would it be OK if I go back to the cottage and take a nap?’
As much as she wanted to spend time with her granddaughter and to find out what had happened, Pearl could see the dark shadows under Ellie’s eyes and feel the tension in her shoulders. Her granddaughter needed rest above all things.
‘Of course, Ellie. You head back and I’ll catch up with you later. But sit down while I pack you something to eat and make you a warm drink to take with you. Also, you need some help with those cases, so I’ll call you a taxi. I’m guessing that’s how you got here from the station?’
‘Yes.’ Ellie sank onto a chair and sighed. ‘Thanks, Gran.’
‘It’s my pleasure.’ Pearl went back behind the counter where she rang a local taxi firm, then set about making Ellie a sandwich and a takeaway tea.
If Ellie was staying for a while, then there would be plenty of time to talk about things and plenty of time for her to look after her granddaughter. She had a feeling that Ellie needed some proper Cornish TLC. The type of TLC that a loving grandmother was best able to provide.