Chapter 23
23
They discovered when they got to Salisbury A&E that the wait time to be seen by a doctor was running at around two hours. They took their seats in a room, crowded even on a Wednesday night, with people who had both visible and invisible reasons for being there, and they talked in low voices.
The enforced togetherness was probably a blessing, Jade thought, because otherwise she wasn’t sure they’d have had such a difficult conversation. She wasn’t sure which of them was the most mortified, herself for going out with Declan in the first place or Finn for hitting him because he thought he was protecting Jade. But at least they had a chance to properly talk. A chance for her to explain to Finn that Declan was in the wrong here. He’d knowingly overstepped the mark despite the fact Jade had told him she was spoken for, and then he’d deliberately overegged the situation to wind Finn up. Declan was not a man who liked to lose. Or one to be trusted.
She and Finn had time to properly apologise to each other, and to forgive each other. And she knew that part of the reason they could do that was because of the consequences of both their actions.
If Finn’s wrist was broken, it had huge ramifications for him. No painting for the foreseeable future – his career might be over before it had begun. Jade felt terrible that she’d had a part to play in that.
They were finally seen two hours and fifty minutes after they arrived and Finn got his X-ray. Then there was another wait before they were ushered in to get the results. Jade held her breath. The lines of tension on Finn’s face told her he was doing the same as they sat opposite the doctor, a slim, tired-eyed Asian man, who introduced himself as Dr Patel.
‘You’re lucky,’ he said. ‘It’s not broken, just bruised. How did you do it?’
Finn told him. Jade could hear the embarrassment in his voice, but the doctor just nodded. ‘It’s not my place to judge. We see a lot of these breaks after drunken fights. People don’t usually come in until the morning – that’s when they realise it hurts.’
‘I wasn’t drunk,’ Finn said. ‘Which I guess is worse.’
The doctor didn’t answer, just flashed them a rueful look. ‘It’ll feel better in a week or so. Take paracetamol if you need it. Drink plenty of fluids. Try and resist the urge to hit anyone else.’
They thanked him profusely and finally left the hospital around 2a.m.
‘I guess that’s one of the reasons our NHS is in such a state,’ Finn remarked as they got back in Jade’s Land Rover. ‘Self-inflicted injuries.’
‘I think we’ve done enough beating ourselves up,’ Jade told him firmly. ‘Let’s just draw a line under it and move on.’
He looked exhausted, and she felt exhausted too. The day had been an emotional rollercoaster. The joy of making plans to marry in the idyllic setting of the Bluebell Cliff Hotel to the stark crowded bareness of A&E. You couldn’t get much more of a contrast than that.
‘Is that how you feel about Rural Developments too?’ Finn asked her as they drew out of the floodlit car park and onto the dark country roads towards home. ‘Do you want to draw a line under it and move on?’
‘Not exactly, no. I wasn’t at all impressed with that little weasel’s closing speech about developing the land. All that vitriol about making lots of noise and mess and scaring animals for miles around.’
‘That’s probably something he just said so he could get the last word. All building sites are noisy and messy. We’re just going to have to grin and bear it, I guess.’
‘Oh, no, we’re not.’ Jade shot him a look. ‘They may have bought the land but they haven’t got planning permission yet. He told me that much, and I’m going to do everything possible to make sure they don’t. Declan Stone isn’t the only one who can be difficult.’ She felt a little surge of adrenaline. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting we have any more confrontations with the guy.’
‘That’s a relief. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a boxer.’ He paused. ‘So what did you have in mind? Are you going to try and prove there’s a species of rare bats resident in those trees?’
‘That’s one possibility.’ She smiled, pleased he was on her wavelength. ‘There’s bound to be something I can do. I’m not sure yet.’ She yawned. ‘I’m too tired to think about it now. But tomorrow’s another day. Declan Stone might think he’s won the battle, but we’re going to win the war.’
* * *
To Finn’s relief, his wrist felt a little less sore the next day. He took painkillers as he’d been advised and Jade warned him to take it easy and not to lift anything heavy. He didn’t plan to. The previous evening’s events had shocked him. He’d never hit anyone before. He’d grown up an only child so he’d missed out on the rough and tumble of fighting with a brother and he’d never got involved in the frequent fights in the playground at school. He hadn’t attracted the bullies because he’d been someone who didn’t stand out from the crowd. He’d always been taller than average but not too skinny. He’d also been blessed with a quiet humour and wit that had meant it was easier to talk his way out of tight corners than to use his fists. This had served him well.
The strength of his emotions last night had also shocked him. The thought of that smarmy guy hitting on Jade when he wasn’t around had made him see red. He’d always thought that was a myth too, the whole seeing red thing, but the adrenaline that had flooded his body last night had made thumping Declan seem like the only sane solution.
It was only afterwards, when he’d realised how close he’d come to ending up with such dire consequences – breaking his wrist would have been very bad – that he’d been really shocked. Remorse was in there too, but it wasn’t nearly as strong as the instincts he’d felt to protect Jade’s reputation, not to mention the plain old jealousy gene that had kicked in. He was ashamed of that but the shame, like the shock, had come afterwards.
Would he do it again? He hoped not, but he wouldn’t have wanted to put it to the test. He was pretty sure that Declan flaming Stone would keep out of their way in future. The guy hadn’t looked like he was suicidal, but there was no telling with some people.
Finn decided the best thing to do was keep some distance between them. The idea of Jade fighting to stop the development, which had seemed pretty logical in the early hours of this morning, now worried him a bit. Maybe it would all blow over. Time was a good healer, and did anyone ever really stop developments from going ahead?
When he thought of protestors, the first image that sprung to mind was of people tramping through fields with placards or chaining themselves to trees or diggers. Did any of it ever really make any difference or did the developers just bulldoze their way over the locals’ opinions?
He hated the thought of Jade going head to head with a development company that clearly had deep pockets and then being smashed out of recognition like the land they had purchased.
It would be better if he could get her to focus on something else. Something positive like their wedding plans, and the forthcoming exhibition, which was looming. It was on the third Saturday of September, seven weeks away. He still needed to finish some paintings for that. Not the ones they were displaying – they’d all been chosen and were ready – but if they sold, which Eleanor kept telling him was the whole point, then he’d need to have replacements ready for other buyers.
They were all going to the art exhibition. Finn, Jade, Ben and Sarah and Callum. It still seemed like a dream. But the occasional phone call from Eleanor made it real. Made Finn realise he could be on the brink of launching his career as an artist. Having an agent like Eleanor supporting his work was massive.
There was also, of course, the small matter of finding Bridie. Having set that particular hare in motion, Finn didn’t want to give up on it. Since he’d come back from seeing Dorrie and Ray, he’d done nothing further to track down his mother. He hadn’t even googled her name with the new location. Finding out that she lived so close – Southampton was less than an hour away from Arleston – had been a revelation. He wasn’t sure why he’d done nothing else about tracking her down. Fear of what he might find, possibly.
* * *
As August got into its stride, bringing with it swathes of pink rosebay willowherb growing in the dog-walking field and impromptu blackberry and apple picking – it was a great year for blackberries – Finn began to stop worrying so much. As Jade had predicted, they had an influx of new volunteers because the schools were on holiday now, and it was brilliant to have Ben around so much. Ben, as Sarah often pointed out, would have lived full time at Duck Pond Rescue if he could.
Sarah and Jade had drawn up a guest list for their wedding and sent out ‘save the date’ cards for the third Saturday in August the following year. Ray and Dorrie were thrilled and had already booked their room in the Bluebell Cliff Hotel for the first night. Dawn was on the guest list, but she had said she was more than happy to come straight back after the wedding and stay over at Duck Pond Cottage so Finn and Jade could have at least one night away.
Jade hadn’t mentioned the war with Rural Developments again, although Finn noticed she’d been researching things like ‘protected species in the UK’ and ‘How wildlife can affect your next property development’ on the computer in reception.
He didn’t ask her about it, deciding that maybe one of his father’s favourite sayings, ‘Least said, soonest mended’, did have some merits in certain circumstances, and life at Duck Pond Rescue jogged along peacefully. Animals came in and were rehomed at much the same rate. The summer was beautiful and he and Jade were happy. In some strange way, him hitting Declan had brought them closer because it had made them talk – really talk – about the things that were important. Finn was just starting to relax and think about searching for Bridie again when two things happened.
The first thing was that someone called Thomas O’Leary had come up on his Facebook feed marked as someone he might like to befriend, and when he looked into it he saw they had a mutual friend, Caitlin Neale – that was promising.
The second thing was that Jade said she wanted to introduce him to someone, who she said might be able to help in their quest to stop the development going ahead next door.
They were in the Red Lion, having margarita pizzas, at the time. It was one of the few Friday nights when they didn’t have Ben and they’d just finished eating when Jade told him about the person she wanted him to meet. ‘She works for the local council and she’s also a volunteer. You may have seen her – she’s a bit sporadic about volunteering because she has trips away quite often, but she’s quite distinctive. Tall with dark skin and white hair. I think she’s half-Jamaican. Her name’s Ursula.’
‘I think I know who you mean. Older lady? Likes cats? Posh voice.’
‘Yes, that’s the one. I first met her when she brought in her neighbour’s cat for rehoming. The neighbour had died and the family couldn’t keep him. Ursula said she’d have kept him herself, but she quite often has to go away on field trips apparently. His name was Snowy. We rehomed him quite quickly. He was very pretty. Anyway…’ She shook herself, as if getting back on track. ‘None of that’s relevant. What is relevant is that Ursula is an ecologist.’
‘And that’s important because…?’ Finn asked, although he had a feeling he knew exactly where this was going.
‘Because Ursula knows all there is to know about planning and developments. Like for example…’ Jade’s eyes were shining with enthusiasm. ‘All the endangered species that will stop a housing development from going ahead.’
‘I see. So what has Ursula said about next door? Are there any endangered species on the site?’
‘I’m not sure, but she’s happy to give us some advice. Unofficially, of course, because she does actually work for the council who may or may not grant permission. The thing is, she’s on our side. She’s very sympathetic to the cause. I’ve told her all about Rural Developments and the muppets who work for them. One muppet anyway.’
‘Okaaaay.’ Finn drew out the word. He hoped Jade hadn’t told Ursula about him hitting the muppet in question.
‘I didn’t mention the, er, altercation you had,’ Jade said, reading his mind. ‘I just told her in a general sense, you know, about how he’d made promises and then gone back on them when he realised I wasn’t going to be part of the deal.’
‘Right.’ Finn nodded sagely. ‘What did she say?’
‘She said…’ Jade broke off. ‘…I think I’ll let her tell you that herself. She’s meeting us for a drink.’
‘What, now? Tonight? Is that why you were so keen to come out?’
‘Yes, and I think I’ve just spotted her.’ Jade leapt up from her chair. ‘She’s over at the bar, talking to Mike. You don’t mind if I bring her over, do you?’
‘Of course I don’t.’ Finn sat back in his seat as Jade headed across the bar. Jade was still obviously hellbent on fighting Rural Developments. So much for a quiet life then.