Chapter 25
25
This didn’t stop Finn from being on tenterhooks for the next couple of days every time his mobile rang. But there was no return call from Thomas O’Leary. And no other unknown number tried to reach him. Or if they did, they didn’t get through. For the first time since he’d lived at Duck Pond Cottage, he cursed the lack of signal.
Apart from the odd occasion when he had to make an important phone call like the one he’d once made to Eleanor Smythe, he quite enjoyed the fact that it was difficult to get hold of him. It made for a peaceful life. He and Jade WhatsApped or used Wi-Fi calling if they needed each other, and Ben did the same if he wanted to speak to him. So did Dorrie and Ray, these days.
But right now Finn just felt on edge.
‘Do you think I should try calling Thomas again?’ he said to Jade when the radio silence continued into another weekend. ‘If Bridie doesn’t want to have anything to do with me, I get it, but I really need to know.’
‘I don’t think it could hurt. Like you say, at least you’d know. And it is possible that Thomas just hasn’t done it yet. Or maybe she hasn’t got back to him. Or maybe she has and he hasn’t got back to you. It must be agonising.’
‘It is.’ He didn’t remember ever feeling this edgy. He touched her hand. ‘I’m sorry. I must have been hell to live with this last week. I haven’t even asked how things are going with you? What’s happening as regards dormice?’
‘Not a lot, to be honest. There’s no signs of any dormice activity next door. Or any bat activity, or badger activity or any other kind of protected species’ activity, come to that.’ She sighed. ‘Ursula came over with me to check out all the possible habitats. And I know I joked about cheating and planting a few dormice, but I’ve discovered English dormice aren’t easy to come by. They have a really long hibernation period, six months or more – that’s where the name comes from, apparently, “dor” – meaning dormant. Anyway, it’s not as easy as I’d hoped it might be to find a family that need rehoming.’
She smiled. ‘I could probably get hold of some African ones – they’re sold as pets. But no one’s going to believe that they just happen to be living next door to us. Also… joking aside, I’m not sure how responsible it would be to relocate a family of dormice. What if they don’t survive? That’s not really what we’re about, is it? Endangering a creature’s life. We’re here to protect them.’
‘Even when it’s for the greater good,’ Finn said, and he felt a rush of love for her as he saw her startled expression. ‘No, I guess it’s not. So what next?’
‘I’m not sure. Maybe you were right. Maybe we should just grin and bear it.’ She put her head on one side. ‘Or maybe I should think about relocating this place instead. Move somewhere there isn’t going to be a housing estate built right next door.’
‘Move the mountain to Mohammad, you mean?’
‘Exactly that.’
He put his arms around her. ‘We can’t fight everything,’ he said gently. ‘Well, we can but sometimes if something’s too hard it may mean it’s not meant for us. My gran used to have this neat saying, “What’s for you won’t go by you.” Meaning if something’s meant to be, then it will happen.’
‘I wish I’d had the chance to meet your gran.’
‘I wish you had too. She’d have loved you.’
Finn knew he hadn’t just told Jade about his gran’s saying for her – it was for himself too. Maybe he wasn’t meant to meet his biological mother. Maybe Ray had been right to keep them apart for all of those years, after all. He decided not to phone Thomas back. He’d give him another week or so.
* * *
‘I have never heard such a load of defeatist, wet-blanket twaddle in my life,’ was Sarah’s opinion of the situation when Jade went over to see her for a chat about wedding cakes on Sunday afternoon. ‘From either of you. I can’t believe you’re throwing in the towel so easily.’ She tossed a couple of leaflets onto the table. ‘I think we should go with Olivia Lambert at Amazing Cakes. She’s the cake maker the Bluebell Cliff recommended. Her cakes look wonderful and she’s got zillions of reviews. Anyway, about these dormice.’ She gave Jade a searching look. ‘Surely you’re not giving up that easily?’
‘What would you suggest? I can’t get hold of any English dormice for a start.’
‘You don’t sound like you’ve tried very hard. They’re native, aren’t they? Why don’t we just go and look for some? They must be about.’ She scrolled through her phone and tapped on some screens. ‘Here you go. Apparently you can find them in Sussex, Devon and Kent. They live in woodland. They’re not hibernating in August, are they?’
‘No, but they are nocturnal.’
‘What difference does that make? We can go at night.’
Jade rolled her eyes in exasperation. ‘So are you suggesting we rock up in some random woodland and pitch a tent?’
‘ Yes , I am. It says here they spend most of their time in trees. They’re not even on the ground much. It can’t be that hard locating a mouse that’s tight roping along a tree branch, can it?’
Jade laughed despite herself. ‘No. If you put it like that. Apparently when the Wildlife Trust are monitoring dormice, they shave little patches of fur from their heads for identification purposes. Ursula was telling me.’
‘Even better. We can look out for a tight roping dormouse with a Mohican. Ben and I can come with you. Mission Mohican Dormouse. It’ll be a great thing to do for his summer holidays.’
‘You hate camping.’
‘I know, but Ben would love it. All that nature and stuff. You can get Finn to look after the rescue for a couple of nights and you and I can chat weddings in our tent and Ben can keep watch for dormice and yell if he sees any. It’ll be brilliant and?—’
Their conversation was interrupted by Ben dashing into the lounge. ‘Mum, Mum. I’ve found a hurt… Oh, hi, Auntie Jade. I just tried to call you. I didn’t know you were here. Can you come? I’ve found a fox. She’s not very well.’
Sarah and Jade exchanged glances. ‘Slow down,’ Sarah said. ‘Did you say a fox? Where is it?’ She shot Jade a look. ‘It’s a good job you’re here. Aren’t foxes dangerous? Ben, you mustn’t go near it. You hear me?’ Her son was already running out of the door again.
Both women leaped to their feet too. For the moment, Mission Dormouse was abandoned.
The orangey-red fox was at the bottom of Sarah’s small back garden, half in and half out of a rhododendron bush. Jade could see its front end sticking out, its rear end concealed in the shrubbery. It was panting slightly and it regarded them with wary brown eyes but didn’t attempt to move or run away.
‘Ben, don’t go too close,’ Sarah called. ‘Let your Auntie Jade deal with this. She’s the one with the vet background.’
‘I’m not too close.’ Ben shot her a defensive glance. ‘Anyway, she won’t bite me. She trusts me.’
‘How do you know it’s a she?’ Sarah asked as Jade stopped a little distance away and crouched down on the yellowing grass. ‘Can you tell, Jade?’
‘Not easily. I’d need to get a bit closer. Ben, lovely, I’m going to need your help. Would you have such a thing as gardening gloves in your shed?’
‘I think so.’
‘Can you get them for me, please, and also leave the shed door open?’
He ran to oblige and Jade glanced at Sarah. ‘I think it’s going to be tricky to catch this fox. It depends on how badly it’s injured. But I’m hoping we can maybe herd him or her into the shed and find out. Is your garden fully enclosed?’
‘I think so. I’m guessing it must have come in the side gate. Or over the back fence, although if it’s injured that would have been quite difficult.’
‘First things first.’ Jade stood up slowly. ‘I’ll see if I can get a bit closer and have a look.’
Ben ran back with the gloves and handed them to her.
‘Did you see the fox walking at all, Ben?’
‘I did. She was limping at the back. She couldn’t put her foot on the ground. Do you think it’s broken, Auntie Jade?’ His grey eyes were anxious.
‘That’s possible, love. I’m going to try and see. It would be really good if you and your mum could stand a little bit closer to the house, blocking the back gate. Then if she tries to run, hopefully she’ll go towards the shed.’
They did as she suggested and Jade put on the gloves and went gingerly towards her prospective patient, speaking softly all the while.
The fox didn’t move until the last minute and then she shot out, gave a small yelp, and stopped again before sinking down onto her belly, her straggly black-tipped tail lying on the grass. It was clear she couldn’t go too far. There was a nasty gash on her side nearest to Jade and her back leg looked broken.
‘I think she may have been hit by a car.’ Jade backed off to give her some space. ‘OK. I’m going to message Finn and ask him to bring the transporter over if he’s not too busy. That’ll be the quickest way to do it. If you guys are OK with that?’
‘That would be great,’ Sarah said. ‘Can you tell if it’s a she or a he?’
‘Not really but more likely a she – they tend to be smaller, and she’s tiny. Could just be young, of course.’
‘Can you make her better, Auntie Jade?’ Ben’s eyes were hopeful. ‘Like you fixed the broken wing on the red kite?’
‘I think we’re going to need a proper vet for this one. But I shall do my best,’ she promised.
* * *
It took an hour and everyone’s help to capture the little fox, transport her back to Duck Pond Rescue and settle her in the hospital block-cum-quarantine kennels, which luckily weren’t in use at the moment.
Jade called Aiden, who was a personal friend as well as her vet, and he promised to call over in the next hour or so.
‘Are you sure, Aiden? I feel bad calling you out on a Sunday.’
‘I’m on call anyway, so you’re in luck.’ She heard his smile in his voice and true to his word, he arrived just after seven.
‘She’ll need to be tranquilised for me to have a proper look at her,’ he murmured as Jade and Finn let him in. ‘So I’ll go and do that first. Can you give us a hand for two minutes, Jade?’
Half an hour later, Aiden had examined the now drowsy fox, which was a female, as Ben had guessed, and given Jade his assessment. ‘She’s lucky it’s the back leg, not the front. That would have finished her. It’s not a major break, and it should heal without too much trouble, if she’s in a contained space, but the gash is nasty and prone to infection. So I’ll stitch that up. I’d normally do that in a more sterile environment, but we can make do – and it’ll probably be less stressful for her if she can recover here, rather than at the practice. We’ll get some antibiotics into her too.’
Jade nodded.
‘After that if you can feed her and keep her here for a couple of weeks, we can monitor it. Would you be OK with that?’
‘Of course. That’s why we’re here.’
Jade helped hold their patient in the right place while Aiden worked. He was quick and efficient and Jade decided he was right. It was far less traumatic for the fox to be attended to here than being moved again.
‘With luck and some care she’ll heal fine,’ Aiden said as he finished up.
‘Ben will be so thrilled. He’s already called her Carmelita – after a fox in a game apparently.’
Aiden shook his head. ‘Kids, huh. How is Ben doing anyway?’
‘He’s as mad about animals as ever. He’s going to be a zookeeper when he grows up apparently. At least that’s the latest thing. He loves painting too, but he doesn’t want to go to art college because he thinks he’d have to spend too much time indoors.’
‘It’s a bit early to be deciding that, isn’t it?’ Aiden looked amused. ‘How old is he now?’
‘Seven.’ Jade smiled at him. ‘I knew what I wanted to do when I was seven. Didn’t you?’
‘Nope. I didn’t know I wanted to be a vet until I’d left school. It was my Uncle Seth who pointed me towards vet college.’
‘We’re all different.’ She watched him packing away. ‘How’s life treating you, Aiden? How’s that lovely girlfriend of yours?’
‘Kate’s good, thanks, Jade. We’re both really well. We’re off on holiday at the end of August. I’m taking her to Venice.’
‘How romantic.’
‘I hope so.’ His eyes warmed. ‘Can you keep a secret?’
‘Of course.’
‘I’m planning to propose to her there. On a gondola.’
‘Oh, that’s brilliant,’ Jade said, thinking how typical of Aiden that was. He’d always been a totally idealistic romantic.
‘Do you think she’ll say yes?’ He looked suddenly uncertain.
‘I’m sure she will,’ Jade said, thinking of the gorgeous Kate, who was a nurse at Odstock Hospital and was totally besotted with Aiden. She clapped her hands together, forgetting their surroundings for a moment, and Carmelita blinked sleepily.
‘Ooops, I think we’d better leave her to recover,’ she said. ‘Thanks so much, Aiden. How much do I owe you?’
‘Don’t be daft. I’ve only been here ten minutes.’
‘We both know that’s not true! Come in for a drink then. Have you had supper?’
‘I’ve had supper but a coffee would be lovely. Thanks for the “save the date” card for your wedding, by the way. Nice idea doing a double wedding.’
They walked back to Duck Pond Cottage and Jade thought how much had changed since she’d first met Aiden. When she’d set up the sanctuary, and asked him to be her vet, Aiden had had a bit of a thing for her. He’d even warned her off Finn when she’d first employed him. There had been a fair bit of rivalry between Aiden and Finn back in the days when Jade hadn’t wanted a relationship.
Back in the days when she’d thought she’d never recover enough to be healed again. Like little Carmelita, she thought.
‘Penny for them,’ Aiden asked as they went into Duck Pond Cottage.
‘I was just thinking how pleased Finn would be about you and Kate. Are we allowed to say anything to him?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t want word getting out to Kate.’ He put his fingers to his lips.
‘Absolutely not. Then I won’t say anything. I’ll put the kettle on and nip to the loo.’
When she came back downstairs, Finn was slapping Aiden on the back and congratulating him. So Aiden had obviously changed his mind then. Jade smiled to herself. Times really had changed. While those two were never likely to be best friends, they’d clearly both moved on from the old days.
As they sipped coffee and ate some of the homemade cake Dawn had brought in, Aiden asked for news about the development next door. ‘I heard a rumour the new owners had put in for planning permission.’
‘Nothing’s been approved yet,’ Jade said quickly. ‘How are the villagers reacting?’
‘There are a few murmurings. I think they’d rather have had an arable farm than yet another housing estate.’
‘Hear, hear,’ Jade said, sneaking a glance at Finn. ‘Fingers crossed they won’t get permission.’