Chapter 43
43
Callum and Sarah arrived at the cottage early on Sunday afternoon.
‘We’ve got some news,’ Sarah said. ‘And we wanted you to be the first to know. Apart from Ben, who we told last night. He’s at Darren’s now.’ She grabbed Callum’s hand and pulled him forward. ‘We’re back together. We’ve talked everything through and we’re moving forward.’
‘Is the wedding back on?’ Jade asked cautiously.
‘No.’ Sarah glanced at Callum. ‘We don’t need a legal document to prove anything, Jade. We can always get married some time in the future, but there’s no rush. He’s here, that’s all I care about. And he’s forgiven me. And I know I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you either, do I?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Jade replied. Ridiculous was one of her mother’s words. She must drop it. She was going to have to drop a lot of things. The future had opened up before her, a yawning chasm filled with darkness and butterflies. Finn had a lot to answer for, asking her to jump into it. To make this leap of faith .
‘I’m really pleased for you both. Finn’s around somewhere. Shall I tell him?’
‘Tell me what?’ Finn said, coming through the door.
Jade told him and watched with some amusement as he shook Callum’s hand and then couldn’t decide whether to shake Sarah’s too, or to kiss her cheek. In the end he did both.
‘Obviously this doesn’t affect your relationship with Ben,’ Sarah said. ‘You’ll always be his dad and Ben has decided he’d like to call Callum – well, just Callum. He’s old enough to understand what’s happened.’
‘Thank you,’ Finn said.
‘We’re going to the Red Lion later for a wee celebratory jar,’ Callum said. ‘Would you like to join us?’
‘We’d be glad to come.’ Finn looked at Jade. ‘Perhaps we ought to make it a double celebration.’ As he spoke, he held out his hand towards Jade and she stepped closer to him and took it.
‘We’ve decided to start dating,’ Jade explained. ‘Well, we’ve already tried living together and we like that a lot. There’s nothing like doing things in the wrong order, is there?’
Sarah squealed with excitement and there were more hugs and then for a while they talked about some of the successes of Duck Pond Rescue, like Tiny the puppy, Ashley the frisky horse and Fang finding a home with Aiden.
‘I’ve got a little bit of gossip about Aiden,’ Sarah said. ‘Apparently he’s been seen getting up close and personal with a glamorous redhead.’
‘That came from Mike in the Red Lion,’ Callum said. ‘So it might not be true.’
‘It is true,’ Jade said, pleased to be ahead of the curve for a change. ‘He’s seeing Kate, the nurse who’s re-homing Ashley.’
After the two of them had left, Jade wandered up the yard to check everywhere was locked up and found to her relief that Ashley seemed to be more interested in the polos she’d bought him than in Rosanna. Maybe he was growing out of his tendencies!
Duck Pond Rescue was a far cry from the ramshackle collection of buildings it had been before Finn had arrived, she thought as she leant on the paddock railings. She couldn’t have justified employing him for much longer, even if things hadn’t turned out the way they had.
‘What are you thinking?’ he asked, coming to stand beside her.
She told him and he nodded. ‘Mmmm. As we seem to have the place to ourselves for once, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.’
‘Talk away.’
‘Not here.’
He took her hand and led her up the yard and Jade thought about the first time she’d seen him here. It was only a few months since that wet February day. Yet it felt as though he’d been in her life forever.
They went past the dog-walking field, which looked pink in the September sun. There was a track around the outside worn down by dozens of walkers, but in the middle of the field, the grass grew long and wild. It may have been a trick of the light, but the feathery tops of the stems had the faintest of rosy tints, giving the impression of a field of pink grass. A scattering of bright poppies added to the illusion. It was like seeing the field through rose-tinted glasses, Jade thought. She knew there were thistles in the middle, but you couldn’t see them from here. Perhaps there were always thistles in life, an irritating but essential part of the journey.
‘I had a phone call from Mike this morning,’ Finn said, pausing by the gate. ‘He’s got an art dealer staying at the pub who’s interested in my work. He wants to meet me with a view to putting on an exhibition. I know it’s early days, but I think I might be able to make a living out of painting, eventually.’
‘That’s brilliant. It’s what you want to do, isn’t it?’
‘One of the things. I don’t mind what I do for a living. People are more important than anything else. Do you know, I love this place almost as much as I love you. I thought I’d miss Nottingham, but I don’t. So maybe it’s true what they say about home being where the heart is.’
‘Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?’
‘Not exactly, no.’ He swung a jean-clad leg over the five-bar gate. ‘You’ll have to humour me for a while, I’m building up to it.’
It wasn’t until the sun was beginning to set and the field was bathed in honey-gold light that he pulled her into his arms.
He had a bit of trouble getting out the words. He skirted round what he wanted to say for a few minutes, talking about things like commitment and finding out the truth about your emotions.
Then, as the sun slipped below the line of trees, turning the field to a gloriously deep pink, he finally said, ‘Oh, hell, Jade, I’m hopeless at this, but what I’m trying to say is, would you consider marrying me? Some day in the future when you’re ready?’
‘Is that your idea of a romantic proposal?’ she teased, and he looked so affronted that the effort of keeping a straight face eluded her.
‘Laugh at me, would you?’ He pulled her down on to the grass and kissed her so thoroughly she had to pull away from him, breathless.
‘Finn, we’ll get arrested. And there are thistles. ’
‘I can’t see any. It’s your bloody field. Why shouldn’t we make mad, passionate love in it if we want to?’
‘Because the farmer’s next door,’ she pointed out, pulling away from him and thinking fleetingly of another long-ago field, not far from here. Of him and Sarah starting Ben, starting all of this. A shadow passed through her and she hesitated.
‘I thought we were letting the past go, Jade.’ He’d read her face, as always. ‘But if you’re still not sure of me, then I’ll wait.’
‘I don’t want you to wait. I’d love to marry you, Finn. Any day in the future. Tomorrow, if you like.’
He looked so surprised she added, ‘Did you seriously think I’d say no?’
‘I hoped you wouldn’t.’ He propped himself on one elbow. ‘I wasn’t sure if you’d forgiven me yet for bullying you into admitting you loved me.’
‘I have. Anyway, you’re not the only one who needs forgiving around here. I lied to you for far too long. I’m so sorry.’
‘We’ll call it quits.’ He kissed her again, and for a long while they forgot all about the farmer in the next field.
They decided to keep their big news to themselves for a while, though, because tonight was Sarah and Callum’s celebration, and they didn’t want to take anything away from them.
Much later, they sat in the Red Lion: Jade and Finn, and Sarah, Callum and Ben. At the bar, Mike was deep in conversation with the holidaying art dealer, who turned out to be a friend of the woman who’d bought the painting of the girl on the beach. ‘He’s practising his negotiating skills,’ Finn told Jade. ‘He keeps trying to persuade me I need an agent.’
‘He’d make a good one. That’s what he’s best at – negotiating.’
‘Who’s for another drink, then?’ Mike asked, coming across to them, smiling. ‘This one’s on the house.’
‘We’ve all had far too much already,’ Sarah said, clutching her head and rolling her eyes dramatically.
‘I’ll have one,’ Ben said, who’d been cashing in on the fact they were all squiffy and had helped himself to a few sips of Finn’s Guinness when no one was looking.
‘But we can’t turn down an offer like that,’ Callum pointed out. ‘It’s never happened before and it might never come again.’
So the drinks came and they toasted Callum and Sarah yet again, and Ben’s competition success and Finn’s future career as an artist. And then, when each of them had just a sip or so left in their glasses, Finn stood up. ‘I’d like to make one more toast.’
‘Better be quick, mate,’ Callum said, his glass poised at his lips.
Finn grinned, looked at Jade and raised his glass high. ‘Here’s to love and second chances.’