HELEN
‘You’re spoiling me!’
‘Would madame like tea or coffee?’ Callum asked.
‘I’m in the mood for tea this morning, please.’
‘Coming up.’
‘We got you cards.’ Harry nodded to the envelopes next to the flowers.
Helen reached over and opened the first: a cartoon boy with red hair holding up a sign that read ‘Happy Mother’s Day to my favourite mother’. She looked inside.
Have a fab day, Love Harry x
The second was a tasteful drawing of a kingfisher with ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ embossed in gold above it - clearly Callum’s choice.
There were two more. She opened the top one.
Happy Mother’s Day from Rocky. A custom card with a picture of Rocky looking forlornly at the camera.
There was an inky pawprint inside, which looked like it was genuinely made by one of Rocky’s paws.
He must have been baffled about what was going on when one of the boys had made that.
‘What’s the last one?’ she asked.
Harry shrugged. ‘No idea. It was on the doormat when I got up this morning.’
It had “Helen” written on the front. The handwriting was instantly familiar. She opened it. One of Em’s paintings of Dashford was on the front - the one Helen loved with Cove Cottage in the top right. She opened it.
Dear Helen
Sorry I’ve been quiet this week. I thought you needed some space, and so did I. I hope you have a lovely Mother’s Day. Could we go for our usual Monday morning walk tomorrow?
Love,
Nige x
PS If I get stuck when I’m cooking lunch, can I text you? I promise that is not why I sent you this card.
He’d drawn a smiley face at the bottom.
‘Everything alright, Mum?’ Callum asked.
‘Yes, just a note from Nigel.’ She put the card back in its envelope, slipped it into her cardigan pocket and went into the living room to put the other cards on the mantlepiece.
‘How long’s breakfast going to be?’ she shouted.
‘Another five minutes.’
She took Nigel’s card out of her pocket and read it again. She’d wanted to speak or text him so many times over the last few days, but something about the way he’d looked at her with Adrian stopped her - she instinctively knew she had to wait for him to come back to her. Now he had.
She took her phone from her pocket and tapped out a text.
Thanks for the lovely card. Good luck with today’s meal. And yes, I’m available for any culinary queries. See you on the cliffs tomorrow. H
She hesitated, then added an X at the end.
‘Are you ready?’ Callum shouted from the kitchen.
‘Yes, yes I am.’