Chapter 24
24
‘Good heavens, Laura… what are you doing in here?’
‘It’s my office, Colin,’ she responded. ‘Is there a reason I shouldn’t be in here?’
Laura turned from where she was dusting the shelf. Dusting the award for Regional Estate Agent of the Year for Oban, Argyll and the Isles, in fact. The silver plaque wasn’t the least bit tarnished yet, but the urge to clean everything was becoming almost compulsive.
‘Ah… does being due to have a baby any minute count as a reason?’ Colin Armstrong was shaking his head in disbelief. ‘Or the fact that we’re facing the worst spring storm in living memory? I just heard they’ve closed both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports. Apparently the last flight in had a pretty hairy landing.’
‘I’m on my way home,’ Laura said. ‘Or rather, my mother’s home, where my bag is packed and ready to be taken off to hospital at a moment’s notice. Which I’m not, according to my midwife when I saw her about ten minutes ago. It might be my due date but this baby is not showing any signs of following the rules. It could take another week or more and I’ll be bored stiff if I have nothing to do but look out the window at all this rain.’
The sudden rattle of wind and rain on the office window almost sounded like an echo of the way Laura had been feeling for weeks now. Ever since she’d made the decision not to go back to France. Not to spend her life hoping that, one day, Noah would feel the same way about her as she felt about him. She had focussed, instead, on preparing for the birth of her baby. Sorting her work obligations, shopping for baby supplies, attending antenatal classes and midwife appointments. And cleaning. Lots and lots of cleaning.
‘Get yourself home,’ Colin ordered. ‘I’m sure you can find something to clean there when you’re safely inside away from this storm.’ He looked at the feather duster in her hands. ‘Is this part of what they call the “nesting instinct”?’
‘Probably…’ Laura dropped the duster onto her desk. ‘Fine… I’ll go home.’ But she narrowed her eyes at her boss. ‘What were you going to do in here, anyway? It’s still my office, isn’t it, even if I am officially on maternity leave?’
‘I was going to put this on your desk.’ Colin held up a Manila envelope. ‘It’s a house that will be coming on the market in a month or so and I knew you would be poking your nose through your office door again well before then.’
‘But I’ve handed over my listings. I might well pop into the office but I’m not planning to be back at work by then.’
‘I thought you might like to look at this yourself. You haven’t liked any of the other suggestions I’ve made about a baby-friendly replacement for your apartment.’
‘No…’ The house hunting had definitely been disappointing. Maybe because Laura couldn’t forget about that gorgeous property in Vence that Noah had taken her to see. The one that had given her a glimpse into the dream of the family life it felt like she’d been craving her whole life. ‘Is this another terraced house with noisy neighbours and a garden the size of a pocket handkerchief?’
‘Quite the opposite. Only a ten-minute drive into town but you’d never know that you weren’t in the middle of the countryside. Probably not modern enough to suit your style, though.’ He turned away. ‘I’m doing this as a favour for a friend I play golf with. He’s left the keys with me and some photos he had taken recently because he’s off on a cruise for the next month. He’s asked me to do a valuation and put together some ideas for a marketing brochure by the time he gets back.’
‘Can I have a look? Marketing brochures would be something I could play with at home before I get back to the office properly. Babies do sleep sometimes, I’m told.’
Colin grinned at her. ‘I’m sure your baby will sleep at exactly the prescribed times – if she takes after her mother.’ He handed her the envelope and Laura opened it to take out a photograph.
‘Ohh…’
‘What, you don’t like it?’
The little stone-built cottage she was staring at looked like the house she’d grown up in, but it was in the country with a big garden and a forest of trees around it. It looked rather like a Scottish version of La Maisonette, in fact, with grey stone instead of golden and a slate roof rather than the terracotta pipe version.
For the first time in weeks, Laura felt a tiny glow of something that had nothing to do with the extensive to-do list she was ticking off. This felt like a whisper that something good could be just around the corner.
‘I do like it,’ she said softly.
It was, in fact, quite possibly exactly what Laura hadn’t realised she’d been looking for when she’d started the hunt for a home of her own to raise her child in.
‘Where is it?’
‘Out Glencruitten Road, past the golf course.’
‘I love that area. My dad used to take us out to see the cathedral of trees in the Glencruitten woods, and we went fishing once, in one of the lochs out that way.’
Just the two of them, father and daughter, because she was the oldest.
‘I might just do a drive-by on the way home.’ She looked out the window. ‘It looks as if the rain might be easing off a wee bit.’
‘That’s not a good idea. Just go home,’ Colin advised. ‘Take the keys with you. The house will still be there tomorrow. Or the next day. Or however long it takes this storm to blow through.’
‘Okay…’
Laura was in her car minutes later. She checked that her seat was far enough back to accommodate her belly and the seatbelt straps were between her breasts and well under her bump. She glanced at the envelope that was now lying on the passenger seat. She didn’t want to wait days to have a look at this cottage. It was only a few minutes’ drive away and surely it wouldn’t hurt just to take a peek. To see if there was any basis for the feeling that this was the start of something that could lift the heaviness she was fighting. The prospect of something positive to look forward to might make all the difference when she was in labour.
Without Noah. He might have sent her a message to say he would visit as soon as possible, but he hadn’t taken up her invitation to be present at the birth of his child. She would have her mother with her but Laura knew she would still feel alone.
She found herself indicating a turn that was not going to take her directly to her mother’s house. It wasn’t as if Jeannie was waiting for her. She was at work at the medical centre until late this afternoon.
Laura wasn’t going to do anything stupid. All she wanted was to look at the little stone house in real life. She wouldn’t even get wet if she didn’t get out of the car.
* * *
What was the expression he’d heard used in English?
Noah Dufour looked down at his hands gripping the armrests as the plane’s engines howled in protest at slowing down so fast. Or was it the wind outside that was howling?
Whatever. Looking at his hands reminded him of the expression.
It had certainly been a ‘white knuckle’ ride. The turbulence and the ‘go around’ abortion of the landing at the last moment had been terrifiants .
‘Sorry ’bout that, folks.’ But the pilot’s voice sounded as if he’d enjoyed the challenge of landing this aircraft on the second attempt in vicious crosswinds. ‘You won’t be surprised to learn that we’re the last flight that will be landing here for a wee while. Welcome to Glasgow.’
The woman on the desk of the luxury rental car agency did not sound as if she was enjoying the challenge of the weather.
‘You’re not heading anywhere near Aberdeenshire, are you? The snow gates are closed on the A93 and there’s traffic chaos with a truck rolling on the A9 going into Perth.’
‘I’m heading for Oban,’ Noah assured her. ‘I’ll be very careful, but I have requested a four-wheel drive.’
‘I’m sure you’ll be more than happy with the latest Range Rover we have available for you. Let me get the paperwork sorted. Have you got some ID with you?’
‘Yes, of course.’ Noah reached into his jeans pocket for his driver’s licence. He had to stoop to pick up something else that fell out at the same time. A small, soft teddy bear.
‘Aww…’ The woman gave him a misty smile. ‘That’s so cute…’
Noah had Jeannie Gilchrist’s address and that seemed like a good place to start looking for Laura. According to the built-in satnav in the luxury off-road vehicle, it should have been a two-hour drive to get to Oban, but it was going to take at least twice as long in the slow traffic and appalling weather conditions that seemed to be getting steadily more intense. He had the radio on in the car but he was focussing on his driving more than listening to the news bulletins and experts discussing the unseasonably stormy weather.
‘…there could be gusts of wind up to or even greater than sixty miles an hour, which is nearly a hundred kilometres an hour.’
‘Is it dangerous for people to be outside in winds like that?’
‘Most definitely. There’s a high risk of being blown over and injured. Tree branches or even trees may come down. Unsecured objects could become missiles…’
* * *
It came from nowhere.
Laura had been sitting perfectly safely in her car, looking at the little stone house, which was every bit as attractive in real life as it had been in the photograph, despite this awful weather. She was only going to stay for a minute because, if she was honest, the drive along the narrow tree-lined roads out of Oban, with the leafy twigs swirling through the air and hitting the windscreen, had been scarier than she’d anticipated and the gusts right now were enough to rock her car so hard it made her wonder if it might tip over. That was more than enough incentive to release the handbrake and put her foot on the accelerator, but she heard the terrifying sound of cracking wood at exactly the same moment. The trunk of the falling tree missed her car but some of its branches didn’t. The largest one caved the roof in over the back seat and the level of light was cut dramatically by the spring foliage covering all the windows except the one Laura had been staring through. She was unable to move. All she could see was the little stone house. The house that reminded her of France.
And Noah…
It was possible to release the safety belt and reach for her handbag on the passenger seat. Her fingers closed around the familiar shape of her phone at the same time as she felt the muscles in her abdomen beginning to tighten. It would only be another Braxton Hicks contraction, she reassured herself. It was less than an hour since she’d seen her midwife for the check up and been told there was no sign of her going into labour anytime soon. She still needed to call for help, however. Being stuck in a car under a tree was not a good place to be.
She tapped the phone screen to bring it to life.
She tapped the telephone icon and then the three-digit emergency number. She didn’t expect an immediate answer – they were probably inundated with calls right now. But she didn’t expect complete silence, either.
The phone wasn’t even ringing.
It took only a tiny shift of her gaze to realise why. She didn’t have even a single bar of reception.
Laura squeezed her eyes shut as she pulled her coat around her and huddled into the car seat.
She’d never felt this alone.
‘ Noah …’ It was supposed to be just a thought. A squeeze of pure longing. But she heard his name cross her lips. ‘ I need you…’
* * *
Noah breathed a sigh of relief when he finally reached his destination in a quiet street in Oban. He’d had some concerning moments on the drive from Glasgow, with parts of the road flooding, having to get round a couple of abandoned cars that had clearly been involved in an accident and dodging a sheet of iron that came loose from a farm shed and took off like a kite. He had been very impressed with the capabilities and handling of the vehicle he’d hired.
The neat little grey-stone cottage with a slate roof, where Laura was planning to live with her mother after the birth of the baby, looked homely and welcoming. Except that there was no one to welcome him. No one answered the door.
He hadn’t told Laura he was on his way. Partly because it had been such a rush and, although he’d secured a last-minute ticket after racing to the airport, they had been warned there was a possibility that they may get diverted or have to turn back due to the incoming weather system. Mostly it had been because he wanted to surprise Laura. He wanted to see the look in her eyes when she saw him because that would tell him exactly how she felt about him. He was confident he knew how much she loved him but…
…he wanted to see it for himself. Unguarded. Utterly honest.
Getting back into the car, Noah pulled out his phone. He had the address of The Property Centre on numerous emails, along with Colin Armstrong’s phone number. It would be unwise of Laura to still be working at this stage of her pregnancy but he wouldn’t put it past her. If she wasn’t there, his next stop might have to be the local maternity hospital – if there was one. What if she was somewhere in Glasgow and he’d driven right past?
He fired off a quick text, despite the flickering level of reception.
Laura? Where are you, ma chérie?