Chapter 24 #3
Angelia shook her head. ‘Not just happy. Over the moon, Noel! And please call me Angelia. Anyway, I wanted to pop in and ask what you and the team are doing tomorrow night? Because if you’re free you should come to the summer concert in the village hall.
It’s going to be a brilliant event. There’ll be music, dancing and a few good raffle prizes too.
All proceeds to the upkeep of the hall. And the drinks are on me for all of you, as a thank you for all your hard work. ’
Noel smiled. ‘That’s grand, thank you. I’ll tell the lads and lasses. It certainly sounds like fun. Are you doing a turn?’
Angelia glanced at Ed and then at Bella; her plans were still a secret from the choir, of which Bella was a member. ‘Ah, I don’t think so,’ she lied but felt her cheeks burning.
He tapped his nose. ‘Right-oh,’ he said with a wink.
There was a tapping on the window, and they all turned to see Ferris waving. ‘I think you’re wanted,’ Ed said. ‘Shall I take Scrappy for a walk and meet you at the café in an hour?’
She smiled. ‘Scrappy would love that, wouldn’t you, lad?’ she asked the dog who wagged his tail as if he understood every word.
‘Come on, fella,’ Ed said as he wandered out of the shop, acknowledged Ferris briefly and then continued across towards the pub.
‘Right, well, keep up the good work,’ Angelia said. ‘And Bella, I’ll see you tonight for our final rehearsal.’
‘I’ll be the one quaking in my boots,’ Bella said with a giggle.
Angelia stepped outside to where Ferris was waiting. ‘Hi, Ferris, how are you?’
He smiled. ‘I’m… erm… I’m good, I think. I have news. Shall we go grab a coffee? My treat.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ she said and followed him into the café, where she headed for their usual table which was tucked away in a corner.
There were a few other people in there, including some of the locals who she had met.
Evin and Grace were there, too, and waved at her.
And as she walked past one of the tables, a teenage girl who was sitting with her parents, playing on her phone, looked up and gasped.
‘Mum, it’s Angel from Angel and the Fallen,’ she whispered.
‘Are you sure, love?’ her mum asked.
‘One hundred per cent. Can I go say “hi”?’
‘Oh, no, love, leave her be. She won’t want to be hounded by people. It wouldn’t be fair.’
‘But mum, she’s?—’
‘No, Sarah, it’s rude.’
Angelia remembered the similar situation she had been in when she had met Ruby for lunch and the young couple had clearly wanted to say hello. She stopped and turned to face the girl. ‘Hi, Sarah, is it?’
The girl’s eyes widened and her face turned cerise. She nodded.
Angelia smiled. ‘It’s lovely to meet you. Would you like a selfie?’
The girl looked at her mum, her eyes now filled with happy tears. Her mum stood up and held out her hand. ‘Hello, thank you, I think you’ve just made her birthday,’ the woman said.
Angelia shook her hand. ‘It’s really no problem. And it’s your birthday, Sarah?’ she said, addressing the girl again. ‘Happy birthday. How old are you today?’
‘Th-thank you. I’m thir… thirteen.’
‘Oh, wow, I remember being that age,’ Angelia said with a smile. ‘What did you get?’
‘Partly this holiday,’ the girl replied, clearly still a little awestruck.
‘She wanted to come to Skye because she heard you’re from here,’ the mum said.
Angelia was touched by that. ‘Ah, well, Skye is beautiful so it’s a good place to come on holiday. What else did you get?’
The girl, now overcome with emotion, wiped away the tears that had escaped down her face. She sniffed. ‘Some money towards a guitar.’
‘You’ve inspired her to take up music,’ the dad said as he stood now too.
‘She was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of years ago and has really struggled at school until she discovered your band. Since then, she’s learned ukulele and started having piano lessons.
She recently progressed from ukulele to guitar, but she’s been borrowing one from school so we’re saving up to get her a good one of her own, you know? ’
‘You’re my hero,’ the girl said and Angelia’s heart swelled.
‘We saw the interview on TV a couple of days ago that you did about your condition. You’ve been through such a lot and you’re trying to help other people like you now.
That’s really brave.’ The prerecorded TV interview she had done with Kendric MacKinnon had aired at the start of the week but Angelia had forgotten all about it.
‘Well, Sarah, I think you’re my hero. You’ve overcome some tough times, too, and look at you now. Learning all those different instruments is amazing. Where are you staying?’
‘We’re at the little campsite along the road,’ the dad said.
‘Tell you what, why don’t you come to the summer concert tomorrow at the village hall? I think I have something you might like,’ Angelia said.
‘Can we, Mum? Dad?’ Sarah asked, a pleading tone to her voice.
‘I don’t see why not,’ the dad said.
‘That’s sorted then,’ Angelia said. ‘Now how about that selfie?’
When she went over to where Ferris was now seated, he smiled up at her. ‘You really are wonderful, you know,’ he said. ‘Am I right in thinking you’re going to give that girl a guitar?’
Angelia widened her eyes. ‘How on earth did you guess?’
He shrugged. ‘Because I’m learning what a special person you are.’
She picked up her mug and took a sip of coffee.
‘I’m not special at all. I just feel like I’ve been so privileged and I want to give back.
I have my old guitar at home; the one I learned to play on.
It’s been well-loved, but it was a good model back when it was bought so I think it will be a great starting point for her. ’
‘You’ll need to sign it for her too. She won’t believe it’s real.’
Angelia felt her face warming. ‘She seems like a lovely girl. Anyway, you said you had news?’
He sighed. ‘Indeed, I do.’
‘Well, come on, tell me. Although you don’t seem too happy about it. Whatever it is.’
He lifted his chin to fix his gaze on her. ‘I have very mixed feelings.’
‘What is it?’
‘I’ve been offered my own parish,’ he said, staring down at the slice of Victoria sponge on the plate in front of him.
‘Oh, that’s brilliant. It’s what you’ve wanted, isn’t it?’
He nodded. ‘It is. And I should be happy.’
She tilted her head. ‘So why aren’t you?’
‘Because it’s in Lerwick.’
Angelia gasped. ‘In the Shetlands?’
He nodded. ‘In the Shetlands.’
‘Oh, wow, Ferris, you couldn’t get much further away.’
‘I know.’
‘Don’t you want to go?’ she asked as sadness washed over her.
He lifted his chin. ‘I can’t imagine leaving here. It wasn’t meant to be permanent, and I was absolutely fine with that at first but… Things have changed.’
She thought back to what Ed had said about Ferris and his feelings for her and wondered if perhaps she was the reason he was reluctant to leave.
But that felt incredibly conceited and that was something she certainly wasn’t.
There could be a number of things that made him feel that way.
His love for the local people for starters.
She was about to ask him to elaborate when the door burst open and a woman barged in, knocking over tables and chairs in her wake.
‘It’s all your fault!’ the woman screamed as she threw a bottle in the direction of Angelia, luckily it missed. She continued to shout, ‘It’s your fault Angel and the Fallen have split! After they plucked you from nowhere, this is how you repay them? You’ve ruined everything!’
Realising what was about to happen, Sarah’s family and some of the people at the other tables stood to form a blockade and Ferris ushered Angelia out the back door followed by Evin and Grace who led the way around to the back of the bakery. Grace banged on the door and Caitlin opened it in a panic.
‘What on earth’s wrong?’ Caitlin asked, peering outside with a worried expression.
‘Mum, there’s a lunatic woman trying to get to Angelia!’ Grace said.
Caitlin’s eyes widened and she gestured for them to come in. ‘I’ll give Inspector Donaldson a call.’
Within minutes, Inspector Donaldson and two further police cars were outside the café to deal with the drunken so-called fan who could be heard shouting and swearing, even from the bakery.
Angelia stayed out of sight in the back kitchen with the others, her heart pounding and a pit of dread in her stomach. After around ten minutes the bell above the bakery door jingled and then came a loud voice. ‘Angelia? Are you in here? Are you okay?’
‘It’s Ed,’ Angelia said. ‘My best friend, Ed.’
‘Come through to the back,’ Caitlin called to him and when he arrived in front of her, Scrappy in his arms, he pulled Angelia into his side with his free hand.
His lip was bleeding. ‘Are you okay? Are you hurt?’ he asked, panic evident in both his wide eyes and strained tone.
‘I was so worried when I saw what was happening with the police. They were dealing with a woman who was going mad throwing stuff and screaming, and I heard your name mentioned so I panicked and came looking for you.’
‘I’m fine, honestly, no harm done. Ferris, Evin and Grace worked so quickly to get me out of there. I’m so grateful to all of you,’ she said, addressing her rescuers. ‘But what’s happened to your lip, Ed? You’re bleeding.’
Caitlin handed Ed some damp kitchen paper and he placed Scrappy on the floor and dabbed at his mouth first before pulling Angelia into his arms again.
‘I’m fine, just got caught in the face by one of the missiles.
It’s nothing. Thank goodness you’re okay, that’s all I was bothered about.
I’m sure I heard one of the officers say they were arresting her for disturbing the peace.
They were slapping handcuffs on her and then I saw her being bundled into the squad car.
Another officer said something about threatening behaviour and causing damage to property.
Thank goodness you’re safe. I’m so sorry I left you. It won’t happen again.’
She reached up to touch his face where a bruise was becoming evident and guilt knotted her stomach. ‘I’m sorry this happened to you.’