Chapter 16
16
Thursday and Friday passed in a blur of activity and Jade was pleased it was busy because it stopped her thinking so much about Finn’s news and how sad she felt that he hadn’t shared it with her sooner. She could have supported him if she’d known. A problem shared was a problem halved.
She rehomed four ex-battery hens to a couple who’d just bought a smallholding in the area. It turned out the woman’s cousin was also thinking of keeping hens and she promised to pass on Jade’s number.
There was still no word from Declan Stone. When Jade was walking the kennel dogs with Dawn on Saturday morning, she asked her how he’d got on with the cats.
‘I don’t think he saw one he liked,’ Dawn told her, ‘although he did say he’d keep in touch. Seemed an OK chap. Was he just looking for a cat? He looked more like an estate agent than a rehomer.’
‘I think he was on his way to work.’ Jade still hadn’t told Dawn about her land purchase. She was so anxious not to jinx it.
At midday, Zack, the teenager who’d wanted to rehome the geese, called by.
‘I was wondering if you’d had any more thoughts about taking the couple we’ve got at home,’ he asked. ‘Only my dad has given me until tomorrow as the deadline. After that…’ He made a slicing motion across his throat and looked pleadingly at Jade.
‘You can bring them here,’ she told him, ‘but there’s a condition.’
‘What is it? Anything.’
‘You’ll have to dig out a pond for them.’
Zack’s blue eyes lit up. ‘I’d be happy to. Where?’
‘I’ll show you.’ Jade took him up to the hen field and showed him the place she had in mind in the lower corner. ‘Do you have any mates that can help you? It’s quite hard graft.’
‘I do. Thanks. I’ll get hold of a few people.’
‘You do that, and I’ll supply the shovels and the pond liner and the other things we’ll need.’
‘I’m so grateful. When can we get started?’
‘I’d say straightaway if the deadline’s tomorrow. The geese are going to need a pond before they can come over. Oh, and there is one other condition.’
‘What’s that?’
‘My godson, Ben, is going to want to help. He’s seven so I’m not sure how much help he’ll be, but he’ll be over later and there’s nothing he likes more than getting filthy. Are you OK with that?’
‘I am. Totally.’
They exchanged a smile and Jade decided she liked this young man. He had the same light in his eyes as Ben did when he talked about animals. The same light that she felt when an animal had captured her heart. She often saw it in teenage girls, but rarely the boys, who were usually more interested in chasing after the teenage girls.
Sarah brought Ben over as promised just after lunch. ‘Finn’s not back yet then?’ she observed, looking around for his car.
‘No, he’s still in Nottingham. He decided to stay a few days longer. It’s quite a long way, isn’t it, so if he’s going to drive all that distance it makes sense to have plenty of time up there. Make the most of seeing Ray and Dorrie while he’s there. He’ll probably come back tomorrow or Monday.’ She knew she was over explaining because she couldn’t tell Sarah the reason he was really staying up there, but luckily her friend was distracted and didn’t notice.
‘I brought Ben a change of clothes, like you said. He’s very excited about digging out a duck pond. It’s even trumped our double wedding and he was fairly excited about that. But now it’s duck ponds.’ She laughed. ‘I didn’t think you had any ducks.’
‘We haven’t. It’s for some geese we’ve got coming.’
‘No wonder Ben loves it here. There’s never a dull moment.’
‘Tell me about it.’ They smiled at each other. ‘Where is he anyway?’
‘In reception teaching Mr Spock a new word. We should probably intervene. It’s not likely to be polite.’ Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Digging out a duck pond sounds like a good diversion, although I think he’s going to be disappointed the occupants aren’t here. Are you free for a bit? I want to run some wedding plans past you.’
‘Of course I am. I want to talk to you about some stuff too. Shall we get the pond diggers going and sneak into reception for a coffee?’
Twenty minutes later, having made sure everyone had started digging in the right place – Ben had a miniature shovel and a determined expression – Jade and Sarah were in reception with freshly made coffee and some coconut macaroons Sarah had brought.
Jade bit into one, letting the rice paper melt in her mouth and the sweetness of coconut fill her senses. ‘Oh my God, these bring back memories. We always had these on midnight feasts.’
‘I know. That’s why I got them. Although I reckon they were bigger in those days.’
‘Everything was bigger in those days. All chocolate bars have shrunk as well as getting more expensive. And packets of crisps used to be enormous compared to the ones they sell now.’
‘Or maybe it’s just we were smaller then,’ Sarah said with a sweet smile. ‘And now we’re all grown up and on the verge of getting married – how’s that for a cool segue into weddings?’
‘It’s impressive,’ Jade said as Sarah rummaged in her bag and drew out some leaflets.
‘I’ve got the details of some venues. I know you can look at them online but I always think it’s better to have the actual bits of paper in front of you. Then you can compare them side by side. I’ve done a spreadsheet too that compares costs, distances from here, facilities for guests, photo opportunities, that kind of thing.’
‘Blimey, I’m even more impressed,’ Jade said, feeling a stab of guilt because she hadn’t done anything. She’d barely even thought about weddings since they’d had the dinner. She’d got totally sidetracked, firstly with Farmer John’s backtrack and her visit to Rural Developments and then by Finn’s bombshell news.
‘I’ve got more time than you,’ Sarah said, interpreting her guilty expression. ‘At least I have until the schools break up. Eek, ten days to go, so I thought I’d crack on while the going’s good.’
‘He can come here in the holidays,’ Jade said instantly. ‘That’ll help, won’t it?’
‘Yes, that’s true. You’ll probably see more of him than I will.’ They both laughed as Sarah laid out three brochures on the desk.
‘One’s an old mill,’ Sarah said, ‘and the other two are hotels. The mill is really picturesque. I can imagine us standing by the water for the photos, the river meandering behind us through the idyllic Wiltshire countryside and a pair of doves flying up into an azure-blue sky.’ She closed her eyes dreamily.
‘That sounds like a quote from a brochure.’
‘It is a quote from a brochure. Their brochure.’ Sarah laughed. ‘Since when have I been one to use words like azure? It does sound good though.’
‘It sounds brilliant. Do they guarantee the azure bit?’
‘No. I’m afraid not. Although they can supply the doves. There’s a list of links of all the things mentioned in the brochure.’
‘I’m not sure if I’m happy about doves being used at weddings. What are the other two like?’
‘The hotels are both in Dorset. One of them’s the place where our friends got married. So we’ve been there already. It was really nice. That one’s the cheapest venue too.’
‘But it doesn’t have a meandering river and an azure sky?’ Jade teased.
‘No. Nothing like that. It’s rural. But…’ She paused. ‘The other hotel in Dorset is up on a cliff in the isle of Purbeck overlooking Old Harry Rocks. The photos would be amazing there. They’re not actually a specialist wedding venue. But they do have a really good reputation.’ She pushed the brochure across to Jade. ‘Look at their mission statement.’
Jade read it aloud. ‘We’re here to help you make your dreams come true.’ She paused. ‘The Bluebell Cliff Hotel. I think I’ve heard of that. Someone’s mentioned it to me recently. I think it was Aiden. I’m pretty sure he took Kate to stay there for her birthday. There’s actually a restored lighthouse in the grounds that they use for special occasions and they’ve got a world-class chef as well, according to Aiden.’ She sighed. ‘It’ll definitely be out of our price range.’
‘Surprisingly it’s not. Not if you consider what they offer. And we don’t have to go for the world-class chef. We can have our own caterers. It says that on the brochure.’
Jade could hear the excitement in her friend’s voice. ‘I’m guessing this one’s your favourite, too.’
‘Yeah, I think it is. It looks amazing. We obviously need to see what Callum and Finn think. And we’d need to go and look at them all. It might be interesting to see what Aiden thinks too. He’s a born romantic, isn’t he?’ Sarah’s eyes were shining. ‘It’s really exciting, isn’t it?’
Jade nodded. It was hard not to get caught up in Sarah’s excitement despite all of the other things swirling in her head.
They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
‘Come in, you bugger,’ said a high but quite distinctive voice. A parrot’s voice.
Jade looked round in alarm. Mr Spock was sitting on top of his cage and as she looked at him, he threw back his head and said it again, louder. ‘Come in, you bugger.’
‘Oh, good grief, who taught him that?’ she muttered, getting up to open the door.
‘I think I can guess.’ Sarah groaned. ‘I’m really sorry. Can you unteach him?’
‘Come in, you bugger,’ Mr Spock screeched at the top of his voice as the door opened slowly. A tall woman, who could have passed for Halle Berry, but who had white corkscrew curls that looked amazing against her brown skin, came in hesitantly. She was beautifully dressed and carrying a cat basket. She looked at Jade and Sarah. ‘Is this Duck Pond Rescue?’
‘It is, and I’m the proprietor. Jade Foster.’ Jade got up from the desk. ‘Please ignore the parrot.’
‘Oh, I see.’ The woman glanced around, spotted Mr Spock and looked relieved. ‘I thought for a minute there… um…’ She chuckled and then put the cat basket down and Jade saw a flash of white fur through the grille.
‘This is my neighbour’s cat, Snowy. He’s looking for a home. I said I’d bring him in.’
‘Is your neighbour no longer able to care for him?’ Jade asked.
‘She died last week. I’ve been taking care of him since – as Laura, the daughter, can’t. She’s got allergies.’
‘I see. Well, that’s kind of you to bring him. We’ll need to just do some paperwork if you don’t mind. Would you be the person who’s able to do a transfer of ownership form?’
‘I guess I can. No one else wants poor Snowy.’ She sighed. ‘I’m Ursula. Ursula Hargreaves.’
‘I’ll nip up and see how Ben’s getting on while you’re doing that,’ Sarah said. ‘And I’ll have a word with him about that parrot.’
* * *
Ursula Hargreaves was a sweetie, Jade decided as they did the paperwork on Snowy. In her experience, most people who dropped off an animal disappeared as soon as they humanly could, never to be seen again. Whether it was guilt, or the pain of goodbye, or a mixture of both was hard to tell – and Jade tried not to judge – but Ursula was not like this at all.
She came down to see where Jade settled Snowy in the cattery and she looked with interest at all the other cats in situ.
‘I think you people do amazing work,’ she told Jade. ‘I can’t take on the commitment of an animal just now, but I’ve always wanted to volunteer in a place like this. Do you take volunteers?’
‘We certainly do. There’s lots of ways you can volunteer. I need dog walkers, event organisers for fundraising, people to sponsor animals, even if you can just afford a one-off donation it would help.’
‘I’d love to volunteer. I’ve always wanted a dog, but I still work full time.’
‘What do you do?’ Jade asked more out of politeness than any real curiosity.
‘I work for Wiltshire council. I’m an ecologist. It’s a great job but it means pretty long hours and the odd weekend away. It wouldn’t be fair to keep an animal. Even a cat really. I’ve got quite fond of Snowy since my dear old neighbour died but I’m away next weekend so rehoming him seemed the best option.’
‘Of course. I do see.’
‘Many of my weekends are free though. So if I could help at all…’
After they’d settled Snowy, Jade introduced Ursula to Dawn so they could talk about volunteering and the informal schedule they had on a whiteboard in reception. Then Jade went up to the hen field to check out ‘Operation Pond Dig’.
They’d done a surprising amount. Thanks to the recent rain, the ground was softer than it would usually be in mid-July.
Zack and his team of volunteers had dug out about half of the pond. Sarah and Ben were sitting on the ground slightly off to one side. Ben was filthy from head to toe, Jade saw, no surprises there then, and it looked like Sarah was telling him off.
Jade heard Ben say, ‘It wasn’t me,’ as she got closer. His face was mutinous. ‘I haven’t even seen Mr Spock for a week.’
It was always hard to tell whether Ben was lying. He was basically honest but he wasn’t above bending the truth if it suited him. A little like his mum, Jade thought wryly.
‘Hi, how’s it all going?’ she said as the teenage lads, who’d been studiously ignoring the exchange between Ben and Sarah, stopped work and either leaned on or put down their shovels when they saw her.
Zack stepped forward. ‘I think we’re almost there. What’s happened to the parrot?’
‘Someone’s been teaching him swear words,’ Jade said, trying not to smile. ‘Which can be embarrassing when visitors come to call.’
Zack smirked. ‘That is pretty funny. What kind of swear words?’
‘I don’t even know any swear words, Auntie Jade,’ Ben shouted across. ‘I only taught him to say bum. Promise, promise and cross my heart. Hope to die. Bum isn’t rude, is it? It’s part of bodies. Bodies aren’t rude.’
Sarah got up slowly, shaking her head. ‘I don’t know if I believe him or not. But I’ve tried.’
‘It’s fine. It really doesn’t matter.’ Jade caught Ben’s gaze. He wasn’t doing the wide-eyed look he sometimes did when he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. He did actually look quite affronted.
Sarah would probably never see it as clearly as she did, but Ben was a complete chip off the old block. Sarah had always been a maverick, who’d push boundaries to their limit and thought nothing of breaking rules that didn’t suit her. Jade wasn’t a bit surprised that Ben was the same.
‘Lots of people teach Mr Spock things,’ Jade said now, ‘and it’s possible we misheard him, isn’t it, Sarah?’
‘Hmmm.’ Sarah snorted. ‘Maybe!’
‘So, shall we leave these hardworking guys to it? I’ve got some news I want to tell you too.’ She might not be able to share Finn’s news about his past, but it would be good to talk to someone at least about Declan Stone.