Chapter 33
33
Three days before the art exhibition, Jade had a phone call from Phoebe Dashwood at Puddleduck Farm.
‘Hey, it’s lovely to hear from you,’ Jade said, recognising the other woman’s voice immediately. ‘How are you? How’s everything at Puddleduck Farm?’
‘Busy as always.’ Phoebe hesitated. ‘This is terribly cheeky, Jade, but I was wondering if you could help me out with something. Please say no if you can’t.’ She swallowed and Jade could hear the strain in her voice when she went on.
‘We’ve just been landed with a litter of two-week-old puppies. The mother died unfortunately, so they need hand-feeding every four hours and I’m not able to do it at the moment.’
There was a thin reedy cry in the background and Jade pricked up her ears. ‘Don’t worry. We should be able to take them. We can have them in the cottage for a bit. Was that a baby I just heard?’
‘Um, yes. That’s Lily. She was born six weeks ago. She’s keeping us very busy at the moment.’
‘Oh, that’s amazing. Congratulations. I didn’t even know you were pregnant.’
‘It wasn’t exactly planned. But we’re delighted. She’s an utter sweetheart. Sam’s besotted. He’s a very hands-on daddy.’
Jade could hear the love in her voice as she went on. ‘Sam does a lot of the night feeds because I’m with Lily all day. I don’t think she ever sleeps. But I can’t ask him to look after puppies as well. Although he’d probably say yes.’
‘We’re fine to have them. What kind of pups?’
‘It’s hard to say. There’s two brindle and white and one brown. Mum was a brown spaniel-type cross. Not sure about Dad.’
‘We’ll come and pick them up,’ Jade said. ‘It’s no problem at all.’ She looked at the clock in reception. It was just before three thirty. ‘We can come about five if you like. I’ll lock up early.’
‘Thanks so much, Jade. I owe you one, big time.’
‘Of course you don’t. You’ve helped me out loads in the past.’ Last year she and Finn had taken a donkey from Skegness to Puddleduck because they already had three. All sanctuaries helped each other out if they could.
* * *
Jade went to tell Finn what she was planning and as she’d expected, he nodded and smiled, but didn’t object.
Before they went to collect the pups, Jade prepared a crate in the back room with a box and some fleece puppy bedding while Mickey sniffed about curiously, knowing something was afoot.
‘We’re getting some babies,’ Jade told the little dog. ‘You’ll practically be a daddy.’
Finn gave her a quick smile. ‘You’re bonkers.’
‘So are you if you’ve only just realised that.’
‘Touche.’
Puddleduck Pets was an hour away from them in the heart of the beautiful New Forest, but it was a gorgeous drive. September had got out her paint palette. The ferns were the colour of burnished gold and a scattering of red and yellow leaves littered the landscape.
Ancient trees and a mixture of evergreen and browning heathland contrasted against the backdrop of a milky-white sky.
Every so often they saw small herds of brown ponies strolling through the red and gold leaves and occasionally wandering across the unfenced roads.
‘They’ve got no road sense, have they?’ Finn remarked, slowing the Land Rover as he approached a little group near to the roadside. ‘It’s a good job most drivers are respectful enough to stick to the 40miles per hour speed limit.’
‘Definitely.’
They talked about Declan for a bit and the fact he was Finn’s brother and how surprising it was that they’d never heard anything else from him after Finn had knocked him over in reception.
‘That’ll be interesting next time we meet,’ Finn said. ‘I’m going to have to apologise to him, aren’t I? Although Dad still reckons he deserved it.’
‘He did,’ Jade said, leaning across and touching Finn’s wrist. ‘I’m just glad you didn’t damage yourself too much in the process.’
‘Dad said that too.’
‘I’m so glad he’s OK with everything,’ she murmured.
A couple of days after he’d met Bridie, Finn had spent over an hour updating Ray and Dorrie on everything that had happened. They’d chatted on Zoom, which was Ray’s latest venture into the twenty-first century, and Ray and Dorrie had listened quietly when Finn had told them about his meeting with Bridie.
When he’d said he was going to meet her again, and that hopefully he would meet his half-brother and sisters too, Ray had nodded.
‘I’m pleased for you, son, and I’m glad she’s OK.’
‘Me too,’ Dorrie had added. Then she’d confided she’d had a sister who’d died in a car accident during a three-month period when they weren’t speaking to each other and she’d felt terribly guilty about that. It was one of the reasons she’d wanted Ray to encourage Finn to find his mother. Just in case he ever tried in the future and found out he’d left it too late.
That had been a very emotional conversation. Both Jade and Finn had blinked away tears as Dorrie had told them what had happened.
‘The more I get to know Dorrie, the more I like her,’ Finn had said to Jade afterwards. ‘She was right to encourage me to find Bridie. And I think it gave Dad some closure too.’
Closure was definitely the word of the moment, Jade thought now as they drove along the long wall that bordered the posh estate next door to Puddleduck Pets with the full-size statue of the stag standing on sentry duty over its gates.
It would be good to get some of that for herself. She’d heard nothing since she’d sent her letter to The Rookery. But it was still early days. She sighed.
‘What?’ Finn asked.
Jade bit her lip. She still hadn’t told him about that. ‘I was just, um, thinking it’s a pity I didn’t buy a plot of land next door to the landed gentry. And then no one would be building on it.’
‘Ah, well. Who knows what the future holds.’ They had talked a lot about the implications of Rural Developments being owned by Finn’s family, but they’d decided in the end that unfortunately it probably wouldn’t make too much difference. It would still be built on eventually.
They arrived just after five as they’d promised and a few moments later were walking through a side gate to Puddleduck Pets. Phoebe was a vet and her practice, Puddleduck Vets, was based in a converted barn on site.
The vet practice was still open and as Jade and Finn approached the glass doors, Phoebe came out to meet them. She had a baby in a papoose across her chest, and they both stopped to coo over Lily.
‘She’s gorgeous,’ Jade said truthfully as the blue-eyed baby blew bubbles at her. ‘You’re not working, surely?’
‘No, I’m on maternity leave. But I pop in now and then. Sam and I live in the house on site anyway. I just saw your Land Rover pulling in so I thought I’d come and say hi.’
Phoebe looked the picture of happiness, although she was clearly tired too. Dark circles smudged her eyes. ‘Thanks so much for this, Jade. Sam and I could just about manage puppy feeds as well but it’d be a struggle, and I didn’t want to ask my gran. Maggie thinks she’s still a spring chicken but she’s the wrong side of seventy-five and she’s supposed to be stepping back from the animal side since we moved into Puddleduck Farm.’ She grinned. ‘The puppies are in the house. Follow me.’
A few moments later, Jade and Finn were looking down at the tangle of brown and brindle pups who’d been asleep when they arrived but had become aware of the humans and were now waking up and mewling blindly.
Jade felt her heart turn over as she always did when confronted with such helpless vulnerability.
‘Gorgeous little ones. Why did their mum die?’
‘Lack of nutrition from what I could see, and she wasn’t that young, bless her. The woman who brought them in didn’t hang around very long. Said they weren’t hers. We didn’t ask too many questions. What’s the point? People lie anyway, don’t they? But it was nothing infectious, I did check that.’
She and Jade exchanged glances. ‘At least she brought them in,’ Phoebe added. ‘Even though it was a bit late.’
Jade nodded. She knew she’d have been less forgiving, but Phoebe was right, it was pointless getting into altercations with people. When you ran an animal sanctuary you came across the best and the worst in people. It was just a fact of life.
Finn carried the box of pups out to the Land Rover and placed them gently in the animal transporter. Jade brought the rest of the bits and pieces Phoebe insisted on giving them. ‘There’s enough formula milk to last them until they’re weaned. If you bring them back when they’re old enough I’ll do the worming and inoculations too. I don’t want this to cost you anything. Apart from sleep,’ she murmured, suppressing a yawn. ‘Thanks so much again.’
‘It’s our pleasure,’ Jade said and gave Phoebe an impulsive hug. ‘You look after yourself and this little one. Don’t go back to work too early.’
‘Oh, I shan’t,’ Phoebe said. ‘I can’t risk falling asleep halfway through a consultation. You will keep me posted on their progress, won’t you?’ She blew a kiss in the direction of the puppies. ‘They haven’t had the best start.’
‘They’ll be absolutely fine,’ Jade promised as she and Finn climbed back into the Land Rover. ‘We’ll take very good care of them.’
‘I wish we lived closer,’ she murmured as they set off for home. ‘I think Phoebe and I would be really good friends.’
‘You won’t be saying that when you’re doing the 4a.m. feeds for those puppies,’ Finn quipped.
‘Oh, but I assumed you’d be doing the 4a.m. ones,’ she shot back.
‘I’ve got an exhibition to prepare for – I can’t look like a haggard old man, can I?’
‘I thought artists were supposed to be gaunt and haggard. It’s traditional. It adds that enigmatic touch of authenticity – proof that you suffer for your art. Aren’t you supposed to be starving in a garret too?’
‘Definitely not, these days.’ Finn slanted her a glance. ‘I’ve got an idea though. We can rope Dad and Dorrie in. They’re coming down for the exhibition and they love puppies.’
‘I bet they won’t love them so much at 4a.m. Anyway, I thought they weren’t coming down until the day before. What about tonight and tomorrow?’
The banter went back and forth all the way home, but Jade knew as well as Finn did that they would both look after the pups together. Like they did everything else together. They were a team.
She felt another twinge of guilt that she hadn’t told him about the letter she’d sent to Hector Ajax Foster, but as yet she’d heard absolutely nothing. So maybe it was a wild goose chase anyway.
* * *
It was perfectly possible to hand feed puppies in your sleep, Jade decided after that first night. If you didn’t open your eyes fully and you had everything prepared and ready – the pups’ crate had been moved into their bedroom – you hardly knew you’d woken up.
Finn had agreed with her when he’d taken his turn on the second night. ‘It’s good preparation for when we have babies,’ he’d murmured as he’d climbed back into bed after a feeding session and warmed his cold toes up on her legs.
‘Gerroff,’ Jade had muttered, pretending to be half asleep, but she’d heard him loud and clear and it had left a warmth in her heart. They’d have babies one day. Their babies would be brought up surrounded by unconditional love. They would get their happy ending. Despite all the churning up of the past that had been done lately, the future was looking pretty rosy.