Chapter Five
CHAPTER FIVE
For most, it was easy enough to send invites to Ottilie and Heath’s party via social media, but for the odd exception, it was necessary to write one out and deliver it the old-fashioned way.
Just after work, Ottilie was climbing the hill to Daffodil Farm to see Corrine and Victor with their invite. She was hoping to see their alpaca herd too. Victor often took her over to the field to feed and fuss them, and Ottilie looked forward to those visits, especially when she got to see their newest addition, which they’d named Ottilie in her honour.
She was looking forward to seeing the herd but even more so to a slice of Corrine’s fruit cake. Victor’s wife never stopped baking, but there were plenty of takers, so it never went to waste. Ottilie was always treated to a slab and a cup of tea on arrival at Daffodil Farm, and then sent away with extra for her and Heath when she left. It had come to the point that if she didn’t manage to visit the farm for a couple of weeks, Heath would be so disappointed not to have cake that she’d have to arrange to go up there just for him.
When she was in a rush and the path would allow it, Ottilie drove up there. Today, even though the sun was low in the sky and would likely set before she made it back down, she still left her car at the bottom and walked. Already, the clear spring sky was changing, tinged with pink and peach and indigo, and the hollows were shadowed, and the air was so clean she couldn’t get enough of it after being in a stuffy treatment room all day. If it was dark when her visit was over, she was sure Victor would run her back down in his faithful Old Banger – the ancient Land Rover that seemed to defy all laws of physics simply by still being in one piece.
At the farmhouse, Corrine opened the door before Ottilie had even knocked. How lovely to see you! You should have said you were coming…Victor’s over at the field, but I’m sure he won’t be long.’
Corrine wiped her hands on her apron as she ushered her in. As usual, Ottilie could smell cinnamon and sugar on the air of the warm kitchen. If she hadn’t spent a few weeks staying with Corrine and Victor when her own cottage had been flooded shortly after she’d arrived in Thimblebury, she’d be of the firm belief that Corrine didn’t bake anything other than her signature cake. However, on good authority Ottilie could say that Corrine did, in fact, cook many other dishes and they were all as good as her fruit cake.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t warn you, but I had a spare half hour after work and I wanted to come up to give you this…’ Ottilie took an envelope from her jacket pocket and handed it to Corrine, who took it with a questioning look. ‘It’s an invite,’ Ottilie explained as Corrine opened it and read the page within. ‘We’re having a party – Heath and me. We’d love you to come. All of you – Penny and Melanie and their other halves too, if they can make it.’
‘I’m sure they’d love to. Victor and I will definitely be there. Is it for a special occasion?’
‘It might be,’ Ottilie said, tapping the side of her nose.
‘What sort of occasion?’
‘I can’t say now, but all will become clear.’
‘Oh…well, do we need to bring anything?’
‘Yourselves – that’s all we need.’
‘But if you’re celebrating something we can’t turn up empty-handed!’
‘Of course you can!’ Ottilie said. ‘And besides, I must have cost you a small fortune in flour, eggs and sugar since I arrived in Thimblebury – you’ve spent more than enough on me without buying me gifts.’
Corrine put the invite on the kitchen table and went to boil the kettle while Ottilie took her usual seat and gazed out of the window. ‘It’s a lovely sunset from up here,’ she said.
‘It’ll be a frosty night, though,’ Corrine said. ‘A bit late in the year too – always a problem for the garden.’
There was a beat of silence as Ottilie’s gaze went back to the square of peach-and-gold horizon she could see through the window. When she looked back, Corrine was staring into space. Not admiring the sunset, as she was, but fixed on a spot on the wall as if deep in thought.
‘Penny for them,’ Ottilie said.
Corrine shook herself and smiled vaguely. ‘Sorry.’
‘Don’t be. Is everything all right? You seem…’
Ottilie couldn’t put her finger on it. Corrine had been her usual welcoming self, but now that she paid more attention, Ottilie could see that something wasn’t right. She wasn’t quite her usual self, even though she’d done a good job of pretending.
‘You’re not ill, are you?’ Ottilie asked, her mind immediately going to Corrine’s recent recovery from skin cancer. ‘It’s not…there’s nothing troubling you? No more moles or?—’
‘Oh, no, nothing like that,’ Corrine said. ‘I’m fine – no relapses, nothing to worry about.’
Ottilie was about to ask more but then the back door was flung open by Victor. A complaint about something or other hung from his lips, but he stopped as he saw Ottilie and broke into a smile.
‘Hello, stranger! What brings you to our corner? Or have you come to see my girls?’
‘I’m never going to turn down a chance to feed the alpacas,’ Ottilie said. ‘If it’s not too late in the day.’
‘I’d just fastened them in for the night, but I expect I can undo the shed again this once, seeing as it’s you.’
‘Have a cup of tea first,’ Corrine said.
‘There’s a spare in the pot for me, is there?’ Victor kicked off his boots and sat them on a coconut mat at the back door.
‘Isn’t there always?’ Corrine replied.
‘What brings you up here then?’ Victor asked Ottilie as he joined her at the table.
‘We have an invite,’ Corrine cut in, putting the envelope in front of him. ‘To a party. We don’t get so many of these nowadays, do we?’
‘Not so many parties I can be bothered with nowadays.’ Victor took up the envelope and pulled out the page.
‘Will you come?’ Ottilie asked. ‘We’d love to see you there, but if you don’t?—’
‘We’ll come, lass,’ Victor said, folding the page again. ‘Only because it’s you, mind. Is this open to us all? Penny and Melanie too?’
‘Of course,’ Ottilie said. ‘You and your daughters and their husbands, and even the alpaca if you want to bring them!’
Ordinarily, he would have laughed at her joke – at the very least had a quip of his own – but Victor shot a strange and doubtful look at Corrine, and this time Ottilie knew something wasn’t right.
‘We’ll tell them,’ he said, turning back to Ottilie. ‘I can’t say whether they’ll be coming or not, but I expect they’ll let you know themselves.’
‘We’ll have enough food either way, so we’ll leave it up to them,’ Ottilie replied. She gave Corrine a grateful smile for the cup she’d just put down in front of her. She then went to give one to Victor.
‘No cake?’ he asked, looking up at her.
‘Give me a minute!’ Corrine said impatiently as she went to the pantry. ‘Honestly! I don’t know how you aren’t rolling down those hills with the amount you eat!’
‘I work it off, don’t I? Not like some, sat in this kitchen all day.’ He winked at Ottilie, who returned it with a grin, even though she probably oughtn’t to have done.
‘Cheeky bugger!’ Corrine snapped as she put a chunk of fruit cake in front of him. Her tone was gentler for Ottilie. ‘You’re having a slice?’
Ottilie smiled. ‘As if I’d say no!’
‘And you’ll take one for your Heath,’ Corrine added, a statement rather than a question, confirmed by the fact that she didn’t wait for Ottilie’s reply, instead pulling a roll of parchment paper from a drawer and wrapping a slice before putting a second one on a plate and giving them both to Ottilie.
‘That’ll make his day,’ Ottilie said. ‘He’d never say it to Flo, but I think yours is his favourite cake in the world.’
Corrine flushed and bustled at the sink. She didn’t acknowledge the compliment, but Ottilie knew she was secretly pleased and proud to hear it.
The following morning, Ottilie made her usual call at Hilltop Farm before work. Ann and her son, Darryl, who lived at the farm, were Victor and Corrine’s nearest neighbours – though there was a fair distance between their lands. But while Victor and Corrine’s farm was a thriving business, Ann’s was dilapidated and constantly close to bankruptcy. Somehow, she managed to keep things going, despite the challenges of Darryl’s learning difficulties and her husband’s untimely death. Ottilie worried more about her than Darryl, though she always made her daily visits about him so that she wouldn’t make Ann feel guilty for taking the time from her day.
As always, she knocked lightly to announce her arrival and then let herself in through the unlocked back door. She stepped into the kitchen to find Ann at the stove – as always – and Darryl in his usual spot at the kitchen table with his favourite two books about trains open in front of him.
Ann turned from where she was frying bacon. ‘Good morning!’
‘Morning.’ Ottilie smiled at her and then turned to her son. ‘Darryl…’
He looked up at the sound of his name, gave the vaguest of nods and then returned to his books. It didn’t worry Ottilie – she was used to this sort of response from him. If anything, it was reassuring. It meant he felt comfortable in her presence, that he trusted her. If there were any other reaction, if he was actually taking note of her and what she was doing, she’d be far more concerned.
‘We’re having a good one this morning,’ Ann said. ‘He’s being very cooperative.’
‘He’s had his insulin?’
‘Yes, no problem. I’m just doing his breakfast now. There’s spare if you have time to stay.’
‘I’m sorry. I’d love to, but I called to check on Darryl, of course, and also to give you this…’
Ottilie took an envelope from her bag and held it out.
Ann wiped her hands on her apron and took it from her. ‘What’s this?’
‘An invite to a party we’re having – me and Heath. I’d love you to come, but I completely understand if you can’t make it for any reason…’ she added, glancing at Darryl, who was still poring over his books.
‘We’ll do our best,’ Ann said. ‘What’s the occasion?’
‘A surprise,’ Ottilie said.
‘For Heath? Is it his birthday?’
‘I mean a surprise for everyone else. We’re celebrating a thing which we’ll tell you about on the night.’
‘Ah…’ Ann smiled. ‘Am I allowed to guess what it might be?’
‘No,’ Ottilie said, grinning back at her.
‘Then I shall only wish you a huge congratulations and keep my guesses to myself,’ Ann replied, her own smile growing. ‘It’s wonderful news. I hope you’ll be very happy. Are you inviting everyone?’
‘All the film club, some of my patients, everyone at the surgery, of course. I think Corrine and Victor will be there, so that will be someone for you to chat to if you do come.’
‘That’s good. Have you seen them recently then?’
‘Yesterday.’
‘Ah…’
Ottilie tried not to frown at the leading nature of Ann’s short comment. ‘Is there something I should know about?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Did you…’ Ottilie paused. ‘Do you know if all is well with them?’
‘I think they have a lot of worries at the moment,’ Ann said. ‘I’ve seen Corrine a couple of times this week and she wasn’t herself. I asked if she was all right and she said it wasn’t her – something to do with one of her daughters. I don’t know what exactly, but it sounds like marriage trouble to me.’
‘Corrine said that?’
‘Not as such, but, you know, reading between the lines…’
‘I suppose that must be a worry,’ Ottilie agreed. She fastened up her bag. ‘I’m glad she’s got you to talk to about it.’
‘You won’t tell her I said anything, will you? I’d hate her to think I was gossiping.’
‘My lips are sealed. I’m glad to know I wasn’t imagining it yesterday. I hope it works out for them, that’s all. They’re such lovely people they don’t deserve all the troubles they seem to have. Anyway…’ Ottilie readjusted her bag. ‘I’d better get on my way if everything is nice and calm here.’
‘Are you sure you won’t take a sandwich?’ Ann asked, nodding at the pan of bacon.
‘Delicious as that smells, I don’t have much time to wait for it to be cooked, I’m afraid. But thanks for the offer.’
With a last goodbye to Darryl, which he barely noticed, Ottilie took the road down the hill, the sun cresting a row of distant peaks to bathe the land in gold. She would never get bored of this view, not for as long as she lived. It was strange to imagine there was a time in her life when she’d never seen it. Soon, the happiness she’d found in Thimblebury would be complete. Heath would be living there with her, and everything would be just about perfect.