Chapter 37
‘You know,’ Lennox said thoughtfully as he pushed his plate away, ‘I think maybe next time we have a continental breakfast I’d like some pains au chocolat. What are the chances, Bethany?’
‘What do you know about pains au chocolat?’ Maya asked incredulously. ‘You’d never even heard of a croissant until the other week.’
‘Dad took us for an all-you-can-eat breakfast at that pub over in Lingham-on-Skimmer last Sunday. I mean, we didn’t have the continental breakfast naturally, not when there was sausages and bacon on offer, but I did see them in a basket, and I thought they looked all right. Chocolate for breakfast. You can’t knock it till you’ve tried it after all.’
Bethany and Clive exchanged amused glances. ‘I’ll see what I can do but remember these breakfasts will be on hold from Monday,’ she reminded him. ‘The kitchen’s getting ripped out then and it’s going to be chaos in here while the new one’s being installed.’
‘It’s going to look fabulous when it’s done,’ Maya said. ‘And fancy you getting an en suite put in! My mam would love an en suite, but Dad says they’re only for posh people and she should be glad we’ve got a bathroom at all, cos all he used to get was a weekly soak in a tin bath in front of the fire in his dad’s mucky water.’
‘Good grief,’ Summer said. ‘Honestly?’
‘That’s what he says,’ Maya said knowingly. ‘Mind you, he also told me he was a bookie’s runner at the age of nine and that Grandma sang in a bar for gin. Mam told me he’s having me on, and she reckons he’s watched too much Peaky Blinders. She said he was brought up in a semi-detached in Leeds and they had an avocado bathroom suite. He’s just too tight to fork out for an en suite.’
Bethany and Clive smothered their laughter.
‘All right,’ Clive said, ‘that’s enough of the idle chit-chat. Hurry up and eat your breakfasts because we’ve got work to do. Shirley Bassey arrives today, remember?’
‘I can’t wait to meet her,’ Summer said. ‘Poor little thing has been through so much. She’s going to need a lot of love while she’s grieving.’
‘Maybe Chester can help her with that,’ Lennox suggested, his cheek bulging with Danish pastry. ‘He’s been missing his owner after all. Perhaps they can give each other therapy? They say it’s good to talk.’
‘Sometimes, Lennox, you astound me.’ Clive shook his head in amazement. ‘And who knows but you might be right. Worth a shot anyway.’
‘I just wish Dylan Thomas was coming with her,’ Summer said sadly.
‘It’s horrible that he didn’t make it,’ Maya agreed. ‘But not all of them can, and he never stood much of a chance, did he? At least in the end he was with people who cared about him and wanted to help him. I hope he understood that not all humans are cruel and selfish.’
‘Maybe we could name one of the new stable blocks after him,’ Bethany suggested. ‘It would be a nice way of remembering him. In fact, maybe we could name all the new buildings after some of the horses and ponies we’ve lost. Like Pepper,’ she added, earning a look of sympathy from Clive.
‘And Shadow,’ Summer begged. ‘He was such a lovely old horse, but Ben had to put him to sleep last year because he was in so much pain. Joseph really loved him. What do you think?’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ Bethany said. ‘What about the veterinary unit, Clive? Any ideas what you’re going to call that?’
‘Oh, I think Ben and I have already decided on a name,’ he said. ‘It will be the Joseph Wilkinson Equine Unit. What else?’
They all stared at him, overcome with emotion.
‘Oh, Clive,’ Summer said at last. ‘That’s perfect!’
‘Thank you,’ Bethany said softly. ‘I’m sure that would mean the world to him.’
She shook her head, dismissing the sadness that had suddenly threatened to overwhelm her. Life was for living and she intended to make the most of every day.
She looked around the table at them all: Summer, Maya, Lennox, and her soulmate, Clive. They were all chatting away to each other, and laughter rang out as they teased and joked with each other.
Really, she thought suddenly, she had a sort of family now after all. Her Whispering Willows family. She never wanted to lose them again.
She gazed around the kitchen, imagining it when it was completed. It was going to look so different, but she thought Joseph would approve, and she was certain her mother would have.
Whispering Willows was already becoming a centre of love and laughter she thought, her eyes crinkling with mirth as she heard Maya telling Clive more stories of her dad’s so-called deprived childhood. She was such a character and had so much love for the horses. She was an asset to the sanctuary, without a doubt.
As for Lennox… He might have started working here because he had a crush on Maya, but she was confident he’d grown to love it as much as she did. His heart was most definitely in the right place, and he was a good worker, even if he did grumble about the copious amounts of manure the residents managed to produce.
As for Summer… Bethany watched her now, nibbling on a croissant. She was half listening to Maya, but her thoughts were clearly also somewhere else. She was probably imagining Shirley Bassey’s arrival, working out how best to make the little Welsh Mountain pony feel at home. Summer lived and breathed the horses, ponies, and donkeys in her care. They were in safe hands with her and, hopefully, in time she’d learn to think with her head as well as her heart.
Clive had already told her that Joseph had warned him about Summer’s determination to save every animal she could, whatever the cost. Bethany knew there would be times when she’d have to be firm with her manager, but she had confidence that Summer would eventually become more practical without losing her passion.
She hoped so anyway. She wouldn’t want her to be too practical after all. It was lovely to see someone who cared so much and wanted so badly to make a difference. She felt she was lucky to have Summer.
And then there was Clive.
He sat at the end of the table opposite her, already seeming like the head of this Whispering Willows family. It suited him. It was a shame he’d never had the chance to be a father, though she realised he was a real father figure to Ben. Summer had confided as much. Ben adored him and she could understand that. She adored him herself.
He was everything Ted hadn’t been. Honest, reliable, gentlemanly, respectful. He treated her as an equal and cared about her opinions. She’d never had that in her marriage. There had been so many things missing in her relationship with Ted, but she knew they weren’t missing from this one. She didn’t know what she’d done to be so fortunate to find Clive and had no idea why he’d fallen in love with her, but she gave thanks every day that he had.
Sometimes, in her more wistful moments, she liked to imagine that Joseph had sent her to him. She hoped he was happy for them. She thought he would be. They were, after all, the two people he’d loved most in the world.
And now here she was back home at Whispering Willows, determined to make it the beautiful family home it deserved to be. A hub for her sanctuary family. She wasn’t going to rent it out after all. Instead she was going to live here, creating a home for the people she loved, and for herself. One day, maybe it would be Clive’s home, too.
At last she knew where she belonged. She’d been running for so long, searching for that elusive place where she could put down roots. All those house viewings. All that travelling. All that searching and hoping and disappointment.
And all the time home had been waiting right here for her in the very last place she’d thought to look.
Home was Tuppenny Bridge with its friendly and welcoming community. It was Whispering Willows with its horses, ponies, and donkeys, its dedicated and compassionate staff, and the memories of her mother and Joseph oozing from every stone, wrapping themselves around her with warmth and love.
Home was Clive, the man who’d unfrozen her heart, helped her to forgive herself and her family, and had taught her what true love really felt like.
They were never going to be lonely again.
Thank you, Joseph, she thought. Thank you for everything.
And it was as if she could hear his voice inside her mind.
It’s going to be right, Beth. Haven’t I always told you that? It’s all going to be right.
*