Chapter Eight
CHAPTER EIGHT
It was already going dark as afternoon clinic wrapped up, but Ottilie had promised to get some help for Ann, who had been given antibiotics and reassurances by Dr Stokes but was still panicking about the work that needed to be done on the farm.
Her first thought had been Victor and Corrine at Daffodil Farm. They were the closest thing to farming neighbours Ann had and were always brilliant in a crisis. Ottilie recalled how much she’d relied on them when her house had been flooded the previous year, and how they’d been her saving grace. She’d tried the landline but had got no reply, and Victor famously (or infamously, depending on your viewpoint) refused to have a mobile phone because he’d lost so many of them over the years. As Corrine didn’t have one either, and because Ottilie loved to visit them anyway, she decided to go up there straight from work. If she was lucky, she’d get a slice of Corrine’s divine fruit cake and a cup of tea, and if she was even luckier, she might get to visit Victor’s alpaca herd.
It was the third hill she’d climbed that day, and as she made her way up to Daffodil farmhouse, she decided that if she didn’t sleep like a log that night then she might need a doctor’s appointment herself because there had to be something wrong with her.
Corrine was already standing at the front door as Ottilie pushed open the gate.
‘I saw you come over the top there,’ she called. ‘I was saying to Victor only yesterday we hadn’t seen you for a while.’
‘Yes, sorry about that. Things have been a bit hectic.’
Corinne gave a grimace of sympathy. ‘I heard about Dr Cheadle. Such a shame. How is her husband?’
‘Still quite poorly,’ Ottilie said, following Corrine inside and closing the door. The kitchen was warm and welcoming, a spicy sweetness hanging on the air. ‘We’re all hoping for good news but we haven’t had it yet. I’m going to call later to see how she’s doing.’
‘Give her our best wishes, won’t you? And you – how are you doing?’
‘Good,’ Ottilie said. ‘Apart from the things that come to test us all, I’m good. How’s everything here?’
‘Oh, about the same. I’ve had the all-clear from the hospital so that’s good, isn’t it?’
‘Completely clear?’
‘Yes. Cancer free. I can’t quite believe it myself, if I’m honest. Keep thinking I misheard the doctor, but that’s what he said.’
‘That’s brilliant!’ Ottilie gave her a hug. ‘I’m so pleased for you.’
‘It’s a relief, I can tell you that much.’
‘I bet Victor is thrilled.’
‘I think so.’ Corrine showed Ottilie her finger. ‘He got me this, so I suppose that means he’s happy. Hasn’t bought me a ring in forty years. I don’t know what possessed him to get this – hardly practical for scrubbing the stone floors in here, is it?’
‘Oh, that’s gorgeous!’ Ottilie lifted it to the light. The ring was gold, a ruby set into a shoulder of modest but pretty diamonds. ‘He wants to show you he loves you and he appreciates you. I say don’t knock it.’
‘I’m not. It’s just not like him to be all sentimental.’
Ottilie smiled. She could well imagine what a health scare like Corrine’s could do for a couple. When Corrine’s skin cancer had first been diagnosed, Victor had freely admitted to Ottilie that he was terrified of losing Corrine. ‘Well, I think it’s beautiful.’
Corrine held up her hand and took a moment to admire it, and Ottilie could tell that despite her protestations, she was rather in love with her new jewellery, and perhaps even more with what it represented.
‘Anyway.’ She shook herself. ‘I’m about to make a pot. You’ll have tea, won’t you?’
‘Don’t need to ask me twice.’ Ottilie took a seat at the table.
‘I’ve been baking too, if you want cake.’
‘I thought I could smell fruit cake. Ah well, if you’re forcing me, then I’d better take a slice.’
‘Right. Won’t be a minute.’
Corrine went over to a cooling rack on the worktop, and it was then that Ottilie noticed the freshly baked brick of fruit cake. ‘So have you come to visit us or the girls?’
Ottilie laughed. ‘A bit of both.’ ‘The girls’ was the nickname they gave to their alpaca herd, and it was a running joke that when Ottilie came to visit them she really only wanted to see the alpaca. It was only a bit true, in that no visit ever felt complete without a walk to their enclosure on the top field. ‘I’ve actually come to beg a favour, if you can spare the time.’
‘Oh?’ Corrine cut into the cake. ‘This is still a bit warm and a bit crumbly – sorry about that.’
‘That sounds amazing,’ Ottilie said. ‘I’ll take your cake however it comes. So you know Ann at Hilltop?’
‘Yes, of course. Is she all right?’
‘Not really. I mean, it’s a temporary thing, but she’s got a nasty infection and she needs a week or so of decent rest, but she’s panicking about the farm. I know you and Victor are busy with this place, but if you or your daughters and their other halves can spare the odd half hour here or there to go and help her, I think it would make a huge difference. Only day-to-day stuff, enough to keep things ticking over. I’m sorry to ask; I know you have a lot on. I thought I might ask one or two others as well, but I came to you first because you’ll know farming, and other people won’t so much.’
‘Of course we’ll always do what we can for a neighbour. Do you need someone to go over today?’
‘Whenever you can would be brilliant.’
‘And she has all that extra worry with her lad, poor thing.’
‘Exactly. So any support for her would be amazing.’
Corrine put a slice of cake in front of Ottilie just as Victor came in, bringing a blast of cold winter air in his wake.
‘All settled in…Oh, hello, Nurse!’
‘Hi, Victor. How are you?’
‘All the better for seeing you. You’ve come up at the right time as well. Just had a new delivery.’
‘Of what?’
‘A new girl, of course!’ He took off his hat and sat at the table expectantly. Corrine didn’t need to ask – she simply put a slice of cake in front of him too.
‘You’ve had a new alpaca? A baby?’
‘No, a rescue. Some daft wench over at Ullswater thought she could rear one in her back garden. Soon realised it wasn’t that simple and was looking to get rid.’
‘So you’ve taken her on? What’s she named?’
He grinned at Corrine, and she gave a mischievous one in return. ‘Ottilie.’
Ottilie laughed. ‘Seriously? Was that her name already, or have I been greatly honoured?’
‘Oh, we’ve named her. Both said it straight away, as soon as we saw the photos.’
‘Hmmm…’ Ottilie took a bite of her cake. ‘So what you’re saying is, I look so much like an alpaca from Ullswater that it was the only name you could give her. I’m not sure how to feel about that.’
‘No,’ Corrine said, ‘she reminds us of you.’
‘Isn’t that the same thing?’
‘She were trying to be kind,’ Victor said, laughing, ‘but if you want to have it that way, yes.’
Aside from Victor and Corrine, their alpaca herd were some of the first creatures Ottilie had met on her arrival in Thimblebury the year before. She had fond memories of that time and still had a soft spot for the animals ‘Can I go and see her?’
‘If you want to go up tonight, we’ll have to be quick; it’ll be dark soon.’
‘Maybe we should wait for a better time then.’
Victor looked vaguely disappointed but nodded agreement. ‘Might be for the best. I’ve only just settled her in.’
‘It’s exciting,’ Ottilie said. ‘I’ve never had an alpaca named after me. Never had anything named after me. Nobody can ever spell my name to name anything after me!’
‘Well, now you have. You’ll have tourists leading an Ottilie up and down the fields come the summer.’
Ottilie smiled at them both.
‘We heard about Dr Cheadle.’ Victor reached for the teapot to fill his mug. ‘A bad business.’
‘Yes,’ Ottilie said. ‘It’s been stressful.’
‘Is he going to be all right?’
‘We don’t really know yet. We’ll know more in the next few days, I expect.’
‘Ottilie wants to know if we can spare half an hour to go and look in on Ann at Hilltop. She’s not well and needs some help.’ Corrine got up and filled the kettle to boil again.
Victor nodded. ‘I expect we can do a bit here and there.’
‘I was hoping you’d be able to,’ Ottilie said.
‘I’ll give her a knock in a bit,’ Victor said, and Ottilie gave a grateful smile.
As she reached for her tea, a notification came through on her phone. She pulled it out of her bag to see a text from Stacey.
How are you doing? How’s the new doc? X
‘Sorry…’ Ottilie began to type a reply. ‘Don’t mean to be rude but I need to quickly reply to this…’
‘Don’t mind us,’ Corrine said.
Fine, holding up. No news on Charles yet. New doctor very good and a nice guy. X
Good. So I hear. Not bad to look at either?????
Ottilie had to smile at the leading row of question marks in Stacey’s reply. She had clearly already been told Simon was handsome. And now that she thought about it, he was. Not her type, but she could appreciate good looks as well as anyone, and he’d been blessed in that department with dark hair and dark eyes, broad shoulders and quite an attractive gravelled tone to his voice.
Her reply would need to be longer and it would have to wait until she’d left Victor and Corrine. Perhaps she’d call on Stacey on the way home for a chat and fill her in on the latest gossip.
Ottilie sent Stacey a brief text as she left Daffodil Farm. Victor had insisted on running her down the hill in his old Land Rover before going over to check on Ann and Darryl. Stacey had replied quickly, happy for Ottilie to call. She had lasagne in the oven and enough for an extra plate anyway, and so the arrangements to stay for dinner had been made with Ottilie barely noticing.
But when she arrived, she realised gossip would have to wait as she walked in to see Magnus and Geoff already in the kitchen.
‘We were just talking about the next film club,’ Geoff said, getting up to give Ottilie a brief kiss on the cheek, Magnus following suit. ‘We’re struggling to know what to show this time. I think we should go with an old classic. I thought Kramer vs. Kramer .’
‘I’ve never seen it,’ Ottilie said.
‘It sounds depressing,’ Stacey put in.
‘It’s desperate,’ Magnus agreed. ‘I’d have to miss film club for the first time ever if that was on.’
‘You’ve never even given it a chance,’ Geoff said. ‘You never give my films a chance.’
‘I do. Wasn’t On Golden Pond yours? And it was bloody miserable!’
‘Well, what do you want?’ Ottilie asked Magnus. ‘Could we find something somewhere in the middle?’
‘ Priscilla Queen of the Desert .’
Geoff rolled his eyes. ‘Talk about cliché! We’re gay but we don’t have to be camp!’
‘It’s a brilliant film!’ Magnus said in a sullen tone. ‘Whether you think it’s camp or not makes no difference.’
‘We’re not putting it on. Can you imagine Flo sitting down to watch that?’
‘Flo hates every film we show anyway, so why worry about that?’
‘He’s got a point there…’ Stacey handed Ottilie a glass of wine.
Ottilie hadn’t intended to drink, but now that it was in her hand and in the face of the argument about to erupt between Magnus and Geoff, perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea.
Geoff rounded on Stacey. ‘Whose side are you on?’
‘Nobody’s. Is it actually your turn to choose?’ she asked.
‘It’s Lavender’s, but she said she was too busy to think of one.’
‘Perhaps she ought to try again, if only to save your marriage…’ Stacey shook her head and turned to Ottilie. ‘How’s it gone today then?’
‘Oh, you know, there’s not much to say other than what I texted you. The locum is lovely, seems to know what he’s doing and is settling in very fast. We couldn’t have asked for better in the circumstances. And I’m waiting to hear from Fliss.’ She checked her watch. ‘Visiting time ought to be over soon, so I expect she’ll message with an update.’
‘You’ll let her know we’re thinking of her, won’t you,’ Magnus said, and Geoff nodded.
‘It’s an awful shock.’
‘Absolutely.’ Ottilie put her wine down to take off her coat.
‘And as soon as you hear some news you must let us know.’
‘I will,’ Ottilie said.
‘So you haven’t been home yet?’ Stacey asked.
‘No, I’ve been up to Daffodil Farm. Had a quick cup of tea with Corrine and Victor.’
‘Ah. And they’re well?’
‘I think so. Corrine was showing me this stunning ring Victor had bought for her.’
‘Really? I didn’t know he had it in him.’
Ottilie smiled. ‘I think he wants to show her how much she means to him.’
‘Lucky cow,’ Stacey said.
‘They’ve had a new alpaca as well.’
‘Don’t they have enough already?’ Geoff asked.
‘This one’s a rescue apparently.’
‘What have they called her?’
Ottilie’s smile became a bit more sheepish. ‘Would you believe they’ve called her Ottilie?’
Stacey clapped her hands together. ‘That’s brilliant!’
‘I’d like to see,’ Magnus said. ‘I bet she’s cute.’
‘I thought you said they were smelly long-necked sheep with delusions of grandeur,’ Geoff cut in.
‘That was a joke,’ Magnus said hotly.
‘It didn’t sound like a joke.’
‘If you can’t tell a joke from a serious observation, then you’re in trouble.’
‘It looks as if I can’t. I married you after all…’
Ottilie frowned at Stacey, who let out a sigh and signalled for Ottilie to follow her into the living room.
‘They’ve been driving me mental for the last hour,’ she said in a low voice as she and Ottilie moved away from the bickering. ‘Don’t know what’s got into them.’
‘Poor you. Where’s Chloe and Mackenzie?’
‘Well…’ Stacey took a breath and sat down. ‘She’s taken him to meet this person she went to meet the other day.’
‘She told you that?’
‘Not in so many words, but I sort of worked it out. It must be serious because she doesn’t take Mackenzie out on her own, and certainly not on the bus into another town.’
‘Aren’t you worried about her?’
Stacey blinked. ‘She’s an adult; I can’t tell her what to do. I don’t know that there’s any cause to worry yet, and she’ll have to get used to taking Mackenzie out eventually, so she might as well start now.’ Stacey took a thoughtful sip of her wine. ‘Do you think I ought to be worried?’
‘Of course not – I was only asking. But you thought it was a boy last time you mentioned it. So it seems a bit quick for her to be introducing him to Mackenzie if it is.’
‘I know, but I suppose being upfront isn’t a bad thing. There’s no point keeping him a secret and then her getting down the line with this lad and really liking him, only for him to dump her because she didn’t tell him she had a baby. Right?’
‘I suppose so. I can’t say I know a lot about this sort of thing.’
‘If I’m being honest, I’m jealous that she’s found a fella already and I can’t get anyone interested.’
‘You don’t know that.’
‘She might not have, but neither have I, and I’ve been waiting a lot longer.’
‘Perhaps you ought to start driving around the neighbouring towns trying to pick one off.’
‘Don’t even joke about it,’ Stacey groaned. ‘It’s crossed my mind. Kidnap a tourist – nobody would miss the odd one.’
‘Oh, Stacey…’
‘I know – modern women aren’t supposed to be so needy, are we? I don’t care about modern. I am needy!’
‘You’re not, you’re brilliant and gorgeous and funny – and you should hold on for someone who deserves you. I’m not going to tell you to be patient because I realise it must be hard, but he is out there, and you will find him.’
‘Hmmm. So this new doctor then…he’s good-looking?’
Ottilie gave a little laugh. ‘He’s very good-looking.’
‘And what’s his story?’
‘I’m not entirely sure. He mentioned a wife but like he wasn’t with her now.’
‘Like he didn’t bring her with him or like he’s divorced?’
‘Like…well, like she isn’t around any longer.’
‘You think he’s widowed?’
‘I sort of got that feeling.’
‘How old is he?’
‘I’d say close to forty-ish.’
‘I might have to make an appointment to see him for my ingrowing toenail.’
‘Don’t you go making appointments just to gawp! Poor bloke’s got enough on his plate.’
‘Who said anything about gawping? I’m deeply offended you’d think such a thing of me.’
Ottilie laughed again as she sipped at her wine. ‘It’s a genuine medical emergency then?’
‘Of course.’
The door to the living room opened. Magnus and Geoff came in.
‘What are you two whispering about in here?’ Geoff asked.
‘I’m surprised you noticed we were gone,’ Stacey shot back. ‘Too busy taking potshots at each other.’
‘We weren’t.’
‘We were a bit,’ Magnus said ruefully. ‘Sorry, Geoff.’
Geoff sniffed and turned back to Stacey. ‘Well, it was rude of you to go off and leave us. We’re guests.’
‘You’re not; you’re my brother. Doesn’t count. And Magnus is as good as. The only official guest we have to be polite to here is Ottilie.’
‘Hey…’ Ottilie held up her hands. ‘Don’t drag me into this!’
‘Button it, lady – consider yourself dragged.’
‘Ottilie…’ Magnus cut in, making himself taller, as if he was suddenly above all the petty squabble and idle banter. ‘So you were going to tell us more about the new GP.’
‘He’s not really our new GP; he’s only a very temporary cover.’
‘I’ve heard he’s very nice.’
‘He seems it.’
‘I heard he’s been out of the country.’
‘Yes, he’s spent the last year in Botswana doing voluntary work.’
‘Has he?’ Magnus looked impressed while Stacey looked far more attentive now. ‘That’s very interesting, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Ottilie said, wishing she hadn’t given that snippet away.
‘Is he staying locally?’ Stacey asked, and Ottilie was beginning to wish everyone wasn’t quite so interested. She didn’t want to give away things that Simon might not appreciate, but she didn’t want to be all secretive either – because that often made people even more curious.
‘He has a hotel outside the village for the next couple of days, but then if he stays any longer than that, he says he’s going to have to commute from Liverpool.’
‘Every day?’
Ottilie nodded. ‘To save money, I suppose.’
‘That’s a long way,’ Geoff said.
‘It’s a bit of a distance,’ Ottilie conceded, ‘but for someone like him, it’s all part of the job. He must be used to being sent all over the place – doctors often are.’
‘Still, isn’t there somewhere in the village he can stay while he’s working here?’
Stacey raised her eyebrows. ‘Yes, how about that massive luxury hotel…Oh, wait, there isn’t one, is there? Not even a piddly B she’d never seen them like this before, but she’d noticed them bickering more than usual the last few times she’d been around. She hoped it would blow over, because she was fond of them both and hated to think of them splitting up.
‘While I think about it,’ she began as a way to distract everyone, ‘is there anyone who can spare an hour to go and check in on Ann at Hilltop Farm?’
‘Why, what’s wrong with her?’ Stacey pulled a cushion onto her knee and leaned on it as she looked up at Ottilie.
‘I can’t tell you that,’ Ottilie said.
Stacey rolled her eyes. ‘I know, patients have to have secrets.’
‘But she could do with some help and she’s happy for me to ask one or two people.’
‘I hardly know her,’ Magnus said. ‘She never comes to the shop.’
Geoff turned to him. ‘Is that a reason to deny help? Doesn’t seem very neighbourly to me.’
‘She’s not our neighbour,’ Magnus shot back.
‘Of course she is! What does it matter? We’re not meant to give to charity unless they’re right next door to us, is that what you’re saying?’
‘No! I’m only saying she wouldn’t come down to help us if we asked for it?—’
‘ She isn’t asking; Ottilie is.’
Stacey sent a pained look Ottilie’s way and mouthed an apology. Ottilie looked at her watch. She hated to see them so at odds too, and though she felt guilty for abandoning Stacey with them, it felt like a good time to leave them to it, despite the offer of dinner. The following day was going to be another busy one and it was already getting late.
‘I’m sorry, I’d better go,’ she said, though only Stacey noticed. ‘Thanks so much for the wine.’
‘Any time. I’ll see you out.’
‘There’s no need.’
Stacey glanced at Geoff and Magnus, and her expression of despair was almost comical. ‘Oh, yes, there is! I might even come with you!’