Perfect Moments at Duck Pond Cottage (Duck Pond Cottage #3)

Chapter 1

There is nothing as idyllic as midsummer in rural Wiltshire in England. Especially when the sky is cobalt blue, and the air is oven hot, and you’ve just reached the front of the queue at the ice-cream van, which is parked in the leaf-patterned shade of a weeping willow, opposite your house.

Jade glanced idly across to see a small red Fiesta.

A girl with blonde pigtails, who couldn’t be much older than Ben, was sitting in the passenger seat gazing out of the open window.

There was something about her expression that made Jade take a second look.

It wasn’t the eager expectation of a child about to get ice cream. She looked bereft.

How odd. Jade felt as if a tiny dark cloud had crossed the sun. A wrong note in a beautiful summer melody.

Before she had time to properly process her thoughts, she realised that the driver of the car, a fair-haired woman with what looked like a red leather belt dangling from her hand, had crossed the road and was speaking urgently to two teenagers in summer dresses at the end of the queue.

She looked hot and sweaty and had obviously been running in the midday sun.

Jade caught the odd fragment. ‘Black and white spaniel. Missing since nine. Last seen on the crossroads by the Red Lion.’

Not a belt then, a dog’s lead. Pricking up her ears, Jade hurried back towards her. ‘Did I hear you say you’ve lost a dog?’

‘We have, yes. Have you seen him? We’re getting desperate. He’s been gone three hours. And Everley’s frantic. They’re best friends. I’m so worried.’ The woman’s face was tearstained and Jade felt a rush of compassion.

‘OK, slow down. Who’s Everley?’

‘Sorry. She’s my daughter.’ She gestured towards the Fiesta where the little girl was still staring out, with her dark haunted eyes and look of despair, which Jade now understood, and her heart beat a little faster as she got caught up in their story.

‘We haven’t seen a dog running loose, but we can help you look if you like?’

Jade was aware of Finn’s movement beside her, and she glanced at him guiltily.

She half expected him to object. After all, they were supposed to be entertaining friends at their barbecue, which they’d organised in an attempt to have more social events in their life, alongside running an animal sanctuary.

They’d only popped out because Ben had heard the ice cream’s siren call.

But Finn didn’t object. His grey eyes were concerned.

‘Are you local?’ he asked the woman. ‘Do you live nearby?’

‘No, we’re down for the weekend. We’re staying at the caravan site behind the Red Lion, and Cooper, that’s his name, got loose on his walk.

Something spooked him and he slipped his collar, he’s scatty at the best of times, and he just ran.

He’s got no road sense at all. I’m terrified of…

’ She tailed off, as if suddenly becoming aware of Ben’s presence. ‘Could you really help?’

‘Sure we can. We live across the road.’ Jade pointed at the sign. Duck Pond Rescue. ‘I’ll need to put on some more suitable shoes. Why don’t you come across? You can fill us in on the way about Cooper. And we can make a plan.’

‘Thanks. I’d be so grateful. We didn’t know what to do. I’ve just been driving around the countryside looking with Everley. We’re from Taunton. We don’t know anyone here at all.’

‘Well, now you know us. I’m Jade. And this is Finn and this is Ben.’

‘And I’m Stella.’ She looked as though she was going to burst into tears again. ‘Thank you so much. I’m so grateful.’

‘We can help too,’ said one of the teenagers. ‘We live just up the road.’

A white-haired man with a stick stepped forward.

‘I can’t do any walking about. The old knees aren’t so good, these days.

But I can take your number and pass it on to my neighbours in case anyone spots Cooper.

’ He glanced at the van. ‘We should tell the ice-cream man too. He’ll be driving off to his next stop in a minute. He can keep an eye out.’

Ben, who’d polished off most of his ice cream and half of his dad’s while they’d been talking, wiped his sticky hands on his shorts and nodded eagerly. ‘We can help you look everywhere. We love dogs. Have you got Cooper’s picture? That’s such a cool name for a dog.’

It was like a snowball gathering momentum when someone’s just pushed it off a mountain, Jade thought.

That was the beauty of close-knit communities like Arleston.

Everyone cared. If someone was in trouble the whole village would turn out to help.

Everyone in the ice-cream van queue had now said they’d keep an eye out for a black and white spaniel.

Finn, whose day job was being a commercial artist, which meant he kept a mini sketch pad and pencil in the back pocket of his jeans, had written down Stella’s mobile number several times and handed it out in case of any sightings.

Ten minutes later, Stella and Everley, who’d graciously accepted the remaining melting 99 that Ben had presented her with, with Jade’s blessing, were both looking a smidgen happier.

They and the rest of the small search party had trooped back to Duck Pond Cottage, where Jade had explained to her guests about the lost dog and asked them if they minded putting the barbecue on hold for a bit.

None of them minded. She’d known they wouldn’t. They all offered to help with the search too.

Bless them. Her closest friends all loved animals. Most of them were either volunteers or paid helpers at Duck Pond Rescue.

Jade had quickly swapped her smart linen shorts and her green rhinestone flipflops, worn especially for the barbecue, for cut-off frayed denims and trainers, which were far comfier and her more usual attire.

‘My partner’s waiting at the campsite, just in case Cooper comes back,’ Stella explained. ‘Do you think that’s the right thing to do? It’s about three miles away but we’re not sure how far he would have run.’

‘Definitely,’ Jade said. ‘They usually go back to the last place they saw you. How long had you been there?’

‘We only arrived yesterday. That’s what’s so worrying. He won’t know where he is. He’ll be so scared.’

Jade put a hand on her arm reassuringly.

‘We’ll all help you look. Don’t worry. I doubt he’s gone far.

It’s probably best if most people go a bit nearer the campsite and keep an eye on the roads and surrounding fields.

But we’ll check out the sanctuary fields too, just in case he’s been attracted by the sounds and smells of the animals.

We’ve got cats, chickens, horses, all sorts here as well as a kennel full of dogs, so your Cooper might well have run up here. ’

‘I’ll help with the search on the road between here and the Red Lion,’ said Aiden, who was the sanctuary vet and another guest at the barbecue.

Jade glanced at him. ‘Thanks, Aiden.’

His ruddy face was serious and the unspoken words, ‘It’ll be handy to have a vet on scene, just in case,’ hung between them, but no one said them aloud. Poor Stella and Everley were distraught enough.

By 12.45 p.m. the posse of searchers, now all armed with Stella’s phone number and a description of Cooper, had gone off in different directions.

Ben’s mother, Sarah, who was Jade’s best friend, and her partner Callum, a red-haired gentle giant of a Scotsman, had opted to stay behind and keep an eye on the smoking barbecue and a handful of hopeful-looking dogs.

Someone needed to finish cooking the burgers and sausages, which Callum assured them could be reheated on their return.

But other than Callum and Sarah, the back garden had gone from being a hive of activity to a deserted space in less than five minutes.

The volunteers set off down the yard to search Jade’s eight acres of land, which they’d decided was best done in the smallest groups possible so they could cover more ground.

Ben and Everley were trotting ahead of everyone else.

They were the same height so that Ben’s fair head was close to Everley’s blonde pigtails.

Jade could hear them chatting earnestly.

It sounded like he was telling Everley about all the animals at Duck Pond Rescue, including Mr Spock, the potty-mouthed parrot in reception, and she was nodding attentively.

Jade was so proud of him. She had known his mother Sarah since they’d been at primary school together and Ben was so like her.

Not in looks maybe, he was sandy-haired and grey-eyed to Sarah’s English rose, but definitely in personality.

Mischievous, impatient, mercurial, and a maverick rule breaker, but with a sunny kindness that coloured everything he did.

Seeing him take the distraught Everley under his wing was heartwarming.

Stella, who was walking between Jade and Finn, kept thanking everyone for their help.

‘We haven’t done anything yet,’ Jade said. ‘But at least you know you’re not on your own.’

Not having to face a crisis alone was massive.

Jade knew that only too well. The past year had been a turbulent one for her and Finn.

A rocky and wild rollercoaster of emotions, which for Finn had included a reconciliation with his Irish mother, Bridie, after a gap of thirty years, followed by meeting a host of half-siblings he’d never known he had.

Some of those occasions had gone more smoothly than others. One had unfortunately included a punch-up with his half-brother, Declan, which Jade knew had never really been resolved.

It took a lot to rouse Finn to anger. He was the epitome of cool and unruffled and the most laid-back man Jade had ever met, but still waters run deep and he’d confided to her once that the shock of meeting his family had sent his emotions pinging about faster than the steel balls in a pinball machine. Pinballs on steroids.

They’d smiled at the analogy, but she’d seen past the casualness of his voice, seen the flickers of anxiety in his cool grey eyes, and she’d held him close.

She’d held him close throughout it all and he’d said several times that he wouldn’t have got through it unscathed without her.

She sometimes still wondered if he really had got through it unscathed.

Only time would tell. Their wedding day was barely two months away.

They were getting married at the Bluebell Cliff Hotel, a fairytale venue, which sat high up on a headland on the Dorset cliffs.

They’d tie the knot alongside their closest friends and family.

That would be the acid test. Not for them.

Jade knew they were rock solid, but for Finn’s fragmented family who would all be coming along and would have to sit alongside each other and exist in peace and harmony, at least for that one day.

Jade realised with a little jolt that she’d barely thought of their wedding today. Holding a barbecue and going to Stella’s aid had driven thoughts of anything else from her head.

A shout from up ahead of them brought her back to the present. ‘Is that Cooper?’ Someone was pointing to a black and white dog running around in the dog field and Jade hurried across.

She shielded her eyes against the bright sun. ‘No, I’m afraid that’s one of ours.’

They’d reached the part of the sanctuary where they could peel off into different areas.

The dog-walking field now lay directly ahead.

It was bordered by the main road but securely stock fenced like most of Jade’s land.

If Cooper had managed to break in, he’d have had to wriggle under a five-bar gate in another part of the sanctuary and get in that way.

She hadn’t really expected to find him here.

But neither did she want to rule anything out.

Dogs did all sorts of unpredictable things when they were scared.

The field where the free-range chickens and geese roamed was further out to their left, and the distinctive pink caravan where the volunteers made coffee and often had lunch if the weather was bad was on their immediate right. A picnic table sat invitingly beside it, but no one sat there today.

The searchers split off in different directions, some of them climbing over the five-bar gate, some going left, some right.

It was not quite how she’d expected their afternoon to pan out, Jade mused as she, Finn and Stella climbed over the five-bar gate into the next field, but despite the fact she adored her friends, being distracted to help find a lost dog felt far more important and worthwhile than standing around chitchatting and eating burgers.

She couldn’t imagine how worried she’d have been if her own dog, Mickey, a scruffy cockerpoo, who could be mistaken for a brown shagpile rug on legs, had gone missing, or Ben’s dog, Chocko, a slender brown lurcher with melting chocolate-brown eyes.

She loved the reprobate pair more than she loved most people.

Imagining them out there alone and vulnerable on the busy A-roads around Arleston. Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

Jade wasn’t one for prayers, but she found herself praying now. Praying hard that they would find Cooper soon, hiding out, unhurt, somewhere on her land. So they could transform Stella’s worry into relief and put the joy back onto Everley’s young face.