Chapter 30
Ben also saw the helicopter, flying low along the clifftop, and his heart sped up as he was stricken with conflicting emotions. Had he missed the exciting bit? Had they already rescued Chocko and were now heading home? Or were they still on their way to do it?
After a millisecond’s thought he decided it would better if they’d already got her.
Because then she’d be safe. And he could cuddle her and cuddle her and never let her go.
He was never planning on letting her out of his sight again.
He finally understood what Everley had been talking about when they’d messaged a couple of weeks ago and she’d told him she hadn’t let Cooper off the lead since she’d got him back home, and she didn’t know whether she ever would again.
He hadn’t told her Chocko was missing. He hadn’t been able to bring himself to put it into words on his phone because then it would be real.
And every so often he managed to convince himself for a few precious seconds that it wasn’t.
Like earlier just before he and Mum had gone back to check the kennels.
He’d managed to convince himself she’d be there waiting, tail wagging frantically when she saw him.
The smash of new grief when she wasn’t had knocked him sideways.
Ben realised the helicopter wasn’t going away.
Its rotor blades were getting louder. It was landing, coming down on the cliff a bit further along the coast path on a spot towards which he was heading.
He ran a bit faster, and as he got closer he could see it was swirling up dust into the air.
Wow, that was so cool. He could also now see the small crowd of people a little way back on the cliffs.
He needed to get a bit closer still to see them properly but he guessed his mum and Callum were there, and Dad, and Auntie Jade.
He speeded up into a headlong run. None of them were looking his way and as he ran the last couple of hundred metres, he had to shout at the top of his voice to get someone’s attention.
‘Oh my God, what’s Ben doing here?’ It was Sarah who turned first, and saw her little boy heading full pelt towards them.
She abandoned the conversation she’d just started with the coastguard and ran to meet him. This part of the coast path was twisty and sheer and in places it went perilously close to the edge. Thank God he hadn’t tripped and fallen.
‘Mum,’ he yelled as he saw her.
‘Slow down,’ she called sharply. To her relief he obeyed almost immediately and she hurried to meet him. A few seconds later he was in her arms, red faced and panting like an out-of-condition park runner, but thankfully safe.
‘What are you doing here? Why did you come?’ She was about to berate him, but she knew it was pointless.
Of course he’d have come here, as soon as he possibly could once he’d worked out where they were.
And she couldn’t admonish him for breaking the rules when she did it all the time herself – and was, in fact, actually in the process of doing it now.
When they got back to the group, Finn had taken over the conversation with the coastguard and there was a lot of head nodding and head shaking and gruff voices and the conversation didn’t seem to be going all that well.
But then the coastguard saw Ben and he changed his tone completely.
‘So you’re the young man who owns the cliff-climbing dog?’ he said, coming across and hunkering down so he was closer to Ben’s level.
‘I am,’ Ben said anxiously. ‘And she’s my best friend. And I can’t live without her. Are you going to rescue her for me, sir?’
Sarah saw the man’s face soften. ‘We’re going to do our best, little man.’
After that, things happened very quickly. The slick operation that was coastguard rescue swung into action. The rest of the maverick search and rescue party were instructed to keep well clear of the cliff for their own safety, which everyone gladly did.
‘To be honest, I’m pretty relieved we’re not going to see any of the detail,’ Sarah confided in Jade as they stood in a tight-knit group with Finn, Callum and Ben close beside them. ‘I don’t think my heart could stand it.’
Jade knew Sarah was thinking the same as she was.
What if they can’t reach her? What if she takes fright and tries to get away and falls?
What if? What if? What if? The professionals were finally here, but there were no guarantees they would be able to get Chocko off that cliff. They were by no means home and dry.
‘What did they say to you, Finn?’ Jade asked.
‘Quite a bit about being irresponsible. I don’t think they really believed I’d ever been stuck on that cliff.
He was pretty cross. Even when I told him we were all supposed to be on our wedding day it didn’t cut much ice.
’ He lowered his voice. ‘I’m not sure they would even have stayed if it hadn’t been for Ben. That was what really swayed him.’
Jade glanced at Sarah, who clearly wasn’t taking any more chances. She was holding Ben’s hand tightly.
Jade didn’t blame her. She was about to say something else when a distinctive figure in a pale pink suit suddenly rounded the corner and arrived breathless beside them.
‘Clara. What are you doing here?’
Clara, whose face was almost as pink as her designer suit, was momentarily too puffed to speak. She waved a hand in Ben’s direction. ‘I was… trying… to catch up… with him.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Sarah said. ‘Ben, darling, please apologise to Clara.’
‘I didn’t know she was following me.’ He looked unrepentant. ‘Or I’d have stopped.’
No one tried to contradict him about this.
Although, like everyone else, Ben seemed to have put his trust in the coastguard team who were at this very second winching a man down from the hovering helicopter above the cliff edge, the little boy still looked desperately worried.
‘What if they can’t get her, Mum? Will she have to stay there all night on her own?’
Sarah looked helplessly at Jade and she stepped forward. ‘Ben, love, try not to worry. Dogs are different to us. They don’t mind being on their own, as long as they can find a snuggly place to curl up. And she’s definitely got a snuggly place.’
‘How do you know that? We can’t even see her.’
‘We did see her. We saw her on the drone.’
Ben was momentarily pacified and then Dreadlock Dave’s calm voice broke the little bubble of anxious expectation as they all realised the helicopter was winching its man back up again.
‘Looks like they’ve got her.’
There was a stir of excited chatter. ‘Have they really? How can you see?’
‘Because I’m watching.’ Dave pointed at the blob that was the man on the end of the line. ‘I can see her paws dangling. Look, Ben. Do you see?’
They all surged forward, even Declan seemed keen to see the final part of the rescue, but Ben’s expression was sheer magic. ‘Flaming heck. They have. They have. They have. I can see her tail. She’s wagging it. Look, Mum. Look!’
And his voice was so ecstatic that no one even told him off for saying flaming heck.
Jade held her breath, and everyone on the clifftop craned their necks, as they saw man and dog being lifted back up and finally into the safety of the helicopter once more. There was a collective gasp of relief as they all watched the helicopter circle around the sea in a wide loop.
People had started to scatter about, all eager to meet the helicopter as it came back towards them.
‘We need to keep our distance.’ Dave’s voice became authoritative for the first time. ‘We need to give them a clear space to land. I think we should all get back as far as we can.’
Everyone did as he said and in a very short time, the helicopter finally came back to land in a spot close to where it had taken off. There was a burst of spontaneous applause as the chopper blades stopped spinning and finally the translucent back door slid open and there was a huge cheer.
Now the chopper was on the ground there was no stopping Ben.
Sarah still had hold of his hand and she clearly wasn’t about to let go, but he dragged her as fast as he could towards the cockpit.
When they were a few metres away she let go of his hand, and he hurtled the last few steps and a man, who was still holding tight to a fully harnessed up Chocko, stepped out to meet him.
Sarah probably couldn’t see for tears, Jade thought.
Because she was having the same problem herself.
This had nothing on the Everley and Cooper reunion, which had been dramatic enough.
This was off the scale in terms of joy. Both boy and dog were shrieking.
High-pitched yelps of excitement that rose and fell in intensity.
Everyone else was clapping and shouting ‘bravo’.
And there was so much wagging and wriggling that Jade was afraid Chocko would somehow get loose again and do another disappearing act.
But she realised too, as she took a step closer, that the coastguard rescuer wasn’t taking any chances of that happening.
He was now hunkered down beside Chocko and had a lead looped though the harness as well as her collar and he wasn’t letting go.
He looked pretty emotional too, Jade thought. His eyes were watery, and she didn’t think that was just the after-effects of being dangled over a cliff on a line. Not just that anyway.
‘Thanks so much,’ she told him. ‘You have no idea what this means to us.’
‘I’m getting the picture,’ he said as others crowded in to join with the thanks and a couple of people took pictures on their phones. He swiped his face. ‘I’m really glad we could help.’
He got another round of applause, and Jade decided she’d make a big donation as soon as she possibly could.
‘I’m going to carry her back,’ Ben announced to no one in particular. ‘She must be tired out.’
‘Well, let’s check her over first and make sure she hasn’t got any injuries.’ Jade, who’d trained as a vet, even though she’d never qualified, ran her hands expertly over the little dog and pronounced she was fine apart from a couple of scraped front paws and a scratched hind leg.
‘I think we should have someone holding on to her lead on the way back too,’ Jade advised.
To her relief Chocko’s collar and lead were still in place, and she realised with a little start of surprise that so too was the ring carrier, firmly clipped on and still closed.
In all the excitement she’d completely forgotten about that.
How could she have forgotten it was her own wedding day? Maybe, possibly, it still could be.
She didn’t even know what time it was. She hadn’t worn a watch. She’d relied on her phone. As she stood up and turned, she met Sarah’s eyes and realised that Sarah must be thinking the same thing.
And all these guests in their wedding finery, some of which wasn’t quite so fine any more. Polished shoes now scuffed, jackets crumpled and ties cock-eyed.
It was Finn who put it properly into words though. ‘Do you think there’s a chance we could still get married then? Does anyone know if the celebrant stayed on?’
Jade looked at Clara.
‘I asked him to.’ She hooked out her phone. ‘And it’s only just gone three. I’ll check with Zoe now.’
‘At the very least we could have some scran,’ Callum said. ‘I don’t know about you lot but I’m getting a bit peckish.’
‘Trust you to be thinking of your stomach,’ Sarah teased, but her eyes were brighter than blue diamonds. ‘I reckon we should head back as quick as we can and get Chocko a drink and some food, and we can talk about it on the way.’
There was another little burst of applause from the search party. Jade hadn’t realised everyone had been listening.
John and Declan were dismantling the ropes and a few moments later, after they’d thanked the helicopter crew again, and had asked Dreadlock Dave if he wanted to come back to the Bluebell Cliff, for a drink at least, although Clara was sure they could knock him up something to eat, they set off briskly.
Chocko, who seemed none the worse for her experience, apart from her minor grazes, had struggled out of Ben’s arms and decided she wanted to walk, but they’d all agreed that at least two people would be tightly holding her lead every step of the way back.
No one was taking any more chances today.