Chapter 35
Six weeks into married life, Jade was walking two of the kennel dogs in the dog field, two sweet little brown and white terrier crosses called Bonnie and Clyde, and wondering whether it was just her or whether Sarah too sometimes looked back on their wedding day with a feeling of slightly stunned disbelief.
Had it really all happened to them? Or had she briefly stumbled into an alternate reality?
Their minimoon in the Cotswolds had been wonderful, relaxing, going to the spa, long walks, long lie-ins and eating scrummy food.
A few days of not being at the beck and call of her animals had been bliss, but Jade had also loved going back to Duck Pond Rescue.
The only downside of doing work you loved was that you never wanted to be parted from it. Maybe that wasn’t even a downside.
Sarah and Callum had had an equally brilliant time in Vietnam, which they’d both proclaimed was fabulous and full of breathtaking scenery with enough culture to make it worth getting out of bed, even on your honeymoon!
One of the first things the two couples had done when they’d got back home had been to organise a sponsored dog walk for the coastguard.
Between the wedding guests and the wider circle of volunteers at Duck Pond Rescue they’d managed to raise nearly two thousand pounds, which had been very gratefully received when they’d sent it along with a thank you card.
Everley and Stella had come down specially to join the dog walk and Ben had regaled Everley with increasingly exaggerated stories about Chocko’s escape and the dangerously daring clifftop rescue in which he had, of course, played a starring role.
‘I’m surprised he didn’t tell her he was personally dangling on a rope over the cliff,’ Sarah had told Jade and Finn, laughing.
‘Give him time,’ Finn said. ‘I’m sure all tall stories get taller, the older we get.’
Jade and Finn had also spoken quite a bit to Hector and Charlotte, who’d both come to see them soon after they’d got back from the Cotswolds.
Jade was now calling them Dad and Grandma Charlotte, the latter being at Charlotte’s request.
‘Your cousins call me that too,’ she’d told Jade. ‘Or rather they did when they were younger. They just call me Charlotte now.’
‘I could just call you Charlotte if you’d rather,’ Jade had said uncertainly. ‘But I’ve never had anyone to call Grandma before.’
‘Then Grandma it is,’ Charlotte had said, in that wonderfully warm way she had, and the two women had hugged tightly.
Jade and Finn were looking forward to going to Devon and meeting Aunt Beatrice and Uncle Lenny and the cousins Ella, Liam and George, as soon as they could arrange a visit that suited everyone.
George worked in Malawi for a charity that supplied free school meals for children, and wasn’t in England much, but he’d be back the week before Christmas and so they’d decided to arrange something around that. Jade couldn’t wait.
But before then there was plenty going on at Duck Pond Rescue to distract her. Today was the day of the long-awaited school trip and very soon a minibus full of kids from Ben’s class would be descending on Duck Pond Cottage.
Sarah was one of the mums who’d volunteered to help out with supervision.
Ben’s class teacher would be there too, and a teaching assistant, but Sarah had said they’d also asked for volunteers and she’d felt slightly responsible that the visit had been inflicted on Jade, as she put it, because of Ben’s fight with Niall, who according to Ben still didn’t believe that chickens laid eggs.
Just in case no chickens obliged with a real live egg-laying display – most of her flock preferred to lay in private – Jade had set up a camera in the coop this week and had captured some footage that Ben could show Niall.
She was looking forward to giving the youngsters a tour.
Duck Pond Rescue was beautiful in September.
The leaves on the trees were starting to turn scarlet, copper and gold and the surrounding fields were all colours of yellow and green.
They were full, but not overcrowded. They’d had a lot of rehomes towards the end of the summer holidays, including Hammy Hamster, who was now happily settled with Ben.
Bonnie and Clyde hadn’t been in long and Jade hoped they’d get a home soon. They were young and had only come in because their owner had gone to work abroad and had decided at the last minute not to take them.
It was sad, but Jade knew that in today’s economic climate pet owners often had to make a choice based on financial pressures. Maybe someone who came in today might want to offer them a home. They both loved kids.
She walked them back to the kennels and found Dawn talking to a woman and a little girl who looked familiar.
As she got closer, she realised with a jolt of shock that it was Stella and young Everley. She hurried towards them with a huge grin on her face.
‘Hello, ladies, and what brings you to this neck of the woods?’
‘Ben,’ they both said in unison. ‘He said you were having an open day today,’ Stella added.
‘And I had an inset day.’ Everley was practically jumping up and down with excitement. ‘So Mum said we could drive down.’
‘You don’t mind, do you?’ Stella sounded fleetingly guilty. ‘I guess I should have phoned and asked. Having two more visitors is probably the last thing you need.’
‘Not at all. You are very welcome. Both of you. Did you bring Cooper?’ She looked around for the spaniel.
‘No, we left him with my other half. He’s working from home today.’
‘Then you can join the tour. Or help with it if you’d rather?’
‘We’d love to help. What can we do?’
Jade winked. ‘You got any experience with year fours?’ Behind them she saw Ursula heading across.
Finn was painting but he’d also promised to come and help and all of them had started the morning feeding and cleaning out regime early so they’d be ready for the arrival of a minibus of year fours, who were due at eleven.
Jade glanced at her watch. Which it nearly was. Then, right on cue, the minibus drew through the gates at the top of the yard and parked up beside reception.
‘Looks like we’re on,’ she told Stella and Everley as Ursula arrived beside them.
‘Right then, so the plan is that we divide the party into four smaller groups, and we start at different parts of the sanctuary. That way it won’t be so disruptive for the animals and the kids will get more individual attention. ’
As she was speaking, Jade saw Sarah jump down from the minibus and speak to Finn, who’d just emerged from the house, before dashing across to go and shut up the main gates.
The sanctuary was closed to visitors today, although Jade had put a notice on the gates saying that if it was urgent, they could still come through to reception.
Hopefully no one would. She had to admit to being more than a little bit anxious.
She could see Ben in the minibus too, his face pressed against one of the windows near the front. He caught her eye and waved.
Taking a deep breath, Jade sent up a silent prayer to St Francis of Assisi that the day would be a success before she and Dawn and Ursula went to meet their visitors.
There were enough adults to have at least two to each group of kids and Sarah and Jade had the group with Ben and Niall and also now Everley in.
Everley and Ben hadn’t stopped talking since they’d met.
She’d been asking him if Chocko had been OK since her clifftop ordeal – thankfully she had – and if he’d risked letting her off the lead again – no, he hadn’t, just in case she ran off.
Jade finally prised them apart for long enough to ask Ben if Niall fancied visiting the chickens and geese first, so he could begin to learn some of the facts of country life.
It was excellent fun to see the utter amazement on Niall’s face as he watched the video of a chicken laying an egg on Jade’s mobile.
‘Is that really real?’ he demanded. ‘Or is it AI?’
‘It’s totally real,’ Ben said gleefully. Although to his credit he didn’t gloat. ‘It’s how we get eggs. Before they get sent to Tesco.’
‘Can we watch it again?’
‘Sure,’ Ben said. ‘We can probably get a download for your phone. Can’t we, WSM?’
He’d stopped calling her Auntie Jade since the wedding, but had switched instead to WSM – short for wicked stepmother, which he clearly thought was very entertaining.
‘Yes, Ben, but Sarah might have to do the technical stuff.’
Sarah nodded. ‘No problem.’ She tapped Niall’s shoulder.
He was still looking at the camera screen, mesmerised by what he’d just seen.
‘But you don’t need to take our word for it.
Look.’ She pointed to another chicken that was settled on the straw inside a nearby coop.
‘If you’re really quiet you might be able to see it in real life. ’
It was the best timing ever, Jade thought as a subdued Niall, accompanied by Ben and Everley and three other fascinated children, crept forward a few steps to watch the miracle of egg production.
Less than twenty seconds later the hen in question squawked her little head off as she laid a new brown egg.
‘Why do they make that noise?’ one of the little girls asked. ‘Does it hurt? It is like having a baby come out of your whotsit?’
‘I don’t think it’s like that at all, is it, Jade?’ Sarah said quickly, casting a frantic ‘help me’ glance at Jade.
‘No, I’m sure it’s not,’ Jade said, thinking that this conversation could easily get out of hand. ‘I think it’s just physically hard work for them – that’s why they squawk. Or maybe they’re just proud of themselves. We don’t really know. Now, who would like to see some geese?’
‘Do geese lay eggs too?’
‘It’s possible,’ Jade said. ‘But we might not see that today.’
‘Will the eggs hatch out into chicks? Can we see that?’
‘Can they really lay gold eggs?’
‘Can a goose have your leg off?’
They were full of questions as they followed Jade and Sarah across the dried-out saffron-coloured grass towards a flock of honking geese, who were clearly expecting treats.