Chapter 19
19
That night a storm blew in from the Channel, and in my snug bed up in the attic, I could hear the rain thundering on the roof tiles. The wind was howling, too, it really was a bit eerie. The windows were shut tight against the weather, but being old and a bit rotten in places, I could see the curtains puffing out slightly when a particularly fierce gust caught that side of the house.
At some time in the middle of the night, I heard a worrying noise of something crashing about in the yard below me, but looking out into the darkness I couldn’t see anything other than what was probably the recycling bin, tipped over and probably disgorging its contents onto the garden.
By the morning, the storm had eased off a bit, but a quick look outside showed I had been right. There was waste paper, plastic wrappings and bottles strewn all over the place and it looked as though the familiar outlines of the trees had changed. Perhaps some branches had been dislodged.
I dressed quickly and went downstairs just in time to see Isabel, shrouded in one of Felix’s waxed jackets and a tweed hat, battling her way in through the back door.
It was obvious she was very upset.
‘What’s happened?’ I said, ‘are you okay?’
She wiped the rain from her face with a tea towel.
‘Oh, I’m all right, I’ve just been picking up some of the rubbish from the bin that was knocked over, but my greenhouse isn’t. Absolutely typical; I spent hours cleaning it out and washing all the glass, and now a damn great branch has come down and blown into the side of it. It’s just about wrecked, and everything in there will be ruined. All my lovely plants, and they were starting to do so well. And the garden is full of rubbish and recycling. It’s awful. I just came in to ring the boys and see if they can help.’
‘I’ll get my coat on,’ I said. ‘Where’s Felix?’
‘He’s gone to work. Apparently there’s been some damage to the bookshop, I don’t know how bad, but Lisa rang him about half an hour ago because she lives in a flat just round the corner, practically hysterical. She says there are trees down across the road too.’
The kitchen door banged open at that moment, making us both jump, and Marcel stood there looking very dazed and confused. Holding a branch in his jaws, which was wider than the door frame, he had tried to bring it into the kitchen and crashed into the wall.
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Marcel, chien stupide, have you no sense at all?’ Isabel shouted and then she burst into tears.
I took both of her hands in mine and rubbed them.
‘Look, sit down for a moment, you’re frozen. I’ll make some coffee.’
‘There’s no time for that,’ Isabel said, ‘there is still rubbish all over the place. Luckily the g?tes are undamaged, but the site for the shepherd’s hut needs clearing up because they will be arriving at some point today, and I can still see the dogs’ paw marks all over it. And what I am going to do about the greenhouse, I don’t know. I’m going to ring Sylveste again. He didn’t answer ten minutes ago, knowing him he was probably still in bed. Honestly, considering he didn’t sleep through a single night until he was three years old, he’s certainly making up for it now.’
She found her mobile and stabbed at the keys again. I went to open the back door for another look at the damage outside, and Marcel triumphantly tried to bring his tree branch in again, nearly knocking me over.
After a brief tussle, I persuaded him back outside and threw his branch as far as I could, something that I could tell he thought was an excellent idea by his wagging tail and pricked ears. I watched as he ran round the yard with it in his jaws, scraping the side of my car with one end of it. Great.
‘Still no answer. And I can’t get through to Felix either. Perhaps it’s the storm?’ Isabel said after a few minutes.
‘I hope Eugénie is okay,’ I said, ‘can you ring her?’
Isabel tried. ‘Nothing from her either, there doesn’t seem to be any signal. I’d better drive down and check on her. I’m not walking.’
‘I’ll come too,’ I said.
‘No stay here. Just in case the boys turn up. Or, heaven forbid, the shepherd’s hut. Although they did say the afternoon. Oh dear, this is awful.’
I went to give her a hug. ‘It’ll be fine, we’ll get everything cleared up in no time, you wait and see. And if the men arrive to deliver the hut, I’ll entertain them with the accordion and songs from the shows.’
Isabel laughed and then jammed her tweed hat firmly over her eyes and refastened her coat and then slowly set off in her car towards Eugénie’s cottage, Antoine and Marcel chasing after her, barking fit to burst.
If I was a dog, I think I would have preferred to be indoors, in my rather chewed basket under the kitchen table, gnawing at the new rubber pineapple Isabel had bought for them in the supermarket. I supposed that was just dogs, always wanting to be part of everything. Perhaps I should get a dog, or a cat. People did say they were good company.
For the moment, I stood wondering what else I could do to help Isabel and started off by doing the washing-up from the previous evening and putting things away. I might not be able to do much about a smashed greenhouse, but I was, after all, an expert in clearing up, wiping down the worktops and the kitchen table. Then I made a pot of coffee, ready for Isabel’s return.
There was a knock on the kitchen door.
‘That was quite a storm. I came to see if you were all right.’
I stood with my mouth unattractively gaping for a moment. It was Luc.
He was wearing a dark waterproof coat and a broad-brimmed hat, which at that moment made him look even more like Indiana Jones.
‘Would you mind? Could I come in? It’s still a bit wild out here,’ he said.
‘Oh gosh, of course, please do,’ I said, rather flustered.
He stood on the doormat, water dripping off his coat.
‘Coffee?’ I said at last.
He nodded. ‘That would be good. Thank you. Have you had much damage?’
‘A lot of rubbish blown over the garden, I’m going out in a moment to pick it up. And Isabel says some glass in the greenhouse has been smashed. Were you okay? Any damage?’
‘No, I am fine,’ he said, ‘just a couple of old tarpaulins blown down the garden. I have a small greenhouse, too, but it was sheltered behind an old wall, and didn’t come to any harm.’
‘Felix has gone into town, apparently there is some problem at the bookshop, and Isabel has gone to check on Eugénie. There doesn’t seem to be any phone reception.’
‘It must be the storm. I’m sure it will be fixed soon.’
We stood sipping at our coffee for a few minutes.
‘Perhaps I could help clear things up?’ he said at last.
‘I’m sure Isabel would appreciate it,’ I said.
‘And I wanted to apologise,’ he said, ‘I was thinking about you.’
I felt a bit wobbly at that point; he’d been thinking about me?
‘Whatever for?’ I said trying to sound slightly amused and unflustered.
‘The other day when you called in, I think I was rather rude.’
Well, no, not rude exactly, I thought. A bit crushing, perhaps.
‘I could have handled it better,’ he added.
‘I don’t actually need much handling , as you put it,’ I said stiffly, ‘and I certainly don’t need my brother-in-law trying to organise my love life – no, I mean my social life. Or you for that matter.’
He looked worried. ‘No, I am sure you don’t. But possibly?—’
He was interrupted by the back door crashing open and Isabel came in. Eugénie followed, crouched down in a position she kept up as she walked across to an armchair. It was like a Marcel Marceau mime, walking against the wind.
‘Goodness me, it’s still rather wild out there,’ Isabel said, panting slightly, ‘ Mamie has a couple of tiles off her porch roof, and she said she would feel safer here.’
Eugénie reached the armchair in the corner of the kitchen, with a lot of fuss and groaning, as though she had just run a marathon, not just been driven up the road.
Marcel and Antoine followed and with one look from Eugénie, slunk under the table and got into their basket. That woman had quite the authority, there was no doubt about it.
‘I think she saw that Luc’s truck was here, and she was very keen to come,’ Isabel murmured in my ear.
‘I have not slept a single moment,’ Eugénie said in a wavering voice, ‘everything banging about, the wind howling. I’m not sure I shouldn’t have a cognac, to get over le traumatisme – the trauma. I have a tile loose.’
‘Can’t argue with that,’ Isabel muttered.
‘It was quite a storm,’ Luc agreed.
‘Perhaps you could suggest something to help me recover,’ Eugénie said, ‘something for my crise de nerfs . Nervous breakdown.’ She held out one hand, and the diamond ring sparkled. ‘Look, mes mains tremblent. My hands are shaking.’
Isabel opened her mouth to remind Eugénie yet again that Luc was not a doctor.
‘ Thé à la camomille ,’ Luc said kindly, ‘camomile tea.’
Eugénie’s face brightened. ‘And do I need a prescription for that? Or do I need to see un spécialiste ?’
She removed her plastic pixie hood and started to unbutton her raincoat.
Meanwhile Isabel went into her pantry and brought out a box of camomile tea bags which, with quite some dexterity, she passed to Luc behind his back without Eugénie noticing.
He bit back a smile and presented them to Eugénie, producing them with the skill of a conjurer.
‘Happily, I have some here,’ he said. ‘I recommend you try them. You may not like the taste at first, but that is the way of all good medicine, n’est ce pas ?’
‘ Alors ,’ Eugénie said with a triumphant look at Isabel, ‘I knew the good doctor would be able to help me.’
‘Pierre rang me when I was down the lane, he will call in to fix Mamie’s loose tile. Now then, we must go and take a look at the damage to the greenhouse. The dogs can stay here with you, Mamie , I don’t want then trampling through a lot of broken glass.’
‘Perhaps you could dispense my medicine before you go?’ Eugénie said in a pathetic voice, holding up the box of tea bags.
‘ Permettez-moi ? I will do it for you,’ Luc said, and Eugénie closed her eyes in satisfaction and sighed happily.
‘ Je me sens déjà mieux .’
‘She says she feels better already,’ Isabel said, and rolled her eyes at me.
Having settled Eugénie with her camomile tea, a blanket over her lap and a hot water bottle at her feet, the three of us went out to the vegetable garden to see what had happened to the greenhouse. The wind had dropped now, and the last of the storm clouds were blowing away over the horizon. We could see that a branch had landed on one corner and several of the glass panes were smashed.
‘This can easily be fixed,’ Luc said, ‘the frame looks to be undamaged. I have some spare panes left over from when I was building mine, which may be of use. I have learned to do these things, it’s not that difficult. I have some special gloves, which my brother advised me to buy.’
So, he had a brother! At last, some basic information about him. Isabel and I exchanged a look.
‘That would be great. Pierre and Sylveste are so busy fixing other people’s problems, and my poor plants… all those little seedlings… what am I going to do about them?’ Isabel said sadly. ‘I just know the rabbits will be in here the moment my back is turned.’
‘I can take them over to my place,’ Luc offered.
‘Really? I could always move the trays into the barn or something. Although it’s not very warm in there, and there’s no light either. And despite Marcel and Antoine’s efforts, there are probably rats too.’
‘It’s no problem,’ he said, ‘I can sort it out very quickly, and then when everything is mended, I will bring them back.’
The three of us hummed and haahed about this for a few minutes, and Luc tried to reassure her.
‘Of course, I haven’t started doing much in my greenhouse yet, it’s the first time I have had one, so apart from anything else I would appreciate your advice later on. There’s plenty of room. And you would need to clear away some space, while the repairs are underway. There is still a lot of broken glass in there to sweep up. And I would like to help.’
‘That would be marvellous, if you’re sure?’
‘ Pas de problème – no trouble. I can put them in the back of my truck.’
Isabel’s eyes brightened, presumably as another of her cunning plans struck her.
‘And maybe Joy can help you. I have the barn to look after, the shepherd’s hut will be arriving, and I need to make sure the people in the g?tes are okay. I’m going to be terribly busy.’
I sent my sister a hard look and she smiled innocently back.
‘Thanks so much, Joy.’