A Dad of His Own Read online

  ‘Oh, I’d forgotten,’ she turned as if to go back. ‘Perhaps Mattie needs help packing up. I know she’s moving into Lucy and Colin’s granny annexe,’ Anna said, ‘but have the others found somewhere to go?’

  ‘They’ve all got somewhere now Christmas is over and don’t worry we’ll help Mattie. Enjoy your walk.’ He glanced over at Freddie, smiling as he saw him wrestling with Luke.

  ‘We both felt in need of some exercise,’ Anna said, ‘just hope it’s not going to rain again.’

  ‘I hope nothing more happens to spoil your stay here, Anna. We must get on; they’ll be waiting for us in the castle. Let’s go, Luke. Bye, Freddie,’ Simon said and waved to him. ‘Take care, Anna,’ he said softly, the warmth in his eyes lifting her spirits even after he’d driven off.

  ‘Bye, Freddie,’ Luke got back into his Land Rover and followed Simon up the hill.

  Freddie watched them go. ‘Mum, I like living in a castle.’

  ‘Remember we are only here for a few weeks. It’s Philly and Sidney’s home, not ours,’ she reminded him gently.

  ‘Oh, I forgot, they live there.’ With that, he ran down the road, arms out like an aeroplane, leaving Anna to her thoughts. Freddie was blossoming here, and it was not only from running free in the country air. He’d bonded so well with Luke, Simon and Julius, which would surely make him long even more for a Dad of his own. Perhaps they should leave now before he got even closer to them, for how bleak it would be to return home and leave them all behind.

  When Anna and Freddie reached the village, the floodwater had mostly gone from the main street that ran through it, but it had left behind silt, mud and other bits and pieces deposited by the water. The doors of the shops and some cottages were open to air them and to try and get rid of the stench the water had left behind.

  There was plenty of activity; builders assessing the damage, electricians making buildings safe and all sorts of items ruined by the water being dragged out and dumped in skips to be taken away.

  Marcus was darting about with a wheelbarrow, picking up things here and there.

  Anna called to him, ‘Hello, Marcus, you seem busy.’

  ‘Yes, if these dry out, they might work,’ he said, pointing at the objects he’d placed in his barrow. ‘People are too tired to go through everything, so I can help them. I’ll store them in our garage; it’s not been flooded.’

  ‘Good idea,’ Anna said, and Freddie looked into the wheelbarrow with interest and would have picked up some things himself if Anna hadn’t stopped him. ‘It’s filthy water, sewers and all,’ she said, ‘you might get ill touching them. Marcus has gloves on,’ she added, before saying goodbye to Marcus and taking Freddie’s hand to carry on.

  ‘We never got to buy sweets,’ Freddie stopped in front of the sweetshop. The doors were open, as with the other buildings, and inside he could see that the shelves were empty – all the glass jars of sweets gone.

  The flooring had buckled and it was being pulled out, thrown on the pavement. A pale-faced woman, her hair plaited and wound round her head, was supervising. Noticing Freddie looking on, she said, ‘It’s all right I’ve put the sweets away out of the wet. I hope to open again soon, and then I’ll give you some for free. Come back then.’

  ‘I will, thanks,’ he said, delighted.

  The bookshop was the saddest sight: mounds of sodden books were piling up in a skip. The shop had been lined with bookshelves and there’d been a couple of tables in the body of the shop, the books on them were safe and so were the ones on the higher shelves, it was the lower shelves and the children’s corner that had been destroyed.

  Freddie could not believe such devastation and when he saw Julius coming out with a pile of ruined books to toss in the skip, he said, ‘Are there any books left? Can they get dry?’

  As Julius straightened, Anna took in the dark shadows under his eyes. His suntan fast fading, he looked exhausted. He pushed back a lock of hair that fell over his face, leaving a smudge of blue dye from a damp book on his forehead. Anna felt a ridiculous urge to wipe it away. Hastily she shoved her hands in her pockets.

  ‘Not these books, Freddie, the paper is far too wet; the pages just come to bits when we touch them. But fortunately there are lots on the higher shelves that were saved. Anna, hello.’ He smiled at her. ‘I hope all’s well with you, and Grania got home safely; she didn’t stay long.’

  ‘No, she’d just got married again and acquired two difficult stepdaughters,’ she explained, quietly. ‘And she was missing having her own children for Christmas; they were with their father.’

  ‘These things can be tricky,’ he said. ‘Adults can hopefully work things out between them but it’s a different thing altogether if children are involved.’

  ‘Of course.’ For some reason, his words made her feel inexplicably sad. Freddie’s wish for a dad had not taken into account that there may be other children, resentful, damaged children, in the equation too.

  ‘There’s so much to do to get things straight again,’ Julius said, ‘but we’ll get there eventually. It looks terrible, but in fact the flood wasn’t as bad as they had up north, with cars and such being washed away.’

  ‘It’s bad enough though,’ she said. ‘You’ll let me know if there is anything I can do to help, won’t you?’

  ‘I will.’ His eyes lingered on hers a moment, before glancing away. Then he said in a more upbeat way, ‘We’ve got New Year coming up and however bad things are no one will let that pass without a celebration’

  ‘Sounds great.’

  Freddie, who’d been wandering around watching the clear up, came back to join them. ‘How’s Felix, is he here?’ he asked Julius.

  ‘No, he’ll get in the way, and the water’s contaminated and unlike you he can’t wear boots, so he might get something nasty on his paws. He’ll be up at the castle soon, we’ve got to get things ready for the wedding,’ Julius said. ‘Now I must sort out all these poor books, see you soon.’ He smiled at them before going back into the shop knee-deep in soggy paper to finish the job of throwing away the ruined books.

  For a moment Anna felt bereft, she really was behaving most strangely, perhaps it would be better, all round, to return sooner to London after all, get back to the life they knew.

  Nineteen

  Although Grania’s hamper would more than feed them – in fact Anna thought she might give some of it to Mattie – they had run out of milk and Anna craved fresh fruit and vegetables, having eaten so much heavy food, so now they were down here, she’d go and see what the village shop had in stock.

  She’d been told it was situated out of the main drag of the village and the flood had not affected it. They soon found it on the corner of a short street of mostly little redbrick houses, where there was also a garage and a small hotel – now closed for renovation, thus unable to help those affected by the flood.

  When they arrived, they soon realised that being the only working shop not affected by the flood, it had become the meeting point for everyone.

  The few people gathered there seemed to know who they were and yet again they were hailed as heroes for standing in for Sidney and Philly.

  Mrs Petit and Daughters was painted over the shop. There was no sign of any daughters, but Mrs Petit inspected them quite openly as if they were some new species dropped in from some unknown land, watching them, with interest, buying their milk and a small plant with yellow ball like berries on it to put in Freddie’s flowerpot.

  Anna was relieved when Simon turned up in his Land Rover to buy a snack for lunch, and as he was on his way up to the castle again, he offered to drop them back. Anna, who’d planned on going on a longer walk, decided to abandon that and agreed to a lift, feeling it was the only way to escape the mild interrogation that Mrs Petit and some others were putting them through.

  She pushed Freddie in the front seat beside Simon and clambered in after him.

  ‘Don’t you have a dog, like Julius does?’ Freddie asked as Simon turned round a
nd headed back to the castle.

  ‘I do. But he’s only a puppy and I’ve got to train him before I let him come out with me,’ he said.

  ‘What kind is he? What’s his name?’ Freddie asked, excited at the mention of a puppy.

  ‘He’s a terrier, a bit of a mix. I haven’t really decided on a name yet, I’ve only had him a couple of weeks. Perhaps you could think of one.’ He turned to smile at him and Freddie flushed with pleasure.

  ‘Can I, can I really?’

  ‘Of course, I’d like you to, as I can’t think of one.’

  Anna stared ahead at the road going up to the castle, watching the turrets and slowly the rest of the castle coming into view, feeling strangely warmed by Simon’s comments. They were here barely another three weeks and everyone was going to be very busy helping out with the aftermath of the flood, the New Year and the coming wedding, and surely none of the men were looking to adopt a small boy who wanted a dad for Christmas, let alone his mother who’d just passed her thirty-ninth birthday, she told herself sharply.

  ‘What colour is he, what does he look like?’ Freddie went on eagerly.

  ‘You must come and see him, think what name would suit him,’ Simon glanced over at Anna. ‘I’ll be home around five, working on things we’ll need for the coming year on the estate, if you want to pop by.’

  ‘What sort of things,’ Freddie asked before Anna could answer, ‘Tractors and new Land Rovers?’

  ‘Thankfully not this year, but some of the fence is down where the Christmas trees were and we need vegetable seeds for the kitchen garden, and we’ve decided to make another flower border on the path going from the castle to the kitchen garden.’ He listed his chores before turning back to Anna. ‘I live just outside the village, but you could come over about six if you’d like. It’s not difficult to find, the second cottage in a row of four, about a mile out of the village, on the side away from the river, a bit further on from Lucy and Colin.’

  ‘Yes, we’ll come, won’t we, Mum?’ Freddie looked at her eagerly.

  ‘Well… thanks, if you’re sure we’re not disturbing your work,’ Anna said lamely.

  ‘Not at all.’ They clattered over the drawbridge and Simon stopped the Land Rover outside the flat. ‘OK, see you about six; you have my mobile if you get lost, but I doubt you will. There’s a huge holly tree just before the cottages and I’m the second one, you’ll see the old lantern hanging by the door, been there forever apparently but it still works.’

  ‘Look forward to it, thank you.’ Anna got out and reached in for Freddie before he held up Simon with his chatter. Perhaps it would be nice to go to Simon’s cottage. But what if they found Cathie or another person happily living there? Though what business was it of hers? He’d only asked them over so Freddie could choose a name for his puppy, nothing more.

  *

  Freddie bounced round the kitchen as Anna prepared lunch, throwing out names for Simon’s puppy. ‘What about Lightning, or Dusty?’ he asked.

  ‘Perhaps we should wait and see what the puppy looks like first,’ Anna advised him, with a laugh.

  Her mobile rang and it was Daisy.

  What with all that was going on here as well, as thinking no news was good news with Daisy’s love life, Anna had decided to wait until she rang. She braced herself now for her news.

  ‘Well,’ Daisy gave a great sigh, ‘Andrew’s gay and he brought his partner with him; they are writing a book together.’

  ‘Oh, Daise, I’m so sorry.’ This was a first; usually they had a wife ‘who didn’t understand them’.

  ‘I should have thought, but he’s so kind and seemed interested in me and I imagined us having sexy episodes among the Victorian artefacts over Christmas.’ She laughed at herself.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ Anna said again, ‘but did you enjoy any of it?’

  ‘Yes, it was a lovely place and wonderful food, but I thought I’d see how it’s going with you,’ she said.

  ‘It’s going fine, apart from the flood…’

  ‘Flood? Where, in the flat?’ Daisy sounded horrified.

  ‘No, in the village, the river burst its banks, there’s dreadful damage.’ And she went on to elaborate.

  ‘Oh, Aunt Philly will be devastated, do they know? They’ll probably come back at once,’ Daisy exclaimed.

  ‘No, various people have thought it better not to tell them and spoil their holiday, after all what can they do being so far away?’ Anna said. ‘Fortunately, it hasn’t affected the castle at all.’

  ‘Good point, I won’t mention it if I ring them, but how bad is it?’

  ‘Pretty bad in the village, cottages on the riverside are flooded too badly to live in and the shops in the main street are the same. Some people had to sleep in the castle,’ Anna went on to explain, before saying, ‘I’m sorry it didn’t work out with you and Andrew, are you OK?’

  Daisy said, ‘Yes, I’ll get over it, but I thought I might come and stay in the flat if that’s all right with you? I’ll come on my way to my parents in Scotland, I’m going to them for New Year.’

  ‘OK, that would be great, Freddie would love that, but surely it’s a bit out of your way, isn’t it?’

  ‘Not really, I’ll be glad of a break after travelling out from London, it takes forever over the Christmas period,’ Daisy said

  ‘OK, we’d love to see you,’ Anna said, thinking Freddie could come in with her and Daisy could go in his room.

  ‘Great… have Francy or Grania been in touch?’ Daisy asked nonchalantly.

  ‘Yes, Grania came over to escape her stepdaughters actually, but she’d barely arrived when James sent them to their mother and she went back.’

  ‘So, met anyone nice there?’ Daisy asked then.

  ‘Perfectly nice, I’ve made a good friend with Lucy who owns the cake shop and has a son the same age as Freddie,’ she said, ‘but everyone’s so busy working on the estate and there’s a wedding to cope with.’

  ‘I’ll see for myself, I’ll come the day after tomorrow around lunchtime. That suit?’

  ‘Absolutely. Freddie will be thrilled to see you.’

  ‘And you won’t?’ Daisy teased.

  ‘Of course I will, but no matchmaking, Daisy, I don’t want to cause embarrassment with anyone here,’ Anna said firmly before she rang off.

  ‘Daisy can help me choose a name for Simon’s puppy,’ Freddie said as he spun round the kitchen in excitement. ‘Will Francy come too? Then all my godmothers will have been here.’

  ‘Francy is away skiing, she won’t be back until after the New Year, and Daisy is not coming today,’ Anna said, hoping her friends wouldn’t all gang up together to suss out a dad among the men here for Freddie.

  Anna loved her three best friends, but she could feel overwhelmed by them when they were on a mission. They meant well and they’d been so supportive over the years since Gary’s death and helping with Freddie. They could all count on each other in a crisis, but she didn’t want them to interfere with her love life, not that she had one.

  Twenty

  It was pitch dark now, though there were some lights in the quadrangle and concealed on the castle roof, which lit it up, standing proud upon its hill above the village.

  ‘We won’t stay long, Simon must have lots to do,’ Anna said firmly to Freddie as they set off.

  Following Simon’s instructions, they soon arrived at his cottage beside the large holly tree and Anna’s headlights picked up the sign ‘Holly Tree Cottages’ as she parked the car.

  Freddie darted out of the car, turning round to call to her to hurry up. He reached Simon’s door and jumped up to ring the bell.

  ‘Hi, come in out of the cold,’ Simon ushered them into a small hall with a partition of wood with glass panels and a glass door leading to the inside, the door now shut to keep in the puppy, who was standing on his hind legs peering at them and wagging his tail.

  When Simon opened the door, the puppy ran at them, sniffing and licking and almost wagging
his bottom off with excitement.

  ‘Calm down,’ Simon scooped him up. He was a small, brown terrier and Freddie bounced round him, following Simon into the living room. Simon put the puppy down and shut the door behind them. ‘I got him from a rescue place, three puppies left to fend for themselves. He chose me,’ he smiled.

  ‘What happened to the others?’ Freddie looked worried.

  ‘They were soon found homes too,’ Simon said. ‘Sit where you can,’ he went on cheerfully, pointing out a small faded sofa and a couple of armchairs. A desk stood in the corner overflowing with papers with an iPad open among them. There was a pile of newspapers and magazines on the floor, a bookcase crammed with books and a sound system, and a few large photographs dotted over the walls: some of trees, one of a pretty little girl and another of an elderly couple leaning on a gate watching a horse in the field. The mantelpiece held a clock and Christmas cards, haphazardly arranged; one, Anna noticed, was upside down.

  The room seemed to suggest a single man; there were no flowers or plants around, only a small Christmas tree in the corner decked with lights that had not been switched on. After all, Simon worked on the estate and he probably spent more time outside than indoors.

  ‘Would you like a glass of wine or something else,’ Simon asked, ‘and Freddie, what about you? I’ve some Coke and…’

  ‘No Coke, thanks Simon, that will keep him up all night; he’ll be fine with water,’ Anna said, choosing not to see Freddie frowning at her. Fortunately, he was far more occupied playing on the floor with the puppy than worrying about what he would drink.

  ‘So any ideas of a name yet?’ Simon asked Freddie when they were settled.

  ‘He’s sort of brown, but not like chocolate,’ Freddie said. ‘Brownie, Toffee, no… I don’t know.’ He studied the puppy who was now lying flat on his front chewing one of his dog toys.