Love Heart Lane

Aggie coughed again before she spun round to see her granddaughter running towards her. She opened her arms wide before the little girl launched herself at Aggie who spun her around a couple of times while she giggled. Placing her feet firmly back on the floor Aggie kissed the girl on both cheeks then grasped her hands.

‘Let’s get you something to eat and you know what, with all this snow still falling there will be no school tomorrow which means…’

‘We can build the biggest snowman ever!’ the girl shrieked.

Felicity watched Aggie wander over towards the food table still chatting away to her granddaughter and felt a tug at her heart. The little girl standing in front of her with a string of russet freckles scattered across her nose and those big brown eyes must be Fergus’s daughter.

‘Is that…’

‘Yes, that’s Esme,’ said Rona, squeezing her daughter’s hand.

All Felicity could do was stare at the beautiful little girl. Of course, she knew Esme existed and that Fergus was now a proud dad, but over the years she’d tried not to think about it. Esme must be around six years old now, and Felicity could still remember the night her mum had telephoned her in London to tell her the news that Fergus was expecting a child. Her heart felt as though it had been stabbed, it hurt that much. And although it had been her choice to leave Heartcross, she’d never thought that Fergus would move on so quickly. For her it had still been way too soon.

Felicity hadn’t asked her mum for details. In fact, she told her mum that she didn’t want any more updates from Heartcross, and that was when she’d cut herself off from everyone here.

She knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming back. As she finished her drink she spotted Isla and Drew who’d slipped in through the back door and tried to fix a smile on her face. Isla was clutching the hand of a handsome little boy, similar in age to Esme. The second he saw Esme he ran off towards her. Drew weaved his way to the bar leaving Isla to have a look around, and when she spotted Felicity and Rona sitting at the table in the window, she smiled and made her way over.

‘Drew said you’d be here … do you mind if we join you?’

‘Be my guest,’ answered Felicity, gesturing to the empty chair. She watched Isla slump into it.

‘I’ll be glad to get this little mite out, I feel like a barrel.’

Rona smiled. ‘Then the fun really begins.’

‘How’s things?’ Isla tactfully nodded her head towards Allie.

‘A little frosty but I did mention about getting together very soon.’

‘And…’

‘And she didn’t say no.’

‘That’s a start. I’ll catch up with her in a minute and see when she’s free, but with this weather I’m not sure I’m up to waddling very far. Maybe you could both come over to the farm? I’ll get Finn into bed early and cook us something nice to eat.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Felicity who also didn’t want to venture out too far in this weather.

Drew appeared back at the table with a smile and handed a drink to Isla. ‘Shall I get us some food?’

‘That would be lovely.’ Isla smiled up at him, not wanting to put any more weight on her feet just yet. Drew gave his wife a quick peck on the top of her head then disappeared off towards the table of food.

There was some sort of commotion going on in the far corner of the pub and raised voices could be heard. Rona strained her neck to see what was going on, before standing up and making her way over to the group of villagers that were huddled in the corner. Hamish was trying to calm things down and looked very official standing there with his pen poised against a clipboard.

‘That all looks very serious,’ commented Felicity to Isla. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Urgent meeting, because of the snow. There’s no deliveries scheduled now for a few more days and the bad weather has come early, taking everyone by surprise.’

Felicity knew the delivery trucks into Heartcross ran like clockwork, and everyone relied on them. Usually even in the bleakest mid-winters everything ran smoothly but for a meeting to be held, there must be real concerns.

‘But Heartcross is used to this kind of weather and is usually prepared,’ said Felicity, still looking in the direction of Hamish.

‘Usually, but we all thought we had a couple more days until the weather turned. Hamish had upped the grocery delivery to the shop but with this severe snowfall no more trucks will be able to get through until the snow thaws,’ said Isla with concern.

Drew appeared by Isla’s side and handed her a bowl. ‘Here, eat this.’

‘Thanks. How’s Hamish getting on over there? Have you listened in?’ asked Isla, seeing even more villagers gathering around.

‘Hamish is making it pretty clear he can’t just sell the produce on the shelves to one person, and that it needs to be distributed fairly to each household until the delivery trucks can get through. But people are concerned and they’re arguing amongst themselves, that’s why I’ve escaped for a second … taking a breather.’

‘Any news on the school?’ asked Isla, noticing Jessica, Finn’s teacher, chatting to Rory.

Felicity looked up, Jessica was the woman who’d brought Esme into the pub.

‘Not only is Jessica stranded in the village due to the weather, she’s just announced the school is closed until further notice. She’s had to rent a room with Julia at the B&B. There’s no way she can drive her car down the track and over the bridge.’ Drew placed his hand in the small of his wife’s back. ‘Which means Finn is going to be home from tomorrow but I promise I’ll help out as much as I can.’

There was no hiding Isla’s sigh, she barely had the energy to put on her own socks never mind entertain a six-year-old.

‘Normally, I wouldn’t mind. I enjoy him being home but it’s just a little tiring at the moment waiting for this one to make an appearance.’ She patted her stomach and felt a kick. ‘He’s being a little live wire tonight.’

‘I can help out while I’m here. I had visions of me working in the teashop to pass some time but…’

‘Give your mum some time, it’s been difficult,’ interrupted Isla. ‘And thank you, I’d love to see as much of you as possible whilst your back.’ Isla smiled at Felicity, meaning every word.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of Hamish raising his voice, ‘If anyone would like to volunteer…’ He looked hopefully at the crowd of people.

No one answered.

‘You can’t all stand here demanding to know how I’ll allocate my produce when no one is willing to help.’ He sounded exasperated.

Felicity stood up and wandered over to the crowd. ‘What is it you need Hamish?’

‘I need another pair of hands. Firstly, we need to concentrate on the perishable goods and make sure it doesn’t go to waste and then we need to come up with a plan for the rest of the stock.’

Felicity determinedly stepped forward. ‘I’ll help you with that, no problem.’ Felicity knew that with her own experience at work, she could easily scan through the stock lists and share out the food as fairly as possible. ‘I’ve got time on my hands while I’m home.’

Hamish’s face lit up. ‘Felicity Simons, are you serious?’

‘Deadly serious.’

‘You are a gem.’ He beamed, looking like a huge weight had lifted from his shoulders.

‘What time do you want me in the morning?’

‘Eight o’clock?’