The Country Escape - Jane Lovering Page 0,88

battering from the spray, several people had gathered around Patrick; from my position on the floor I could see that two of them were Poppy and Rory, and I didn’t miss the vital detail that they were hand in hand. I was torn between wanting to fling the door open and demand to know what they thought they were doing, being quietly proud that my daughter had good taste in decent blokes, and wanting to hurl myself flat on the (crocheted, naturally) rug and wail.

Eventually the door tinkled open and Poppy came in. ‘Mum? Did you really ride Patrick over here?’

There was a note in her voice that I didn’t recognise. ‘Yes,’ I said, from my position on the surprisingly comfortable floor.

‘You… cow!’ Poppy spun round, a ball of fourteen-year-old fury. ‘What, trying to catch me and Rory at something? Well, for your information he’s a perfect gentleman, which you wouldn’t know anything about because Dad is a dickhead! How could you?’ She sounded as though tears were close to breaking through the anger now. ‘Oh, God, they are so going to take the piss out of me at school! My mum galloped all the way here on that old crock of a horse to try to catch me having it away with Rory! I am dead!’

I tried to gather my dignity, but couldn’t catch hold of enough of it. ‘I needed to use the phone. Granny Mary’s had another stroke.’ I gave myself points for not losing my temper or asking her how she dare call me names. Thea was still standing over me, like a boxing referee wondering if she should count me out, and having someone else there helped me stay in ‘responsible mother’ persona, although every atom of me wanted to scream back. ‘I’ve left her with Gabriel. You look very nice, by the way.’

She clearly didn’t know what to react to first. But she was a teenager, so she went for the compliment. ‘Thanks.’ She brushed a hand down the velvet sleeve. ‘Yeah, loads of people have liked our costumes.’ Then she took a deep breath. ‘SorryIcalledyoucow,’ she muttered.

The crowd outside had collected in the doorway, all trying to stay out of reach of the spray. Waves were hitting the edge of the walkway; the tide must be still coming in. ‘I need to get Patrick back,’ I said, ‘and tell Gabriel what’s going on. They’re sending a helicopter for Mary.’

Thea looked worried. ‘Is she very ill?’

‘It’s pretty bad, I think.’ I flicked a glance at Poppy, hoping Thea would realise that I didn’t want to scare my daughter.

‘Do you want a drink or something, before you go?’ Thea helped me to my feet. ‘I’ve got some herbal tea upstairs.’

‘No, thank you. I need to walk back. Patrick gave it all he had to get here. I might have to carry him home, so we need to leave now.’ I gave a pathetic little smile.

‘We’re going back to the party, then.’ Poppy headed for the door. ‘I mean, if that’s okay.’

I looked out, towards the crowd of people carrying lanterns. Now I came to look at them, there were more zombies than you usually see in a seaside town, a fair smattering of sexy witches and some ghosts, one of whom had clearly expected some kind of weather event because he had his wellingtons on under his sheet.

‘Yes. You go and enjoy yourself,’ I said. Lanterns were being relit, extinguished by the next crashing wave, and relit again. Further down the village I could see a procession lining up, lights on poles and a stilt walker, a couple of fire-eaters flaring off and grinning pumpkin heads everywhere. ‘You don’t want to miss it. I’ll let you know how Granny Mary is later.’

I followed her out of the shop. Patrick clopped sadly and damply up to me, his long reins trailing in the salt water along the seafront. Granny Mary was going to kill me for what would happen to the leather, I thought. Then I remembered. Salt marks on her driving harness was going to be the least of her worries.

I walked Patrick home the way we’d come. Like the last-placed team in a spectacularly badly organised cross-country event we trailed through mud, my feet thoroughly soaked and him sploshing along at my elbow, still stopping to blow and cough heartily every so often. At least the rain had stopped, although the wind was still circling, but I could use Patrick as a windbreak, so