The Village Vet (37 page)

‘Not yet,’ says Alex. ‘She has plenty of years left in her.’

‘It isn’t colic, then?’ Jack says.

‘No,’ Alex continues matter-of-factly, ‘Dolly’s in labour.’

It takes a moment for this fact to sink into my brain.

‘She’s having a foal?’ I say stupidly.

‘That’s right,’ Alex says. ‘I don’t know how I missed it.’

‘I can’t believe it. I mean, I had no idea.’

‘I thought she was putting on weight because she was happy here,’ Libby says with a broad grin, her cheeks pink with relief.

‘Well, it won’t be too long before you have the proof right in front of your eyes. She’s been in labour for a while.’ Alex smiles as he pulls off his glove and drops it on the ground, which is just typical of a vet, I observe. They have a pathological inability to clear up after themselves. ‘I think we should leave her in peace for half an hour or so to give her a chance to get on with it.’

‘If you think that’s okay,’ Libby says doubtfully.

‘Everything’s coming along very nicely,’ Alex confirms. ‘I can take a look at the deer in the meantime,
and
I wouldn’t mind a coffee, white with three sugars, and some of those biscuits that I had last time, the ones with the caramel through the middle.’

‘I’ll see what we have left,’ says Libby, unclipping the rope from Dolly’s head-collar. ‘Coffee for everyone?’ she goes on, her voice high with barely suppressed excitement.

‘Please,’ Jack and I say at the same time. ‘A foal,’ he goes on, his smile still having the power to make me melt inside. ‘How amazing is that!’

‘It’s a bit late in the year. She must have been running with the stallion towards the end of last summer,’ Alex says. ‘Right, where’s Bambi?’

‘He’s in the stable next door. Libby and I changed the dressing on his leg three days ago, so he’s due a fresh one,’ I say.

‘We’ll do that now so I can have a look,’ Alex says, and we replace the bandages with new ones in the light of a torch. Alex confirms what I already know: that the wound is healing nicely from the edges in and there’s no evidence of infection. He’s optimistic that Bambi will go on to be released.

After coffee, we troop back to the barn together in silence. All I can hear is our footsteps, whickering and the gentle shuffling of straw as we arrive at Dolly’s stable. A lump catches in my throat as we look over the door to find the pony nuzzling at a wet bundle of black and white, still partially wrapped in membranes. ‘Oh, there’s the baby,’ Libby sighs. ‘Look, Tessa, it’s beautiful. Dolly, you are such a clever girl.’

‘What do you think, Alex?’ asks Jack, putting his arm around his sister’s shoulder and giving her a hug as she wipes her eyes on the sleeve of her fleece. ‘You’re the expert when it comes to ponies.’

‘It’s a little early to tell,’ Alex says wryly, as the foal lifts its head, ‘but it looks like it’s nicely marked. I’ll check to see if Mum’s passed the afterbirth and make sure all’s well, then we can leave them alone to get to know each other.’

‘Thanks, Alex. I don’t know what we’d do without you.’ I feel really guilty about not being able to pay him on time. ‘About the bill,’ I begin.

‘It’s all right. Have this visit on me.’

‘No, we couldn’t possibly …’

‘It’s fine. Actually, I feel a bit guilty that I didn’t even suspect the pony was pregnant. I should have checked when I first came out to see her, considering her history. Call this my contribution to the Sanctuary. I’m sure there’s never enough money.’

‘Or enough space,’ I add ruefully. ‘I’m really grateful. We’re struggling.’

‘It doesn’t help that you have another mouth to feed,’ Alex says.

The foal is soon on his, or her, feet, drinking from the mare. If I was concerned that Dolly might treat her baby in the same way she treats some of us, I was wrong. She adores it.

‘She’s very proud,’ says Libby. ‘What shall we call her? Him?’

‘It’s a colt,’ Alex says. ‘I had a quick look. He looks quite comical with that patch across his eye.’

‘You aren’t going to let yourself get too attached the foal as well as Dolly, are you?’ I say lightly to Libby once Alex has left for home and Jack has gone to feed and clean out the cats in the cattery.

‘I’ll try not to, but this is fate, I reckon,’ Libby goes on, busily texting on her mobile at the same time. ‘Dolly will have to stay for a while longer, won’t
she
? She can’t travel anywhere with a young foal at foot.’

‘She’ll be here for the winter now,’ I confirm. ‘Who are you texting?’

‘Ash, to let him know our news,’ she says. ‘This is the best thing ever.’

‘So you’re still together, you and Ash?’

‘Yeah,’ she says, smiling.

‘Make sure you keep me posted,’ I tease. ‘I can hear wedding bells.’

Libby ignores that comment, and I notice her hand is twitching. When she sees me looking at it, she folds her arms, hugging the affected one to her chest in an attempt to keep it still.

‘Are you all right?’ I ask quietly, and then when she doesn’t answer me for a second time, I go on, ‘You have told Ash about your epilepsy, haven’t you? I don’t mean to nag, but—’

‘I haven’t and I’m not going to.’ Libby’s eyes flash with annoyance. Her mood has changed. ‘You’re as bad as my brother. Have I taken my medication? How am I feeling? Have I told everyone? I can change my status on Facebook and take out an ad in the
Chronicle
: Libby Miller suffers from epilepsy. Well, I don’t. On a worldwide scale, my suffering is nothing. I can manage my condition. Give me some credit.’

‘I understand that,’ I say, as she continues, ‘I’ll tell Ash when it feels right. If I tell him now, I’ll scare him off because he’ll think I’m really into him, which I am …’

‘Libby, he should know. It isn’t fair.’

‘Yeah, so we’ll spend our time together with him watching and waiting for me to start twitching and frothing at the mouth. How cool does that look?’

‘He needs to know the rules, like how long he can leave it before he calls an ambulance. Libby, how would you feel if it was the other way round?’

‘I’d be petrified that he was going to die on me,’ she says after a long pause for thought. Her lip wobbles and I’m afraid she’s going to break down and cry.

‘Exactly,’ I say, putting my arm around her shoulders. ‘Think about it.’

‘I have, and I’ve made my decision to keep it from him for now. I’m prepared to take the risk. It’s my life, my choice. And don’t you dare say anything to either of them, Ash or Jack.’ She changes the subject back to Dolly’s baby. ‘How do we start handling the foal?’

‘Carefully, I should say. Dolly strikes me as being the possessive type – she’s bound to want to protect her baby. We’ll have to take it slowly, one step at a time.’

How I wish Jack and I had taken it slowly, one step at a time. We should have gone out on a few dates and built up to the first kiss, not jumped into bed with each other at the first opportunity. He would have had time to get to know me even better than he already does, and realised exactly what he had to lose by dumping me for the cougar.

‘Are you okay, Tessa?’ Libby asks as we continue to watch the foal, which staggers shakily around to Dolly’s head end and stands there so that she can nuzzle fondly at his face. ‘Only you seem rather quiet tonight … What’s up?’ Libby goes on sternly when I don’t respond. ‘Are you still recovering from the ball?’

‘That was weeks ago, and I didn’t have a hangover, if that’s what you mean.’

‘You were one of the few who didn’t have a drink or
two
.’ Libby hesitates. ‘So what is it? Didn’t we raise any money?’

‘No, we counted it all up and we made several thousand pounds.’

‘You must be exhausted,’ she says, probing.

‘I’m not tired. Not really.’

‘Is it Jack?’ She takes my silence as affirmation. ‘It is Jack. I don’t know if it will make any difference, Tessa, but you should probably know that Karen’s moved out and gone to stay with friends.’

‘It makes no difference to me,’ I say quietly. It’s too late. I still have feelings for Jack, and I could so easily give in and go back to him if he asked me to, but it wouldn’t be right. There’s nothing to stop him letting me down again as soon as someone else catches his eye, and I’m not prepared to put myself through that kind of heartache again.

Chapter Seventeen

Nine Lives

LIBBY AND ASH
drop in regularly to visit Dolly and the foal, which they’ve named Apache. I leave them at the paddock gate with their supply of carrots late one afternoon and return indoors to have a shower after what’s been a very long but rewarding day, playing fetch with the kennelled dogs and experimenting with a variety of toys with the cats. I smile to myself because that makes it sound as if I’ve spent all day playing games, when I’ve done all the feeding and cleaning out too. Working with animals is not a glamorous occupation.

I’m just letting Tia out in the back garden for a couple of minutes, when I hear Ash shouting urgently.

‘Stay there,’ I tell Tia. Checking the time on my watch on the way, I make a run for it back to the paddock, following the sound of Ash’s voice.

‘Libby’s having a fit,’ he screams from beside her, where she’s lying on the grass at the base of the fence, her eyes wide open yet unseeing, her face red, saliva on her lips and her limbs thrashing about.

‘Keep calm,’ I say, looking to make sure she isn’t going to hit her head on the gatepost, and checking the time again. ‘Ash, talk to her, let her know you’re here.’

‘Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?’ he says, his complexion as pale as Dolly’s white blaze.

‘Not yet,’ I say as calmly as I can; I’ve never seen a human being have a seizure before. ‘Trust me, Ash. I’ve done the risk assessment and she’s okay for three minutes.’

‘It must be at least that now,’ he stammers.

‘I timed it from almost when you started yelling.’ I try to focus him on doing something so that he doesn’t panic, although underneath I’m beginning to fear that we’re getting close to the mark. ‘Talk to her, Ash. Come on, that’s your job.’

‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘Anything, what you had for breakfast will do.’ I begin to relax a little, noticing how Libby’s body is growing limp and the twitches less frequent, and how her eyes settle on Ash’s face, her brow furrowed as if she’s trying to remember who he is. ‘She’s coming round,’ I go on with a sigh of relief.

‘Hi, Libs, guess what I had for breakfast?’ Ash begins, before reeling off a whole list of foods: ‘Cold pizza, curry, cornflakes, baked beans, eggs, a cereal bar, apple pie.’ I raise one eyebrow when he glances up at me. ‘I didn’t have all of them today.’

‘Ash,’ Libby moans, groping for his hand. He links his fingers through hers and raises her hand to his lips.

‘Thank goodness for that,’ he breathes as she tries to sit up.

‘Stay there,’ I tell her. ‘She’ll be confused at first. Make her stay there, Ash. I’m going to get something for her to sit on and a glass of water. Do you want
anything
?’

‘A double vodka, I reckon,’ he says, with a small smile. ‘No, don’t worry about me.’

I deliberately take my time to collect up a glass of water and one of the deckchairs, giving Libby and Ash an opportunity to talk, while getting ready to console either of them if they should fall out.

As I approach, I hesitate, peering around the corner of the kennel block and catching sight of them sitting side by side, leaning against the fence with their legs outstretched. My heart sinks.

‘You can’t dump me because of this!’ Ash shouts. ‘It should be me dumping you for keeping secrets.’

‘I can’t let you dump me,’ Libby argues. ‘I’d never live it down. If you were a real man, you’d let me dump you.’

‘But I’ve got grounds. You should have told me in advance so I knew what to expect. Libby, I’ve never been so scared.’ Ash’s tone softens. ‘I thought you were dying. Why didn’t you say anything before?’

‘Because I thought …’ Libby hesitates. ‘I knew it would put you off. We’re supposed to be dating, getting to know each other and having fun. You don’t want to waste your time with me, watching and waiting and worrying about when I’ll have the next fit.’ She bursts into tears. Ash puts his arms around her. ‘You know I could die.’

‘Well, you haven’t done yet,’ he says, scrabbling around in his shorts pocket and pulling out a scrappy tissue, which he presses into her hand.

‘There is always a risk …’ she sobs aloud.

‘Well, you’ve coped with it. I’m sure I can live with it too.’ Ash pauses. ‘Libby, I love you. If you think we’re going to split up over this, you’re wrong.’

I step out from my hiding place, feeling guilty for listening in on a private conversation, but relieved that they’re talking. I walk across and hand Libby the water. I’m not sure she has need of the deckchair now.

‘There you go,’ I say lightly. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’ve got a bit of a headache, that’s all,’ Libby says. ‘I think it’s Ash who’s feeling worse,’ she adds, turning to him with a small smile on her lips, and I feel a stab of envy at their closeness and the way they mirror each other’s movements. Even though they haven’t been together for very long, they look like a couple of childhood sweethearts, and yet again it takes me back to Jack, and how we could have been like Libby and Ash if the course of love had run a little smoother for us.