Page 6 of A New Family at Puddleduck Farm (Puddleduck Farm #6)

Phoebe told Natasha about Bumble the next day and the young sanctuary manager confirmed what Phoebe had thought – they’d never had another African pygmy hedgehog come into the rescue.

Natasha had been amazing since Lily had been born.

She had been a volunteer helper since she was seventeen and when Maggie had offered her a full-time job, she’d jumped at the chance.

She was now in her early twenties and aside from Maggie, its erstwhile owner, she knew more about the Puddleduck Pets set-up and animals than anyone else.

‘So Bumble’s our first,’ Phoebe said. ‘He can stay in the surgery for now, but if they need the space he might need to come up to the house.’

‘OK. I’ll ask around the volunteers – see if anyone knows someone who’d take him, and I’ll report back.’

‘Thanks.’

‘My pleasure.’ Natasha’s eyes gleamed. ‘I’m sure we’ll find him a home. He does look really cute. Leave it with me. And don’t go worrying about him. You focus on your little one.’

Not for the first time, Phoebe thought that Natasha was amazingly mature for her age. Last year she and Marcus had bought a house together, a stone’s throw from Puddleduck Farm.

Woodcutter’s Cottage, which had once belonged to Tori, was a tiny two up, two down at the end of an unmade lane. Phoebe and Sam had lived there for a while too but it had been too small to house their growing family.

‘Don’t get any ideas about taking him back to Woodcutter’s,’ Phoebe said now. ‘It’s way too small for any more animals.’

Natasha giggled. ‘You know me so well.’

* * *

Tori came round on Saturday evening as she’d promised. She didn’t bring Vanessa-Rose but she did bring wine and also hot chocolate, in case Phoebe had decided to persevere with breastfeeding – she hadn’t. Which made life so much easier.

‘You’re doing great,’ she told Phoebe as she let herself through the stable door into Puddleduck Farm’s capacious kitchen.

‘How can you tell? You’ve only just got here.’ Phoebe grinned despite herself as she took in her friend’s glossy red hair, tied up in a French plait today, and sensible brown dungarees, and boots.

‘You haven’t got your dressing gown on,’ Tori quipped. ‘Don’t you remember that evening when you came round to ours when Vanessa-Rose was very little and I still had mine on at teatime?’

‘Mmm, vaguely.’

‘And you’ve brushed your hair.’ She stood in the middle of the kitchen with her hands on her hips and scanned the area. ‘Also it’s relatively tidy in here. My God, you’re a supermum.’

‘I’m definitely not. I just ate a whole packet of After Eights.’

‘Great dessert for keeping up your energy levels.’

‘It wasn’t dessert, it was dinner.’

Tori waved a hand. ‘Eating them instead of dinner is even better. They can be counted as dinner calories. Definitely supermum.’

Phoebe shook her head. ‘Definitely not. I don’t even like After Eights. I found them in the back of the cupboard. I was looking for biscuits but we didn’t seem to have any. I haven’t quite got back in my shopping routine. It’s tricky taking Lily round the supermarket.’

‘Order online. Where is she anyway? Did you decide to have her adopted, after all?’

Phoebe laughed. ‘She’s with Sam in the other room. I think he’s changing her.’

‘What a man.’ Tori’s green eyes were bright with mirth. ‘Come here, give me a hug. You look amazing. Did you take my advice about formula milk?’

‘I did. Only two nights but it’s revolutionary. I actually got six hours’ sleep last night.’

They hugged and Phoebe breathed in the scent of Tori’s signature wild musk perfume and was reminded again of how much she’d missed her friend. For the next couple of hours, which were interspersed with cooing over a delightfully well-behaved Lily, they caught up on their lives.

Tori filled Phoebe in on what she’d been up to.

Tori had verged on being a workaholic before she’d had a baby.

She owned and edited the local magazine, New Forest Views , which was distributed free to thousands of homes in the New Forest. She’d only ever had one full-time member of staff on the editorial side, a woman called Laura, although she did use freelancers a fair bit.

‘I’ve just taken on a guy to help me with selling advertising. He’s good. He’s pretty much paid for himself already.’

‘Is he on commission?’

‘Part commission. The more he sells, the more he makes.’

‘Sounds perfect. And how’s the gorgeous Vanessa-Rose?’

‘The gorgeous Vanessa-Rose is at the terrible twos stage, and she’s not even two for another three months. It was a relief to leave her with her daddy.’ Tori winked. ‘Daddy/daughter time is definitely something to encourage from the start.’

‘Harrison’s always been pretty hands-on, though, hasn’t he?’

‘He’s pretty good, yes.’

Harrison was Tori’s husband. He worked as a groundsman for Rufus Holt, the current lord of the manor, whose estate abutted Puddleduck Farm, although it was quite a bit bigger, acreage wise, than Puddleduck Farm.

In the days before she’d started dating Sam, Phoebe had dated Rufus for a while. It hadn’t worked out but the two were still friends. Rufus had sent congratulations flowers when Lily had arrived, and Phoebe had always been close to his son, Archie, who was now thirteen.

Phoebe hadn’t seen so much of Archie since he’d been away at school, but he’d done a week’s work experience at Puddleduck Vets, back in the summer, and he was planning to come for his official placement with her next year. He wanted to be a vet.

She wondered if he’d still come. A lot had changed at Beechbrook House over the last couple of years.

Rufus had surprised everyone by marrying his former nanny, Emilia Gruber, last year.

They’d had a beautifully romantic wedding, in a treehouse, within Rufus’s own private woodland.

They’d had a baby since too, a sister for Archie, who was now about six months old.

Everyone had pretended not to notice the slight date discrepancy between them getting married and Francesca’s birth.

The marriage was undoubtedly a love match.

That was evident when you saw them together.

Rufus and Harrison weren’t just employer and employee, they were best friends too, having been at school together, and it was partly because of this that Phoebe had always been a bit wary of the tall, slightly morose Harrison.

Although she’d warmed to him lately. He was just – as Tori had often pointed out – not the most sociable of souls and he had an incredibly dry sense of humour.

‘Harrison is lovely. I’m still glad I married him,’ Tori said with a wicked gleam in her eye. ‘Having said he didn’t want any children he’s now angling for us to have a little brother or sister for Vanessa-Rose.’

Phoebe clapped her hands together in excitement. ‘Oh, wow, are you going to?’

‘Not at the moment we’re not. Maybe when Vanessa-Rose goes to school, although if I leave it until then I might not fancy the idea of going back into the nappy changing, sleepless nights arena.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’ve told him I’ll think about it.’

It was one of the happiest evenings Phoebe could remember, and it made her realise how stressed she’d felt lately. They laughed a lot and, even though Tori only stayed until just after ten, Phoebe felt like she’d had a week’s holiday.

‘You two need to do that more often,’ Sam said as they got ready for bed. ‘We should make sure one of the grans babysits at least once a month.’

‘Bring it on,’ Phoebe murmured. ‘We can speak to them all.’ Maggie and Eddie were coming round for a visit tomorrow, and her parents and Sam’s in the next few days. And now she felt slightly less exhausted and a lot less of a failure, she was really looking forward to seeing them.

* * *

When Phoebe woke up the next day, the bed was cold. Sam had said he was riding Ninja early and she hadn’t even heard him leave. Presumably neither had Lily because she slept through until Phoebe went to wake her.

‘It seems a shame to wake you up at all, little one,’ Phoebe murmured as she stood at her daughter’s crib, looking down into the baby’s peaceful face.

Lily must have heard her voice because she moved in her sleep, before blinking open her eyes and yawning, and then stretching out her arms.

Feeling a rush of love, Phoebe picked her up. It was amazing how much better she felt after a third fabulous night’s sleep. She must remember to call Jade today and see how those puppies were doing.

She and Sam had staggered the grandparent visits.

Her parents were coming later in the week, Sam’s would come next weekend, and Maggie and Eddie were coming today, just after eleven, which meant Phoebe had time to sort out Lily, and also to touch base with Natasha and walk around Puddleduck Pets and see how everything was going.

Sam had promised to be back from his ride so she could chat to Natasha without Lily.

Phoebe knew she’d never have coped without her young manager, who oversaw the paid part-timers, two of whom covered her time off in the week and the numerous volunteers who came in to help out.

* * *

The forest had always been Sam’s happy place.

There was something about trotting along a sandy path through the trees, listening to the rhythmic thud of his horse’s hooves, the sounds of birdsong and the rustle of leaves through the trees that soothed the soul.

It was the best soundtrack in the world, even though he was pretty tired.

It was huge, this parenthood thing. Much bigger than he’d even imagined. Being responsible for this tiny baby girl who was 100 per cent reliant on them had been a massive adjustment.

Aware that his horse was blowing slightly with exertion, Sam squeezed the reins to slow his pace. Ninja wasn’t competition fit any more. Sam didn’t have the time to keep him that way. ‘Whoa, boy, steady, boy. Steady, steady, that’s it.’

Ninja tossed his head against the feel of Sam’s hands, and his bit chinked against his bridle as he slowed his pace and they came back to an energetic walk.

Sam took a deep breath of the cool morning air.

This was a great time of day. He had the place to himself.

And he loved the solitude. Sometimes it seemed as though it was the only part of his life that had remained unchanged over the last year.

Everything else, even his job at Hendrie’s, was different. He and Ma had different conversations. She never asked after Ninja or whether they were doing any competitions – there was no time for competitions any more. She never asked how Sam felt or whether he was OK.

Sam reminded himself sharply that the world didn’t revolve around him any more.

It revolved around Phoebe and Lily. As of course it should.

He adored them both and yet… sometimes he had a blast of euphoric nostalgia for his old life.

The one where the biggest decision he had to make was whether to go out or stay in for supper.

Ninja shied at something in the hedge and Sam was almost unseated. He gathered his reins, knowing his horse was picking up on his tension. ‘Steady there. It’s OK, boy. It’s all good.’

He’d wondered lately if perhaps he should give Ninja up.

Sell him on to a home where they’d have more time for him.

Ninja was wasted sitting in a field with no equine company and sporadic exercise.

Ninja loved to compete. He always knew when they were going to a show, not just on the morning itself, but for the days leading up to it.

He’d prance around his field, tail held high, looking like the champion he knew he was.

Sam had loved it too. The adrenaline, the preparation, the early-morning drives in the horsebox to a showground, the meeting of friends on the show circuit, the camaraderie of it all.

God, what was he thinking? That had been his old life, his bachelor life. Of course he didn’t want that back. He blinked away the images, coming back to the peaceful green presence of the forest. Coming back to now.

The first hints of autumn were beginning to touch the trees.

There was the odd red and yellow leaf, and the bracken dotted across the forest floor was beginning its transformation through bronze to autumn gold.

In another month the forest would wear the blazing reds and golds of its autumn apparel.

There would be shorter days and cooler weather, misty mornings, bonfire smoke and barbecues.

The forest would have metamorphosed into a new season.

Everchanging. The old would be dying, getting ready to make way for the new.

The circle of life. Change was inevitable.

Sam felt a shiver run through him. He wasn’t yet ready to give up his horse.

However sensible it might be. He thought he’d been prepared for the all-encompassing changes that had swept through their lives like a tsunami this last year, but he hadn’t been. He hadn’t been prepared at all.

It was an old cliché that no one is ever prepared for parenthood, but it was so true. He was a dad now and despite the hard work and the broken nights, he loved it. He was still in awe of what Phoebe had given him and he needed to do more to show her how much he loved her.

For a start, not everything had to change.

They could still have date nights. It would be easier now they were bottle feeding Lily.

He’d never been one for big romantic gestures but he resolved to try harder.

A date night, flowers, some couple time if they could rope in the grans.

He felt a sense of excitement rising as he turned Ninja’s head towards home.