Page 51 of All Wrapped Up

I was all but resigned to him being a lost cause for the evening, when I decided to call The Mermaid and ask Jeanie if he happened to be there. There had been no reply at the practice and I couldn’t think of anywhere else that was open that he might be.

‘Oh, hey, Clemmie,’ Jeanie said, when Jim, who had answered, handed her the phone. ‘What’s up?’

‘Hi,’ I said, feeling suddenly ridiculous to have rung in the first place, but unable to think of an excuse for calling that wasn’t the truth.

‘Do you want to book the pub for an AutumnEverything photoshoot?’ she suggested, with a smile in her tone. ‘Because we would be very happy to host you.’

‘No, thanks,’ I said. ‘Not today.’

‘Probably just as well,’ she yawned, ‘because there’s no bugger in.’

‘Is there not?’

‘Barely. The rain has seen them all off. Lightweights.’

‘No sign of Ash, then?’

‘Ash?’ she echoed. ‘No, he’s not here.’

‘Right.’

‘I daresay he’s down at the river with the rest of them.’

‘The river?’ I swallowed and sat down heavily.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘My Tim’s down there and I know Will is as well, so Ash has probably gone along to lend a hand, too.’

I knew Tim was a firefighter, but that didn’t explain why he, or Will, would be riverside on such a stormy night. Or any night, for that matter.

‘Which stretch of the river and to lend a hand with what?’ I asked, as my heart started to heavily thud.

‘By the bridge on the far side of Blacktop Farm,’ she told me. ‘There’s a horse slipped down the bank and they’re trying to get it out. Though how they’ll do it when the river’s running so fast, I have—’

I don’t know what she said next because, feeling sick to my stomach and with the room starting to swirl, I’d ended the call.

‘You stay here,’ I said to Pixie as the rain dashed at the windows and I rushed to tug on the oversized waxed coat from the porch. ‘I won’t be long.’

I’d checked the fire before I set off, but I can’t say I paid as much attention to my driving.

In fact, I had to slam my brakes on at one point and realised, as I coasted almost sideways across the sodden drove and frighteningly close to the deep dyke that ran alongside it, that I needed to slow down. Slow down and calm down.

As I drove slightly less recklessly, I thought more about what Jason had said. Not that I hadn’t considered it over the last few days, but this sudden influx of adrenaline highlighted things I hadn’t taken into account before.

In rather less time than it should have taken, I arrived to find a multitude of flashing blue lights in one of the fields that had the treacherous tidal river running alongside it.

I couldn’t imagine there was a single emergency vehicle anywhere else in the Fens and I did just about muster the wherewithal to make sure I pulled up where my Land Rover wouldn’t be blocking the field entrance.

Having been in such a rush, I was suddenly glued to the seat, my knuckles white as I gripped the steering wheel.

Through the steamed up windows and the still pouring rain, it was impossible to work out who anyone was among the people toing and froing, but I could just about make out Ash’s truck parked next to Will’s which had the practice logo emblazoned down the side.

With a force of will I hadn’t known I had in me, I climbed out and slammed the door shut.

I was soaked in an instant and my Converse, which I hadn’t thought to switch for my wellingtons, were no match for the mud.

It was a wet, windy and wild night and I roughly wiped my hair out of my face as the coat hood was whipped back and my hair plastered to my head.

‘Over here!’ I heard someone holler, but it wasn’t Ash. ‘Quick!’

There were people everywhere, crossing backwards and forwards and dodging around me. I knew I shouldn’t be there, but how could I not have come?

‘Where’s Ash?’ I heard Will suddenly bellow and everyone rushed in his direction. His voice was carried to me loud and clear on the wind. ‘Has anyone seen Ash?’ he shouted urgently again. ‘Where is he?’

With much difficulty, I made my way towards the sound of his voice and closer to the riverbank.

I wanted to scream into the wind as I struggled to stay upright, but I saved my rapidly draining energy for the tragedy I could feel I was teetering on the brink of.

How could this be happening again? How could it be that lightning was going to strike twice?

But then, with just two words… it was over.

‘I’m here!’ I suddenly heard a voice shout back and it unmistakably belonged to Ash. ‘I’ve got the straps! Let’s see if we can get her up!’

There was another rush of people towards what I could now see was a mud-covered horse laying on the ground and there, in the midst of the chaos, was Ash. He was soaked to the skin and filthy, but he was alive, he was breathing, he was there.

Noisy, painful sobs that felt literally torn from my lungs filled the air around me, but amongst the wind and tumult, no one heard them and I sank to my knees, grateful for the anonymity as I completely gave way to the all-consuming emotion coursing through me and the acknowledgement that, irrespective of whether or not Ash loved me, I was undeniably in love with him.

I was in love with Ash. I loved him…

I don’t know how long I was there, but it felt like some time before one of the firefighters’ head torches picked me out.

‘What the hell?’ I heard them shout as they spotted me, sodden and spent, and they rushed over. ‘Are you all right?’

I looked up at them knowing I didn’t have to worry about the tears coursing down my cheeks because they could easily be explained away as rain.

‘Yes,’ I said, feeling out of breath and utterly exhausted. ‘Yes, I’m fine.’

I’d rarely been less fine, but I could hardly explain.

‘Well, you can’t sit there, love,’ he stated as he unceremoniously pulled me back up and on to my feet. ‘Look at the state of you. This isn’t your horse we’ve just pulled out of the river, is it? If it is—’

‘No,’ I cut him off. ‘It’s not mine. Is it all right? I only stopped because I was driving by and saw all the lights, then I slipped over.’

‘Clearly,’ he said, with a look over his shoulder to where the horse was now standing, but shaking all over. ‘I think it’s going to be okay. We need to trace the owner though, so if you do know anything—’

‘I don’t,’ I said. ‘I really don’t. And I’m sorry I’m in the way. I should go.’

‘Yes,’ he said, looking at me again and frowning. ‘We’ll be clearing the site soon and we don’t need onlookers getting in the way.’

‘Sorry,’ I said, feeling a total nuisance as well as freezing cold, soaking wet and in deep shock.

‘I need to get on,’ he said. ‘You haven’t got your car stuck somewhere, have you?’

He sounded exasperated and I felt guilty to have held him up.

‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s the Land Rover parked on the verge. I’ll go.’

I could tell he was watching me as I slipped my way back across the field and climbed into the cab, then turned the engine over and the heating up to full blast. I waved gingerly as I crept away, knowing the journey home would be driven at a much more sedate pace now that I knew Ash was safe.

Now that I knew Ash hadn’t rushed into the river to rescue that horse.

Now that my life had taken yet another dramatic turn that I hadn’t seen coming…