There seemed to be a lot going on in the quadrangle two days before New Year’s Eve. Both Land Rovers came up, though soon Simon drove away. Anna opened the door to see what was going on outside and saw Cathie and Luke tidying up the few shrubs that were dotted about the castle walls. Among the evergreens were some that were just bare sticks, their leaves gone until the spring
Luke, who was just a couple of doors away, waved and came over, his secateurs still in his hand. ‘Do hope we didn’t disturb you, but we’ve got to spruce things up for the wedding, not that they will be really noticeable in the dark, though we’ve got lights coming too.’
‘Of course, it’s not long now is it?’ She smiled at him.
Cathie was further away up a ladder grappling with a rather tall plant; she waved.
Freddie appeared at the door. ‘Hello, Luke, what are you doing?’ Freddie greeted him delightedly, juggling a wriggling Ozzie in his arms.
‘Tidying up these shrubs. So how’s your guinea pig?’ He leant over and stroked his fur, ‘What’s his name?’
‘Ozzie, and the other day I chose a name for Simon’s puppy,’ he said proudly.
‘And what is that?’
‘Rusty, he sort of looks rusty… his fur,’ Freddie said.
‘Brilliant name,’ Luke exclaimed. ‘I hope he learns to come when he’s called, he’s quite naughty at the moment.’
‘Is he?’ Freddie’s eyes shone with amusement. ‘What does he do?’
‘We mustn’t hold Luke up, they’ve a lot to do for the wedding, and Ozzie might get cold out here,’ Anna said.
‘What’s your job called?’ Freddie asked, pulling his jumper over Ozzie to keep him warm.
‘Well… I suppose my job description is general dogsbody. I do a bit of everything,’ Luke said cheerfully. ‘Well, must get on, tidy up before the special lights arrive tomorrow.’
‘Can Ozzie and I help you?’ Freddie asked eagerly.
‘I think Ozzie might cut his paws, but you, if it’s OK with your mum, can help pick up the bits and put them in a bag. Go and put your coat and hat on though.’ Luke glanced at Anna to see if it was all right.
She said, ‘He’s got to finish his breakfast first, but if he’s not in your way, he can come out if he wants to.’
‘I’ve had enough breakfast,’ Freddie said, shoving Ozzie at Anna and turning to go in and get his coat.
‘We’ve lots more to do, Freddie, we’ve only just started, so finish breakfast, you need plenty of ballast in you for this job,’ Luke said.
Anna gave Ozzie back to Freddie, telling him to put him back in his cage and then finish his breakfast. He ran into the shed with Ozzie and was back in a moment before grabbing his toast and cramming it into his mouth.
When Freddie, well wrapped up against the cold, had gone outside to join Luke, Anna set to tidying up a bit. The living room was covered in Lego and she carefully moved a few buildings to the side of the room so at least when she arrived, Daisy could walk across the room. She moved Freddie’s teddy and books into her own room and made up the bed for Daisy in his.
Daisy arrived just before lunch. ‘I set off early in the end, saw no point in hanging around alone at home. I’d hoped I’d be tucked up with Andrew until we went back to work, but his boyfriend turned up and that was that.’ She sighed.
‘Oh, I’m sorry, Daisy,’ Anna was used by now to the men Daisy seemed to go for, always letting her down one way or another.
‘I’m just not very good at picking men; they either have a wife and family, are gay or just not interested. But there it is, I did enjoy the hotel otherwise and would like to go back there in the summer as they have set out the gardens just as they were in times past.’ She went on to describe the work going on in the grounds, before moving on to the floods. ‘It was horrible driving through the village; it’s so dirty and spoilt. I can’t believe what’s happened, I’m so upset for everyone and they’ve had to move out of their cottages and shops for goodness knows how long. Is everything inside – all their clothes, furniture and everything – ruined?’
‘Not everywhere, but the actual village has been badly hit, people’s cottages and Lucy’s cake shop and the bookshop…’ Anna recalled the piles of sodden books being heaved into a skip outside and Julius’s miserable expression as he threw yet another pile of once beautiful books away. ‘Do you know any of the local people?’
‘I’m afraid to say that I haven’t been here for ages. I remember Mattie with her mad hats, Nell and Tessa in their office, and Luke and Cathie,’ Daisy said, dumping her bag on the floor, before following Anna into the kitchen and seeing the wedding cakes in the kitchen.
‘Are these yours? They are beautifully done.’
‘No, Lucy, who has the cake shop that’s now ruined by the flood, is making this for a wedding in early January at the castle; I suggested she did it here as she can’t do it in the shop and her house is full of guests.’
‘So that’s why there’s work going on outside, getting ready for the wedding,’ Daisy said. ‘Will you still be here then?’
‘Yes, it’s on the 5th.’
Daisy sighed, ‘Well, I’ll never have a wedding. I really thought Andrew was the one. He’s so kind, as well as marvellous-looking, but there you are,’ she smiled bravely. ‘Better luck next time, if I can bear to go through another one.’
‘Don’t beat up yourself, Daise, none of us really know if a relationship will work. Gary and I loved each other very much, but he also loved being with his mates; he shouldn’t have gone on that stag do, he hardly knew the groom.’ She sighed. The pain of loss dug deep but he had left her Freddie and she said this to Daisy.
‘He’d have adored Freddie,’ Daisy said.
Anna just smiled, Gary would love him now, but she wondered if he’d been ready then to give up his freedom for a tiny baby.
Freddie charged back into the flat, ‘Daisy, we’ve had the best time. At Christmas, there was a huge lunch and I’ve made loads of friends and I got lots of Lego and a car that goes with a battery,’ Freddie hardly drew breath, ‘and thank you for your present, Daisy, just the engine I wanted for my train set.’
‘Glad you liked it,’ Daisy said.
Anna started to get lunch ready, insisting he ate it before he went outside again. She boiled some water for some pasta and opened a jar of tomato sauce.
‘And how is Ozzie?’ Daisy asked.
‘I’ll get him for you to see,’ Freddie said, running through the flat to tear outside to the shed to fetch him.
There was a cry and both women jumped up from the table to go to Freddie, but before they could reach him, he came running into the flat, screaming, ‘He’s gone, Ozzie’s gone.’
Anna hurried into the shed and saw that the hutch door and the shed door were open and there was no sign of Ozzie.
‘He can’t be far,’ she fought to remain calm. ‘He must be hiding in the garden, looking for dandelion leaves, I expect. We’ll soon find him, it’s too cold to be outside for long.’
Daisy joined them and they began to search the small garden. It was mostly bare now it was winter, so it was not difficult to see Ozzie was not there, though they searched under the evergreen shrubs and in a pile of leaves blown in a heap by the wind.
They soon realised the wattle fence round the garden had quite a few guinea-pig-sized gaps that he could have got under and he could now be roaming anywhere in this vast estate. He could have fallen into the moat, which, though it didn’t have any water to speak of in it, being full of grass and weeds it would be difficult to find Ozzie, and a creature so small could easily have drowned in what water there was.
Anna opened the front door and ran outside, ‘Sorry to bother you, but we need help’. Cathie, Luke and Julius and a couple more people were busy discussing something to do with the wedding preparations.
‘What’s happened?’ Luke turned to her.
‘It’s Ozzie. He’s escaped from his cage. We’ve searched the garden; he couldn’t have got into the house as all the outer doors were shut. I don’t know where he is.’
Freddie appeared with Daisy, sobbing uncontrollably. ‘I put him in his cage, he got out . . . We must look for him.’ None of them dared ask how long he’d been missing. If he had escaped from his cage almost as soon as Freddie put him in it, he could have been gone almost two hours by now and even on his short legs he could have got quite far or – no one dared voice it – been hurt or killed.
Julius took charge. ‘Right, everyone, please stop whatever you are doing and search for Ozzie, he could be anywhere. Describe him to me, Freddie.’ He squatted down beside him.
‘Sort of brown with black, shiny eyes,’ Freddie gulped through his tears.
Julius organised a string of people, some to start on one side of the quadrangle, the rest to start on the other and to carefully search round each side until they met up together. Everyone set to moving along, slowly searching behind the shrubs and in nooks and crannies in the stonework and in boxes and tool bags, but there was no sign of him.
He quietly asked Anna if she could bring him some of the straw from Ozzie’s cage and, too stunned to ask why, she did as he said.
Anna struggled to comfort Freddie. She remembered now how keen he was to get out here and help with the work; he couldn’t have shut the cage or the shed door properly in his haste. If Ozzie wasn’t found by nightfall, and by that she meant four o’clock when it was dark, he’d probably freeze to death or get eaten by a fox; the thought chilled her and she pushed it from her mind.
The quadrangle around them was difficult enough to search, but outside was enormous. After the drawbridge there was a narrow tarmac road surrounded by banks of grass and trees. This went on to the road going down to the village. Either side of the castle there was more land, large grassy meadows with more trees and thick ivy and brambles swarming over their roots. Further on, there was the kitchen garden and the yard where the Christmas trees were sold.
Anna hugged Freddie close, dreading having to tell him that Ozzie might never be found. Only she knew how he would worry and imagine all sorts of terrible fates that could befall him. He’d lost his father, and though she told him stories about him, explained about the accident, he never quite understood why he was not there for him.
‘Would he have liked me?’ he’d asked once, breaking her heart.
Freddie made a habit of becoming attached to people and animals, and it was easy to understand why.
She caught Luke’s eye and knew he understood everything she was feeling. He put his arm round her shoulders, ‘Don’t give up,’ he said, ‘he can’t have gone far.’
Then, through the archway leading into the quadrangle from the drawbridge, came Felix, carrying something in his mouth.
‘He’s eating Ozzie,’ Freddie cried out and would have run screaming to rescue him, but Julius put his hand on his arm to stop him and said, ‘Stay quiet, I gave him his scent from his bedding, he’s found him for you.’ He took a few steps closer to Felix, who was coming straight to him. ‘Good boy, drop him,’ Julius said quietly, and Felix dropped Ozzie at his feet.
Everyone came forward, Anna was afraid he’d been wounded and was dying, if not dead already. Ozzie shook himself before setting off on another adventure, but not before Julius grabbed him, gave him a quick once-over and then handed him back to Freddie.
‘He hasn’t eaten him, he’s a trained gun dog with a very soft mouth,’ he said. ‘I’d say there’s not much wrong with him, he’s just had an adventure.’
Freddie listened gravely to him, his thin body still shuddering from his tears. He turned to Felix who was looking the other way, slightly panting with exertion.
‘You found him, Felix,’ he said, bending down and patting him with his free hand. ‘You found Ozzie for me.’