Last Christmas Page 22

  They were soaked through by the time they climbed into Gabriel’s ratty old Land Rover, but he rooted around in the rucksack he kept in there for emergencies and soon produced a towel to dry them off slightly.

  ‘Sorry it’s a bit rough and ready,’ he said.

  ‘No sweat,’ said Marianne, who genuinely didn’t seem to mind the shabbiness of the interior, or the fact that it smelt of dog.

  The rain was coming down so heavily, the windscreen wipers were barely making any difference. Flick, flack, flick, flack they went, making little impact on the sheets of rain pouring down the windscreen. Soon the windows were all steamed up despite Gabriel having the blower on full pelt. It felt oddly spooky in the car, driving down the dark road, barely able to see the white lines thanks to the huge puddles that lined their route. Gabriel slowed down to a steady thirty.

  ‘Sorry, it’s going to be a slow old drive home,’ Gabriel said. ‘The road to Hope Christmas is a bit hairy at the best of times but in these conditions it’s going to be lethal. I’m sorry, I hadn’t realised quite how bad it was going to be.’

  ‘Do you want to ring Pippa, to let her know we’re on our way?’ said Marianne.

  ‘Good idea,’ said Gabriel, but just then the phone rang. ‘Oh, that’s her now,’ he said. ‘Great minds think alike. Pippa…you what? Are you all okay? We’ll be there as soon as we can.’

  ‘What’s the matter?’ said Marianne.

  ‘The river’s burst its banks and Hope Christmas is flooding. Pippa’s got water coming through the front door. Bloody hell. They’re closer to the stream than we are, but for all I know my house is flooding too, and Benjy’s inside on his own. I know they issued flood warnings, but nothing like this has happened in living memory. I bet it’s something do with that sodding eco town. They’ve been dumping silt into the river for weeks now. Damn. I daren’t drive any faster than this. It’s going to take ages to get home.’

  The rain was showing no signs of letting up and soon Gabriel found himself slowing down to twenty. They passed an abandoned Land Rover at one point, but there were no other signs of life on the road. A few minutes later, a deer ran out in front of them, gave a a startled look into Gabriel’s headlights, and ran off into the dark.

  Neither he or Marianne spoke as they inched their way further towards Hope Christmas. Why had he decided to come out to the Feathers tonight of all evenings? Gabriel was cursing himself for not realising how bad the rain was going to be. But who could have predicted this? As he drove through Ash Bourton, the village before Hope Christmas, he could see the roads there were awash and people were sandbagging like crazy. A policeman put out his hand to slow him down.

  ‘Where are you trying to get to?’ he asked.

  ‘Hope Christmas,’ said Gabriel. ‘How’s the road?’

  ‘You’ll be lucky if you make it all the way,’ said the policeman. ‘They’re telling me the High Street’s flooded.’

  ‘Well, we have to get back,’ said Gabriel. ‘I have a son…’

  ‘Take it easy then, sir,’ said the policeman, and waved them on their way.

  ‘You okay?’ Marianne gave Gabriel’s hand a quick squeeze.

  ‘I just want to get back,’ said Gabriel. His stomach was a ball of tension and he realised he was gripping the wheel harder than it warranted. It was just as well he was, because a car coming in the opposite direction lost its grip on the road and was spinning towards them. Instinctively Gabriel swerved into the bank to avoid it, narrowly missing a tree. The Land Rover came to a juddering halt and he and Marianne were flung forward with the impact. Quickly establishing that everyone had escaped uninjured, Gabriel got going again. They were now a mile from Hope Christmas, but the distance seemed interminable. The rain continued to teem down and, as Gabriel crouched over the wheel, concentrating as hard as he could on what little he could see of the road ahead, he had the most peculiar feeling that he and Marianne were the only two people left on the planet.

  Eventually, to his relief, the sign for Hope Christmas flashed up, and the road bent round to the left towards the High Street. Nothing could have prepared them for the sight that greeted them.

  ‘Oh my God.’ Marianne was stunned. ‘What’s—what’s happened to the High Street?’

  As they came down the valley into what should have been the High Street, all they could see was a torrent of water sweeping through the town. Half the cottages were submerged in water and where the village hall had been destroyed. A police officer was standing helplessly watching the devastation and talking urgently into his walkie talkie.

  ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ he said, ‘you can’t go on. As you can see, the road’s impassable.’

  ‘But my son—he’s on the other side of the village with his aunt, I have to get to him.’ Gabriel couldn’t see anything beyond his frantic need to get to Stephen.

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, truly I am,’ said the police officer. ‘It all happened so fast, see. The river burst its banks and suddenly we had a flash flood. The emergency services were totally unprepared. But help is on its way. I might be able to get you across when they bring the boats in.’

  ‘Is there anything we can do?’ said Marianne.

  ‘Maybe, when the water subsides,you can help me get people out,’ said the policeman dubiously. ‘But I don’t know where they’re going to go, because the village hall was swept away.’

  Gabriel rang Pippa again and was relieved to hear that everyone was all right, although she and Dan were now bailing out their hall.

  They waited for what seemed like forever before the firemen arrived with a boat. Gabriel put on his wellingtons, also handily stowed in the back of the Land Rover, and passed an old pair of Eve’s to Marianne, before climbing into the boat and rowing across with the firemen. The firemen quickly established who was in need of rescue and who wasn’t—several of the town’s oldest inhabitants lived in the cottages—before taking them what was now in effect upstream to the lane leading to Gabriel’s house.

  They got to Pippa’s house to discover Pippa and Dan bailing out for all they were worth.

  ‘Christ,’ said Gabriel. ‘Are the kids okay?’

  ‘All asleep upstairs,’ said Pippa. She was wrapped in an old mac over her pyjamas and looked totally shell-shocked.

  ‘Do you mind if I just check how things are at home?’ said Gabriel. ‘I left Benjy in the kitchen and I don’t want him to be frightened. I’ll try not to be too long.’

  ‘No problem,’ said Pippa. ‘I don’t think we’re going anywhere for a while.’

  ‘I’ll stay,’ said Marianne, wading across the muddy water to help Pippa.

  Gabriel walked as fast as he was able to his house where he found to his relief that, while the flood waters were swirling round his porch, they hadn’t made it into the house. He opened the door and called to Benjy who was barking wildly in the kitchen.

  ‘Here boy.’ Gabriel went to comfort his dog, but suddenly Benjy’s ears pricked up. Above the wind and the rain came the sound of a lamb in trouble. Benjy barked again and, following his instinct, he shot off into the darkness to rescue it.

  ‘No! Benjy, no!’ Gabriel could only watch in horror as his sheepdog disappeared into the gloom.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Marianne paddled her way towards Pippa, who was frantically filling buckets with foul-smelling water and pouring them out of the back of the house. Like Gabriel’s cottage, Pippa’s house was on a slight slope so the water was at least pouring through into the back garden. But the speed at which it was coming meant that, however fast she bailed out, it wasn’t fast enough. Dan was in the back of the house trying to rescue as much stuff from the lounge as he could.

  ‘Leave that,’ he said to Pippa. ‘It’s a waste of time. I think we’ve got to go into damage limitation mode now.’

  ‘If we just kept going—’ Pippa’s normal composure appeared to be cracking.

  ‘Come on, love,’ Dan put his arm around her, ‘we can’t do anything against this, we
just have to save what we can.’

  ‘Dan’s right,’ said Marianne. ‘Come on, let me help.’

  Soon they’d formed a human chain and were passing things up the stairs to the boys, who found the whole thing terribly exciting. Lucy, fortunately, had remained asleep.

  They worked into the early hours of the morning, when eventually the flood subsided a little, leaving them with a house full of swirling, filthy water.

  ‘I can’t even offer you a cup of tea,’ said Pippa, sinking exhaustedly onto the stairs. ‘I daren’t use the electrics.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Marianne. ‘Where are you all going to sleep? You can’t stay here.’

  ‘There’s room at my place.’ Gabriel appeared, looking exhausted and dishevelled. ‘I only got a bit of rainwater in the hall. Pippa, you and Dan can have my bed, I’ll go on the sofa in the lounge. The boys can share with Stephen and Lucy can have the spare room.’ He paused and looked at Marianne in a nonchalant kind of way. ‘You can have the sofa bed in the conservatory if you’d like.’

  Marianne kicked herself for even thinking about what she’d been thinking in such stressful circumstances, but knew he was right. This was hardly the time to announce their relationship to the world.

  ‘I could try and get home,’ said Marianne.

  ‘Don’t be daft,’ said Gabriel, ‘there’s a river running through the High Street, remember?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Marianne had almost forgotten the difficulty they’d had in getting over here. Her little rented cottage was on the other side of the High Street. She had no idea whether it had been affected or not.

  Pippa gave her a sideways look as if to enquire what was going on, but Marianne chose to ignore it. There would be plenty of time for explanations later.

  ‘Right, let’s get everyone out of here,’ she said brightly in her best teacherish manner—Pippa was looking too stunned by events to make a decision.

  ‘Yes, right,’ said Pippa at last. ‘You go ahead with the boys. Dan and I will come on with Lucy.’

  Having sorted the boys out with appropriate waterproofs, Marianne and Gabriel trudged off up the path. The rain was still coming down in sheets, and the wind was tearing across the valley in eddying bursts that took their breath away. Gabriel was very quiet but, when they got into the house,he suddenly turned to Marianne.‘Don’t say anything to Stephen just yet, but Benjy ran off in the dark. I spent about an hour searching for him, but it’s no good. I think I’ve lost him.’

  He looked so desolate, Marianne gave him a hug.

  ‘Maybe he’s sheltering somewhere,’ she said. ‘Come on, let’s get these kids inside. We’ll all feel better for a hot drink. I know Pippa and Dan certainly deserve one.’

  Gabriel gave her a small smile. ‘I hope you’re right. We’ve had Benjy since Stephen was a baby. He’ll be broken-hearted if anything’s happened to him.’

  ‘No use worrying about what hasn’t happened yet,’ said Marianne, trying to be more cheerful than she felt.

  Once Pippa and Dan arrived, she helped Pippa sort the kids out, then they all went downstairs and Marianne made hot drinks for everyone.

  ‘I think I need something stronger in mine,’ said Pippa with feeling, so Gabriel produced a bottle of his finest malt and added a generous glug to everyone’s coffee. Pippa and Dan soon retired to bed, but Gabriel and Marianne sat close to each other on the sofa, but not so close that anyone who walked in would notice anything untoward, and mulled over the events of the evening, as they listened to the interminable pounding of the rain on the conservatory roof and the whistling of the wind down the chimney.

  Eventually, noticing Marianne shivering, Gabriel brought a duvet downstairs and, past caring whether anyone would see them, they cuddled up together underneath it, chatting softly and getting drowsier and drowsier.

  ‘I should move,’ said Marianne dozily.

  ‘In a minute,’ said Gabriel, pulling her closer to him.

  She nuzzled up against him, thinking how long it was since she’d felt this comfortable. Really, she should get up in a minute. They didn’t want Stephen to find them like that in the morning. But it was so cosy, listening to the fire crackling in the grate, and the last throes of the winds, which were finally dying down. The last thought Marianne had as she drifted off to sleep, leaning on Gabriel’s shoulder, was that he smelt of pine cones and smoke, and how comforting that was.

  Despite the late night, Gabriel woke early the next morning with the sun streaming through the lounge window. Typical. The storm had blown past and now it was so calm outside it was almost impossible to imagine that nature could be so destructive. Marianne was already up making tea in the kitchen.

  ‘Couldn’t sleep,’ she said, coming over to him and giving him a kiss. He allowed himself the swift luxury of taking her in his arms. It felt so comforting after the events of the previous night to hold her there. He felt like he never wanted to let go.

  ‘I’d best be out looking for Benjy,’ he said. ‘And I need to check all the sheep are okay. I think they were on high enough ground, but it was such a sudden storm, some of them might not have had time to get away.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ offered Marianne.

  They set off up the valley, which was incredibly muddy. Looking back down the lane, they could see the flood waters were starting to subside.

  ‘Pippa and Dan are going to have their work cut out,’ said Marianne. ‘I’ll have to go and help them later.’

  ‘What about your place?’ said Gabriel.

  ‘With any luck the other side of the village isn’t affected,’ said Marianne. ‘It didn’t look so bad when we came in from that side last night. Anyway, it’s not as if I own the place, is it? And I haven’t really been there long enough to accumulate much stuff. If I was flooded, I doubt I’ve lost anything of major value.’

  ‘I’m not sure I’d be so sanguine about it,’ said Gabriel.

  ‘They’re only things,’ said Marianne. ‘They can be replaced.’

  They carried on walking, calling out for Benjy, but there was no response. Gabriel found most of his flock, huddled together for shelter in a little dip near the top of a hill. Apart from a little dampness, they seemed fine. But there was no sign of Benjy anywhere.

  They were on the verge of giving up, when they heard some frantic baaing near the spot where they’d helped the ewe give birth.

  Gabriel went scrambling over the slippery rock face, with Marianne following behind.

  ‘Oh, no.’ Gabriel stopped short at the ledge on which Marianne had found the pregnant ewe trembling and bleating piteously.

  ‘What?’ said Marianne, who couldn’t see what Gabriel was looking at.

  ‘There,’ said Gabriel.

  Below the ledge, there appeared to have been a mudslide. At the bottom of it lay the body of a dead ewe, and beside her lay Benjy, his neck clearly broken.

  ‘Have you seen the news?’ Cat was standing watching BBC News 24 with a steaming cup of tea in her hand.

  ‘No, why?’ Noel came downstairs, still knotting his tie. He didn’t feel much like going into the office today, but he couldn’t face another day fudging things with Cat at home.

  The newscaster was talking about flooding up north. There had been warnings issued the previous night, but apparently it had been much worse than was predicted.

  ‘Isn’t Hope Christmas where you’ve been doing your eco town thing?’ Cat said.

  ‘Oh my God.’ Noel stared in horror at the screen showing a river running through Hope Christmas High Street. It was a scene of utter devastation. Noel felt like someone had ripped a hole out of him. The damage would take months to repair. The reporter cut to an interview with a local resident.

  ‘We’re lucky to have with us Ralph Nicholas, who owns a large estate here. I understand that you’ve been putting locals washed out of their homes up in your manor house?’ the reporter was saying.

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ said Ralph. ‘It was the least I coul
d do. Unfortunately we lost our community hall in the flood, so people had nowhere to go. Luckily my house is on a hill and I have plenty of room.’

  ‘And from what I gather, people were out till all hours helping rescue elderly folk trapped in their houses.’

  ‘We’re a close-knit community here,’ Ralph was saying. ‘Folk do tend to help one another. Although not everyone wants rescuing.’

  The report then cut to a picture of an old woman leaning out of the top of her house, waving her stick at some firemen who were asking if she needed help.

  ‘Hitler didn’t bomb me out of this house, so a little rainwater isn’t going to hurt me.’

  ‘When I’m old I want to be like her,’ said Cat. She turned the TV off. ‘What’s this going to mean for your project?’

  ‘A lot of money and a big clear-up operation, I expect,’ said Noel. ‘That’s terrible. Hope Christmas is a lovely place. You’d love it.’ It was the first time Noel had ever mentioned what he thought of it, and he felt a spasm of guilt. His mobile rang. Great. Matt Duncan. Ever the harbinger of doom.

  ‘Yes,I’ve just seen it,’said Noel.‘I doubt very much there’s any point us going up there today. From what I’ve seen on the news, the place looks a complete mess.’

  ‘Luke Nicholas is adamant we have to get up there as soon as we can. I think he’s worried someone might blame the excavation work we’ve been doing.’

  ‘Well, I’m no expert on the causes of flash floods, but there was a lot of silt dumped in the river, and diverting part of it probably hasn’t helped,’ said Noel. He wasn’t at all happy about the destruction he’d seen on the TV, but part of him couldn’t help cheering at the thought that some of Luke Nicholas’ chickens might be coming home to roost at last.

  ‘So we may need to do some damage limitation then,’ said Matt. ‘I need your arse over here right now, so we can start trawling through the files. I do not want any of this coming back to GRB.’