Page 26 of Welcome to the Cornish Country Hospital

By the time they reached the track to Trengothern Hall, Danni had discovered that Charlie had never been married, despite living with his girlfriend, Natalie, for eight years, before realising that something wasn’t right. Even though Charlie had been the one to break it off, the way he’d described it did nothing to diminish the opinion Danni had formed of him. He’d signed the house over to Natalie, so she wouldn’t have to move away from her support network, and had started again from scratch with just Maggie and some furniture his family and friends had wanted to get rid of. That had been five years ago, just before Charlie’s first book had been published. Since then, he’d managed to get back on the property ladder and had just sold the house he’d bought, after spending nearly all of the time when he wasn’t working doing it up. He told Danni it had been the perfect time to rent a holiday let down in Cornwall while he decided on his next move.

‘Do you think there’s any chance you’ll want to stay around here?’ She turned to look at him, surprised at how much she was hoping he’d say yes. But he was already shaking his head.

‘It’s beautiful, but I doubt it. Mum and Dad are renting a place on the Isle of Wight now, while they look for somewhere to buy. They’ve always wanted to retire out there and they’re close to a beach, which Maggie loves even more than I do. So, I think if they can find the perfect place near to where they are now, we’ll look for somewhere close to them.’ Charlie breathed out. ‘I want to get to know Connie, obviously. But from what I could gather when I looked her up, her life seems to be based around the university in Yorkshire and I’m guessing she’ll be heading back that way as soon as she’s well enough. And there’ll be nothing to keep me down here after that.’

‘Of course.’ Danni needed to give herself a good shake. It was ridiculous to feel so deflated that someone she’d only just met wasn’t planning to hang around. Especially as she had no idea if she’d be staying in Cornwall either. When the thought struck her that she could always look at opportunities on the Isle of Wight, she started to worry that she really was losing it. But it had been more than seven years since she’d felt drawn to anyone other than Lucas, and it was a relief to know she could still feel that way, especially as it meant staying in Port Kara might be a possibility after all. There’d been times just lately when she’d felt as if her feelings for Lucas might finally be starting to fade, and meeting Charlie had helped convince her that it wasn’t just wishful thinking.

‘We’re here.’ Charlie paused as they reached the gate and then held up his hand to wave at someone crossing the farmyard. ‘Oh and look, there’s Richard. You’ll be able to talk to him in person.’

‘Yes, right, but, um… It’s just that the contents of the letter are a bit, er…’ She had no idea how to finish the sentence, and was stumbling over her words, but Charlie was smiling again.

‘Don’t worry, I won’t stay and eavesdrop, I promise.’

‘Thanks.’ Danni went hot, as she always seemed to do when she experienced strong emotions of any kind. Charlie’s discretion might have solved one problem, but she still didn’t really want to speak to Richard until he’d had the chance to read the letter. If he asked her what was in it, she could hardly lie again and tell him it was medical results – not without the risk of being struck off.

‘I’ll leave you to it then. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to walk the dogs again another time. I really enjoyed this morning, and of course we ought to go back and check on Trevor together. We did name him, after all. So that makes us both jointly responsible for him, doesn’t it?’

‘I suppose it does.’ Her heart was galloping even faster now, but she couldn’t tell whether that was down to Charlie, or because Richard was getting closer and closer to the gate.

‘My details are on here. Oh God, I probably look like an arrogant idiot who goes around handing out bookmarks to anyone who’ll take them. I promise I don’t usually do it, unless I’m at a book signing or a talk. But the idea of being an author who hands out business cards makes me cringe even more, so I never got any of those done. Anyway, if all of that hasn’t put you off for life, my social media details are on there, so you can message me if you ever fancy going to check on Trevor.’

‘I will.’ Danni nodded. The more Charlie spoke, the more she liked him. The fact he was self-deprecating and a tiny bit awkward, despite clearly being successful in his career, made him all the more appealing.

‘Great, thanks, I’ll look forward to that.’ For a moment it seemed like he might be about to kiss her on the cheek, but then he clearly thought better of it, and she tried not to feel disappointed as he turned towards the man now standing behind the gate. ‘Morning, Richard, I bumped into Danni this morning when she was on her way over here, so we headed back together. I’ll leave you two to it now though, I’ve got to go and make a call. I’ll see you both later.’

‘Thanks, Charlie.’ Richard furrowed his brow, looking at Danni, as Charlie and Maggie headed across the farmyard. The two men shared their height and build. And, knowing what she knew, Danni could see a similarity in their jawlines and the shape of their noses. But Richard was wearing an expression of suspicion that made him look so unlike Charlie, Danni doubted anyone else would be able to see the resemblance between them unless they were looking for it. ‘I wasn’t expecting anyone. If you’re from Cliff and Country Housing, you needn’t bother saying anything else, because I’m not interested. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you people, it doesn’t matter what you offer me, I’m not selling Trengothern Hall so that you can build God knows how many of your so-called executive houses on my family’s farm.’

‘I’m not from a housing company. I just came to deliver a letter, that’s all.’

‘Oh, so you’re from the council, are you? I suppose you’ve had a complaint that I’m breaking some ridiculous regulation, have you? I keep telling you it’s a smear campaign from the people who want to buy the farm; they’re just trying to stir up trouble and force me to sell.’ Richard was going red in the face now and the last thing she wanted to do was to upset him, especially when there was no way of knowing how he might react to the contents of the letter.

‘I’m not from anywhere, I promise. I’m just dropping a letter off.’

‘I suppose you’re going to try and tell me you’re standing in for Terry the postman, are you?’ There were beads of sweat breaking out on Richard’s brow. Someone had obviously been giving him a really hard time, trying to persuade him to sell the farm, and she was almost tempted just to blurt out the truth. But that had to come from Connie.

‘Just read the letter; it explains it all.’ Danni held it out towards him, but Richard crossed his hands over this chest. ‘It’s from an old friend.’

‘I haven’t got any old friends and whatever you’re selling, or trying to buy,I am not interested.’ As he raised his voice to shout the last few words, Danni could see the veins bulging in his forehead.

‘It’s important that you read it. I’ve come from the hospital, and someone there gave me the letter.’

He was finally holding out a hand towards her, but all the colour seemed to be draining from his face. ‘From the hospital?’

She didn’t like the way he was panicking and, despite not wanting to tell him who the letter was from, suddenly it felt like she had no choice. ‘The letter’s from—’

Danni had been so close to saying Connie’s name, but the word was ripped out of her mouth as he suddenly crumpled to a heap on the floor.

‘Richard!’ Her shout was so loud that some of the hens, who’d been hopefully pecking at the dirt in the farmyard, tried to take flight. Leaving Brenda on the other side of the gate, Danni clambered over. There was no way she could force it open without risking injury to Richard.

‘Oh my God, is he okay?’ Charlie came sprinting across the farmyard, just as Danni stepped down from the gate.

‘I don’t know. He was getting a bit worked up, then he went a funny colour and just dropped to the ground.’ Danni moved to kneel next to Richard as she spoke. There was no sign of any blood loss or obvious injury from him hitting the floor and he was clearly still breathing. ‘His pulse rate is very fast, which might be what caused him to pass out. But we need to know why.’

‘I’ll call an ambulance.’ Charlie took his phone out of his pocket. ‘He said yesterday that he’s been getting bad headaches and that his vision is sometimes a bit blurry. I told him to get it checked out, but I should have made him come with me when I went to the hospital.’

‘It’s not your fault.’ Danni needed him to know that, because if anything happened to Richard, Charlie seemed like the sort of person who would blame himself. When Charlie discovered that Richard was his father, the stakes would be raised a thousand times higher. So he needed to know that none of this was down to him.

‘Ambulance, please.’ As Charlie spoke to the operator, Danni looked around for something to elevate Richard’s legs above the level of his heart. Dragging a bale of straw out of wheelbarrow just to the left of the gate, she silently prayed that everything would be okay. Richard couldn’t die without discovering the truth, because if he did it would break Connie’s heart, and Danni couldn’t bear to think about how much all of that would hurt Charlie too.

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