Page 20 of A Cosy Christmas with the Village Vet

‘Underneath is a chocolate sponge, filled with ganache, and the girl’s supposed to be you, strolling over the moors with Wilf and lots of other creatures in tow,’ said Bea, smiling at her.

Touched by the gesture, Brogan found herself suddenly overwhelmed by the wish that her grandparents had still been alive to witness this. She pictured their happy faces, how her grandma, who had a savagely sweet tooth, would have enjoyed tucking into a slice of chocolate cake with great gusto. The thought triggered an ache in her heart. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it together without crumbling completely. ‘Thank you, it’s beautiful.’ She caught Nick’s eye and his kind smile just about finished her off.

‘Like Mummy said, don’t forget to make a wish, Broge,’ said Portia, clapping her hands together.

Brogan couldn’t remember the last time she’d blown candles out on a birthday cake, never mind make a wish with a load of people watching. Feeling excruciatingly self-conscious, she held her hair out of her face, cleared her throat and closed her eyes. It took a couple of attempts before the candles were extinguished and Brogan could breathe a sigh of relief. A round of applause went up, sending her embarrassment levels soaring.

‘Bet we can’t guess what you wished for,’ Kristy said, giving Brogan a saucy wink which she followed up with a dirty chuckle.

Though Brogan shot her a warning look, she couldn’t help the smile that twitched at the corners of her mouth. She may not have wished for what Kristy had alluded to, but it had certainly featured Nick.

‘Tell you what, my dear, why don’t you go and have a break with your friends. We can manage here,’ said Bea, gently directing her to the customers’ side of the bar.

‘Are you sure?’ Brogan asked, turning to look at her.

‘Yes, of course, it’s a jolly good idea,’ said Jonty.

‘We’ll slice the cake and bring some over to you,’ said Bea.

‘Oh, okay. Thank you. Oh, and Camm needs his beer, I’ve only half poured it,’ Brogan called behind her as she was scooped up by Anoushka and Kristy and guided to a couple of tables by the fire that had been pushed together by Jimby and Vi. Her mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of Nick, and the reason for him being there. She should really go and say hello; it would look like she was being unfriendly otherwise, not to mention it really was rather nice being in his company. She glanced around her as she was being propelled along by her friends but he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d left. That thought hit her with an unexpected pang of disappointment.

Moments later, she was sitting in front of the fire, tucking into the most sumptuous chocolate cake, listening while Jimby entertained everyone with a story of how he’d slipped on ice earlier that day and had just missed sliding into the village pond. ‘I tell you what, I was millimetres away from a bloomin’ icy dunking,’ he said, following up with a hoot of laughter.

‘It’s not like you to go A over T, Jimby. You’re not accident-prone at all,’ Molly said, a generous dash of sarcasm discernible in her voice.

‘Honestly, Moll, you should’ve seen him the other day. He did the splits when he encountered some ice on the path in the back garden,’ said Vi. ‘Squealed like a pig. Pippin and I howled with laughter.’

‘Yes, thanks for rushing to my assistance, darling wife,’ Jimby said, feigning hurt feelings and making everyone chuckle. ‘I could’ve sustained a serious injury to my family jewel department for all you cared.’

‘Enough!’ Molly held up her hand. ‘Now’s not the time to bring your bits into the conversation, thanks very much, Jimby.’

‘You’re not wrong,’ said Vi, pulling a face.

‘Is there ever a time, Moll?’ asked Ollie, chuckling.

‘No!’ said Kitty, shaking her head and rolling her eyes affectionately at her brother. ‘Never.’

‘On a completely different subject, Broge,’ said Ella. ‘Joss and me spotted a dark-grey van looking a bit suspicious, you know, like the one you mentioned before. We were heading along our track when we noticed it coming towards us. Joss got out of the Landie to see what they were after, but the driver did a quick about-turn and shot off like a bat out of hell, sliding all over the place in the slush.’

‘Aye, from the glimpse I got of them, him and his mate looked very shifty; a right pair of wrong ’uns,’ said Joss.

‘Even more shifty by driving off like that,’ said Ollie.

‘I must admit, I was a bit worried when Joss was walking over to them. You never know what folk like them are thinking; how they’ll react,’ said Ella, looking concerned.

‘Aye, we all need to be careful; keep our wits about us,’ Molly said. ‘And we don’t want any of you fellas acting the hero, okay? It’s better to let the thieving scumbags steal a quad bike, or whatever it is they’re after, than risk any of you lot getting hurt – or worse – trying to stop them. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.’

Everyone knew what Molly was alluding to. Six years earlier, Roger Scarth, a farmer from Arkleby, had been seriously injured when he’d tackled a couple of masked thugs who’d broken into an outbuilding in an attempt to steal his quad bike. He’d taken a severe beating for his trouble and had ended up on a life support machine. It had sent shockwaves around the rural community for some considerable time after. Too traumatised to continue farming, on his release from hospital, Roger had given notice on the farm he rented with his wife and they’d moved out of the area. No one had heard from them since.

‘I agree with Moll,’ said Kitty.

‘Me too,’ said Vi. ‘If anyone sees or hears anything suspicious, they need to call the police, let them deal with it, and that includes you, Jimby.’ She gave her husband a pointed look.

‘Understood, Vi.’ Jimby nodded, his smile slipping away, his tone uncharacteristically serious. Turning to his cousin he said, ‘Don’t worry, Moll, none of us’ll do anything daft, will we, fellas?’ He cast his gaze around the table as assurances from the menfolk followed. ‘And, mind, that includes you, Moll. We all know how feisty you can be when you get going.’

‘Don’t you worry, I won’t be doing anything daft,’ she said.

Brogan glanced over at her, picking up the non-verbal messages flying around the table. She knew Molly had extra reason for not wanting Camm to tackle any potential villains. Having already been widowed at a young age, she wouldn’t want to go through the heartbreak of losing a second partner.

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