Page 54 of Christmas at the Home Farm Vets
‘My mum isn’t coming, that’s all. The taxi’s cancelled because of the weather.’ Erin’s throat felt scratched, and the tears were blurring her vision. ‘It was always a possibility she wouldn’t make it with me living here. But as long as she and Nan and Grandad are okay, then that’s all that matters. You and me can still have the lunch, I suppose.’ She paused. ‘Please would you switch the turkey on, it’s all ready. Give it forty minutes and then turn it down again.’
‘Absolutely. Is there anything else I can do?’
‘Look after Marnie, please. I’ll be back as soon as I can.’ She opened the door, already braced for the cold. She was needed today, and Christmas would just have to wait.
The sun was low in a moody sky, and she breathed in cold, crisp air, helping to clear her mind. The silence and stillness always seemed different on Christmas Day, as though the world had paused to acknowledge its significance. The windscreen of her pickup was frozen, and she thanked Oli when he came out to help, his feet stuffed into wellies. She’d already put the heated seat on, and she leaped in the moment it was clear and took off as fast as she dared, thinking about the sheep who’d just given birth. It was essential she reached it as quickly as possible.
It took longer than usual to reach the farm, and she was very glad of her all-wheel drive vehicle as it climbed a steep but short and rocky track to the farm. The ewe was in a pen with her new lamb nearby, and Erin very quickly got to work once she’d examined her. She cleaned and disinfected the prolapse before reinserting it and completed the process with a suture to keep everything in place.
On the way back she picked up a call about a calf with suspected pneumonia and she diverted, heading further away from home. The signs when she examined it were reasonably positive, and she left additional medication for the farmer to inject over the coming days. It might be Christmas Day but that didn’t stop animals needing to be cared for, and she’d been given a very welcome bacon roll at the second farm which went a long way to warming her up after an early start.
A third call came in when she was close to the practice, and she headed there to meet a dog which had swallowed some chocolate. The frantic owners hadn’t wasted any time in turning up, so Erin got to work, giving it the appropriate medication, and mentally preparing herself for the mess. She adored her job but there were occasions when it seemed like a continuous process of clean-ups from either end. The medication worked and she gave the very sorry-looking spaniel charcoal treatment as well to help absorb any remaining traces of chemicals or toxins.
Satisfied after a while that it wasn’t dehydrated and was comfortable enough to go home, she called the owners to let them know and told them to get in touch again if they had any further concerns. She’d left the cottage six hours ago and she just wanted to go home. Never mind Christmas lunch, especially without her mum – a turkey sandwich would do now, and at least thanks to Oli it would be ready.
She parked outside, thinking of lighting the fire and curling up beside it with Marnie and a movie to cheer her from missing her family. She let herself in and stopped dead on the mat behind the door, her empty flask crashing to the floor as she burst into tears.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Ooh, our Erin, I thought you were never comin’ back,’ her nan shouted from the kitchen, a ladle in her hand. Her grandad was in the armchair whisking cream in a bowl balanced precariously on his lap and her mum was setting the table. Oli was stirring something on the hob, and she swiped at her face when she caught his eye. His smile quickly became a laugh as Joyce peered inside the pan and told him to ‘stir a bit quicker, lad, if you’re thinkin’ of ’avin’ gravy with your dinner this side of t’new year.’
‘Oh, it’s so brilliant to see you, I can’t believe it! How did you get here?’ But she knew, and she barely trusted herself to look at Oli again as she brushed the tears away. Her mum came over to hug her, murmuring, ‘As if you didn’t know, Erin, love.’ She went to her grandad and bent down to kiss his dry cheek, and he grinned up at her. ‘You look like that’s always been your chair, Grandad. It suits you.’
‘Aye, it does.’ He winked. ‘Better watch out or I might be swappin’ with you. Go an’ see your nan, she’s been itchin’ for you to get back before her Yorkshires spoil.’
Her nan paused making the lunch long enough to let Erin bend down and hug her, and then she was chased from her own kitchen as Joyce informed her that she already had another pair of hands to help, and she should get her feet up while she could after the morning she’d just had.
‘But Nan, you’re on your feet, doing all this.’ Erin waved a hand to the organised chaos scattered over the worksurfaces. ‘You’re supposed to be taking it easy, and I thought you weren’t coming.’ Her voice stuttered as she caught Oli’s eye again.
‘Aye, well we weren’t, not until this lad turned up an’ said he was fetchin’ your mum back ’ere. No point in us sittin’ on our own when I could be makin’ meself useful with you out at work all hours. Now get out from under me feet, I’ve a dinner to make.’ She shot Oli a look. ‘Lewis Hamilton can stay. Nearly ’ad us on two wheels on the way over. I thought I wasn’t goin’ to live long enough to get me Yorkshires in t’oven.’
‘Lewis Hamilton?’ Erin’s laugh was a spluttered one and Oli pulled a wry face.
‘I’m not sure your nan’s used to being driven,’ he said, laughing. ‘I wasn’t going that quickly, honestly. There were a couple of tricky moments in the snow, that’s all. How did you get on?’
‘All fine for now.’ Erin’s shoulders loosened as her tension eased, and she checked her phone anyway, just to make sure. ‘Probably won’t be the last call of the day though.’
The little house was bursting, and she was over the moon that Christmas had finally arrived. The telly was on as her grandad kept an eye on repeats and her mum was setting out glasses and waving at someone through the window, Marnie perched on the back of the sofa and watching all this action warily. Erin desperately wanted a word with Oli, but she didn’t imagine her nan would approve if he left the gravy alone at this crucial stage. She went over anyway, almost drooling at the thought of a proper Christmas dinner after her early start.
‘Thank you.’ The words were a whisper, and she hoped her eyes were telling him more. ‘It means the world, especially when you can’t be with your family. I hope you feel welcome in mine.’
‘I do,’ he told her softly as Joyce muttered at the sink. ‘Although your nan said she’d knock my block off if there was any more messing about between you and me. I’m starting to realise you don’t mess with Joyce.’
‘You really don’t.’ Erin adored her nan’s loyalty. ‘But actually I think that’s high praise. If she didn’t like you, she’d have knocked it off already.’
She was trying to picture her life before Oli had landed back in it; her single-mindedness in focusing on work and her family, her small group of friends and the new ones she was making in Hartfell. She loved the community here and was so grateful to be a part of it, something she hoped to build on for the future. She’d never imagined sharing her life with someone else, not fully. Not like her grandparents, whose lives were melded together with a bond that seemed stronger than steel. They might bicker all day long and grumble constantly, but their partnership had endured almost sixty years, and the rhythm of their lives flowed as one.
Oli understood her career and its demands, the long and often unsociable hours. She knew he recognised her desire for independence too, to create a life that gave her security and satisfaction. In the years since they’d graduated, she’d never once come close to loving anyone else. And for all that she longed to remain professional at work, was it really so impossible to think they might be together and keep that part of their lives separate from their colleagues? Was she trying to push him away because she was afraid he wouldn’t stay? But if she didn’t give him a reason, then why would he stay?
The lunch was amazing, and Erin and Oli ate on their knees because there wasn’t room for five around the table. No one made Yorkshire puddings like her nan, and they were perfect: golden, fluffy and crisp. Oli had wondered aloud why they were eating them when roast beef wasn’t being served, but he’d been faced down by four outraged stares and very firmly informed that Yorkshire puddings went with everything. Joyce even promised to make her speciality for him one day, a large Yorkshire filled with steak, chips, peas and gravy, and Oli said he’d hold her to it.
Heather topped off the trifle with the cream Bill had whipped, and they paused for the king’s speech before desserts were served. Joyce and Bill always had Christmas pudding followed by trifle, while Erin and her mum preferred it the other way around. Joyce had brought a pot of thick, creamy custard she’d made, and warmed it before pouring it generously over the Christmas pudding and ignoring Oli’s protests that he was on call tomorrow, and he’d definitely need to be able to bend.
‘Give over, you numpty, a big fella like you needs a proper dinner.’ She dolloped on a bit more custard and Erin wasn’t sure she’d ever felt so content in her life. She was full from her lunch and prayed she wouldn’t get called out in the next couple of hours; she doubted she’d be able to bend. Maybe a second dessert hadn’t been such a clever idea after all.
She’d already sent her nan and grandad’s presents ahead as she hadn’t expected to see them today, and they’d opened them at home this morning. She and Heather always made each other a stocking filled with small gifts they knew the other would love, and she was speechless all over again when her mum produced one for Oli too and set it on his lap.
‘I know you couldn’t be at home with your family, Oli, seeing as you’re supporting Erin with Gil away. I didn’t want you to miss out, it’s only a few little bits but I hope you like them.’
