Page 14 of Secrets in the Snow
‘It’s freezing up here, Mum!’ says Ben as we trudge up the hill to Warren’s Wood, wrapped up in more layers than an onion an hour later. ‘I can’t believe you wanted to go sledging instead of just walking around the lake like we usually do on the weekend to get some fresh air.’
My woolly hat just about keeps the wind out of my ears, but the higher we climb up the gradient of the hill, the more cutting the chill on my face feels and I’m beginning to wonder if we are a bit insane for taking up Mabel’s instruction so literally on a day like today.
‘It’s important to change things up, and we mightn’t see snow like this again for years,’ I tell my son, knowing I’m trying to convince myself this is a good idea. I stop to catch my breath and turn to look down on the village below us, marvelling as I always do at the view from up here.
Ben keeps going as I take a moment to myself.
The pretty chapel steeple sits in the distance, watching over us all. I can see Ben’s school, and to the far right I see Teapot Row in all its glory, then the famous Ballybray lakethat rests in the background, a place that holds so many precious memories of summer walks and morning swims on my own and with Ben and Mabel of course. The sight of it all never fails to fill me up with pride and just by taking in this view I’m reminded of how wonderful my life has been since we moved here.
I see the clothes store, Truly Vintage, where I get to spend my days rummaging through high quality old dresses, suits and hats, making them look pretty again for a second chance at life. It’s a place of peace and tranquillity to me, where I find my mind wandering as to who might have worn the clothes before and what their story might have been.
I love it when Camille goes off on her travels to her home city of Milan, or to places like Camden Market in London, and returns with all sorts of treasures to give a new lease of life to.
Everything looks so pretty in the snow, especially from up here, and I’m reminded how we sometimes need to step back from it all in life and look upon it from a distance to really appreciate what we have and how far we’ve come.
I have a job I adore, a home that is safe and warm, a healthy son who loves me, and I’m wrapped up in a community that reminds me I’m never alone. And now, although I no longer have Mabel, she has left me with a strength inside that her message has brought to the forefront once again.
I’m doing this for her, but I’m also doing it for me andBen after spending days upon days housebound and feeling sorry for ourselves.
‘Come on, slow coach!’ says Ben in a voice I am delighted to recognize as his old self, however long it may last. Maybe he just needed some distraction and fresh air. Maybe it’s my fault having him cooped up with me moping all this time. Maybe I’m overthinking again.
I try to run and catch up, which makes Ben laugh at my efforts. I was certainly never the outdoors, sporty type and any effort to be like that never fails to raise a giggle in my son, who could run rings around me. And in fact the higher we get up the steep hill towards the woods, the more terrified I am of sledging, and I realize I haven’t exactly thought this through.
‘You’re puffed out already, Mum!’ says Ben. ‘I still can’t believe we’re doing this.’
‘Neither can I,’ I agree as I pull Ben’s little red plastic sledge behind me. I’d bought it under Mabel’s instructions when the last skiff of snow came to Ballybray, but it didn’t last long enough for us to make proper use of it. Today is different though. Today our whole village is covered in a thick blanket, and from up here near the woods it looks like a magical winter wonderland.
I stop to take another look, taking out my phone to capture such a chocolate box winter scene, and it’s through the screen on the phone that I see we are not alone in our idea to go sledging. Someone is coming behind us, pullingbehind him a much bigger sledge with proper handles and a wooden base.
‘Aidan?’ I mutter in disbelief. Am I seeing things?
‘I guess I’m more afraid of not heeding Mabel than I thought I was,’ he says as he climbs the hill without so much as losing a breath. ‘Do you mind if I join you after all?’
My stomach leaps. I certainly wasn’t expecting him to change his mind.
Ben stands a few feet ahead of me as I wait for Aidan to catch up. He’s beside me in no time and is certainly dressed for the occasion in a puffer coat and black woolly hat that matches his dark, thick-set eyebrows.
‘The more the merrier,’ I say, doing my best to keep the spirit of Mabel in the air. I’m in shock on the inside, but on the outside it’s business as usual.
We clamber up the rest of the hill with just the sound of our feet crunching beneath us and the sight of our breath in front of us, neither knowing what to say nor feeling the need to make idle conversation. Mabel wanted us to have fun, yes, but Aidan so far seems as much fun as a funeral in my opinion. He has barely cracked a smile, never mind laughed at anything since we first met yesterday.
When we get as far as Ben, who is standing by the gate that leads to the mysterious wood, my son looks like he is fit to burst with excitement at our unexpected company.
‘Aidan, this is my son Ben, who was afraid of freezing solid the higher we climb this hill but who now thinks thisis a much better idea than I do,’ I say when the three of us merge on the brow of the steep field. ‘Ben, this is Aidan Murphy, Mabel’s nephew who you’ve heard so much about. Aidan is visiting for a while from America.’
Ben extends a small red woolly gloved hand which makes me glow inside, and he politely shakes Aidan’s hand.
‘I think we may have got off on the wrong foot, Ben,’ says Aidan. ‘In fact, maybe we all did. I’m sorry if I frightened you yesterday. Pleased to meet you.’
‘Pleased to meet you too, Aidan,’ he says, looking up at him in awe. ‘Is it true you really have your own helicopter?’
And at that my inner pride takes a swift downward dip, especially when I see the surprise on Aidan’s face.
‘Ben!’ I say. I look back down the hilly field, which from what I can see is full of bumps and holes, and my former enthusiasm to do this is quickly waning by the second, in contrast to Ben’s mounting excitement.
‘This is going to be so cool!’ says Ben. ‘Is that the sledge that was at the back of Mabel’s shed? I saw it in there. I’m sure I did.’
Aidan pats the wooden sledge and then flips it over, examining it in great detail.
