Artistic Licence (13 page)

‘Does that mean it’s breech?’

‘Yup.’

Lara gave a howl, which tore Thea’s heart. A bit more puppy emerged and Lara began to panic. She jumped off the sofa and ran round the room, squealing, trying to escape from the pain.

Thea scooped up the puppies already born and got them out of her way while Ben pursued Lara. When Thea had settled the puppies by the fire, where no one, including Lara, was likely to tread on them, she joined Ben.

‘Hold her head and reassure her while I try and get this little fella out.’

Thea held the head the size of a bucket, hoping that, in her distress, Lara wouldn’t turn vicious and bite. Many a woman would have bitten her husband or the midwife if they’d been able to reach them, going on what she’d seen on television.

She watched admiringly as Ben gently teased the little form through an opening which seemed too small for it. He murmured to Lara while he did it and, although she still whimpered, she seemed calmer. Thea was about to say that Lara knew Ben was helping her when she realised she would probably sound dreadfully sentimental. She felt a bit tearful as it was.

‘There we go.’

The puppy landed in Ben’s hands and opened its mouth to squeak. Lara flopped down where she was,
behind the dining table.

As she watched Ben give Lara the puppy to lick, she had a strange feeling that this moment was significant, as if she had learnt something extremely important, but had instantly forgotten what it was. She shook her head quickly and decided it was something to do with the puppies. Her hormones coming out in sympathy with Lara’s.

Lara seemed fine, though. The last puppy, larger than the others, didn’t need her teeth to release it from its bag. It sucked strongly when Ben latched it on. ‘Definitely a boy,’ he said.

Thea mentally gave herself a little shake. ‘I think we need more tea. Will the other pups be all right without Lara for a bit?’

‘Oh, yes. As long as they’re warm.’

Thea had found one of Rory’s jumpers for them to nestle in, so they were fine.

She thought about Ben while adding to the pile of used tea bags on a saucer, about how he delivered that little pup. He was so strong and yet so gentle. Lots of women developed crushes on their vets and now she could see why. If they’d brought your beloved cat back to life you’d love them for ever in return. When she brought the tea in he had coaxed Lara back to her place in front of the fire.

‘If you can find me some old rags or something, I’ll start clearing up the mess.’

He looked up at her and she noticed how dark his eyes were, how they had a hint of sadness in them, as Toby’s had. It was something to do with Lara and the pups which made her want to take him in her arms, she realised. She couldn’t conveniently cuddle Lara
and, having watched the miracle of childbirth, she felt the need to hug someone.

She sipped her tea. She was tired and anxious – all these strange feelings would go away in the morning.

She yawned loudly, making Ben look up. He smiled. Thea smiled back. He had a wonderful smile, rare and special; you had to respond to it, however tired you were. ‘How many more do you think she’ll have?’ she asked.

He ran his hands over Lara’s flanks. ‘I think there’s at least one more in there, but I’m not experienced enough to be sure.’

While there were no more puppies imminent they struggled to get the worst of the greeny black slime off the sofa.

‘It’ll need dry-cleaning,’ said Ben. ‘At least, that’s what Molly would say.’

‘Molly would need a whole new suite if anyone dared have puppies on her sofa.’ She looked up. ‘I expect Rory will just leave it. Where the hell is he, by the way?’

Ben gave her a look which, in spite of being enigmatic, still managed to convey his opinion of Rory. ‘We’re managing perfectly without him.’

‘You’re right. He’d probably get in the way.’

‘So,’ Ben went on. ‘Did you and Rory just meet on this holiday you went on, as Molly said? Or did you know him before?’

It sounded dreadful now. ‘No, it was only on the holiday. I’m usually perfectly sensible and cautious –’ She threw a glance in his direction to see if he believed her. ‘But when I found out there’d been a party, with gatecrashers and all sorts of hideous mess, I thought
a week’s holiday was just too short and I wanted to extend it a little. Apparently the house was just like that Yellow Pages commercial.’ Thea stopped, wishing she hadn’t mentioned the Yellow Pages. ‘It does sound dreadfully irresponsible, now.’

‘Oh, I don’t know. If you’d just gone home and cleared up the mess I wouldn’t have found out where Rory was.’

‘Well, no, I suppose not. It was lucky Molly asked you about him.’

‘That wasn’t luck. Molly has a member of the family to ask about every subject. I’m the art man because of having been head of a college. When the head of the local college hadn’t heard of him, I was next in line. The luck was that I’d remembered Rory. At the time I felt it was unfair that his work was slated because of his behaviour. However appalling it was. He was the artist I’d been trying to track down for years.’

‘Well, I think he’s really good, too.’

Ben glanced at her as if them sharing an opinion was merely coincidence. ‘I think Lara’s going to have another puppy now.’

‘Just in the nick of time, eh, Lara? Shall I put the kettle on?’

‘No. I’m awash with tea. There’s a good girl, another little bitch. If these were pedigrees they’d be worth a lot of money.’

‘Perhaps we could invent a new breed. What would we call it?’ For a moment she struggled to combine the words ‘collie’ and ‘mastiff’ and failed. ‘Something entirely new, like Ponderosos or something. Lara seems quite ponderous.’

‘It’s not going to be easy finding homes for mongrels
this size.’

‘I expect I’ll have one.’

‘Have you any idea of the responsibilities involved in having a dog? They’re not toys, you know.’

‘I do know that, but I only work part-time – in fact, I may not work at all after taking time off with hardly any notice. I could take care of a dog.’ Thea’s dormant maternal instincts had surfaced with all the force of a volcano.

Ben’s exasperation increased somewhat. ‘But what about six of them?’

‘Perhaps Molly could be persuaded, if she could tell her friends it’s some exotic, rare breed and terribly valuable.’

He shrugged. ‘Stranger things have happened.’ He turned his attention back to Lara. ‘Come on, old lady, we’re all getting tired.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s nearly three in the morning.’

‘I suppose Rory must have decided to stay at the pub with the others. He had had rather a lot to drink.’ Thea thought this was a good thing. It meant she could sleep in his bed and she could put Ben in her room with Toby. His much vaunted goose feather duvet would be heaven just now.

Lara’s sides heaved, and both Ben and Thea crouched by her just as another little pup appeared. It was much smaller than the others, and didn’t wriggle and squeak.

‘Is it dead?’

Ben picked it up and started rubbing it roughly with the towel – Thea’s towel – which she had produced earlier. ‘It may not be, but it is a runt. Come on, little chap, take a breath!’

It did and a cry so small they wouldn’t have heard it if it hadn’t been the middle of the night emerged from its tiny mouth.

‘That’s the one I’m having’ said Thea with a catch in her voice.

‘It’s a runt,’ he repeated. ‘It may not survive. Don’t get too attached to it.’

‘Too late.’ Thea realised she was crying.

Ben put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Wait until tomorrow. See how it gets on. It may not last the night.’

Thea felt like emotional jelly. She was tired, she was overwrought. She wanted to lean into Ben and have him take her in his arms. For a moment it felt like he was going to, when an enormous rumpus developed by the front door. It opened and in walked Rory, followed by Molly and Petal.

‘They didn’t do bed and breakfast at the pub,’ said Rory, slurring slightly, ‘and the hotel was shut. So I brought them home. We’ve been wetting the babies’ heads.’ He staggered over to where he could see Lara and her pups. ‘There, you see? I told you she’d be fine.’

Having no time to kick him, Thea turned her attention to Molly, whom she expected to be incandescent with fury.

In fact, she was also pretty merry. ‘We had to get a taxi back,’ she said gaily. ‘We were all too drunk to drive.’

‘I wasn’t,’ said Petal grumpily. ‘But I can’t drive. Can I please go to bed now? Irish folk songs just don’t do anything for me. The pub was full of old people, singing and dancing. It was gross.’

Thea, startled out of her emotional stupor, realised that if she didn’t do something about finding places for
people to sleep, no one else would. She got to her feet. ‘I suppose I’d better find some bedding. Have you got any bedding, Rory? Or is it just what I’ve …’ She hesitated. If she let slip that Lara had had puppies on the spare bed linen, Molly and Petal would both have tantrums.

‘Don’t know. Look in that cupboard.’ He pointed to one in the corner of the sitting room, the last place anyone would put blankets. ‘I’m going to my bed now. It’s a double.’ Then he opened his door and disappeared through it.

Thea took on her landlady persona. ‘I don’t suppose any of you brought sleeping bags?’

Molly looked at her like someone who, even if she knew what a sleeping bag was, certainly didn’t own one.

Petal – who had a very expensive sleeping bag, guaranteed to keep out an arctic blizzard, but hadn’t brought it with her – snapped, ‘No!’

‘I’ve got one for Toby,’ said Ben. ‘But as it’s only big enough for him, it won’t be much use for anyone else.’

‘It’ll do as an extra cover,’ said Thea. ‘I’ll look for sheets. If only I’d known about this cupboard before,’ she muttered, as she sifted through Ben’s dead uncle’s old bed linen and blankets. None of it was in very good condition and most of it would have been fine for Lara. Thea began to regret the bobbly lemon sheet she had sacrificed earlier. Petal would have grumbled but it would have covered her bed. Now it was under six little sucking, tube-shaped pups.

‘Oh, how sweet!’ said Petal, who had discovered the puppies. ‘Aren’t they gorgeous?’

Lara growled and wagged her tail. She was very
proud of her brood but also protective.

Molly looked over the back of the sofa. Her merry glow was fading, fatigue and alcohol catching up with her. ‘They do look a bit ratlike and there are so many of them.’

‘There are six,’ said Ben. ‘That’s not many at all, for a big breed. They can have dozens – up to a dozen, anyway.’

Molly groaned. ‘I’ve got a headache. I think I’ve had too much to drink.’

Thea had stolen the hot-water bottle from Toby’s bed and put it in Molly’s. She had managed to find just about enough sheets and blankets for both beds in the back bedroom to be decently covered. Ignoring their complaints, she herded Molly and Petal into it and, before shutting the door, said firmly, ‘No, there isn’t any hot water. You’ll have to wash in the morning.’ Actually, she had no idea if there was hot water or not, but she wasn’t having Molly and Petal fighting for the bathroom mirror at this time of night. No one else would have a cat in hell’s chance of getting in before Christmas.

That left Ben. While Thea was sorting out worn blankets and sides-to-middle sheets, he tidied up the sitting room as best he could and made up the fire so it would stay in all night. He accepted his instructions about taking the other bed in Toby’s room meekly. Thea could see now how tired he looked – a long journey, followed by Lara’s puppies, plus a whole lot of baggage Thea could only guess at were etched under and around his eyes. Even his hair looked tired, flopping over his forehead as if it hadn’t the energy to
stay back any longer.

Alone in the sitting room, Thea was forced to face what she had known all along – unless she shared with Rory there was no bed left for her. Even the sofa was bereft of cushions. ‘Which leaves the bath,’ she said to Lara, who wasn’t listening. ‘But not without as much bedding as I can scrounge.’

First, she tiptoed into Rory’s room to see what she could scavenge. His bed, huge and comfortable, was very tempting, except that it had Rory in it. Ben, she was sure, sadly, could share a bed with a woman and not lay a finger on her. Rory would pounce the moment Thea’s head hit the pillow. But she did find an old horse blanket under a pile of clothes, draped over a chair. She removed the clothes and took the blanket. Then, very bravely, she stole a pillow from under his snoring head and left the room.

A pair of old velvet curtains in the bottom of the airing cupboard were a good find. They smelt of mothballs and dirt, but were quite thick. Then she discovered a double sheet which was almost new and properly laundered – probably ironed tenderly by Susan. Good old Rory, he’d be glad to lend his sheet to a good cause.

Suddenly exhausted, Thea just pulled out all the remaining bedding, which revealed a leaking paisley eiderdown, and carried it into the bathroom.

The bathroom was not a cheery place. It had fading yellow paint and the bath had an iron stain descending from one of the taps. Thea ached and shook with tiredness, and was shaking out the curtains prior to folding them when she spotted a red light above a switch. An immersion heater; on! Her heart lifted. She
would have a bath, and then, while it and she were still hot, she would pile everything in and nestle among it.

Neither Ben nor Toby stirred as she went into their room, damp and wrapped in an inadequate towel, to find her nightie and washbag. She didn’t allow herself to look at them beyond a quick glance, because she’d read somewhere that if you look at a sleeping person it will wake them.

Quickly, so she wouldn’t lose the blissful heat of the water, she laid the velvet curtains in the bath, wrapped herself in the sheet and pulled everything else on top of her. The pillow was blissful, the rest good enough. She slept.

‘Oh,’ said Toby. ‘I didn’t know there was anyone in here.’

Toby, in his pyjamas, was an endearing sight but also a little embarrassing. Thea didn’t want anyone to know she had slept in the bath. It was light and she looked at her watch: nine o’clock. As she hadn’t got into bed until nearly six, she wanted a few more hours’ sleep. ‘Hi, Toby, I’ll get out and let you have some privacy. Is Ben awake?’