Christie Barlow - Love Heart Lane

Felicity knew her mum’s relationship had suffered with Aggie when she’d ran from the village. Before that, they’d been good friends and often enjoyed nights out with each other. Aggie had even worked at the teashop when Rona and Bonnie had been short staffed. But then Felicity had broken her son’s heart and everything had changed. Afterwards, their friendship had become very strained knowing the pain each of their offspring was suffering.

The second Aggie’s eyes met Felicity’s, they narrowed, and she stopped dead in her tracks. This was a moment Felicity hadn’t been looking forward to and, feeling anxious, she shifted her bowl to make room for her elbows on the table and waited to see what would happen next. Her heart was thumping fast and she wondered frantically how she could make herself invisible, but it was too late. She could see Aggie walking over in their direction.

‘Well, you’re back then?’ Aggie coughed, bringing her hand to her chest. She tried to compose herself and wiped her mouth with a tissue.

Felicity looked up at Aggie who was now standing at the side of the table, her expression revealing exactly how she was feeling.

‘Aggie, we don’t want any trouble. We are just grabbing some food like everyone else in the village.’ Rona’s tone was firm.

Felicity shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Aggie coughed some more before attempting to speak again. ‘I hope you have the good grace to stay away from Fergus while you’re here.’

There was no sign of the friendly woman Felicity had once known. There’d been a time when Felicity would have considered Aggie a good friend, another mother figure in her life. Whilst Felicity had been with Fergus, she’d spent many a Sunday afternoon curled up on Aggie’s sofa watching films after enjoying a huge roast dinner cooked by Aggie alongside a mouth-watering dessert. But once they’d split, Aggie had changed towards Felicity in a heartbeat, the relationship they once had completely evaporated. The last time Felicity had seen Aggie had been the night she’d left Heartcross, Fergus sobbing in her arms, screaming at the taxi for Felicity to stay. But Felicity had left, leaving a devastated Fergus standing on Love Heart Lane, his heart breaking and hers too.

Felicity knew Aggie had good reason to be cold and was obviously determined that Felicity should still suffer for her actions all those years ago.

Thankfully, Felicity and Rona didn’t have a chance to respond.

‘Grandma, Grandma,’ an excited voice squealed. ‘Have you seen the snow?’ Esme appeared in the pub with a woman that Felicity had never seen before.

Aggie coughed again before she spun round to see her granddaughter running towards her. She opened her arms wide before the little girl launched herself at Aggie who spun her around a couple of times while she giggled. Placing her feet firmly back on the floor Aggie kissed the girl on both cheeks then grasped her hands.

‘Let’s get you something to eat and you know what, with all this snow still falling there will be no school tomorrow which means…’

‘We can build the biggest snowman ever!’ the girl shrieked.

Felicity watched Aggie wander over towards the food table still chatting away to her granddaughter and felt a tug at her heart. The little girl standing in front of her with a string of russet freckles scattered across her nose and those big brown eyes must be Fergus’s daughter.

‘Is that…’

‘Yes, that’s Esme,’ said Rona, squeezing her daughter’s hand.

All Felicity could do was stare at the beautiful little girl. Of course, she knew Esme existed and that Fergus was now a proud dad, but over the years she’d tried not to think about it. Esme must be around six years old now, and Felicity could still remember the night her mum had telephoned her in London to tell her the news that Fergus was expecting a child. Her heart felt as though it had been stabbed, it hurt that much. And although it had been her choice to leave Heartcross, she’d never thought that Fergus would move on so quickly. For her it had still been way too soon.

Felicity hadn’t asked her mum for details. In fact, she told her mum that she didn’t want any more updates from Heartcross, and that was when she’d cut herself off from everyone here.

She knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming back. As she finished her drink she spotted Isla and Drew who’d slipped in through the back door and tried to fix a smile on her face. Isla was clutching the hand of a handsome little boy, similar in age to Esme. The second he saw Esme he ran off towards her. Drew weaved his way to the bar leaving Isla to have a look around, and when she spotted Felicity and Rona sitting at the table in the window, she smiled and made her way over.

‘Drew said you’d be here … do you mind if we join you?’

‘Be my guest,’ answered Felicity, gesturing to the empty chair. She watched Isla slump into it.

‘I’ll be glad to get this little mite out, I feel like a barrel.’

Rona smiled. ‘Then the fun really begins.’

‘How’s things?’ Isla tactfully nodded her head towards Allie.

‘A little frosty but I did mention about getting together very soon.’

‘And…’

‘And she didn’t say no.’

‘That’s a start. I’ll catch up with her in a minute and see when she’s free, but with this weather I’m not sure I’m up to waddling very far. Maybe you could both come over to the farm? I’ll get Finn into bed early and cook us something nice to eat.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Felicity who also didn’t want to venture out too far in this weather.

Drew appeared back at the table with a smile and handed a drink to Isla. ‘Shall I get us some food?’

‘That would be lovely.’ Isla smiled up at him, not wanting to put any more weight on her feet just yet. Drew gave his wife a quick peck on the top of her head then disappeared off towards the table of food.

There was some sort of commotion going on in the far corner of the pub and raised voices could be heard. Rona strained her neck to see what was going on, before standing up and making her way over to the group of villagers that were huddled in the corner. Hamish was trying to calm things down and looked very official standing there with his pen poised against a clipboard.

‘That all looks very serious,’ commented Felicity to Isla. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Urgent meeting, because of the snow. There’s no deliveries scheduled now for a few more days and the bad weather has come early, taking everyone by surprise.’

Felicity knew the delivery trucks into Heartcross ran like clockwork, and everyone relied on them. Usually even in the bleakest mid-winters everything ran smoothly but for a meeting to be held, there must be real concerns.

‘But Heartcross is used to this kind of weather and is usually prepared,’ said Felicity, still looking in the direction of Hamish.

‘Usually, but we all thought we had a couple more days until the weather turned. Hamish had upped the grocery delivery to the shop but with this severe snowfall no more trucks will be able to get through until the snow thaws,’ said Isla with concern.

Drew appeared by Isla’s side and handed her a bowl. ‘Here, eat this.’

‘Thanks. How’s Hamish getting on over there? Have you listened in?’ asked Isla, seeing even more villagers gathering around.

‘Hamish is making it pretty clear he can’t just sell the produce on the shelves to one person, and that it needs to be distributed fairly to each household until the delivery trucks can get through. But people are concerned and they’re arguing amongst themselves, that’s why I’ve escaped for a second … taking a breather.’