The Windmill Café: Christmas Trees

“And you never know, maybe this rain will turn into snow,” beamed Grace, the end of her perfectly-formed nose tinged pink from the cold. “Don’t you think that would make an absolutely amazing backdrop for our wedding photographs?”

“And the Christmas tree competition!” added Mia with a glint of mischief in her eyes as she glanced across at Rosie.

“I agree with Rosie,” mumbled Abbi, Grace’s best friend and chief bridesmaid, as she twirled her frilly cerise umbrella over her shoulder like a female version of Gene Kelly and frowned up at the bruised sky.

Rosie experienced a stab of empathy when she saw that Abbi’s previously smooth bob was no longer straight but plastered haphazardly to her cheeks and forehead. The pale pink sequinned stilettos that matched the gorgeous leather satchel she had designed and hand-sewn herself were clearly no match against the onslaught of rain gods.

“Give me a tropical beach anytime!” Abbi continued. “If Dylan ever gets around to proposing to me, I’m definitely opting for wall-to-wall sunshine, a pretty white gazebo on the sand and as many palm trees swaying in the breeze as possible.”

“Well, I could hardly do that, could I? Mum and Dad would have killed me if I’d decided to get married anywhere other than at St Andrews!” giggled Grace, as she flicked her messy blond curls behind her ears and squinted into the distance for a potential early glimpse of the cyclists. “Anyway, I happen to think every season has its own splendour.”

“Oh, me too,” declared Penny, Theo’s girlfriend who, like Grace, had been keen to be part of the boys’ intrepid welcoming committee. “I love all the raw, tempestuous beauty of the natural environment. There’s almost a mystical aura hanging over the foliage, don’t you think? I can easily imagine this whole place being populated by a horde of mythical beasts; the ivy-laced boughs their playground, the hidden copses where they take an afternoon snooze. It’s the perfect inspiration for my next children’s book. I can’t wait to get my pencils out when I get back to the lodge and start sketching.”

As if to prove her artistic credentials, she pulled out her mobile phone and took a few random photographs of the surrounding woodland, sending a whiff of patchouli oil into the air and causing the plethora of silver chains to jangle against her ample chest. With her penchant for wearing black, from her heavily drawn makeup down to the colour of her nail polish, she occupied the opposite end of the sartorial colour spectrum to Abbi.

Rosie recalled booking Penny and Theo into their luxury Scandinavian lodge the previous day and had been amazed at the amount of painting equipment Penny had brought with her. Canvases of varying sizes, paint palettes, a whole battalion of brushes. There was so much stuff that a casual observer could have been forgiven for thinking she was running an artist’s retreat for the other guests at the Windmill lodges, which included Josh’s best man and his wife, Sam and Zara, as well as Abbi and Dylan – who had turned down the luxury lodge to stay in the cute peppermint-and-white shepherd’s hut despite its size. When she had suggested one of the larger lodges, Abbi had reminded her that after spending the summer backpacking in south east Asia, the shepherd’s hut was the height of decadence for them.

“Hey, Penny, do you think you could do a pastel sketch of St Andrew’s church as a wedding present for us?”

“Wow, yes, I’d love to!”

“Oh, do you do portraits? I’d love one of the twins,” said Zara, tucking her neat mahogany curls behind her ears, her face brightening when she spoke of her two boys currently having the time of their lives at their grandparents’ farm in the Lake District.

“No problem,” smiled Penny, clearly delighted to have got two commissions in the space of five minutes.

Rosie cast her eyes around the group of women from beneath her lashes. Despite the inclement weather, everyone had managed to achieve a sense of style. Compared to them, she felt like Cinderella’s bedraggled cousin in the mismatched outfit she had selected that morning for comfort and practicality rather than sartorial elegance. Why hadn’t she worn a jaunty bright orange hat-scarf-and-gloves combo like Zara, or a quirky leather jacket like Penny? Of course, Mia had chosen a white down-filled jacket she had embellished herself with appliqué snowflakes and what Rosie had assumed were branches adorned with red berries but had turned out to be reindeer antlers and Rudolph noses.

When her eyes fell towards her footwear, Rosie cringed. Olive-green Wellington boots weren’t the most glamorous of attire – although they did match her wax jacket. She really should have made more of an effort, especially as this was the first time she would be seeing Matt in weeks. However, she reminded herself that Matt wasn’t the kind of person who judged a book by its glossy cover and she relaxed.

“Look! Here they come!” cried Mia, shielding her eyes with her hand and pointing towards a flicker of luminous yellow Lycra just beyond the row of conifers standing to attention like a battalion of sentries guarding the road that lead to the reception lodge. “Can you see who’s out in front? Is it Matt or Freddie? Oh, I really hope it’s Freddie!”

“It won’t be if Theo has anything to do with it!” muttered Penny with a roll of her kohl-rimmed eyes and a twist of her upper lip. “You’ve no idea how competitive he is. He’d even try to outride Chris Hoy!”

“Well, it definitely won’t be Dylan,” laughed Abbi. “He’s more of a Sunday afternoon cyclist – with plenty of planned beer stops at as many rural pubs as he can get away with. He hates all this racing malarkey. However, you should have seen the look on his face when he saw the zip wire earlier – he almost swooned! I suspect he might be tempted to renege on his promise to enter your Christmas tree decorating contest, Rosie, in favour of spending some time flying through the air like Peter Pan’s older brother.”

Abbi had mentioned Dylan’s aversion to anything conducted at high speed, especially whilst on two wheels, on a couple of occasions and Rosie wondered what had happened to cause that but didn’t like to pry. She couldn’t wait to welcome all seven men back safely so they could return to the café and make a start on the best part of the day - sipping mugs of creamy hot chocolate laced with a generous dash of brandy and sampling the mini cappuccino roulades she had whipped up earlier, before everyone was let loose on their respective Christmas trees.

“Yay! You were both wrong!” squealed Grace, pogoing up and down on the spot, clapping her hands in jubilation. “It’s Josh! Come on, Josh! Come on, Josh!”

Rosie watched as the frontrunner finally emerged from the arboreal sanctuary and raced down the main driveway towards the veranda where Theo had insisted that they rigged up a makeshift red ribbon for the winner to drive through. Grace was right, her husband-to-be was in the lead, but only by a few seconds as Freddie had appeared from another gap in the trees ten metres to Josh’s left, his head bent low over the handlebars, pumping his legs with dogged determination. Her heart gave a pleasurable nip when she saw that Matt was in third place. It was all she could do to prevent herself from cupping her hands around her lips and screaming Go Matt! in a very unladylike fashion until Mia linked arms with her and Grace.

“Come on, ladies. Let’s get over to the finishing line. You too, Penny – we might need a photo-finish! Coming Zara? Abbi?”

Rosie watched Abbi stand on her tiptoes to scan the fringe of the woodland for any sign of Dylan, anxiety creasing her forehead as she chewed on her lower lip. It was a few nerve-wracking minutes before she spotted him fifty metres of so behind Sam.

“Oh, thank God! There’s Dylan – bringing up the rear as usual!” Abbi sighed, but Rosie saw the relief spread across her attractive features. She might bemoan her boyfriend’s lack of expertise when it came to vehicular activities but she clearly worried about him all the same. “I thought he might have fallen off or something.”

Everyone rushed through the drizzle to where Penny had crouched down onto her haunches next to a wooden post and levelled her mobile phone camera, poised to snap a picture of the victor’s triumphant achievement.

“Yay! Yay! Josh!” screeched Grace, rushing forward to embrace her fiancé before reaching up to kiss him tenderly on the lips. Her evident excitement lit up her pretty face, framed by a ruffle of damp corkscrew curls that sprang from beneath her woolly bobble hat.

Freddie was next over the finishing line, a wide grin splitting his freckled face as he yanked off his safety helmet and strode over to offer Josh a congratulatory handshake.

“Great ride, Josh, especially the last hundred metres!”

“You too, mate. That was awesome. I might even be forced to rethink my earlier criticism of Theo’s insistence that we start the stag celebrations with a gruelling cross-country race! Now I can’t wait to have a go at the Ultimate Adventure’s obstacle course and the zip wire. Although don’t tell him I said that. He has a habit of letting compliments go to his head!”

Matt skidded to a halt next, his whole body covered in random speckles of flying mud, even his cheeks, followed by Sam. Rosie’s stomach gave an uncomfortable twist when she saw that Matt was looking directly at her. However, before she could say anything to him, Abbi had shoved her to one side to welcome Dylan like a conquering hero.

“Yay! Dylan! You did it!”

Dylan removed his helmet and ran his fingers through his spiky ebony hair, his face a curious shade of overworked putty, his jaw clenched tight after being forced to endure his personal idea of purgatory. His relief the ride was at an end was palpable.

“Never, ever, ever ask me to do that again!” Dylan spluttered, his breath coming in ragged spurts as he struggled to regain his composure. “Why couldn’t we have gone for a few drinks at the local pub like any normal stag party? Theo Morris has to be one of the hardest task-masters I’ve ever come across and that includes the physio guys at the hospital!”

“Speaking of Theo, where is he?” asked Rosie, looking back down the winding, leaf-strewn roadway towards the stone pillars that guarded the entrance gate to Ultimate Adventures. Everyone paused in what they were doing to squint through the gloom of the trees but there was no sign of the director in charge of Dylan’s horror movie.

“Actually, I have to admit that I thought it was strange he wasn’t in pole position,” said Josh, draping his arm around Grace’s shoulder and pulling her close. “I just assumed he’d found a short-cut and would be waiting for us here with that irritatingly superior smirk he usually wears when he’s about to be crowned the winner of something again.”

“Come to think of it, I didn’t see him after we entered the woods, either,” said Matt, refastening the chin strap of his helmet. Instead of remounting his cycle, he strode into the wooden storeroom next to the lodge and jumped onto one of Ultimate Adventure’s quad bikes. “Maybe he’s lost. I’ll see if I can find him.”

“I’ll come with you,” offered Freddie, running over to reverse another quad bike from the shed. He cocked his leg over the seat and revved the engine, expelling a cloud of grey exhaust fumes into the wintry air. “Ready when you are.”

“Me too!” said Mia, clearly not wanting to be left behind when there was fun to be had. She leapt behind Freddie and snaked her arms round his waist, her expression brooking no argument.

“Count me in,” added Zara, hopping onto Freddie’s cycle and pedalling over to Sam. “What do you think’s happened to him?”

“Nothing,” tutted Penny, rolling her eyes as she stuffed her phone into the pocket of her black jeans. “This is probably his idea of a joke to get us all as rain-soaked as possible! Theo is so selfish when it comes to competitions – it’s always got to be all about him winning the top prize. But you’re not leaving me behind. I’m coming with you so I can give him a piece of my mind.”

Penny grabbed Matt’s discarded cycle, struggling to climb on. When she had, she folded her arms and turned to stare expectantly at Abbi and Dylan.

“Well? Are you coming?”

“Don’t look at me like that,” pleaded Dylan, his Adam’s apple working overtime as the full horror of what Penny was expecting him to do dawned. “I’ve just cycled ten miles!”

“I think someone should wait here,” reasoned Abbi, coming to Dylan’s aid. “Just in case we need to summon for help. I mean, what if something awful has happened to him? What if he’s fallen off his bike and is lying in a ditch somewhere writhing in agony?”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Abbi,” said Grace, smiling at her best friend. “But that’s a sensible idea. We’ll call you when we find him - probably propping up the bar in the Drunken Duck!”

“Rosie?” asked Mia.

Rosie glanced around the gathering. All eyes were now on her as the last one to join the party of intrepid rescuers. Should she stay behind with Abbi and Dylan? That was what she wanted to do, because the only alternative was to ride with Matt on the back of his quad bike and that experience filled her with absolute terror. After the recent cooling of their friendship because of Harry’s reappearance on the scene, her stomach churned with indecision. She really didn’t want to sit astride the mud-caked, over-grown bluebottle as they bounced over the uneven terrain, but the real reason for her reticence was the fact that she would have to mould her body to Matt’s in order not to fall off. Could she do that?

“Rosie, come on!” urged Mia, flashing her eyes impatiently at her.

She chanced a glimpse at Matt’s face and when she saw the crinkle of amusement in his eyes, heat flooded her cheeks and she relaxed, enjoying the sensation of being in Matt’s company once again, not to mention the fact that there seemed to be no awkwardness in his demeanour. One of the things she loved about being with Matt was his constant urging that she grab her courage by the scruff of its neck and experience things outside her comfort zone. Life wasn’t a dress rehearsal and every ounce of pleasure should be squeezed from each new adventure. That was the mantra Matt’s father had lived by and he’d achieved more than some people would in three lifetimes before the climbing monsters claimed him for their own.

“Scared?”

“No way!”

Rosie shelved her fear, took a deep breath and climbed onto the back of Matt’s quad bike, wrapping her arms around his muscular torso and leaning in close. He smelled of fabric conditioner from his damp cycle gear mingled with his familiar citrusy cologne, and every one of her senses sparkled at his proximity. When he revved the engine, a whip of excitement shot through her body and headed southwards. Her thoughts zoomed to the forthcoming weekend when, had Harry not made his unscheduled appearance, she would be starring in the role of Matt’s Plus One at Grace and Josh’s wedding.

She and Matt might possess character traits at opposite ends of the organisational spectrum, but their humour-filled tolerance of each other’s foibles had led to what she had secretly hoped would be not only a lasting friendship, but someone more intimate. Her blossoming relationship with Matt – sealed whilst they’d worked together to save each other’s businesses – was responsible for papering over the cracks in her heart caused by Harry’s infidelity and was one of the reasons she had been able to turn down his marriage proposal without hesitation.

“This way!” shouted Freddie, taking the lead on their search-and-rescue mission.

In single file, they bobbed along a narrow pathway through the woodland at the rear of the Ultimate Adventures reception lodge. Looking over her shoulder, Rosie thought the building resembled an old wooden steamer moored against the dense forest backdrop; a safe haven amidst an arboreal storm.

For ten minutes, the quad bikes and cycles bucked and bounced on the uneven ground like a procession of kangaroos on steroids and Rosie had to fight to keep down her breakfast. Nevertheless, her overriding sensation was one of warmth and contentment of once again being so close to Matt and knowing that she was exactly where she wanted to be.

“You okay?” shouted Matt, turning his head slightly so she could hear his voice above the drone of the engine.

“I’m fine. More than fine, actually.”

She lay her cheek against his back, arguing with her internal critic that she was making them more aerodynamic, but accepting that an avalanche of emotions had started to tumble through her veins. This is what being with Matt did to her – something she had never experienced with Harry in all the time they had been together. She knew she had to tell Matt how she felt, and she resolved that once they had found Theo she would find the right moment to do just that.

They rode on in convoy for another fifty metres or so until the vegetation grew thicker and the shards of wintry daylight struggled to penetrate through to the forest floor. Rosie’s fingers were so cold she contemplated sticking them into Matt’s pockets, but before she could decide whether that was appropriate or not, there was a cry from behind them.

“There! Over there!” shouted Josh, veering off between two silver birch trees, their trunks adorned with a botanical garland of holly and ivy. His manoeuvre had been so sudden that Grace had to cling onto him for dear life, her legs poking out at right angles in an effort to maintain her balance. Nevertheless, she had a beaming smile on her face and was clearly enjoy the unexpected trip through the forest.

They came to a halt beside Theo’s cycle, its wheels still rotating in the air like an upended tortoise unable to right itself - but there was no sign of its rider.

“Where is he?” said Penny, dismounting her bike and squinting into the gloom, her forehead creased in confusion.

The only sound to punctuate the air was a soft ballad of birdsong rippling through the leaves, and even though the rain had finally ceased, water droplets the size of grapes still pattered down intermittently from the canopy above.

“He can’t be far,” said Freddie, jumping from his quad bike and scouring the area. “Let’s spread out. If he’s come off his bike at speed he might be injured - he could be unconscious or wandering around disorientated.”

The group fanned out and began to search the undergrowth, not sure what they expected to find. Rosie felt nauseous, not only from the ride but from a deep sense of foreboding that permeated her whole body. Above her head, a squirrel scampered along the dishevelled, skeletal branches and the repetitive coo of a pair of wood pigeons floated from on high, yet the trees bore down on her like a battalion of malevolent warriors. The woodland atmosphere felt oppressive, tinged with the odour of wet soil and crushed pine needles. Her damp fringe tickled at her lashes, and she brushed it away only for it to fall back into place as she tipped her head downwards to scan the thick carpet of vegetation beneath her feet for any clue that Theo had passed that way.

“Where do you think—” began Rosie, but her question was interrupted by a piercing shriek reverberating through the air. “Was that Penny?”

The hackles on the back of her neck rose in alarm as she met Matt’s eyes briefly before he sprinted to where Penny was standing in a small clearing surrounded by a brigade of holly bushes. Rosie stumbled in his wake, sending up a swift request to the guardian angel of cyclists that Theo had been found with nothing more than a twisted ankle or sprained wrist. She just couldn’t take any more traumatic incidents.

When Rosie reached Matt’s side, the shock hit her like a sledgehammer to the solar plexus. She gasped for breath, drawing her forearms into her abdomen, but she couldn’t prevent the dry retch from escaping her throat. Beside her, Mia was experiencing an identical reaction. She was barely aware of Matt and Freddie rushing to Theo’s side to check for a pulse.

“Oh my God, is he okay?” whimpered Penny, kneeling down next to Theo, her hands pressed to her mouth, her body trembling uncontrollably as she stared transfixed at the blood oozing from a deep gash across his shoulder and upper arm. “Matt, Freddie, tell me he’s okay?”

Matt removed his jacket and pressed it against Theo’s wound whilst Freddie checked his airways.

“Is he—?”

“He’s unconscious. Must have hit a branch and come off his bike. Rosie, can you hold this here whilst I call for an ambulance?”

Rosie heard Matt’s words but her reflexes had temporarily disconnected from her modem and she found that she was frozen to the spot. With tremendous effort she managed to drag herself back to reality and knelt down next to Matt to maintain the pressure on Theo’s wound whilst he removed his mobile phone to call for help.

“We heard a scream, what’s going…. oh, my God, is that Theo?” cried Grace, grabbing hold of Josh’s hand as she stared at the harrowing scene unfolding before her. “What happened?”

“Fell off his bike,” mumbled Penny, her voice an octave higher than usual, her face drained of every last vestige of colour. “Matt says he must have been hit by a branch or something.”

But Rosie caught Matt’s eye as he finished giving directions to the first responders. Like him, she had seen the laceration on Theo’s upper body up close – and it was a perfectly horizontal gash, almost as if he’d been cut with a cheese wire.

Chapter 3

Rosie stared out of the window at the pretty kissing gate at the bottom of the vicarage’s garden. She marvelled at how festive the bright red holly berries looked, dancing a jig in the stiff December breeze when such cruelty played amongst them. It was no accident that she and Mia had joined Grace and Abbi in making a beeline for the vicarage, seeking the all-encompassing comfort that was always on offer there.

Dragging her eyes away, she watched Grace set down a flower-bedecked teapot in the middle of the heavily scarred table that dominated the kitchen whilst her mother, Carole, fussed over a plate of home-made mince pies. She supposed that, over the years, the table had seen more than its fair share of confidences and its presence had soothed many an aching heart.

A sturdy, cream-enamelled Aga purred away in the corner, piping warmth and comfort into the room along with a delicate aroma of crushed rose petals and homeliness. Alfie, the family’s white Lhasa Apso, snoozed in his basket, one eye cocked for an unexpected titbit. Unlike what had occurred in the woods that morning, nothing bad could happen here.

It was late Wednesday afternoon and under other circumstances they would all have been busy making a start on creating their arboreal masterpieces in the marquee at the Windmill Café instead of waiting for news on how Theo was recovering from his ordeal in the forest.

“Dreadful, just dreadful. Poor Theo,” Carole muttered, shaking her head, her soft features wreathed in bewilderment. “Have you spoken to Matt, Rosie? Are there any more details about how the accident happened?”

Rosie unfolded her arms and took a seat at the table in between Mia and Abbi, accepting a mug of fragrant Earl Grey tea - Carole’s preferred beverage of solace. After all, as the Reverend Roger Coulson’s wife, she was no stranger to hearing regular divulgences tinged with sadness, pain and grief from her visitors.

“Apparently someone stretched a length of wire between two trees. Theo was travelling so fast on his cycle he wouldn’t have seen it until the last minute. Fortunately, his reflexes were sharp enough to force him to swerve and avoid a head-on collision, otherwise… well, at least he’s only looking at twenty or so stiches instead of something much more serious.”

“But who would do such a terrible thing?” asked Grace, her face ivory-pale and her fingers trembling on the handle of her mug.

“No idea,” said Rosie, recalling the brief conversation she’d had with Matt half-an-hour earlier. “Matt says the police have cordoned off the area and forensics are conducting a fingertip search.”