Bachelor Cure

‘Only roasted. That old idea of catching and killing your own meal was bred out of Strop’s remaining brain cell generations ago.’

Tess grinned as Strop wandered outside to see if roast pork was somewhere else. ‘Then Doris and I are really pleased to see you,’ she said.

The warmth grew warmer-and Mike struggled to keep his face straight.

‘So…why are we calling the fat pig Mike?’

‘Well…’ Tess had her equilibrium back now. She picked up the proposed Mike piglet and surveyed him, nose to nose. Unbothered, Doris suckled on. Some sows took umbrage to having their family handled, but as far as Doris was concerned Tess, it seemed, could do anything she liked.

‘Is it just because he’s fat?’ Mike enquired again, inspecting the piglet closely.

‘Well, there is that,’ Tess agreed. She grinned and checked Mike out. It was all Mike could do not to blush as her assessing gaze raked him from the toes up. ‘But you’re not really fat,’ she added kindly. ‘You’re just…well, just sort of muscled.’

And then Tessa’s grin deepened and she swung the little piglet around so his tail was in the air. ‘But there’s another resemblance. Look at this. He does look like you, Mike Llewellyn. He has the cutest butt!’

‘Gee, thanks!’ The girl was incorrigible. Hell, he was blushing.

She chuckled, unabashed, and gently laid Mike Piglet down on the straw with his brothers and sisters. Mike Piglet headed teat-ward, seemingly at the speed of light, and Tess chuckled again, before turning back to Mike Person.

‘You know, you look really appealing when you’re embarrassed,’ she told him kindly. ‘You’re almost as cute as little Mike and his brothers and sisters-Oinks One to Seven.’

And then she really looked at him. Her smile died and her eyes became searching.

‘Mike, what’s wrong?’

‘There’s nothing-’

She took a step forward. ‘Oh, God… Is it Grandpa?’ The colour drained from Tessa’s face and he spoke quickly to reassure her

‘Henry’s fine.’

‘Then why do your eyes look like that?’ And then Tessa’s face cleared as she figured it out. ‘Oh, Mike. I forgot. I know what it is. The dental records arrived last night. You’ve been identifying Sam.’

She could read him like a book! He took a step back, as though putting distance between himself and Tess, but Tess wasn’t having it. She walked over and gave him a king-sized hug, and it was all he could do not to hug her back.

‘I should have come with you,’ she said softly. ‘I could have helped. It must have been awful.’

‘No.’

‘Oh, no,’ she jeered. ‘Not awful. Don’t forget, I saw him, Mike. It was awful. And you were his friend.’

‘Tess…’ He stopped, unable to go on. For the life of him he didn’t know what to say, or how on earth to respond. Since his mother had died all those years ago, nothing and no one had been allowed close. To have this girl know intuitively what was wrong…and to hug him like this…and to care…

The sensation was insidious in its sweetness.

‘It’s OK. You can admit it was awful, but at least now it’s done. And the end for Sam must have been fast.’ She gave him another hug and stepped back so she could see him again while he was still figuring out how to respond. But he didn’t need to respond.

‘Come in and see what I’ve done to the house,’ she begged, and she took his hand and dragged him out of the barn before he could protest. Her hand held his in a grip which warmed him from the fingers up and which wouldn’t be denied. There was nothing for Mike to do but be propelled forward.

She didn’t stop until she reached the kitchen, and he stopped, stunned, as he walked in the door. What she’d done here…

The place had been transformed.

It was clean for a start. The house in Henry Westcott’s care had been left to deteriorate. Henry’s wife had been house-proud, but after she’d died Henry had simply not cared. He’d kept it clean enough basically, but that had been all.

The last time Mike had been in here-the night they’d found Henry-the place had been dark and smoke-stained and dreary. But now…

‘How long have you been here?’ Mike asked faintly, staring around at the transformation.

‘Since about seven. I couldn’t sleep. Louise’s mum snores and Louise was due on duty early, so we had breakfast together and talked about how wonderful Harvey Begg is. She even loves his Volvo.’ Tessa’s voice sounded awed. She smiled and kept on.

‘I left her stargazing and hiked in to the hospital, said hi to Grandpa, who was snoring as loudly as Louise’s mum, and then borrowed a pile of cleaning stuff from the store. I needed more but Mr Harcourt, the man who owns the hardware shop, was picking up his newspaper from his front lawn as I drove past. I know him from yesterday when I treated his cough. I was very kind about his smoking habits-apart from telling him he’d be dead in two years if he didn’t cut down, I wasn’t threatening or anything.’

Tess paused to catch her breath, and then she kept right on going.

‘Anyway, Mr Harcourt was embarrassed about being caught in his pyjamas. They have yellow ducks all over them! They were a gift from his wife, he says, though I don’t know whether I believe him. I think he likes them. And he was smoking again this morning! Honestly, I think the man smokes in his sleep. So I gave him another lecture and asked if I could get some whitewash and some stove black. And he was so nice-he gave me the key to the shop.’

She meant he was so flummoxed, Mike thought blankly. Anyone would be.

And William Harcourt… It couldn’t have happened to a nicer man. Yellow ducks, eh? Mike’s lips gave an involuntary twitch.

‘So then I scrubbed and scrubbed. This place looked dingy but, in fact, it’s just the smoke stains all over the stone walls from the fire stove. I’m sure Grandpa doesn’t keep the vents open like he should and it’s so bad for his health. I cleared everything out and whitewashed the walls, and I blacked the stove and then I hauled everything back in here-hasn’t it made a difference?’

It certainly had. Mike could only stare.

‘I need help to hang the curtains again,’ she told him, not giving him time to comment. ‘I washed them early and I was just going out to see if they were dry when I got sidetracked with Doris and the kids. I’ll go and get them now. Isn’t it lucky you came?’

And she flew out of the kitchen, leaving Mike staring after her.

She was like a whirlwind, a crazy, wonderful tornado that picked everything up and whirled it around and set it down…different.

And he didn’t know how to stop himself whirling.

They worked steadily on. He wasn’t allowed to protest. He simply obeyed orders and the experience was totally novel.

Mike was an undomesticated animal, but Tess didn’t seem to notice. She had him hauling down the upstairs curtains, beating rugs over the clothesline, hauling sheets off beds and making them up with clean linen, and sweeping out rooms that hadn’t been used for years. Strop followed behind, interested and nosing his way into everything.

‘You and Henry are only going to use two bedrooms,’ he protested. ‘The place has five. Why do we have to clean them all out?’

His protest was met by scorn.

‘If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well,’ she said piously. ‘Didn’t your mother teach you anything?’

And then she looked sideways at him as his face closed-and he knew she was busy adding two and two together and making heaven only knew what out of her thoughts. He didn’t have the faintest idea what she was thinking.

He’d never met anyone like this woman in his life.