Page 23 of Never Too Late to Date

With the rucksack heavy on her back, the sweat trickled down her face and neck and into her T-shirt as the sun beat down. She’d probably smell to high heaven when they eventually got there. Not that the kittens would care, if they were still alive.

The thought that they might be on the brink of death spurred her on. Eventually the ruins of a grand old house appeared ahead. It was set back from the beach and the coastal path, and surrounded by acres of land, a faded jewel in a sea of roughly marked-out fields.

Alex waved his arm.

‘Over there!’

Yes, she probably could have worked that out for herself, as it was the only building for miles, but she just nodded.

Alex headed off to the left, and she followed in his footsteps. A ragged barbed-wire fence came into view, broken down in places and strewn with bits of old cloth and tufts of wool from passing sheep. Neglected wasn’t the word. Totally abandoned was more like it.

Alex beckoned her over to a spot at the back of the beach by the trees.

‘This is the best place to get in. It’s the biggest gap in the fence. I used to play here as a child.’

Solemn-faced Alex as a little boy, laughing and running around with his buddies, was tough to imagine.

He held back a tree branch for her as she pushed through the overgrown grasses on the other side and spotted a couple frantically waving.

Alex’s voice was barely above a whisper.

‘As soon as we reach the kittens, can you get those two out of the way while I do preliminary checks? Maeve will have told them not to touch the animals until we get here. If possible, ask them to leave altogether. We don’t need any distractions.’

‘OK.’

He was like a couple of the bossier male doctors she’d worked with, assuming she’d solve any problems and cater to their every need.

They sprinted the last few metres and reached a middle-aged couple dressed for hiking. The woman had obviously been crying.

‘Thank God you’re here. The poor little things.’

The sobbing had started again, and the man’s arms went round his wife’s shoulders. The woman’s accent told Vicky they were probably Scandinavian.

Vicky carefully moved them to one side.

‘Thank you so much for ringing us and staying until we could reach you. We can take it from here. Maeve at the sanctuary has your number, so she’ll ring with any update. Once again, you’ve been so kind.’

The couple nodded and reluctantly moved away.

Alex was already kneeling on the ground in front of the open sack.

‘Can you prepare the box first and get four silver blankets out? Plus get the bottles ready.’

Vicky worked quickly, expanding the box and putting the teats on the milk while Alex felt around inside the sack. She held in a gasp as he pulled out the first kitten, a tiny black scrap that was mewling like crazy, but recovered herself in time to hand Alex a blanket and watch as he wrapped the animal with infinite care and placed it in the box.

‘This one’s fine, just hungry. Let’s check the state of the others before we feed them.’

The second kitten, white with grey splodges, was also making plenty of noise. Once it was wrapped in another silver blanket for warmth, with its cute little head poking out, Vicky was somehow convinced it was a girl.

The sack was ominously quiet after the first two had been extricated. Alex reached in again and brought out the last two at once, one in each hand, a handsome grey kitten and another black one, this one a much smaller and weaker version of its sibling.

Both kittens lay there in his large, capable hands, unmoving.

Vicky forced herself to speak.

‘Are they…’

‘Touch and go. Can you do CPR?’