Page 65 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

After a two-hour wait in A & E and eventually being taken for X-rays, Granny Ruth was tucked up in a bed with crisp white sheets on the women’s ward. She looked even frailer in this alien and clinical environment.

‘Maybe I did leave it a bit long, pet,’ she conceded. ‘I’m sorry.’ She began coughing up the mucus and blood once more. Rachel rubbed her back as the old lady arched over, trying to ease her pain. Her cough sounded so raw and uncomfortable.

‘Well, you’re in the right place now. They can get you sorted out. You’ll be just fine.’

There had been mention of pneumonia, and they were waiting for a consultant to get the final analysis from the blood tests and X-ray.

‘Aye, well, I’ve had my life, pet. And, despite the troubles these past two years, on the whole, it’s been a good one. If this is my turn … well, much as I’ll be so very sad to leave you all, I’m not going to live forever.’ Ruth was propped up, looking awfully pale even against the white hospital pillows.

‘Now don’t you go talking like that, Granny. Getting all morbid on me. Of course you’re going to get better! You’ll live to a hundred.’ Rachel was clasping her granny’s hand fast. She looked so damned frail there.

‘I just feel so tired right now, pet. And, come now, Rachel, that’s nature’s way, and well you know it, lass. As farming folk, we see it all the time. Death follows life … spring, summer, autumn and winter. It’s just the way of the world.’

Rachel found that she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t imagine a world without Granny Ruth and her wise counsel in it. The old lady was just feeling weak. They’d soon fix her up, get some antibiotics pumped in to her.

‘Crikey,’ the old lady continued, ‘I’m stiff enough in the mornings as it is, if I live even another ten years I’ll be creaking, or I’ll have seized up altogether.’ She managed a cough-filled chuckle. ‘You’ve got the farm now, you and Jill and Maisy – and despite everything that happened with your dad, I know you’ll do a grand job of taking it forward, lass.’ She managed a gentle pat on Rachel’s arm. ‘You are already. And you’ll soon be teaching young Maisy how to farm – if that’s what she wants, mind; you never know, she might turn out to be an astronaut yet.’

They both smiled at that.

‘And then you’ll be watching her set off in to space,’ Rachel took up. ‘Please, Granny, don’t talk like this any more.’ Rachel couldn’t contemplate losing her granny yet. It was way too soon.

‘Just let me finish what I need to say, pet, just in case … Look, I’m proud of you. I know you’ll do what you can to keep it all going because Primrose Farm has a special place in all our hearts.’ Ruth’s eyes looked distant yet warm, as thoughts of happier days filtered through her mind, memories of her life there with Rachel’s grandad and dad.

‘It is a special place, Granny, and I will do everything I can to keep the farm, of course I will. But you’re not going anywhere just yet, not if I can help it. We need you back there to help with all those Christmas Puddings. There’s a zillion new orders since that Craft Fayre at the castle.’ Rachel knew Granny liked to be useful, to have a role to fill, maybe knowing this would help her recovery. ‘Who else is going to keep us on the right track with your Whisky and Orange Pudding?’

‘Aye, well there is that, pet.’

‘And we absolutely need you home and well in time for Christmas day.’

‘Well, I wouldn’t mind one more Christmas, to see Maisy opening her gifts and everything.’ Ruth was suddenly wracked with another coughing bout. Rachel held the hospital’s grey cardboard sick bowl in front of her, just in case, until the bout passed and then handed her granny a plastic cup of water to sip.

‘Well then, that’s settled. You just have to get better, Granny. There’s nothing else for it,’ Rachel said, trying to smile through misty eyes.

29

Jill had arrived at the hospital by the time the consultant came round. Tom, who’d kindly brought her across, politely said he’d nip outside for a breath of air at that point. Good friend Eve had stepped in and offered to look after Maisy while they were all away.

The consultant, Mr Andrews, approached Ruth’s bed. ‘So, Mrs Swinton, that cough of yours has taken quite a grip. It is pneumonia, I’m afraid. So, we’re going to put you on some strong antibiotics, and we’ll keep you in at least overnight and see how you’re getting on. Okay?’

‘Yes, that’s fine, doctor.’ Ruth began spluttering once again; just talking seemed to set it off. ‘Oh my,’ she said when she’d gathered her breath, ‘will this darned cough ease?’

‘In time, yes, the antibiotics should help, but it may take a couple of weeks to settle.’

‘Oh, I see,’ she answered stoically, resting back on her pillows.

Rachel knew that pneumonia in the elderly could be dangerous, but didn’t want to alarm Granny any further. Once the doctor had had a bit more of a chat and answered the couple of questions Jill and Ruth had, he left their cubicle but Rachel nipped out after him, wanting to have a word out of Ruth’s earshot. ‘Excuse me, Mr Andrews, just how serious is it? Can the pneumonia be life-threatening for someone of my granny’s age?’ She needed to know what they were dealing with, what they might yet have to face.

‘It can be, yes.’ He looked serious for a second, and rubbed his grey-bearded chin. ‘But, if we can get her fever right down and the antibiotics really kick in, well, then I believe she should make a good recovery, though her lungs could be a little weaker in the future. But let’s see how she gets on overnight, shall we?’

‘Yes – and thank you.’

The lights suddenly seemed too bright. The air too stuffy. Granny had Mum with her for company, so a breath of fresh air and a glimpse outside called Rachel. The hospital was such a clinical environment, way out of Rachel’s comfort zone – no one in the family had ever been really ill. Up until the end, ironically, Robert had never had a day sick in his too-short life.

As she reached daylight and the grassy area of the hospital grounds, Rachel spotted Tom pacing about across the field, obviously talking on his mobile. She headed his way, suddenly feeling in need of comfort and a hug.

As Rachel approached, Tom appeared quite agitated. Whoever was on the other end of that phone was really winding him up. He had his back mostly to her, so he hadn’t spotted her as yet. From the glimpses she got of his face, his jaw was set and he was shaking his head in frustration. This was no ordinary phone call. Rachel had rarely seen him angry like this in all the years she’d known him.

They’d never managed to have their one-to-one chat last night after the Fayre, what with unloading the truck and Mum and Maisy being about. And when they finally had a glimpse of five minutes alone together, Tom had got up and said he had to leave as he’d promised to visit his parents for supper.