Page 89 of Summer at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

‘Cheers!’

‘Woo-hoo!’

There were claps and whoops, and glasses clinked. And the celebrations got into full and fabulous swing.

‘Sorry, can I just borrow my wife for a few minutes?’

Tom caught up with Rachel whilst the hog roast was being set up, finding her chatting away with some distant relatives she hadn’t seen in a while. After being introduced and a few minutes of chitchat, Tom saw the chance for them to make their escape.

‘Of course. Catch you on the dance floor later, Rachel.’ Uncle Arthur was renowned, weirdly enough, for his Eighties-style robot dancing, witnessed at many a family wedding and party.

‘Okay. I’ll keep you to that,’ she chuckled.

‘And where’s Maisy?’ Tom said to Rachel. ‘We need her with us too.’

‘What’s all this about?’ Her curiosity was piqued now.

‘Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. It’s a wedding gift.’

‘But Tom … I thought we weren’t getting each other anything.’ There had been so many other expenses, they’d agreed.

‘True, and having you by my side is all I need. But well, I just couldn’t resist …’

They found Maisy chattering away with the girl who was serving at the ice-cream parlour. Yes, Andrew from the dairy had turned up at the reception with his mobile ice-cream stand, how marvellous, as a little extra treat for everyone. How cool was that!

‘Come on, Maisy, there’s something I’d like you to see.’

They walked the ten minutes across the fields down to Tom’s farm. Going over the events of the day so far, and chatting about how wonderful it had been. Maisy, now hoisted up onto Tom’s shoulders, sat with chocolate-smudged cheeks and a big grin.

‘Okay, nearly here now,’ Tom announced.

The girls looked at each other, neither having a clue what was going on. They went past Tom’s house, on through the yard, and arrived at the gate of the adjacent field.

‘Come on, then,’ Tom called, dropping Maisy down to her feet, as he then picked up a bucket of what looked like sheep feed.

And there appeared two beautiful woolly heads, one tall, one small, both with big brown eyes and the cutest thick eyelashes.

‘You’ve got alpacas?’

‘Well, actually they’re yours. One for you, one for Maisy.’

‘Oh, Tom …’

‘I thought it might help Maisy to settle in,’ he said for Rachel’s benefit, ‘And of course you’ll have to help look after them, Mais. The big one is called Roberta, and Maisy, you can help choose a name for the young one, her daughter.’

‘Oh, I need to think what’s good … Oh, hello you … and you.’ Maisy was rubbing their heads and patting their woolly shoulders. The beautiful creatures were so gentle and affectionate.

‘They have a role on the farm too; they’re really good at keeping foxes away,’ he explained. ‘Apparently, the foxes don’t like the smell. And, they get on well with the sheep too.’

‘Yay! Do you think Petie can be their friend, Tom? Can he come and see them?’ Maisy was bouncing up and down.

‘Yeah, I don’t see why not. Maybe we can bring him over tomorrow. We can see how they all get on, and if he likes it, he can move into this field too.’

‘Like me … moving in. Oh Mummy, I love them already. We must go and tell ’Melia and Auntie Eve, and Granny and Grandma.’

‘Yes,’ Rachel was beaming too. What a wonderful gift, she thought, and what a thoughtful way for Tom to help Maisy feel excited about moving into her new home. ‘We really ought to be getting back to our wedding party soon, though. They’ll be wondering what’s happened to us.’

‘Hmm, I bet there’re some theories flying about already.’ Tom gave a sexy wink.