Love Heart Lane Series

‘They are captivating,’ said Martha, joining them, not taking her eyes off them. ‘How many are there?’

‘Twelve,’ answered Isla.

Once all of them were unloaded into the field they huddled together, sheltering under the canopy of the trees.

‘Thank you so much, we’ll look after them, I promise. And I’m sorry to hear about your father.’

‘Father?’ said David, looking puzzled as he bolted up the back of the truck. ‘Oh yes, my father. Thank you. All I need now is the money.’ He stood and waited while Isla rummaged around in her handbag and pulled out the envelope of cash.

‘Thank you,’ he said, not hanging around. He jumped into the trunk, started the engine and was off.

‘That was short and sweet … strange little man. He couldn’t get out of here quick enough,’ noticed Martha.

‘Twelve alpacas, all present and correct. Aren’t they wonderful?’ Isla squeezed her Gran’s arm. ‘Let’s get out of this rain.’

They’d only been inside a couple of minutes when they noticed Drew’s van pull up outside.

‘He’s here … quick,’ said Isla, unboxing the birthday cake and placing it in pride of place in the middle of the kitchen table. She risked a tentative look in the mirror, ran her fingers through her hair and quickly applied her lip gloss.

As the kitchen door opened, two loud pops erupted. The unmistakable sounds of party poppers.

‘Happy birthday, Drew!’ Isla moved towards him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

Drew’s face didn’t crack a smile, he was drenched with rain and Fergus looked even more dishevelled standing next to him with his overalls splattered with mud.

‘You poor things, look at the state of you both, all wet through. Let me get you a towel.’

‘Never mind a towel,’ Drew said, eyeing up the banners pinned to the kitchen wall before locking eyes with Isla. ‘For a second I thought I’d come home to the wrong farm.’

‘What do you mean?’ she asked. ‘Aww, because of all this … Finn made the paperchains and of course Flick made the cake.’

‘Isla … I could have sworn there are llamas in our field.’

Isla wagged her finger, ‘Actually, that’s where you are wrong … they are alpacas … Happy birthday, Drew! What do you get a man who has everything? A herd of alpacas!’

Fergus looked suitably impressed, but it was clear by the look on Drew’s face that he wasn’t quite feeling the same.

‘Alpacas? You’ve bought me alpacas? Where do you think we live, the Peruvian Andes?’

‘Beautiful animals,’ said Isla, hoping for a better reaction and noting the slight tension that had crept into the room. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed, this was not the reaction she was hoping for.

‘Where the hell have you got a herd of alpacas from?’ asked an annoyed Drew.

‘A man called David O’Sullivan came into the teashop and mentioned to Rona that his father had passed away, he didn’t know what to do with them and needed to re-home the herd. I thought you’d be happy.’

Drew blew out a breath, he looked relieved as a small smile hitched on his face. ‘Why didn’t you say … so he gave them to you? I had visions of you spending a small fortune on them.’

Isla just stared at him. Of course she had spent a small fortune on them and now felt a little guilty because of Drew’s reaction. This was not how it was meant to be.

‘Isla?’

‘Of course he didn’t give them to me. They’re a prize-winning herd, but what an asset to the farm … and what a birthday present, too.’

‘Isla, I can’t believe you can be so stupid,’ Drew blurted.

Isla felt infuriated, he was talking to her like she was a child, not his equal.

‘And who’s this David bloke? You’ll have to ring him now and tell him to take them back and get the money back.’ Drew was so angry he barely came up for air.

‘I can’t do that. He’ll think I’ve lost the plot, and anyway, what’s the problem? Those fleeces will bring in a small fortune. They’ll pay for themselves in the long run.’

‘Isla, it matters. How much did you pay for them?’ His question was loaded with more than polite enquiry.

For a second, the question hung in the air. ‘Isla?’

Martha gave Fergus a nod and they quickly disappeared into the living room, leaving them alone.

Isla narrowed her eyes at him, ‘What has got into you? You’ve just embarrassed me and yourself in front of my gran and Fergus. I’ve bought you a present, at the very least you could act grateful.’

‘An extravagant present, do you think we have money to throw around?’ Drew lunged at Isla’s phone which was lying on the table. ‘David, you say?’ he said, scrolling through her last numbers.

‘You are acting like a complete idiot. What the hell is going on with you, Drew? It’s like I don’t even know who you are at the minute.’

‘Marvellous … bloody marvellous,’ he said, switching the phone to speaker and throwing his hands up into the air.

‘Your call cannot be connected.’

Isla had to admit she felt a tiny pang of worry. Surely it was just because the mobile phone signal was sparse in this region, but before she could voice her opinion Drew jumped in with his.

‘My guess is David is a crook, by chance he rocked up here and sold you those animals …’ he pointed towards the window, ‘that are probably riddled with disease.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Isla was now shouting but had begun to worry. Maybe she had made a mistake. ‘His father passed away. They needed re-homing and Rory can give them the once over.’

Drew shook his head, ‘Oh brilliant … more money on our vet’s bill. I can’t believe you would spend so much on a herd of animals that we know nothing about. Seriously Isla, I just can’t understand you sometimes.’

Drew stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door, leaving Isla to burst into tears. Isla had hoped that this would make Drew happier, be the best birthday present ever, but it seemed it had all gone wrong. She felt like she’d made a terrible mistake. Goodness knows what Martha and Fergus were making of it all in the next room.

‘Happy bloody birthday!’ she bellowed after him. ‘Happy bloody birthday.’

Chapter 9

It was just after six o’clock when Isla heard Drew kick off his boots and throw his overalls into the washing machine. He totally ignored Isla as he entered the living room and instead threw Finn up in the air, who wished him happy birthday.

Out of curiosity Isla had continued to call David’s number throughout the afternoon, only to receive the same message as before. Isla had begun to worry that maybe Drew was right and she had been taken for a ride and the alpacas were riddled with disease. But David had seemed so genuine when she’d spoken to him on the phone.

‘That’s how con-artists operate … give you a sob story and you fall for it hook, line and sinker. Hand over your cash and they disappear, never to be seen again,’ Martha had said, unhelpfully. ‘The TV is full of stories like that.’

Isla just wanted the day to end. She’d taken herself off to her bedroom and cradled Angus who was unaware of the sadness that flowed through her veins. As her unhappiness gained momentum, her eyes glazed with glassy tears. She blinked, dripping tears sliding down her face.

‘Oh Angus, what are we going to do?’ she murmured, kissing him lightly on the top of his head. ‘What is going on with that daddy of yours?’

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