A Year at Meadowbrook Manor: Escape to the countryside this year with this perfect feel-good romance read in 2018. Faith Bleasdale

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      ‘I don’t remember coming into this cottage before,’ she said as she took it all in. The wooden kitchen was modern but rustic, the back door led onto a small patch of lawn, it was sweet, but after Meadowbrook felt tiny. And six foot two Connor filled the cottage like a giant.

      ‘Silvia lived here, remember she used to help Mum with the cleaning sometimes and she also worked in the local pub.’

      ‘Oh, yes of course, I’d forgotten.’

      ‘Harry, I’m not being rude, but you seemed to have left Meadowbrook and everyone behind with barely a backward glance. Myself included.’

      Harriet startled. She wasn’t ready to hear that. She wasn’t sure why she had found it so easy to turn her back on Meadowbrook when she moved to New York. She thought she was running towards her glittering future, after all, most ambitious people did that. In her world it was totally normal. But first her father, then her siblings and now Connor. Was everyone intent on making her feel that she had abandoned them?

      She shrugged. ‘I followed my career and I didn’t look back. Yes, I kept in touch with the family, but I didn’t have much time to think about home, and now I’m here I feel … well, I feel a little strange,’ she explained.

      ‘But you’re back now,’ Connor said quietly. The way he peered at her again made her feel he could see inside her, see all her thoughts. When they were young she thought that he knew her better than anyone did.

      ‘What happened to you?’ She was desperate to change the subject, he was making her feel too uncomfortable; exposed. ‘You were in New Zealand when I came back for Pip’s wedding, I recall, with your fiancée?’ Her father kept her abreast of Connor’s movements, in their exchanges. Yet still, Harriet didn’t quite understand how their friendship had fractured quite so much. Connor was one of the most important people in her life, and she had let him become a stranger. But why?

      ‘Ah yes, the lovely Elizabeth. Well, we did go to New Zealand, she wanted to emigrate and we were going to get married, but then we started arguing all the time. I missed home, she didn’t. Do you remember her?’ Connor asked.

      ‘Of course, I met her on a number of occasions,’ Harriet replied carefully, trying not to look as embarrassed as she felt.

      The first time she met Connor’s girlfriend, they were both home from university and she had been so excited to see Connor. He wanted her to meet someone and that someone was Elizabeth.

      That holiday changed so much for Harriet. Probably the fact that Connor wasn’t there for her anymore, or perhaps the idea that he now belonged to someone else. Elizabeth. Annoying Elizabeth who clung to Connor’s side like a limpet. Elizabeth who was going to be a vet just like him; she and Harriet hated each other on sight. They both wanted to be the most important girl in Connor’s life, but there was only one spot. And as Elizabeth was having sex with Connor, Harriet was never going to win. Elizabeth, smug, annoying and with the only man Harriet had every truly felt herself with.

      No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t spend any time with Connor without his annoying girlfriend being there. And after that Harriet felt she had lost him, as things changed irrevocably.

      Gus had accused her, when she ranted about ‘Limpet Liz’ with her frizzy hair and annoying laugh, of being jealous, but she refused to accept it. Harriet smiled to herself, now she was an adult, she knew she had been ridiculously jealous.

      ‘Anyway, I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but I guess it’s good for Meadowbrook,’ Harriet said, collecting herself. It was a childhood crush that didn’t go away. That was all it was.

      ‘I didn’t realise how much I loved this place until I came back. Now I can’t imagine leaving. Well, I won’t because I’m invested. I’m at a local practice and I have the sanctuary. It keeps me out of trouble.’ His eyes twinkled, years melted away. ‘But what about you?’

      ‘I’ve made a monumental mess of my life. But can we leave it at that?’ Harriet asked. ‘And as I’m here I wondered if you would be able to show me this famous animal sanctuary. I seem to be the only one that hasn’t seen it.’ She knew she sounded brusque but it was the only way she could keep it together. Ever since tears had visited last night, they kept threatening to return.

      ‘So you’re going to do it?’ Connor asked, eagerly. ‘You’re going to stay here just as your dad wanted?’

      ‘It looks like it,’ Harriet replied and was utterly surprised as Connor picked her up and spun her around.

      ‘And they said there wasn’t room to swing a cat in this kitchen,’ he joked as he put her down. She raised her eyebrows but couldn’t help giggling like a schoolgirl. ‘Honestly, Harry,’ he still hadn’t taken his arms away, it felt warm, ‘I am so pleased. Not just about Andrew’s wishes, or Meadowbrook, or even the animals, but about the fact that we’re all back together.’

      ‘Just like the good old days,’ Harriet mumbled.

      ‘Are you up for looking for toads then?’ Connor joked. ‘Or perhaps climbing trees to study squirrels?’

      ‘Nope, but I am interested in seeing these animals. Although, I really do need that coffee first.’

      The day was warming up as they set off from Connor’s cottage, out through his back garden gate and across the fields to the rescue centre.

      ‘There’s a couple of buildings,’ Connor explained. ‘One for the dogs, another for cats, and an office. Of course, the animals who live in the fields also have sheds, or shelters and they are largely taken in at night. We have only two full-time staff here, who are on rota, but we have a few part-timers, and also a number of volunteers from the village, which means that we are quite well staffed. I tend to make sure the animals are all OK myself before I go to bed and, of course, any medical issues come under my jurisdiction. All the paperwork is in the office.’ His face became animated when he spoke, it was as if someone had switched his light on.

      ‘It sounds well organised.’ Harriet was already wondering where she and her siblings would fit in.

      ‘It is. Although we are feeling Andrew’s absence keenly. We’re not enormous, by any means, and we’ve been lucky to get quite a few of our domestic animals rehomed, but there are always more coming in and some of our animals are definitely here to stay. Until recently there was even a cockatiel, Hamlet. He could never get rehomed because he swore like a sailor, so not exactly a family pet.’

      ‘How did he come to live here?’

      ‘His owner, an elderly fisherman, died and his daughter who’s local brought him over to us. Your dad had a rule: no animal gets turned away. Unfortunately he died, Hamlet that is. Anyway, running this place is costly, there’s food, shelter, the paid staff and we also try to raise awareness, there’s enough to keep you all busy.’

      ‘If you pay staff, surely £25,000 isn’t enough to keep the place running for a year?’ Harriet’s head was already juggling figures.

      ‘No, but the wages are taken care of in a trust your father set up, and we also have a number of regular donations. I’ll talk you through all the paperwork, but yes, the twenty-five grand is what we need on top of what we already have, to make sure we can stay open this year.’

      ‘My God, you know СКАЧАТЬ