Rachel scrolled over the images with an ache of loss in her heart as she looked across at Dad’s empty chair. Why did he have to go and leave them? How the hell had that happened? So many whys and unanswered questions. She felt a tear crowd her eye.
But it was no good getting nostalgic. She had to hold it together to keep the farm going for the three of them now, look at ways of making it more profitable, to keep them afloat. She couldn’t be the one to let them all down, to see it sold off. Primrose Farm was their legacy – and their beloved home.
So, if the pudding idea could help the farm, and as it was something Jill really enjoyed, it was worth at least looking into. There were plenty of people who stayed locally in holiday cottages who might like a treat, there were busy mums and wives with little time to bake, people on their own like Tom, the elderly – a whole host of potential customers who might like to buy a lovely homemade pudding.
There was a pudding on the screen now, the packaging wrapped in muslin. Hmm, Rachel’s mind turned to Eve, her crafting friend. She’d know how to make something similar. Ooh, maybe they could have a selection of puddings, wrapped in something pretty with a bow around and a ‘Primrose Farm’ tag.
The ideas were rolling now. For the first time in a long while, Rachel felt a spark of excitement.
This was definitely food for thought!
A little while later, Jill came down from her bath.
‘Hey, Mum. Feeling more relaxed now?’
‘Yes, love. That was just what I needed – a hot soak in some bubbles.’
Rachel wondered whether to share her newly hatched pudding idea. She’d seen how her mum was starting to enjoy her baking again, but would suggesting that she turn her flair into something more business-like take away all the joy from it? Would Jill feel pressured to help out if she knew how tight their finances really were? And could letting her in on the farm’s dire financial state undo all the progress she was making?
No, Rachel decided to hold back and keep these thoughts to herself. She was afraid to broach this just yet, uncertain as to how it would be taken. She’d have to find some other way to stop the farm’s overdraft deepening for now. Her mum’s positive progress through that painful journey of grief was far more important than any business venture idea. She was just glad that the old Jill was slowly but surely finding her way back home.
Life on the farm was far too busy for Rachel to mope about dwelling on their problems, however big they were. There was lambing to get on with, the small herd of cattle to be fed and mucked out, plus there was the persistent mountain of paperwork to trawl through.
Maisy’s recent question about her missing father was also playing on Rachel’s mind – now she was growing up, how was this affecting her? And thinking of her growing up, there was also a birthday to plan for. Maisy’s special day was approaching fast. Rachel was determined to give her daughter a wonderful birthday, but how did you make a little girl’s party special on a shoestring budget? Rachel sighed. Oh well, she rallied, if anyone could do it, she and Jill could.
It was Saturday of the following week, and the day of Maisy’s birthday.
‘Mumm-ee! Come on, come on. It’s today!’
‘Ah … hi, Maisy …’ Rachel was trying to come to from a foggy haze, with a very excited five-year-old bouncing up and down on her bed.
‘Grandma’s making pancakes too!’
Five-year-old … that was it! ‘Oh fabulous … happy birthday sweetheart.’
Rachel stretched and rubbed her bleary eyes. Last night had seen her up until past midnight as she tried to get the surprise party venue ready after Maisy had gone to bed. So, just as her knees were buckling and her eyelids drooping, the grand finale was that eighteen young children were due to arrive today at 2 p.m. Rachel was getting palpitations just thinking about it.
Down in the farmhouse kitchen, Jill was busy making a breakfast of pancakes for them all as a treat, along with thickly buttered toast and mugs of warming hot chocolate.
‘Good morning, birthday girl,’ she called to Maisy. ‘You’ll need some pancakes to help you grow big and strong, I bet?’
There was a choice of scrumptious pancake fillings all lined up on the side: lemon and sugar, banana and homemade toffee sauce, or chocolate spread. Maisy plumped for the chocolate ones, Rachel for a lemon-sugar closely followed by a toffee-banana. She figured she’d need her energy levels up for the day ahead, after all. Jill sat with them soon afterwards with her own lemon stack, and a well-earned mug of tea.
There were some birthday gifts for Maisy to open – one from Grandma Ruth and a couple of small ones from Rachel and Jill, including a new party frock for today. Their main present was outside ready for Maisy to discover later – they’d been saving hard over the past few weeks, the household expenses being on an extra-tight budget to do so. Jake’s parents, who now lived further south, near to Leeds, had sent something on in the post too, which was kind of them. Typically, there was nothing from Maisy’s dad himself, and no word on his whereabouts or even whether he’d got Rachel’s message about the party today. Rachel tried to push that particular worry to the back of her mind.
Jill had set to work baking and by mid-morning twenty-four cupcakes were neatly lined up on the cooling rack in the kitchen, ready to be iced and decorated with sugar-paper unicorns and hundreds-and-thousands sprinkles. There were also two large Victoria sponge bases she had made, ready for Rachel to sandwich together with jam and buttercream and cover with royal icing. Rachel was then to create the birthday cake bonanza with an arch of rainbow-coloured icing, some edible flowers she was yet to craft and a sprinkling of coloured stars. She had bought the cutest sugar-paste unicorn and a number ‘5’ to then pop on the top.
Rachel’s mind spun as she listed all the things left to do: icing the cake, finishing the decoration of the barn party venue, setting up the bouncy castle and slide … Along with Granny Ruth, she and Jill had been saving for ages to get the new play equipment for the party as Maisy’s main birthday present. They hoped it would be a wise purchase and help entertain the rabble of children at the party, as well as provide hours of fun for Maisy and her friends for the summer months to come.
Rachel began colouring strips of icing with food dyes to make the rainbow arch. She had ready-made stars to sprinkle over and was going to cut out and delicately mould some flower shapes from the left-over coloured icing.
Fifteen minutes later, Jill walked past the kitchen bench where she was working just as she was putting on the finishing touches with the unicorn topper. ‘Wow, that looks great. I’m impressed.’
Rachel had thought the rainbow was a bit skew-whiff, but as she stood back and looked at the finished cake, she could see it wasn’t bad at all – yes, a pretty good effort.
‘Maisy will love it,’ Jill confirmed.
Rachel hoped so; her little girl had already been disappointed this morning, after once again asking if her daddy was going to come to the party. She’d been asking every day this last week, but despite Rachel sending numerous texts, phoning and leaving answerphone messages as well as trying a couple of emails to his last known contact address, Jake hadn’t bothered to respond. Rachel had tried to let Maisy down gently, but she knew that her daughter was still clinging onto the belief that he’d turn up.
Jake hadn’t made it for the last three birthdays, so Rachel didn’t expect to see him at this one. She didn’t actually even know where he was in the