Page 59 of A Helpin g Hand for the Village Nurse

‘Exactly.’ Magnus smiled. ‘So did you think of a film for movie night? Maybe not The Day After Tomorrow,’ he added with a quick grin.

‘And definitely nothing to do with Noah’s ark,’ Ottilie replied, smiling herself now. ‘I was thinking maybe A Knight’s Tale or something like that? Something a bit swashbuckling and romantic.’

‘Ah, you’re in the mood for romance?’

‘I’m in the mood for a bit of Heath…Ledger,’ she added quickly, suddenly aware of her face burning. What was that about?

‘A very good choice,’ Magnus said. ‘I second that – a very beautiful man. Such a shame he went too soon.’

In an instant, Ottilie’s embarrassment had turned to melancholy. She knew all about beautiful men gone before their time. She tried to shake it – the rollercoaster of emotions she’d been through this afternoon couldn’t be good for her.

‘I’m sure it will be easy enough to get hold of that film,’ Magnus said, thankfully oblivious to her spiralling mood. At least he didn’t show that he’d noticed, even if he had.

‘I’d better take some milk and bread while I’m here,’ Ottilie said. ‘At least then if the weather gets worse I won’t starve.’

Ottilie went to the stand where the bread was usually stored to see that the choice was a lot smaller than usual – though it wasn’t always massive anyway.

‘I think everyone’s had the same idea,’ Magnus said apologetically. ‘There’s not much left.’

‘That’s all right.’ Ottilie chose a couple of baguettes before going to the fridge for a bottle of locally farmed milk. ‘I can make do with what you have.’

Magnus rang up the bill and Ottilie paid, feeling easier than she had when she’d arrived. Then she headed back out into the storm, ready to lock herself into her little cottage with blankets and tea and wait for it to be over.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Ottilie found herself in sudden darkness. With a twitch and a click, the TV, the lights and everything else in the house went off. The storm had been lashing Wordsworth Cottage for hours, beating at the windows, shaking the trees and shrubs in the garden so that they scraped against the house as if to be let in, water running from the guttering in a steady stream where it must have overwhelmed the narrower channels.

Fumbling on the coffee table, her fingers finally found the shape of her phone and she grabbed it to flick on the torch. She had a vague idea where the fuse box was but had never needed to visit it, so it was vague at best. Magnus had thought her house had a cellar and had said that many of the ones locally did. She’d never asked when she’d bought the house whether they had one that had been filled in and she’d probably taken less notice of the plans than she ought to have done. Would that be a problem? Or might it be her saving? At least she didn’t have to go down into a damp, musty basement for her fuse box, like they did in horror films. If that had been the case, she might well have taken to her bed and hidden under the covers until morning, even though it was only just gone nine.

The problem wasn’t the fuse box, as Ottilie quickly gathered after flicking the switches a few times and getting no response. It was then that she looked out of the window and realised she couldn’t see any lights on in the village – at least, not in the closest houses. So it was a bigger power fault? Perhaps the storm had brought down a cable. How long would she be without electricity? Without it, was there any point in staying up after all? It was far too early to go to bed, but there was no light to read by and no television.

She could continue to use her phone, but not knowing how long she’d be without power to charge it and thinking she might need it in an emergency, perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea. She supposed she could go and find some company in the village – perhaps Stacey or Magnus and Geoff would be OK with her calling on them and spending the evening there – if only because she was getting increasingly unnerved being alone in the dark like this.

She dialled Stacey’s number first.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, Stacey. Sorry to bother you but my power’s gone off. I was wondering if yours was on.’

‘No, nothing here either. I’m guessing the storm’s taken it out.’

‘That’s what I thought. How are you coping there?’

‘Oh, we’re fine. I’ve got solar lanterns in the garden – I’ve brought them inside – and we’ve got a cupboard full of candles, thanks to endless Christmases where my aunt buys me a smelly one every year that I never use. Are you all right there?’

‘Well, I wish I’d thought about a candle supply before now. I don’t have solar lanterns either.’

‘You can have some of our candles if you want to brave the storm to come and get them. Or you could always stay over,’ Stacey added, perhaps sensing the anxiety in Ottilie’s voice. ‘We’ve got a sofa bed we can flip out for you, and it would be nice to have company.’

‘Chloe’s not there tonight?’

Stacey laughed. ‘Oh, she’s here – no company though. Too busy on her phone.’

‘I’d really like that,’ Ottilie said.

‘Come over. Want me to meet you halfway?’

‘No, no…that’s OK – wouldn’t want to get you out in this. I’ll be with you in half an hour or so.’

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