Page 91 of The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge
‘And I’ll drive over there. I mean, if I can get through.’
Her mother was hovering at her elbow. ‘Ted will take you,’ she hissed. ‘He’s fire brigade.’
‘Oh yes!’ Stef said. ‘Thanks. Aaron, Mum’s friend Ted will take me over.’
‘Amazing. Thank him for me. And thank you to you, too. I’ll start out soon.’
‘What about your daughter?’
‘Livy’s with her mum. Oh, Stef, this really is the last straw. Nancy will have to move now.’
‘You’d have thought so,’ Stef said crisply. ‘Don’t worry, Aaron. Drive safely. I’ll try to let you know what’s happening.’
Stef rang the emergency services, then raced upstairs to get dressed, while Ted went out in the grey dawn and got the van going. She’d left her trainers stuffed with newspaper in the airing cupboard overnight, and found them warm but still wet. Never mind. Coat. Umbrella.
Outside, Stef’s mother was piling blankets into the back of the van and arguing with Ted, who told her firmly, no, shecouldn’t come as well or there would be no room for Nancy on the return trip.
What state would they find Nancy in? Stef’s fears began to spiral, but she pushed them away as she climbed into the van beside Ted. As Ted backed up, a bright light snapped on in the hall of the cottage opposite and she watched her mother scurry over the lane to speak to the neighbours.
‘The whole village will know by the time we get back,’ Ted remarked with a smile as the van moved off with a roar of the engine. Stef clutched the seat as he swung it into the road to the Broad.
They barely spoke as he manoeuvred the van between puddles. Luckily, the roads were not flooded and they reached the narrow lane and the barn where Nancy’s car was parked without incident. No sign yet of any emergency vehicle, but Ted took care to leave the van off the road and they continued on foot, splashing through muddy water.
Thankfully, the rain had finally begun to ease and the clouds to thin. Ahead in the eastern distance a patch of clear sky shone a beautiful peach and gold. Soon, it would be sunrise.
When they reached the wooden boardwalk, Stef was shocked to see how the landscape had changed. The marsh was flooded on each side, the ruined windmill marooned in a lake, and streams gushed across the path. There were short stretches where they had to wade, Ted clasped Stef’s arm to steady her, but they made progress easily enough. Stef began to look for landmarks and soon the black mass of a birdhide loomed to their left. It wasn’t long after that when they reached the gate to the secret path that led down to Dragonfly Lodge and Stef was filled with alarm.
The path was inundated, the water pouring through the gate, and when Ted pushed it wouldn’t open against the weight of it. He immediately began to rip off the palings until he’d created a wide enough gap for them to duck under a cross-bar and squeeze through. They waded on grimly, Stef shuddering with cold.
Soon, they came to the cottage and Stef stilled in shock, for it was completely surrounded by water, the garden an extension of the lake. The water swirled around weird mounds of shrubs and the trunks of stunted trees. The sharp points of the surrounding paling fence peeped above the water like a row of jagged teeth. Beyond, the jetty lay submerged, but just visible. There was still no sign of the boat. Perhaps it had slipped free and floated off.
‘The tide’s ebbing, I think,’ Ted remarked, though it didn’t look that way to Stef.
She was more worried about Nancy and stared in dismay at the porch, where water lapped against the front door. ‘What do we do now?’
Before Ted could answer, a window upstairs creaked open and they looked up to see Nancy’s pale face peering down. ‘I’m so glad you’ve come,’ the old lady said in a calm voice. ‘It’s very good of you. The animals are all safe, you’ll be glad to know.’
‘Oh, Nancy!’ Stef said, then laughed with relief.
Beside her, Ted gazed at Nancy, grinning, hands on hips,his hair plastered across his forehead. ‘I’ll have to carry you to the car, I reckon, but first we have to get in.’
Just then, they became aware of a loudening mechanical buzz and saw a distant blob of orange bouncing across the Broad towards them, the waves it made sending ducks flying up, quacking in alarm. As it neared, Stef saw that it was a rubber inflatable dinghy with three figures in waterproofs sitting inside. It slowed, but its swell still surged against her thighs and she clung to Ted to keep upright. No matter. They were going to be rescued.
Fifty-Five
Later that day, Nancy sat safely on the sofa in Springfield Cottage with an old Lansdown family photo album open on her lap and a mug of steaming tea at her elbow. Stef, sitting next to her, was explaining who everyone was in the photographs.
Bright despite her ordeal, Nancy had expressed interest in everything since her arrival. Stef’s mother had already given her a tour of the cottage. Nancy had admired Cara’s paintings and exclaimed over the smallest bedroom, where she was to sleep. Cara had insisted that the old lady must stay for the near future and Nancy agreed, though she had petted Baxter a little sadly. Aaron had recently left to take Tabitha to a nearby cattery. ‘Just for a few days until things are sorted out,’ he’d assured his grandmother, though in truth no one knew when that might be.
Stef turned to the final page of photographs. ‘And this is Pip and Rob’s wedding,’ she said. ‘It’s the church by Norwich Market.’
‘Your sister looks so happy,’ Nancy sighed. ‘And St Peter Mancroft’s lovely, the school used to have its Christmas carol service there.’
She seemed tired suddenly, Stef thought as she closed the album, which was hardly surprising given the exertions of the day. She would never forget the poignant sight of Nancy sitting brave and upright in the rescue boat, a blanket round her shoulders and the cat basket beside her on the bench, as the crew cast off from the waterlogged jetty at Dragonfly Lodge. She and Ted had stood watching as the boat reversed, then set off slowly into the sunrise. She was relieved that the old lady was safe, but also strangely melancholy. It felt like the end of something.
‘D’you think Nancy will ever be able to come back here?’ she’d asked Ted wistfully as they turned away.
‘She knows her own mind, that one.’
