LITMIR.BIZ

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turn up it would be a bit of a shock and a minor miracle, but only time would tell.

      With the birthday cake completed, Rachel needed to crack on with getting the barn ready. She passed Moss in the kitchen, giving him a pat on the head, and headed through to the porch to pull on her wellies.

      ‘Come on Moss, boy, let’s go and get this party started.’

      Rachel headed across the yard and yanked open the two heavy wooden barn doors that shaped into an arch. A sparrow darted out – it must be nesting in there. The morning light filled the space and the honeyed-stone walls glowed. It really was pretty in there. For years it had been hidden in dust and straw, with heaps of old sacks, discarded tools, and a few bags of sheep feed. Yesterday, they’d had a damned good clear-out, moving what was useful to one end of the lambing shed, discarding the rest. The flagstone floor was brushed clean, and the cobwebs and dust dispersed – it had taken some time!

      Rachel did a quick count of all the chairs they’d ferried in there. They had nineteen bottoms to seat plus parents – hmm. She took out her mobile phone. She needed a friendly neighbour.

      ‘Tom?’

      ‘Hi, Rachel. All okay?’

      ‘Yes, thanks. I just need a bit of a favour.’

      ‘Okay, ask away.’

      ‘It’s Maisy’s birthday today and we’re having a bit of a party for her friends. I’m here getting the barn ready, but I’ve realised we haven’t enough chairs for everyone.’

      ‘Hah, it’ll be bedlam. And yes, I thought her birthday was sometime soon. She’ll be excited.’

      ‘She sure is. She’s across with Eve and Amelia just now, whilst we get everything ready. There’re eighteen children coming … I can’t wait,’ Rachel groaned. ‘Anyway, do you have any spare chairs that we could borrow for this afternoon? Just some old ones will do, we don’t need anything fancy.’

      ‘Hah, there’s not much fancy in my house. I can bring across my patio ones and my kitchen set.’

      ‘Yes, please, that’d be brilliant. Cheers, Tom.’

      ‘No worries. I’ll be across in a while. I’m just up at The Ridge checking the ewes and lambs.’

      ‘Okay, well there’s no mad rush, just whenever you can make it before the two o’clock kick-off, if at all possible.’

      ‘Yeah, that’s fine. See you soon.’

      ‘You’re a star. Thank you.’ Rachel put away her phone.

      Tom really was turning into a bit of a knight in shining armour these days, though she hoped she wasn’t leaning on him too much and becoming a pain.

      Time rushed by in a whirl of bunting-fixing and paper-chain-hanging. Tom had arrived with the chairs and didn’t bat an eyelid when Rachel asked him to blow up thirty fuchsia-coloured balloons and to help lay the tables with paper plates and unicorn napkins.

      She glanced at her watch – it was gone one-thirty already.

      ‘Crikey, we’ve only got half an hour to go. Maisy’ll be back any minute too, to change into her party dress.’

      ‘Well, I’ll let you get on. I have bought a little something for the birthday girl, so I’ll pop back across with it in a while,’ Tom said.

      ‘That’s very brave. Are you sure you’re up to handling nineteen four and five-year-olds?’

      ‘Well … I can try, but I’ll leave it at least an hour or so, let them all settle in. When are they expected to go?’ He gave a wry smile.

      ‘Hah – good thinking. It finishes around five-ish.’

      ‘Best of luck then, and I’ll see you all later. Wish Maisy a lovely time from me.’

      ‘Will do.’

      ‘It looks great in here by the way,’ he added, scanning the barn as he turned to leave.

      ‘Yeah, I’m really pleased with it. And, it’ll be far better than them all going crazy in the house.’

      ‘Hah, yes – well, have a good time!’

      Jill arrived with a tray of clingfilmed sandwiches and freshly baked sausage rolls, just as Tom was about to leave.

      ‘Don’t tempt me.’ He grinned, eyeing the platter hungrily.

      ‘Go on, help yourself. A sausage roll won’t hurt, I’ve made a double batch. There’s a load more in the kitchen.’

      ‘Well, it’d be rude not to, I suppose.’ He took a bite of the crispy, melt in-the-mouth, sage, onion and sausage goodness. ‘Delicious!’ And with that he set off in his truck, giving a farewell toot.

      Five minutes later, Eve turned up with a very excited little girl in tow – in fact two!

      Maisy dashed out of the car. ‘Mumm-ee, we’ve been making finger puppets for the party. Animal ones – look, they’re so cute. There’s one for every party ba …’ She stopped in her tracks and stared, open-mouthed at the inside of the barn. ‘Wow-wee!’ she shouted, running in and doing a lap of the trestle tables. ‘A-maz-ing!’

      Phew, she liked it! Rachel and Jill were beaming, their efforts having evidently been worthwhile.

      ‘Right petal, well you need to go upstairs and get changed into your new party dress right now, before all your friends get here.’

      ‘Ooh, yes.’ And Maisy skipped off towards the house, Amelia by her side, with Moss on their heels scooting across the yard, picking up on the buoyant mood.

      ‘Shall I stay and help?’ offered Eve. ‘Amelia’s already in her party gear, and I’ve got time on my hands. No point heading back home just to turn around again in twenty minutes.’

      ‘Aw, you are a star. That’d be great. Could you help Mum bring across the rest of the food whilst I’ll check Maisy’s getting dressed and ready okay?’

      ‘Yeah, no worries. Looks really great in there by the way,’ Eve nodded at the barn. ‘Think we’ll need to borrow the barn for all our kids’ parties. Save the wreckage to our own homes.’

      ‘Hah, we’ll see how it goes first! You might not be saying that by the end. It could be kiddie carnage.’

      ‘Well, at least you can just close the doors on the barn afterwards and retreat to the farmhouse for a glass of wine.’

      ‘True.’

      ‘Do you think we could close those doors for a while during the party too?’ Rachel added cheekily. ‘Adults outside and the kids in.’

      The two friends chuckled.

      ‘It’ll be fine,’ rallied Jill. ‘What’s the worst a bunch of five-year-olds can do?’

      Eve and Rachel both looked at each other, pulling a grimace. Anything could happen!

       Chapter 8

       BIRTHDAY TREATS, TEARS AND CHOCOLATE PUDDING

      With Musical Chairs, Pass-the-Parcel, and the fabulously peaceful-for-the-parents Sleeping Lions game completed, it was time for the birthday tea.

      The party food looked amazing, and Jill, Rachel and Maisy beamed proudly as the adults ‘Oohed’ and ‘Aahhed’, saying how delicious it all appeared, and the children tucked in. There were homemade sausage rolls, mini sausages, neatly cut triangle sandwiches, crisps and two ‘hedgehogs’ made of pineapple and cheese on sticks that Granny Ruth had brought with her – basically silver-foil-covered grapefruits with spiky snacks and some wiggly

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