THEY WENT TO SEE HAYLEY first. She was awake and smiled at them when they walked in the room. `Hi guys,’ she said and Jo was surprised to hear the same cheerful tone to her voice.
`Hi. How’re you feeling?’ she asked.
Hayley’s grin widened. `Awesome. Morphine. I swear I’ve never felt so good in my life.’
Jo laughed, shook her head. Only Hayley would joke about something like this.
`Seriously. Is it really bad?’ she asked and Hayley shook her head.
`Nah, the drugs kill most of the pain. I’ll be fine. Biggest problem now is a damn itchy leg,’ she muttered, `God knows how I’m going to get around for the next few weeks,’ she added ruefully.
`So when can we sign the casts?’ Will asked and Hayley laughed.
`Soon I guess. They told me I could go home in the next few days. Shelley’s been in to visit with the baby. Isn’t he cute?’
Jo laughed, nodded, told Hayley what had happened with Will while he stared at the wall, tried but failed to hide a grin. Gus had been out to get coffee and now he walked into the room, looked up in surprise when he saw Will and Jo.
`Oh, hi.’
Jo smiled. `Hi. Hey – sorry I ran out yesterday.’
Gus shrugged. `No problem’ he said, sitting down and carefully setting a cup of coffee on the small table beside Hayley’s bed.
`We were all a bit shocked but she’s looking a bit better this morning isn’t she?’ he asked, smiling across at Hayley, who crinkled her nose at him.
`You’re looking great,’ Will said and Hayley smiled.
`I’m lucky to have you guys around to cheer me up. Julia and Shaun were in a minute ago. Something’s up there though.’
Will frowned. `What do you mean?’
Hayley looked across at Gus who simply rolled his eyes.
`She reckons they were in the middle of a huge argument. To be honest they did seem a little stiff but otherwise it was fine. I’m sure it will all blow over.’
`Hmmm. Yeah, that sort of thing usually does,’ Will replied, looking across at Jo, who hastily looked away. `Anyway, it’s Jo’s birthday today, I was going to say I’m taking the day off. If you want to keep the pub open you’ll have to call and see if Steve can help out,’ Will continued, turning to Gus.
`To hell with it, we’ll just have the day off. I’m going to stay with Hayley and the way Julia looked I’m sure she’d be happy to simply stay home and paint or whatever it is she does when she’s peeved,’ Gus replied. Then he looked across at Jo. `And Happy Birthday to you,’ he said, was echoed by Hayley.
`So how old are you now?’ she asked Jo.
`Thirty,’ she replied, grimacing.
Gus laughed. `It’s all downhill from here I’m afraid.’
The conversation continued, everyone carefully avoiding any mention of Jack or the accident and after a few minutes they said their goodbyes and headed back outside to the car park.
`I’m glad she’s still so cheerful,’ Jo said, climbing into the car.
`It’d take more than that to get Hayley down. She’s a tough one. Took Gus four tries just to get her to marry him.’
Jo raised her eyebrows in surprise. `Really? I mean at first I thought they looked kind of odd together but now it’s just so obvious they’re suited. What made her even think twice?’
Will shrugged. `Could be because she was going out with someone else at the time. Gus came to his senses a bit too late; it was only when she got engaged to the other guy that he realized that.’
`Wow. That’s such a romantic story,’ Jo said, sighing and Will laughed.
`Anyway, all history again. So, how about we try relax and forget everything for the rest of the day?’ he asked.
She smiled. `Okay, what do you have in mind?’
His eyes twinkled. `It’s a surprise.’
She looked over at him, puzzled and shook her head at his grin. `What are you up to?’ she asked, suspicious.
He grinned again, leaned over and squeezed her knee but didn’t reply.
They stopped off to get some food and drink. Jo waited in the car while Will went into the shops, returned his sudden smile rather warily when he climbed back in the car.
`What?’ she asked.
`Nothing.’
She didn’t reply, just narrowed her eyes at him before turning to concentrate on the road. Somehow she wasn’t all that surprised when he pulled up beside another large wooded area.
`You really do like being in the middle of nowhere, don’t you?’ she asked with a smile.
He grinned again, climbed out the car and held her door while she stepped out.
She looked around warily when she didn’t see any other cars or people in the near vicinity. `Where are we?’
`I told you, it’s a surprise. Come on,’ he said, leading her down a gravel pathway that led into the woods. There was a welcome sign at the start of the path but Will turned her away, not willing to let her see where they were going.
She could hear the roar of water and felt the chilly damp of the woods as they followed the path, which crossed a grey stone bridge before meandering through an avenue of beech trees, curving off to the right and disappearing into the distance.
It had been raining the day before and the woods were shrouded in moisture, tiny droplets falling from leaves, pooling into puddles that they skirted as they walked.
`Oh cool,’ she said, bending to look down at a group of brown toadstools at the base of one of the trees. `Is that a toadstool? I’ve never seen one before.’
`Yep,’ Will replied, his amusement obvious.
Feeling slightly foolish at her childish fascination with toadstools and the fairies she automatically associated with them, she reddened, stood and carried on down the path but stopped a few yards down, glanced up, trying to find the source of a sudden loud call from the branches of one of the trees above her, squinting slightly against the rays of light filtering through the canopy.
`And that’s a woodpecker,’ Will told her, grabbing her gently by the elbow, pointing up at a branch just to her left. She smiled as she saw the black and white bird eyeing them warily, twisting its head to the right to peer down at them.
`I’ve never seen one of those either,’ she whispered, entranced.
They stood watching the bird for a few more seconds then walked on, heading into steadily denser bush as the path sloped downward, flanked by a meadow covered in bluebells, a bright splash of color against the almost ubiquitous brown and green of the woods.
Jo felt herself relaxing, calmed by the serenity of the cool, damp wood, the treasure chest of surprises. The roar of water was becoming louder by the second, was almost deafening as they left the canopy and stepped onto a riverbank.
Will climbed onto a boulder and reached out a hand to help her clamber up next to him. She looked around, filled with awe as she saw the full power of the waterfall heaving itself over the rocks way above them in a gush of white thunderous steam.
`Wow, this is so cool. What’s it called?’ she asked and he smiled.
`Golitha Falls’
`It’s awesome,’ she said, closing her eyes and holding her hands out to feel the spray of the water against her skin, laughing with delight as she felt him step closer, run a finger down the side of her jaw.
She kept her eyes closed and leaned into him, savoring the mad rush as he lowered his mouth to hers, the roar of water lost against the pounding of her heart in her ears. It was several moments before she stepped back, her eyes still closed, and almost toppled off the boulder, laughing again as he caught her, pulled her tight up against him, wrapping his arms around her waist.
`So do you like your surprise?’ he asked and she nodded, finally opening her eyes and smiling up at him.
`Do you come here often?’ she replied and he laughed.
`No need to chat me up Jo, I’m already hooked,’ he said drily and she pulled a face.
`You know what I mean.’
He smiled then looked back at the waterfall, nodded. `Yeah I come here a fair bit. It’s one of my favorite places.’
They sat down on one of the boulders, had lunch, eating in a comfortable silence while Jo stared up at the wood-clad hills, fed bread crumbs to numerous small birds brave enough to come hopping up to them.
She looked up in surprise when Will reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box.
`Here,’ he said, pushing it over.
She frowned. `What is it?’
He grinned. `Open it.’
She felt herself returning the smile. `When did you get me a present?’
`Earlier. Now just open it, will you?’
`Okay okay.’
She unwrapped the gift, felt her heart stop when she saw the velvet jewelry box.
`Will-‘
`Open it.’
She looked up at him then opened the box, drew her breath in sharply. `Will, I can’t-‘
`Oh relax will you. The ring came with the earrings. Now, do you like it or not? They can change it if you want.’
She hesitated, lifted the earrings out the box. God, were those real diamonds? The design was delicate, the earrings small rosebud studs, the ring intricately carved.
`Will, this must’ve cost you a fortune.’
`Do you like it or not?’
Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion she felt the tears welling up.
`What? Why are you crying now?’ he asked, bewildered.
She threw herself at him, half-laughing, half-crying, covered him with millions of tiny kisses, hugged him tight as he laughed.
`Because nobody’s ever bought me diamonds and I’m thirty and I’m getting wrinkles and I’ve got a black eye and you’re being so nice and I-‘
She broke off, realized what she’d been about to say and sat back, flushed.
`And well, thanks,’ she said, not daring to meet his gaze. She put the earrings on, slipped the ring on her right hand and twirled it nervously.
`What do you think?’ she asked, daring a look up.
He smiled. `It looks good. Now come, there’s something else I want to show you,’ he said, standing up and reaching down to help her up.
He started back up the path.
`Will?’
He turned. `Yep?’
`I- thanks. Really.’
He smiled, ruffled her hair. `No worries.’
Then he started walking. `It’s a bit of a hike but you should be okay with this,’ he called out over his shoulder and she followed him up the side of the bank, heading into a dense stand of trees, trying not to slip as the path got steadily steeper.
About half-way up she stopped to catch her breath, bending over with her hands on her knees. Will had just turned a corner in the path ahead of her, climbing fast, and she couldn’t keep up the pace.
But now she felt alone and suddenly scared. The eerie silence was deafening as she realized that she couldn’t even hear any bird calls.
She stood upright, looked around, trying to see into the dark depths of the trees lining the small path. The hairs on her arms stood upright and she felt her breath catch in her throat as a stone came rattling down the path from behind her.
She whipped round, sighed in relief as she saw Will waiting for her at the corner.
`Come on slowpoke,’ he called out and she climbed up to meet him, trying to shake off the feeling that she was being watched.
`A bit of a hike?’ she managed between breaths and he laughed, started walking again at a slower pace.
`We’re almost there.’
It was another five minutes before they reached the edge of the wood and stepped out onto the ridge of a gorge. Jo looked down, drew in a breath at the beauty of the valley spread out below them, the brown-white of the river snaking through the trunks of oak and beech.
`Wow,’ she said, taking a deep breath, feeling like she was on top of the world. A large dark brown bird swooped down in front of them and she gasped, amazed at its size.
`What’s that?’
`A buzzard. Awesome isn’t it?’ Will replied.
He was standing a bit in front of her, his back to her and closer to the edge. Jo started to take a step forward to join him when she felt a slight push against her back, tripped, screamed as she rolled with the fall, knocking into Will as she saw the edge rushing up at her.
`What the?’
She felt rather than saw or heard Will move, became aware of the iron grip around her wrist as she slammed into a bush at the edge of the gorge, tried to choke down a sob as she realized that the bush and Will were all that were stopping her from tumbling down the side to a certain hideous death.
She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and tried to push up with a foot as Will reached down to grab her other hand.
`Fuck!’ he swore as her movement set loose a huge chunk of earth and she swung away from the bush. She screamed again as she felt the earth give way, every inch of her below the breastbone now hanging over the edge of the gorge.
`Jo!’
She looked down, closed her eyes, tried to block the vision, think straight, ignore her panicked whimpers.
`Jo! Look at me!’ She opened her eyes again, looked up at him, her eyes wide, saw him clench his jaw against the strain of holding her weight.
`Jo. Don’t move. I’m going to pull you back up, don’t kick, don’t try and help or every inch of ground underneath you is going to give way and I’ll just come down after you. It’s been raining and it’s unstable. Understand?’
She nodded, closed her eyes again, lay still as she felt him pull her up, slowly taking a step back and then another, finally heaving her back over the edge, rolling backwards and pulling her with him as another large chunk of the edge gave way.
They lay on their backs, breathing heavily for a second before Will swore again and stood up, pulling her to her feet.
`Jesus Christ. What happened there?’ he asked, his face pale.
She felt herself start shaking again, shivering, tried to form the words.
`Jo?’
`Somebody pushed me,’ she managed, saw his shocked stare before she doubled over, lost for breath.