Where Memories Are Made (35 page)

A sense of humour seemed to have passed her by. She came across as quite gormless, plodding and slow. She did, though, possess two redeeming qualities, which were the reason why Jackie suffered her other shortcomings and had not asked the agency to replace her. She could type at eighty words a minute, her long fingers mesmerising to watch as they seemed to dance across the keys, and very rarely did she make a mistake, so the previous pile of typing waiting to be dealt with in the tray was now virtually non-existent. Also her manner on the telephone was exemplary. With the handset to her ear she seemed to change into a different person, becoming animated, and had a way with callers which instantly put them at their ease. Her message-taking was word perfect, but as soon as the call ended she reverted to her usual lacklustre self.

Jackie was losing hope that Olive would ever master the filing system, and it would be far less frustrating and quicker for Jackie to do it herself. She said, ‘Look, leave the filing to me and you get on with the typing. First, though, will you make a drink for us all?'

As she got up Olive mumbled, ‘Okay, Miss Sims.' Which was how she insisted on addressing her boss, despite having been told numerous times that Jackie would suffice.

As Olive went off, Harold came out of his office. He had taken to leaving his door open now. His need to lock himself protectively behind closed doors had substantially lessened as his confidence built. He was shaking his head. ‘I understand now what people mean by “it's like pulling teeth” when they're dealing with something that is proving impossible for them. I couldn't help but overhear you trying to explain the filing system to that young girl for the umpteenth time. I would have given up long since. Anyway, I'm not so blind I can't see you didn't get much sleep last night, Jackie. I suspect you and Miss Williams had much to discuss about your forthcoming nuptials.' An old-fashioned expression that Jackie had to hide a smile over, but coming from Harold she felt it was very endearing. ‘So I'm offering to do your turn of the camp this morning. Unless, of course, you feel the fresh air might prove of benefit to you? Blow the cobwebs away, so to speak.'

She was touched by his thoughtfulness and torn as to whether to accept or not. The fresh air and exercise could do wonders in revitalising her, but she didn't know whether she had the energy to begin her walk in the first place. Eventually she decided she was too tired to go. ‘I appreciate your offer, Mr Rose, and I'd like to accept.'

Olive then returned with the drinks. Afterwards, Harold set off on his camp tour and Jackie sent Olive over to the Paradise bar to collect their stock order for next week, which the head barman had not yet brought over. Having already received the other departments' lists for the coming few days, Jackie had just picked up the receiver to begin making calls to suppliers when she heard the noise of the door leading to the stairs. Someone was on the way in. She inwardly groaned, praying it wasn't a Stripey coming to inform her that she was needed to deal with a crisis in the camp.

Despite what she was feeling, ever the professional, Jackie prepared herself to welcome the visitor and do her best to accommodate them.

When the newcomer stepped through the door, the smile of welcome on Jackie's face vanished to be replaced by a look of shock. It took her brain several long seconds to register that she really wasn't seeing things but the person smiling back at her was Drina Jolly.

There was no sign of Jackie's lack of sleep the previous night when she issued a whoop of delight, pushed back her chair, and dashed over to throw her arms around her beloved friend and boss. ‘Oh, Drina, you're back. Oh, it's so wonderful to see you!'

Chuckling, she responded, ‘It's good to see you too, dear.'

Untangling herself, Jackie blasted her with, ‘How is Rhonnie? Is she better? Oh, can I get you some tea? And how is Artie? When are you and Rhonnie coming back …'

Still chuckling, Drina interjected, ‘Whoa, slow down, Jackie. First let me thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing such a good job of keeping this place running in our absence. I know it was a big undertaking for a young woman of your age. Mr Rose has been keeping me updated when I managed to call him from a telephone box in the village. I'm glad to hear that apart from the normal day-to-day problems we take for granted, and the odd matter he needed my say-so on, everything has gone smoothly, thanks to you, Mr Rose and the rest of the staff. Of course, the news about the bank robbers came as a shock. How dare they use Jolly's as a hideaway? But all credit to you, Jackie, for uncovering them and drawing the matter to the attention of the police without bringing any discredit on the camp.'

She patted Jackie's shoulder. ‘I'm so proud of you, dear. Now, to answer your questions. Artie is fine. He's just popped over to maintenance to let them know he's back. Thank you for the offer of tea but I'll say no this time. We've had a long journey … we broke it, stayed in a hotel last night and set off again early this morning. We've just dropped in to say hello for now before we go home and settle back in. As for Rhonnie, well, why don't you ask her how she is yourself?'

Her attention fully on Drina, Jackie hadn't seen Rhonnie come into the office behind her.

Jackie ran over to her, intending to hug her too. ‘Oh, Rhonnie, Rhonnie, I'm so glad to see you. I've missed you and Drina so mu—' Her voice suddenly trailed off, her outstretched arms fell to her sides, and she stared in astoundment at what Rhonnie was holding in her arms. ‘That's a baby!'

Rhonnie smiled. ‘As observant as ever, I'm glad to see.' With eyes filled with adoration and love, she looked down at her son then back at Jackie. ‘Let me introduce you to Daniel Arthur Buckland. We call him Danny.'

She gasped. ‘Dan's son! But … but …'

Rhonnie told her, ‘I was nearly five months pregnant when Dan died, Jackie. He knew, of course, from the moment I did myself. He was so excited about becoming a father, couldn't wait … Anyway, we didn't tell anyone else as I didn't want to be treated with kid gloves, being fussed over and Drina and my father insisting I eased back on work. I was lucky. I didn't suffer from morning sickness, swollen ankles, or any of those tell-tale signs a woman is pregnant. It had got to the stage where I couldn't hide my bump any longer so we had planned to tell you all just when Dan had his accident. As you know, I fell apart then. That's when Drina and my father decided to take drastic action.

‘When I woke up in their car to find we were well on our way to Devon, I was furious, I told them that they'd wasted their time as I didn't care where I was. I'd still lost Dan, and the quicker I died myself the better for me. Dad and Drina would not be budged and told me they wouldn't take me back until I was well on the mend. I'd lost a lot of weight by that time and my stamina was very low. One night I started to have terrible pains in my stomach and began to bleed. It was apparent that something was wrong with the baby. Dad and Drina still didn't know I was pregnant so this was a terrible shock for them. They whisked me into hospital. It wasn't until the doctors told me they were concerned I was losing the child that something inside me seemed to snap and I realised I loved this baby … my baby and Dan's. I had someone to live for, and through our baby Dan would always be with me.

‘I was in hospital for six weeks, only allowed home because Drina and Dad promised to make sure I didn't lift a finger. Travel was out of the question too, so that's why we didn't come back.' She smiled down at Danny again. ‘To think how close I was to losing this precious bundle, and at the time I didn't care. It doesn't bear thinking about. Danny was born two weeks ago. He weighed six pounds three ounces, and he's perfect.'

‘He sure is,' Jackie whispered emotionally, still reeling in shock at Rhonnie's tale. ‘Can I hold him?'

‘Of course,' she happily responded, carefully placing the sleeping infant in her arms.

While Jackie cooed over him, Drina told her, ‘We didn't like keeping you in the dark about the baby, my dear, but we knew how worried you'd be. And you hardly needed that on top of the pressure of running the camp in our absence, so that's why we kept it to ourselves.'

Dan started to whimper. Rhonnie took him back and said to Drina, ‘He's due a feed soon.'

‘Right, we'd best be off. Artie will be back by now from checking with Sid Harper that everything is all right over in maintenance. I'll just pop into the office and tell Mr Rose we're back.'

Jackie told her, ‘He's not in. He's out on the camp tour. Won't be back for another hour or so.'

Both Drina and Rhonnie flashed a look at each other, eyebrows raised in surprise. It was Drina who spoke. ‘Really! Well, my dear, you've achieved something I've been trying to do for a long time: getting him to come out of his shell. When we first decided to take Rhonnie away to recuperate, I was concerned about leaving Mr Rose in charge. He's a first-class accountant, totally loyal and trustworthy, so I knew I was leaving the company finances in good hands, but I was well aware of his lack of confidence, how shy he was with people. I worried there were elements of being a boss that he wouldn't cope with. At the time, though, I thought it was just a figurehead I needed since I only expected to be away a few weeks.

‘To be honest, though, when it became apparent just how ill Rhonnie was and that the baby's life was in danger, the camp was the last thing on my mind. Poor Artie fell apart then, desperately worried he could lose his daughter as well as his grandchild, so I had him to look after too. When I used to telephone Mr Rose for updates as regularly as I could as there was no telephone in the cottage, he always told me everything was fine and running smoothly, and I was very relieved to hear it as it meant I didn't need to worry and could concentrate on Rhonnie and Artie.'

She paused and eyed Jackie knowingly. ‘You'll be eager to know when we're returning to work. Well, as you can appreciate, Rhonnie won't be back while Danny is so young. She wants to concentrate on being a mother but will still be playing a backseat role. As for me …' Drina paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before she went on. ‘Jackie, I need to ask you if you'll continue working with Mr Rose for the time being, dear? Well, you've done a fantastic job for the last five months, and it's only just over three weeks to the end of the season. You see, I have plans to expand the camp and my time will be taken up with formulating them, having meetings with the bank and other bodies to see if what I have in mind is feasible, et cetera.'

She saw that Jackie was going to ask what the plans entailed and quickly told her, ‘I will fully explain them once I'm at liberty to. And be assured, the plans include you.' She then looked at Jackie closely, her face clouded with worry as she declared remorsefully, ‘How terrible of me! I've been so full of our news that I never noticed how tired you are. Doing what you have for as long as you have has obviously taken its toll on you and it's very wrong of me to ask you to carry on. I will …'

Jackie interjected, ‘No, it's not that at all. I'm honoured you want me to continue and very happy to. I'd be lying if I said I haven't spent some sleepless nights worrying whether I'm up to the job or not, sometimes I know I haven't handled situations in exactly the way you would have, but they turned out all right in the end. I'm tired because I was up late talking with Ginger last night …' She was about to announce that she was getting married but then thought better of it, not wanting to eclipse Rhonnie's wonderful news. So instead she said, ‘Boyfriend talk. We lost track of time and only had a couple of hours' sleep.'

Rhonnie smiled. Well, hope you managed to set the world to rights. You and Keith are okay, though?'

Now was not the time to explain to them what had happened with Keith and her mother so Jackie just said, ‘Well, actually, we have split up. It was for the best. I've a new boyfriend now, but I'll tell you all about it another time.'

Both Drina and Rhonnie looked shocked. It was Drina who said, ‘Oh! I thought you were rather fond of Keith and saw him as the one for you? We'll look forward to meeting your new boyfriend.' The baby began to whimper again. ‘We really must get off now before Danny lets you hear just how powerful his lungs are. Please tell Mr Rose I'm sorry to have missed him and will telephone him later from the house to explain matters further. Once again, Jackie, thank you for all you are doing and I think you'll be pleased with the way I intend to repay you. Hopefully Mr Rose will too.'

After giving her a hug, Drina and Rhonnie left Jackie to it.

Harold was taken aback by the news that Drina and Rhonnie had returned. Of course he was gratified to hear that Rhonnie was well and about the baby, but this meant his time as temporary boss was coming to an end. The old Harold would have been delighted at the thought of returning to the solitude of his office in accounts, rarely having to interact with anyone; but the new Harold, although far from confident enough yet to ask a lady out for drinks or dinner, didn't want to return to that isolation. His sinking spirits lifted when Jackie proceeded to inform him that Drina Jolly wanted them to carry on for the time being in their respective roles and would telephone him later to explain.

‘I'm desperate to know what Mrs Jolly's plans are for this place,' Jackie said to him.

He nodded. ‘Yes, it is all rather intriguing, I must say. But until Mrs Jolly is ready to tell us then we must have patience.'

‘Yes, I suppose,' she grumbled, patience not being one of her virtues. A look of remorse filled her face. ‘I feel so guilty, Mr Rose, for the fact that Mrs Jolly is under the impression all is well in the camp when we know it's not.'

Gravely he responded, ‘You're referring to the drug dealer in our midst?'