Part Twelve

"So what do you think?" Archie asked impatiently, "better than the last one? Do you think it needs more flavour? A touch more pepper perhaps?" He continued to look from Lexie to Duncan for a response. "So...?"

There was a slight trepidation in the air as Lexie and Duncan both tried to gauge the other's reply. Archie had spent the afternoon experimenting with ideas for the catering business and Lexie and Duncan had been the taste testers.

"Well Arch, I think it tastes just the same as the last sauce," Duncan responded.

Lexie, having realised this was the last thing her husband wanted to hear, replied, "Er, I think I liked the one before better. It had a bit more kick to it."

"Was that the tomato and basil or the tomato and mixed herbs?" Archie enquired.

Thankfully, before Lexie had time to answer that she hadn't any idea which one it was, there was a knock at the door.

"I'll go," she called, already half way to the door.

"Hello Lexie," Matt said cheerfully, "I'm just dropping these magazines Archie was interested in. You know, the ones about converting outbuildings."

"Thanks Matt. Now, you will come in and join us for a cup of tea, won't you?"

"Oh best not. I've got Em in the car."

"Well bring her in too you dafty," Lexie smiled. "Anyway, you'd be doing me and Duncan a big favour. Archie's been using us as guinea pigs all afternoon. He's trying out some recipes and a new set of taste buds would be very useful right now."

"How can I refuse when the alternative is fish fingers," Matt laughed, "Jill's on a teaching course today and won't be back till late."

Matt brought Emily in from the car and added a few of his own impressions before Archie finally finished with his culinary workshop. The afternoon continued in a more leisurely fashion with Lexie and Archie explaining their plans for the garden to Matt, whose brother and father it turned out were landscape gardeners. 'Useful' thought Archie and Lexie, making a mental note.

Meanwhile Duncan was showing an excited Emily the chickens, while doing a very realistic clucking noise at the same time. This only encouraged Emily to laugh hysterically and tell him to do it again repeatedly. Which he was very happy to do – often!

As the afternoon progressed, it became clear that Emily was actually not the quiet and shy child she had first appeared. Once she got to know people she could be immensely talkative.

"Em, Lexie?"

"Yes, Emily,"

"Um .. er... can I see the bear?" she pleaded.

Lexie was unsure quite what Emily meant to start with, "Bear? bear ?.... oh do you mean Archie's bear?" she replied, having finally seen the light. She must somewhat surprised that Emily still remembered their conversation from earlier in the week.

Emily nodded.

"Well it's Archie's bear but I'm sure if you asked him nicely he wouldn't mind taking you upstairs to see him."

Emily turned on her heels and ran off to find Archie who was outside talking to Matt about their plans for the outbuildings.

"Archie, Archie, can I see your bear?" Emily called as she bounded across the farmyard in the direction of the two men. "Pleeeease."

Archie was perplexed but began to see the light when he saw Lexie mouthing 'your teddy bear' to him as she followed behind the little girl.

"Aahh, my teddy bear. Yes of course you can see him but it might take a bit of searching to find him," Archie explained. "I think he might be in one of the boxes we haven't unpacked yet."

"Well, I can help," Emily said, determinedly taking Archie's hand.

Lexie laughed as she watched Archie being pulled into the house by a lively and chattering Emily. He gave Lexie one of his long suffering looks as they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. Emily's voice could still be heard floating back to them.

"Aren't you a bit old to have a teddy bear?"

"Strong willed young lady my daughter," Matt mused as he joined Lexie in the yard.

As it turned out the bear wasn't hard to find. Lexie had labelled all the boxes and he was right at the top of the one saying 'Archie's toys and games'.

The bear was definitely showing his age, as there were a few bald patches, but it was obvious that he had been well loved and cared for. Archie placed him on an old chest of drawers in one of the spare rooms and Emily stood back to look at him.

"He doesn't look very smart," she commented, staring at him with narrowing blue eyes as if she was judging a teddy bear competition.

"Well, that's because he is very old," Archie replied.

"As old as you?" Emily enquired.

Archie looked a little taken aback by this comment. "Well yes, almost. He was a present from my brother and sister when I was just a few days old."

"What's his name?" Emily said, continuing with her questions.

"Bertie."

"Oooh, I like that," smiled Emily and danced off round the room chanting "Bertie, Bertie, Bertie the bear."

She stopped and looked round the room suddenly, "It's not very nice in here is it? Where's the furniture?"

"That's because we're going to paint it and make it into a room for someone to come and stay in."

"Oh are you going to have someone to stay. Mummy and daddy say we might have a little baby come and stay soon."

Archie wasn't sure how to respond to this. Lexie had let him in on Jill and Matt's news, of course, but he was on pain of death to mention it to anyone else and he supposed that must include Emily. He decided the best course of action was distraction.

"Shall we go back and look in that box again? I'm sure there must be something in there you could play with."

Archie was right. There were lots of things in the box, and many of them brought back some of his childhood memories. "Aha," he suddenly exclaimed as he reached into the box and withdrew some pieces of railing. "Do you like playing with trains Emily?"

Downstairs Lexie was clearing up the kitchen after Archie's exploits. She was chatting to Duncan and Matt, when Matt's phone started ringing. Finding that the reception wasn't too good, he quickly absented himself to the yard in order to take the call. Lexie lost no opportunity to have some fun with Duncan.

"So wee man," Lexie began, "you won't be dining in with us this evening?"

"No, I thought I might go down to the pub and see if I could get in a game of darts," Duncan replied.

"Oh, now. Well if I was a suspicious girl, I'd say you have rather a soft spot for a certain someone who works there and I don't mean Dan, " she chuckled.

"Lexie" he warned.

"Alright, alright. I will say no more .. but I do like Lucy she always seems so......

"Lexie" he warned again menacingly.

"OK, my lips are sealed." Lexie pulled her fingers across her mouth to zip her lips together.

Matt returned to the kitchen looking rather pale.

"Is everything alright?" Lexie enquired. She could see straight away that it was not good news.

"No, not really. That was the hospital. Jill's mum seems to have had some sort of a turn. Looks quite serious. They don't know what it is yet but apparently she more or less fainted and now she has a temperature and is still having a few palpitations. They've been trying to get hold of Jill but she's not answering probably not back yet. I'll have to go to the hospital straightaway and try and contact Jill from there."

Matt looked more and more distressed as his mind went over all the possibilities. He was very fond of Jill's mum. She was so much part of their family and she was always so good with ..... "Oh no, Emily." He suddenly remembered. "What am I going to do about her. She'd better not come to the hospital. It's not the nicest of places for children to be and it might be a bit distressing for her. Besides, I don't know how long I might have to be there. Perhaps I could ring my cousin."

Lexie was quickly to the rescue, "It's fine, she can stay here."

"Are you sure?" Matt couldn't disguise the relief in his voice but was uncomfortable at the thought of having to leave his young daughter with people who had only so recently become their friends. He knew he could trust them but what about Emily. How would she react?

"Oh ay, of course I'm sure. We'll be pleased to have her. Won't we Dunc? And I know Archie would love her to stay."

Matt contemplated the alternatives, which weren't many. "Well I'll have to make sure Emily is alright with it."

As if on cue, the conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Emily bursting through the kitchen door.

"Lexie, Lexie, have you got a tunnel?" she called as she almost collided with her.

Lexie was a little surprised. "A tunnel? Are you sure that's what you want darling?"

"Yes, Archie told me to ask for a tunnel" and by way of explanation she added "for our railway!"

"Ah, now I understand," Lexie replied, as she began to grasp the situation. "Well, I'll have a look round and see what I can find for you and bring it up. Are you having fun up there?"

"Ooh yes. Archie has got a big train set and he's got engines and stations and all sorts of things and I'm in charge of the level crossing but I think we need a tunnel. "Oooh are those jam tarts for tea? Can I have one?" She grabbed one without waiting for the answer and dashed out of the room shouting "thank you" as she headed for the stairs.

Lexie looked across at Matt and smiled "I think that might answer your question. She seems quite contented already. Now why don't you take this cereal box up there for the tunnel and you can explain it all to Emily and put Archie in the picture. Then you'll be able to get off to the hospital without having to worry about Emily as well as Mary. You can phone us from there with an update."

Matt went off with the cereal box to sort things out with Emily and Archie. Emily was so engrossed in her level crossing duties that she hardly looked up. Matt whispered a quick explanation to Archie before planting a kiss on the top of his daughter's head and hurrying off to the hospital.

Later that evening after Duncan had departed to explore the pleasures of the pub, Archie, Lexie and Emily found themselves immersed in playing trains. Emily seemed barely to have noticed her parents' absence and was lapping up all the individual attention that Archie and Lexie were giving her. They seemed to be able to produce all sorts of nice games and food as if from out of a hat. She was still in charge of the level crossing but now had a whistle, which she used so frequently that Lexie was beginning to wonder where the headache pills had been put. Archie was in charge of the station and had to make all the announcements, such as "The train now approaching platform 3 is the 18.52 train calling at all stations to Banbridge". Lexie's job involved having to dart from one end of the room to another to change over points and signals, while Emily insisted on closing the gates every few minutes for another cow, horse or car to cross over the railway.

The giggling and laughter almost drowned out the sound of the telephone but Archie just caught it in time. Lexie and Emily continued their discussion about which was their favourite farm animal, as he jumped to his feet and disappeared outside to answer it.

"Hello."

"Oh hi Matt, sorry about the background noise. It's the girls. How's Mary?"

Matt told him that Jill's mother was still very poorly but now they had found the cause they were sure of a full recovery. Apparently she had had an allergic reaction and she would be having more tests later to find out the cause. Matt had managed to talk to Jill but her course had only just finished and she wasn't going to make it to the hospital for another hour or so.

"I'm a bit worried about Emily," Matt pondered, "I'm afraid it's going to be very late before we can get over to pick her up?"

Archie didn't hesitate before responding, "Don't worry, she can stay here tonight. She's been no trouble at all. In fact I can't remember having so much fun in a long while. We haven't stopped laughing. The last thing you need to fret about now is looking after Emily. She seems quite happy here."

"Are you sure?" Matt queried, "She can be quite a handful sometimes you know."

"Well maybe it will be good practice for the future," quipped Archie.

"Well in that case I think we'd both be very grateful," replied a relieved Matt. "Perhaps I'd better have a quick word with her to explain things."

Archie called Emily to the phone and she listened patiently to all her father's instructions - to be a good girl and do what Archie and Lexie told her. He explained that Archie and Lexie wanted her to be their 'special' house guest and that mummy and daddy would be over to pick her up in the morning. After she had regaled her father with descriptions of the railway business that was running in the room next door, she passed the phone to Lexie, who having been put up to speed by Archie, was filled in on Emily's bedtime routine.

After Archie had ingeniously persuaded Emily that the trains had to go to the engine shed (ie another cereal packet) by eight o'clock, as trains didn't run any later, she was taken in hand by Lexie, who found her one of her t-shirts to wear as a nightdress.

Lexie hadpromised her a story and the little girl couldn't wait. Emily was already very fond of Lexie. She loved the way she was always smiling and the funny way she spoke. She climbed up onto the bed and snuggled down in anticipation. Then her eyes widened and she sat up again, "Where's my teddy Edward?"

"Well I think teddy Edward is busy looking after your house for you," said Lexie, thinking on her feet.

"And so I wondered if you'd like to have Bertie come and look after you tonight," asked a smiling Archie on cue, as he came into the room carrying the bear.

After being reassured by Archie that he had other things to cuddle in bed these days, Emily grabbed hold of the bear and settled down again. She looked at the two of them and whispered quietly "Lexie?"

"Yes sweetheart."

"Can I have a hug? Mummy and daddy always give me a hug."

Lexie smiled at her and leaned over to give her a little squeeze and a kiss on the top of her head. Emily looked over Lexie's shoulder. "And Archie."

Archie looked a little embarrassed at first and then, smiling first at Lexie and then at Emily, he knelt down by the bed, gave her a warm hug and wished her "sweet dreams".

Lexie settled down on the bed next to Emily. As there weren't any children's books in the box so she would have to make one up. "Now then ... where shall I start ...?" Inspiration began to dawn. "Aha ... Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamt that one day she would live in a big castle and that she would marry a handsome prince ...."

Archie smiled quietly to himself as he slowly closed the bedroom door and left.