Page 29 of Christmas at Rachel’s Pudding Pantry

One of them cursed in a gravelly voice. ‘Fucking dog, shut up.’

Rachel’s, as well as Moss’s, hackles rose. The bastards. How dare they. Her anger overtook any sense of fear. They were not going to break in and steal everything she’d worked for, not everything she was striving to keep going. And if they hurt Moss …

That was it, she was off down the stairs, grabbing Dad’s old cricket bat from the downstairs cupboard, just in case. There was Dad’s old shotgun too, kept in a locked cabinet under the stairs. Living on a rural farm, you never knew when it might be needed, though she’d never experienced anything like this before. If necessary, a shot into the air might be enough to scare them off.

She fetched the gun quickly, turned the light on in the porch, and stormed out, still dressed comically in PJs and slippers, armed and ready for action. One of the men was swearing at Moss again. If they even thought of hurting her dad’s dog …

‘Right then, you bastards, get off my land,’ she yelled at the top of her voice, striding angrily into the farmyard in her nightwear.

‘Ach, it’s just a woman,’ she heard.

Hah, just a woman was it. The shotgun was loaded; Rachel pulled the trigger and sent a warning shot up into the air. ‘I said get off my land!’ Her voice was a roar.

The errant pair stood stock-still, their mouths frozen in an ‘O’ of shock under their balaclavas.

‘Shit, shit. Let’s go!’ They made a panicked dash for their vehicle.

Jill was now at the door, calling out loudly, ‘I’ve rung the police. They’re on the way.’

‘And,’ Rachel shouted after them as they scrambled into the van, ‘If you dare show your ugly faces around here again, this’ll be levelled right at them. Or maybe your balls instead.’

The van’s front doors were slammed shut and it sped off with a screech, the rear doors, left open ready for loading any stolen cargo, swinging wildly behind as they disappeared off down the farm track.

Rachel went to check on Moss, who was still barking and on alert, but thankfully he was fine. She undid the kennel and the collie followed her back to the house. Rachel’s heart was thumping wildly as she got in to the kitchen.

Jill was there in her dressing gown, looking pale and shocked. ‘The police are informed. They’re sending someone across as soon as they can, but I expect the buggers will be well away by then. I did manage to get most of the number plate recorded, mind.’

‘Well done, Mum. Thankfully they didn’t get chance to break in and take anything.’

With that, Maisy appeared, looking dishevelled and confused. ‘Mummy, what’s happening?’

‘It’s all okay, petal.’ Rachel didn’t want to alarm her little girl, and ensuring its safety catch was back on, swiftly lay down the gun that she was still carrying. Luckily, Maisy hadn’t seemed to have spotted it. ‘It was just a noise on the farm and Moss was barking. Everything’s okay.’

‘Come on, Missie, let’s get you back to bed,’ rallied Jill.

Rachel looked up at the kitchen clock: it was past three in the morning. Crikey, she didn’t feel like she could go back to bed just yet, herself, with her heart still thumping like a frightened rabbit’s. Jill was soon back down in the kitchen after settling Maisy.

‘A cocoa, love?’

‘Yes, I think so; thanks, Mum.’ Rachel realised her hands were trembling.

Her mum put a pan of milk to warm on the Aga. She’d also brought down a fleecy blanket and settled that across Rachel’s shoulders. ‘That was a bit frightening, wasn’t it,’ Jill admitted. ‘We were lucky they weren’t armed themselves.’

Rachel hadn’t had time to think about that out there. She had just wanted to protect her family and her property.

‘Oh crikey … I remember we had a break-in at the barn once years ago. Your dad was up in arms that night too. I suppose it’s par for the course in the country, but it’s scary isn’t it, being just the two of us now,’ Jill continued, evidently shaken up by it all.

‘Of course. It’s bound to be, but no one drives us away, Mum. This is our farm, our land. We’ve worked hard for this. They can’t be allowed to win. They can’t go around stealing what our families have worked for all these years.’

‘No, I suppose not, love. It’s just a shock, that’s all.’

‘I know, I know,’ Rachel soothed. But to think that Maisy was here in the house too. Rachel’s heart was still thumping wildly.

Two police officers, a man and woman, arrived within the hour – neither Jill nor Rachel had felt ready to go back to bed by then, anyhow. They were sympathetic as they took a statement, while Jill made them a cup of tea. They said they’d got the part number plate reported and out on the system straight away, but so far there had been no sightings. The van could well be dumped somewhere by now, and the criminals in another vehicle, they warned. They left, after tea and biscuits, advising that another team would be there to do fingerprint checks on the tractor shed doors in the morning. Finally, at four thirty in the morning, it was time to go back to bed for a few hours’ kip. But Rachel was still on high alert. She fell into a fitful sleep, the sound of shouting and slamming and the image of shadowy figures infiltrating her dreams.

12

The next day passed in a yawn-filled whirl. Luckily Maisy was off to school as Rachel didn’t want her to hear anything more about last night’s antics, but she shared the story with Tom at his elevenses. She realised she was still feeling a little shaky, just thinking about it.