New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow Read online

  New Arrivals at Hedgehog Hollow

  Hedgehog Hollow Book 2

  Jessica Redland

  Contents

  Recurring Characters from Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow:

  The story so far…

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Hedgehog True/False

  Hedgehog Dos and Dont’s

  More from Jessica Redland

  About the Author

  Also by Jessica Redland

  About Boldwood Books

  To my brother-in-law Richard with love

  No longer with us but forever in our hearts xx

  Recurring Characters from Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow:

  Samantha Wishaw aka Sam or Sammie

  Former district nurse turned Health & Social Care Tutor at Reddfield TEC. Owner of Hedgehog Hollow

  * * *

  Jonathan Wishaw

  Samantha’s dad

  Veterinary surgeon at Alderson & Son Veterinary Practice

  * * *

  Debs Wishaw

  Samantha’s estranged mum

  Identical twin to Chloe’s mum, Louise

  * * *

  Chloe Turner

  Samantha’s cousin who married Samantha’s ex, James

  * * *

  James Turner

  Samantha’s ex-boyfriend, now married to her cousin, Chloe

  * * *

  Samuel Turner

  Chloe and James’s baby

  * * *

  Louise Olsen

  Samantha’s auntie / Chloe’s mum

  Identical twin to Samantha’s mum

  * * *

  Simon Olsen

  Samantha’s uncle / Chloe’s dad

  * * *

  Josh Alderson

  Samantha’s boyfriend

  Practice owner and veterinary surgeon at Alderson & Son Veterinary Practice

  * * *

  Paul Alderson

  Josh’s estranged dad & former business partner

  * * *

  Beth Giddings

  Paul’s girlfriend / Josh’s ex-girlfriend

  * * *

  Connie Harbuckle

  Josh’s mum

  Non-identical twin to Lauren

  * * *

  Lauren Harbuckle

  Josh’s auntie

  Non-identical twin to Connie

  Samantha’s boss at Reddfield TEC

  * * *

  Thomas Mickleby

  Elderly widower befriended by Samantha

  Left Hedgehog Hollow to Samantha in his will on the proviso she ran it as a hedgehog rescue centre

  * * *

  Gwendoline Mickleby

  Thomas’s wife whose dream it was to run the hedgehog rescue centre

  * * *

  Rich Cooper

  Ambulance paramedic. Good friend of Samantha / partner of Dave. Samantha stayed with him when she moved to the Wolds

  * * *

  Dave Williams

  Builder. Good friend of Samantha / partner of Rich. Samantha stayed with him when she moved to the Wolds

  * * *

  Hannah Spiers

  District nurse on maternity leave

  Samantha’s best friend from university

  * * *

  Toby Spiers

  Hannah’s husband / James’s best friend

  * * *

  Amelia Spiers

  Hannah and Toby’s baby / Samantha’s goddaughter

  * * *

  Harry

  Samantha’s ex-boyfriend pre-James

  * * *

  Lewis

  Josh’s best friend from school

  The story so far…

  As bridesmaid at her best friend Hannah’s wedding, district nurse Samantha hoped she’d soon be saying ‘I do’ to boyfriend, James – best man to the groom. James admitted that he wanted to get married too… just not to Samantha. Devastated but desperate not to lose him, she hoped that all he needed was time and then he’d fall in love with her.

  James did fall in love. Just not with Samantha. At her Gramps’s seventieth birthday party that summer, he met Samantha’s cousin, Chloe, and the attraction was obvious. Her beloved Gramps saw it too and encouraged Samantha to let James go. Gramps passed away overnight and she fulfilled her final promise to him.

  A year later, Samantha was bridesmaid again… at Chloe and James’s wedding. Her heart broke watching them say their vows. She hoped a fresh start on the Yorkshire Wolds in a new role as Health and Social Care Tutor at Reddfield TEC would help her get over James and move on.

  On the way to the wedding reception, Samantha got lost and stopped at a farm – Hedgehog Hollow – in the hope of finding directions. What she actually found was octogenarian, Thomas Mickleby, collapsed in the farmhouse.

  Arriving extremely late to the reception and covered in mud, things went from bad to worse when her vindictive Great-Aunt Agnes outed her for still being in love with James, right in front of Chloe. Chloe was livid and demanded Samantha leave.

  A family rift opened up. Samantha had always had a toxic relationship with her mum but now Chloe had turned against her too.

  Her fresh start on the Wolds was tinged with sadness as she was ostracised by those she loved but new friends Rich and Dave opened up their home and gave her much-needed friendship and support. Her dad, Jonathan, was there for her as always. And, despite a shaky start, she became good friends with Thomas whose life she’d saved.

  Thomas’s wife, Gwendoline, had always been passionate about hedgehogs, and her dream had been to run a large-scale rescue operation. They’d bought Hedgehog Hollow for that purpose but she died before they’d been able to get the centre up and running. Thomas then lived a lonely existence for the next two decades while the farm deteriorated around him.

  Samantha spent Christmas Day with Thomas but he finally got his wish that afternoon to join his beloved Gwendoline. In his will, Thomas left Hedgehog Hollow to Samantha on the proviso that she finish what he and Gwendoline had started. It was an overwhelming prospect but she was determined to do t
hem proud. Rich, a builder, had also been left instructions and a large budget to develop a barn for the rescue centre and refurbish the farmhouse.

  While the building works were underway, Samantha learned about hedgehogs in her spare time. She hoped to engage the services of Alderson & Son Veterinary Practice to provide treatment at cost; an arrangement that Gwendoline had originally established. Her meeting with vet, Josh Alderson, didn’t go well. It transpired that Gwendoline’s arrangement had been with his father, Paul, who was no longer in Josh’s life and never would be again. He had no intention of honouring anything connected to that man.

  At the fiftieth birthday party of Lauren – Samantha’s boss and also Josh’s auntie – Samantha started to see Josh in a new light when he opened up about why he’d cut his dad out of his life. Paul had been in a long-term secret relationship with veterinary practice receptionist, Beth, who’d also been Josh’s girlfriend. The affair only came to light when Beth fell pregnant with Paul’s baby. Samantha shared her heartbreak over James and the family rift. That night, their relationship shifted from enemies into something pretty special.

  A heavily pregnant Chloe asked to see Samantha then accused her of having an affair with James who had started behaving out of character. While angry words were exchanged Chloe went into labour. Samantha accompanied her to hospital where a tentative truce was called after Samantha’s swift actions saved baby Samuel’s life.

  James wasn’t having an affair with Samantha or anyone else. He’d been diagnosed with and treated for testicular cancer but had not wanted to worry Chloe who’d experienced a difficult pregnancy and needed to stay stress-free.

  Work continued to develop Hedgehog Hollow but the Grimes boys had other ideas. Cousins Brynn and Cody Grimes were Gwendoline’s great-nephews. Despite Gwendoline severing ties with her money-grabbing family years before her death, they decided the farm belonged to them. When threats, vandalism and legal action got them nowhere, they torched the barn. Samantha nearly lost her life trying to save their five hedgehog patients. When she came out of her coma, she and Josh admitted they loved each other.

  Samantha’s newfound happiness was tinged with the sadness that, although the rift with Chloe was healing, there was no hope for her mum. Before the arson attack, Samantha had asked if they could find a way to move forward and the truth came out that her mum never wanted her. Her failure to show at the hospital proved that.

  Hedgehog Hollow is now officially open for business…

  1

  Samantha

  ‘I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.’ Josh attempted to plant his hands on his hips but the bulk of his enormous hedgehog costume prevented it.

  ‘The leggings and footwear combo are particularly sexy.’ I tried to hide my smirk but failed abysmally. ‘I promise you won’t have to wear it all afternoon. Just an hour or so.’

  There was a knock on the lounge door and my best friend, Hannah, poked her head round it. ‘Just checking how you’re… Oh my God! Josh! That’s hilarious. I need pictures.’ She whipped her mobile out of her jeans pocket.

  Josh groaned. ‘Veterinary surgeon morphs into giant muppet. What a come down!’ There was laughter in his tone and I knew he didn’t mind really.

  After Hannah left, laughing at the photos, Josh turned to me and smiled. ‘If at any point in the future, you have even the tiniest doubt about how much I love you, picture me wearing this costume and know that I did it just for you. This right here?’ He indicated the outfit. ‘This is what true love looks like.’

  I stood back, taking in the padded furry costume with curved spines down the back, the brown leggings and long-sleeved T-shirt clinging to his muscular legs and arms, the large paws on his feet and the matching paws for his hands. His face and a tuft of dark hair peeked out from the underside of the hedgehog’s head and my heart melted.

  ‘Every day you amaze me and every day I love you even more.’ I gently kissed him, laughing as the head from his costume dishevelled my hair. ‘Ready to introduce Mickleby the Hedgehog to his public?’

  He screwed his face into a mock-mortified expression. ‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’

  I squinted in the bright sunshine. It was such a beautiful early May day with a cornflower-blue sky and a few wispy clouds floating lazily on the gentlest of breezes. Pulling a bobble out of the pocket of my dress, I scraped my long, dark hair back into a loose ponytail.

  Josh stumbled as we crossed the farmyard and I felt a twinge of guilt that he was dressed like a giant football mascot while I was wearing something much more understated and weather-appropriate. He’d given me some hedgehog-themed dresses as a present yesterday and I’d selected a blue short-sleeved one with a red and white hedgehog print for today. I’d combined it with the hedgehog wellies that my good friends Rich and Dave had given me as a housewarming gift when I moved out of their cottage and into the farmhouse a month ago.

  As we approached the large stone barn that housed Hedgehog Hollow Rescue Centre, there were several high-pitched squeals and suddenly we were surrounded by children, stroking Mickleby’s spines and trying to grasp hold of his paws.

  A stream of children followed us, as though Mickleby was the Pied Piper, as we made our way to the side of the barn. We’d created a meet and greet space there using a woodland backdrop and some wooden red and white spotted toadstools borrowed from the performing arts department at Reddfield TEC – the local college where I’d worked as a Health and Social Care Tutor since September last year. The scene was perfect for parents wishing to take photos of their children with our new mascot in exchange for a small donation towards the running of our charity.

  Hannah and her husband Toby had volunteered for ‘crowd control’ duties. Their eight-month-old daughter, Amelia, was fast asleep in her buggy under the shade of a gazebo. I took a quick peek and smiled at the outfit they’d chosen: a pink cardigan with a hedgehog on each side worn over a pale blue pinafore dress with a giant hedgehog and butterfly on it. She looked so adorable lying there with her fists scrunched up against her cheeks and her lips intermittently smacking together.

  Peeling my eyes away from her, I stood back and watched Josh for a while. As a vet, he was understandably superb with animals but this was the first time I’d seen him around children. He was such a natural, getting down on all fours so the smaller ones could stroke his spines and pretending to snuffle for food round the toadstools.

  All around me, the sounds of laughter and chatter warmed my heart. We’d really done it. Hedgehog Hollow Rescue Centre was now fully operational, taking in poorly and injured hedgehogs and orphaned hoglets. When we’d officially opened yesterday – a low-key event for the press, local dignitaries and immediate family – we’d had twelve hogs but another two arrived during the evening. I’d been half-expecting someone to thrust one at me today at our Family Fun Day but, so far, there hadn’t been any more patients.

  Set out in the pasture was a bouncy castle, face painting (hedgehogs being a popular choice) and various stalls selling locally produced food, drink and crafts. Dad, Uncle Simon, Rich and Dave were in charge of the barbeque. Josh’s mum Connie and her twin sister Lauren (who was my manager at the TEC) were running a tombola and raffle while Chloe and my Auntie Louise were supervising some children’s crafts.

  ‘I’m off to do another talk,’ I told Hannah. ‘Look after my favourite hedgehog for me.’ I nodded towards Josh.

  ‘I’ll make sure I keep him hydrated. And maybe a pouch of cat food if he’s hungry.’

  ‘Yummy! As long as it isn’t fish because—’

  ‘Because hedgehogs need meaty food, not fishy food.’

  I grinned at her. ‘Have I laboured that point too much?’

  She shook her head. ‘I’ve learned loads of new things and I’ll admit to being completely smitten with hedgehogs now, thanks to you.’

  I waved goodbye and made my way to the barn. If Hannah had learned a lot, my learning curve had been of epic proportions. I’d always loved animal
s – a trait picked up from my dad who, like Josh, was a vet and from my Gramps who’d adored wildlife – but I’d known very little about hedgehogs. Hours spent researching online, reading nature books and poring over pamphlets from The British Hedgehog Preservation Society, plus three days helping at an animal rescue centre, had given me a speedy education although nothing could beat being hands-on with my very own rescue hogs.