Im flabbergasted youve sold it so fast, she said. Fancy someone paying all that money for a space no bigger than a shoebox, and down a hole, too.
Ma had never been a big fan of basement living and come to think of it, neither had Toto, since we only had the little paved area at the front for him to go out into, the garden belonging to the flat above.
Its still not going to be quite enough, I said. The expenses for the trip seem to go up all the time lots of things I hadnt thought of before, like finding insurance and paying for somewhere Stella can convalesce before coming home.
What about those people at the magazine werent they supposed to be doing some fundraising?
Yes, and they raised quite a bit, but now theyve moved on to the next Big Cause, I said. Celia and Will are planning some fundraising events, and theres been a steady trickle of small donations into the Stellas Stars website that had quite a boost when the evening paper did a story about us but once were in Sticklepond Ill have to come up with a few new ideas for the rest.
And when do you think that might be? she asked.
Well, thats the thing: its a cash buyer who just wants a pied-à-terre in London, so it should all go through very quickly.
Well, I dont know, he must have more money than sense, she said, slapping down the flat vowels like so many wet fish onto a marble slab.
She sounded more Lancashire every time I spoke to her. Despite her cottage being on the outskirts of the village, and her reclusive streak, when she moved there shed slipped straight back into the fabric of Sticklepond like a hand into a glove.
Ma, I cant help thinking its a major imposition, I confessed. And I feel so guilty, because youve made everything just how you like it and are enjoying your life up there.
Well, youre not going to put the dampers on that, are you? We all get on fine when you and Stella come up to stay, and the studio is separate so you wont affect my work. And if I want a bit of peace, Ive got my garden room at the back of the house to escape into.
This was true: and when we stayed she often vanished in there in the evenings, where she read old crime novels or watched endless battered and slightly fuzzy Agatha Christie videos.
But it was very much my mothers house and besides, both of us were used to having our own space. I would so miss my little flat
Oh, well, I sighed, at least you know it wont be for ever.
True. I expect when Stellas had her operation and is well again, youll want to move back to London and pick up your career. But I wont be putting you out on the street, however long it takes.
Yes I paused. Ma, we do seem to have a lot more possessions than I thought we did, once I started tidying up the flat to show buyers around. Perhaps when we move up I could rent a storage unit somewhere nearby.
There cant be that much in such a little flat.
Youd be surprised, I told her.
My car can live outside then, and well store some of your things in the garage. Its dry in there and we can cover it all up with dustsheets.
Thats true: it must be the only carpeted garage in Lancashire and possibly the country.
Dont mock my garage, she said severely. I happened to have the old carpet when I had the sitting room one replaced and it seemed like a good idea.
Ill buy your car one of those waterproof covers, I promised, because I knew she loved her little black Polo hatchback.
Its only a car, love you save every penny for Stellas fund. I got the librarian to show me the Stellas Stars webpage when I was down there earlier. She wanted me to sign up for the Silver Surfers First Wave course, so I could check it myself, but I told her there was nothing else on the internet I wanted to look at.
My mother is not much past sixty and her short mop of curling hair isnt silver, but hennaed a red so vibrant that she practically fluoresces in the dark, but I suppose they have to call the course something. This was the first sign of interest in computers that shed ever shown.
I can show you anything you wanted to look at on the internet anyway and we could do with having broadband put into the cottage quickly.
Could we? she asked vaguely. Ill leave that to you. When do you think you and Stella will be moving up here?
The end of April, I should think, if all goes well. They said Ormskirk Hospital could carry on giving Stella her regular check-ups, though if there are any problems she might be referred to Alder Hey.
Well hope there arent any problems then, and soon shell be on that plane to Boston for the operation, Ma said stoutly.
If I can raise about another twenty thousand pounds, or so.
Thats a drop in the ocean, compared to the amount youve already raised from selling the flat. I could take out a loan against the cottage for that much, if we need to.
You know I wont let you do anything like that, I said firmly. One of us needs to have her own home and be financially secure.
She had a good widows pension from Dad, but income was falling along with everything else. Still, her paintings sold modestly well and her retro exhibition a couple of years ago had been a sell-out.
Well see how the fundraising goes, but one way or the other well get Stella to America and then shell be as right as rain, youll see. After that, I expect youll be fretting to get back to your career full time. I know how important it is to you.
Actually, none of that seems important any more, I confessed. I mean, I love making cakes and writing about baking, but I dont miss all the urgent deadlines for the freelance articles.
Priorities change a bit when youve a child to consider, especially a poorly one. Nature seems to have preprogrammed we mothers to put our offspring first or most of us. Even me, she added, to the extent where I knew Id be rubbish at the maternal stuff, so I made sure you always had someone motherly looking after you.
Moses is going to be disgusted when Toto moves in permanently, I said.
Wed been out for a Boxing Day walk two years previously when wed fished a picnic basket out of the river at the edge of the Lido field and found the black kitten inside. Toto had made it abundantly clear then that hed thought we should just toss it back. His opinion didnt seem to be much changed since.
Theyll shake down together: we all will, Ma said, though with more hope than conviction in her voice.
Jago
Before the staff syndicate at Gilligans Celebration Cakes struck lucky on the lottery, Jago Tremayne and his friend David had been happy enough working there.
Besides the traditional iced wedding cakes that Gilligans were most famous for, both men had developed a speciality of their own. David created tall cones of beautifully coloured macaroons, which were in high demand for all kinds of events, while Jago was an expert in making the perfect croquembouche: the fabulous French wedding cake made from an airy pyramid of patisserie-cream-filled and caramel-dipped choux pastries, a skill hed learned during a year spent working in Paris.
The lottery win opened new possibilities, because although the winnings were not enormous once their jackpot had been shared between twelve of them, it was still enough for Jago and David to start up a new business of their own, if they wanted to.
And they certainly did. David, like his fiancée, Sarah, came from West Lancashire and they yearned to move back nearer to their families; while Jago, who no longer had a fiancée and whose parents had taken early retirement and gone to live near his brother in New Zealand, was equally desperate for a fresh new start outside London.
Jago intended setting up a specialist croquembouche wedding cake business and at first thought of moving to Cornwall (where his ancestors came from) until David persuaded him that there was a big opening up north and he ought at least to consider the idea.
Youd probably do really well in one of the wealthy areas, like Knutsford or Wilmslow in Cheshire, he suggested.
Then why arent you buying a shop there? Jago asked drily.
But he knew the answer, for when he and his friend were searching for suitable properties on the internet, David had fallen in love with an old bakery in Ormskirk, even though he realised starting up a specialist shop in a small Lancashire market town would be quite a gamble.
Jago hadnt yet found his ideal property. Unlike David, he didnt want a shop; since his orders would mainly come from the internet and magazine adverts, he just needed a large kitchen/preparation area. So he offered to move up with David and help him get started, while continuing his own search and, perhaps, testing the waters with his cakes.
He suspected that business in Davids shop would be slow to pick up, but he was proved quite wrong, for when the doors of the Happy Macaroon opened for the first time, they were practically trampled to death in the stampede.
David said it was probably due to the free macaroons on offer to the first twenty customers but then, hed been born and raised not so far away and knew how much Lancashire folk loved a bargain.
There was also a lot of interest in the model macaroon party cones and croquembouche they put on display in the window, which looked realistic enough to make the mouth water, and the two patissiers both soon got their first orders.
But the macaroons themselves were to be Davids bread and butter, and their enticing rows of many colours proved irresistible to the local population, even though they were quite expensive. Every purchase, from a single macaroon to a dozen, went into a distinctive silver card box, a sweet treat that would probably never make it all the way home.
Certainly the many students who came into the shop tended to stand outside and eat them then and there, but David and Jago considered that a kind of free advertising.
They soon began to bake a tray of gingerbread pigs every day, too, which were more to childrens taste (and less expensive) than the macaroons that lured their parents into the shop.
In his free time, Jago stepped up the search for a place of his own: he liked working with David, but once his fiancée, Sarah, gave up her job and moved into the flat above the shop as they planned, three would definitely be a crowd. He was fond of them both, but when your heart had been broken, it was a little hard to be around two people as much in love as David and Sarah were
Of course, hed always known that his ex, Aimee, was out of his league, and he had been amazed when shed said she would marry him. But in retrospect, Sarah (who was a hairstylist in a smart Mayfair salon and seemed to know everything about everyone) had probably been right when shed said Aimee had only grabbed him because Daddy had just put his little princesss nose right out of joint by getting engaged to his very young PA.
I mean, youre a good-looking bloke, Jago, dont get me wrong, Sarah had said kindly but bluntly, but she organises events for her seriously rich friends, while you earn peanuts making cakes and only met her because you were delivering one to a party venue.
We dont have a lot in common, hed agreed, but she loves me and wants to settle down.
Well, its time enough; she must be years older than you.
Oh, no shes younger, hed protested. Only thirty-two.
Is that what she told you? Sarah had asked pityingly. In her dreams!
But, blinded by Aimees beauty and charm, hed been as mesmerised as if shed hypnotised him which in a way she had. In fact, she must have done, because although he was a quiet man who hated parties, he seemed to be out every night. And being introduced to her friends as a chef was embarrassing, since he was a baker, or a cake maker, or a patissier but definitely not a chef.
When Aimee had run off after a man shed secretly been having a fling with, just before the wedding, Jagos heart and his already low self-esteem had taken a knock, but he was horrified to find there was also a tinge of relief that he wouldnt have to live her lifestyle any more. He was exhausted, partying late and then getting up early for work.
Still, hed loved her, and hed certainly never run the risk of seeing her with someone else if he lived up in the north, because the Cotswolds were about the limit of civilisation as far as Aimee was concerned, unless she was organising a country house party in Scotland.
So he looked for a suitable property in Knutsford and Wilmslow, where David had first suggested, but they were very expensive and anyway, hed begun to fall in love with the area around Ormskirk, with its lush farmland and friendly people, and the long golden beach of Southport only a short drive away. And he wasnt that far from his original search area. After all, croquembouches didnt travel huge distances, perhaps four hours maximum, but that was still a good range.
A little more research showed that no one else was supplying them locally and, making his mind up, he switched his search to the villages surrounding Ormskirk.
Chapter 7: The Cult of Perfection
Stella was excited by the move to Sticklepond, and Celia looked after her and Toto while I was in the final throes of the packing, so they were spared the worst.
But I was so exhausted that it took me a couple of days to bounce back, before I resumed getting up with the larks. Im an early morning person, as youve probably gathered, and I enjoy baking away to the sound of the radio while everyone else is still asleep except Toto, of course, who was usually hanging around my feet hoping for fallen scraps as soon as hed been out into the garden.
In London my view of the sky had been limited to the small patch above the paved area, but here I could hardly wait to see the first light coming up behind the copse of trees at the back of the house, while the village below us still slept in darkness.
That mornings skies were streaked with pink, blueberry and silver, like a very special Eton mess. I wondered if I could devise a blueberry Sticklepond mess
But that would have to be another day, for this one was to be devoted to macaroons and I wanted to get two articles out of it a simple recipe for Sweet Home, and a longer piece all about this new macaroon shop that Ma had told me about, for my Tea & Cake page. Id already made a start on that one.