It was
on New Year’s Eve that Jane Cooper’s life changed for ever, although she was
totally oblivious to it at the time.
She
had gone to bed as the year came to an end she reflected on the events of the
year and congratulated herself quite smugly on her achievements, and the
growing restaurant fund she had been working on and she looked forward to the
future.
She was 8 years
old when she and her family moved into Coopers Villa after her father Paul
became reconciled with his estranged father Harry.
She had been very
happy living there but almost from the day she moved in she attracted the
attention of her new neighbour Terry O’Neil.
He was a persistent
lad and he pursued Jane for sixteen years before he finally wore her down.
Jane was a person
with a goal in life which she had had since she was very young.
And she had been
literally working towards it since she left college.
It was
been hard work, but she wasn’t afraid of that.
She
worked every job she could which was all grist to the mill, every penny she
earned went into the Restaurant fund.
Because
that was her goal, to be chef de cuisine in her own kitchen in her own
restaurant.
It was
a big goal, she had set the bar high, but she figured if you’re going to have a
dream you might as well dream big.
She had never had
anything personally against Terry, and he was a good looking fella just like
his brothers.
The three O’Neil
Boys were all good looking and had black hair and wild gypsy eyes.
Whereas all the
Cooper girls, of which there were also three, all had Auburn hair and freckles
all.
The
truth was Jane didn’t really do time off and she certainly didn’t do dating
which was why at the age of 24 she was still a virgin.
When Jane got up
on the morning of New Year’s Day she went downstairs and
was met with very grave expressions.
“Blimey!
How much did you lot drink last night?” Jane asked and gave a little chuckle.
Just
then her father walked in wearing his uniform and no one was laughing.
“I
thought you were off today” she said
“I
was” he replied then he kissed Lynn
“I’ll
see you later love”
“What’s
happened?” Jane asked but no one spoke
“What’s
happened?” she repeated “Where’s dad gone?”
“Someone’s
been hurt” Lynn replied
Jane
knew by the atmosphere that it was someone they knew, but she didn’t know who
it could be.
And as
if to pre-empt Jane’s next question Lynn said
“It’s
Terry O’Neil”
And
Jane felt like she’d been punched in the stomach.
And the
next thing she knew she was being helped up from the floor.
PC
Terry O’Neil was on duty on New Year’s Eve with another PC, Georgina Devereaux,
when there was an armed robbery at a wholesale jewellers in Finchbottom.
Georgina
was driving when they took the call and spun the car around as Terry responded
on the radio.
Two
other cars were in pursuit of the bandit car from Finchbottom and O’Neil and
Devereaux were heading straight for them to intercept.
As
Georgina took the roundabout, the bandit car went the wrong side of the island
as a shortcut to the motorway and hit them head on.
Devereaux
and two of the bandits died at the scene and a third in the ambulance, only
Terry survived and he was only hanging on.
“Oh my
darling” Lynn said as she helped Jane onto a chair
“I
didn’t know”
“What
am going to do mum?” she said and wept
Terry
had pursued Jane from the age of eight when she and her family first moved to
the lake but Jane had always given him the cold shoulder.
However
a couple of months before the accident she began to see him in a different
light and they had their first proper date.
And it
went so well they planned more but Terry didn’t home again for any significant
amount of time for the rest of the year buy they spoke on the phone a few times
and they did meet briefly at St Mary’s on Christmas morning.
And
then the accident happened.
As
soon as he reached the Winston Churchill Hospital, Terry was rushed into
theatre and after several hours of surgery he was transferred to intensive care
minus one leg.
Jane
was like a zombie in the days following the bad news.
Her
mum and dad kept her updated on his progress, Lynn through her contacts in the
medical profession and her father as a high ranking police officer.
But
all she really knew was that he was off the critical list and his police career
was over.
And
that wasn’t enough, so she had to adopt unconventional methods.
She
borrowed granddad Harrys binoculars and from a suitable vantage point, her
sister Karen’s Bedroom window, spied on the comings and goings at Lakeside Villa.
Although
it might have seemed unorthodox, or even creepy to the untrained eye, but she
wanted to be sure Kay O’Neil was at home when she called round.
So it
was all in a good cause and after all she didn’t spy on them all the time, she
still had to work for a living.
All
the time Terry was in the ICU someone was at his bedside, talking to him,
holding his hand, sharing their news and their love, either one of his parents
or one of his brothers.
So
their comings and goings at Lakeside Villa were very irregular.
It was
twenty minutes into her third morning of espionage when Jane got her reward, when
she saw Kay’s car pull onto the drive.
Kay worked at a
nursing home in Childean and was obviously returning home after a night shift.
Kay O’Neil was a kindly woman and a good neighbour.
Jane
waited until she was sure Mrs O’Neil was in the house before she raced
downstairs and out the front door.
And
then a few minutes later she was knocking on the O'Neil’s front door.
“Hello
Kay” Jane said when the door opened
“Jane!
How lovely” she said still wearing her nursing uniform “Come in dear”
“How
is Terry?” she asked as she stepped over the threshold.
“He’s
stable, but they have him in a medical induced coma” she said “I’m off to sit
with him for a couple of hours”
Jane
was thoughtful in response and then asked
“Are
you going on your own?”
“Yes
I’m afraid so” she replied “The others are at work”
“I could
keep you company if you like” Jane said
“Would
you? That would be nice” Kay replied “I’m leaving in half an hour”
As she
drove them to the Winston Churchill Hospital it was Kay who broke the
silence
“Terry
has loved you since primary school you know?”
“I
know” she replied and added a moment later
“And I
only realised quite recently that the feeling was mutual”
Kay
reached across and squeezed her hand.
Kay
always envisaged that they would get together eventually but she didn’t think
it would take quite as long as it had.
When
they reached the hospital they went straight up in the lift.
Terry
was in the High Dependency unit and Jane was shocked when she saw him lying
there.
Apart from numerous fractures, sternum, ribs,
collar bone and wrist, he had also lost his right leg below the knee and the
road to recovery was going to be a long one.
He was
a mass of bruises and abrasions and there were tubes coming out of every
orifice.
And
there was a frame keeping the covers from where his leg would have been.
She
felt that same blow to her stomach she had felt on New Year’s Day when she
first heard the news, and she felt queasy and light headed and for a moment she
thought she might end up on the floor again, but Jane took a series of deep breaths.
“Hi
Baby” Kay called “Mums here, and I’ve brought Jane too”
Kay
kissed his forehead and added
“Sit
down and talk to him while I’ll get us a coffee”
“What
should I say?” Jane asked
“Just
chat to him” Kay said
“Let
him hear your voice dear”
Jane nodded
and sat on the chair by the bed as Kay left and after a few moments she said
“Well Terry
O’Neil, You finally got my full attention”
And
she took hold of his hand and cried.
Jane felt so much better after she had seen Terry, even though he was in a coma.
And she was much more relaxed on the journey home
and her and Kay even laughed and joked.
Jane visited him whenever she could after that,
sometimes with Kay, sometimes with his brothers and sometimes on her own, it
depended on when or whether she was working.
Her visiting went on like that for more than a week
with her sat by his bed holding his hand and baring her soul.
But that came to an end one lunchtime when she was
working at the Brown Windsor Restaurant.
It was just after the last of the mains had gone to
the pass that she received a text from Kay.
“He’s awake x”
Her first reaction was to go outside by the wheelie
bins and cried her eyes out.
But as soon as the service was concluded and the
kitchen cleaned down she went across the road to the surgery.
“Hello love” Lynn said “everything ok?”
“Can I borrow the car mum?” Jane asked
“Any particular reason?” Lynn asked
“Terry’s awake” she said
Lynn just smiled and tossed her the car keys.
Jane didn’t realise as she ran down the path
towards the car park that there were a number of smiling faces pressed up
against the windows watching her.
When she reached the car, she dropped the car keys
on the tarmac, twice.
And when managed to unlock the car and get in she
couldn’t find the ignition.
But eventually she started the car and drove off.
Although Jane had held a full licence since she was
18 she was not an experienced driver by any stretch of the imagination, which
was perhaps fortunate as it forced her to be more cautious than she otherwise
might have been under the circumstances.
And it was as a consequence of her caution that she
reached the hospital in safety.
So she parked the car and then rode up in the lift,
when the lift doors opened she paused and took a deep breath before stepping
out.
She had only taken a few steps before she heard a
familiar voice.
“Jane dear!” Kay said and hugged her.
“Hello Kay” she said and hugged her back
“Come and sit” she instructed “The doctors are with
him at the moment”
So they sat in the visitor’s room and held hands as
Kay explained the details of his reawakening.
In Kay O’Neil’s eyes Jane was already one of the
family and she was convinced that her being at her son’s bedside had definitely
hastened his recovery.
Which was why Jane was the first person she
contacted when Terry woke up.
“You can go back in now Mrs O’Neil” A doctor said
“Thanks Doctor” Kay said
“You’d better go in first” she said to Jane
“Me?” she replied
“Yes, I told him you were coming” Kay said
“Oh goodness” Jane said “I don’t know what to say”
“You say exactly what you’ve been saying dear” she
replied and squeezed her hand.
Jane stood up and immediately had that queasy
feeling again but Kay was still holding her hand and she gave it another
encouraging squeeze and a warm smile and she felt fine.
As she approached his bed his eyes were closed so
she sat in her normal chair and waited.
But she didn’t have to wait for long, however she
was looking the other way at the time, and didn’t see his eyes open.
He focused on the figure in the chair and licked
his lips before he spoke.
“Now I know what I have to do to get you to come
and see me”
“Well text time just ask, you have my number” she
said “And my heart”
The following months after her declaration were very
difficult ones.
Apart from the cuts, bruises, broken bones and the
loss of his leg, Terry’s greatest injury was the loss of his career as a police
officer, and worst of all the recurring nightmare of watching the life ebb away
from his partner Georgina.
In the plus column after 16 years of trying he had finally
won Jane Cooper’s heart.
But he felt the greatest gain in his life was more
a result of pity which he heaped on to the already considerable pile of self-pity
he already felt.
However Jane Cooper was having no truck with that nonsense and after three weeks of listening to his self-indulgent whining she snapped.
It happened after he had just launched into one of
his well-worn routines.
“It’s a shame you didn’t pay me as much attention
before I was crippled” he whined
She had listened to the same old record play day
after day and she said nothing but she was growing very tired of it, in fact
she was very tired so when he started reciting it again she let him have it with
both barrels.
“That’s quite enough of that rubbish” she barked
stopping him mid flow
“Let me tell you something Terry O’Neil, I if were
merely here out of pity I would at least be able to function in the world when
I’m not here, and I can tell you that I most certainly am not.
Last week I put sugar in the cheese sauce, and salt
in the meringue and I haven’t managed a successful soufflé for weeks.
These are simple task for me which I am capable of
doing in my sleep, and I am consistently failing to complete them.
So don’t you lie there wallowing in a piteous mire and
tell me I’m only here out of pity”
“But...” he began
“Be quiet I haven’t finished yet” She yelled
“I’ll tell you precisely what I do pity you for,
and that is that you have chased me since I was eight years old with pigtails
and now that you have me heart and soul you are pushing me away, for that I most
heartily pity you”
And she picked up her coat and left and as she
passed the visitors room Kay said
“Good girl”
“I’m sorry Kay” she said “I just lost my temper, I
didn’t sleep well again last night”
“No need to apologise” Kay said “It’s just what the
silly bugger needs”
Then Kay gave her a big hug and kissed her cheek
“You’re doing wonders with him, don’t give up”
“Ok” she said “I’ll just go and get some air”
When she stepped out of the lift and into the lobby
she walked straight out the main entrance and filled her lungs with fresh air
and as she slowly exhaled she received a text message.
She saw who it was from and opened it.
The message read;
“Sorry, T xx”
Jane put her phone away and did an about face and got
back upstairs she and Terry had a good long talk.
“What was it like?” she asked
him
“I don't remember that much really” Terry told her
“Not about the crash itself,
it all happened so fast”
He remembered nothing about
the accident other than being trapped waiting for the fire brigade to cut him
free.
“You watched her die didn't
you?”
“It was terrible watching her life just ebb away, I still have nightmares about
it”
“Do you blame her?”
“I was always telling her that she drove too fast but she never
listened, so I suppose I do a little”
Jane just let him talk and listened
“But I feel guilty, because I
survived and she didn't”
“Even though it was inevitable”
he continued “it was always going to happen”
“What do you mean?” Jane asked
“She always took too many
risks, I don’t think Georgina ever got over losing her husband”
Georgie’s husband, Danny had only gone out to get a
bottle of wine to celebrate their two month wedding anniversary.
When he came out of the off license a fight had kicked off between some of
the local winos and Danny tried to be the peace maker and got a knife if his
kidney for his trouble.
He died before the paramedics reached him and Georgina’s world fell apart.
“I don’t think she cared if she
lived or died” he concluded
Their long talk really cleared
the air and during the following weeks, Terry made steady progress,
his bruises had all but faded his bones had knitted so the physiotherapy could
begin and the wound around his stump had completely healed so he was able to
have his first fitting of his artificial leg.
He wasn’t looking forward to the session at all and
he hadn’t kept his feelings to himself
“Stop making such a fuss” Jane said
“But it’s a big deal” he said
“Last year I saw a man in the Commonwealth games
with no arms playing green bowls with his foot” she said
“And he won a medal”
“Are you going to bully me every time I don’t want
to do something?”
“Yes probably”
“I think I preferred you when you didn’t want to go
out with me” he said and stopped wheeling his chair
“Me too” she replied and carried on walking
“What if I end up with a peg leg like Long John
Silver” he called after her
“Then I’ll buy you a parrot” she replied
“Very helpful”
He may have worried about getting a peg but what he got couldn’t have been further from it.
He loved it his prosthetic leg it had a natural foot action with a
microprocessor controlling the movement making walking more efficient and
reducing the risk of falls.
Although the physio began very gently and he
thought it was going to be a breeze and then they built up and up until they were
working him really hard.
When he was returned to his room after a
particularly gruelling session he had to be helped into bed and he said to Jane
“Can I start to feel sorry for myself yet?”
But before she could answer he was asleep.
Jane couldn’t see him on Valentine’s Day because it
was one of the busiest days of the year in the restaurant, but she did drive
over to the Winston Churchill at the end of the night with a card for him, but
he was asleep so she left it on his table and kissed his forehead.
As she drove home she reflected on their first
Valentine’s Day together, in fact it was her first ever Valentine’s day on
which she had a vested interest, and she deemed it something of an anti-climax,
not that she was expecting anything much from him, but a card would have been
nice.
“Never mind” she thought “there was always next
year”
It was quite late when she got home and the house
was in total darkness so she took off her coat and went straight up to her
room.
Jane opened the door and switched on the light and
she started to cry, and she stood stock still with tears rolling down her freckled
cheeks.
In the middle of the bed were a large heart shaped
box of handmade chocolates, from Crazy Chocolatiers in Abbottsford’s, her absolute favourites.
A huge bouquet of flowers and a cuddly stuffed bear
wearing a chef’s hat and an apron with Jane embroidered on it.
And finally a valentines card, not in an envelope
but in its own box.
“You didn’t forget” she said as she hugged the
bear.
Jane lay in her bed cuddling the chef bear and she
wondered what he would do for her birthday which was less than a week away.
Well she would never have guessed it but for her
birthday Jane got the best present ever, Terry was discharged from hospital.
And on the day of his discharge, Jane had been to
Mazzone’s in Childean and had her Auburn hair cut, washed and blow dried before she travelled over to the
Winston Churchill with Kay to pick him up.
As he stepped
outside for the first time the March wind blew through his black hair and he
walked with a defiant look in his wild gypsy eyes as he walked arm in arm with
his mum and Jane.
Later that day she got her real 25th
Birthday present, Terry had bought her a gold charm bracelet, with charms that meant
something to them both, amongst them was a heart, a teddy bear and a bowling
ball.
He would be able to add more for each future
special day.
Terry was so pleased to be back home but he was
confined to barracks so to speak but with having him next door it meant she didn’t
have to do all the travelling to see him so it meant she could actually spend
more time with him.
He still had to do physiotherapy three times a week
but he was able to do that at the Shallowfield surgery.
Alma Fuentes was a tiny Spanish woman who looked like a breath of wind
would blow her a way but Terry found out looks could be very deceptive as she
was quite brutal.
In addition to the physio he had to go back to the
hospital once a month just to check on his prosthetic and more importantly his
stump.
But after three months he was completely discharged
and only had to go back once a year.
By the time Easter came around Terry O’Neil was no
longer a serving police officer.
He could have stayed on in an admin role, shuffling
paperwork, or data entry, but that wasn’t why he joined the police in the first
place, so instead he took a medical discharge.
This was problematic, firstly as it left him
unemployed and secondly he had absolutely no idea what he wanted to do.
The police service was his dream and that dream was
over.
On the first weekend in May it was open house as usual for Lynn Cooper’s birthday and everyone on the lake was there, well almost everyone.
There were two notable exceptions because while
everyone was enjoying the food, drink and warm sunshine Jane and Terry were next
door in Lakeside Villa, in his room making love for the first time.
When they eventually arrived at the party it was
with a gleam in their eyes and a spring in their step.
It may have been the first time but it certainly
wasn’t the last and they would have spent the entire summer in that regard had
fate not taken a hand.
It was when Jane
was working at the Brown Windsor, a month later.
It was Saturday
night and it had been a full house.
Mark Roscoe the owner
and manager, a pleasant personable man around 40 years old, who carried the
evidence of his over indulgence around his middle.
He was in great
form that night and was a natural with the customers.
Jane would have
been on her own had she not have been able to draught in Emily Goff to help
her.
The reason for
that was that the Chef de cuisine had quit the week before.
Her sisters, Kath
and Karen waited tables and by the end of the night they were all totally shattered.
And it was just
after that, when mine host, Mark Roscoe, had a heart attack and collapsed.
Fortunately for
Mark, one of the last customers out the door was Dr Andrews, who was dining
with her film director fiancée Peter Lutchford.
It was Kath who
witnessed the collapse and immediately dispatched Karen to fetch the doctor
back.
“Jane! Jane!” Kath
called “Come quick”
Jane came bursting
through the kitchen door wielding a large frying pan expecting to confront a
robber only to find her boss on his back and her sister performing CPR on him.
“Phone an
ambulance” Kath said.
Jane dropped the
pan and picked up the phone.
Karen came back through
the door panting hard, with Claire close behind her panting even harder.
“The Ambulance is
on its way” Jane said as she crouched down besides Kath.
They all stood in
the street outside the restaurant and watched as the ambulance drove away and
Jane had the distinct impression that Mark Roscoe’s restaurant management days
were over.
The Cooper girls
ran the Brown Windsor for the next couple of months, initially while Mark was in
hospital and then while he convalesced at his sisters in Millmoor.
They didn’t
realise until he wasn’t there just how much he did so Jane and her sisters were
kept very busy.
As Jane was so
busy with the Brown Windsor and he was at a loose end Terry started to help out
in the restaurant as well.
This was
originally motivated purely by selfishness as he wouldn’t have seen very much
of Jane if he hadn’t but as the weeks passed he found he was actually enjoying
it.
When he first
suggested it to Jane her reaction was a little derisory.
“You don’t know
anything about working in a restaurant and I’ve seen you in a kitchen remember”
She was referring
to when they used to do food tech together at school.
Even the teacher
despaired of his efforts and in one school report, wrote,
“Never have I seen
a pupil less suited to the subject”
Harsh but true,
after all he only signed up for the subject because it was her passion and she
was his.
“There are things
I can do that don’t require culinary skills” he said
“And I can smooze the
customers”
“You can’t even
say schmooze” she said and laughed “But you are cute”
On July the first
Terry was officially unemployed and for all he knew unemployable.
He had only been
in the police about 3 and a half years when he was involved in the car accident
that ended his career and took his leg.
So although he
survived he was invalided out of the service
He got a lump sum on his discharge followed by an
even larger sum in compensation and there was even a small reward from the
insurance company for the recovery of the stolen jewellery.
He donated the insurance money to the Police
benevolent fund.
It was August the
twelfth, also known as the glorious 12th, and was the beginning of
the Grouse shooting season, so Jane had Grouse on the menu and as a result they
were fully booked.
It was also the
day, after the lunch time serving was over, that Mark Roscoe decided to drop in
to see them.
He had lost a lot of
weight and skin hung loosely at his neck and his skin was ashen.
As he sat at one
of the tables he made an announcement.
As he wasn’t staff,
Terry listened from behind the kitchen door.
“I wanted to catch
you while you were all together and give you the news” he said slowly having to
pause to catch his breath.
“I have decided to
sell the Restaurant”
It was obvious to
them all that he was gravely ill and it would be a very long road to recovery
if he was to complete the journey.
His plan was to sell up and move in with his sister
in Millmoor and he planned to sell the restaurant as a going concern so he
hoped their jobs would be safe but he couldn’t promise that they would be.
That afternoon as Jane and Terry walked home in
silence, they paused and took a seat by the lake and sat gazing out across the
water.
It was Jane who broke the silence
“Well it looks like we’re both unemployed now”
“Not necessarily” Terry responded
“The new owners will want to do thing their way,
and with staff of their choice” she said “With a chef of their choice”
“That’s not what I meant” Terry said
“What then?” she asked
“You’ve always wanted your own restaurant, why
don’t you make him an offer?” Terry suggested
“I already spoke to him” she said “I can’t afford
it”
“How much is he looking for?” he asked
“Twice as much as I have” Jane said
“But not twice as much as WE have” he said
“What?” she said
“I just happen to have a lump sum burning a hole in
my pocket, and I’m looking for an investment opportunity” he said
“Don’t tease me Terry” she said crossly “it’s not
funny”
“I wasn’t teasing” he said seriously “I’m serious”
“You are?”
“I’ve really enjoyed working at the restaurant and
working with you” he continued “and I think we work well together”
“Yes I know but…” she began
“No buts” he said cutting her off “we could really
make a go of it, this could be our chance”
“Are you sure?” Jane asked clearly not
“I am” he replied “But you have to be as well, so
you need to think it through”
He stood up and took her hand and pulled her to her
feet.
“So I prescribe a long hot bath, scented candles
and soothing music” he said “and whatever you decide I will support”
“And what will you be doing while I’m soaking and
thinking?” she asked
“I’m going home to soak my foot” he said and she
laughed
Jane took his
advice and had a long hot bath with scented candles and soothing
music and it did clear her mind.
But she also spoke
to her mum and dad and Granddad Harry and her sisters.
The decision was
unanimous.
As she lay on her
bed wrapped in towels cuddling her teddy bear chef she phoned Terry who was
indeed soaking his foot.
When he answered
the phone she said
“I’m in”
“Great” he said
“I’ll be around in
ten minutes to seal the deal” she said
“Does that mean
we’re going to shake on it?” he asked
“Something like
that” Jane replied
So taking
advantage of an empty house they sealed their partnership.
Then they had to
get a wriggle on and get back to the restaurant to start the prep for the
evening service.
The next morning
they phone Mark and made him an offer, which was just under his asking price
which he accepted without hesitation.
Her first act as
joint proprietor was to employ Emily Goff, who helped her with her home dining
bookings, as her full time under chef.
The Brown Windsor
closed on the Friday before the August Bank Holiday and reopened on the 1st
of September as The Phoenix.
