[Browyn and Bernadetta (Detta) were having a heart to heart about Bronwyn’s brother David]

“I’m still not sure what you mean?” said Detta.

“Look Detta, the death of Frances hit him really, really hard. She was his life, the thing that he went out in all weathers to look after his sheep for. You probably don’t know that the rate of suicides amongst farmers is almost the highest of any profession in the country. In the early days after her death, I spent hours and hours talking him down from ending it. When she so tragically died, as far as he was concerned, his life was over. There was a lot about the relationship between the two of them that he would not open up to even me, his sister about. I know for a fact that he’s never looked at another woman since, but when he came into the Pub earlier, it was as if he had come alive again. It was the old David, the one that was deeply in love with Frances. Do you get what I'm saying?”

Detta said nothing for almost a minute. Then she sat down and looked Bronwyn in the eyes.

“David is a nice man but… I’ve not thought about anything other than today. I’ll be gone in the morning. He’ll soon forget about me.”

Bronwyn shook her head.
“As I said, I'll be gone tomorrow. He's got lambing in a couple of weeks and he’ll soon forget that I ever existed other than as a good laugh for getting dunked in the mud by that goat of his.”

“But will you?” asked Bronwyn.

Detta knew what she was hinting at. Her life such as it was, was in Cardiff, not in the back of beyond in the middle of Wales.

---

Back in her room, Detta sat in front of her laptop for ages and ages. The cursor slowly flashed back at her but she never typed a thing. Bronwyn's words kept echoing around in her head. All sorts of questions flashed through her mind. Most didn't have an answer. It was only a knock at her bedroom door that brought her back into the real world.

“Detta, David is here,” said the voice.
The voice belonged to Bronwyn.

"Thanks, Bronwyn. I'll be down in a minute."

Detta closed the laptop, the emails that should have been sent hadn’t even been written.

She looked at her face in the mirror. She was thankful for two things. The first being that she’d not bothered to apply any mascara after the shower that she’d taken at David’s and secondly that she hadn’t cried after her heart to heart with Bronwyn. There was little she could do or even wanted to do about her appearance. David would have to take her as he found her but…
Then she thought… The man is lonely that is clear. Is he the only one like that? Browyn’s words were haunting her.

After a shake of hair and a quick brush, Detta picked up her bag and headed for the door. She opened it and stopped dead. After a deep breath, she closed the door behind her and went downstairs with a few of Shakespeare’s words in her mind.

“Once more unto the breach my friends.” [1]

---

“Hello David,” said Detta for want of anything else to say.

Detta was a bit taken aback by how he looked. Gone were the slightly grubby overalls and wellies and in its place was a dark blue suit and polished black shoes. The problem was that he was far too small for the suit. It fell about on his lithe frame. She hadn’t noticed just how small he was when they’d met earlier in the day. The overall that she'd borrowed earlier had been a very good fit for her.

“Good evening Detta. It is nice to see you again.”

David stood up and held her chair as she sat at their table. Her assessment of him being a gentleman was so far, holding up.

“Thank you,” said Detta as she settled into her seat.

[two hours later]

“Thank you for a delightful evening,” said Detta as she stood up from their table.

“Going so soon?” said a sad David.

“Not quite yet. I have one more job to do.”

David looked a bit startled.
Detta grinned back at him.

“Don’t you think that we should put all these friends of yours out of their misery?”

David sensed a disaster about to fall on him.
Detta sensed his unease.

“Don’t worry David. It will be good, believe me.”

Detta went over to the bar. At the end of its polished teak surface, there was a bell. Detta rang the bell. As soon as the tone rang out, all chatter in the bar stopped. A few people looked at their phones or watches wondering if ‘last orders’ had come already. It hadn’t and within a few seconds, everyone’s attention was on Detta.

“Thank you for your attention. It has been brought to my attention, that there are a lot more people than normal for a Wednesday in the bar tonight. I am sure that Bronwyn will appreciate the extra income. However, as the evening progressed, it became clear to me that the reason for the presence of so many here tonight is myself. For that, I am honoured but nothing is going on between David and myself. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bernadetta Rossi and I work for the HMRC.”

She let that sink in for a moment. A few people looked a bit uncomfortable.

“I met with David earlier to give him some good news and a tax refund. You see, we don’t always want your money.”

After another brief pause, she carried on.

“For my sins, I was greeted at David’s farm by a goat. I’m sure that many of you have met her yourself. Matilda’s welcome resulted in me ending up face down in the farmyard mud. That serves me right for working for the Revenue, eh?”

There were a few titters amongst those present.

"David, like the gentleman that you all know he is, let me wash myself and my clothes while he came here for a pint as no doubt Bronwyn will confirm. To say sorry for my encounter with Matilda, he invited me to dinner tonight. I’m staying here in the pub tonight thanks to Bronwyn, and tomorrow I will return to my office in Cardiff Bay. That is the end of the story.”

Detta returned to the table where David was sitting. He was a bit red in the face but was very proud of Detta. His admiration of her had just leapt to another level but that also meant that she was even more unobtainable than ever.

“I think that might have put a sock in a few of the rumours that might have been about to spread around the village,” said a confident Detta.

David shook his head.
“Too late for that.”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that your presence here tonight with me was already trending on the village Facebook page before I left home tonight.”

Detta sat down at the table. This was a bit of a surprise to her. Her thoughts went from the local FB page to the people at work. It would not be good for her prospects if anyone thought that she was in a relationship with a person of interest to her department.

"Oh! I didn't know. We have a ruling in the department about using social media. It is frowned upon to post anything that could be used to… bribe you if you get my thread?"

David nodded.

“I have to hope that what I said stops any further posts.”

There was a strained silence between the two.

Detta stood up again. This time she was much more positive about her stance.

“Thanks, for the evening David. I hope my presence here today does not mess up your life too much and I wish you all the best for your lambing season. Just keep Matilda locked up when you are expecting visitors in the future, ok?”

“Thanks, Detta. I will.”

She left him and a fast-emptying bar and headed upstairs to her room.

---

[First thing the following morning]

“Hello David, I was expecting you,” said his sister Bronwyn.
“I’m afraid that your trip down the mountain was wasted. She’s gone.”

He looked at the clock on the wall. It said 07:12.

"Already? I wanted to show her the latest post on Facebook. She’s in the clear.”

Bronwyn nodded.
“I showed it to her before she left. That was just after six.”
Then she sighed.

“What a lovely lady. Much like Frances, but very different if you understand?”

David nodded.
“As different as chalk and cheese, but strangely likeable.”

Then he sighed.
“Oh well. At least it provided some entertainment for the locals.”

“And some useful trade for a midweek night,” added Bronwyn.

“I’d better get back. There is some bad weather in the forecast for the end of the week so I'm starting to bring the ewes into the field next to the house today. The good late summer weather has spread them all over the hills. Bess, Patch and I are going to have our work cut out getting them down from the tops. I’ve booked the ‘tup’ for a week today. When he’s done, I can bring in the ewes that will give birth in the next four to six weeks. Luckily, they are all in the fields near the river.”

“How many lambs are you looking for this lambing season?”

“There should be just under a hundred and sixty from ninety-five ewes that were ‘tupped’ in the spring. The last time the vet examined them, there were eighty with twins, one triplet and fourteen singles. That could give me just over one hundred and seventy. We had reports of some rustling over the summer, didn’t we? But, any number over one-fifty means a decent profit when they go to market next May or June even if the weather is bad and I have to keep them inside until February or March. I’ve managed two silage cuts this year so I have plenty of feed.”

“Good luck with the hunt.”

---

[four weeks later]

David was up to his neck with the lambing, and had been for over a week and a half. He could see the light at the end of the lambing tunnel but there were just over twenty ewes still to give birth.

He was in the middle of trying to introduce a lamb to a ewe that wasn't its natural mother. David was concentrating so hard on that task that he failed to notice that a figure had appeared at the door of the lambing shed. The lamb’s real mother had given birth to triplets but as sheep only have two teats, a mother can only suckle two offspring. The trick is to take the afterbirth of a lamb that was an only child and rub it over the lamb that is to be adopted. The ewe smells the afterbirth and thinks that the new lamb is hers. That is the theory but sometimes, it does not work. David was finding out that this was one of these times when he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. A person was standing in the doorway. They were silhouetted by the setting sun.

“Don’t just stand there on ceremony, get a bucket of clean water and some of the rags by the tap and give me a hand.

The visitor looked around and saw the sink, tap and a bucket. They did as they were asked and soon, they were standing by the side of David. They put the bucket down and stepped back.

David went to grab the bucket but for some reason, he stopped trying to remove some afterbirth from a bleating lamb.

He looked up at his visitor and did a double-take.

“Detta? What are you doing here?”

She smiled back at David.
“I’ve come to give you a hand… If I’m not too late that is?”

“Any help I can get at the moment is most welcome.”

Then he stopped wiping down the lamb.

“But… shouldn’t you be at work?”

“That does not matter. What matters is that I’m ready to muck in and help wherever I can.”

“Why? Why did you come?”

“It is complicated. I’ll tell you later. What can I do right now?”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, could you go and make me something to eat and a mug of tea. I've hardly stopped since well before dawn.”

Detta started to say something but stopped herself.

“Ok. Are you going to come inside to eat or do you want me to bring it out here?”

"I'll come in. This little fella will need bottle feeding, if he is going to survive."

“Ok. Give me a few minutes.”

Detta left David wiping the last of the afterbirth from the lamb. His mind was totally on the welfare of the lamb. That was far more important to him than anything else. Her already good opinion of David had gone up several notches. As she walked towards the house, some of Bronwyn’s words came back to her. She’d just witnessed them in action.

---

“Can you hold this little one while I get some of the crap off of me?” said David as he came into the kitchen. The front of his overall was caked with dried on afterbirth.

Detta took hold of the lamb, and cradled it in her arms. Somehow, the little fella's mouth found her little finger. Right away, it started sucking. She looked around for any sign of some milk. The fridge was on the other side of the kitchen.

She heard David washing in the utility room. There was not much she could do with a newborn lamb in her arms. She consoled herself in that David had not thrown a mega wobbly when she surprised him in the lambing shed.

David soon appeared looking half human again. There was still a good amount of straw in the unruly mop of blonde hair that sorely needed a cut, but that was for another day.

David had removed the very soiled overalls that he was wearing when they came into the house. Detta was not looking at doing the washing. There was a pile of dirty overalls on the floor of the utility room. She guessed that they were similarly caked in afterbirth and sheep poo. From the smell, she guessed that they'd need at least two washes to get them half presentable once more. That was for another day.

David went to the fridge and took out some milk.

"This came from a ewe that injured herself giving birth. I milked her before putting her down. A ewe with a broken back leg can't suckle a lamb. Luckily her lamb was adopted by another ewe who only gave birth to one. This milk contains all the good milk enzymes that helps a lamb build an immune system.”

He put some water on to warm up, and decanted the milk into a bottle with a teat. He then put the bottle with a teat into the warming water. All the time the lamb was sucking hard on Detta’s little finger. Detta admired his dexterity and was not looking forward to trying it herself.

"Thank you for coming, but I'm not sure why you did, but thanks," said David as he waited for the milk to warm.

"Bronwyn told me that you were on your own for lambing this year, and I had some… no, a lot of holidays that needed using up, and here I am… ready and willing to help out."

David managed a small smile. His whole demeanour said, 'I'm knackered'.

“This should be warm enough for now. There is one more bottle’s worth in the fridge,” said David as he handed Detta the bottle.

“Thanks.”
The lamb took to the bottle in a flash.

A smile appeared on Detta’s face. She’d never done anything like this before.

David looked at Detta and smiled. He was glad of any help at this time of year. The arrival of this mysterious woman was unexpected, but he was sure that there had to be more to it than her just wanting to help him out.

“Is there a problem with your job?”

Detta didn't react. Her attention was on the lamb, who continued to suck as if sucking was going out of fashion.

"I'm on vacation for another five weeks. Then I go back for a week, and I'm finished with the HMRC,” said Detta without taking her eyes off of the lamb.

“Done? But? You seemed to love your job from what you were saying when you were here last month.”

Detta looked up from the sucking lamb.

"To cut a long story short, we had a new boss arrive on the scene a week after I was last here. She has messed up a highly functional and efficient department in less than a month. Cruella De Ville had nothing on her. Two weeks down the line, and six of the eight in the department have handed in our notices. The six of us did it together two days ago. We went over her head, and gave them to her manager who went bonkers when she was called into the meeting, but we all held firm. I had six weeks of leave accrued, so I told her… the new boss that I'm taking it all now, and I'll see her when that is done, and then we will work out the rest of my notice period. She wasn't happy. We… that is the six of us who have resigned, have also filed a constructive dismissal case against her.”

“Ouch. But I know that you loved that job.”

"I did until she appeared on the scene. Not long after we filed the case against her, our lawyer told us that there were more than twenty other cases against her in the pipeline. She had the cheek to reprimand me for filling out a form and going over the allotted space for text. Talk about pettiness. That all took place a week ago. I spent the rest of last week packing up my bedsit. Everything, I own apart from what is in my car is now in storage."

“Why?” said David.

Detta smiled. He was completely oblivious to what she was hoping for.

“David… I’ve come to give you a hand for the rest of the lambing. Bronwyn said that…”

“What has my sister been blabbing about?”

“David, it is not like that. She said that you could do with some help, so here I am for the duration of lambing. She also told me that in past years, you had some help with lambing. However, that person was not available this year and Bronwyn hinted you would be struggling, so here I am, willing to learn as long as Matilda is kept well away from me.”

David didn’t look that happy.

"I didn't mean to intrude, but I’m guessing that this little one needs a bottle every few hours, and it is clear that you can't do it all on your own, can you?"

David's eyes went anywhere but to Detta. He was clearly embarrassed by her directness.
"Ok, but I don't know where you can sleep. There isn’t a room prepared.”

Detta smiled.
"Bronwyn warned me about that, so I brought a blow-up mattress and some bedding with me. They are in the car.

David didn’t move. It had been a long time since he’d had a woman other than his sister in his kitchen.

"I'll look after this little one. Why don't you go back into the lambing shed, and I'll get you something to eat? No more microwave-ready meals understand?" said Detta looking at the pedal bin that was almost full with empty food cartons.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” asked David.

Detta smiled.
“I’m here, I’m ready and willing. Now be gone but only for an hour. One hour, ok?”

"I can't determine when my girls are going to lamb any more than you can forecast the weather," said a slightly defiant David.

"That's fine. If you are not here then, I'll bring the food out to you."

David nodded his head and left Detta alone with the lamb, who by now was sucking on an empty bottle.

"Right, little one, that is all for now," said Detta to the lamb who had emptied the bottle. She wrapped the tiny creature in a fairly dirty blanket. The place would take a lot of effort to get straight once lambing was over.

David had thoughtfully set up a small pen next to the large wood-fired stove. The absence of heat coming from it told Detta that firing that up would have to wait until later.
She put the lamb into the pen and wrapped it in a blanket. It didn’t object.

Detta then busied herself with preparing some food. Thanks to a heads up from David's sister Bronwyn, she'd come prepared with some Lasagne using her mother's special recipe. All it needed was cooking.

Luckily for her, the oven was not that different from the one in her old flat. She soon had the oven on and the food inside. She also had the ingredients for some special sauce that made the good lasagne into something special.

While she waited for the Lasagne to cook, Detta looked around the kitchen. She gave a little shudder when she wondered what her mother would think of her jacking it all in with the Revenue and coming here like this. It could all so easily go pear-shaped, but she had to try this even if it meant leaving in a few days, with her virtual tail between her legs.

The delicious smells coming from the oven spurred her into action. Detta prepared a side salad, grated some Welsh Parmesan, cooked up the sauce, and put some plates into the top oven to warm for the meal. A meal that she hoped would get David firmly on her side just like her mother did with her father and their parents had done before them.

[to be continued]

[1] Henry V Act 3 Scene 1.