New Year Story Challenge 2022

[Oma]

Gem being a cat lover you got the puppy owning spot on , didn’t see the ending coming mind , that was a clever twist 😁🤱🏻👶🏻

Daisy I felt as though I was there with the cleaning army 😁,clever adding COVID and a good description to how village life is changing with all the new houses they are putting up , .

[Plantaholic]

Only just found your stories Daisy and Gemini, well done, very enjoyable reads.

[Oma]

Armed with Bucket cleaning materials and a new pair of rubber gloves Mandy stood looking at Ivy Cottage ,
She had been born in this cottage and spent her first 18 years here ,

When she went off to University she couldn’t wait to get away from the village and get to the city
It was so exciting , She had worked hard to get her place to study to be a vet , She had dreamed of that since she was a little girl and now she was living her dream .

Once everyone was settled her new friends and herself decided a night on the town was in order ,
Thats where she met George ,
He was at another University on the other side of the town studying to be a Investment Banker ,
It was love at first sight .
From that night they were inseparable, spending any time they could spare together.

Eventually when they had both graduated they got married and bought a two bedroom ground floor flat in a lovely Georgian house
a added bonus was it came with a small garden ,
It needed renovating but they made it their own over the next couple of years ,

It wasn’t in the best area but it was just outside the city and George had bagged himself a excellent job with a big firm in the city and Mandy had a place with a rather large Veterinary practice a 10 minute cycle ride from the flat

Life was good then Mandy was surprised to find she was pregnant ,
George didn’t seem too keen , he had never been good with children but Mandy was sure once his own baby was here he would change ,
He didn’t , he wasn’t a hands on Father and didn’t really interact with their Daughter , but that was ok Mandy had love enough for both of them .

life carried on then just after Amy’s 6th Birthday , Mandy came home to find George packing his bags
He told her he had been having a affair with his secretary for more than a year and was leaving to set up home with her .

Mandy stood in the bedroom door watching , she was shocked , not because he was leaving but because she realised she didn’t care .

When did she stop caring he worked late almost every night
When did she stop caring he spent most weekend away supposedly with work ,
Or that when he was home they didn’t talk or do anything together , or that it had been over a year since they were intimate?
But most of all When had she stopped loving him !

After George left Mandy went into the kitchen and made a coffee , she would have to tell Amy what was happening when she came from school

After tea Mandy sat Amy down and told her Daddy wouldn’t be living with them anymore ,
Amy listened then thought about it before saying , it’s ok Mummy Daddy didn’t live here very often anyway did he ?
Then she skipped off to play , Mandy had to smile , Amy was right so there wouldn’t be much difference to there lives ,

The Divorce went through quite quickly , It was agreed she would have the house and a generous trust fund would be set up for Amy along with a small settlement for Mandy .

Almost 10 month later George turned up to tell her he had been offered a once in a life time job but it was in Australia and he was emigrating ,
He would be going alone as his secretary once he was divorced had dumped him , apparently she had done the same to her boss before George .
She liked the chase but as soon as they were free she moved on .

That was 2 years ago life had carried on ,
Now Mandy had another decision to make , The Vets practice she worked for was being taken over by a big conglomerate,
They had offered her either a job on a lower wage contract or a rather large redundancy package ,

They were going to her parents for Christmas she would think about it over the holidays .

Amy loved staying at her Grandparents it was close to her cousins , Mandy’s sisters children ,
Suzy her niece was 5 weeks older than Amy and Joseph was a year younger .

Mandys parents had sold Ivy cottage some years ago and bought a new 2 bed apartment on the 3rd floor of a new development a mile up the road ,
They had a balcony with an amazing view .

Christmas Day Mandy joined her Dad on a dog walk before Lunch at her Sisters house ,
They met lots of dog walkers and on the way home her Dad suggested they pass by Ivy cottage
The lady that bought it had recently had a stroke , her Son had persuaded her to move in with them so Ivy cottage was up for sale again .

Mandy started to think , what if she bought it and moved back to the village ?

By the time they returned home after the Holidays she had made her mind up ,
She accepted Redundancy, put the flat on the Market and was shocked how much it was now valued at.

It was worth 4 Times what they had paid for it , now the area was sought after , her flat was a 10 minute walk to the station and 35 minutes train ride to the city , so city workers were moving into the area ,
She sold the flat within the week to the highest bidder

She had also had another idea and had already seen the bank manager ,

With the money from the flat , her redundancy plus her savings , she was extremely well off
Even after buying Ivy cottage outright she still had a good nest egg .

Her idea was to set up her own veterinarian clinic in the village ,
Since Mr Biggings the old vet had retired 4 years ago people had to make a 40 mile round trip to the nearest Vets so she knew the work was there ,

Putting her furniture in storage her and Amy moved in with her parents till Ivy cottage was finally theirs ,
In the meantime she had secured premises and already had clients registered with her ,
Amy was settled in school in the same class as her Cousin and was loving it ,

It was now early summer and last week Mandy finally got the keys to the cottage ,

Her parents had been decorating for her all week while she sorted the practice out ,
Her Furniture was arriving tomorrow
So picking up her bucket Mandy headed down the garden path of Ivy cottage to give it one last clean before they called it home ,

She had come full circle and now it was a new chapter to their lives and she was looking forward to the future

Oh and she had a date that night , The Gardener she had hired to sort the garden turned out to be a old boyfriend from school
smiling she gave a little skip and a giggle as she opened her front door ,.

[Daisy]

Oma - what a lovely story. You've put so much detail in and given a flavour of Mandy's and the miserable George's personalities, and all the way though I was hoping Mandy was going back to Ivy Cottage for a happy reason. I'm sure there are more stories in your head about how she got on in her new life.

[Oma]

I had to cut lots out Daisy it would have been far to long , its been playing in my head for ages

[Daisy]

Oma - I bet there's a book in that story-line, there's so much material. I'd love to read the longer version - if it exceed the length for one post you can split it up in to Chapters - no limit!! xx

[Plantaholic]

I agree with all Daisy has said, well done Oma, a good read

[Oma]

FOLLOW UP

It had been 5 years since Mandy and Amy had moved into Ivy cottage ,
Lots had happened since then ,

The Practice had gone from strength to strength , so much that Mandy had to hire another vet a young man straight out of training ,
They worked well together , she had also expanded the surgery into the unit next door when it became vacant so she could have a on site small Animal Hospital ,

Her Sister was also working for her as her receptionist come practice manager ,
Now her children and Amy were at Secondary school she needed something to do and this was perfect for her time wise .

Mandy stood at the window watching Amy and Suzy sitting chatting in the garden ,
They were in their teens now all Hormones, boy bands and fashion , Just like Mandy and her sister were at that age
Either laughing at boys or crying over boys .

Neither girls knew what they wanted to do when they grew up , Amy certainly didn't want to be a Vet like her she knew that ,
But Joseph her sisters son now 13 and growing fast was showing a great interest ,

He spent as much time as he could at the surgery helping with the animals watching asking questions with his nose in text books looking up stuff Mandy was doing ,
He seemed to be very interested in the surgical side ,

If he wanted to be a Vet Mandy would love for him to work at her practice make it a family affair .

Sitting down she rubbed her back it was aching today ,

Over the years she had heard from George twice by email . both times it was to tell her how well HE was doing and a photo of himself with his two little dogs ,
There wasn't anyone special in his life from what he said ,
Not once in both emails did he ask about her or more importantly Amy .

She had asked Amy several times as she got older if she missed him or did she want to contact him ,
Amy wasn't bothered she said he had always been a stranger to her she could remember as a toddler she didn't like him even though he was her Daddy ,
Mandy didn't push the subject it was open for debate if she wanted but Amy was fine without him .

3 years ago Mandy's life took a unexpected turn ,
One day a man rushed in with a very sick abandoned Kitten ,

As he walked in the consultant room , Mandy's heart actually skipped a beat ,

He was tall dark and Handsome with the deepest chocolate eyes , black hair and olive skin ,

Not the kind of man Mandy went for , she was a blue eyed fair haired kind of girl ,
But this man made he heart race ,

He called in every day to see how the kitten was doing but Mandy found out later it was really a excuse to see her ,

3 years later the little kitten was now a fully grown cat laying on her window sill soaking up the sun ,

2 years ago That man Philip proposed and Mandy married him , and here she was today 37 weeks pregnant with twin girls .

Never did she ever expect to have more babies at her age or to meet someone like Philip

Tomorrow she was going into Hospital to have a C section and her little family will be complete ,

Amy came into the kitchen and asked if she needed anything ,
bending down she kissed Mandy's Bump whispering be good you two only one more day and I will be your big sister ,

Mandy wasn't sure how Amy would take the news of the pregnancy but she had danced around the room with joy ,

Her and Philip got on famously They decorated the nursery together while Mandy watched , too big to be of any help ,

Life hadn't been all roses though , sadly her father passed away last year unexpectantly , they missed him terribly but she still had Mum,
She always felt it was a plan her Dad had to get her back home when they went for that walk with the dog on Christmas day and he took her past Ivy cottage ,

He was always walking by her side , she was surrounded by love and felt he was still part of that circle looking after her ,

She didn't know what the future held no one does but it wasn't a bad life was it ,

Getting slowly to her feet Mandy went outside in the sunshine to watch Philip weed the boarders and take them all cold drinks ,
That's if she could balance the tray on her enormous bump ,

One last day of freedom before the mayhem began

[Oma]

Thank you Plant xx

[Gemini]

Oh that's lovely Oma

I read it all in one go as I didn't have time to read part one earlier.
You are a good story teller!

[Daisy]

Oma - your story goes from strength to strength! I want to meet Mandy and Philip's babies, please. And find out if her nephew does become a vet, and what does Amy decide to do?

Will Ivy Cottage be too small for them with the twins? What would happen if George suddenly turned up from Australia?

I'm loving it. xx

[Oma]

Oh my goodness Daisy it would end up as long as a book 😂😂😂
glad you liked it though 😁

Gem it was a bit long to read in one go well done 👍😁

[Daisy]

Oh my goodness Daisy it would end up as long as a book 😂😂😂
glad you liked it though 😁

Can I have a signed copy of the first edition, please?

[Oma]

on its way Daisy 😂😂😂

[Daisy]

Thank you, Oma. xx

I do think you've got a lot more mileage in this story - do't give up on it.