A Country Affair (20 page)

“We’ve had enough of you, do you hear? Stalking Kate. It’s to stop. Now. Now, I say!” Scott released him. The two of them paused for a moment, both breathing heavily.

Kate went to stand between them and, summoning up some of the power she’d felt when Mr. Parsons had gone to the practice with his billhook, shouted, “Please, Adam. There’s to be no more of it. Just go home.”

“Home?” His Adam’s apple leaped up and down in his throat with his agitation. “Home? There’s nothing for me there. Nothing at all. If you’d just agree to marry, everything would be right.”

Peering at him, Kate could see the desperation in his demeanor. “But I can’t marry you. I can’t love you; I said so.”

Adam jerked his head at Scott. “There was love between us before he came. I know there was.”

“No, Adam, not really, we were mistaken.”

“I wasn’t.
I loved you.
”

“I was mistaken, then.”

Scott intervened. “It still doesn’t excuse stalking Kate. Have you any idea how frightened you made her? Dogging her footsteps every day. Following her like you’ve done tonight.”

“I needed to know what she was doing. I couldn’t allow you to . . . I wanted to watch what you were up to. I wouldn’t have
harmed her.
”

“She didn’t know that, did she? Have you nothing better to do?”

This silenced Adam.

Sensing his agony at the idea of speaking aloud the dreaded words, but realizing he’d be all the better for admitting it, Kate quietly said, “I’m sorry you’ve lost your job.”

Having the words spoken out loud in front of his adversary was the final humiliation for Adam. Just between the two of them he could have confessed his predicament but not in front of the damnable Aussie. He brought back his fist and pushed it with all his meager might into Scott’s face. But Scott was too quick for him and dodged the blow. It spent itself against the Land Rover and made Adam hop with pain. He hugged his hand to his chest and achieved an appearance of such ridiculous helplessness that Kate was more upset by it than she wanted to admit. He looked so defeated that she went to put her hand on his arm in sympathy, but he brushed it off.

The pain of his hand and the heaped-up despair of the last few weeks mounted up and he spat out, “Glad, are you? Satisfied? Yes, I have to confess I have lost my job. Not only did I not get my promotion, but I also got the sack. Imagine. All my hours of dedication and wham!” By mistake, blinded by his suffering, he banged his injured hand on to the door of the Land Rover again and suffered even more pain. “Oh God! That hurt! I was chucked out! Not even time to say good-bye. They kindly forwarded my belongings!”

“I’m so sorry. Your mother, how has she taken it?”

Adam looked at her with burning, angry eyes. “I haven’t told her yet.”

“But . . .”

“I know! I go out every day ready for work and . . .”

“Oh, Adam. Tell her. That’s what mothers are for.”

“Not this mother.”

Scott decided to put an end to all the sympathy. After all, Adam had made her life a misery and here she was, after Adam had attacked
him
, feeling sorry for him. Pugnaciously he said, “Well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get home. Do I take it there won’t be any more following of Kate, then?”

Kate would have preferred a more kindly approach from Scott. “Scott!”

“Well, Adam, do I have your word for it?”

Adam ignored Scott and looked at Kate, taking in her lovely face and the sympathy in her eyes and wished—oh, how he wished—he’d behaved better than he had. He swallowed hard, knowing she’d see that pathetic Adam’s apple of his bobbing up and bobbing down. What he felt was a sense of total outrage that someone whom he considered his property was in a closer relationship than he had ever been and with a man who surpassed him in almost every aspect of his life. His looks, his charisma, his appeal, his qualifications, his . . . “There’ll be no more following of Kate.”

Scott was determined he wouldn’t get away with it too easily and decided to finally humiliate him by treating him like a child. “Say you’re sorry, then, like a good boy.”

“I am sorry, Kate. I should never have done it. I was just so . . .”

“I know. It must have been terrible. But tell your mother. You can’t keep this deception up forever, you know.”

He shrugged. “Mothers don’t have to know everything. I’m going to get another job before I tell her. The money’s running out anyway.”

“That’s it. You show her. I reckon she’s not nearly so frail as she makes out, you know. Stand tall. Move out.” Kate smiled up at him. “Move on.”

Adam gave her the nicest of smiles. “You could be right, but she’ll go mad.”

“Let her. It’s your life.”

He rattled about in his pocket for his car keys. “I won’t say good-bye, Kate; I’ll let you know what happens.” Adam set off down the lane toward his parked car. Kate and Scott looked after him in silence.

Scott put his arm around her shoulders. “Well, well.”

“Poor Adam. What a night! What with Christabel and him . . .”

“At least that’s the end of his following you. I really do think he meant what he said. Don’t you?”

“Oh yes. Adam’s always straightforward.”

“I don’t think sneaking about following you around is straightforward.”

“Well, he wasn’t in his right mind then, was he?”

“Where’s my jacket? Ruined, I’ve no doubt.” He bent down to pick it up. Fortunately, it hadn’t rained for a few days and the jacket was dry. He dusted it off and put it back on again.

They both felt deflated by the evening’s events and all Kate wanted to do was go home and eat. Without Scott. Just with Mia and Dad, and to tell them her news. “Take me home. Please.”

“Get in.”

A
S
it turned out, Gerry was at one of his model railway meetings, so there was only Mia at home. “Scott not coming in, then?”

“No. Only me. I’m ready to eat.

“Two minutes.” Mia looked at Kate and, seeing the stress in her face, opened her arms wide and folded her in them. “There! There! What’s happened? You look upset.”

Kate drew away from her. “As we were leaving Applegate Farm, Adam appeared.”

“Adam!”

“Adam. He went for Scott and they had a kind of minifight.”

“Oh, Kate!”

She told Mia word for word what had happened, ending her story with “I’m so glad it’s all over.”

“So am I. Thank God for that. Here, sit down and eat, you’ll feel all the better for it. I don’t think I could have taken much more, never mind you. And you say his mother still doesn’t know.”

Kate nodded. “I think he’s going to get another job and then tell her what happened. I felt ever so sorry for him.”

“Well, you would.” Mia patted her hand. “That’s just like you.” Mia got halfway out of her chair to reach across the table to kiss Kate. “Too kind by half.”

They smiled at each other and Kate continued eating in silence with Mia watching every mouthful. When she’d finished, Kate put down her dessert spoon, drank the last of her tea and said, “Mia.”

“Yes.”

“I never say how much I appreciate all you do for me. You’re not my mum, but you are, if you know what I mean.”

“It’s a pleasure. I loved you the moment I saw you.”

“When did you first see me?”

Mia drew her cup of tea out of the way and rested her forearms on the table. “You were six months old when I moved in next door. A year old when your dad and I married.”

“But I thought . . .”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“I mean really, really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“Your dad should be here.”

“Tell me all the same.”

“You’re right. It would only upset him and you’ve a right to know at your age.”

“He’s never told me, you know, not what really happened.”

“First, did you know your mum and dad weren’t married?”

“I didn’t know that.”

Mia nodded. “It’s true. Where they met I’ve no idea, but when I moved in next door, he was on his own with you. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“For some reason I am. I’ve got to know. Things are kind of moving on with Scott and I feel I need to have things straightened out before . . . before I take any steps.”

“Moving on with Scott?”

“Kind of. I think.”

“Well, he’s a lovely young man and if he suits you . . . Here goes, then. Your mother had walked out when you were two weeks old and left your dad to get on as best he could.”

Kate gasped with surprise. “I thought she’d died. I always thought she’d died. You mean somewhere I have a mother? A real mother?”

Mia felt stabbed through the heart by Kate’s excitement and wished she’d never agreed to tell. It was too hard for her to take; she should have waited for Gerry. “Yes. But she’s never been in touch since. He told me he’d tried every avenue he could think of to find her, but he never did. Before I knew where I was, I was helping him to care for you. I’d just left a savage marriage and the sight of you so beautiful and innocent, so bright and happy and kind of gurgly, gave me back my faith in the world. Just touching you helped to heal my wounds.”

Mia stopped speaking and gazed into the distance, obviously enjoying once more the happiness the baby Kate had brought her. She sighed briefly and went on with her story. “I’d only been here about two months when my pig of a husband was killed instantly in a car accident. I didn’t think immediately: oh, well, that releases me from my bondage. Relief, yes, but not any thoughts of being free to get married again. I’d had enough of that. Your dad and I bumbled along for a few months looking after each other, like people do. I had you to myself when he was at work and the whole arrangement worked out very well. One thing I loved was taking you out in the pram, because people thought you were mine and I wished you were. We were bathing you ready for bed one night when Gerry said, ‘Why don’t we?’ Why don’t we what? I thought. ‘Get married,’ he said.”

“Oh, Mia, not the most poetic of proposals.”

They were holding hands by now and Mia squeezed Kate’s and laughed. “No, it wasn’t and I point-blank refused. Poor Gerry, he didn’t know where to look or what to do. We didn’t love each other, you see; we only came together because of you. He never mentioned it again, but he was less forthcoming, more abrupt in his manner. Then one day, clear as light, I saw that if I didn’t marry him, I’d lose you.”

“Did you propose to him, then?”

Mia nodded. “I did. We acknowledged that we didn’t love each other, but we agreed we
liked
each other and that for now we’d make do with that. He said he couldn’t live with me because it wouldn’t be decent for his daughter to be brought up in circumstances like that and I agreed it wouldn’t. So we married.”

“All because of me?”

“It suited us both, don’t forget. He needed someone and so did I, and we both needed you.”

“You seem to love him now.”

“That all happened after we married. It’s not the most romantic marriage in the world, but we rub along very, very nicely together and I’ve no regrets.”

“I see.”

“It’s much much better than nothing and I’ve got you.” Mia hesitated. “Haven’t I?”

“You know you have. For always. It’s you who brought me up. You are my mother as far as I am concerned. But my biological mother, you never knew her?”

Mia’s heart sank like a stone and she looked away. “No. Your dad told me it wasn’t part of your mother’s life plan to be tied down to a baby and the routine it entails. How she ever came to be involved with him I don’t know. I don’t think she was his kind of person.”

“Has he any photographs of her?”

“I don’t know; I never asked. She had a career, you see. We mustn’t blame her, must we, because we don’t really know her circumstances, do we?”

Kate didn’t answer her question and then, out of the blue, asked, “How do you know if you love someone enough to marry them and follow them to the ends of the earth?”

“If you’re asking that, then you’re not in love.”

“I see.”

“You’re thinking about Scott?”

Kate nodded. She poured herself another cup of tea, but it tasted cold and she pushed it away. “One day, I know for sure, he’ll be going back to Australia, because sometimes he talks about it with such longing. Then the mood passes off and he’s Scott again, being daft and lovely and such fun. Trouble is, I doubt if a permanent relationship is in his mind right now. But he’s so lovely to be with and he claims he’s fallen in love with me. Then I remember about Bunty, and was her baby really his or not? He’d have left her with the baby, you know; he told her so. He was prepared to walk away and that worries me about him. But all the same . . .”

“There’s one thing for certain: Adam would never have done for you. Never in this world.”

“No. I told him to stand tall and move on. It’s his mother who’s ruining his life. She’s so domineering.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I hope so.” Kate pushed her chair away from the table and stood up. “Must go, got chemistry to do.” As she left the room, she turned back to say, “One day I’ll ask Dad about my mother. It doesn’t make a bit of difference to you and me, but I’d still like to know about her. Mothers aren’t always the best of people to bring one up, are they?”

Mia smiled with relief. “Not always.”

Chapter
13

S
cott came in at the stroke of eight o’clock and since not a single client had arrived, he leaned over the desk to kiss Kate. “There couldn’t be anything sweeter than kissing you at this time in the morning. Considering how early it is, you look stunning. How’re things? You must be feeling better after clearing the air yesterday.”

“Oh, I am! I drove myself here this morning. My first taste of freedom has quite gone to my head. How is my knight in shining armor feeling this morning?”

“All the better for seeing you. Give me another kiss.”

“Mm.”

“Love you. Love me?”

“Don’t know.”

“Ah! There’s hope.”

They became absorbed in their kissing, she on one side of the desk and he on the other. Their elbows leaned on it so they could reach and they didn’t notice that Joy had pushed open the heavy outer door and was standing watching them through the inner glass doors. So this was what they got up to. She had to smile, for she could see the attraction of Scott and of Kate, and it was a pleasure to see their delight in each other. But these were business premises and . . . the phone began ringing. Immediately, Scott started to pull away, but Kate put both hands behind his neck and kept him kissing. When the phone had rung four times and Kate still hadn’t answered it, Joy opened the glass door and said, “Answer that, please, Kate.”

They broke apart, startled by the sharpness of her tone, but more so because both of them were embarrassed at being discovered.

“Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital, Kate speaking, how may I help?”

Joy stalked straight past the two of them and went into her office. She put her coat in her cupboard, placed her bag beneath her desk and went to unlock the back door.

When she returned to her office, Scott was waiting for her. He was holding up both hands, signifying surrender. “All my fault, Joy. Sorry! Not in working hours and all that.”

“There’s something heartening about young love.”

“There is?”

“Oh yes. Got your list?”

Scott nodded.

“Then off you go.”

She couldn’t help but smile at the surprise on Scott’s face. He’d expected a telling off and hadn’t gotten one. It was none of her business, in truth. What the staff got up to in their spare time was their affair. All the same, she’d have a cautionary word with Kate when the right moment presented itself. Or would she? Maybe not, the girl was no fool. Joy could hear laughter in reception and smiled to herself. He was such a rogue, was Scott. If she’d been younger, she’d have fancied him too, just like Kate. She went to check if the two Sarahs had come in yet and left Scott and Kate to enjoy their romantic moment.

A draught blew through from the back right around Scott’s legs. It was Rhodri opening the back door, intent on making an early start. He bustled in, rubbing his hands. “It’s cold today. Morning, Scott. Morning, Kate. How’s the old love life, Scott? ’Spect the old cracked ribs have brought a halt to it, eh?”

Scott feigned surprise. “You’re asking me about my love life? What about yours? After what I saw last night, mate, I should be asking you.”

Rhodri blushed.

Kate drew closer. “Go on, then, what did you see?”

“Outside the Fox and Grapes. About eleven. My God, you should have seen! Talk about the old Welsh charm. These Celts!” Scott pretended to fan himself and then to swoon.

“Shut up!” Rhodri might have said shut up, but at bottom he looked pleased that at long last his private life was a subject for conversation. “Kate doesn’t want to hear.”

“She does,” said Kate.

“Look! There’s a simple explanation. We’d been out. I’d put Harry Ferret in the back in his cage and forgotten to close the second catch, and hey presto, while we were having a drink the little devil escaped, so before Megan and I could drive home I had the little blighter to find. Couldn’t start up with him running loose. So that’s what you saw.”

Scott simply didn’t believe his explanation. “Well, I’ve heard some cracking excuses for a rough and tumble in the back of a station wagon, but that’s the best yet. Wait till I see Megan. I’ll ask her. She’ll tell me the truth.”

Kate was laughing so much at the embarrassment in Rhodri’s face she couldn’t answer the phone when it rang, so Scott answered it for her. When he’d finished speaking, Rhodri said, “You’ll do no such thing.”

Scott now feigned indignation. “I shall. We’ll see if Megan blushes any redder than you’ve done.”

“I’ve explained what we were doing. Anyway, eventually we found him curled up asleep in the spare wheel. Took us ages.”

“I bet! When are you going to make an honest woman of her?”

Rhodri sobered. “Don’t know. I want to get married, but there’s her father.”

Kate’s eyes opened wide with surprise. “Get married! You’ve known her barely three months.”

“Get married and then tell him,” Scott advised.

Rhodri shook his head. “No no, that wouldn’t be right.”

Kate asked whose life it was, but Rhodri didn’t answer. Scott and Kate winked at each other as he walked away to see if the mail had arrived.

“Poor blighter!”

“Did you really see them . . . you know . . . in the back of his car?”

“Pulling his leg, though they did look suspicious. Must go. He shouldn’t let other people stop him from doing what he wants with his own life. I bet the old dad wants Megan to look after him in his old age; that’s what it’ll be. Selfish old basket. What time do you finish today?”

“With any luck about seven.”

“Pick you up.”

“OK. Where shall we go?”

“Don’t know, but we’ll eat.”

“OK.”

“See you then.”

K
ATE
spent the afternoon between one o’clock and four shopping in the mall for something special to wear that evening. Adam being finally cleared from her mind seemed to have given shape to her feelings for Scott and she knew now for certain that he meant an awful lot more to her than she had hitherto dared to admit. And it wasn’t just his looks, though they were fantastic in themselves. It was his whole attitude to life that she found exciting. His drive, his humor, his laughter, his mind and the serious side to him, the side that approached his job with such professionalism and feeling.

She studied her reflection in a shop window and remembered the gentleness of his kisses and the feel of his arms around her. Oh Christ! She sounded like a heroine in a cheap women’s magazine. But it was true; she did like his physical presence and she did wish . . . Cold reason asserted itself. So he goes home to Australia, then what? Because he would, there was no doubt about that, and where would that leave her? Kate brushed aside her contemplative mood and went into the shop to buy something, anything that would give her a lift. As Stephie would say, a bit of retail therapy does wonders for the spirits.

S
HE
and Scott had decided to eat in a little Italian restaurant in the shopping mall and were on the point of ordering when Scott’s mobile phone rang. “Excuse me. Hello. Scott Spencer speaking.” Kate watched him listening to his caller, and admired the way his hair grew and studied the look of frustration that crossed his face as he listened. He really was the most beautiful man. She could fall for him in a big way. In fact, if she was honest, she had already done that very thing. He snapped the phone off and pushed it into his pocket.

“Look, you stay here and eat. I’m going to be some time.”

“I thought you weren’t on call.”

“I’m not. Mungo is, but he’s got two calls, both for difficult calvings, and he can’t do them both at once. So I’m going.” He stood up to leave. “Who’d be a vet?”

“Me for a start. I’ll come. Can I?”

“If you wish. I’d be glad. But aren’t you hungry?”

“We can both eat when we’ve finished; they’ll still be open. Is it far?”

“No. Come on, then.”

The farm was only a three-mile drive away and as soon as she stepped out onto the flagged yard, she saw it was the exact opposite of Phil Parsons’s. The yard was floodlit and she could see that every barn and stable door, every window frame, was painted an immaculate marine blue. Each window pane shone, and huge terra-cotta pots holding ornamental bushes stood between the doors wherever a space could be found. If it hadn’t been for the sound of a horse stamping in the stables, Kate would have imagined that no animal was permitted in this hallowed place.

“Through here.” Scott led the way under an arch between the stables and immediately they were in another yard with a long cowshed running down the length of one side. Scott shouted, “Hello! Chris!”

A short, sturdy man appeared from what looked like a small office calling out, “Hi, Scott! Am I glad to see you. I was just ringing again to make sure you were on your way. In here. Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Sorry. This is Kate; got a place at vet college. Wanting some experience. Kate, this is Chris, his lordship’s stockman.”

“Hi, Kate. Here she is. Been straining for far too long and making no progress at all. I’ve had my hand in to see if I can straighten it out, but she’s straining so hard I thought my hand would be crushed. But for God’s sake, hurry her up before we lose it and her.”

The heifer was a lovely Guernsey with melting brown eyes full of distress. She was standing on lavish straw bedding and looked as though she had given up on life. Scott went to her head and had a word with her, stroking her, lifting her lips to see the color of her gums. “You should have called me earlier.”

“You know his lordship’s opinion of vets.”

“I do. Bucket of water and soap. Warm. Please.”

Scott stripped to the waist, put on his calving trousers and apron, washed his hands and arms, and tried inserting an arm to sort out the calf.

“No good. Straining too hard and there’s not much room in there anyway. I’ll give her an epidural.”

Kate couldn’t help but admire his approach: businesslike and yet so calm and compassionate.

“But we’ll lose her if you don’t hurry up. Put ropes on it and we’ll pull it out.” Chris was obviously becoming seriously agitated by Scott’s delay in taking positive action.

“If I give her an epidural, she’ll stop straining. That’ll give me room to sort out the calf and then gently, gently we can pull it out. Otherwise, we’ll tear her and have more problems than we had to begin with. Believe me.”

Scott calmly injected the heifer at the base of her tail and then stood back to wait. “Kate, go get the ropes for me, will you?”

Kate sped away through the arch, found the ropes and went hurrying back, desperate not to miss a thing. By the time she got back, the heifer had relaxed and the fearful exhausting straining she’d been doing had ceased.

“Thanks. Now we’ll see what we can do.”

“Bloody well get a hurry on, will you? I don’t want to lose this heifer.”

“Neither do I, Chris. Neither do I.” Scott inserted his arm, and Chris and Kate watched in silence. “One leg tucked back; that’s the problem.” He grunted and pushed and pulled and then said, “There, that’s sorted. Rope? I’ll put it around the feet and then we’ll have the other for its head and in no time . . . That’s it. Look, Kate, we can see both the feet already and its nose. Rope.” He was silent for a minute, struggling to get the rope positioned correctly around the calf’s head. Then very slowly and steadily his pulling began to have an effect and the calf’s face appeared. “Put a finger in its mouth, Kate. See what happens.”

To Kate’s amazed delight she felt the calf make a kind of half attempt to suck her finger. “Why, it’s trying to suck, and it’s all warm and wet.”

“Good, then.” He grinned at her pleasure. “We’ve got a goer.”

Chris grew agitated at what he considered to be too much delay. “For God’s sake, Scott, hurry up or we shan’t have. You’re being too casual. You’ll be asking for afternoon tea next. Get it out.”

Calmly Scott answered, “All in good time. Now, Kate, hold the head rope and slowly and
steadily
pull when I say.”

Kate did.

Panicking, Chris shouted, “She’s going down!”

“Push some more straw her way. Quick!”

The heifer was down and after some more steady pulling, the head was out and the body followed in no time at all. With a sudden
sploosh
the calf was lying on the straw. All panic forgotten, Chris breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God. And it’s a heifer! Isn’t she grand?” He got a handful of the bedding and wiped the calf’s face and nose with it.

Scott knelt and gave the calf a quick checkup, saying, “Great little thing, she is. She’s a real beauty. Come on, then, mother, take some interest in your calf.” Scott took off the ropes and dragged the calf around to the heifer’s head to encourage her to pay it some attention.

Kate had to laugh because the mother gave the calf such a look of surprise it was almost comical. Then, very tentatively, as if instinct was overcoming her amazement at what she had produced, the mother gave the calf a lick. It made little noises and was rewarded by being licked more vigorously. Scott stood watching for a moment, and then quickly immersed his hands and arms in the bucket of water and washed himself thoroughly.

“I’ll just make sure everything’s OK inside.”

After he’d examined her and decided the heifer was fine, Scott moved the calf a few feet away from her.

Kate didn’t understand his reasons and protested loudly. “Oh, Scott! Don’t do that. You’ll upset her.”

“I want her up before I leave.” Believing that the calf was being taken away from her, the mother hastily got to her feet and moved a few steps to bring her close again, nuzzling and licking her offspring as soon as it was within reach.

Kate was totally overcome. So this was what it was all about. This moment. This birth. This lovely creature born safely because of a man’s skill. She didn’t think she’d seen anything more beautiful in all her life. Such a precious moment, she’d remember it always. She was privileged, that’s what she was, privileged. She paused for a while to watch the delight the cow had in her young.

By the time she’d had her fill, Scott was hosing down his calving trousers at the tap outside in the yard. She watched him take them off and hang them on a stable-door catch to drip. The bucket of warm water he used for swilling his arms and hands.