Country Lovers (10 page)

Mr. Jones shrugged his shoulders. “Take it how you like. That's how I see you. You're also a waste of her time.”

Rhodri, angry because he'd used the same words about him as he had about the cats, answered angrily, “That's insulting to me and to Megan. We love each other, a fact you appear well able to ignore. Do you know what she said to me the other night?”

“How could I?”

“She said she wished she'd been born a boy.”

“She's right, I wish she had.”

“Don't you feel that's terribly sad?”

“Not at all.”

“Well, you should, you should be ashamed to have made her feel like that. Ashamed.”

Mr. Jones painfully levered himself out of his chair, and standing as upright as he could he shouted, “You are a guest in my house; how dare you speak to me in that way!”

Rhodri rose to his feet expecting Mr. Jones would topple over any minute, but he didn't; he didn't even search for his stick.

Rhodri shouted equally as loudly, “Because what I've said is true. She sticks by you, managing your farm, taking orders like a lackey when she'd prefer to be taking part in real life instead of being locked up here with you. You're a tyrant. A bully. A selfish, mean-minded bully. But you're her da so she takes it, but watch out because one day the worm might turn.” He sat down again, more angry than he could remember.

“She'd
never
leave
me.
And if you think for one minute that she'd leave me to marry you, I can tell you now she never will. So you might as well stop sniffing after her like a randy dog. Just disappear and get a job somewhere else. You're not welcome here. Now, help me into the dining room, she must have got the meal ready by now. Come on, where's my stick? Jump to it.”

Rhodri was so full of anger that he decided to leave Mr. Jones to find his own stick and stagger into the dining room alone, but Megan came in and asked him to help her father. “I've put the food out. Would you like wine tonight, Da?”

Mr. Jones shook his head. “No. Ale will do instead.”

“Oh! I thought we'd have wine, with Rhodri being here. I'll get a bottle.”

“Did you hear me? I said no wine.”

Megan blushed with embarrassment. “Would you like wine, Rhodri?”

“As it would appear we are going against your father's wishes, then I suppose we both have to say no, him being the grownup.” He put such an edge of sarcasm in the tone of his voice that Megan quaked.

Mr. Jones's colorless eyes focused on Rhodri. “Insolence will get you nowhere. You're a boy, a fresh-faced youth, you are. I don't know why Megan bothers with you.”

Megan leaped to Rhodri's defense. “Da! Rhodri is my guest. Please! Make an effort to be polite.”

“In my own house I shall behave as I wish. Seeing as we all feel able to speak our minds tonight, we may as well have it out here and now. I shall not under any circumstances permit you to marry. Not under any circumstances. Let that be an end to it.”

Rhodri, normally intimidated by Mr. Jones, answered with firm determination. “Has it occurred to you that we could be married by the weekend? All completely lawfully because both Megan and I are above the age of consent. It's only her affection for you that prevents us.”

For the second time that night, Mr. Jones got to his feet without assistance. “If you dare do such a thing, I shall disinherit her. Mark my words, I shall.” He wagged a finger at them both. “Do you hear me?”

“I hear all right. I might remind you that I earn a perfectly adequate salary, ample to support the two of us; and I own my house, so we'd have a roof over our heads. We don't care where your money would go. We don't need it. We shall marry, whether you give your consent or not. I will not give up that happiness for anyone. Not even you. We'll find a way, believe me.” He said it in such a matter-of-fact way that it was a moment before Mr. Jones fully comprehended what he'd said. Rhodri started to eat his dinner, though the fish tasted like chalk and the potatoes like cotton wool. As for the peas and carrots, they resembled the Plasticine ones he used to make in his childhood in the manse.

Megan sat with her hands on her lap, head down, suffering.

Mr. Jones abruptly sat down again, white faced and breathing heavily. Lost for words. He reached for his stick and, raising it high, he whipped it down, aiming to hit Rhodri with it, but Rhodri dodged and the stick crashed onto the table, breaking his plate, scattering the food and smashing his glass of water. A deep silence fell. For a moment no one moved.

Appalled, Megan broke the spell by shouting, “Da!”

Rhodri hastily pushed back in his chair to prevent the water from running onto his trousers.

Mr. Jones sounded as though he were being strangled. Every breath he took scored its way into his lungs as though each would be his last. He fumbled to loosen his collar and began gesticulating with his hand. Megan rushed for his inhaler, and when she gave it to him, he inhaled deeply several times and gradually his breathing relaxed and became more normal. Even so it was loud and rusty. Much to Rhodri's relief, as he didn't fancy having to do mouth-to-mouth with Mr. Jones. In fact, he doubted if he would bother to, anyway. The nasty, conniving old man that he was.

“Now Da! What a to-do! Let me help you back to your chair. I'll keep your dinner warm, no problem.” She helped him up and holding him by the arm she guided him away from the dining table, but Rhodri couldn't help but notice the vicious glance Mr. Jones gave him as he passed his chair. No, it wasn't vicious; it was triumphant. So that's how the cookie crumbles, thought Rhodri. He
is
a conniving old man. All he wants is to make sure that Megan stays with him to make his meals and do his washing and look after him when he's ill. Without her, he'd have to go into a home. Uncharitably, Rhodri decided that would be the best place for him too.

The remains of Rhodri's dinner had spread from his plate onto the tablecloth, soaked to a sloshy mess by the water from his glass. With Megan distraught and the sound of Mr. Jones's rasping breath dominating the house, the evening was in ruins and Rhodri decided it was time to leave.

Heavy with disappointment, he declared, “I'll go, Megan.”

“Come in the kitchen.”

He followed her in and closed the door behind him.

“Rhodri, you should never have answered him back. He'll be ill all day tomorrow now.”

He took her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Megan, you are a slave to that man. No father has the right to keep you tied like this. Hand and foot, you are. Hand and foot. It simply isn't fair.” He brushed away her hair from her face. “When are you going to claim back your life?”

“What can I do? What can I do about it?”

“Stand up to him. That's what. Get help to look after him; let him see he can exist without you at his beck and call.”

“He won't have anyone but me.”

Rhodri gave a great sigh of despair. “Exactly. Exactly. I love you so.”

“I love you.”

“Then we've got to plan.”

“What though?”

“Don't know yet. Good night, love.”

“Here, take your dessert, it's sticky toffee.” Megan placed a portion in a lidded bowl and handed it to him. “It's best you go—give me a chance to calm him down. I'm so sorry about what he did, so sorry. Got to get back to him. Good night.”

Rhodri went out into the night, desolate.

So when he heard Colin and Letty's wonderful news, he found it genuinely hard to be happy for them. They were getting all he dreamed about, and the events of last night seemed to have pushed the dream even further away. What had possessed him to stand up to the fellow? He must have been out of his mind. Getting Mr. Jones to like him had been his aim from the start, but all that patient work had gone in a single flash of temper. Daring to attempt to hit him though! Rhodri wished he'd snapped his stick in half, though he'd have looked a fool trying to do that—it was an almighty thick stick. He went to bed, thoroughly depressed and full of anguish, and seeing no way out of his situation.

Chapter
• 7 •

K
ate went to bed that same night also full of anguish and dreading the morning. Fortunately for her the mail always came early, and she hoped that tomorrow would be no exception. Exam results! Oh, God! What a fool she'd been to think she could get a good grade just doing tutorials with Miss Beaumont, a chemistry teacher from school. She should have had more sense. She flung off the duvet and lay under the sheet, hot and uncomfortable.

She and Mia, her stepmother, had been in their new flat three months now, and though she liked it, Kate still hankered for the old house where she'd grown up. For the familiar sounds, the friendly smell of the place, the garden; though she'd hated working in it, she'd always been able to leave it to Mia because she loved gardening. Here they had communal gardens kept strictly regimented with none of the casual charm that a garden of Mia's was capable of. There were park benches to sit on and architectural features rather than the mad medley of Mia's country-type garden. Still, moving had triggered Mia into going back to her painting, which was a blessing for her, and at least the frantic activity that her husband's death had set off in Mia had abated and the relaxed, sweet-natured person Kate had always known had returned.

Would she get an A, or would she get a B, or worse still, a D, like she'd got first time round? Kate decided that if that were the case, then she'd do zoology, or something else instead, because although she loved working at the practice, doing reception work did not tax her brain nearly enough.

I'll let you know, Dad, what I get. I know you'll be pleased whatever it is. Just wish you were here to crack the bottle of champagne you'd been keeping for the Big Day, as you called it. Tears slid quietly down her face and she wiped them away with a corner of the sheet.

Kate tossed and turned and eventually fell asleep but kept waking because of the heat and her own agitated state of mind. About three o'clock she was fully awake and went to make herself a drink of tea. A terrible sickening feeling had come over her.
Failure.
It was staring her in the face. But as Mia would say, she could only do her very best. As she sipped her tea from a mug she'd had since she first went to secondary school and only used when she needed mountains of emotional support, Kate realized that it was all too late anyway. The die had been cast. Whatever would be would be, no matter how much soul-searching she did, no matter how many times she went over her answers, no matter how many times she saw the question paper in her mind's eye, it was all over and done with. Finished. Decided.

Well, she had done her best, and if she wasn't good enough to get into veterinary college, then so be it. It wasn't for her. But she remembered the time she'd helped Scott, of blessed memory, deliver the calf, and when she and Dan had been chilled to the bone during lambing at Tad Porter's, and the warmth of Connie's kitchen and the frail young lamb she'd fed. All the wonderful kindness so peculiar to a farming community. Then she started laughing about when she'd hosed down Scott after he'd fallen in Phil Parsons's slurry pit, and a large tear came in her eye which she angrily brushed away. Scott couldn't stand commitment, which was why he ran away from her, back home to Australia. But it was for the best. She'd never have qualified if anything had come of their affair.

The kitchen clock, once holding place of pride in a schoolroom and rescued by her dad when the school was being pulled down, chimed out four o'clock. Kate went to bed, and her last thought as she slipped into a dreamless sleep was: whatever happened tomorrow she'd still be Kate Howard, and the sun would still shine and the clock still chime. She comforted herself with “Time and the hour run through the roughest day.”

         

T
HE
first she knew about the morning was the sound of Mia placing a breakfast tray on her bedside table and pulling back the curtains. “Mail's come.”

“Oh no!”

“It's here. The letter. Can I stay while you open it?”

Kate shot upright, eyes wide open. “Yes, of course. Give me it.”

She tore the envelope open, pulled the sheet of paper out, and in one swift movement sprang up to stand on the bed shouting, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” with a clenched fist punching the air. “I've done it! Mia! I've done it. I have! I have! Look!”

Mia studied the paper and read the magic “Grade A.” “Oh, Kate! Oh, Kate! That's wonderful! You clever girl, you! I'm so proud. Vet college, here she comes!”

Kate leaped off the bed and flung her arms around Mia so tightly she could hardly breathe, but Mia didn't mind. This was the day of days. “What a pity you have to go into work.”

“Oh! It isn't a pity at all. I'm so looking forward to telling everyone! Can you believe it? I'm so excited. I'll ring Miss Beaumont and tell her. She'll be so pleased for me. Last night I convinced myself I'd failed and was thinking up some alternatives, but I haven't failed, have I? Oh, Mia! I feel quite sick. Help! I do really.”

“Calm down. Here, have a cup of tea; it might settle your stomach. You can't be ill on a day such as this. You can't.” Mia poured a cup of tea for her, and made her sit in bed with her pillow to rest against. “Steady, steady, sip it.”

Kate looked up at her. “Mia! Wouldn't Dad have been delighted?”

“Delighted! There isn't a word in the English language big enough to describe his pride. He'd have been like a dog with two tails. Maybe he knows. Somehow, in that great big yonder wherever he is, I like to think he does.”

“So do I. Oh, Mia! It's like a great weight has lifted from my shoulders. They'll all be so pleased for me at the practice. I'll ring the minute I've eaten my breakfast. Have you eaten?”

Mia shook her head. “Too excited.”

“Well, go get something and share my teapot. You can sit here while we let it sink in.” Kate patted the bed, and moved her legs to make more room. “Look, just here. Please.”

When Mia came back, Kate was looking concerned. “What's the matter, Kate?”

“I've just realized I'm so excited I haven't given a thought to you.”

“Why should you? I'm excited too.”

“I know but—”

“But nothing. Now's the time for me to get a job. I shall only have myself to look after and getting a job after all these years will be the best thing for me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely.”

“They'll be needing someone to replace me. The money isn't much, but it would be a start.”

“Oh! I don't know about that. They wouldn't want me.”

“Why not?”

“No. No.”

“Nonsense, you'd be lovely with the clients and you love animals.”

“No, Kate. It won't do at all. Think of my asthma. I'd spend all my time with watering eyes and striving to breathe.”

“Of course, I never thought. But what are you going to do?”

“Paint. And possibly work in the art shop in the High Street.”

“Have they a vacancy?”

“I don't know but I can always ask. Mrs. Boulder is thinking of retiring, and it's not too soon. They've given her the nudge a few times, but she won't take the hint. She's immovable.”

“Boulder by name and Boulder by nature!” The two of them collapsed in a fit of giggling, which lightened the atmosphere and made them both feel lighthearted.

“Oh, Mia! Isn't it wonderful? I know I'm not due in till one, but I'm going to phone and tell Joy. She'll be so pleased.” Kate flung back the sheet, got out of bed, and charged into the hall, leaving Mia in the bedroom alone.

Mia looked up at the ceiling deep in thought. After a while she said, “Well, Gerry, you've got what you wanted. Your darling daughter at vet college. Aren't you pleased? She's done it, exactly what she wanted. I can't begin to tell you how pleased I am.”

Kate was back in the bedroom before Mia realized. “Mia, who were you talking to?”

“Your dad. I often do, especially when it's something about you.”

Kate swallowed hard. “I never realized.”

Mia patted her arm. “What did Joy say?”

“She's thrilled and they're cracking a bottle of champagne at lunchtime specially for me.”

“Good. You enjoy yourself; you deserve to, all the work you've put in this year. Don't worry about me when you go to college. I shall be busy making a life for myself. And you'll always be home for vacations. Won't you?”

“Of course.”

Mia looked around the bedroom and said, “I'm glad we've moved to this flat. I'd never have coped in that house. Too many memories, you know.” She got out her handkerchief and blew her nose. “What am I doing crying on a day like this? Get up, you lazy girl, and get some ringing around done! Miss Beaumont for a start.” Mia busied herself collecting together their breakfast things. “Go on, into the bathroom, quick smart.”

         

O
N
the stroke of one o'clock Graham opened the bottle of champagne they'd been keeping for Kate's Big Day. Valentine filled the glasses standing on Miriam's silver tray, and Zoe served them all where they stood in reception. When everyone had a charged glass in their hand, they raised them to Kate and wished her all the best. She came in for a lot of kissing and masses of good wishes.

Joy hugged and kissed her, putting both their glasses in jeopardy. “What a wonderful day. Absolutely wonderful.”

Mungo pecked her cheek and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Brilliant. You'll have a whale of a time. Don't forget us, will you?”

Dan, Valentine, Stephie, and Annette all wished her well. Clients began to arrive for early afternoon appointments and a second bottle of champagne was opened so they could join in the celebrations. By the time the two bottles had been emptied the atmosphere was convivial to say the least.

Joy clapped her hands. “Sorry! Everyone back to work. I'll clear the glasses. Let's make a start.”

Dan called out, “Speech! Speech! Silence for Kate's speech.”

Kate's face was flushed from the champagne and she was in no mood for thinking clearly. “I can't. Sorry.”

But a chant begun by Dan and supported by everyone else started up. “Speech! Speech! Speech!”

Kate said, “All right then. I'm no good at speeches, but thank you for all your good wishes and for this.” She held up her glass. “Thank you for being so kind to me, and making me one of the team; and I'll do my best to bring you credit when I'm at college.”

Mungo shouted, “Three cheers for Kate. Our clever Kate!”

The cheers bounced off the walls, making Kate want to hide in her accounts office. Eventually things got back to normal, Stephie behind the reception desk, Kate to accounts, Joy to sorting her paperwork, Bunty and Sarah Two to assist Mungo with a tricky operation, and the clients to discussing their pets' symptoms.

Stephie brought Kate a mug of tea during the afternoon. She put down the mug on Kate's desk and said, “I shall miss you when you've gone.”

“I'll miss you. I'll miss everyone. Everyone's been so kind.” Kate invited Stephie to sit in what she called her consultation chair. It was a rickety old thing, which Joy kept saying she would take to the dump, but somehow never remembered to do so.

Stephie sat down in it, adjusting her position to avoid slipping off it onto the floor. “Do you miss Scott?”

“Not anymore.”

“What about Adam?”

“Certainly not Adam, though I do wonder what he gets up to nowadays since he struck out on his own.”

Stephie looked uncomfortable.

When she didn't reply, Kate asked her if she had something to tell her.

“Yes. I have.”

“Well then?”

“You know Adam?”

Kate nodded.

“Well, we…we've…been going out a bit.”

Kate's eyes were large with surprise. “You and
Adam
?”

Stephie nodded. “Yes. Not till after the day he arrived with the bouquet to say sorry to you. But, yes, we have. He's altogether different now. In a few short months he's changed completely. He even does things spontaneously.”

“Wow! And his mother?”

Stephie had to laugh. “I told her off good and proper. She's eating out of my hand now.”

“I don't believe this, she was always so…clinging with Adam.”

“She isn't anymore. I told her if she didn't lighten up, I'd make sure she never saw Adam again.”

Kate was appalled and at the same time full of admiration for Stephie. “You didn't!”

“I did. That soon sorted her out. Told her to get a life of her own, and leave Adam to live his.”

“Well!”

“So…we're thinking of getting engaged. Is it all right, I mean with you—you haven't still got the hots for him, have you?”

“No. Why didn't you tell me sooner?”

“Because, Kate, I felt embarrassed about it. I saw him at a club soon after he brought you the bouquet. He was there with his new flatmates and I knew one of them, and it went from there.”

“But his mother wanted to live with Adam and me; is she…?”

“No, she isn't. I straightened her out on that score too. She can be quite pleasant…that is if you stand no nonsense from her.”

“Well, good luck to you, Steph.”

“So it's OK then?”

“Fine. Absolutely fine.” Kate handed Stephie her empty mug. “I hope you'll be very happy. I'm just so amazed. I never thought.”

After Stephie had gone, Kate shuddered. Adam and Stephie? She shuddered again, remembering the night he went wild with temper and she'd escaped into Sainsbury's and rung her dad for help. And his ridiculous bowling outfit, which he thought so groovy. His obsession with doing the same thing week after week. Tuesday, bowling. Friday, cinema. Sunday, lunch at the usual pub. Nothing could be allowed to disrupt his routine. She shuddered again when she thought about him kissing her. Stephie was welcome to him. But maybe he had changed. She hoped he had for Stephie's sake.