Saving Nathaniel (36 page)

'Yes, it's for the best.'

'Will I see you tomorrow?'

'I have busy schedule but I'm sure I can fit you in,' she ribbed with a smile.

'Just a few minutes will do, if you can spare it.'

'It'll be tough, but I'll see what I can do.'

She touched her lips to his, before passing her tongue over them to taste the sweetness of the wine. Her hand rested on his chest and then, teasing, moved down, stopping just short of the towel.

'You could stay tomorrow night,' he said. 'You could stay all night with a clear conscience. The day after is Saturday. Rebecca won't be here. In fact, you can stay the whole weekend.'

'We'll see,' she said, and kissed him
goodbye
.

Nat kept a hold on her hand, letting go only when the reach was too far for him to hold on. He lay listening to her descending the stairs, and after a few more seconds heard the back door slam. Less than a minute later, he heard her car start up and drive away. He put out the light and lay back into the bed. It was still warm, and retained just the faintest remnant of his lover's perfume.

Chapter 32

It was gone one o'clock in the morning when Megan arrived home. The cottage was in silent darkness. The full moon cast a pale grey beam through the window and onto the kitchen floor, affording just enough light for her to find her way across the room without bumping into anything. She crept up the stairs, avoiding the squeaky step and waking Rebecca.

In her bed, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Her mind ran wild with thoughts of Nat alone in his bed at the Lodge and wishing she were back there with him, held in his warm, tight embrace.

She gave up trying to sleep and picked her way down to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast. Through the ceiling, she heard Rebecca's 6.30 am alarm go off. She heard her moving about, the quiet creak of the floorboards, the flush of the toilet and a few minutes later Rebecca herself appeared, still in her nightclothes. Immediately the air between the two women crackled with animosity.

Rebecca clattered around, deliberately making more noise than was necessary. She banged her cup and cereal dish down on the table, splashing milk over the edge of the bowl. She put two slices of bread in the toaster and rammed down the switch.

Scraping out a chair, she sat at the table, her eyes firmly on her cereal. She had not said a word. Megan could bear it no longer.

'Rebecca, please, can't we talk?' She met stony silence. 'Rebecca?'

'Talk about you sleeping with that man…again?' said Rebecca with vehemence. 'I don't think so. I am right aren't I? You did sleep with him again?'

'Yes.'

'Then I have nothing to say to you.'

'I think we should.'

'I don't want to talk about it. We've already had this discussion but you don't want to listen to anything I have to say.'

The kettle whistled and Rebecca got up to make tea. Megan waited for her to sit down again. 'Things may have changed, things you need to know about,' she said.

'Oh really?' Rebecca said indifferently.

'Yes. They might affect you.'

'How?' She dug her spoon into her cornflakes.

Megan drew in a breath. 'Nat wants me to move into the Lodge with him,' she said.

Rebecca gaped in astonishment. She could not have been more shocked if Megan had punched her in the mouth. 'You are joking?' she said through her mouthful of cereal.

'No, he asked me yesterday.'

'And, of course, you jumped at the chance.'

'Actually, I said no. Not because I don't want to, but because I knew you wouldn't like it.'

'You thought of me? How generous of you.'

'I didn't have to.'

The toaster popped. Rebecca collected the contents and tossed them onto a plate. 'I bet he didn't give me a second thought, did he? He just wanted you there…on tap.'

'In all fairness he agreed with me that it would be uncomfortable for you if I was there.'

'Did he really?'

Megan could not make sense of her sister's attitude. 'What's the matter with you, Becks? I thought you might be a little bit pleased for me.'

'Why? Because he's using you? He's sussed you out and he's taking advantage of you.'

'He is not! He loves me and he wants me to be with him.'

'There's none so blind as those who will not see, Megan. And he's pulled the wool right over your eyes.' Rebecca stabbed her knife into the jam and spread it roughly on her toast.

'I may have been stupid in the past, but not this time. I know what I'm doing.'

'You haven't got the first bloody clue.' She ripped at the toast with her teeth.

'I didn't have to take you into consideration, Becks. This is between Nat and me. To be honest, it has nothing to do with you. I only turned him down out of courtesy to you.'

'That was very big of you.'

They sat in silence, Rebecca chewing on her toast, and Megan looking at the table. 'There's more to it,' she said.

'Do tell.'

'Nat's selling the Lodge and moving out of Kirkton.'

Rebecca threw her hands in the air in exasperation. 'Well, isn't that just peachy? And exactly when was all this decided?'

'A couple of days ago.'

'And you two were going to run off together and leave me in the lurch?'

'He asked me and I said I'd go with him.'

Rebecca ripped at the toast again. 'Bloody fantastic! This tale just gets better and better.'

'He's was going to tell you, he was just waiting for the right time.'

'Which is going to be when? When he's had enough booze to grow a backbone? On the day the removal men came? The day he handed me my P45?'

'Don't be cruel, Becks. He cares about you too; he wants you to be happy.'

'Bollocks! He doesn't give a flying fuck about me!'

'That's not true and you damn well know it,' Megan retorted.

'Isn't it? Seven years I've worked for him and not one time, not once, has he ever said 'thank you Rebecca' or 'good job Rebecca'. He expects everyone to dance to his tune, but he hasn't got one iota of gratitude. He's the most selfish, miserable, tight fisted bastard I've ever known. You'll find that out soon enough.'

'I can't believe you could be so callous. After all he's done for you.'

'For me! He's done nothing for me!'

'He's kept you in a job that pays your bills.'

'The only reason I'm still there, Megan, is because he doesn't know I'm there. I'm invisible. As far as he's concerned, things happen around him. The house cleans itself and his meals appear as if by magic. He's going to exchange one servant for another and he'll expect you to wait on him hand and foot. And you'll do it, won't you?'

'I've never heard such nonsense from you, Becks. If I didn't know better I'd think you were jealous, that you were carrying a torch for him yourself.'

'Don't be so fucking stupid!' Rebecca's newly inflamed anger reinforced the strength of her malice towards Nat and it began to show its true face. 'Do you want to know the truth, Megan, I hate his guts. I have done for years. If he died tomorrow, I wouldn't shed a single tear. It was a shame his wife died, she was a lovely woman and always nice to me, but him…' She huffed a sound of pure disgust. 'Looking back, it might have been a blessing if he had eaten one of his guns, then I could have been working for someone who actually appreciated me. If you ask me, he's already half way off the rails…going potty…'

Before she knew what had happened, Megan's open hand had connected with her face and the whole room resounded with the slap. 'How dare you talk about him like that, how dare you!'

Rebecca gaped at her sister with wide, furious eyes, her hand against her face, now bright scarlet on one side. 'You vicious bitch!' she gasped in disbelief.

Megan's knees buckled under her and she dropped onto her chair. 'I'm sorry, Becks, I really am. I shouldn't have done that.'

'No, you shouldn't.'

'I'm really sorry.'

'You will be.'

'Please Becky…'

Rebecca rubbed at her face where a mark in the shape of a handprint was beginning to show. Her voice fell to a low drone. 'I think you should pack up your stuff, Megan. Go and live with your lover, because you're not welcome here any more.'

'You don't mean that, Becks. You're angry and upset.'

Rebecca maintained the same low tone. 'I'll be generous with you. I'll give you a week. You can go and live with him, or you can live in a box under the bridge, I don't care.'

She fell into sullen silence giving clear indication there was no point in addressing the issue any further. As Megan made to go upstairs to pack her overnight bag, she called her back.

'You can tell Mister Mackie that I'm giving my notice,' she said. 'He can consider it effective immediately, as in 'right of this minute'. He can stuff his job up his arse, because I don't want to lay eyes on either of you again.'

Chapter 33

What Megan saw, as she turned into the driveway of Struan Lodge at ten o'clock that morning, made her slam on the Citroën's brakes, and skid slightly in the gravel.

Out of the shrubbery by the front gate, and visible for the whole world to see, poked a gaudy green and yellow sign bearing the words, 'For Sale'.

Not two full days since Nat had seen the agent, and the sign was already up. She was expecting it, but not quite so soon.

Oh my God, he really means it. He's going to do it.

She continued up the driveway and parked in what used to be her usual space. Having purloined Rebecca's keys, she let herself in the back door and dropped her bag on the table.

The house was quiet. Standing in the hallway, she listened. From Nat's study, she could hear the muffled sound of talking. She put her ear to the door. The conversation was one-sided; he was on the telephone. She waited until the speaking stopped before knocking lightly on the door.

Hearing no reply, she knocked again, a little louder. Before she could take a hold of the knob, the door flew open in front of her and she faced a rather annoyed looking Nat.

'What?' he said sharply.

Megan took a step backwards in alarm. 'I'm sorry…am I interrupting something?'

His features softened when he saw her. 'Meg? What are doing here so early?'

'I can't seem to stay away, but I can come back at a more convenient time if you're busy?'

'No…no of course not. I'm always happy to see you, my love. Come on in.' He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her into the room. 'There's no need to knock, you know,' he said.

'Force of habit, I s'pose.'

He looked out into the hallway. 'Where's Rebecca, I haven't seen her yet?'

'Rebecca's not coming in today.'

He closed the door. 'Why not?'

'We had words.'

Nat re-took his seat at the desk and closed his laptop. As he did, Megan caught a glimpse of the screen. The green glow gave away the fact he had not been working, but had been playing a crafty game of Solitaire. He saw her looking and gave her a small, guilty smile. Normally, she would have made some pithy comment, but this was not the right time. She let it pass.

'What sort of words?' he said.

He indicated she should sit in the easy chair. She declined, preferring to lean on the desk next to him. 'Loud, vindictive and very unladylike ones,' she said.

'What about?'

She scratched her head and smoothed down her hair. 'I said things, she said things. It got out of hand and rather…unpleasant.' She deliberately neglected to mention it had resulted in physical violence, and the very real prospect of her being homeless within the week.

'I see,' Nat nodded.

'It gets worse,' she said and fiddled with the pencils now standing in a new, unbreakable holder.

'How much worse?'

'She's quit her job, Nat. She's not coming back here.'

He looked aghast. 'She can't do that!'

'She's done it.'

'For God's sake, why?'

'She's taken objection to our…affair.'

'That's no reason to quit her job.'

'In Rebecca's eyes it is.'

Nat wiped his hand over his mouth and shook his head. 'Ach, I never meant for that to happen. Jings that's…well it's an unexpected blow.'

Megan hadn't anticipated he would be so upset about losing his housekeeper, and a grain of suspicion grew in her. She edged away from him, taking refuge at the far end of the desk.

'Has there ever been…you know, anything…at all…between you and Rebecca?' she asked, quietly.

He looked at her in astonishment. 'Absolutely not! Why would you ask such a thing?' His eyes narrowed with suspicion. 'What did she say? Because if she said there has been anything between us, she is lying.'