The Forgotten Cottage (12 page)

A fistful of brown earth splattered against the kitchen window she had cleaned only an hour earlier, making her jump away from the stove and the broth she was stirring. It was followed by some loud shrieking. She ran outside to see what was going on and felt time stand still as every single part of her body filled with a bright red rage. The boys were knee-deep in her vegetable garden; the rows of seedlings which had begun to sprout were trampled and spread all over, clumps of soil had been thrown onto the lawn and at the house. Betsy looked at the mess and then the boys, who stopped mid-throw, the expression on her face making them realise the gravity of what they had done as it began to sink in. They looked at each other then at Betsy.

‘Sorry, we were just playing. We forgot this was your part of the garden.’

She couldn’t speak; she wanted to drag both of them out of the soil by their hair and beat them with the sweeping brush until they could not move and then some more. Instead, she turned and walked back into the house, not trusting herself to speak or to look at them. She knew exactly what she was going to do. She went into the kitchen, slamming the door closed behind her so the boys couldn’t come inside, although she didn’t think that they would dare. Then she went into the larder and moved the assortment of jars to one side until she could reach the small tin she had hidden at the back, containing the arsenic she’d used to poison her mother. The little swines could have a taste of her medicine; see how much trouble they got into and how much mess they could make when they were lying in their beds vomiting blood. Joss had said his parents were coming for tea so she might as well use some on their broth as well and be done with them all. She separated enough mixture into another pan for her and Joss and left the biggest pan on the stove, adding the contents of the box of arsenic then as many spices as she could to disguise the taste. She was furious but she wouldn’t tell Joss about it because then he would have a reason to suspect her when they began to take ill. Her life would be perfect with just her and Joss—no horrible children or interfering parents.

Betsy began setting the table and put the bread she had made into the oven so it would be warm when she served it with the broth. She wanted it to be just right. After the broth, she had a chicken that she had roasted and some potatoes. She hoped the boys would begin to feel ill and go up to bed, leaving her and Joss alone for the night. Joss arrived home just minutes before his mother and father and Betsy shooed him to the bathroom to clean himself up a little. He laughed at her as she slapped his arm when he tried to grab her and pull her close to him. He came back down with the boys, who had cleaned themselves up and were being very quiet. Joss sat down, nodding at them to follow suit.

‘Now then, what’s the matter with you two—cat got your tongue? It’s not like you to not be talking my head off.’

‘Nothing, we are just being quiet for a change so Betsy doesn’t get mad at us.’

She put the warm bread on the table and smiled at them. ‘As if I could stay mad at you two for long. I have never known two boys who cause so much mischief but I think the world of you both so think yourselves lucky for that.’

They looked at each other and smiled, relieved that she wasn’t about to tell their father about what they had done earlier. The kitchen door opened and in walked Joss’s parents, who walked straight across to the boys and began fussing over them. Joss’s mother bent down and kissed both of them on the cheek and then she turned and kissed Joss, and nodded her head at Betsy, who gritted her teeth. The woman could be so fickle, only speaking when the mood took her.

Betsy smiled at her and turned to stir the broth. She took the heavy pan and ladled it into four bowls then carried them over to the table, first giving it to the boys and then Joss’s parents. She turned her back and then poured hers and Joss’s broth into two more bowls. She carried those over and then sat down, waiting for Joss to say a prayer. Her stomach was churning. What if they could taste the poison she had laced their soup with? They would know what she had tried to do and then she would be in trouble, but before she knew it they were all dunking thick wedges of the soft white bread she had made and smothered in butter into their broth and talking about the news from the neighbouring village that the blacksmith there had been struck down with some illness that might even be a case of the Black Death. If they thought the soup tasted funny, none of them complained and for a minute Betsy had second thoughts; did she really want to kill two boys and their grandparents? Then she thought about the mess they had made of her little garden and the fact that she and Joss deserved to be on their own and decided that yes, she did. Of course Joss would be devastated but she would be here to comfort him in his hour of need. It never occurred to her just exactly what would happen to her if they all died and someone realised she had been the one to administer the poison. Too wrapped up in creating her perfect life, Betsy laughed and talked away with them until they had finished. She cleared away the dishes and then began to serve the next course. Up to now, none of them looked as if they had noticed anything amiss.

Halfway through the chicken and vegetables, both boys groaned and held onto their stomachs. Joss’s mother stopped and asked them what was wrong.

‘I do not feel well…my stomach is hurting.’

The other boy nodded in agreement.

Betsy looked at them both. ‘Maybe it was all the dirt and mud you were throwing around this afternoon. They made such a mess and they were pitted.’

She looked at Joss when she said this and he looked at the boys.

‘Did you wash your hands, both of you, before you began to eat?’

They nodded in unison.

Joss stood up and walked across to feel their heads, which were hot and clammy.

‘I think you should both go and lie down for a while until you feel better.’

They stood up from their seats and made to leave the room.

‘Goodnight, boys. I’ll come up and tuck you in shortly. See if there is anything you need.’

Joss’s mother stood up. ‘There’s no need; I will take them to bed and make sure they are not wanting for anything.’ The two groaning boys and Joss’s mother left the room. Joss and his father began discussing whether or not they should sell some of the cows and buy some new ones. Betsy felt sick. She looked down at her plate and hoped that she had not got the pans mixed up and poisoned herself, then she told herself to stop being stupid. She had been very careful. After half an hour Joss’s mother came down the stairs, her face white.

‘They are asleep now, Joss, but if they don’t get any better by the morning then make sure you send for the doctor. Come now, I do not feel that well myself; I want to go home and lie down. I fear whatever the boys have, I may have caught it as well.’

She walked to the kitchen door and Joss’s father followed her.

‘Thank you both; I hope the boys are better by the morning.’

Betsy picked up the plates from the table and turned to put them in the sink. She did not want Joss to see the smile which had spread across her face.

Chapter Ten

Annie found herself in her house. It was very different to how it looked now and she realised that this was what it must have looked like when the painting had been commissioned. She walked under the porch but this time she didn’t shiver or feel uneasy. Inside, she could hear a woman humming to herself and the clatter of pots and pans from the kitchen. Annie froze: it was the girl from her dreams. She didn’t notice Annie because she was too busy mixing something into the soup. Not wanting to stay and watch her, she heard the sound of laughter coming from upstairs and wandered up to see two young boys playing in their bedroom, which was next to the one that she and Will were going to share.

One of the boys looked at the other and lowered his voice. ‘You do know we’re for it when she tells Father what we did, don’t you?’

‘I’m not daft, of course I do, and she’ll tell him all right. I don’t like her, Thomas; she only makes a fuss of us when Father is around.’

‘I wish that Mother was here; why did he need to get her to come and keep an eye on us? We were doing just fine on our own.’

‘Shh, if she hears you she won’t give us any supper and I’m hungry.’

‘Well, I’m not going down there until Father shouts us; I’d rather starve than sit with her on our own.’

Annie felt sorry for them. They didn’t like whoever the woman was so that made three of them. A man’s voice broke her trance and she found herself back downstairs in the kitchen. The man who the voice belonged to had come in and was washing his hands in the sink. He was tall with crinkly blue eyes like Will’s. He looked so familiar. He kissed the woman, who still had her back to Annie, and then he went to shout his boys. As he called their names Annie could sense the contempt that radiated off the woman. She had a terrible sense of foreboding and knew that something bad was about to happen and she was helpless to do anything. Opening her mouth to warn the man, she almost choked, gagging on something in her throat that made her unable to speak. An older couple came in and she wanted to yell at them all to get out while they could—but she couldn’t. The woman was ladling soup into four bowls and she passed them out to the boys and the couple she assumed were the man’s parents. Annie watched her fill two more bowls from a separate pan, using a different ladle. Why was she doing that? The first pan had been more than big enough and then it hit her. The woman had poisoned the soup. Annie, who was comatose in her hospital bed, began to twitch.

Will sat down on the chair next to Annie’s bed, repaying the favour of two years ago when it had been him lying there and her keeping guard. She’d been unconscious for three days now but she had been restless today, which he took as a good sign. Her hands kept twitching and her eyes were rolling underneath the closed lids. She was either dreaming or trying to wake herself up. He hoped it wouldn’t be long before she did wake up. He lifted his hand and scratched at the stubble on his chin. He looked rough; he hadn’t slept at all and the nurses had kicked him out at one this morning, telling him to go and get some rest. He’d wanted to sleep next to her on a fold-up bed but she wasn’t a child and they’d told him no. Her car that she adored was a total write-off and he knew the first thing that she would ask him when she woke up would be how her car was. He was even thinking of letting Jake be the one to break that news to her. He’d buy her a brand new one as long as she was well enough to drive it. He hadn’t thought about if there could be any lasting brain damage. They would deal with that if it came to it but Will didn’t care if there was. The doctors seemed hopeful that once she woke up she would be okay but he knew they were unable to say for definite.

Lily had been every day, leaving his dad with the ice queen taking care of him. She’d taken him to the canteen for a coffee and a bacon roll this morning, where he’d sat picking at the bun as he had no appetite. ‘She’ll be okay, Will; it’s just her body’s way of saying: leave me alone while I get better.’

‘I know she will but I just want her to open her eyes; even if she doesn’t speak, I just need her to look at me and remember me. You hear horror stories of people waking up from a coma and having amnesia. I couldn’t bear it if she didn’t even know who I was.’

‘You’re thinking the worst, which is only natural, but we both know what a little fighter she is. Do you think she won’t be lying there demanding her body to do what her mind is telling it? Because I don’t think for one minute she’s lying there taking it easy.’

‘How’s my dad, Lily; is he any better?’

She paused, taking a sip of her coffee. ‘He’s not too bad.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I didn’t want to worry you; you have enough with Annie.’

‘But?’

‘But I’m worried about him. He hasn’t been himself since the morning before Annie had her accident. He was sick and feverish. I asked him if he wanted me to call the doctor out but he shouted at me and told me to leave him alone. Will, he’s never spoken to me like that in all the years we’ve been married; something’s bothering him but he won’t tell me what.’

‘I’ll give him a ring later; did you get the doctor to check him out? Is it the side effects of the stroke, do you think?’

‘I don’t know, to be honest, although I told him if he continues and doesn’t make an effort to get out of bed then I’m getting the doctor whether he wants him or not.’

Will felt even worse than he had ten minutes ago. He knew that Lily must be worried to have mentioned it when Annie was so poorly. It wasn’t even as if he could leave here to go and see his dad; he wanted to be here when she woke up. He would ring him and try and get it out of him when Lily left.

They finished their coffee and made their way back up to the Intensive Care Unit. Lily walked in with him and across to the bed where Annie lay and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. She then turned and kissed Will on the cheek and said goodbye. Will hugged her and watched her walking out, wishing that none of this had ever happened. If he hadn’t shown Annie the house she wouldn’t be lying here now—why had he even bothered? He told himself to stop being stupid, that Annie loved the house; it was one of those things that a hundred ‘if only’s could not have changed.

In her dream Annie watched the two boys eat all their soup and smile at their dad. She found herself begging God not to let them die. Please God, let me be wrong. As she asked for some divine intervention she felt the woman on the opposite side of the kitchen turn and look directly at her. Every hair on the back of Annie’s neck stood on end as the woman opened her mouth, smiling at her. She nodded once and then a voice as clear as anything echoed in her ear. ‘Welcome to my life, my nightmare. I’m glad that you can watch how it all ends; now you will see why this is my house. It was always meant to be my house and it always will be. So get out.’

Annie’s body stiffened up and her hands clasped at the side of the bed. Her head began to move from side to side and her eyes were all over the place. Will jumped up and shouted for the nurses, who were in the corridor discussing something. Two of them came running in and looked at each other.