Winner Takes It All (22 page)

‘
Tara,’ he
began. ‘All that ground behind the Paddock, have you ever thought
about doing something with it?’

She finally looked at him
and he could see there was still a hint of sadness in those lovely
dark eyes.

‘
What do you
mean?’ she asked.

‘
Well a few of
the farms up in the Guildford area run petting zoos for children to
help supplement their income. I can remember going to a petting zoo
when I was little and I loved it. I was wondering if we should open
one.’

‘
What sort of
animals were you thinking of?’

‘
Rabbits,
guinea pigs. We could even have some goats and sell their
milk.’

Tara didn’t respond
immediately, twisting her mouth in contemplation. The more Tom
thought about it, the more excited he got.

‘
I’d have to
run it past Alex, but I think it sounds wonderful,’ she
smiled.

‘
Are you
serious!?’ Tom gasped.

‘
Yes, and if
Alex agrees, I’ll put you in charge of the whole thing.’

‘
You won’t
regret it Tara, I promise.’

‘
Okay, let me
ring Alex and if she gives the go ahead, you can get the ball
rolling. I’m so glad I waited to take the right person on Tom,
you’re such an asset to Sheridans.’

Sadie drove down that
night, and arrived wearing nothing but a mac and a set of black
lacy underwear. Tom feigned some sort of interest and let her take
him to bed; laying back and going through the motions. It took all
his concentration to stop his mind wandering. He wanted to end it
with Sadie – they had no connection, nothing in common except
rather impersonal, aggressive sex. Most of the time she behaved
like nothing more than an unpaid prostitute and for the first time
ever Tom felt repulsed by it all. Tara had shown him that
relationships with girls didn’t have to be seedy. They had such a
good time together, just pottering about, going to the pub or
chatting and that was far more enjoyable than being mauled by
Sadie.

If Tom was honest with
himself, just lately he thought of Tara almost constantly. She
needed him and this made him feel good about himself. He enjoyed
running the estate with her and the friendship they shared. When he
couldn’t sleep at night, a thousand and one scenarios would go
through his mind as he tried to work out a way of appeasing Jackson
and
remaining close to Tara. It wasn’t her fault she was
Lou’s grand-daughter after all.

Suddenly there came a
voice.

‘
For God’s
sake Tom, if you don’t want to do it, just say so.’

Awaking out of his
trance, Tom looked up and realised Sadie was still on top of him.
So distracted was he by his thoughts, he’d lost all interest and
had wilted beneath her. With a tut, she climbed off him and sat on
the edge of the bed, reaching for her cigarettes.

‘
Have you
stopped fancying me?’ she asked, lighting a Malboro.

‘
No, of course
not,’ he replied. ‘I’ve just got a lot on my mind that’s
all.’

She looked round at him,
narrowing those mean emerald eyes.

‘
I don’t have
to go out with you, you know. I get plenty of offers.’

‘
I’m sure you
do but we don’t really go out do we? We have sex.’

‘
I thought
that was what you wanted.’

‘
It is, but
I’m thirty two Sadie; one day I’m going to want to settle
down.’

‘
Don’t be such
a bore.’

‘
But I am a
bore. The person you met, he’d been moulded by Jackson. I’m not
really like that. I’m a loser who writes shitty plays no one wants
to see.’

‘
That’s the
old you. Jackson’s made you into someone special.’

‘
Maybe. But I
think you and I should take a break from each other.’

She raised her
eyebrows.

‘
You’re
dumping me?’

‘
No, I just
said I think we should take a break.’

‘
Well fuck
you,’ she spat, getting up and slipping into her shoes. She picked
up her coat and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind
her.

***

Jackson wanted their
rendezvous to be somewhere discreet and so he chose Bellamy’s, a
gentleman’s club in Knightsbridge. Jackson was a member by Proxy
due to his grandfather being Lord Montague and he promised to get
Tom membership as well. It was full of stuffy old men and smelt of
leather. Paintings of cricketers decorated the wall and a bored
looking woman in a white shirt and black skirt wandered around
serving drinks. Tom sat down opposite his cousin, feeling just ever
so guilty about what he was about to do.

‘
So what’s
going on in camp Cusack?’ Jackson asked after ordering two scotches
on the rocks.

‘
Bits and
pieces,’ Tom replied.

‘
What do you
mean by bits and pieces?’ Jackson snapped.

‘
Alex has
pulled out of buying that hotel.’

‘
I know that.
Maurice told me. I’m paying
you
to find out family secrets.
What have you found out?’

‘
I spoke to
this old guy who was telling me about how grandmother fought with
Lou over Mick O’Connell draping a Republican flag over the counter
of the pub. Apparently he was a member of the Fenians. Weren’t they
the forerunners of the IRA?’

‘
Basically,’
nodded Jackson. ‘Very interesting. Anything else?’

Tom looked down and
swallowed hard. He really didn’t want to say this. It could impact
on Tara badly.

‘
Michael
Cusack reckons that Ben isn’t Paula’s father.’

‘
What?’
Jackson practically spat.

The waitress brought the
drinks and Tom gulped his down in one, hating the feeling of
betrayal that was eating away at his guts.

‘
Michael seems
to think Paula’s father is Andrew McDonald - your great aunt
Bridget’s husband.’

‘
What makes
him think that?’

‘
Well Michael
reckons Paula has always been Lou’s favourite, so much so that when
she bought Sheridans, she only gave fifty percent of the shares to
Christian. She gave ten percent to Paula and kept forty percent for
herself, and when she died her shares got divided between Dan and
Tara. Alex got given ten percent of Christian’s shares for her
twenty first birthday and the rest of his shares go to his kids
when he dies. Also no one understands why Lou kept Andrew on like
some old retainer after she’d swept aside every other remnant of
our family. Besides, Paula
is
the spitting image of
Andrew.’

‘
Tom that is
fantastic. Have you any evidence?’

‘
No, only
photographic. The only person who knew the truth is
dead.’

‘
What about
the men themselves. Do you think they know?’

‘
I spoke to
Ben and there was something about his manner that implied something
had gone on between Lou and Andrew.’

‘
And Paula? Do
you think she knows?’

‘
Andrew did
mention that Paula used to visit him but doesn’t anymore. Maybe she
found something out when Lou died.’

‘
I must speak
to grandmother, see if she knows anything about it. Can you imagine
if that came out? My God it would rock that family. Well done Tom,
I was having my doubts about your capabilities but you’ve proved
yourself, thank you.’

‘
Jackson what
are your plans for Summerset when you take over?’

‘
Why do you
ask?’

‘
Only I’ve
lots of ideas for it and I’m just interested.’

‘
Well for a
start I’m getting rid of all that Irish shit in Claremont Hall and
changing it back into a home. I’m also considering moving the
brewery to another location, somewhere cheaper.’

‘
What about
all the people who work there?’

‘
Not my
problem.’

‘
And
Tara?’

‘
What about
Tara? She can scuttle off under the same stone the rest of her
family came from.’ He frowned. ‘You haven’t developed feelings for
her have you? Is that why you’ve dumped Sadie?’

‘
How did you
know about Sadie?’

‘
Lisa told
me.’

‘
No of course
I haven’t developed feelings for Tara. But I’m just wondering what
she’ll do when she loses her job.’

‘
As I said,
that isn’t for us to worry about. Her grandmother didn’t care about
us when she bought Sheridans right from under our nose did she? Why
should we care about her?’

‘
Perhaps she
might go to Cornwall with Dan and help him with the
restaurant.’

‘
What’s
that?’

‘
Her brother
and his partner are opening a new restaurant in
Cornwall.’

‘
Really? Do
you think he would be interested in selling his shares in Sheridans
to finance it?’

‘
Dan sell his
shares? I shouldn’t think so.’

‘
Well maybe
you should persuade him. It would be the most perfect opportunity
Tom. If we could buy twenty percent of Sheridans imagine the
powerful position that would put us in when we plan to take
over.’

‘
But they
wouldn’t allow you to buy the shares.’

‘
No, but
they’d allow
you
to buy the shares. You must try and talk
Daniel Steadman round, make it seem he’s got no other
option.’

Tom returned to Summerset
with a heavy heart. Jackson seemed to forget that he was the poor
relation - would the Cusacks really believe he’d suddenly acquired
millions of pounds to buy Daniel’s shares? He also didn’t like the
thought of them closing down the brewery and making hundreds of
people unemployed. Summerset was synonymous with Sheridans Brewery
and supplied ninety percent of the village with jobs. Generations
worked there and it would be scandalous to take it away from
them.

Turning into Summerset
High Street, the dull grey sky was lit up with the twinkling blue
lights of an ambulance. Tom almost crashed his car when he saw it
was parked outside Tara’s house. Pulling over, he got out and ran
towards it, just in time to catch the paramedics leaving the place
with Tara in a chair, wrapped up in a blanket, an oxygen mask over
her face.

‘
What’s going
on?’ he panicked. ‘Tara, what is it?’

Tara lifted her arm and
took the mask off. She was a horrible pale yellow colour, her dark
eyes sunken.

‘
T-Tom,’ she
uttered. ‘I’ve had a bit of an accident.’

Tom looked at the
paramedic as he helped lift her into the ambulance.

‘
Can I go with
her?’ he asked.

‘
Are you
family?’

‘
Yes, we’re
cousins.’

‘
Come on
then.’

The paramedics secured
Tara in the ambulance and Tom sat beside her. As the blanket
slipped, it was then he noticed the white bandage wrapped around
her left wrist, a huge blood stain in the middle of it.

‘
Tara what on
earth did you do to yourself?’ he asked. ‘How did you slash your
wrist?’

‘
It was an
accident,’ she whispered, her voice growing weaker, her eyes
struggling to keep open. The paramedic stood up, tapping the
partition between himself and the driver.

‘
Come on
Colin, put a wriggle on,’ he said. ‘She’s losing
consciousness.’

‘
Has she lost
a lot of blood?’ Tom asked.

‘
A good couple
of pints. She managed to call us in time, any longer and it might
have been too late.’

The paramedic took hold
of Tara’s damaged arm and lifted it up to divert the blood flow. He
also fixed a temperature gauge across her forehead to make sure she
wasn’t getting too cold. Tom wondered why on earth she would try to
kill herself. Was it linked to seeing Polly the other day? He knew
he couldn’t probe her too much, she was too weak.

She was taken to Brighton
Hospital and rushed straight into A&E. Tom was told to sit and
wait and he would he kept informed. He could never remember feeling
so worried. A part of him felt guilty. While he’d been with
Jackson, plotting evil doings, Tara had been alone and frightened,
doing stupid things to herself. He fetched himself a cup of coffee
and went out into the car park, calling Paula up in London to tell
her what her daughter had done. After bombarding him with questions
he couldn’t answer, she said she was on her way down and would be
there as soon as possible.

Tom returned to the
waiting room and a few minutes later he was joined by a young male
doctor, he wore that harassed expression on his face most staff on
A&E had.

‘
Are you with
Tara Eades?’ he asked.

‘
Yes. How is
she?’

‘
She’s very
weak but she’ll be okay. We’ve put her into a private ward. She
says she’d like to see you.’

‘
Of course,
please, take me to her.’