It's Not Fair! Chapter 5

They all went to Matthew’s house after school next day – ostensibly to continue working on the history project that had taken them to the library the day before.
“There’s neither space nor privacy at our house,” Charlie said regretfully.
“We have space, but there will be no privacy,” Hanako had added.
Bryony’s farmhouse had both.
“So,” Hanako had said, when Bryony had left to see to the horses for the night. “What next? Has she come looking for you?” “No,” Matthew said bleakly. “She doesn’t know where we are – and doesn’t care either. If she’s here, it’s because she’s after power or money or both. Eventually, I realised what she was like. And what she’d done to Dad. Always telling him he was a failure and no good and not good enough for her, not deserving her.” He paused, lost back in time.
“It was a neighbour who put me straight – she heard me being horrible to Dad, telling him all the things Mum always said. And she took me on one side afterwards and pointed out that Dad was the one who was still there, still caring for me. And Mum had walked out on me. And in her book, the parent who went on caring was the successful one. And the parent who left – the way Mum did – that was failure. And why didn’t I go and tell my father I was sorry…which I was, by then.” Charlie couldn’t imagine that. Her own parents’ very happy marriage was such an unshakeable part of her life. Her mum walking out on them was unthinkable. Mum deliberately undermining Dad wouldn’t happen either.
“But I could see Daisy doing that to someone,” she thought suddenly – and wondered where Daisy had got that from. In the end, Matthew met up with Bryony at the stables before she came home. He took Charlie with him for moral support!
There’d been an event on there that day. The caterers had just finished clearing away the food, but the candles were still burning on the tables, creating a sense of closeness and intimacy that made it easier for Matthew to talk to Bryony.
“I don’t want Dad being hurt again,” Matthew said, and Charlie watched as he and Bryony allied themselves against this threat to Donald. “Do you think we should tell him?” Bryony’s pleasant features were just not made for looking dangerous. But her voice sent shivers down Charlie’s spine.
“If she tries to hurt your father again, I will personally take her to pieces. With my bare hands. No – we won’t tell Donald just yet, Matthew. Let’s see if we can find out why she’s here first. I’ll ask around.” “And so will I,” thought Charlie. "Or, at least, I’ll get Grandmère and Grandpère on to it. Them and Bryony between them – they must know just about everybody in Rowansford. Someone will know why Matthew’s mother is here and what she wants.” “Thanks, Bryony,” Matthew said. “Thanks for caring about Dad. I’m really glad he’s got you.” He didn’t say that easily, but Charlie could tell he meant it, and she watched Bryony blush with pleasure at Matthew’s words. Mucking out a stall before he got ready for school, Matthew could only hope that Bryony did manage to find out what was going on. And Charlie had asked him if she could get her grandmère and grandpère to help too: Matthew had a lot of faith in their ability! “Oh, Dad, isn’t it obvious? Honestly, you’re so not in touch with the crucial. This Spring’s new micro-trend is, like, urban cowboy with a feminine twist – so the sleeves are gathered at the shoulder instead of just set in flat. And then the hide on the front yokes and the belt buckle, like, reference the cattle drives of the past…”
“Ah yes, that well-known feature of English life, the cattle drive…”
“Oh, Dad, you and Mum are so, like, frumpsville inhabitants…” Charlie walked in on her dad being seriously cross with her sister.
“I will not have you criticizing your mother’s clothes or dress sense. In any way. Is that perfectly clear?”
Daisy glowered at him, and Charlie was all set to walk out again, but her dad spoke perfectly pleasantly to her.
“And what does your outfit say, Charlie?”
“That I’m going out into the woods to research our history project, and if this gets muddy, it’ll all go in the washing machine no problem.” Daisy flounced out of the room in a grade A huff, and Charlie looked sympathetically at her father.
“How was your day?”
“We’ve finally cleared up the last of the problems that the power cut caused!”
There had been major bad weather after the New Year, culminating in a 36 hour power cut. RMB laboratories had back-up generators but, it turned out, not with enough power, and they’d been picking up the pieces ever since.
“Those clothes suit you, by the way. Nice choice of colour.”
“Well, Hanako helped. I spent the last of my Christmas money on them. Dad – where’s Daisy getting all the money for her clothes? Poppy was buying that outfit when I was looking in the same shop. She’s got nearly a hundred and fifty quid’s worth of clothes on her back at the moment.”
David frowned. He’d assumed that, like Charlie, Daisy had spent her Christmas money on them. “What do you think? I’m going to have to choose my entries for the painting competition soon. There’s a Nature class, a Portrait class – but I’m hopeless at those – and an abstract one. I might manage a couple more pictures before the entry deadline, but I might not.”
“Probably the chipmunk one of these. I like the technique you’ve used.”
“Grandmère got me on trying that!” “And these abstract ones?”
“That’s harder. Do you go with total abstract, and it’s all about colour, or an abstract treatment of something? Ask Grandmère – she’s got a good eye. Ask her which one she likes the best. But these are all good, Charlie. I’m seriously impressed!”
“Thanks! Are you feeling okay? You look a bit peaky.”
“Ooof! The day I have had at work today! Come and have a mug of something with me while I tell you all about it!”
I love this, thought Jonquil. I love having a daughter who will listen to me, talk to me, notice me when I’ve had a bad day. “If you really want to know about that side of Rowansford for your history project, you need to meet the Bardons. I’ll take you there one weekend.”
And Grandpère had been as good as his word. Charlie, Hanako and Matthew looked at the old farmhouse and realised just why the Bardons were the people to meet. If they had been around as long as the farmhouse, they must be well up on local history! “So you’re Jonathan's grand-daughter. I can see the likeness. But are you as much trouble in the classroom as he was?”
Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know. How much trouble was he?”
“Oh my!” Jacob Bardon’s face was very expressive, and Charlie made a mental note to ask her grandpère a few pointed questions! Matthew was busy explaining to Alice Bardon about their history project.
“And we saw this old wooden hut in the woods over there…”
Alice broke in a little hurriedly. “That’s not where you want to be. You want to see the houses at the back of Haslingfield House. They travelled a lot, the Haslingfields, and they built their houses to look like the foreign parts they’d been to.”
“Old Archibald Haslingfield was a great diary writer too, I seem to remember. Alice is right – you’d find easily enough for your project there.”
“Thank you Mrs Bardon – that’s really kind of you to help us.”
“Not at all. How’s young Bryony keeping?” Hanako was madly taking notes as Charlie chatted to Mr Bardon. He’d said that they didn’t want to bother with the old wooden hut either, but try Haslingfield House instead. He was indeed a mine of information! His family had farmed there for five generations – there wasn’t much he didn’t know about this neck of the woods. Charlie found herself warming to him fast – though it seemed to her that there was a gentle sadness behind his eyes. “I can see why Mr and Mrs Bardon recommended these houses!” The Haslingfields had obviously been to Russia at some point.
“And Grandpère used the time to ask them about their son, Luke, as well – did he tell you?”
Matthew nodded. The spy network that they’d put into action to find out why his mother was in Rowansford had put her in Luke Bardon’s company. “But Luke’s not got lots of money,” Matthew was beginning as Hanako arrived, and he had to start again and explain it all to her as well.
“Maybe your mother’s fallen in love,” Charlie suggested. “If Luke’s as nice as his dad…which reminds me, I was right about him seeming sad.”
“Yes, but tell us about it while we do our project. Hanako’s got orchestra this afternoon, remember.” “Gosh, imagine living here!”
“Imagine raising a family here.”
“We need photographs. Go on about the Bardons, Charlie.”
“Oh yes.” Charlie had almost forgotten them as she looked round the tiny house and tried to imagine a family living there all those years ago. “Well, the Bardons had two children, twins, Sarah and Luke…” The second house boasted a totally unnecessary roof ornament, the sight of which stopped Charlie in her tracks!
“But what’s it for?”
“Decoration,” Hanako said briefly. “Status. It says you are important. Go on with the story!” “Oh – yes. So, Sarah was on the Saint Mark when it began to go down. Do you remember? It was about three years back now. She was one of the people who helped rescue all those school children as it was sinking. Really heroic. And then the boat sank. And she got free, just, but she had some really bad internal injuries, and she died of them, a few days later. But she and this steward on the boat – they got fifty kids out to safety, stopped them panicking. And since she died, Luke – her twin – he’s not been back to the farm. He meets his parents other places, but he won’t go back there, and isn’t going to take it on when they die.”
“That’s sad.”
Matthew said nothing. He hoped his mother would be kind to this hurt man. He certainly couldn’t see her wanting him for his farm! Not her thing at all. Maybe Charlie was right, and this time she’d fallen in love with a person instead of their prospects. “This one was lived in until quite recently. By the grand-daughter of one of the Haslingfield servants. Grandpère interviewed her for the local history society a few years before she died, so we can use that source as well.”
“Talking of your family, what’s up with Daisy?” Hanako asked. “When I called by yesterday, she glared at me like she wanted to murder me.”
“Ah. That’s not about you. Dad asked her where she was getting all the money for clothes from – and I put him up to that. She said Grandma H. So Dad wasn’t happy about that because it’s not fair if Grandma H gives her loads and me next to none. And he talked to Grandma H. But she said yes, she did give Daisy some extra, ‘but not to excess, David. And I’m very hurt that you could suggest that.’ So now Dad’s furious with Daisy for a) lying to him, and b) not telling him where the money’s coming from. I think Poppy’s giving it to her, to keep her friendship.” “Talking of your family some more,” Matthew said, as they looked inside the third cottage and began to take more photographs, “why are your grandmère and grandpère thinking of selling their house? Is it too expensive to keep up, or just too big for them?” “Selling the house! Are you sure?” Charlie was totally taken aback.
“Yeah – I heard them mention it. They’re definitely thinking about it. I assumed you knew.”
“No. No, I didn’t. But…the family’s always lived there. Since it was built. They can’t sell it! It’s our proper family home.”
It was. Saxtead Villa was home in a way that their current shoe-box of a house could never be. Charlie was genuinely upset.
“I’m going to ask them about it as soon as I next see them.”