“It doesn’t make sense,” Flora said, brushing cat hairs from her skirt as they were leaving. “It’s not like Jacob and Alice are going to leave the farm to Anita instead of Luke. Not that he’ll want to farm it anyway.”
Archibald was taking his leave of Griselda.“If it hadn’t been for your father, I’d never have got anywhere. He was so good to me, encouraged me so much, gave me such a lot of help.”
Inside, Griselda’s starved heart warmed a little. She’d loved her father dearly – and the sneers of people like Cynthia Harleston had hurt her a lot.
Griselda went upstairs after they’d left and stood out on the balcony looking over Rowansford. She could see the new estate, where Cynthia Harleston’s daughter and grandchildren lived, the island that was the original settlement, and over to her right, the new laboratories that were springing up where the old back to back slums had been. She knew the history of the town – and knew what was going on in it now, probably better than anyone. She collected knowledge, information, power. But she didn’t know what was going on with Luke Barden’s girlfriend and this Anita girl. And that bothered her.
Griselda woke in the night, two unrelated sentences playing in her head. She slid out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown and slippers, careful not to disturb Towcester, who was peacefully asleep on the other half of her bed.
This had been her father’s study and she’d adapted it for her own use. He’d not had computers, obviously, though he would have loved them, but Griselda had seen the ways they could be used from very early on. Now they were her window onto the world – and she wanted to find something out right now. Two sentences: one she’d said, one Flora had said.“I don’t hold with splitting up estates.”
“Not that Luke’ll want to farm it anyway.”
Map first. Griselda pulled out the same map Lucilla had been studying so carefully in the library. Next question: who owned those empty houses?
She opened up her laptop, and as the sky lightened towards dawn, she began to see what she could find out. She was going to have to make some phone calls as well, but it was probably a bit too early for that at the moment!
“Look down there and what do you see? A town that’s growing, spreading. And where’s it going to spread to next? Not over the river that way – there’s working farms, the Eleigh stables and a lot of residential. Now come and look this way.”Griselda’s visitors followed her ontot he balcony.
“Jacob and Alice’s farm. And then empty houses. If you could get your hands on all that land, as one piece, what would it be worth?”They could all see it in their mind’s eye as well as in reality.
Jacob and Alice’s farm – but being run by a tenant farmer on a short-term lease. And then the old houses up on the Edge behind the farm. Road access, services, sewage, water – all the infrastructure was there, just waiting for someone to exploit it.
Griselda led them from the top floor balcony and into a little-used sitting room. She needed more allies – and for Jacob and Alice’s sake, she was willing to break in upon her self-imposed loneliness and ask others for help. And the only other person in Rowansford who knew as much about the place as she did was Jonathan Saxtead, a historian of some note.
Tyne made a beeline for Lorraine, and jumped up onto her lap, purring, which softened Griselda somewhat. Anyone her cats liked much be all right – or at least have some good in them. And Jonathan still had the same warm-hearted charm he’d shown when they were at school together: so many years ago now.“Tell me the whole story,” he said, and Griselda began.
“Is there anything you two want to add?” Jonathan asked, as Lorraine leaned forward and complimented Griselda on Tyne’s evident health, strength and beauty.“It’s not like Luke to be so aggressive,” Flora said slowly. “I’ve known him all his life, and picking on a woman and her small child isn’t like him. Someone’s wound him up to do it.”
“What do you know about Lucilla? What has Alice said?”
Flora and Griselda both started telling him, piecemeal memories as they came across them. Jonathan stiffened like a bloodhound on the scent when they came to Lucilla’s account of how she’d lost her only child.
“But that’s not true. I know it’s not.”
“How do you know that?” Griselda was slightly miffed. “I’ll tell you what else isn’t true either. I checked up on the empty properties on the Edge – who owns them and so on. There’s been an offer put in on each of them recently – supposedly by three different concerns. But I can’t find any trace of these three businesses. And in each case, they were represented by a young blonde woman? Coincidence?”
“And here’s another one. There’s been two attempts to get Anita out of her house – which she owns. And if she wanted to oppose any development up there on the Edge, then as a homeowner, she’d have the right, and a strong case.”“Mmm. Rowansford’s planning laws do say that. And one person opposing a big development scheme would soon have followers. I’d be one of them myself.”
“And you wouldn’t be the only one,” Archibald added. “The whole of the historical society would be with you, plus all the people with families who like to walk, sledge, play, explore up round that area.”
“So,” Lorraine said thoughtfully to the room in general. “We have to sabotage her plans. My mother taught me about sabotage. And about what to do when you are faced with a ruthless enemy…”Flora looked mildly alarmed. If she’d known what Jonathan knew about Lorraine’s mother, she’d have looked very alarmed.
“Jacob! And Alice! Fancy meeting you here. Luke, I haven’t seen you in an age.”Lorraine had come up with a plan. “Use your enemy’s weakness against him, if you can. We know she lied. What effect will finding that out have on Luke? Can we use that?”
“He’ll hate it,” Flora said thoughtfully. “Alice and Jacob are so honest – and so was Sarah. And Luke’s like them.”
“Well, this might work then. We’ll see…”
“We’ve been celebrating,” Alice said happily. “Luke and Lucilla have just got engaged.”“Congratulations! Have you got a date for the wedding?”
“As soon as possible,” Lucilla said, smiling back at Alice. “As soon as possible.”
“So what brings you here?” Jacob asked, but Jonathan directed his answer at Lucilla.
“I’m meeting a sort of adopted grandson of mine. Charlie’s become great friends with him, and we’ve sort of taken him into our family. He…lost…his mother when he was quite young. It hurt him deeply. But,” and Jonathan made a courtly bow to Lucilla, “hopefully you, at least, haven’t had a great loss like that in your life. And I hope you never do.”
Would she take the bait or wouldn’t she? But Alice’s eyes met Lucilla’s, full of sympathy, and Lucilla had to speak.“Actually,” she said, “I lost my only child many years ago. His father took him from me – and I never found out where they went. I’ve had to accept that I probably never will.” Her big eyes were full of sorrow – Jonathan had to hand it to her, she was a brilliant actress.
The other part of Lorraine’s plan was waiting outside the Old Mill for a text from Jonathan, to say if he was needed or not. Lorraine had been completely open and honest with him about what was going on.“But this is up to you Matthew. It is for you to choose. To ask you to face your mother again – I know that is hard, and I do not want to push you into something that will hurt you also. We can find another way if you do not wish to do this.”
Actually though, Matthew thought, he was really doing this for Bryony. Bryony who made his dad happy in a way he hadn’t been since Lucilla left them both. Bryony who had wept, remembering Sarah Barden, her friend from her childhood. His phone buzzed in his pocket.
“Oh here he is,” Jonathan said, as Matthew appeared.“Hello, Matthew,” Jacob said with pleasure, and Luke Barden smiled at him too. Alice was about to introduce him to Lucilla, who’d given him the sort of absent-minded smile you give to a stranger. But Matthew got in first.
“Hello Mum. You haven’t changed , I see – though you obviously don’t recognise me. But then you wouldn’t would you? Let’s face it, after you walked out on us, you didn’t bother keeping in touch.”Matthew’s original script had just been “Hello, Mum.” And then they were going to take it from there. But Matthew had things he wanted to get off his chest – and finally, he had the chance to do so.
“Matthew! Is it really you?” But Lucilla was losing control of the scenario. She stood up tp try and hug him, but Matthew would have none of it.“You walked out on me. Not a card, not a line, not a message. You dumped Dad because he wasn’t rich enough for you, but why did you dump me? You never got in touch. We stayed at the same address for six years afterwards, and you never even sent me a birthday card.”
That had hurt.
“Why? Why did you leave me?”
And the naked truth of what Matthew was saying was very evident to all round the table.
“You lied to me!”Flora had been right – Luke really didn’t like it. His parents had never lied to him – and Sarah hadn’t either. And now the woman he’d dreamt of spending the rest of his life with had lied to him: big time. He looked at her, and it was as though a kaleidoscope had reformed its pattern before his eyes. Alice and Jacob rose from their seats, Alice heading for Jacob’s arms, deeply distressed, and the sight of his mother’s hurt made Luke angrier still.
“That’s it! I’m through with you! I thought you were as lovely as your face, but you’re not. You’re just a lying little cheat. Get out of my life.”And Lucilla knew she’d lost this chance for some easy money, lost the edge she’d had in the situation. But where had that son of hers gone? And how come he’d appeared just at that moment?
She stormed out after him, intent on giving him a piece of her mind, but found her way blocked by Jonathan.“If you’re looking for Matthew, he’s gone. And you’re not going to hurt him any more than you already have. And before you try anything else…we showed your photograph to the estate agents selling The Towers, Haslingfield House, Victoria House…Guess what. They all recognised you. That would make a good newspaper story, wouldn’t it?”
Lucilla stood still, furious. She’d met her match – but how come this old man had worked out what she was up to? The old were supposed to be stupid and gullible. She hissed at him, and left the building, intent on getting out of Rowansford as soon as possible.
“What would you like me to do today?”It was some three weeks since Alice had discovered that the young woman she’d been ready to welcome as a daughter had in fact been trying to make a fast buck out of them. Flora and the others had been worried that the shock would knock her back, but surprisingly it hadn’t. Instead, she and Jacob were busy carrying on with their plans to spruce up the farmhouse – thanks in no small part to Anita’s help. They hadn’t seen or heard from Luke since that disastrous tea party.
“If you could carry on sanding down these cupboards, that would be lovely. Let me put all my sewing things away first though.”“What are you planning to make?”
“I’m going to re-cover that settee – I bought the fabric to do it a couple of years before Sarah died, and first I didn’t have the time, and then I didn’t have the heart. But it’s in a terrible state now.”
“Have you chosen a colour for the rest of the wall yet?”
“We’re still thinking about it! Probably green, though.”
It was a month since Lucilla had gone, and Luke was coming back to the farmhouse for the first time since Sarah had died. He approached the front door cautiously: it wasn’t that he was unsure of his welcome, just unsure of himself, if he could cope. Some more of the windows had been painted, he noticed, and they were open just a crack top and bottom – the paint wasn’t quite dry yet, he guessed. Voices came through the window to him.
“Anita, thank you again for all you’ve done. Jacob can paint those cupboards no problem, but bending down that far and sanding at the same time takes its toll on him now.”“You know I love helping you. And you’ve been so good to me – without your help, Amy and I probably would have been turned out of our house.”
“Well, if it hadn’t been for that, I think Luke would have married Lucilla – and I can’t believe he would have been happy. Jonathan told Jacob and me about her plans to buy up the rest of the property up on the Edge…”
Luke had asked Matthew first why he’d done what he did – though with some sympathy, as it couldn’t have been easy for Matthew when Lucilla walked out on him. He could understand the boy’s desire to confront her. But Matthew’s answer had disarmed him.“I did it for Bryony as much as for me. Because Sarah was her friend, and she loves Jacob and Alice. And Mum wasn’t out to do them any good.”
Anita, though, was fair game. Flora and Archibald had impressed upon him how good Anita was for his parents, and he could see that, having been round to the house, having heard about the help that she was to them. (“And the help that you weren’t,” said the voice in his head.) But nothing was going to make him like her.
“Nothing at all. Nothing you could do or say will ever make me like you. If it hadn’t been for you…”
“You wouldn’t have found out that your girlfriend was trying to make herself a small fortune in property deals.”
Anita’s voice was as calm as his: this was no huge row this time. But she was giving as good as she got.
“Mum and Dad really like you – I can tell that. And, okay, I admit you’re not in it for what you can get out of it for yourself. Flora and Archibald told me that. So, see them as much as you like. It makes them happy, and that matters to me. And I’ll be polite to you, or I’ll hurt their feelings. Just don’t ever think that we’ll be friends.”
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