Chapter 12 #3
As soon as Tommy went into the house, Roxie watched as Gilda ran in for her own keys and back to her car. She drove away fast, scattering pebbles as she went.
‘I’m so sorry you had to witness all that aggro, Lucy,’ Roxie said tiredly. ‘I don’t know what I have done to cause so much — so much resentment.’
‘You look exhausted,’ Lucy said gently. ‘Forget her. Gilda is simply one of those people who is jealous of her own shadow, and everyone who possesses anything worthwhile.’
‘It’s the tension. I feel so depressed to think I have lost the things I cherished, things my grandmother, and my mother, treasured.
I am glad Gilda will not be here for the sale.
I can’t understand why she should envy anyone.
It doesn’t sound as though things are happy between her and Tommy either.
Did you hear him say she was stealing things? She is his wife.’
‘Even happily married couples disagree sometimes,’ Lucy said.
‘But you’re right. I believe trouble appears to be brewing big time and I feel sorry for Tommy.
I know he rushed into things, and maybe he has himself to blame in a way.
I suppose the old saying may be true, marry in haste repent at leisure. ’
When Lucy had driven away, Tommy told Roxie that Mr Robson, the son, had promised to look into the missing furniture urgently, maybe even this evening.
‘Will you take a walk with me, going round the cows in the field? They have been milked. They’re grazing in the field near the house.’ Tommy looked thoroughly dejected and weary, but Roxie heard the pleading in his voice.
Although she was tired, Roxie knew the walk and fresh air would probably help her sleep, and seeing the cows again was like seeing old friends to her.
‘I could never have kept the herd up to the standard you and Dad kept it, Roxie,’ Tommy said. ‘You have to be dedicated to make a first-class job.’
‘I think Dad would understand, Tommy, and at least you are having the sale now, and not waiting until the herd has deteriorated. Most of the breeders will remember Dad and the Caldbrook herd. I am sure there will be a good attendance, and if we can present the cows and heifers at their best, it will help the prices.’
‘Er . . . yes. Did Lucy have much to say? Well . . . I mean, did she tell you anything about the baby?’
‘Your baby?’ She turned to look at her brother. ‘No, she didn’t. Is there something wrong with him? Is he ill?’
‘Nothing like that. The poor wee soul.’ Tommy scuffed the grass with his boot and looked even more miserable.
‘I’m surprised Lucy didn’t tell you. There are plenty of rumours going round.
Everybody must think I was a stupid sucker to be taken in so easily.
I was so unsettled when I came back from Australia, but I was a conceited fool to be taken in so easily by her looks and her flattery. ’
‘Gilda is a very attractive girl.’
‘Maybe on the outside she is,’ Tommy said bitterly. ‘She is as sly and greedy as her father when you get to know the real person. If only I had listened to Dad, but it’s too late for me to tell him now.’ His voice sounded choked. ‘When the Davies twins come, they’ll give you the gossip.’
‘What about?’ Roxie asked with a puzzled frown.
‘I’m not the baby’s father, Roxie,’ he said bitterly.
‘He was not premature. Both the doctor and the nurse in charge said he was full term. Gilda still tries to deny it and worm her way out. She still insists she is not to blame,’ he added derisively.
‘I got a real shock when I saw him. I told the staff nurse she had shown me the wrong baby.’
‘What do you mean?’ Roxie asked tensely.
‘Liam was born with a lot of jet-black hair, and his skin is yellowish. His eyes are not at all like Gilda’s or mine. Gilda and her father are still trying to bluff their way out and insist he is my child, but I asked for a DNA test and Mr Robson Junior has arranged it.’
‘I see,’ Roxie said slowly.
‘Gilda’s mother is a decent sort of person and she sits silent, looking uncomfortable and miserable. I don’t think she really knew the truth either until she saw the baby for herself.’
‘Oh, Tommy, no wonder you are so unhappy.’
‘I was a gullible, headstrong fool. I know that now. Looking back, I think Dad must have suspected, or heard something, or maybe he was wiser than we knew. He tried to persuade me to postpone the wedding until the baby was born, then either agree to support Gilda and her child, or marry her if I still felt the same. I thought I was doing the honourable thing. To tell the truth, I didn’t really want to get married so soon, but I was amazed at our father suggesting such a plan.
I flew into a temper. I had enjoyed my time in Australia so much.
I didn’t know how I was going to settle down to milking cows and the sort of life Dad expected. ’
‘Oh, Tommy, I’m so sorry things are this bad. I wish you had told me what was bothering you. You had never wanted to do anything else but farm, even though you didn’t want to milk cows every day.’
‘It was because of all this mess that I met Mr Robson’s son.
He is more knowledgeable about divorce and things than his father.
He has advised me not to aggravate Gilda, if I can help it, until we can see how I stand over the baby.
But, Roxie — I can’t go on living with her.
Truly I can’t. Even before we came back from honeymoon, I knew she didn’t love me.
She thought she had married money because we owned a farm. ’
‘A lot of people have that impression.’ Roxie nodded. ‘They don’t understand that most of the money is tied up in land and stock and machinery.’
‘Mr Robson says the DNA proves I am not the father. I don’t know what happens now.
He says the circumstances are unusual. I suppose what he really means is I was every kind of a fool not to suspect.
He’d be right, too. I was too conceited to wonder why she favoured me instead of all the men she already knew at that club. ’
‘You did seem to be instantly attracted,’ Roxie admitted. ‘But Gilda is a lovely blonde, and she’s so dainty too.’
‘Yes, well I know now you can’t judge by appearances.
Gilda invited me for a meal when I hadn’t known her long.
When I arrived at her house, her mother had prepared the meal, but her parents were ready to go out for the evening.
Her father plonked a bottle of whisky on the table and told us to enjoy ourselves. ’
‘I thought you didn’t like whisky.’
‘I don’t. I only had one small drink and it was well watered. Gilda had two or three. She was either drunk or pretending to be. She got undressed. She wanted me to stay the night with her.’
‘And did you?’
‘Of course not! I hadn’t known her that long.
I had never been in favour of one-night stands.
Anyway, I expected her parents would be returning.
B-but I er . . . She got into bed. I stayed a while .
. . too long obviously.’ His face had a guilty flush and he looked young and unhappy, almost bewildered. Roxie’s heart went out to him.
‘I suppose Gilda got in a panic when she knew she was having a child and the father had disappeared to China,’ Roxie said. ‘It must have taken a lot of nerve, though, to go through with everything as she has done. I’m sorry I made such a fuss about my furniture. You have far worse problems.’
‘That is only one of several deceitful things she has done, and continues to do.’ He groaned audibly.
‘Her father is sly and he’s not above cheating if he can get away with it.
Gilda knows I don’t want either her or her baby living in the house anymore.
I pay her an allowance for her and the baby until we can get things sorted out legally, but whenever she is short of money she slips into the house when she thinks I’m at the milking, or working in the fields.
She is always taking food. She was hopeless at budgeting. ’
‘I’m so sorry, Tommy. Why didn’t you tell me? I longed to hear from you.’
‘I couldn’t confess what a mess I’d made of my life, but I did hanker for a talk with you several times.
I lost my mobile and I couldn’t remember your number without it.
I bought another recently. I have your number now, since you phoned me.
I hope your employer didn’t mind me phoning her on her landline? ’
‘Of course she didn’t. In fact, she insisted I must come to help you with the sale.’
‘Gilda deleted all the email addresses. She said she had done it accidentally. That was early on and I didn’t think much about it at the time. It was very inconvenient because a lot of them were business contacts. I have wondered since if she wanted to cut me off from everyone I knew.’
‘It sounds as though Gilda might take after her father,’ Roxie said slowly.
‘She needn’t have worried because I have felt too stupid to keep in touch with any of our friends, but, when they heard about the sale, the Davies twins and one or two others have said they will come to help. I hope they do, but I can’t blame them if they don’t.’
‘I’m sure they will. We both had such a lot of friends in the Young Farmers’ Club and Dad did a lot for the club too with coaching and holding stock-judging classes for them to come and practise.’
‘He did. Anyway, Roxie, if you’re not too tired, I had hoped you might have a glance through the catalogue tonight and then check it properly tomorrow evening for any errors.’ They walked slowly round the cows, then returned to the house both deep in thought.
Tommy telephoned Beth Corby to arrange about the food for those coming to help with the cattle-dressing in the morning, while Roxie had a look through the catalogue, surprised how much she remembered about each of the cows, but she had reared many of them from birth and she had loved her work.
She yawned and set it aside. She was on her way upstairs when Tommy shouted to say there was a phone call for her.
‘Someone called Ciaran Baxter.’
‘Oh, thanks.’ Her spirits lifted at the mere mention of Ciaran, in spite of all the troubles she had found waiting.
‘I promised to phone when I got here, but so much has happened. Tell him I will phone him from my mobile in a few minutes. I’d left it in my bedroom.
I’m going to the bathroom first. See you in the morning, Tommy. ’
Ciaran answered as soon as her phone connected.
‘Hello, Roxie. Are you all right? Your brother says you have had a stressful day. Was it a bad journey?’
‘Oh, Ciaran, I am so very pleased to hear your voice.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, truly. I am. I’m so sorry I didn’t phone earlier. The journey was fine. Steve, Lucy’s husband, met me at Derby, which saved some time.’ She went on to tell him about Lucy and the twins, then she hesitated.
‘But?’ Ciaran asked seriously. ‘Have you quarrelled with your brother? He sounds pleasant enough on the phone.’
‘We haven’t quarrelled at all. I feel so sorry and sick at heart for Tommy, but he is trying hard to be as normal as possible. He has troubles of his own. Serious troubles. I understand now why he didn’t get in touch and confide in me. It was nothing to do with Father’s will, or money.’
‘Is that what is upsetting you, Roxie?’
‘Partly, but I got upset when I arrived and came up to my old room. All the pieces of antique furniture my grandmother left me have disappeared. You probably think it silly of me to care so much about old bits of wood.’ She gulped, still distressed, although she tried to make light of the situation.
‘I don’t think it’s silly, Roxie. I have never heard you make a drama about anything, however important. Besides if they are antiques, presumably they will be worth something.’
‘They were, but it is not the money so much as the sentimental value. One of them belonged to my great-grandmother so it was . . . Oh, Ciaran, this is ridiculous going on about things, but I c-can’t forgive Gilda for selling my possessions. I think she hoped I would never return.’
‘She sold them? Even though she knew they were yours?’
‘Tommy has contacted Dad’s solicitor. He thinks he associates with the antique dealer who bought them, so we may manage to get them back. Anyway, I’m sure you must be bored with my moans. Don’t tell your mother. She worries about people. Give her my love, and Jenny too.’
‘What about me? Don’t I get any?’ Ciaran asked, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
‘I’m so pleased to hear you, you can have all my love. Thank you for being so understanding.’ It was easier to admit how much she cared on the phone and she was trying hard to respond to his lighter manner.
‘I hope you mean that, Roxie. I can be a very demanding man,’ Ciaran said. ‘I sent for a catalogue of the sale and it arrived in today’s post. I thought they weren’t published yet?’
‘They are. The auction firm wanted to get them out in good time, to let people know the sale was being held because it’s not a lot of notice.
I am hoping I shall not find many errors.
If there are any, they are going to publish supplementary pages and hand them out at the sale.
What did you think of the breeding?’ she asked.
‘I’m impressed. I fear they will be beyond my price range. I noticed your father has used the Sunwick bull a lot. That surprised me. I have had three of my cows inseminated by that bull. I think he is one of the best breeding bulls presently available. How did your father get so much of him?’
‘My father owned him,’ she said quietly.
‘He owned him? My goodness, Roxie, and you never boasted or even breathed a word.’
‘He bought the bull’s mother as an in-calf cow.
She calved at the farm when we were about to load her in the trailer to bring her home.
Old Mr Lister, who owned her, said he would like to register the calf with his own herd prefix because it would be the last calf he would ever have to register.
As the bull calf began to mature, my father thought he was a fine specimen, plus his mother was milking well and she had a lovely calm temperament.
So, he kept him for a stock bull. He used him more than he would normally have done.
The buyer for one of the artificial insemination companies saw his progeny and asked if he could bring one of the directors to see him with a view to buying him. So that’s the history.’
‘Quite a history, I’d say.’ Ciaran whistled. ‘I expect you’re ready for a good sleep now. I’m missing you, Roxie. I might phone tomorrow night to see how you’re getting on, if that’s all right?’
‘Oh, yes. I would like that.’
‘That’s good. Night, night, and sweet dreams.’ Roxie thought she heard him blow a kiss down the phone and she smiled happily, greatly cheered at the end of an awful day.