Chapter 13 #2
Beth giggled. ‘Like you used to do when you were five years old and running home from school?’ she said teasingly. ‘Maggie has told me several times about that. She thinks the world of you two. She will be overjoyed when I tell her you want her back to work at Willowbrook.’
* * *
Later that evening when they were alone and Roxie was writing out a long shopping list for Beth to get from her delivery man, she raised with Tommy the risks of stocking up the cupboards and freezer.
‘I’m planning on filling up the freezer too, but is the food safe?
I’m thinking frozen vegetables and some convenience foods for you to cook, as well as rump steak, mince, chicken and chops, things I know Maggie can cook during the time she is here cleaning, and you enjoy that sort of thing.
It is not worth running the freezer with so little in it anyway — a couple of joints of beef and one of lamb. It’s a waste of electricity.’
‘Neither Gilda nor her mother, have ever cooked a roast. That’s why they’re still there,’ he said drily.
‘You could put a lock on the pantry door, I suppose, but we always keep a lot of food in the kitchen cupboards too.’
‘James Robson advised me to change the locks on all the doors,’ Tommy said.
‘He didn’t even know she has been pilfering food and Lord knows what else.
He suggested the locks because Gilda tried to stay overnight a couple of times.
I nearly lost my temper, but I made it clear I didn’t want her, or her baby, in the house.
I believe she thought she could entice me with her feminine wiles, if she got back into my bed. ’
‘Oh, Tommy.’
‘Don’t worry, Sissy. I’m not as naive and foolish, or as conceited, as I was when I first met her,’ he said bitterly.
‘She knew I had recently returned from Australia so she thought I had loads of money, and I knew nothing about her previous activities. I didn’t know much about her, or her family.
I am wiser now. Beth’s cousin is a joiner.
Maybe I will give him a ring and ask him to change all the locks. ’
‘If you do that you must give Maggie a key of her own to come and go when she needs, but warn her not to leave it lying around in case Gilda comes when she is here on her own.’
‘I shall tell her not to let Gilda in and keep her own key in her pocket. I closed my petrol account at the garage in the village. She had been filling her father’s car with petrol, as well as her own, and putting it all on my account. They can both pay for their own petrol from now on.’
‘It makes me wonder why anyone ever gets married if there is so much deceit and unhappiness.’
‘Most people manage to make a go of things. Your friend Lucy looks very happy.’
‘She is, but they are a lovely couple.’
‘They love each other, that’s the difference. I didn’t know Gilda long enough to learn to love her, or to hate her. I was presented with a dilemma. I can’t believe I was so bloody stupid.’
‘I don’t remember you ever being angry or bitter, Tommy. You seem so dejected now.’
‘Sometimes I think I should sell up everything and return to Australia.’
‘Oh, surely you wouldn’t do that! Willowbrook is your heritage. Our grandfather came here as a baby with his parents. Dad was born here, and so were we.’
‘I know. Even when we knew Mum was not going to get well again it was still a happy home, but I don’t find it very happy now.’
‘You will feel a lot better when you have Maggie back. She will get things shipshape again, as she used to do. She will enjoy cooking your favourite meals and mothering you.’
‘We shall see. Part of me had hoped you might decide to stay here once you knew I was on my own. Then the bitch was the first person you saw! I still can’t believe she sold your furniture.
I sincerely hope old man Robson will get everything back.
He knows they are yours and that you’re here for the sale. He said he might call in to see you.’
‘I hope he doesn’t come during the day while I’m working. There’s such a lot to do, Tommy. We’re going to struggle to get every animal looking its best. Harry is a grand worker, though. Dad would have made a fine herdsman of him.’
* * *
The atmosphere in the house seemed very different with Maggie arriving every morning, wafting away cobwebs with her feather duster, humming softly as she scrubbed, cleaned and polished.
The scent of lavender greeted all comers once more and the windows sparkled in the sunlight.
The only cloud on Roxie’s horizon was they had heard nothing more from old Mr Robson, and Jacobs, the antique dealer, had failed to return her beloved sewing table and the other pieces of furniture she had cherished.
Beth arrived every morning, always bright and cheerful and armed with great trays of filled rolls and buttered scones.
The rolls were generously filled with ham, cheese, beef or fish.
In addition, Beth provided dishes of chutney and bowls of fresh salad for anyone who wanted to help themselves.
Maggie seemed to enjoy breaking off from her own work in the house to help Beth serve, and to greet the people she knew personally.
She had lived in the village all her life.
Roxie felt they had been luckier than she had dared to hope when so many of their neighbours had come to help with the washing and grooming of the cattle, especially on the final two days before the sale.
She wondered if some of them had come for her father’s sake, although all but two older men were her own age, men she and Tommy had known from when they’d been in the Young Farmers’ Club.
None of them dallied over their refreshments, although everyone ate heartily.
Tommy and Roxie ate along with their helpers at midday, both knowing there was still a lot more work to do.
Maggie stayed all day, every day, and she prepared a hot dinner ready for Roxie and Tommy to eat for their evening meal.
Roxie appreciated her thoughtfulness immensely because she was working hard.
Every evening she was glad to flop exhausted into an armchair.
The high point of her day was Ciaran’s phone calls.
He had made a point of telephoning every night to hear how things were progressing.
He liked to discuss some of the pedigrees in the catalogue with her, asking her if they looked as good in reality as they did on paper.
He had selected six so far that he said were the best in his opinion.
She agreed with four of his choices, but said she would not have chosen the other two.
‘It is different for me. I suppose I’m prejudiced because I know them and I can see them. You only have the catalogue to look at,’ she said.
‘Tell me which numbers you would prefer so that I can study them. Maybe we can enjoy a little debate about them,’ he said, chuckling.
One evening she was extra pleased when he said, ‘Roxie, I could love you for your syrup sponges alone.’ He sounded half serious, half joking, but every evening he told her everyone was missing her.
Then, on the second last night before the sale, he said he would not be able to phone again but he hoped everything would go well on sale day.
Roxie was shaken at how disappointed she felt at missing their evening chat, even though they had never been in the habit of speaking to each other in the evenings when she was at Oaklands.
She told herself she was being ridiculous.