Chapter 36
THIRTY-SIX
Rita was strolling back down the High Meadow towards the farmhouse when her mobile rang. Delighted that it was Sennen, she answered immediately.
‘Darling, are you OK?’ Always conscious not to be the needy mother, she just stopped herself from saying that she missed her checking in on her so often now.
‘Just so busy, but the money is flying in so that’s very nice. Weddings by Sennen will be going international at this rate.’ The young woman laughed.
‘I’m so pleased, darling, and you sound happy?’
‘I am, Mum, don’t worry about me. I’ve had a couple of dates with one of the photographers I use. So, Alex who? He can do one. Are you OK? How’s it all going?’
‘It’s all going well. A fun group and they all seem to be enjoying it. I’ve had a couple of confirmed bookings for next month too. I’ve decided to run shorter retreats. A month is bit intensive, to be honest.’
‘I did think that, but I know you needed the money, so I let it lie. Thom told me he’d popped in.’
Rita’s voice flattened. ‘Yes, yes he did.’
‘You don’t sound very enthused.’
‘He wants me to sell the farm, Sen, and I don’t want to.’
‘That again – don’t listen to him. You know what he’s like.’
‘Shit!’ Rita suddenly exclaimed as she looked down towards the house.
‘What is it, Mum?’
‘Sorry, darling, but talk of the devil, that brother of yours has just pulled into the courtyard.’
‘Oh. Oh yes, he’s on his way back from his work thing, I think.’
‘Sen, has he ever mentioned anything about your father’s will to you?’
‘No, why?’
‘It’s nothing… I’d better go. Love you, darling. Talk when you can and when you get a bit of a break come down and let me wait on you.’
‘What, like last time?’ Sennen laughed. ‘When you were so hungover I had to cook breakfast, and your best mate killed Nigel.’
‘Be gone with you.’ Rita was laughing now too.
‘Twice in one week and it’s not even my birthday.’ Rita tried to keep her voice level as she handed over a steaming mug of coffee to her only son.
‘I felt I couldn’t travel home without popping in.’
‘Event go well?’ Realising that big talk would be distressing for her, Rita continued with the small until she was ready to take the plunge.
As Thom took a sip of coffee and sat back in his chair she felt a pang go right through her heart. Not just because he was the spit of her Archie but because she couldn’t believe the way he was treating her right now.
Here was the boy/man she had nurtured and cherished through endless nappies, two schools, braces, exam nerves and first love heartache.
The boy/man whose bad dreams she had kissed away and who she’d sat up all night with in A&E when he had broken his leg playing rugby.
Where had this person in front of her come from?
She definitely hadn’t brought him up to be this kind of unfeeling monster.
Thom ran his hands through his short hair.
‘I take it you got the letter.’ Rita remained silent.
Thom sighed. ‘Look, I’m not trying to be the bad guy here, Mum.
But the farm needs to be valued. It’s only fair.
You can’t just hold on to it like it’s not part of Dad’s estate. You know how this works.’
Rita was curt. ‘Yes, I do, actually. I’ve had a bit of legal advice. Proper legal advice.’
Thom hesitated. ‘Who from?’
‘One of my guests.’ She extended the truth slightly. ‘He’s spent thirty years sorting out messes like this.’
Thom’s jaw shifted. She could almost hear the gears turning, recalculating his position.
He spat back without thought. ‘Well, that’s… fine, but he… he wasn’t Dad’s solicitor.’
‘No, but he understands the law. And here’s the truth, Thom. The farm was in both our names as joint tenants. That means when your dad died, it passed to me automatically. It’s mine now. Not part of the estate. End of story.’
‘I know that. But what about the rest of it? You can’t just ignore…’
‘There’s nothing else to ignore. The savings are gone, spent on funeral costs, keeping this place afloat and the ridiculous financial mess your father left me in.’
‘What about the money from the sale of the cows and the tractor?’
‘Thom… it’s gone. I have the house and now the money coming in from the retreat. That’s it. Please don’t do this to me.’ She coughed to push back her rising emotion.
‘So, you’re saying there’s nothing, nada, not one penny left for me and Sennen?’
At the mention of her daughter’s name, Rita felt a surge of fear that Sennen may be involved too. She hadn’t given anything away when they had just spoken. No, surely that wasn’t the case, for that would destroy her totally. ‘Not from the estate, Thom. No.’
He stared at her, stunned, not by the answer, but by the fact she’d dared give it so directly.
‘But Mum, you haven’t even seen Dad’s will. This isn’t fair.’ Thom’s handsome face suddenly turned ugly.
‘It’s not about fair.’ Rita’s voice softened. ‘You sent a solicitor’s letter thinking it would scare me. It did. But I’ve spent too long keeping this place going with or without your father… so to be pushed out of it now, well, it ain’t happening, sunshine.’
A long silence.
‘You could still sell,’ Thom muttered. ‘Like I said before, live somewhere smaller. Easier. You’re not getting any younger, Mum. You’d have no money worries then, be set for life. You could split what was over with me and Sen and then everything would be sorted.’
Rita stood slowly. ‘I may not be getting younger, but I am getting stronger by the day, yes.’
Thom suddenly looked awkward. And then out it came with a whoosh. ‘What if the will says something different?’
A red mist came over Rita, the same steaming fury she had felt towards Jago days previously.
‘What do you mean?’ Rita felt the temperature in the room suddenly lower, her voice coming out in a low growl.
‘Thom, is there something you know that I don’t?
Are you broke? Are you worried that you’re not going to be left with any money?
Don’t worry, I’m not intending to remarry any time soon. What is it? What is wrong with you?’
Her tall, handsome boy stood up and with what Rita thought looked like tears in his eyes reached for his car keys. ‘Maybe there was more to Dad than any of us knew, that’s all.’
Rita frowned. ‘Thom? You can’t say that and not expand on it. You know where the will is, don’t you? This is what this is all about. It has to be.’
He didn’t answer.
Rita was now shouting. ‘Thom, have you seen your father’s will?’
Thom cracked. ‘NO! NO, I fucking haven’t, but one of us needs to.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ Rita screeched as Thom headed for the door.
Again, no answer, instead, he just huffed, and walked out, leaving the door as wide open as the crack that had just split straight through the centre of Rita’s heart.