Chapter Twelve – Oliver #2
“How easily you use my name as if you didn’t just kick up a stink about me using yours,” she said flatly, then turned to me. “What are you waiting for, Mr Fancypants? Get out of my van and take your cheap beer with you.”
I jumped up. “What did I do?”
“You brought this nosy bloke to my doorstep.”
“We’re in a park, Rose.”
She motioned to the back doors of the van, then the step she’d just jumped down from. “My door. My step. Thus, my doorstep.”
Luke cleared his throat and nudged me. “Is she drunk?”
I shook my head. “That’s just her normal thought pathway. It scares me a little that it makes sense to me.”
“Well, if we’re done here, I’m going home.” Rose slammed shut the van doors and wiped her hands on her shorts. “Thanks for your help today. Let me know if you want to volunteer to get mildly verbally abused by some five-year-olds again.”
With those words as her parting shot, she hopped into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“She’s not big on manners, is she?” Luke asked dryly.
“She’s not big on anything other than tormenting me,” I replied. “You should have seen her laughing this afternoon when I was being bullied by children.”
He clapped me on the shoulder. “You’ve become pathetic since moving here, Oli. You’d never stand for her attitude in the office.”
“Yeah, well, this isn’t the office, and she isn’t my employee.” I shrugged off his hand and rubbed the back of my neck as I headed for his car. “And I will be tied to this place for the rest of my life. Rose and I will probably never be friends, but it won’t kill me to be civil with her.”
“Oli—”
I waved him away. “Leave it, Luke. Let’s just go back. Don’t I have an early meeting tomorrow?”
He sighed. “Understood.”
“I thought you were in Bali doing some soul-soothing or whatever Luke said it was.”
My mother bit into the sugared doughnut she was wearing like a ring on her pointer finger and stared at me, chewing slowly. “I was in Bali. Now I’m here.”
“Weren’t you supposed to be there for two more weeks?”
“My flight got cancelled so I got one a couple of days early instead of needing to find alternative accommodation.” She dropped the doughnut onto the sofa, spreading powdered sugar everywhere. “Whoops.”
I sighed, covering my eyes with one hand. “Mum…”
“I’ll clean it up, I’ll clean it up.”
“Sometimes I wonder how you ever survived at all those fancy aristocratic dinners.”
“I’m a wonderful bullshitter,” she replied brightly, beaming at me. “Now, what kind of chaos are you causing here, dear son? I hear you’ve pissed off a Matthews.”
I peered at her over my fingers. “Are they so notorious that even you know of their madness?”
She tapped the tip of her nail against her cheek. “Is madness the best way to describe it?”
“Certifiable insanity, then?”
“Oliver, don’t be rude,” she said, glaring at me. “I raised you better than that.”
“If you say so.” I sighed and rubbed my temple. “How long are you staying for?”
“What do you mean, how long? Now that your grandfather is gone, I plan to stay here in Hanbury.”
I blinked.
Mum was going to do what now?
“Don’t look at me like that. I’ve always loved it here, but your grandfather and father falling out really killed my dreams of a quiet life in the countryside.”
“ You dreamt of a quiet life in the countryside?”
“Yes. It’s very quaint, isn’t it? It’s peaceful. I hear there’s going to be a big local market soon, and I’m quite excited for that.” She eyed me, losing her previous brightness. “Although, I am wondering what you did to get on the wrong side of the young Matthews girl.”
“Exactly how long have you been spying on me, Mother?”
“Since the day you were born.”
At least she was honest. “I’m closing the allotments, like I told you I planned to do. Rose is the committee chairman, and she’s very… let’s say, passionate.”
“Mm. Is she making your life difficult, dear?”
“Immensely so. Two days ago, I was forced to accompany her to a nursery to teach a bunch of kids about gardening and got called a rotten bastard by a five-year-old.”
Mum licked the sugar off her fingers. “It does seem they’re going to fight your closure. If Rose is anything like her grandmother or mother, I imagine she’s a very fierce opponent.”
“That’s one way of putting it. She’s really just a huge pain in my arse.”
“I see. It must be hard for you, what with adjusting to everything here and learning how to manage the estate,” Mum said softly. “All the more reason for me to stay here, then.”
“I don’t know. Maybe you should—”
“I can help, dear. I spent a lot of time here, after all, so I’m very familiar with how this place works.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Mum…”
She got up off the sofa and walked over to my desk, touching my hand. “I will never be the Duchess of Hanbury, but until you get married, I’m still the Viscountess of Thorgen and the lady of the house. Let me help.”
She was right. I did need help—and all the better if it was from someone who understood the nuances of managing an estate.
My grandfather and father really didn’t have the best relationship, but that wasn’t to say no knowledge was imparted, and Mum had often acted the part of the duchess when it was required of her.
It was a fucked-up family dynamic that had somehow worked and would continue to do so until someone actually became the duchess.
“All right, fine.” I sighed, lightly squeezing her hand. “Your help will be invaluable, no doubt. Do you want to stay in the main house or in one of the annexes with more privacy?”
“The main house will be just fine.” She patted my head. “When you get married, I’ll move to a cottage then.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“I’m glad we’ve got that settled.” She squeezed my hand so tightly that I let out an involuntary pained noise.
“That five-year-old was right, you rotten bastard. How could you walk into this sweet little village and rip out its heart? What are you, a vampire? I didn’t raise you for thirty-one years just so you could take advantage of these people to line your pockets! ”
“M—Mum! That hurts!”
“Does it? Good?” She whacked me on the back of my head and released my hand. “You miserable little swine!”
“What are you—”
“Rose is a pain in your arse? Really? Imagine how these people feel about you, then.”
“Wait. You said you’d help—”
“I did.” She grabbed her bag of sugared doughnuts and grinned. “I didn’t say I was helping you , though, did I?”
“Mother!”
She stopped at the door and pointed at me. “Don’t you ‘Mother’ me in that tone, Oliver Rupert de Havilland. I want you to sit down and think about what you’ve done.”
“I’m not five.”
“Then stop acting like a brat. You have a duty to protect this place, not ruin it.” She yanked the door open and stared at me. “Did you say that Miss Rose Matthews is the allotment committee chairman? Excellent. I know exactly where to find her, then.”
I got up and held out my hand. “What are you—”
“I can’t believe I’ve raised a money-grabbing traitor! The horror of it all! I’ve failed as a mother! How can I live with the shame?” Mum wailed, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead and dramatically rushing out of my office like she was part of a soap opera.
What was going on?
Luke stepped in seconds later and looked between me and the open door. “Is… is your mother okay?”
I collapsed back onto my chair and buried my face in my hands. “She should have stayed in Bali. My life is about to fall apart even more.”
“Ah. She’s siding with the resident lunatic, I see.”
“Luke, buy some salt.”
“Salt?”
“In bulk.”
He narrowed his eyes sceptically. “In… bulk?”
“Ten kilos should be enough.”
“Forgive me for asking, but what the fuck do you need ten kilos of salt for?”
“To spread around my office. My car. Stuff sandwich bags full of it into my pockets. It might keep these demons away.” I peered out of the window. “This is a nightmare. The last thing I need is my mother teaming up with Rose to go against me.”
Luke closed the door behind him. “Ah. It is going to cause a disturbance, yes,” he said. “But you have a bigger worry right now, Oli.”
What on Earth could be bigger than that? “What’s going on now?”
“The Hanbury Allotment Committee have been issued an official permit for an organised, peaceful protest this Wednesday.” He handed me a large, white envelope.
Dread trickled down my spine. “Did you say a peaceful protest? With Rose in charge? Who approved this?”
“The council in co-ordination with the local police force,” he replied. “The police will be assigning officers to keep things under control.”
“Hm. Isn’t one of Rose’s closest friends a police officer?”
“Yes, but not of a rank where he would have a say in this matter.” Luke coughed into his fist. “I suspect it’s a ploy for media attention. As your assistant, I would recommend that you don’t attend, Your Grace.”
I stared at the permit then glanced at him. “And as my friend?”
“I still think it’s a terrible idea.”
“I guess I’ll go, then.”
“Do you ever listen to me?” Luke grumbled. “If your mother does disagree with you, God only knows what kind of chaos this is going to end up as.”
Despite my worries, a smile crept onto my face. “Then maybe I should pay a visit to Rose’s friend ahead of my attendance at the protest, no?”