by Tony Parsons
This near disaster involved Catriona’s longtime best friend, Susan Cartwright, who became Susan Hunter when she married. Susan had finally had a child – a daughter she named Karen. Karen was several years younger than Moira, and the apple of Susan’s eye. But Susan’s marriage was an unhappy one. She continued to play a lot of tennis, which helped to make up for what was lacking at home. Michael had put on weight because he drank too much, and intimacy had disappeared from their marriage long ago. When Michael found out Susan had been having an affair their marriage finally came to an end. Susan went to live in Tamworth and Karen went to school there.
Susan and Catriona’s friendship had cooled over the years, but Susan came to tell Catriona that she and Michael had parted and that she was going to live in Tamworth, at least while Karen finished her schooling. Catriona shook her head because the mere thought of parting from David sent cold shivers through her bones.
‘It’s all right for you, Catriona. You’ve got a lovely man. If I had married David, things would have been different.’ After all these years, Susan still spoke bitterly of lost opportunities with David.
‘That was never on, Susan. David would never have married you. You wouldn’t have changed, not even for David. You married Michael because you couldn’t get David and you’ve never done the right thing by him. Half the time you’ve been away playing tennis. Did you have to be unfaithful to him?’
Susan stood and glared down at her old friend. ‘I never thought I would hear you say such things, Catriona. Everything always fell into place for you, didn’t it? You were always just that much prettier than me, just that much smarter, and David fell into your lap because you were neighbours. I’ll bet you seduced him into bed to make sure you got him,’ Susan said in a cold fury.
‘I never did, and that’s a rotten thing to say,’ Catriona said.
‘Don’t deny that you offered to,’ Susan countered.
Catriona had been about to deny that she had, but remembered that she had even offered to become pregnant so that she and David could be married. ‘I was desperate to marry David. I admit that, but I loved him, Susan. David was the only man I ever wanted.’
‘And you still have a great sex life. Michael started drinking and put on weight and he wouldn’t touch me. I wasn’t going to do without sex for the rest of my life. I’m far better off now – I’m my own boss. If Michael doesn’t keep paying me I’ll take half of what he has. He knows that. He wouldn’t like to lose half his precious property,’ Susan spat.
‘You’re not the girl I used to know,’ Catriona said. ‘If you had taken more interest in Michael’s cattle and the property generally, maybe he wouldn’t have started drinking, maybe he wouldn’t have put on weight and maybe you wouldn’t have had to sleep around to get what you want,’ Catriona said.
‘So it’s all been my fault. That’s what you’re saying, isn’t it? Typical!’ Susan said, the pitch of her voice increasing by octaves.
‘I’m not suggesting it’s all been your fault but it seems to me that you have to shoulder a lot of the blame. The only thing you’ve got out of your marriage is Karen. If you don’t set her some sort of example, heaven knows how she’ll end up.’ Catriona warned.
That was the final straw. ‘You look after your family and I’ll look after Karen,’ Susan said, and stormed out of the house in a high temper. Her car almost sideswiped David’s utility as she rounded the bend towards Inverlochy.
‘What happened between you and Susan?’ David asked his wife when he came into the house.
Catriona gave him a precis of their conversation and he whistled. ‘You weren’t very sympathetic,’ he said.
‘No, I wasn’t. Susan keeps telling me that her life would have been so different if she had married you and not Michael. That’s nonsense. Susan is Susan, and a leopard can’t change its spots. Susan is rather self-centred. I’ll amend that – Susan is extremely self-centred. Karen is the only person she has ever really cared about. Oh, she probably liked you well enough, David. The thing is that if she is playing about with men what kind of example is that for Karen? I have no patience with Susan these days. And after that flu I was feeling in no mood to listen to her,’ Catriona said.
Life moved on for Susan in Tamworth. Still playing fine tennis, she met Gary Trainor, a handsome and very good doubles partner. Gary was a wool representative for one of the leading wool and stock firms and he had recently been posted to Tamworth. Susan was much older than Gary, but the pair quickly developed a partnership in the bedroom as well as on the court. Susan was, in fact, in seventh heaven. She had her income, her tennis and a satisfying sex life with a man many years her junior.
Life for Susan was wonderful until Gary got an eyeful of Susan’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Karen. Gary’s big weakness was women – he simply couldn’t resist them. And Karen, young, naive and yearning for romance, fell head over heels in love with Gary Trainor. When Karen threw herself at him, he took what she offered him without any thought of the consequences – let alone marriage.
In the course of his duties as wool rep Gary made his way to High Peaks to meet David MacLeod. David was at the top of his company’s list of clients in the northern area. The previous wool rep had retired after a lifetime at the job, and David had got on with him very well. But Gary Trainor didn’t appeal to David one little bit. He was, to use one of Anne’s words, too ‘smarmy’. A great-looking fellow and he dressed well, but full of bullshit. Granted he seemed to know what he was about, but that was only ever half the story with David MacLeod. If he didn’t like a man, he didn’t like him and that was that. He liked Gary Trainor even less when he saw the fox’s eyes wander over his daughter.
In his pleasure at the way Moira had fitted into his life since coming home from boarding school, David had overlooked the fact that Moira was a woman, and she might one day behave like a woman and want more than he could offer her at High Peaks. And despite David’s conviction to the contrary, Moira wasn’t perfect. She was a fine judge of sheep and cattle, but underneath all of that Moira was a woman, with a woman’s feelings and desires. She had been looked at, admired, many times, but never by a man as handsome as Gary Trainor.
Moira had her own vehicle and it wasn’t long before she was driving to Tamworth to play tennis with Gary. Gary was clever with women, and quite the charmer. But his shenanigans could last only so long. He hadn’t managed to seduce Moira to bed, which was his intention. Meanwhile, both Susan and Karen stood willing in the wings. Karen, a virgin until she threw herself at Gary, became pregnant. This news stunned Susan, and she demanded to know the name of the man who had put her daughter into this state. Karen told her it was Gary Trainor.
Susan looked at her in disbelief. ‘You don’t mean it?’ she gasped. She was still involved with Gary and the thought that he had been going behind her back with her daughter was monstrous.
‘Yes, I mean it, Mum,’ Karen sobbed.
Susan was lost for words. She didn’t know how to handle this problem. Her first thought was that Gary would have to marry Karen. But on reflection she knew that such a course posed problems. Gary obviously played about. He wasn’t the kind of man she wanted to marry her only daughter.
Susan confronted Gary in a blazing row, which had as much effect as the proverbial water on a duck’s back. For Gary, women were objects to be enjoyed, and he had enjoyed a lot of women. Susan got nowhere with him and she sensed that he was mocking her. One way or another she had to fix him. Meanwhile, she had a pregnant eighteen-year-old daughter who wanted to keep her baby.
It was the sight of Gary Trainor playing tennis with Moira MacLeod that provided the answer to Susan’s dilemma. If Gary was dating Moira then it was odds on that he was either sleeping with her, or intended doing so. Susan reckoned that if David MacLeod knew what kind of man Gary really was, he would tear him to pieces. Susan was still furious with Catriona, but not so with David. The problem was how to get to him without Catriona being aware of it. The solution seemed t
o be to drive to Glen Morrison and to get Shaun Covers to ring David for her. The old chap was still there and she was sure he would oblige.
Susan’s plan worked, and David met her in the bull shed at Glen Morrison, which might have seemed an inappropriate place to meet and to discuss personal matters, but that didn’t matter. There, with red-and-white bulls chewing their cuds all about her, Susan poured out her story. And it seemed to her that she could feel David’s anger building as she told it. He had not liked Gary Trainor from day one, but this sordid tale was worse than he had ever anticipated. If the bastard had so much as touched Moira, he vowed he would belt the tripe out of him. Trainor was a scoundrel and he deserved whatever he got. But first David needed to get more evidence to back up his case.
‘Right, you leave Trainor to me, Susan. I’ll deal with the mongrel. How can I help you? Are you short of money?’ he asked.
David’s compassion really broke Susan up. It was so David-like that even faced with a personal crisis he should try to help someone else. This was the David a lot of people didn’t know. He was always spoken of as being tough and hard yet he had been helping people all his life. She still remembered how he had fought Stanley Masters and Wade Missen when they were at the little primary school at the foot of the Range.
‘I’m all right, David. I don’t know what Karen is going to do. She says she’s going to keep the baby. I know being pregnant outside of marriage isn’t the disgrace it used to be, but she hasn’t begun to live and there she is with a baby inside her. Catriona was right, I’ve been a poor example for Karen,’ Susan said.
David went back to High Peaks and put in a call from his mother’s phone. He reckoned there was no point worrying Cat until he had all the facts. First of all David rang Lew Hooper and asked him to use his old police contacts to advise him on the best private detective agency in Sydney. Lew, an old man now but still sharp up top, called back in under an hour. David then wasted no time in calling the detective agency.
‘I want you to give me a full rundown on a chap by the name of Gary Trainor, who is currently a wool representative with Premier Wool and Stock Pty Ltd in Tamworth. I understand he was based in Goulburn and that he is a very good tennis player. Can you do that?’
David listened while the voice at the other end told him details about the fees. ‘If you can do it inside two days I’ll double that fee,’ he said. ‘I want you to fax the details to my solicitors in Tamworth.’ David then had a cup of tea with his mother and gave her the full story.
In two days he had all the background he needed on Gary Trainor. From his solicitors in Tamworth David rang Rohan Bridges, who was general manager of Premier Wool and Stock. Premier sold most of his wool and a big percentage of his stud stock – not to mention cast for age flock sheep.
‘Rohan, this is David MacLeod,’ David began.
Rohan Bridges sat up straight. He hadn’t had more than a couple of phone calls from David MacLeod since he became general manager. Thanks to a tip from MacLeod he had once won a lot of money on Western Star. MacLeod was one of their most important clients.
‘What can I do for you, David?’ Bridges asked.
David didn’t beat about the bush. ‘You’ve got a wool rep in Tamworth by the name of Gary Trainor. He’s no good, Rohan. Morally, he’s no good. I want you to shift him right out of New South Wales, preferably move him to Western Australia. You’d be better off sacking the mongrel, but that’s up to you.’
‘What’s he done, David?’ Bridges asked.
‘There is a detailed report on him from a detective agency and it’s available from my solicitors in Tamworth. If you don’t want to take my word, they’ll send you this report. I’ve added a few things. Rohan, I want this man recalled immediately. If you don’t do it you’ll lose all my business … the wool clips, stud stock and the commercial sheep.’
Bridges was silent momentarily. While the company wouldn’t go down the gurgler if it lost the MacLeod business it was the flow-on effect that was the greater concern. If David MacLeod removed all his business from Premier the perception would be that he was dissatisfied with their handling of his wool and stock. MacLeod was an icon with a large following – the impact of his withdrawal of business could be devastating.
‘You had better send me that report, David,’ Bridges said.
The report was faxed immediately and that same afternoon Gary Trainor was instructed to report to head office in Sydney the following day.
David drove home feeling little satisfaction. He had to face Moira and that was going to be far from pleasant. He found her at work on the computer. She was entering station accounts, and smiled up at him as he came and stood beside her. He put his hand on her shoulder as he spoke. ‘Leave that for the moment, Moira. I need to talk to you.’
She followed him out to the front verandah where her mother was already seated in her usual cane chair. Moira took the chair beside her and David pulled up another chair so that he faced her.
‘The first thing I want to say is that you won’t be seeing Gary Trainor again,’ he announced.
Moira’s eyes immediately flashed fire. ‘You can’t really stop me, Dad,’ she said.
‘He’s not worth a hair on your head, Moy,’ he said, using his pet name for her.
‘As far as you’re concerned no man will ever be good enough for me. You simply want me here with you,’ Moira answered, angry.
‘That’s nonsense, Moira. If the right fellow came along I’d give you both my blessing. The fact is that Gary Trainor is a scoundrel – a moral delinquent. I didn’t like him the first day I met him and I was right. He’s good-looking and he’s a smooth talker, and that’s how he charms women. You weren’t the first he fooled, and you won’t be the last.’
Catriona sensed that her husband was building up to something. He had something on Gary Trainor and he was going to reveal it. Moira was in for a shock.
‘What do you mean fooled? I didn’t sleep with him, if that’s what you think,’ Moira said forcefully.
‘Thank heavens for that,’ David said with real relief in his voice. ‘Because Gary has been having an affair with Susan Hunter and, while carrying this on, has made her daughter, Karen, pregnant.’
He heard Catriona’s sudden intake of breath and saw the shock that spread across Moira’s face. ‘He was sleeping with both of them. Not that either of them knew that. It seems that Karen threw herself at him because she developed a crush on him, and Susan was his doubles partner and turned to him for sex.’
‘Poor Susan, and poor, poor Karen,’ Catriona said softly.
‘That’s not all. Trainor is married. He’s got a wife in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. Seems she’s something of a free spirit too. Trainor goes back to see her every so often.’
Moira’s face had turned white. Presently she got up and left them. They heard her close the door of her bedroom. Catriona looked at her husband and gave silent thanks for him. ‘What else is there?’
‘I should think Trainor will be recalled to Sydney immediately. I told Rohan Bridges that if he wasn’t sent out of New South Wales they would lose all our business.’
‘How did you find out about him?’ Catriona asked.
‘Susan met with me. She saw Trainor playing tennis with Moira and wanted to warn me about him. I employed a detective agency to check him out. Sure enough it turns out Trainor is a womaniser from way back. He got another girl into trouble and it was hushed up.’
‘Susan met with you?’
‘That’s what I said, Cat. Susan is very upset, and I think you ought to contact her. Here’s her number,’ he said, and took a small scrap of paper from his shirt pocket and gave it to her. ‘If she hadn’t come to me, Moira might have ended up in the same boat as Karen.’
‘Thank God for Susan’s warning,’ Catriona said.
‘Amen,’ David replied.
It took Moira a week before she could bring herself to talk to her father. She was so ashamed of herself for doubting his motives
when he gave vent to his opinion of Gary Trainor that she wondered if things would ever be the same between them again. He didn’t push her into a reconciliation but left her to her own devices.
It was Sunday after lunch when she finally came to him. He was reading the Land newspaper in his big chair in the lounge room and Moira sat herself on one arm and took the paper from him. He put out one great arm and she fell into his lap. She kissed his cheek and he returned her kiss.
‘I’ll never doubt you again, Dad,’ she said softly. ‘And thank you.’
‘That’s what fathers are for, Moy,’ he said.
‘How am I ever to find a husband like you?’ she asked.
‘I’m sure they’re about, sweetheart – you just haven’t crossed the right path yet. But don’t be taken in by a fellow’s looks. It’s what he is that matters. By the way, one thing you said about me was true. I don’t want to lose you. I’d be less than honest not to tell you that. After Cat, you’ve been the biggest thing in my life. I mean that. But I’d give you up for the right fellow. Of course, I’d prefer him to be part of the show here,’ he said.
‘For a tough, hard man you can be a real softie, Dad. Now, am I forgiven?’ she asked.
‘Nothing to forgive. You made a mistake, Moy, and we all make mistakes. Nobody is perfect – nobody in the whole wide world. You wanted someone to love and you wanted to be loved. I’d forgotten that you’re a woman. I tried to make you like a son and I was wrong,’ he said.
‘Can we do anything for Susan and Karen?’ she asked.
‘Susan asked me if I would speak to Roger Cartwright about them going back there. There’s an overseer’s cottage going to waste and it could be done up for them. Roger’s opinion of his sister is less than flattering, but Susan is entitled to go back home and take Karen with her. It seems Karen wants to keep the baby, though why she would want any part of Gary Trainor beats me,’ he said.
