Another Home, Another Love

by Gwen Kirkwood

  ‘Do you think that fellow, Paul, has his eye on Rosie?’ Alex asked, interrupting his thoughts.

  ‘I hadn’t thought about that….’

  ‘It wouldn’t bother you anyway,’ Alex muttered. ‘You’ve got Lidia. She’s glaring our way now. She didna even make an attempt at the judging and the other girls say she never helps with the teas.’ Sam scowled and ignored Alex’s comments but he knew his younger brother was right.

  ‘You did a good bit of business tonight, lassie,’ John Oliphant remarked as he climbed into Rosie’s car. ‘I remember the surplus plums going to waste at one time. It vexed Chrissie.’

  ‘I know. Both the local grocers have agreed to take our spare fruit this year on a sale or return basis. So far they have sold everything I’ve taken.’

  ‘I was surprised at Mr Turner wanting plums. He didna seem quite himself tonight.’

  ‘He always looks healthy to me. He has an outdoor glow.’

  ‘Aye, but it wasna his looks. He seemed…sort of abstracted, a bit vague at times. He’s always been so alert. He used to ride out on his horse every morning, summer or winter, but he was telling me he’s sold his hunter.’

  ‘Perhaps he feels he’s too old to ride every day,’ Rosie suggested.

  ‘Aye maybe. He’s five years younger than I am so he’ll be seventy next year. Here we are, home again. I’m glad I went tonight. Thanks for the lift, lassie. Good night, young Paul.’

  Rosie drove further along the road to the village where Paul lived.

  ‘You’re very quiet, Paul,’ Rosie said. ‘Are you very tired?’

  ‘No, not at all.’ Paul leaned forward and folded his arms on the back of the passenger seat so he was closer to her. ‘I enjoyed meeting your friends. Everyone was very pleasant. I heard one of the girls suggesting they should invite you as a speaker to tell them about setting up in business on your own. I think they admire your courage.’

  ‘Goodness! I hope they don’t ask me. I’ve barely begun and I couldn’t have made a go of things if Dad hadn’t let me have the gardens. He’s had the new boundaries drawn up and he’s putting them into my name so I’ll feel more secure. I’m luckier than most people.’

  ‘No more so than all those boys there tonight who expect to step into their father’s shoes and take over a farm.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right,’ Rosie agreed. She drew the car to a halt in his drive. ‘Alex and Samuel may not have it so easy, though. Bengairney is rented and there are two of them.’

  ‘At least they are prepared to work hard. I didn’t get the impression they were all like that. I liked Struan Ritchie, though, even though he is better off than most of them.’

  ‘Struan is Tania’s boyfriend. His parents own their farm so I suppose they are more on a level with Mr Turner, except that Struan’s parents and grandparents have been landowners for several generations, while Mr Turner had to make his own way. You’re right, though, Struan is a nice person. He’s never arrogant and he doesn’t brag.’

  ‘I was right about Alex too. He would like you as his special girl.’ He gave her a sideways glance, ‘But it’s Sam for you, isn’t it, Rosie?’

  ‘S-Sam? N-no, how can you say that, Paul? You only met him tonight and—’ She broke off, floundering.

  ‘And onlookers see most of the game,’ Paul quipped with a smile.

  ‘I’ve always regarded Alex and Sam as the brothers I never had – or at least sort of cousins.’

  ‘Maybe you did once, and still do with Alex, but not Sam. I could see that at once.’

  ‘I-I don’t know what you mean, Paul.’

  ‘When I was ill, even though I was young, I knew I might be going to die. It made me see – I mean really see – everything more clearly. You observe details. When you look at an overcast sky you don’t see clouds, you see many shades from white to grey to silver and there’s almost always a gleam of sunshine peeping through somewhere. You don’t look at a green field, you see a myriad individual grasses in every shade of green, swaying in the breeze, or sparkling with dew in the early morning. Does that sound silly to you?’

  ‘No. No, Paul, it doesn’t. It makes me realize how shallow the rest of us often are, and how much we miss.’

  ‘Yes. Your secret about Sam is safe with me and I’m here if you ever want to talk. I hope things work out for you one day. Give him time. He’s older than I am in years but he doesn’t know what he wants from life yet, apart from being a farmer of course.’ Rosie looked at Paul, realizing how perceptive he was. She sighed.

  ‘There’s no hiding anything from you, Paul Keir, I must remember that.’ He grinned at her.

  ‘Thanks for the lift, boss. See you in the morning.’

  ‘Yes. Paul, it’s too dark to see your garden very well but it does look beautifully laid out. Had you anything to do with that?’

  ‘Yes, Mum and I together anyway. Why don’t you come to tea on Sunday afternoon and we’ll show you round?’

  ‘I can’t invite myself to tea, Paul!’ Rosie laughed.

  ‘You’re not, I’m inviting you. Mother would be pleased to meet you. In fact I think the two of you will get on well. She loves her plants and she will feel easier when she’s met my boss.’

  Rosie enjoyed her Sunday afternoon with Paul and his mother. The house was built in local red sandstone and stood back from the road with a large garden all round and no near neighbours.

  ‘It was my parents’ home,’ Mrs Keir told her. ‘I grew up here. When my husband was working at the bank in Edinburgh we bought a bungalow on the outskirts but my parents left the house to me and my sister. Pauline and her husband live in Australia so we bought her share in the house. I am so thankful that we kept it. When my husband died, Paul was having his second lot of treatment and he was very ill. It felt as though my whole world was crashing around me. This place was my haven.’

  ‘It must have been terrible,’ Rosie said with real sympathy.

  ‘Paul often came to stay here with his grandparents. When he was recovering I decided to bring him down here, hoping the country air might help. We were so much happier here so I sold our home in Edinburgh. I thank God every day for Paul’s recovery. My husband and I had made improvements to the interior of the house but the garden was mainly grass. Paul spent hours outside dreaming up changes, sketching plans, discussing different flowers and shrubs.’

  ‘It is lovely now,’ Rosie said. ‘It is like going on an adventure. I turn a corner and see a rockery; I go through an archway and there is the rose garden. Then down this meandering path and here we are at a pond. Paul told me you were responsible.’

  ‘The planning is all Paul’s. We employed a man to do the hard landscaping and heavy work, then I planted the shrubs and flowers. I enjoy it. Each week there is something new, a wee surprise, another plant I’d forgotten about. It has been my saving grace.’

  ‘I think I can understand that.’

  ‘This was the last change we made. The burn running across the bottom corner allowed Paul scope to widen it and make the small pond and this rustic bridge.’

  ‘It’s so beautiful.’ Rosie stood looking down into the water. ‘Ooh there’s a fish! See the ripples.’ Mrs Keir glanced at her young companion. Her smile and sparkling eyes made you want to smile back. It lifted the spirits. There was nothing autocratic about her, in spite of her background. She was just as Paul had described her.

  It was a crisp autumn afternoon with the white clouds sailing high in the sky. The house martins were darting hither and thither, then gathering together on the telephone wire with an incredible amount of chirruping. Any day now they would start their long journey to warmer places. There were fields at the bottom of the garden and a small copse a few hundred yards away.

  ‘I do love this time of year,’ Rosie said, stretching her arms wide as though to embrace the world.

  ‘I agree,’ Jeanette Keir said with a smile. ‘You are an outdoor person, aren’t you. If you don’t mind me saying so, Rosemary, you’re
not at all as I imagined. I can understand now why Paul is so happy working with you.’

  ‘He seems to have a natural instinct for plants. He must have inherited that from you I think. He tells me he would like to be a garden designer some day.’

  ‘I am pleased to hear he is so positive about the future. The doctors are very pleased with him but deep down I still have this fear….’ She smiled at Rosie. ‘I must try to be positive too, and plan for the future. We’re fortunate in that we are well provided for but it takes more than money to bring health and happiness. I am so pleased you took time to come today. I have enjoyed meeting you.’

  ‘I’m glad I came. Your garden has opened my eyes to Paul’s real talents. We are going up to see the garden of a friend soon. I shall be able to recommend Paul’s suggestions now.’

  ‘Thank you. Er, if…if your friend would like to see any of Paul’s ideas here, he would be welcome to come and look.’

  ‘I will tell Struan that. Thank you.’

  The following Sunday afternoon found Struan, Tania and Mr Ritchie wandering around the garden with Rosie and Paul, while Mrs Keir insisted on making afternoon tea for them.

  ‘We don’t wish to put you to any trouble,’ Mr Ritchie said and Rosie thought what a nice old gentleman he was.

  ‘It is no trouble,’ Mrs Keir assured him with a smile. ‘I am pleased to have visitors. I have not done much entertaining since my husband died.’

  ‘Then I am sorry my wife could not come. She does not keep good health these days.’ Tania caught Rosie’s glance and raised her eyebrows heavenwards. Privately Rosie had begun to wonder if Mrs Ritchie’s imaginary ailments were her way of clinging to her son. She had made it plain she considered Struan and Tania too young to marry.

  ‘She certainly has no intention of moving out of the farmhouse,’ Tania had confided to Rosie a few weeks earler. ‘Not that I want to get married until I’ve worked for a while and earned some money of my own, but there was a lovely bungalow for sale a couple of miles away from the farm. Struan and his father went to see it, but she refused to look, let alone consider buying it. I try hard not to let her come between us but I can tell she expects we should wait about ten years and even then we should all live together.’

  Mr Ritchie was impressed with the Keirs’ garden and he felt some of Paul’s ideas could be adapted to suit Shawlands.

  ‘It might improve your mother’s health, Struan, if she had a pleasant garden like this to walk around.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Struan was doubtful.

  ‘You will be hoping for grandchildren to live there one day, Mr Ritchie?’ Paul asked with a smile.

  ‘I hope so. I keep telling Struan he must make an earlier start than his mother and I did.’

  ‘In that case you would need to plan for a grassy area near the house where children could play, and perhaps have a sandpit and a swing. I used to have such things here when I stayed with my grandparents.’

  ‘You must come over and give us your ideas, my boy.’

  ‘Mr Ritchie, you do know we do not undertake landscaping?’ Rosie said, ‘at least not yet, but as you can see Paul has excellent ideas. He could draw up plans. If you decide to go ahead I suggest you pay Paul for his designs. He has passed his driving test now so he could come to you from time to time to supervise the landscaping work if your own men do the labouring for walls or paths.’

  ‘Yes, yes of course.’ Mr Ritchie looked at Struan. ‘I’m sure we could come to some arrangement, couldn’t we?’

  ‘We have the men and the digger if Paul tells them what to do. We could employ our local builder for a patio or walls,’ Struan said. ‘Tania and I would like to be consulted too.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Mr Ritchie turned to smile at Tania.

  ‘My business is the plants,’ Rosie said. ‘I hope you would let us supply and plant the shrubs and flowers if Paul takes time out to supervise the work?’

  ‘Of course we will, Rosie,’ Struan said, then gave his disarming grin. ‘Tania might know a rose tree from an elderberry bush, but I doubt if I’d be much good. Potatoes and carrots are my contribution to gardening.’

  ‘So you would like an area for fruit and vegetables then?’ Paul asked.

  ‘He would if he’s expecting me to live there and cook for him,’ Tania said with a grin. Rosie glanced at Mr Ritchie and was relived to see a twinkle in his eye. He turned to Mrs Keir as she came to tell them tea was ready. ‘I like a girl with a bit of spirit,’ he said. ‘I hope they don’t wait too long to marry. I’d like to see my grandchildren. If I could persuade my wife to move to a smaller house I think she might keep better health but she is adamant she cannot contemplate such an upheaval.’

  ‘Sometimes upheavals are thrust upon us,’ Mrs Keir said. ‘We do find the strength to cope when we have to.’ She knew nothing of Mrs Ritchie’s imaginary ill health.

  The days were getting shorter but Rosie was determined to move into Stables Cottage. She had worked hard at rubbing down the dark brown woodwork, so that she could paint it white. Catherine grumbled at the time she spent at it. She worked alone most evenings and whenever she had time at weekends. Tania came to lend a hand with painting the woodwork and John Oliphant spent hours painting round tiny window panes.

  ‘So long as I don’t have to climb ladders or spend all day on my old knees, I’m fine,’ he assured the girls, ‘and you’ll feel better if the whole place is fresh before you move in, Rosie.’

  Rosie knew he was right. She was beginning to feel proud of her little home. She and Tania drove into Dumfries to choose curtains for the bedrooms and material for the living room curtains.

  ‘I didn’t know you could sew,’ Tania teased.

  ‘I can only do straight lines,’ Rosie grinned. ‘I’m going to borrow Mum’s electric sewing machine, although she doesn’t know that yet. I can work on the curtains at my leisure in the evenings. There’s no one to look in and there are shutters on the downstairs windows. What is Mrs Ritchie saying about Paul’s ideas for the garden at Shawlands now it’s taking shape?’

  ‘She doesn’t seem interested until Mr Ritchie asks me for an opinion. Twice she has asked what it has to do with me. Mr Ritchie tells her Struan and I will live there one day and perhaps have children, then she claims her health wouldn’t stand up to children about the place. I do wonder if she was ever young and what sort of things she did with Struan when he was a child. He says he spent most of his time outside with an old odd-job man they used to have. He’s dead now but Struan still speaks of him with affection. He says he learned all sorts of useful things about the farm and animals from him.’

  ‘I can sympathize with Struan,’ Rosie said ‘It’s hard enough managing my mother, but at least she never plays on people’s sympathy.’

  ‘Can you keep a secret, Rosie? I’m dying to tell someone….’

  ‘Of course I can. I love secrets!’ Rosie gave her eager smile.

  ‘We’re going to announce our engagement at Christmas. Struan has bought me a ring.’

  ‘Oh Tania, that’s wonderful news!’ Rosie hugged her friend exuberantly. ‘I wonder what Mrs Ritchie will say to that?’

  ‘Struan said he didn’t want her interfering so we haven’t told anyone else yet, not even Mum.’

  ‘I’ll not breathe a word.’ Rosie’s eyes sparkled.

  ‘We’re not planning to get married for a couple of years but we’re hoping this will make Mrs Ritchie realize we are serious. Thank goodness his father understands. Struan says if his mother still pretends she is too ill to move out of the farm we’ll look for a house nearby.’

  ‘Speaking of illness,’ Rosie said, ‘I think your grandfather’s chest is bothering him. He’s breathless if he walks from the bottom of the gardens to here without stopping for a break. Paul noticed it too. We’re going to make a small arbour when we can get some rustic fencing but meanwhile we’ve put a seat beside the path. Papa Oliphant will be able to sit and view the rows of vegetables and talk to the boys while the
y work.’

  ‘You’re very good to Grandfather, Rosie,’ Tania said. ‘We appreciate it, you know. I’m sure Sam would cut you some lengths of wood to make the rustic poles. Dad bought a new chainsaw last year.’

  ‘That would be a great help,’ Rosie said. ‘We plan to cover it with honeysuckle and a couple of rambler roses.’

  ‘I’ll tell Sam it’s for Grandfather,’ Tania promised. ‘I called to see him on my way here. I’ve put a casserole in the oven – I’m having my lunch with him today instead of our evening meal. Struan and I are going to a performance at the Theatre Royal in Dumfries tonight so it would have been a bit of a rush and Grandfather enjoys a chat, as I’m sure you know.’

  ‘I do.’ Rosie nodded. ‘He is one of the best friends I have, and just as I would have wanted my own grandfather to be if I’d ever known one of them.’

  The following weekend Sam arrived with the Land Rover and trailer to move Rosie’s furniture to Stables Cottage. Alex had returned to college so Tania had asked Struan to come and help lift the awkward pieces of furniture. They carried some of the things down the back stairs of Langton Tower but Chef Lambert came out of his kitchen to grumble about the noise and nuisance. They had to move the wardrobe down the front staircase as it was wider and this time it was Catherine who fussed in case they bumped her precious wallpaper. Rosie raised her eyebrows heavenward. She was wearing a broad blue bandanna to hold her hair back. Sam thought it made her eyes look bluer than ever, just like a summer sky. Since the night of the Young Farmers’ Stock Judging he had been quiet in Rosie’s company. He had told Lidia for the second time that there was no future for her with him but she refused to listen, alternating between trying to entice him into her bed and threatening to harm herself if he refused to see her.