by Anna Jacobs
Without a word, Brett changed into his work uniform and trudged into town, so furious he didn’t notice anything or anyone till he passed the surgery and saw Rose going round the back. Bitch! he thought. She’d get her comeuppance one day, if he had to wait years to pay her back. So would her cousin.
As the long day passed, he thought about Rose several times. Pretending to be an artist. Bloody poser! Gradually a plan came to him. He wasn’t leaving town without giving her something to remember him by.
And why not deal with her cousin while he was at it? Though that’d be harder. He couldn’t walk out to Willowbrook.
Well, he still had a few good friends and quite a lot of money stashed away. He’d pay them well to help him. He smiled. Some fools liked to pay for their petrol with cash and if you knew where the security cameras were, you could always slip a note or two into your own pocket. As long as you didn’t get greedy, no one was any the wiser.
And if his Dad thought they’d turn him off booze at this rehab place, he could think again. There was nothing wrong with a drink or two. Absolutely nothing.
How would he manage without a drink to wind down at the end of the day? What would he do with himself if he couldn’t go out for a pint with the lads? He shuddered at the mere thought.
Ella took refuge in her bedroom for the rest of the day. She didn’t intend to confront Cameron about whether he was working for DevRaCom until they were alone together and not likely to be interrupted.
It took all her self-control, however, to remain calm when he came up to chat to her or bring her a drink.
‘What’s wrong, Ella?’ he asked on his third visit. ‘You’ve been very quiet since Miles left.’
‘I’ll tell you later, once Amy is in bed. We’ll go out for a walk. I’m tired of staying indoors.’
He opened his mouth to say something, shut it again, then gave a little shrug. ‘Very well. In the meantime, try to rest. You’re looking stressed again.’
‘Thanks to Miles.’ She saw with relief that this had stopped Cameron’s questions for the moment.
Later, Stephanie came upstairs to put Amy to bed, then paused outside Ella’s bedroom, before coming to stand at the foot of the bed. ‘What did my son say to you?’
‘Nothing important.’
‘I saw how quiet you were after he’d left, and you’ve been avoiding Cameron ever since, so it must be important, to you at least.’ She waited and when Ella said nothing, said earnestly, ‘Don’t listen to anything Miles says. He has a way of taking the truth and twisting it out of shape.’
‘Mmm.’
‘All right, you’re not going to confide in me, so I’ll butt out. But don’t do anything hasty on Miles’s say-so.’
Ella could only manage a half-smile in response to that and when Stephanie came round the bed to give her a hug, the smile slipped completely and she clung to the older woman, her chest heaving as she fought against tears.
The thought that Cameron had been deceiving her was like a knife in the guts. He couldn’t – surely he couldn’t be associated with DevRaCom?
If he was . . . maybe she’d as good as lost her farm already.
An hour later Ella went downstairs, taut with determination to remain calm and logical during their discussion.
Cameron was sitting reading the newspaper, but set it aside and stood up the minute she came into the room.
‘Ready for our walk?’ she asked, not managing a smile.
‘Of course.’
‘We’re only going down to the lake, Stephanie. We won’t be long.’
‘Amy will be all right with me. Don’t come back without the smile you lost today.’ Absent-mindedly she patted Porgy, who was sprawled across her feet, but she was watching the pair of them very intently.
Ella pressed her lips together and closed her eyes for a moment, but couldn’t say anything without bursting into tears, so led the way out.
They walked in silence to a bench by the lake, a favourite spot of hers. ‘We can sit here,’ she said.
‘And you can tell me what’s upset you so.’
She took a deep breath. ‘Miles said you were working for DevRaCom, that you’re here to help persuade me to sell Willowbrook.’
‘He likes to distort the truth, doesn’t he?’
‘Yes. But . . . you didn’t come here by chance. I thought you’d been sent by the bank, but I’ve still heard nothing from them. You could easily be here on behalf of DevRaCom.’
‘I was sent here by DevRaCom,’ he began carefully, ‘but—’
With a cry of anguish, she stood up and fled. She’d thought she was prepared for him to admit it, but she wasn’t. She couldn’t bear – just could not bear! – to hear another word he spoke. Nothing could excuse such a deception, nothing! Pretending to love her, to care about her. Pretending to care about Amy, which was even worse.
And all the time he’d been working with DevRaCom, the company which was trying to take their home away from them.
She heard his footsteps pounding after her, so took a short cut through the bushes, following paths only she knew, hearing him stumble and curse as she left him behind among the bushes.
Miles didn’t go back to London, but booked into a cheap motel for the Friday night. He had a small job to do for DevRaCom, an envelope to pass on. He suspected it was bribery, but they hadn’t told him what the envelope contained and he hadn’t asked.
His meeting wasn’t scheduled until late so he watched television as he waited for the hours to crawl past.
He smiled a few times about his last conversation with his ex. He’d certainly upset the apple cart where she and O’Neal were concerned. She was still so naïve, she’d believe anything you told her. Some people never learned.
Why wouldn’t she realize it was best to capitalize on her asset and sell the old house while it was still worth something? He was actually giving her some sound financial advice there.
And why was his mother interfering? She shouldn’t have taken early retirement, clearly had too much time on her hands these days. He didn’t get people’s obsession with grandchildren, or children, come to that.
He frowned at the thought of Amy, annoyed that his daughter had taken against him and refused to be charmed. She would hardly speak a word to him, and she’d rejected both expensive and inexpensive presents.
Ella must have been poisoning the child’s mind against him, that was the only explanation. Everyone knew how kids loved presents.
His mobile phone rang half an hour before he was due to leave for the meeting.
A man’s voice said baldly, ‘I can’t keep that appointment.’
‘Oh? Any special reason?’
‘I can’t do what you want. The listing is already being processed.’
‘What? You said you could help us stop it.’
‘Yeah, well, I didn’t know how much local interest this house would raise. Even if I tried to stop it, I’d get nowhere – all I’d do would be lose my job. The guy who’s pushing it through quickly came to see me. He’d heard someone was trying to stop the house being listed and—’
‘He knew what you were going to do? You must have been careless.’
‘No, I wasn’t. I swear I wasn’t. He’s clever. Too clever. And well connected locally. I wouldn’t want to cross him. Sorry.’
Before Miles could think what to say, the call was ended and although he dialled the number he’d been given for use in emergencies, no one answered. He cursed the man and went to stare out of the window of his motel room.
If Willowbrook was listed and this project fell through, his hopes of a comfortable rise in his standard of living would come to nothing.
Who had found out that someone was prepared to help DevRaCom stop that listing? Not Ella, that was sure.
O’Neal? Could it be him? But he had no local connections, surely? And why would he work against DevRaCom?
How that old ruin was still standing after all these years, Miles couldn’t figure. It shoul
d have fallen down centuries ago. Or been burned down. A vision of it in flames danced before him.
No, he wasn’t going there. He wasn’t risking prison, not for anyone.
But surely there was something he could do to make sure Ray Deare got what he wanted, and therefore gave Miles what he wanted most, a high-level job?
There had to be some way to retrieve the situation.
He tapped his fingers on the windowsill, drumming them again and again.
Not through Ella. She’d not sell whatever he did, he was sure of that now. He’d tried everything he could to persuade her, had observed her when he was visiting Amy. No use trying to sweet talk her again. And anyway, he didn’t want to. He preferred his women pliable and feminine, not scrawny and dressed like a tramp.
Then he had an idea. It was a long shot, but hell, what had he to lose? Only a day or two more in the area.
He’d got another access visit to Amy lined up, so that not only gave him an excuse for staying in the district, but would allow him to continue watching what was going on at Willowbrook.
Never take your eye off the ball!
He picked up the phone and dialled the number on the advert he’d seen when leafing through the community newspaper.
Cameron chased after Ella, but she turned suddenly and seemed to vanish. He paused then tried to follow her through the bushes, but they seemed dense and branches kept slapping him in the face or tangling in his sweater. He waited, listening, but there were no sounds of anyone moving, just a light breeze whispering around him.
Damn Parnell! And damn the interruptions that had stopped him telling Ella the truth earlier today!
How the hell was he going to get her to listen to him now?
He turned and walked slowly back to the house.
Stephanie was sitting in the kitchen and from the expression on her face, Ella had got back.
‘She wants you to sleep in the chalet again,’ Stephanie said, ‘and if I were you, I’d do that, for tonight at least. Best let her cool down before you try to talk to her.’
‘I can’t just leave things like this.’
‘Do you work for DevRaCom?’
‘I did. But I severed any connection with them soon after coming here. And I only came to give Ray Deare my opinion on whether the place was really old, or a fake, not to persuade Ella to do anything she didn’t want to. Your son is the one who set up the sale, who saw the potential for a hotel development.’
She gave him a long, level look.
‘I’m telling the truth.’
‘I believe you. But Ella’s been deceived and hurt before, and she’s very run down, so she’s not thinking logically or reasonably.’
‘I’ll go up and get my things.’
‘She’s packing them now. I’ll bring them down to the chalet shortly.’ She went to get a key from the board. ‘Please. Go now. She’s distraught. This is definitely not the time to confront her.’
‘Very well. I’ll take your advice on that. But I’m not leaving Willowbrook till she’s listened to me.’
‘Quite right.’
That comment consoled him a little as he paced up and down in front of his chalet. Unless he was very much mistaken, Stephanie not only believed him but wanted the two of them to get together. It was always good to have an ally.
When she brought his suitcase and laptop, she said, ‘I can’t stay. We’ll talk tomorrow. I want to keep an eye on her.’
He nodded and took his things inside.
But although he got out his computer and tried to work, he couldn’t settle. When he realized he’d been playing solitaire for over half an hour, mindlessly twitching the cards around, losing more games than he won, he shut the computer down and flung himself on the bed.
Sleep eluded him, however, and in the end he went outside and sat staring at the water until long after midnight.
Ella spent a similarly restless night. At two o’clock in the morning, she crept downstairs and wrote a letter to ‘Mr O’Neal’ asking him to leave her property forthwith and enclosing a cheque for the money he’d paid her in advance. She took it up to bed with her. She’d deliver it in the morning.
Amy peeped into the bedroom at eight o’clock the next morning, smiled to see her mother awake and came in for her usual morning chat.
Ella couldn’t turn her daughter away, so tried to listen and respond appropriately, but found it hard to concentrate after so little sleep and with so much on her mind.
‘I’m glad I’m going back to school on Monday, Mummy, but I’m sorry I missed Friday. It’s our News Day. I could have told everyone about you and Mr O’Neal getting married and—’
‘We aren’t getting married. It was just pretend.’
Amy looked at her as if she’d suddenly grown two heads. ‘But you said you were! You said it to everyone. Were you telling lies? You always tell me not to do that.’
‘It was to stop your father being a pest. I didn’t have time to explain it to you yesterday.’
‘But you and Mr O’Neal were cuddling.’
‘We were just – acting. Amy, I—’
But her daughter shoved her away and flung out of the room.
Ella lay on the bed, trying desperately to work out what to say to make things better between them.
She must have dozed off because next thing she knew it was nearly nine o’clock.
She crept downstairs with the letter, ready to dart back if Cameron was there. To her relief, there was no sign of him, just Stephanie working in the kitchen. ‘I’m sorry. I went back to sleep. Where’s Amy?’
‘Playing house with Porgy in the barn. I keep nipping across to check on her.’
‘Has Cameron had breakfast?’
‘Yes. I told him I didn’t need his help this morning.’
Ella passed the letter from one hand to the other, then told herself not to be a coward and put it on the kitchen surface. ‘I’ve – um – written to ask him to leave. Would you please deliver this to him for me? I don’t want to see him.’
The older woman’s gaze was sympathetic but she made no move to pick up the letter. ‘Have you let him explain himself?’
Ella hesitated then shook her head.
‘Then I think you’re jumping the gun, so I won’t deliver the letter. It’s not like you to be unfair, my dear girl.’
‘But he deceived me! He was working for DevRaCom and you know they’re the ones pressuring me to sell.’
‘I’m not sure you know exactly what he was doing here or what he was doing for DevRaCom. He says he isn’t working for them now, and I believe him.’
‘Please. I don’t want to see him again. I daren’t take the risk of – of getting involved. There isn’t just me to consider this time, there’s Amy.’
‘If you two break up like this, Miles will have got what he wanted. He might not want you himself, but he doesn’t like to think of anyone else having you. He was like that with his toys, even as a small child.’
‘And with his clothes. He’d never give them to the charity shop, kept things I knew he’d never wear again.’
‘Miles is rather clever at finding someone’s weak spot and using it for his purposes, as you should know by now.’ Stephanie crossed the room to put her arms round Ella for a hug. ‘Go and see Cameron. At least do him the courtesy of letting him explain. It’s only fair.’
Ella bent her head. Fair. Was she being unfair? Was there still hope? ‘I’m not thinking clearly, am I?’
‘No. But you’ve not only been ill, you’re still under a lot of stress, worried about your home. Cameron will understand, as I do.’
‘Will he?’
‘Of course he will. He loves you.’
Ella gazed at her. ‘How can he? And how can I think of love when everything’s in such a tangle that I don’t know where I stand? I’m probably going to lose the farm, whether it’s heritage listed or not, because I owe Miles so much money that he can take me to court to get it. I can’t seem to get past that.’
‘If love waited till everything was smooth sailing to strike, I doubt anyone would fall in love. More to the point, how did you feel about Cameron before this cropped up?’
‘I was – getting fond of him.’
‘I thought so. Go and see him, Ella. Be sure you know the truth before you start making decisions.’ She smiled. ‘But not like that. I’d suggest a shower and doing something with your hair first.’
‘I should listen to his side, shouldn’t I?’
Ella went back up the stairs, caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and exclaimed in horror. Definitely not like this. Her hair was lank, her eyes shadowed and she was wearing a tatty old dressing gown that had seen far better days.
She didn’t want Cameron to see her like this. Had she looked as bad the previous day?
Galvanized into action, she hurried into the bathroom.
In the kitchen, Stephanie listened till the water started running, then hurried along to the end chalet, where she found Cameron packing his suitcase. ‘For goodness’ sake, she’ll be here in a few minutes. Do you really want her to find you getting ready to run away from your quarrel?’
‘You can’t quarrel with someone who won’t talk to you. I’ve been waiting for her and she’s not come. She’s always up early, so what else could I think but that she’s not changed her mind, won’t trust me.’
‘She fell asleep again after Amy popped in to see her, hasn’t been up long.’
‘Oh.’
‘Give things a chance, Cameron.’
‘I want to, but she’s terrified of getting into a new relationship, thanks to your damned son. And maybe I’ve been rushing her, maybe I’m fooling myself and she’s not fallen for me as I have for her.’
Stephanie rolled her eyes. ‘You’re both acting like teenagers in love. In my opinion, she does care about you.’
He stared at her. ‘You really think she does?’
