Late Harvest

by Yvonne Whittal

  His dictatorial manner infuriated her, and with her hands clenched at her sides she snapped at him, 'Get out, Rhyno, before I throw something at you!'

  'Sleep well, Kate,' he smiled cynically, and moments later she was alone in the vast living-room with its memories of evenings spent there with her father.

  Oh, how she wished he was there at that moment! She would give him a piece of her mind, and she would most certainly break the golden rule by demanding to know exactly what he had had in mind by attaching so many strings to her inheritance.

  'Kate?'

  Aunt Edwina had come into the living-room so quietly that Kate had not heard her.

  'We're going to be married on Saturday,' Kate replied to her silent query and, afraid suddenly that she was going to burst into ridiculous tears, she brushed past her aunt and practically ran to her room.

  Kate dreaded having to confront Gavin with the news of her coming marriage to Rhyno. All through the following day she could think of nothing else, and as the hours passed she became tense with the knowledge of what lay ahead of her. She saw Rhyno only briefly during that day, and it was just as well that he stayed out of her way, for she was in the perfect mood to make him the target of her frustration and anger.

  That evening, facing Gavin across the table in the restaurant they usually frequented, she could not bring herself to break the news to him. He was relating so eagerly the plans he had made for the weekend they were to spend with his friends in Cape Town that she did not have the heart to burst the bubble of his excitement, and the evening wore on without him noticing her unenthusiastic responses.

  A glance at her wrist watch finally made her eyes widen in. alarm. It was after eleven, and she could no longer delay the inevitable.

  'Gavin, there's something I must tell you. I…' She faltered nervously and, her carefully prepared speech forgotten, she plunged in at the deep end. 'I can't go away with you to your friends this weekend.'

  Gavin stared at her with a mixture of surprise and annoyance. 'But everything is arranged, and they're expecting us!'

  'I'm sorry.' She looked away guiltily, and gathered her flagging courage about her. 'I'm marrying Rhyno tomorrow.'

  Gavin stared at her for a moment with a look of shocked incredulity on his angular face, then he laughed loudly. 'Don't be silly, Kate!'

  'It's the truth,' she said, lowering her voice when she became aware of the curious glances directed at them. 'I'm marrying him tomorrow morning.'

  He leaned his elbows on the table, and there was laughter in the blue eyes gazing directly into hers. 'If I didn't know how much you disliked the man, then I would have said you were serious.'

  'I am serious, Gavin,' she insisted, and she hated herself as she saw the laughter fade in his eyes. 'I know this is sudden, and that I haven't been entirely fair to you, but I—I've made my decision.'

  'Do you mean to tell me that you've allowed me to think that you will eventually marry me, while in fact you've been making plans in that direction with that Rhyno fellow?'

  'Not exactly,' she shook her head as she watched his face whiten with anger, and something more. 'Gavin, I wouldn't have hurt you this way for anything in the world, and whatever you may think of me, I'm really very fond of you.'

  'But you love Rhyno van der Bijl, is that it?'

  His lips were drawn back in a snarl, changing his appearance to that of a stranger, and she lowered her gaze selfconsciously, knowing that she had made of him what he was at that moment.

  'Perhaps you should take me home,' she suggested quietly, picking up her evening purse and her wrap, but Gavin remained seated where he was.

  'Does your future husband know you're here with me this evening?' he demanded cynically.

  Kate flinched inwardly at the words 'future husband', but she said simply, 'Yes.'

  'And does he know that you've spent every evening, as well as weekends, in my company since your father's death?'

  'Yes.'

  'And he's never objected?'

  Kate shook her head tiredly. 'No.'

  'Well, I'm damned if I understand it,' he sighed at length, leaning back in his chair and observing her through narrowed eyes: 'If I were Rhyno van der Bijl then I most certainly wouldn't have allowed you to spend so much of your free time with another man.'

  Kate squirmed inwardly and wished she could have told him the truth. 'Rhyno isn't the possessive type.'

  'No?' Gavin laughed softly, and it was an ugly laugh that jarred her nerves. 'Then what's he doing coming towards our table and looking as if he'd like to stir up a storm?'

  Her heart seemed to do a triple somersault in her breast, but before she could stir herself to glance over her shoulder she became aware of Rhyno's lean length standing beside her chair.

  'It's late,' he pointed out in an abrupt, accusing voice.

  'Yes, I know, but—'

  'Have you told him?' Rhyno's deep voice sliced across her reply, and he jerked his thumb unceremoniously in Gavin's direction.

  'Yes, I have, but I—'

  'Then it's time you came home,' he interrupted her a second time, and his eyes were hard and cold as he turned towards Gavin. 'I don't want my bride looking hollow-eyed in the morning,' he explained suavely.

  'Rhyno, you have—' she began furiously, but his lingers clamped about her upper arm, exerting a warning pressure as he drew her to her feet.

  'You will excuse us, I'm sure,' Rhyno smiled twistedly down into Gavin's white, angry face, then he tugged at Kate's arm. 'Come along.'

  Kate remained passive in his grip, embarrassingly aware of the curious glances following them as Rhyno ushered her out of the crowded restaurant, but inside she was fuming quietly like a simmering volcano which erupted the moment she was seated beside him in his white Citroen.

  'May I know what that little display of possessiveness was in aid of?' she demanded icily, her hands clenching her purse tightly for fear of lashing out and striking him.

  'You've been with him since seven o'clock,' he reminded her harshly as he set the car in motion and drove through the quiet streets of the town. 'It's now eleven-thirty,' he added derisively.

  'So what?' she almost screamed at him in her anger.

  'Four and a half hours was quite long enough for you to have told him a hundred times over that you're going to marry me.'

  'It wasn't that easy,' she argued as they left the well-lit streets of Stellenbosch behind them. 'I had to wait for the right moment.'

  'Since when do you care that much about anyone else's feelings, Kate?' he laughed cynically, and his laughter sliced through her painfully.

  'Since when do you have the right to question me?'

  'Don't put on that high-and-mighty act with me, Kate Duval,' he reprimanded her harshly, and in the dashboard light his profile was hard and unrelenting. 'You need me pretty badly at this moment, and if you don't behave yourself I might just change my mind about marrying you.'

  Fear mingled with her defiance, but she was determined not to give in to it. 'In that case you'd lose La Reine, and it would serve you jolly well right!'

  'I can't lose what I've never had,' he struck back at her verbally, and she flinched as the truth hit her. 'Chew on that for a while, and see if the taste appeals to you.'

  A blinding fury, born of helpless frustration, gripped her. 'You imagine you hold the whip hand, don't you?'

  'I don't imagine it, Kate—I know it,' he taunted her ruthlessly. 'And I shall enjoy wielding it whenever you jerk out of line in future.'

  'You're a fiend!' she cried hoarsely. 'Stop this car and let me get out!'

  Her hand was on the door handle, but when Rhyno ignored her and drove on she went a little crazy. She struck out at him and wrenched at the wheel, not quite knowing what she was doing at that moment, but certain only of the intense desire to get away from him.

  The car lurched violently across the road and came to a screeching halt barely inches from the deep ditch on her side. The engine, was switched off, but b
efore she could leap out of the car she was taken by the shoulders and shaken so severely that it felt for a moment as if her neck would snap.

  'Don't you ever do that again!' Rhyno snarled at her savagely, his face a frightening shadow inches from hers. 'You could have killed us both with your idiotic behaviour!'

  'I'd rather be dead than marry someone like you!' she retorted through clenched teeth, forcing back the cry that rose to her lips when his hands tightened on her shoulders and sent stabs of pain down the length of her arms.

  'You may wish yourself dead, Kate, but I would very much like to live,' his deep, harsh voice lashed her. 'I have a lot to look forward to; a woman I could love and respect one day, and children to carry on my name. Whether they grow up on La Reine, or elsewhere, makes no difference, but I won't have my dreams of the future chopped off by a worthless wildcat such as yourself who has no sense of responsibility.'

  He thrust her back against the seat to start the car and, as he drove on, she could not decide which hurt most— her shoulders after the brutality she had suffered at his hands, or his wounding opinion of her character.

  Whichever it was, she lapsed into a defeated silence during the rest of the short journey to Solitaire. She knew only too well that her irrational behaviour could have killed them both, and she shivered at the realisation that she had become almost a total stranger to herself.

  'I suggest you go straight to bed,' Rhyno instructed coldly when they arrived at Solitaire. 'I'll be here at ten in the morning to drive you in to town, and after our marriage we have an appointment with Mr Walton.'

  Kate got out of his car a little wearily, sensing that he had no intention of accompanying her to the door. He was making it embarrassingly obvious that he wanted her out of his car and out of his sight at that precise moment, and when she entered the house moments later she was surprised to discover that her eyes were stinging with unshed tears.

  She slept very little that night, and when she did her dreams were confused and unhappy. She dreaded the dawn, but the hours passed relentlessly, bringing her closer to the moment when she would have to tie herself irrevocably to a man she did not love. It was all very well to think of it all as a business arrangement, but once that ring was on her finger it would give Rhyno certain rights over her and although she had no doubt that he had no intention of ever touching her, there would always be the knowledge that he could if he so wished.

  It was a frightening thought, and she was still trying to thrust it from her mind when the sun rose behind the Jonkershoek mountains to start its steady climb into the cloudless sky.

  Aunt Edwina fussed around Kate that morning, muttering her displeasure that her niece had not taken the time to buy herself a new outfit for her wedding day, but Kate ignored her, and pulled out a cool summer suit from her wardrobe. It was the colour of unskimmed milk, and the wide collar of the jacket was trimmed with tan braid. She had worn it only once before, when she had accompanied her father to a wine-tasting luncheon at the Stellenbosch winery, and although Aunt Edwina viewed the outfit doubtfully, Kate decided that it would simply have to suffice.

  'I'd better get myself ready,' Edwina sighed eventually. 'Naomi offered to come and fetch me, and she should be here shortly.'

  Kate nodded soberly without speaking, but when the door closed behind her aunt she sank down on to her bed and buried her face in her hands. How, in heaven's name, was she going to live through this frightful day which was the start of an even more frightful year ahead of her? All this was because of Solitaire; she was marrying Rhyno because of Solitaire, and she had no doubt that she would still have to endure much more for this piece of land she loved so very much.

  She bathed and dressed mechanically, neither knowing nor caring what she was doing. This was not how she had imagined her wedding day, and the man who would stand beside her was not the man she would have chosen voluntarily. Rhyno had spoken of one day marrying a woman he could love and respect, but she doubted very much if that cold slab he called a heart would ever melt sufficiently to know what love was.

  She put an extra dab of powder on her nose and stared at herself in the mirror. Her coral-pink lipstick was the only splash of colour in her otherwise pale face, for her eyes had become dark, stormy, and dissatisfied.

  There was a knock on her door and, thinking it was her aunt, she called irritably, 'Come in.'

  Naomi van der Bijl entered the room, handsomely dressed in deep blue, and Kate was too surprised to rise from the dressing-table stool, but Naomi seemed not to notice her lapse as she drew up a chair and seated herself facing her.

  'We have a few minutes before Rhyno arrives,' she spoke hurriedly, 'and I have something I must say to you.'

  Kate stiffened, and her chin rose with a measure of defiance. 'My marriage to your son is a business arrangement, and you know that, don't you?'

  'I know,' Naomi replied, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

  'Then I fail to see what you could possibly have to say to me.'

  'When I was a- girl of twenty your father asked me to marry him,' she shocked Kate to silence. 'I was extremely fond of him, but I asked him to give me time to consider his proposal, and during that time I met my late husband. William was charming, attentive, and romantic; in fact he was all the things your father was not, and he swept me off my feet. I married him, but it was a mistake I lived to regret. Through him I lost La Reine which was my birthplace and my inheritance, and the only thing which has offered me some consolation during the past twenty years was the knowledge that La Reine was in your father's care.'

  'What has this got to do with me?' Kate asked stiffly.

  'You're not happy about marrying Rhyno.'

  'It's a marriage I've been forced into because of my father's ridiculous will, and I shall hate every minute of this year ahead of me,' Kate admitted without hesitation -or consideration for Naomi's feelings.

  'It's a sacrifice you'll consider worthwhile in the end, Kate… believe me.' Naomi leaned forward to touch Kate's hand briefly. 'You'll have Solitaire.'

  'And Rhyno will eventually have La Reine,' Kate added with a touch of cynicism. 'That's really why you've come, and not because you're so concerned about me.'

  'I am concerned about you, Kate, and I admit quite freely that I'm concerned about my son.'

  'Why be concerned, Mrs van der Bijl?' Kate observed her closely. 'Through your son you'll have La Reine returned to you, and that's something worth rejoicing about, isn't it?'

  Naomi's glance did not waver, but there were tears in her eyes when she shook her head and said: 'I can't rejoice about something which will cause someone else unhappiness.'

  Kate felt as if she had been dealt a severe blow to her midriff, and her defiance disintegrated like mist before the sun. 'I believe you really mean that.'

  A tear escaped and ran unheeded down the older woman's cheek. 'I loved La Reine as much as you love Solitaire. I know what it feels like to lose something as precious as one's inheritance, and I wouldn't want you to suffer that same fate.' She dabbed at her eyes with a lacy handkerchief, and smiled faintly. 'Consider your marriage to my son as an obstacle which must be overcome, and keep in mind that in the end Solitaire will be safe in your hands.'

  'I think I know now why you came here this morning,' Kate whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat. 'You came to attach some purpose to this farcical marriage, and to help me regain my sense of direction.'

  'You're very perceptive, my dear,' Naomi smiled, but her smile made way for a frown. 'I feel that, in a way, I'm to blame for this awkward situation you find yourself in today, and I would like to make amends.'

  'Why on earth should you blame yourself?' Kate demanded in surprise.

  'Five years after my husband had left me, when I'd received the news of his death, your father asked me again to marry him, and I refused.'

  'I didn't know that. In fact, I never even guessed that he knew you that well.'

  'I'm not surprised,' Naomi smiled ruefully. 'It's not
something your father would have talked about freely.'

  It was strange, Kate thought, but for some reason Naomi van der Bijl's disclosure had not shocked her, and it was out of mere curiosity that she asked: 'Why did you refuse him?'

  'I was afraid that some day he might think that I married him merely to save La Reine.'

  'Why did you sell La Reine to him?'

  Naomi sighed and lowered her gaze. 'I was in debt up to my ears, and your father made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Much as I loved La Reine, I knew that I couldn't hang on to it, and I knew that your father had always dreamed of making the two farms one.'

  'Then why is he splitting them up again?' Kate frowned confusedly.

  'I'm afraid I can't answer that. It's possible, I suppose, that he hoped for the opposite.'

  Kate ignored the last part of her remark. 'Did my father never ask you again to marry him?'

  Naomi shook her head a little sadly. 'Jacques was a proud man, and he wouldn't have risked being rejected a third time.'

  'Would you have rejected him?' Kate probed curiously, and there was a flicker of sadness in Naomi's dark eyes; a sadness that caused pain.

  'No, I don't think I would have.'

  Kate lapsed into a contemplative silence, then she raised her troubled glance and asked hesitantly, 'Do you consider that he planned to take some kind of revenge when he drew up this complicated will?'

  'I'm not sure,' Naomi replied frowningly, then she shook her head helplessly. 'I don't think anyone, except your father, knew exactly what went on in his own mind.'

  A knock on Kate's bedroom door interrupted their conversation, and Aunt Edwina entered without waiting for an invitation.

  'Rhyno is here, Kate,' she announced quietly.

  'Then we'd better be on our way,' Naomi remarked, rising to her feet, then she linked her arm through Aunt Edwina's and they walked out of the room, leaving Kate alone with an uncommon tightness in her chest.

  She was nervous even though she told herself that she had no reason to be. She was entering into a business arrangement with Rhyno, and their marriage would be no more than a contract which would expire after twelve months. She had absolutely nothing to be nervous or jittery about, but her insides were quivering like a tightly strung bow when she walked out of her room a few minutes later to where Rhyno was waiting for her in the hall.