by Tania Crosse
‘William, would you mind showing everyone round?’ Lily asked genially. ‘I’ve got some bits to finish off in the kitchen and Daniel will bring some drinks out onto the terrace.’
The tour didn’t take long but Anna was entranced by the house. It was impressive enough as a hotel, let alone as a private residence! And yet the atmosphere was friendly and inviting, so unlike the stiff coldness of Ashcroft Hall. But maybe that was down to the people living in it!
‘So you can see why I could do with some help,’ Anna heard Daniel say to Jack as they sipped drinks out on the terrace. It overlooked a huge well-tended garden – well, more like grounds, Anna considered – where the children were romping about on the lawn with Trojan, the dog. ‘There’s always so much to do, and if I had someone in to do the garden one day a week, say, it would really help. So what do you think?’
‘Sounds excellent to me. I haven’t got any tools of my own yet, though, or any transport.’
‘I’ve got all the tools you could ever need,’ Daniel grinned back. ‘Through that gate is the old stable yard, and there’s all sorts there. But what sort of transport are you looking for?’
‘A small van of some sort, I suppose. But big enough to put a lawnmower in.’
‘Tell you what. I saw in the paper the GPO are selling off some old vans at their depot Plymouth way. But come and have a look round. How long till dinner’s ready, Lily love?’
‘Half an hour, but don’t be too long. I want you to carve,’ Lily answered and then she turned a sympathetic smile on Carrie. ‘I hear your husband’s in the TB sanatorium at Didworthy. How awful for you.’
‘Well, it certainly came as a shock,’ Carrie replied. ‘But he’s made reasonable progress so I’m not quite so worried as I was.’
‘Modern drugs,’ William nodded wisely. ‘It can be completely cured nowadays. I reckon you’ll have Jeffery home by Christmas.’
Anna noticed Carrie release a heartfelt sigh. ‘That’d be wonderful, but Christmas seems an awfully long way off. And it’s such an awkward journey for visiting. Thank goodness Jack’s going to take me when he’s got transport of his own. That’s why he gave up his job in Yorkshire to be with me.’
‘What a nice brother to have! You’re very lucky. He must be a lovely chap.’
‘Yes, he is. Don’t you agree, Anna?’
At that moment, Anna felt she could have throttled her friend for putting her on the spot like that. ‘Oh well, yes. I mean, we’ve hardly had time to get to know each other that well, but, yes, he does seem very nice.’ And she had to admit to herself that it was true.
‘Who wants to come for a spin in the van? I want to make sure she can make the climb up onto the moor.’
Anna raised an eyebrow as Jack got to his feet, evidently burning with enthusiasm over his new mode of transport, however ancient. She supposed she could understand his excitement at this major step towards building his own little business, but cars – or ex GPO vans in this case – didn’t do much for her. And somewhere at the back of her mind festered Gilbert’s adoration of his flashy sports car. No. Anna had no desire whatsoever to travel in Jack’s newly acquired jalopy.
‘Oh, Jack, I really think I’ve had enough of gadding about for a while,’ Carrie sighed. ‘I’m really looking forward to you driving me to the sanatorium on Wednesday, but just now I’d rather put my feet up. Why don’t you take Anna? I’m sure you’d like a trip up onto the moor, wouldn’t you, Anna? You’ve been saying how you miss it.’
Oh. Anna withered under Carrie’s strained smile. She really did look tired and Anna didn’t have the heart to argue. And it would be churlish to take the wind out of Jack’s sails with a refusal. She should be happy for him, and it wasn’t his fault she felt inexplicably topsy-turvy whenever she found herself alone with him.
‘That’d be lovely,’ she murmured. ‘This weather could turn any day so we might as well make the most of it.’
‘Go on, then. I’ll look after the kiddies.’
‘Are you sure?’ Anna asked doubtfully, hoping Carrie would change her mind.
‘Yes, go on, the pair of you.’
‘Just give me five minutes to change, would you, Jack? I don’t want to go in my waitress uniform.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Jack gave his easy-going smile. ‘We can go for a walk while we’re there. You can show me some favourite spot of yours.’
Oh, dear. That was even worse. Alone, with Jack, on the lonely moor. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. It was just that she felt so awkward.
‘She might be ten years old, but hopefully there’s some life left in her yet,’ Jack was saying proudly as he unlocked the van a little later. ‘And she is the right colour. For me. As a gardener. Green,’ he explained. ‘They’ve painted out the GPO lettering but I don’t think I’ll have anything put on instead.’
‘Why do men always refer to their cars as she?’ Anna said scathingly as she got into the passenger seat. The only cars she had ever travelled in were Lady Ashcroft’s Rolls Royce, Gilbert’s Jaguar and William’s Rover. The Morris Z van seemed tinny and pretty basic by comparison - even to Jeffery’s modest Austin that she had been in a couple of times.
She caught the hurt look on Jack’s face and wished she hadn’t said anything, but then he gave a light laugh.
‘Do you know, I’ve absolutely no idea. Perhaps it’s because you get attached to them. Like sailors and ships, I suppose. Right, come on, girl,’ he encouraged the engine as he pulled out the starter button. ‘Oh dear, I said it again, didn’t I?’
But then he was concentrating and Anna felt able to sink into silence. Jack seemed to her a good driver, and as the van strained its way up onto the moor, Anna’s heart was inevitably snapped up into contemplation of the wild, open spaces she knew and loved. Banks of heather were still in full bloom, swaying blissfully in the gentle breeze, but the overall impression remained the verdant hues of green stretching to the horizon in fold upon fold of distant hills. Peace. And Anna could feel close to Queenie again.
‘So where would you like to walk?’ Jack’s unwelcome voice cut into her reverie.
‘Oh well, if we stop soon after where they’re building the new bridge,’ Anna suggested unwillingly, ‘there’s a nice walk along the Walkham Valley. The scenery’s quite varied. You can go as far as Ward Bridge and come back on the other side, but I’ve never gone all the way round. It was always too far with Charlie, and today it wouldn’t be fair on Carrie, not when she’s already had the children all morning as well.’
‘OK, we’ll just go so far and turn back,’ Jack agreed quite amicably. ‘The drive’s let me see what the old lady’s capable of, and that was the object of the exercise. You just show me where to stop.’
Anna could hardly believe she was doing this. She pointed out the small car park and then they walked back down the road and turned off through a farmyard, following the track out along the far side. The rising ground to their left was strewn with granite boulders, and on their right, the valley dropped down towards the river. Sheep scattered nervously as they passed, while a herd of black cows tore unperturbed at the rough grass, their teeth rasping as they chewed.
‘You were very fond of this Queenie, I gather,’ Jack broke the silence as they walked along. ‘Tell me about her. That’s if it’s not too upsetting. Up here on the moor you seem, I don’t know, distant. Sad and yet as if you’ve come home. I noticed it when we came up with William and Deborah. Tell me to mind my own business if you like, but sometimes it helps to talk.’
Anna felt like doing just that, telling him to mind his own business. But when she cast a scornful sideways glance at Jack, she caught him looking at her with a concerned expression in his deep, intense eyes.
‘I’m not prying, really I’m not,’ he assured her, his generous mouth twisting awkwardly. ‘I’m genuinely interested.’
‘Is there a difference?’ she bristled.
‘Yes, of course there is. We’re living under the same roof and yo
u’re my sister’s best friend. Besides which …’
He broke off, colouring slightly as he looked away. Anna felt herself flush with remorse. Jack was obviously sensitive to her tangled emotions and she shouldn’t be so touchy.
‘I’m sorry,’ she apologised. ‘It’s just that I still feel raw about Queenie. I loved living up here on the moor. But now, well, I suppose it holds too many memories.’
‘Yes, I can understand that. Carrie said you’d been through a lot. Lost both your parents tragically before all the business with the chap who left you with Charlie.’
Anna chewed on her lip and was glad that they had come to the point where the track ended at another farmyard. The footpath ahead went through a couple of gates and Jack held them open for her. Their initial meeting aside, he couldn’t have been nicer to her. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to tell him what had happened in her life? They paused as they crossed a bridge over a bubbling, cascading brook, and Anna took a hold on herself.
‘I used to live in Ford,’ she began. ‘It’s an area of Devonport where the naval dockyards are.’
They walked on, up through the wood and following the path as it wound between ancient trees and strange rock formations dripping with emerald moss. It was a place of mystery, and somehow it seemed unreal as Anna related her story to Jack. She even told him the truth about her mother’s death. What did it matter who knew now that her dad was dead, too? They came to a standstill when she finished, the still, uncanny silence of the wood sighing around them.
‘Fate’s not been kind to you,’ Jack said at length. ‘I hope things turn to the better from now on. You deserve it.’
Anna smiled wanly. ‘Thank you. I hope so, too. For Charlie’s sake.’
‘And for your own. Having to leave school when you could have had a proper career must have been awful for you. I mean, it wouldn’t have been so bad for an idiot like me who was so useless at school—’
‘You’re hardly an idiot …’
‘Well, I felt like one. Jeered at by the other kids half the time.’ Jack faltered, glanced at her darkly and then lowered his eyes to his feet as he ground the toe of his shoe into the earth. ‘I left on my fifteenth birthday. No point in staying a day longer. Dad managed to get me a job at a nursery growing seedlings for farmers. Didn’t matter that I couldn’t read and write. Or when I did my service. But it was through my CO that I got the horticultural apprenticeship afterwards. I loved every minute of it. I was able to bury myself doing exactly what I wanted with my life. No one to pass snide remarks behind my back.’
Anna felt her heart soften, and the weight that had been dragging her down seemed to lift and float away. Hadn’t she done the same thing as Jack by hiding the secret of her father’s behaviour from everyone except Ethel? ‘You said once you never had any girlfriends or anything,’ she ventured as her confidence strengthened.
Jack gave a wry snort. ‘No, I didn’t. Never wanted to leave myself open to ridicule again. No. I kept myself to myself. So coming down here to start a new life was a big step for me. But I felt I had to for Carrie’s sake. Dad could hardly leave his job in the same way I could leave mine. I sometimes wish, though, that I could have another go at reading and writing. I’m older now, and maybe without the pressure of others around me …’
The words were out of Anna’s mouth before she had a chance to stop them. ‘I could teach you,’ she said, amazed by the force with which the idea had struck her.
Jack’s eyes stretched wide. ‘You? But—’
‘I told you I wanted to be a teacher. I’ll never be able to do my training now. Not with Charlie. But I’ll give it a go with you if you like.’
Jack still seemed dumbfounded. ‘Would you really?’
‘Of course. No idea how good I’ll be,’ she found herself laughing.
‘And I’ll probably be a useless pupil.’
‘Then we can be useless together! So that’s settled, then. And now I think we should start heading home.’
‘Yes, you’re right. Thank you, Anna. And maybe I can help you.’
‘Oh, yes?’ Anna raised an enquiring eyebrow as they set off back through the wood.
‘Yes, indeed. Wendy – that’s William and Deborah’s daughter, the one who’s a secretary for a solicitors’ – well, I heard her mention that they need a part-time clerk at her office. Maybe you’d be interested. It’d be better pay and far more interesting than waitressing. And better hours. And you’d be with Wendy and she’s quite a scream from what I’ve seen of her. She’s best friends with Lily. It was through the Franfields that Lily and Daniel met, you know.’
‘Oh, I didn’t realise that. You’ve only been working at these places a few weeks, and you’ve got to know all about everyone, haven’t you? But I would be really interested in the job.’
This time, Anna grinned back, her heart fired with optimism. She felt more pleased than she could ever have imagined having broken the ice with Jack. All her doubts about living at Carrie’s house with him seemed to have dissolved into thin air.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Francesca tripped lightly down the staircase of Ashcroft Hall, her heart fluttering at the prospect of escaping the lugubrious confines of the great house for a few hours. But her chest tightened in familiar anguish as Gilbert came out of the drawing room and sprang up the stairs to meet her.
She mentally gritted her teeth. ‘Right, I’m off then,’ she declared, not daring to meet Gilbert’s scowling face.
‘Why is it the minute we get down here, you fly off to Tavistock?’ he growled irritably. ‘We’re supposed to be here to look after my mother.’
‘We’ve been here nearly a week and Lady Prue’s perfectly all right,’ Frankie retorted, sweat oozing from every pore at her own defiance. ‘The doctor said it was a mild stroke, just a warning. And I happen to love Tavistock and all its lovely little shops. I thought I’d start my Christmas shopping.’
‘You can do your shopping somewhere decent like Harrods or Selfridges. If you were to spend less time gadding about and put your mind to giving me a son, I’m sure it would hasten my mother’s recovery no end.’
Frankie caught her breath at the dart of sadness in her own heart. ‘Oh, Gilbert, please don’t keep bringing that up,’ she begged. ‘It hurts so much. You know I want a child as much as you do. And if there was—’
‘Oh, you do, do you? Prove it then. Let’s go back upstairs now.’
Frankie felt the thump inside her ribcage. ‘What … now? But it’s the middle of the day.’
‘So?’
‘Gilbert, I really don’t think—’
The hand that whipped through the air came at her with such speed that she didn’t have a chance to dodge out of the way. Gilbert’s palm slammed across her cheek so that she staggered sideways, almost losing her balance on the stairs, and pain shot through her scalp as he started to drag her back upstairs by the hair. She was too stunned even to scream, directing all her concentration on stumbling after Gilbert without falling down the stairs.
‘Well?’ he demanded, releasing her with a jerk once they were inside their bedroom.
Frankie swallowed. ‘All right. If that’s what you want.’
‘It is,’ he glowered, though the anger on his face slackened as she began, with bitter resignation, to unbutton her coat.
He wasn’t rough. She had to give him that. His assumed dominance was enough to boost his ego, and though she was reluctant, she did her wifely duty and it wasn’t unpleasant. When it was over, Gilbert seemed happy and relaxed, and made no objection when she dressed again and took the car keys from the table.
Gilbert lay back in the bed, hands clasped behind his head and his body purring with satisfaction. He loved Frankie, really he did, and if his temper got the better of him sometimes, well, he was truly sorry. But he was desperate for a son – if only to get his mother off his back.
It was odd, though, the way Frankie beetled off to Tavistock whenever they came down to his mother’s. It w
as a quaint old market town, granted, but surely it wasn’t that fascinating? So what was the attraction?
Gilbert suddenly felt as if he had been shot through with a bullet. Surely Frankie wasn’t seeing someone? No, surely not! But his heart blackened with suspicion as the image of his meek little wife in bed with another man exploded in his head. He catapulted from the bed, every nerve stinging with jealousy. He threw on his clothes and, storming down the staircase, barged his way below stairs.
Mr Jackson sprang to attention at the unprecedented invasion. ‘Can I help you, Sir Gilbert?’ he asked, driving the amazement from his expression.
‘Give me the keys to the Rolls,’ Gilbert demanded gruffly. ‘I want to go out and Lady Francesca has taken the Jag.’
‘Would you like me to drive you, sir?’
‘No, there’s no need. Just give me the keys, man.’
An astonished Mr Jackson reached into his pocket and Gilbert fairly snatched the keys from his hand. Within a minute, he had wrenched open the car door and started her up, crashing the unfamiliar gearbox in his maddened haste. He skidded round the corner of the house, scattering gravel, and hurtled down the drive.
He turned left towards Tavistock, for surely Frankie wouldn’t be stupid enough to be actually going in the opposite direction? Gilbert put his foot down, and damned any animal that might be on the road. The other side of Two Bridges he had to swerve around a black bullock that had wandered away from its herd grazing on the verge, and Gilbert swore under his breath. But as he breached the top of the hill, he could see the Jag in the distance. He slowed down. He didn’t want Frankie to see him in her mirrors. After all, you didn’t see Rolls Royces on the moor that often so she’d know it was him. But as the road descended into Tavistock, he accelerated. He had to take the chance if he didn’t want to lose sight of her.
