Country Lovers (13 page)

Rose got up, took the baby from him, and looking down at him, she said, “Have you no grandchildren?”

“No. Nor likely to have. That fool of a son of mine hasn't the slightest interest in having a family at all. It's all glitz and glitter with him, and he gets plenty of that in London. As for Megan, she can't marry when she has me to look after.”

Before Rose could answer, Megan came back with a loaded tea tray. The business of pouring tea, handing out plates, cutting cake and consuming it took time, and Rose still hadn't found the right moment to put in a word for Megan and Rhodri to Mr. Jones by the time Megan was clearing their tea things.

But she did notice that Mr. Jones was beginning to tire.

“I think I'd better be making tracks. Any minute now, this son of ours is going to be shrieking for his food. I wonder…Mr. Jones…could you find the time to come to our house for a cup of tea one afternoon? Just for an hour, if Megan can spare a few hours?”

Megan stopped what she was doing and waited, fully expecting that her da would say no. But to her surprise, he said the opposite. “If you can be bothered with an old man, yes, I'd like to. Thank you.”

“Good! I'll ring next week and we'll plan a day. Lunch perhaps, too? Will that be all right with you, Megan?”

Before Megan answered Rose, they heard Gab calling. When he didn't get an immediate answer, he came on into the sitting room in his stockinged feet. He loomed in the doorway. “Sorry, didn't realize you had company. I just need some help with ordering some more feed, please, Meggie, my love. Don't know your supplier and we're nearing the end of what we've got. Must do it today. Afternoon, Mrs. Brown. Nice to see you.”

Rose smiled at him. “Hi! Gab. It's nice to meet you. Dan said you were helping out.”

Megan picked up the tray. “Yes, you're right. I meant to order it last week and never got around to it.” She headed for the kitchen carrying the tray, and as she went to pass Gab, still standing in the doorway, he took the tray from her and gave her a long, hot, lustful look, which wasn't lost on Rose. Without moving her head, she turned her eyes to see if Mr. Jones had noticed and he had; he looked livid.

“I'll be off, then.” Rose gathered her things together, picked up Jonathan, and said, “I'll give you a ring, promise. I'm so glad you said you could come. Be seeing you, Mr. Jones.” Rose went into the kitchen to thank Megan.

Gab was seated at the table with Megan beside him studying a file. “I've come to say my good-byes. I'll ring next week when I know what Dan's doing, and we'll make a date for lunch. Perhaps Saturday. Is it all right, my asking? I didn't know how your father would feel.”

Megan looked up from studying the file. “It's fine; no one's more surprised than me that he wants to go out. Thank you very much.” She gave Rose a smile of thanks, and it was still on her face as she pointed something out to Gab, who wasn't looking but was occupied with admiring Megan's hair. Again Rose caught sight of the desire in Gab's eyes and wondered if Megan recognized it for what it was.

“'Bye, Rose, thank you for coming. 'Bye, Jonathan.”

“'Bye, Megan. Thank you for asking me. The tea was lovely. 'Bye, Gab.” She left the kitchen, went down the short passage and out into the farmyard to get into her car. A frisson of apprehension shot through Rose, which she tried hard to shake off, but couldn't. She'd seen desire in men's eyes herself many times, but never with the hint of threat which she recognized in Gab's look. Megan was a stunner. Who would have guessed there was such sweet beauty hidden away in that remote farmhouse? No wonder Rhodri had fallen for her. No wonder at all. But Gab!

From the depths of his chair, after Rose had gone, Mr. Jones watched Megan dusting crumbs from the table she'd used for serving the tea. “Isn't that Rose a lovely girl? So kind to want to be bothered with a crippled old man. It will make a change. Yes, a very pleasant change. Fresh she is, New World fresh. That Dan's a lucky man. Don't know how he's managed to get her. He wasn't exactly at the front of the line when good looks were given out.”

“Not many people are.”

Megan's da didn't tell her how he'd realized what a beauty she was, didn't want to rock the boat. He was damned if she'd up and leave. Damned to a procession of “helpers” or else a nursing home, and he wasn't having that. No, she'd just have to wait.

         

D
AN
shifted Jonathan around so he could see his face. “Darling, I certainly won't tell Rhodri. He's far too wound up about the situation. If he finds out, he'll probably murder Gab. What a mess! What with Megan's biological clock ticking away and Rhodri fit to die for her and Gab obviously fancying her like crazy, things could be heating up.”

“Mr. Jones knows it too. He was livid.”

Dan looked up at her and asked if Mr. Jones was willing to come for lunch, or had he to be coerced?

“Willing. Very willing. I was amazed.”

“So am I.”

“He's an old sweetie really, just in so much pain and so resentful of not being able to do what he wants, which is farming, he can't help but let it spill out into every corner. He treats Megan like a servant, but what alternative has either of them?”

“Not much. I bet you're the first person to say he's such a sweetie.”

“You should have seen him with your son. Watch out, he's being sick!” By the time they'd cleaned him up and Dan had changed his trousers and Rose had given the baby her favorite recipe for wind, and then they'd got him to sleep, the evening was almost over and they gave no further thought to Old Man Jones, except for Rose to say that she was going to solve their problems.

“Rose! You're not to interfere! Promise!”

Eyes wide with innocence, she agreed she wouldn't interfere, just help things along a little. Sitting up in bed during the night, feeding Jonathan while his father slept the sleep of the righteous, Rose thought how to bring it about. She could make a beginning by inviting Rhodri for lunch at the same time as Mr. Jones and Megan. No, that would be too obvious. Or she could ask other people she knew and then the larger group would make it not quite as obvious. No, that would be too much for Mr. Jones. All those people. No. What she'd do was encourage him to go out more and then he would have less time to brood and more time to see how the other half of the world lived. He needed cheering up. The whole balance of his life wanted rejigging. Brightening. Freshening up. Revitalizing. And she was the person to see to it. Yes. Coming here for lunch would be a start. But as she put Jonathan back into his cradle, sated with milk and almost asleep, Rose remembered the glittering of Gab's eyes and the lust in them, and hoped Rhodri's and Gab's paths would not cross.

Chapter
• 10 •

I
t was, however, Rhodri's afternoon off the following day, and he and Megan were taking the chance to shop in Barleybridge. He couldn't find her when he first arrived at the farm, but he did find Gab in the nearest field, mending a fence.

He was lifting a huge hammer with the greatest of ease and raining blows on a new fence post. Rhodri watched the rhythmic strokes of his powerful arms with admiration. Strength like his was amazing. “Gab! Hi!” He guessed Gab would answer without the slightest shortness of breath.

The post as secure as he could make it, Gab rested the mighty hammer on the ground and turned to see who'd called his name.

“It's you. If it's Meggie you're wanting, she's inside getting ready.” The light eyes appraised Rhodri. “Business brisk?”

“Yes, thanks. And you?”

“Busy, you know, always something to do on a farm. Nice autumn though. Easy to get jobs done when the weather's good.” Gab eyed him again with a speculative look. “Lucky for you Old Man Jones is having a good day. He cramps your style, doesn't he?”

“What do you mean?”

“Having that old git ordering you and her about. She never has a minute.”

“I know. He doesn't order me about.”

Gab leaned on the post he'd just put in, his chin resting on his hands. “He does. He tells you marriage isn't on the agenda.”

“Who told you that?”

“Obvious, isn't it? All he needs is a…
man
with a firm hand to tell him where to get off.”

Rhodri felt at an immediate disadvantage. “Does he indeed? Well, thanks for the advice.”

Gab nodded his head toward the house. “She's coming.”

Both men watched her walk across to them. Rhodri saw his beautiful lover walking toward him. Gab saw the swing of her hips, her slender ankles, and her red hair blowing in the wind. To avoid getting her shoes dirty, Megan didn't walk through the gate into the field but stood on top of a small stone wall alongside the gate and waved. Rhodri looked at Gab, intending to say he'd be seeing him sometime, but the words stopped in his throat when he saw the lecherous look on Gab's face. A furious rage welled up in his chest. How dare Gab harbor thoughts like that about his Megan? She was his; absolutely his and his alone.

He snapped out, “You'd better get back to your fence mending, Gab,” and looked at the darkening sky, at the heavy gray clouds lumbering across from Beulah Bank Top. “Looks like rain. Get on with it, man.” He waved cheerfully to Megan, his heart like a stone in his chest.

Gab's answer was, “Get stuffed.” He waved to Megan himself and shouted, “Meggie! Where's that lad? I need another pair of hands, or I'll not get done before milking.”

On the wind came Megan's reply. “OK.” She got down from the wall and went into one of the outbuildings from which the lad emerged in a second and hurried across the field to Gab.

Rhodri grimly strode toward Megan, focusing his eyes on her lovely welcoming smile, knowing it was for him and him alone. Childishly he made a show of kissing her so Gab could see she belonged to Rhodri Hughes. When they were in the car fastening their safety belts, Rhodri said, “You know Gab?”

“Of course.” She knew what he was going to say.

“Does he ever make a pass at you?”

He noticed her slight hesitation, but she said, “No. Of course not.”

“He looks as if he might, but he'd better not.”

Megan turned to look at him full face. “He won't. I shan't let him.”

“You've noticed his face then when he looks at you with those greedy eyes of his.”

“I have, but he won't.”

“Does your da know?”

“Of course not. He's not that perceptive.” She turned to look out of the car window. “If we don't get off, the afternoon will be gone and I shall be needed back for Da. Start her up, Rhodri, and don't fret. Trouble with the Bridges boys is there's too many of them and too few suitable girls. They fancy anyone in a skirt.”

“You're a stunner, you see, that's why I worry.”

“And I'm his boss and pay his wages, better wages than he's had since he left school, I bet. Thanks for the compliment, though. Are we going or are we staying?”

“Going.” Rhodri revved up and charged out of the farmyard. They were over the humpbacked bridge in no time at all and speeding into Barleybridge. While Megan was choosing some lingerie, Rhodri excused himself and slipped away to buy a gift for her. He chose a manicure set in a leather case crafted into the shape of an old-fashioned cigarette case. He knew how she loved to keep her hands as immaculate as she could.

On the way back in the car, he handed it to her. “Present for my lovely.”

Out of the corner of his eye he watched her face as she opened up the box it was in.

“Why, Rhodri, this is lovely. I've never had one of these. It's just beautiful. Thank you.” Megan kissed his cheek, twice. “Thank you.”

“When you use it, think of me.”

“I think of you every day, my darling. All day.”

They'd almost reached the humpbacked bridge, and Rhodri decided to stop there for a short while. “I won't come in when we get back. You'll have enough to do. Let's pull in here and talk.”

“OK.”

When he'd parked the car, Megan said, “I like sitting on the slope down to the stream; there's a big flat boulder in just the right place.”

“Do you come here often then?”

“When I'm sick of the house and Da, I come here to get away. Escape it all…for a while.”

Rhodri felt immeasurably sad. “Well, let's then.”

So they sat huddled tightly together on the stone, watching the busy stream attending to its own affairs. “This stone's only just big enough for the two of us.”

Megan grinned. “Cozy though.”

“Oh! Yes. It is.” His arm tightened around her shoulders. “Could stay here forever.”

“Too cold.”

“We're sheltered from the wind.”

“Nice place to make love, though.” Megan chuckled. “Slope's a bit steep. It'd be something of a challenge, wouldn't it?”

“Have to mind you didn't finish up sliding down into the water.”

Megan laughed. “You're right there.”

He loved to hear her laugh—there wasn't enough of it in her life. There would be if she married him.

Megan shuddered.

“Cold?”

“No, just a weird feeling. Premonition or something.”

Abruptly Rhodri got to his feet. “Time to go.”

Megan looked up at him. “You sound as though you felt it too.”

“No. Not me.” He hauled Megan to her feet and made an effort to kiss away their strange feeling of something about to happen. “What was it you felt?” He gripped her hand to help her up the slope to the road.

“Just nothing, really. I'm being silly.”

He opened the car door for her, made sure she was comfortable, and then went around to get in his own seat. As they drove up between the trees, he could feel her discomfort settling on him too. He tried to force it out of his mind but couldn't. Not her da? Not something that happened while they were out? He checked the car clock. They'd been exactly two and a quarter hours.

As he put on the hand brake, he said, “I won't come in. I'll wait till you wave to say your da's all right.”

Standing with his back against the car, he watched her unlock the door and disappear inside. Then she came to the door again and waved. So it wasn't that, then. The old sod was still alive. So what was it? He blew her a kiss, and she returned it and then closed the door. He didn't know when he'd ever felt more alone than when the door closed behind her. Loneliness, like great waves of shocking pain, rolled over him, leaving him desolate. It would be tomorrow morning before he spoke to another living soul. What kind of a life was that? He started up the engine, and was about to drive away when Gab came out of a stable door and went to open the back door of the house. He called, “Meggie, my love. I'm off.” He'd better not go in or…

Rhodri heard her say from somewhere inside the house, “OK. See you in the morning, Gab.”

There was something dashing about Gab, something lean and handsome and…what was the word? Virile. Earthy. Like that gamekeeper in that book…what was it? He'd recall it when he wasn't thinking about it. But he was just like him.

Politely, Rhodri waited for Gab to get in his scruffy little car, more fitted for the junkyard than the road, and drive away. When he'd gone, Rhodri thought, Gab sees more of her than I do, and he remembered the peculiar feeling they'd both had sitting by the stream that ran under the humpbacked bridge. No, he really was being stupid. He bet Dan didn't have such daft thoughts. No, not Dan. Dan would have found a solution. But he was damned if he could. Dan would have compromised on something or other, and had Old Man Jones eating out of his hand. That gamekeeper. Yes, that was it. D. H. Lawrence.
Lady Chatterley's Lover.
That was who Gab reminded him of.

         

H
IS
worries were still with him the next morning. Everyone else seemed focused, busy, enthusiastic; he was preoccupied with thoughts of Megan that were gnawing at his innards, rendering him useless. But the arrival of his third client rapidly emptied the forefront of his mind. It was Adolf, Mr. Featherstonehough's Rottweiler. A soaking wet Adolf.

“Good morning, Adolf; good morning, Bert. You've been fighting Perkins again, haven't you, old chap? I can tell. Kate's been throwing water over the pair of you, hasn't she? You're not looking too perky, Adolf. What's your problem?”

Mr. Featherstonehough answered on Adolf 's behalf. “It's the old problem. That lump in his groin. Only this time it's worse and well…see what you think.”

“Ah! I'll have a look.”

Rhodri felt around Adolf 's groin with trepidation. He knew what Adolf meant to his owner: the whole world. But the news wasn't good.

“Let's see, how old is Adolf now?” Rhodri flicked the records through on the computer and found Adolf 's name. “He's almost twelve?”

“That's right. And as good as ever till these last few weeks. But he's lost heart. If it hadn't been for Kate's bucket of water, Perkins would have had him for breakfast this time.”

“Do you get the feeling he's in pain?”

Mr. Featherstonehough couldn't bring himself to answer. “No. No. Not pain exactly. Well, to be honest…yes…I think so. Yes, it's in his eyes; it's as if he's asking me to help him. And the way he behaves. Lying with his eyes shut but not really asleep, and I hear him prowling about in the night.” He bent to ruffle Adolf 's ears and did it with deep affection.

Rhodri said to Adolf, “Excuse me,” bending to feel the lump in his groin again. It appeared to be much more extensive than the last time. “I think I'm going to keep him in and do some X-rays.” He looked up at Mr. Featherstonehough and very slightly shook his head. “It may not be as bad as I think, but—”

“Be honest with me, Rhodri, no beating about the bush. I need it straight from the shoulder.”

“I have an idea the lump has spread. We said when we operated a year ago that we didn't know if we'd got absolutely everything cut out. I'm afraid it looks as though we haven't.”

“I see. Well, he's almost twelve. If he were younger, would you operate again?”

“Can't say anything until I've seen the X-rays.”

“Bad as that, is it?”

Rhodri nodded.

Mr. Featherstonehough ruffled Adolf 's ears again. “I shall need to see the X-rays to convince myself.”

“Of course.”

“Adolf 's been a grand dog all his life. I shall miss coming here. We'll miss Perkins and his damned fighting. Miss my wet trousers.”

“You could always get another.”

Mr. Featherstonehough slowly shook his head. “Not fair to get a dog when you're not sure you'll see it through its life. No. Might get a rescue cat though. My wife always wanted a cat, but we couldn't have one, not with this old codger, nor with old Fang either. They both hated cats. I'll leave him with you. I'll come back for him. Tomorrow, eh?”

“That's right. Tomorrow, first thing.”

“I shall want to be with him when…you know…at the end. If it turns out that…”

“Of course.”

The X-rays confirmed Rhodri's worst suspicions. He got Mungo to take a look, and the two of them stood together shaking their heads. Dan came in and joined them. “Whose is this?”

Without looking at him Rhodri replied, “Adolf 's.”

“Mmm. Looks like very bad news. How old is he?”

“Almost twelve, he is.”

Dan said, pointing to the huge mass of the cancer, “Curtains for Adolf then.”

Rhodri turned to him. “You're a hard-hearted beggar, you are. Colder than ice, that's what.”

Mungo added, “Practical might be a better word. He is right. It's all too late for Adolf.”

“I know that! I have got eyes, but is there any need to say it quite so bluntly?”

Dan apologized. “Sorry, very sorry. Didn't mean to be unfeeling.”

“Unfeeling! You haven't got a thoughtful bone in your body, see.”

Mungo interrupted. “Steady, Rhod, Dan doesn't know Adolf like we do.”

As though Mungo had never spoken, Rhodri continued. “This dog is well loved both at home and at this practice; we shall miss him, all of us. But you, having no heart, don't have an inkling what we mean.”

Mungo's lips went into that thin line, which anyone who'd crossed him could have recognized, but Rhodri was too eager to put Dan in his place to notice. “You're a damned nuisance you are, always right, sticking your nose in where it's not wanted, and putting everyone's back up. This is none of your business. I know what I have to do—just needed Mungo to confirm it for me.”