Kate's Progress (31 page)

Annoyingly, Kate felt herself blush as her imagination jumped ahead and pictured Addison saying,
Edward is mine, kid, so back off. Don’t even think about him
.

‘This point-to-point race on Monday,’ she went on. ‘I know you were planning to ride the mare – what’s her name?’

‘Henna,’ Kate said woodenly. She had a horrid premonition about this.

‘Henna, that’s right. But I’m much the more experienced rider, and Edward would really like
me
to ride her instead.’

‘Oh,’ said Kate.

‘I know you’ve been practising, but I’m sure you won’t mind stepping aside and letting me take her over, when it’s what Edward wants.’

‘Well, no – I mean—’

‘You’re not too disappointed? That’s good. Because, frankly, he doesn’t really think you’re up to it, and the mare deserves a chance, don’t you think?’

Through wooden lips, Kate said, ‘It’s whatever Ed wants. He’s the boss.’

‘Yes, he is, isn’t he?’ Addison said with a complacent smile. ‘Good girl. I’ll tell him you agree. Now, do you know where the bathroom is?’

‘Straight down there, left at the end, and it’s on the left,’ Kate said mechanically, and Addison swept away, leaving Kate to enjoy her humiliation in peace.

Camilla told everyone when they began to drift up to bed that, after such late night carousals, breakfast would be at ten, and if anyone wanted to go to church, morning service was at eleven.

Kate could not be said to sleep well. The mattress was old, and so lumpy it was a question of avoiding the worst peaks and fitting herself into the valleys, which meant there were only one or at best two positions she could lie in without damaging herself. And of course, if you feel you can’t move, that becomes the one thing you desperately want to do.

She dropped off at last into an uneasy sleep full of dreams that were not exactly nightmares but still very hard work. She mustn’t have latched her door securely, for early in the morning it was pushed open by Ralph, who jumped up on the bed, closely followed by Toby. Both curled up on her feet with sighs of satisfaction. She was at that point of half-waking when you can’t make yourself wake enough to do anything, and she dozed fitfully after that, much too hot with an extra covering of two dogs, until early in the morning they both suddenly deserted her, presumably having heard someone stirring below.

There was not a full complement of guests at breakfast when she got down. The Brigadier had gone for a long walk with Eric Orde, Jocasta was out riding, and Greg and Sasha weren’t down yet. Theo was at the table, brightly tackling a boiled egg, with Flick on one side of him and Jack on the other, a little cameo of family content that made Kate smile inwardly.

And Addison and Ed were missing. She thought of them curled up in Ed’s bed, sleeping after a night of passion – she bet Addison was a real athlete in the pit and knew lots of new positions – but dragged her thoughts away from that determinedly. She helped herself from the sideboard and went to sit down by Susie. They chatted about this and that, but finally Kate couldn’t contain it any longer and asked if Ed and Addison had stirred yet.

‘Oh yes,’ said Susie. ‘Eric told me before he went on his walk that they were up really early – well, neither of them drank much last night, did they? – and they’ve taken Gracie and Henna out for a long ride so Addison can get used to her.’ She looked at Kate curiously. ‘I must say, I was surprised that you volunteered to give her up, when you’d put in so much hard work. And you seemed so keen to ride in the point.’

‘I was,’ Kate said. ‘But I didn’t exactly volunteer, did I? Addison said that Ed wanted me to give her up, because he wanted
her
to ride on Monday. So what could I do?’

Susie frowned. ‘Wait, wait, Addison said it was
Ed’s
idea?’

‘She said he wanted Henna to have a chance, because Addison’s a better rider than me, more experienced.’

‘Well, not having seen her ride, I can’t say if either of those things is true. But I do know it wasn’t Ed’s idea. I was there when the subject came up. It was after you went up to bed, and Addison came over and said you were worried about riding on Monday and you’d asked her to ride Henna instead, as long as Ed didn’t mind. She said you’d said you didn’t want to offend him when he’d taken so much trouble, so would she sound him out? So of course he said he didn’t mind, and if Addison was going to ride they ought to have a practice this morning.’

Kate didn’t know what to say. Her mind felt numb. She stared at Susie helplessly. ‘I didn’t say that. That wasn’t what happened.’

Susie was less paralysed. ‘I believe you,’ she said vigorously. ‘It’s all of a piece with her domination of the conversation last night. I don’t say she hasn’t plenty to say, but she obviously has to be queen bee in everything, never mind anyone else’s feelings. But this …! What a manipulative bitch! She couldn’t just ask straight out.’

‘She might just as well have. Ed would have said yes, I’m sure,’ said Kate glumly.

‘He might not have. He’s very loyal, and if he’d given his word to you he’d want to keep it.’

Kate shook her head. ‘He’s in love with her. He’ll give her anything she wants.’

‘He might not be so in love with her when you tell him how she’s behaved,’ Susie said grimly.

‘No,’ Kate said. ‘I can’t do that.’ Susie began to protest, and she went on, ‘Think how that would make me look – petty and spiteful, a troublemaker. And I don’t want to be the one to come between them. That wouldn’t be right. I’m just a guest here. She’s going to be family.’

‘You’re terribly forgiving,’ Susie said. ‘I wouldn’t be.’

‘Not forgiving, but – well –’ she shrugged – ‘no sense banging your head against a brick wall. Leave well alone, that’s the best thing. You won’t say anything, will you? Please, Susie.’

‘If you say so,’ Susie said with a sigh. And then she brightened. ‘
I
tell you what! I’ll lend you Magic.’

‘Magic?’ Kate was puzzled for an instant.

‘Magicman, my dear old horse. He’s not so old he wouldn’t like a little dash round the jumps, and you’re very light in the saddle.’

‘You mean – ride Magic in the point-to-point?’

‘You’re very slow, dear! That’s exactly what I mean. I’ve seen you ride; you’ve got nice light hands and a good seat. And Magic’s a much easier ride than Henna. All you’ve got to do is sit there and he’ll do the rest.’ She was beaming now. ‘Do say yes! I’d so like to scotch that cow’s triumph. You
ought
to have a ride, after working so hard. It’s only a matter of changing the entry. You’re already registered, and Magic’s well qualified – I hunted him all last season. Say yes! Say yes!’

Kate began to laugh. ‘Yes. I can’t resist you when you’re so determined.’

‘No backbone, that’s your trouble,’ Susie said wisely. ‘You give in too easily.’

‘“Yes” to what?’ Jack asked, looking across the table. ‘What are you two hatching up?’

‘Kate’s going to ride Magic for me at Buscombe,’ Susie said.

Jack looked puzzled. ‘But I thought she was riding Henna?’

Kate saw Susie draw breath and kicked her warningly under the table. ‘No, Addison wanted a ride, so she’s having Henna,’ Susie said neutrally.

‘Oh,’ said Jack, ‘I heard her talking last night about what a good rider she is – does eventing in America, apparently. Won loads of prizes. I suppose she was building up her credentials ahead of asking.’

‘Don’t you like her?’ Flick asked, giving him a curious look.

Jack seemed to embrace caution at the last minute. ‘She’s – rather a powerful character,’ he said finally. ‘Put it this way, I find a little of her goes a long way.’

‘Well, be careful,’ Flick said. ‘It’s whether Ed likes her or not that matters. And if he does – which seems to be the case – you don’t want to make him choose between you and her. Because that’s one you can’t win.’

‘I think she’s marvellous,’ Camilla said, catching on to the end of the conversation. ‘It’s so funny to think that if she and Ed get married, she’ll be my stepdaughter. Won’t that be weird? Of course, it’s already ludicrous that Ed and Jack are my stepsons!’

‘You said it,’ Jack muttered, and Flick reached across and rapped the back of his hand with her butter-knife.

There was just time for a quick dash across to Northcombe after breakfast by Kate and Susie so that Kate could try out Magic and put him over a few jumps. He was a very comfortable ride, quite different from Henna, and she soon found that he knew exactly what he was doing, looked carefully at each jump on approach and picked his own take-off.

‘Just keep your leg on him and keep contact with his mouth all the time, so he knows you’re awake,’ Susie said, ‘and he’ll do the rest. You’ll be fine.’

‘He’s wonderful,’ Kate said. ‘I hope Ed doesn’t mind.’

‘Why on earth should he?’ Susie asked robustly.

Kate couldn’t think of an answer – she didn’t know why he might, she just had an uneasy feeling about it.

But when they got back to The Hall, he only replied to Susie’s explanation, ‘Yes, Jack told me.’ And to Kate, ‘I’m glad you’ll be getting a ride. Magic’s an old hand. I’m sure you’ll be safe on him.’

But he looked, Kate thought, disappointed in her; and no wonder, if Addison had said she was scared. She blushed with annoyance and humiliation – and with hurt when Ed turned away, dismissing her and the subject. She had let him down; she wasn’t the person he had thought her; and she would have to live with that judgement, however much it burned her.

The afternoon’s entertainment had been arranged: they all went off, in various cars, to the country fair in the Quantocks, near Cothelstone, taking with them a picnic put up by Mrs B (and the girl who had come to help in the kitchen for the weekend) and a case of champagne. The fair had stock classes, and marquees housing a flower show, a dog show, and various crafts.

There was a field set aside for picnicking, which was obviously a large part of the ritual. Rather like Glyndebourne, Kate thought: people seemed to be competing to display the most sumptuous picnic, and to be seen to be having the best time. Some of them had gone overboard with picnic furniture and accessories of extraordinary elaboration, and one or two had even brought servants with them to set up and hand round.

The Blackmore picnic was not quite in that league: there were thick tartan rugs to sit on, but no table and only two folding chairs, seized at once by Camilla and Addison. But the cold collation was excellent, and they drank champagne out of proper glasses.

There was much to-ing and fro-ing as people visited and were visited from other groups, friends catching up with friends – which was obviously an important part of the occasion. The field echoed with the bird-cries of greeting and exclamation, and hummed with happy conversation.

When the major part of the eating was over, no-one seemed eager to go and see the show, preferring to sit and smoke and chat and pour more champagne. Eric and Dan did eventually walk off to look at some cattle classes, and the children, who’d been growing increasingly restless, finally begged Kate to go with them and look at the marquees. Kate, resigned now to her role as childminder, got up and went.

By an extraordinary coincidence the route Jocasta picked led right by an ice-cream van, so to offer to buy them one seemed, in all decency, the only thing she could do. It was while they were standing in the queue that she spotted Phil Kingdon standing a little way off, deep in conversation with a tall, smartly-dressed man who seemed somehow out of place in this setting. It was, she decided, because he looked such a product of the urban scene: an expensive business suit, shiny town shoes, immaculate haircut, a lean, hard face you’d expect to see across a table in the boardroom of a multinational, rather than in a field surrounded by the smell of bruised grass and cattle dung.

They were talking hard, heads close together. It pleased her slightly that, from their body language, the stranger seemed the top dog of the two. There was something she just didn’t like about Kingdon.

Jocasta said something and she turned to her to reply. When she looked again, the two men had gone.

The displays in the marquees were very good, of a professional standard. The children were most interested in the tent where the dogs were waiting in their cages for the dog show judging; that, and the WI tent where there were displays of cakes among the jam and pickles. Kate was trying to answer Theo’s wistful query about what happened to the cakes after the competition, when Jack joined them, much to Theo’s delight. It was nice, Kate thought, though a bit sad, that he adored his daddy so much. The four of them went off to see the rest of the show, Theo holding Jack’s hand and Jocasta with her arm linked through Kate’s. A stranger, Kate thought, would have taken them for a family.

When they returned to the picnic field, the rest of the party were back there – or perhaps had never moved – and tea and coffee were being poured from flasks. Camilla, Kate noted, had given up her chair to an older woman who was deep in conversation with Addison, and for once Addison seemed to be getting the worst of it, listening while the other woman talked fast and determinedly, her tight jaw going up and down and a finger jabbing points in the air like a political debater.

Jack nudged Kate. ‘The biter bit,’ he sniggered. ‘That’s the ineffable Mrs Murray, head of every committee known to man, organizer supreme and hard rider to hounds. She’s tamed Princess Pocahontas all right. What a hoot!’

‘Maybe Princess P is just having a rest,’ Kate suggested. ‘Any minute she’ll leap back into the fray refreshed.’

Jack shuddered. ‘The thought of her with even more energy …’

Kate was looking at Camilla, who was holding court. As well as the Brigadier and Jeremy, she had two other men standing in a little group round her, and she seemed to be managing to charm all of them, and was giving four glad-eyes at once with effortless skill. ‘Your stepmother’s having a good time,’ she said.

‘Good luck to her,’ Jack said tolerantly. ‘I’m all for flirting. Flirting is good for people.’

‘So you’ve taught me. I never thought—’ She broke off. ‘Oh, there’s Phil Kingdon.’