Page 3 of A Scottish Love Story
‘Of course they’re boulders — well, big stones anyway. Really big stones.’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t see the first one. It was a tighter turn than...’
‘There must be something wrong with your eyesight.’
Jenny exclaimed in dismay. ‘Ciaran! For goodness’ sake! It’s not like you to be so bad-tempered! You’ll have the poor girlheading for home before she has even met Aunt Amy, and she is so looking forward to her arrival.’
‘I know she is,’ Ciaran muttered. ‘Now I know why.’
‘It’s not Roxanne’s fault your dairyman has broken his leg playing football and left you in the lurch. Or that the relief man has let you down at the last minute,’ Jenny added in a milder tone.
Roxie groaned softly. She didn’t want to cause a family row, but she was worried about the damage to her car after that awful grating noise.
‘Nobody would see that first stone if they didn’t know in advance,’ Donald said amiably. ‘It’s a tight turn round this end of the house and they’re all covered in moss now. Bring me your lorry jack, Ciaran, then you can get on with milking your cows. I’ll jack up the car and see what the damage is. It may be possible to rock it off the stone and back onto four wheels.’
Ciaran snorted, reminding Roxie of an angry bull, but he went off in the direction of the farm buildings and quickly returned carrying a sturdy-looking jack, muttering under his breath. ‘I’ll do it myself. I can’t imagine dental surgeons ever using a jack, no matter their strange instruments.’
Roxie had a suspicion he was swallowing a lot of angry swear words. He might have been better getting them off his chest as her brother would probably have done in the circumstances.
She climbed out of the car to lessen the weight while he worked the jack. She moved to stand beside Jenny and saw Donald wink at his wife.
‘I swear I never saw a huge stone,’ she said quietly.
Jenny patted her arm. ‘You wouldn’t have time to see it. Anyway, they’re not so obvious now they’re covered in moss. Ciaran placed them along the side of the drive so delivery lorries would use the entrance into the farmyard and not turn in by the front of the house.’
‘The avenue is overgrown anyway,’ Donald said. ‘Dear Ciaran maybe a good farmer but he doesn’t keep the garden very well, not like your aunt Amy used to do.’
‘Aunt Amy loves her garden.’ Jenny sighed. ‘She made the one at the bungalow and it’s beautiful, or it was until she had her accident. Do you like gardening, Roxanne?’ she asked. ‘I’m assuming it’s all right to use your first name, is it?’ She grinned.
‘Of course. My friends usually call me Roxie. Yes, I like gardening but I’m no expert. My mother was the gardener in our family, when she was able. Even later, when she became frail, a walk around her flower beds always cheered her up. My father took over the vegetable garden as soon as we knew she had leukaemia. I’m not sure what will happen now as the garden is now in my brother’s care and I don’t think he, or his new bride, have much interest in gardening.’
‘Ah, I’m sorry about your mother,’ Jenny said thoughtfully. ‘My mum died about six years ago. I suppose that’s why you’re up here to be a companion chauffeur to Aunt Amy?’
‘My mother died five years ago when I was eighteen,’ Roxie said. ‘My father was terribly lost without her, so I stayed at home and did my best to take her place. Even when she was physically frail, she still handled the banking and the farm accounts on the computer, as well as all the records farmers have to keep these days.’
‘Can you do all that sort of thing, then?’
‘Oh, yes, of course. I enjoyed it, and my father loved his pedigree herd so I helped him with that too. If I hadn’t had a brother, I would have taken over the farm.’
‘I see...’ Jenny exchanged a strange look with her husband. ‘Does Aunt Amy know?’
‘Oh, yes, of course. We had a long telephone conversation. I would never be anything but honest with her. It wouldn’t have done to try to deceive her.’
‘No, you don’t seem the deceitful kind anyway. People always get caught out.’
‘Yes, they do.’ Roxie smiled ruefully, ‘Believe it or not—’ she gave a wry grimace — ‘I even have an advanced motoring certificate.’
‘Good for you!’ Jenny chuckled. ‘I don’t suppose they take you over drives with moss-covered boulders. I’m beginning to see why Aunt Amy set her heart on choosing you instead of the middle-aged widow, or the other older applicants Ciaran was convinced she should consider. I don’t believe she has told him that her youngest applicant has interests the same as her own once were.’
‘Amy’s are still the same, if you ask me,’ Donald said. ‘She always seems to know what Ciaran is busy with down here.’
‘She has a good view of the farm from some of her windows and it’s only a couple of hundred yards away if you cut across the fields. Unfortunately, she can no longer clamber over the garden fence or walk on the rough ground since she broke her hip.’
‘Ah, Ciaran has the car jacked up,’ Donald said. ‘I’ll go and help him, see if we can ease it off the stone and onto the drive. I reckon if it had seriously damaged the petrol tank there would be a pool by now. If you’re lucky, Miss Carr, it will only have caught the exhaust.’ Roxie crossed her fingers as she watched the men slowly release her little car.
‘Is your father living with your brother and his wife now?’ Jenny asked in her friendly manner.
‘Er . . . no . . .’ A look of pain passed over Roxie’s face. She bit her lip.
