Page 40 of A Scottish Love Story
‘I suppose you miss the farm, too?’
‘We do, sometimes, but it wouldn’t be the same without Dad. You must feel the same. We are lucky. Mum and I get on well with Elsie. She’s a warm-hearted lass and a hard worker. She makes my brother Derek a good wife. Mum says that’s a lot to be thankful for.’
‘I’m sure she’s right. Ah, here come Tommy and Harry. The eggs are almost ready and I will make a big pot of tea. Will you have a cup with us, Beth?’
‘No, thanks. If you don’t mind, I would like to get back now I have delivered this lot. I will cover everything and come back with the tea urn around ten o’clock, if that’s all right?’
‘That will be ideal, but will you wait a minute?’ Roxie asked urgently. She turned to her brother. ‘Beth tells me Maggie West has never been ill, Tommy. Gilda had told her not to come back. She is keen to work, and I have a feeling both you and the house are needing her. Can Beth call at her cottage and ask her to start as soon as possible? She might help with serving the food and teas as well. I don’t want to stop work with the cattle, if I can help it. Once I start on the clipping I need to keep going.’
‘Maggie is not ill? I can’t believe it! Please do ask her if she will come back, Beth. Tell her I will welcome her with open arms.’
Beth giggled. ‘Like you used to do when you were five years old and running home from school?’ she said teasingly. ‘Maggie has told me several times about that. She thinks the world of you two. She will be overjoyed when I tell her you want her back to work at Willowbrook.’
* * *
Later that evening when they were alone and Roxie was writing out a long shopping list for Beth to get from her delivery man, she raised with Tommy the risks of stocking up the cupboards and freezer.
‘I’m planning on filling up the freezer too, but is the food safe? I’m thinking frozen vegetables and some convenience foods for you to cook, as well as rump steak, mince, chicken and chops, things I know Maggie can cook during the time she is here cleaning, and you enjoy that sort of thing. It is not worth running the freezer with so little in it anyway — a couple of joints of beef and one of lamb. It’s a waste of electricity.’
‘Neither Gilda nor her mother, have ever cooked a roast. That’s why they’re still there,’ he said drily.
‘You could put a lock on the pantry door, I suppose, but we always keep a lot of food in the kitchen cupboards too.’
‘James Robson advised me to change the locks on all the doors,’ Tommy said. ‘He didn’t even know she has been pilfering food and Lord knows what else. He suggested the locks because Gilda tried to stay overnight a couple of times. I nearly lost my temper, but I made it clear I didn’t want her, or her baby, in the house. I believe she thought she could entice me with her feminine wiles, if she got back into my bed.’
‘Oh, Tommy.’
‘Don’t worry, Sissy. I’m not as naive and foolish, or as conceited, as I was when I first met her,’ he said bitterly. ‘She knew I had recently returned from Australia so she thought I had loads of money, and I knew nothing about her previous activities. I didn’t know much about her, or her family. I am wiser now. Beth’s cousin is a joiner. Maybe I will give him a ring and ask him to change all the locks.’
‘If you do that you must give Maggie a key of her own to come and go when she needs, but warn her not to leave it lying around in case Gilda comes when she is here on her own.’
‘I shall tell her not to let Gilda in and keep her own key in her pocket. I closed my petrol account at the garage in the village. She had been filling her father’s car with petrol, as well as her own, and putting it all on my account. They can both pay for their own petrol from now on.’
‘It makes me wonder why anyone ever gets married if there is so much deceit and unhappiness.’
‘Most people manage to make a go of things. Your friend Lucy looks very happy.’
‘She is, but they are a lovely couple.’
‘They love each other, that’s the difference. I didn’t know Gilda long enough to learn to love her, or to hate her. I was presented with a dilemma. I can’t believe I was so bloody stupid.’
‘I don’t remember you ever being angry or bitter, Tommy. You seem so dejected now.’
‘Sometimes I think I should sell up everything and return to Australia.’
‘Oh, surely you wouldn’t do that! Willowbrook is your heritage. Our grandfather came here as a baby with his parents. Dad was born here, and so were we.’
‘I know. Even when we knew Mum was not going to get well again it was still a happy home, but I don’t find it very happy now.’
‘You will feel a lot better when you have Maggie back. She will get things shipshape again, as she used to do. She will enjoy cooking your favourite meals and mothering you.’
‘We shall see. Part of me had hoped you might decide to stay here once you knew I was on my own. Then the bitch was the first person you saw! I still can’t believe she sold your furniture. I sincerely hope old man Robson will get everything back. He knows they are yours and that you’re here for the sale. He said he might call in to see you.’
‘I hope he doesn’t come during the day while I’m working. There’s such a lot to do, Tommy. We’re going to struggle to get every animal looking its best. Harry is a grand worker, though. Dad would have made a fine herdsman of him.’
* * *
The atmosphere in the house seemed very different with Maggie arriving every morning, wafting away cobwebs with her feather duster, humming softly as she scrubbed, cleaned and polished. The scent of lavender greeted all comers once more and the windows sparkled in the sunlight. The only cloud onRoxie’s horizon was they had heard nothing more from old Mr Robson, and Jacobs, the antique dealer, had failed to return her beloved sewing table and the other pieces of furniture she had cherished.
