When the Bough Breaks (22 page)

‘Hello, Mrs Meredith,' Beth said in her best behaviour voice as Kathie ushered their visitor into the warm room. ‘I expect Aunt Kathie would have found you a job if you'd come while they were working. We all do jobs, don't we, Auntie Kathie?'

Kathie laughed. ‘We certainly do. There's no such thing as a free ride at Westways. Anyway this is a good time for you to come, this is when we stop work and get something to eat. We usually have a proper meal early in the evening, but with Den leaving he and I ate at midday.' She heard herself say it: ‘with Den leaving'. Where would he be now? Back in the company of other men may help him. It all seems like a dream: here I am, with a woman I don't even know, just Beth and me and a stranger. And this is my life, our lives, him going to God knows where, me here. What's it all for? Jess's life snuffed out, that's what he said. He's wrong, he must be wrong. Somehow we do the things we have to do: working outside, talking, smiling and now making this stranger welcome.

‘If it's mealtime, I shouldn't hinder you. But, can I come sometimes, I don't know anything about growing things but I'm a willing worker.'

The suggestion came as a total surprise. What would a gorgeous, sophisticated creature like Claudia Marley want with working on the land?

‘That's the sort we like, isn't it, Beth love?' Kathie answered, giving no indication of the way her mind was turning. Beth had no such inhibitions.

‘Yes, but – well, it's dirty out there. It's lovely,' she added hastily in case her words had been badly chosen, ‘but Mrs Marley has posh red nails and that.'

‘Beth, you're a real treasure,' Claudia laughed, resting her elegant hand on Beth's pale fair hair. ‘In the shops in the village I get eyed as if I'm some sort of a woman of the night, but no one says what's in their mind. Actually, though, Beth, the coloured varnish does help protect my nails so I really wouldn't be frightened of work.'

‘The village people don't mean to be unkind, honestly they don't,' Kathie said earnestly, ‘but I expect they feel uncomfortable. We're a pretty workaday lot.'

‘Oh well, I don't give a damn what they think of me anyway. One is awfully stuck; the bus service to Exeter is almost non-existent and there's no chance of having petrol. Was I stupid to come, do you think?'

‘I don't know enough about you to be able to answer that. I do know, though, that Ollie will love having you near the school.'

‘That's what Bruce said when he told me about the house. But when it comes down to it, I really don't think Oliver needs me here. When he was in London for Christmas – well, I didn't see a lot of him, Christmas is party time isn't it – but all he talked about was this place and Jess and Beth.' Then, as if she realized what she'd said, ‘Gosh, I'm sorry. Sorry for talking about her casually – and truly desperately sorry for all that's happened.'

‘Yes. We all are, desperately sorry. But it was so good to hear her mentioned, spoken of in an ordinary voice, part of ordinary living. She and Beth and Ollie were great friends. He was very patient, he never objected when she organized them all.'

Claudia laughed. ‘Not Oliver. He'll never be a leader of men.'

‘Are you planning anything special to eat this evening? I mean, if not you can stay and have pot luck with Beth and me.'

‘But I can't eat your rations.'

Kathie was surprised that her glamorous visitor should think of anything as mundane as rations.

‘We're not eating rations. What you can smell cooking are roast vegetables from the garden and I'm going to make omelettes with eggs from our own hens. Are you any good at beating eggs?'

‘You bet! I've been given a job. And it won't hurt my nail varnish either, Beth my friend.' Claudia surprised Kathie more by the minute.

Beth chuckled. This was turning into a really jolly evening.

And so it continued. The meal over, Kathie washed up, Claudia dried the dishes and Beth put them away, then they played Ludo. It was a far cry from the club Claudia often went to in London where she wasted time and money on roulette, but she enjoyed herself enormously.

Beth went to bed and after Kathie had been up to see she was settled and kiss her good night, the two women drew dining chairs nearer to the old kitchen range.

‘Cigarette?' Claudia offered her gold case.

‘Thanks.' The situation was unlike anything Kathie had ever experienced. Often on winter evenings she and Den had sat close to the range, chattering about the day's work, sharing a crossword puzzle or, in more recent years, sharing their pride in Jess's progress. But to spend an idle hour with another woman was something she hadn't done since she'd been a schoolgirl, living alone with her mother. And, because it was so different, it helped her through this first evening of the hundreds that must follow it. Only a fool would think there was hope of the war soon being over and Kathie was no fool.

As they sat in comfortable silence, she looked more closely at her visitor. In repose she was utterly lovely; the perfect symmetry of her face, the gloss of her dark hair, hair she wore pulled off her face and knotted in a bun in the nape of her neck. Kathie had noticed as they played Ludo that when she laughed a dimple appeared near either corner of her mouth. And there was something else that was out of keeping with her appearance, something which at that moment Kathie couldn't quite grasp. It was only later that she realized what it was.

For a while they sat in comfortable silence, then Claudia said, ‘Funny being here. I wonder if he'll ever come back to the Hall.' For a second Kathie didn't follow her train of thought, then she realized it was Richard Marley Claudia was talking about. ‘I was crazy about him, you know. He joined the company where I was in rep and it seemed like destiny. We were married within a couple of months. His only family were his grandparents, but they made an excuse not to come to the wedding. He'd never talked about them, so I had no idea what sort of people they were or that he was heir to Sedgewood Hall – or, as the old buffer used to put it, they none of them
owned
the place, they were custodians. Did you know the old couple?'

Kathie shook her head. ‘Only by sight. They used to be driven through the village in their carriage—'

‘Typical!' Claudia interjected. ‘Why couldn't they travel in a motor car? Oh no, a carriage and coachmen implied they were part of some ancient line. But they were no different from anyone else; go back a hundred or maybe a hundred and fifty years and the first Marley to make his mark was a tailor. But he must have had a nose for success. He was a well-trained bespoke tailor so Richard told me later on, but did he follow the herd and make suits for anyone with the money to pay? You bet he didn't. He specialized in clothes for country gentlemen and spent every penny he could afford on advertising so that his custom came from far and wide. After that the bespoke bit was more or less dropped and articles were sold ready-made. But the standard never dropped – and you may bet your bottom dollar, neither did the price. But to meet him and that stuck-up little madam he was married to, you'd think their roots went back to the Norman conquest.' The outburst seemed out of character with Claudia's highly groomed and glamorous appearance, even her voice had a rougher edge to it. Kathie suspected there was more to this young lady than met the eye ‘Sorry, I butted in. You were describing how they swanned it round the village.'

‘I never thought of it like that. The village folk always seemed so proud of them and I only saw them a few times so I had no opinion one way or another. I remember how local men doffed their hats to them and the women performed a sort of bob-cum-curtsey as the carriage went by.'

‘Gordon Bennett!' Claudia exclaimed with a hearty chuckle. ‘Proof they never really knew them. They were a right pair of miseries. The first time Richard took me to meet them was just after we were married, and I could feel them weighing me up and not caring for what they saw. I bet they took it for granted he must have married me because he'd put me in the club. But he hadn't. Some of our friends in the rep shacked up together but we didn't. Richard was different from the others. I was pretty ordinary. Oh, I was lucky, I'd been handed out good looks and I'd learned to make the best of myself. As for family, I'd been brought up in an orphanage then turned loose when I was fifteen. A job in service, that's what the home found for me. I only stayed a fortnight.'

‘How did you manage?' Kathie looked back to when
she'd
been fifteen and remembered it as a happy, carefree time, a time when the home belonged just to her mother and her.

‘Best way I could,' Claudia answered vaguely. ‘I used to busk outside theatres – a sad ballad sung by a ragged looking girl with a pretty face. It was as good a living as I had with the rep. But that's how I came to be taken on by The Thespians, as the company optimistically called itself. And later on that's how I met Richard.' The way she said his name suggested that his one-time wife still carried a torch for him. ‘He's a
real
actor, one who gets under the skin of the character he plays. Like I told you, I didn't go to bed with him until after we were married. Yes, I was crazy about him. And I'm sure it could have worked if he hadn't been a better actor than I was. I was useless really, I only got taken on because I'd been blessed with good looks and a better than average figure. I guess that's what he saw in me too. Anyway he was much too good for rep and was spotted for something better. And quite right too. He was given a West End lead. I was expecting Oliver by then. How any woman can say she feels
good
being pregnant, I'll never know. I had a rotten pregnancy, looked like death and felt like it too. Lost my looks and my figure, was clumsy as an elephant. God, how I hated it! It took all the wonder out of marriage. No man wants to make love to a woman who spends half her time vomiting with her head down the lavatory. Better after the first three months, that's what people say. I was like it right to the end. And by the time I went into labour Richard was making his first film. Thank God we had enough money coming in for us to engage a nurse for Oliver. But Richard was on location in Ireland, he seldom came back to London and when he did there was always the fear that I'd get preggie again; he didn't like having to be careful. I found friends of my own. You'd think I ought to have been the happiest woman alive, the wife of the wonderful Richard Marley. Oh well, life goes on.'

‘Are you actually divorced?' Kathie asked, feeling she had to say something and yet wondering how Claudia could talk so freely to a stranger.

‘Gosh yes. And a good job for me he can demand the sort of money he gets. He has to pay me good alimony – and he pays for Oliver's education. Oh well, he can afford it. But one thing I vowed, after I'd looked so awful when I was pregnant, and that was that I'd never let myself go to seed. What's the good of money if you can't pretty yourself up with it?'

Kathie laughed. ‘I'm not the one to ask. I've never had money and as for prettying myself, something about silk purses and sow's ears comes to mind.'

‘That's not actually true. Well, the money part may be, but not the sow's ear. You're a good-looking woman, really good bone structure. You're slim, a bit shapeless perhaps but that's better than being wobbly and hard to control. Most important, you look
real
.' She lit a cigarette from the stub end of her first, and then held the case towards Kathie. ‘Gosh! I don't know when I've talked so much – really talked I mean. I'm sorry, Kathie; you ought to have shut me up. And tonight you can't really have felt in the mood for a visitor, especially one who likes the sound of her own voice.'

‘You know what? You've been a blessing. Den's been gone since the beginning of September, but this time it's different. The first evening with just Beth and me; I'd tried not to think about it. This really has been a first for me: I've never sat chatting with another woman. You're not a bit what I expected.'

‘You are – what I expected, I mean. You know what Dennis said about you, about your home? He said if I felt lonely in Sedgewood, come here and see you. He said you gave a magic quality to your home. It was a shelter for lame ducks.'

Kathie gave an inelegant guffaw, a sound that belied the warm glow Claudia's words gave her.

‘You hardly come under that category! A son who absolutely adores you; a new home and the money to have it made as you want; you are beautiful; you are charming and most certainly not a lame duck.'

‘I've never thought of myself as one but it was your Dennis who said it, so he must have seen through the shining veneer I try and present.' Then, with that disarming smile that produced the two dimples, she continued, ‘And, thanks to Richard, even a shining veneer is a lot easier if you have the cash to get your face pampered and indulge in nice clothes.'

‘You'll be hard pushed to find anywhere around here to get your face pampered. But, give you six months down here, and you possibly won't even mind.' Kathie surprised herself by saying it. The lovely Claudia probably did little else with her life but indulge in pampering herself. But what else was there? By her own admission she had fallen violently in love with Richard Marley. That was nearly a decade ago; but what about now? If Kathie had learnt one thing from the evening, it was that you should never have preconceived opinions about people. All Claudia needed was love, real love.

Each morning Kathie listened for the click of the letterbox. Sometimes she was lucky and Beth went to pick up any envelopes from the doormat, but nothing came from Dennis. Despite having no letter to answer she often wrote when she was alone in the evenings even though her long epistle, under various date headings, couldn't be posted until she had an address. Perhaps she was using Dennis as a diary, trying to record her days as if any of it really mattered.