When Nell woke up the following morning she turned instinctively to Angus for a cuddle. But his side of the bed was cold and no sounds were coming from the adjoining bathroom. He must have got up early.
She wrapped her dressing gown tightly round herself, because although it was officially summer in the northern hemisphere, this time of morning felt chilly to her. She’d laughed out loud the previous days when someone said on the TV news that it was going to be a ‘hot one tomorrow’ and then added, ‘23 degrees’. That was a winter temperature in Western Australia.
Yawning, she wandered along to the kitchen, where she put the kettle on before going into the office.
As she’d guessed, Angus was working on his computer, but didn’t seem to notice her come in. She watched him for a moment, loving the rumpled hair with its frosting of silver, and the slight signs of a beard. He was frowning and fiddling with some sort of electrical diagrams using a drafting program to amend the chart.
‘It’s the extensions to the security system at Miss Parfitt’s house,’ he said suddenly, without turning round. ‘I’ll give them till eight o’clock to get up, then I’ll have to wake them. I need to get started early, because it’ll take me all day. I intend to cover the gardens more thoroughly. I don’t usually do this part of the job myself, I pass it on to a guy I know. But I’m qualified to do it and I’m making an exception for Miss Parfitt. I don’t want any strangers going into her house until I’ve revamped the system and covered her garden.’
‘She’s not going to like your arriving if she isn’t awake.’
‘With a small child in the house, I bet they are awake.’ He grinned at her. ‘Remember what it was like?’
‘Oh boy, yes. Why the urgency now, though, Angus?’
‘Because I don’t think those sods who want her land will wait long to cause more trouble. As the garden sharers get going, there will be people coming and going at all times. I intend to be ready for trouble. I’m putting a few cameras into the system and we’ll spot any intruders, inside or out, yes, and record them as evidence.’
‘Are you interested in breakfast before you go?’
‘Some more coffee and a piece of toast would be great, if you’ve got time.’
He held out an empty mug, and as she took it from him, he turned to his computer again. She smiled. Talk about a capacity for intense concentration! He could have won an Olympic gold medal for it.
After a quick shower, she got dressed, then investigated the fridge, grimacing. There wasn’t much in it, so she made them both cheese on toast. He’d probably forget to eat once he started work so she wanted to give him a good start to the day.
They’d have to organise the housekeeping better from now on. Perhaps that should be her job. Well, judging from how he was focused on his work, it’d have to be. She was very careful to eat a balanced diet, both for health and because she put on weight easily. Besides, she enjoyed cooking. She’d have to transfer what was left of her food staples and cooking equipment from Fliss’s house to here today. And they were certainly needed.
She looked at the size of Angus’s fridge and shook her head. She’d bring the old fridge from her aunt’s, too. All the ones she’d seen in England so far were tiny compared to Aussie ones, which was difficult if you ate a lot of fresh food and needed more storage space. But two smaller fridges would solve that problem.
Angus left his computer and ate his breakfast quickly but with relish. ‘I’d forgotten how good cheese on toast is. What are you going to do today?’
‘The smell at my aunt’s house is getting me down, so I thought I’d pack and move my personal things here – if that’s all right with you?’ She cocked her head on one side, waiting.
‘You know it is.’ For a moment he turned his full attention on her and his gaze felt as warm as a caress.
It took her a few seconds to remember what they’d been discussing. ‘I – um, need to do some shopping as well. It’s like the children’s nursery rhyme. “When she got there, the cupboard was bare”.’
He grinned and chanted the last line back at her. ‘“And so the poor dog had none”. I looked it up on the Internet once and the verses get sillier and sillier as it goes on. You’ll need some money, then, Mother Hubbard. How about we go half and half on the living expenses till we see who eats the most? If it’s me, I’ll pay extra.’
He fished in his pocket, muttered in annoyance and went to hunt around his desk, continuing to mutter as he tossed papers and miscellaneous pens aside.
She stood by the door, smiling as he pounced on his wallet and brandished it with a triumphant cry. He passed her a wad of notes without even counting them.
‘Don’t you want to—’
But he had begun packing pieces of equipment into cardboard boxes and seemed oblivious to her continuing presence in the doorway.
With a wry smile she gave up and went back to clear up the kitchen and prepare for a domestic day. She wasn’t going to take over all the domestic duties, she would never do that again, but she didn’t mind organising things at the start of their life together. She knew she was a good organiser and she enjoyed making order out of chaos.
What’s more, if she’d managed to train a group of lawyers to follow her filing and storage systems, she was sure she’d soon convince Angus that her way was better in the kitchen.
Nell’s mobile phone rang as she was opening the back door of her aunt’s house. She glanced at the phone. Nick.
‘Hi, darling! Hold on while I close the door. I’ve only just arrived home. There. Now I can talk in comfort. How are you?’
‘I’m fine and so is Carla. Look, Dad’s giving me stick because I won’t let him have your phone number and I had to promise him I’d let you know he needs to talk to you.’
‘Is there a real reason he needs to call me or does he just hate not being able to?’
‘He says it’s about Steve.’
‘Hmm. Well, in that case I’ll see if a friend can help me phone Craig without revealing my number.’
Nick chuckled. ‘You really meant it about getting away from Dad, didn’t you?’
‘I certainly did. And about time, too.’
‘You did it for us, didn’t you?’
‘Did what?’
‘Put up with Dad interfering in your life so that we could have a stable home.’
‘You’re not usually so perceptive.’
‘I’m learning, Ma. Carla’s teaching me a lot. I wish you could meet her. She’s great, very liberated but not aggressive with it. I’ve never met anyone as wonderful.’
She listened, smiling, as he talked about the woman he loved. That was the second of her sons sorted out with a life partner. There was just Steve left and he had a long way to go before he grew up, let alone found a partner. He was definitely a slow maturer, only she couldn’t think of what else she could have done to turn him into a more sensible person.
After a while she interrupted Nick’s talk about what he and Carla were planning. It might be the end of his working day in Australia but it was still morning here. ‘I have to go now, love. I’ve got to clear this house out so that the buyer can demolish it.’
‘Where are you going to live? You didn’t say exactly.’
She hesitated, then decided it was about time she stopped concealing the existence of Angus. ‘I’m moving in with a guy I’ve met.’
Silence greeted this, so she waited.
‘That’s a bit quick, isn’t it?’ Nick said at last.
‘No quicker than you and Carla.’
‘Ah. Yes. Point taken. Does Robbie know?’
‘Not yet. I’ve only just decided to do it. You’re the first of the family I’ve told.’ She waited again.
‘What’s his name?’
‘Angus Denning. You’ll like him.’
‘I’m going to meet him, am I?’
‘If things continue to go well, yes. He’s a great guy.’
‘I hope they do go well, then, and that he doesn’t let you down as Dad did. But be careful, Ma. He may be interested in your money.’
It was her turn to be silent for a few moments, then she said sharply, ‘I shall ignore that remark, which implies either that I’m stupid enough to fall for a con man or that there’s no other reason for a man to love me than money. Your father’s influence is still showing and you’re treating me like a fool. Tell Carla to put some more work in on your development.’ She ended the call.
When her phone rang again, she could see it was Nick calling so didn’t answer.
But she couldn’t get the thought of Steve out of her mind. What exactly had Craig arranged for him? What had their youngest done that was so bad?
The only thing she could think of was that he’d been into drugs. That would have freaked Craig out, she knew. He had a thing about drug taking. Well, so did she. Surely Steve wouldn’t …?
But she couldn’t stop thinking about her youngest and by the end of the day, she’d decided to ask Angus’s help in phoning Craig without revealing her number.
It just might be the truth that he needed to talk to her about their son.
The two men watched Janey walk slowly up Peppercorn Street. She went right past the block of flats.
‘I told you she’d not notice us if we used another car,’ Lionel gloated. ‘We’ll buy your friend a drink or two.’
‘I wonder where she’s going?’ Wayne said. ‘The street’s a dead end.’
‘There’s a path leads out of the turning circle at the top. She must go down that. I’ll follow her on foot another time and grab her in the next street. These upper parts are usually quieter. The rich sods from the big houses are all out at work. You can drive round to pick us up.’
‘I don’t know about forcing her to come with us, Lionel. It doesn’t seem right.’
‘It seems right to me. We need a woman to look after us and she might as well make herself useful. She cost me a lot over the years.’
But at the top of the street, Janey went into a big old house, using a key.
Lionel thumped his hand down on the dashboard. ‘The sneaky little bitch! I bet she’s moved up here to another flat. She must only go down that narrow passage when she notices us following. Well, we’ll come in your car next time and if she does …’
‘I’m not at all sure about this, Lionel. We could pay a woman to do some housework and—’
‘I’m not paying when I can get it for free.’
‘But we’ll have to feed her.’
‘No, we won’t. She gets money for being a single mother. We’ll have some of that too.’
‘But the police—’
‘Will change that order if she asks them to, and once we have the baby, she’ll do anything we tell her. It’s her weakness, that baby is, just as she was my stupid wife’s weakness. You’ll see.’
When Wayne didn’t say anything, he changed the subject.
‘Come on. We’ve just got time for a quick pint. I’m buying today.’
In Australia, Steve finished his day’s work, did his allotted share of the clearing up after the communal evening meal, and went back to his room, feeling exhausted. The work here seemed never-ending. It had occurred to him several times that this was how his mother’s life had been, caring for three children without any help, day after day.
Why had he never thought of that before?
His steps slowed and he sighed as he reached his room, which was part of the old shearers’ quarters. All the guys were lodged here. The ‘rooms’ were more like cupboards, but at least he had some privacy in the narrow space.
He studied his hands as he went inside. They were already rough with manual labour after only a couple of weeks but there were good sides to it as well. He’d always enjoyed being out in the open air.
What was the use of studying at university, though, if you ended up shovelling pig dung? He’d been stupid, hadn’t known when he was well off. It hadn’t taken him long to realise that. But he’d had to promise his father to stay here for three months in order to get his debts paid.
And anyway, he had nowhere else to go till he’d saved up some of the pittance they were paying him here.
He winced as he knocked his arm against the edge of the narrow metal locker. He already had a big bruise on it where he’d stumbled into the side of the tractor this morning. And he’d gashed his leg the other day. A farm was a dangerous place to work unless you paid attention every minute, Owen had told them, and he was right.
Steve flung himself down on the bed, closing his eyes.
What was that?
He frowned as he heard a whimpering sound outside. It could only be a small animal and it sounded in distress. When the noise went on and on, he went to look for it to see if the poor thing was trapped somewhere.
To his surprise, he found a puppy lying just outside his room. When it saw him, it pressed back against the wall, as if afraid of him hitting it. It was small and shivering visibly, so he made soothing noises and picked it up to comfort it.
It huddled in his hands, then began licking his fingers. When he bent closer to study it, it took a swipe at his nose with a small pink tongue. Then it shivered again and whined softly, sounding so pitiful he cuddled it close to his chest.
He didn’t know what to do to help it, because his mother had never allowed them to have pets. Whenever they’d asked, she’d said she couldn’t cope with one more creature to look after.
He’d resented that as a child, hadn’t even thought of her side of things. But Nick pointed out rather forcibly when he grumbled about her leaving them that she deserved some time for herself after raising the three of them without any practical help from their father.
Hell, that lesson was certainly being rammed home now. He supposed that was the point of him being here. He’d thought a lot about his mother during the first few semi-sleepless nights as the drugs worked their way out of his system, angry at her for getting him into this.
Only, he’d done it himself, hadn’t he? You didn’t have to be Einstein to work that out.
The puppy shivered again, so Steve carried it to the kitchen of the main house, where the other guys sat in the evenings, those who were feeling sociable, that was. There were only four of them here at the moment and Matt always disappeared the minute the evening meal was over. He hardly spoke to anyone, even when they were working together, seemed to hate the world. He was a very strange guy.
Dix and Logan were still sitting in the kitchen. They were playing draughts because Owen didn’t allow them to watch TV during the week and they weren’t allowed access to computers at all.
Steve hesitated in the doorway. He hadn’t been exactly friendly to these two and now he needed to ask their help.
They looked up and Dix grinned. ‘Come and join us. We won’t kill you. Most guys keep to themselves at first. I did too.’
‘Oh. Right.’
The puppy chose that time to whimper again.
‘What the hell have you got there?’
‘A puppy. It was crying outside my room. It seems to have lost its mother.’
Logan got up and came to study the pup. ‘Poor little thing. I think the mother was killed this afternoon in an accident. Didn’t you hear the shouting? She got caught up in some machinery. Owen was really upset. She was his favourite farm dog. He’s found people to look after the other puppies, but he must have missed this one.’ He touched its little head gently but didn’t take it off Steve.
‘Better tell Owen,’ Dix advised. ‘He’ll know what to do with it. He’s good with animals.’
Steve wasn’t going to let them see that he was rather nervous of Owen, who had been scornful about his physical condition, and his idiocy in getting into drugs. But there was no one else to ask, so he took a deep breath and went along the corridor to the main house, where he knocked on the door as per house rules.
‘Come in.’
He found Owen and his wife Megan sitting near a wood fire in a comfortable room, looking relaxed and happy. ‘I found a pup, or rather it found me.’
Megan immediately got tears in her eyes. ‘Oh, no! I thought we’d found them all. I was so upset I mustn’t have counted properly.’
Owen came across to examine the tiny creature and sighed. ‘It’s old enough to survive but only just, and it’ll still need a lot of looking after. I don’t have the time because we’re still a man short. Got any more friends willing to get up in the night and feed a pup, Megan?’
She shook her head. ‘No. I’ll have to do it myself.’
‘You’ve enough on your plate and I’m not having you run yourself ragged at this stage.’
Steve supposed he was referring to his wife’s very obvious pregnancy. How women walked around and did things with such a load in their bellies, he couldn’t figure. And his mother had gone through it three times! He waited, stroking the puppy.
Owen stared at him then at the pup. ‘We’ll either have to put it down or you can look after it, Steve. I’m not loading anything else on to Megan.’
‘Me? I don’t know anything about animals.’
‘I can show you what to do,’ Megan offered.
‘As long as you only show him,’ Owen said. ‘You are not taking on a pup, Megan. You’ve only got a month to go before the baby’s born.’
Steve stared down at the puppy, which swiped a lick at his chin and stared up at him trustingly with its big brown eyes. Kill it? No way. ‘I’ll look after it as long as you show me how.’
Owen clapped him on the shoulders. ‘Good man. I’ll find you some bedding and puppy food.’
It was the first time Owen had said anything positive to Steve.
‘You’ll need plenty of old newspapers,’ Megan called after them. ‘It’s not house-trained yet.’
At the thought of cleaning up poop after the little dog, Steve nearly said he’d changed his mind, then it shivered again and huddled closer. No, he wasn’t going to let anyone kill it.
Owen took him through to the big farm storeroom. ‘She’ll need to cuddle up to you at first. She’s been with the other pups and her mother ever since she was born, so she’ll fret if you leave her alone.’
‘Oh. Right.’
‘I’ll get you a waterproof sheet to cover your bedding.’
‘Yuk.’ Again he wondered about giving her back. No, he couldn’t do that. Especially not when she was cuddling up to him like this. ‘Does she have a name?’
‘Not unless you give her one.’ Owen carried the stuff across the yard to Steve’s room, gave him some rapid instructions and left him to it.
As Steve stared down at the pup he was still holding, she peed all down his front.
‘Oh, hell!’ He held her out but it was too late.
All he wanted to do was give her back to someone, but once again she gave him ‘the look’ and made a little mewing sound. He was a sucker, that’s what he was, a stupid sucker.
He’d had a book when he was little with a puppy called Taffy in it. He’d loved that story. It seemed as good a name as any.
‘Come on, Taffy,’ he said. ‘Let’s get ourselves cleaned up.’
He didn’t get much sleep, because Taffy peed on him again, then started whining for food.
Owen came for him at six o’clock with a puppy crate. ‘I’ll find you jobs near the house this morning. She’ll need a hot-water bottle to keep her warm. Wrap it in this old towel. We don’t want her getting burnt. You can leave her in your room but come back to check on her every hour.’
‘What have you got me into?’ Steve asked Taffy when they were alone.
She didn’t answer; was too busy clearing the plate of puppy food and then pooping all over the clean newspapers he’d just spread out.
It didn’t occur to him for several days that Megan would never have allowed Owen to kill the puppy. But by that time, Taffy and he were best mates.
And at least she’d stopped peeing in the bed and was starting to recognise her name.
He’d always wanted a dog. Funny how things turned out.
Just let them try to take her away from him now.