Blood Brothers (36 page)

‘But why not?’ Joshua held his ground. ‘Surely you are a man in charge of your own affairs?’

‘That’s by the by, and besides, you’re too late,’ Edward returned coldly. ‘Tom Arnold has had more than enough warnings, and still the land is neglected. I already have another tenant…a very competent man with three strapping sons and a love for the land. He has admirable credentials, and years of farming experience behind him. In fact, he would not be looking for work had his previous employer not sold all the land for development.’

He reaffirmed his stand. ‘You must have seen how badly neglected the land is, and there is no way forward, not with Tom Arnold on his own, and with just one man. You’re a businessman! You must know I can not afford to see the land go to rack and ruin like that. I’m sorry. The answer has to be no!’

Now impatient for his visitor to leave, he stood up. ‘I’m sorry you had a wasted journey. Like I say, everything is set in motion. Tom Arnold is required to be out before the end of the month, otherwise I shall have to take further, more drastic action.’

He gestured to the door. ‘And now, I shall say good day to you, sir. It’s a pity we part on a sour note.’

Joshua was not done yet. ‘I have a proposition,’ he said quietly.

‘Not interested.’

‘Let me buy the cottage? I’m prepared to pay over the odds for it.’

‘The cottage is not for sale!’

‘Then would you consider leasing it to me…as long a lease as you wish?’

‘Never! If you don’t mind, I consider our business to be concluded. Neither the land or the cottage is up for sale…lease or freehold it makes no difference.’

‘Then please, find it in your heart to leave Tom and Nancy in the place they know as home. They’ve been there so many years, their heart and soul is written in every brick.’

‘Sentimental nonsense!’

Realising the other man would not budge, Joshua was deeply saddened to be going back to Alice, with a resounding no to her request. ‘I see there is no persuading you.’

At the front door he turned, with one last desperate, parting shot. ‘Do you think your father would be proud of you? Do you really imagine, if he were still here, that he would have thrown Tom out of his home? I don’t think so, and neither do you.’

‘How dare you bring my father into this!’ Rushing forward, Edward flung the door open wide. ‘Get out of my house.’

Seeing how he had touched a raw spot, Joshua dared to remind him, ‘Tom Arnold has slaved on that land all his life…from boy to man. His blood is in the soil. His heart is embedded in every nook and cranny.’

He paused to let that sink in, before going on. ‘He feels an affinity towards the land, just as your father did. All right, Tom has had a bad time of it, and he’s lost the two sons who helped him keep things going, but Joe will be back, God willing! He, too, has the same passion for your father’s land. I beg you to
think what you’re doing, Edward! Think how your father must have felt when he almost lost everything. And remember, that’s exactly how Tom Arnold is feeling now.’

Enraged, Edward physically thrust him out the door, with the grim warning, ‘Don’t ever come back here.’

Joshua felt himself crumple and made his way to the car. ‘I tried, Alice,’ he whispered wearily to himself. ‘Sorry, sweetheart.’

Turning the car around, he got a glimpse of Edward Baxter standing at the door, then suddenly he was waving, and calling out, and when Joshua stopped the car he was right there, peering in at the window. ‘I’ll say this about you, Jacobs. You’re a persistent bugger!’ He had the smallest whisper of a smile on his face.

Joshua apologised. ‘Maybe I was unforgiveably rude. But when I see a wrongdoing, I feel duty bound to right it. This time it isn’t my call. It’s yours.’

‘Are you prepared to put your money where your mouth is?’ Edward leaned closer.

‘In what way?’

‘I could contract a couple of experienced farm hands to work with Tom and Jimmy for the next year to eighteen months, until Joe is able to help his father. They’ll need wages and lodgings, and it will be
you
that foots the bill. What d’you say?’

Joshua could hardly believe his ears. Before the other man should change his mind, he leapt out of the car to shake him by the hand. ‘Done! And many thanks. You won’t regret it. You know it’s the right thing to do.’

Before they parted, Joshua asked, ‘What made you change your mind?’

Edward took a moment to reflect and his eyes began to smart. ‘You were right. My father would never have approved of turning Tom out of his home, anymore than he was proud of me, when I almost cost him everything he had worked for.’ His voice
dropped to a whisper. ‘I know my weakness cost him his life, and I will have to live with that.’

Joshua saw his pain and he was humbled. ‘No, Edward,’ he spoke softly. ‘Your father would probably have had that heart attack anyway. All those long years of working day and night when you were a boy; it was bound to take its toll. Don’t punish yourself for something that was beyond your control.’

Edward looked up, his eyes bright with tears. ‘Thank you,’ he murmured. ‘You can’t know what those few words of kindness mean to me.’

‘I mean it. Life is hard enough without taking on more blame than you have a right to.’

Edward smiled, and when the tears threatened to spill, he quickly turned on his heel and strode away. ‘Let Tom know the eviction notice is cancelled,’ he called over his shoulder. ‘I’ll be in touch!’

As he drove away, Joshua felt triumphant. He had helped both Tom and Edward Baxter.

‘You think a man is rock solid and ice cold ruthless,’ he murmured to himself, ‘but underneath, we all have our ghosts to deal with.’

His thoughts fled back to the first year he and Tricia were married. Almost four months later the son she was carrying, was sadly lost to them.

It was a heart-breaking time.

Over the years they talked about it often between themselves, but never once had they discussed it with anyone else, not even family.

Such a deeply sad experience was best shared only by those who suffered it.

A few days later, Tom received a letter from Edward Baxter’s legal representative.

Dear Mr Arnold,

I have had instructions from Edward Baxter, of Baxter Hall, owner of the cottage you inhabit and the land surrounding it. I am to inform you that you will not be evicted from your home. However, you will be required to accept the following men to work under your personal and expert guidance for an unspecified period of time, in order to keep good the said land and buildings owned by the above Edward Baxter, and previously maintained by yourself and your sons.

Here enclosed is a form of acceptance to these conditions. If you are in agreement, please sign and return the form and we will be in touch with regard to the workmen, who will report to you for instructions concerning what work is required of them.

According to my instructions, once you are able to undertake the necessary work unaided, the men employed by Edward Baxter, will of course no longer be required.

Mr Edward Baxter will be calling on you at some time in the near future, in order to clarify matters, and answer any queries you may have.

Yours sincerely,

J.C. Clarence

As always, straight after breakfast, Tom had collected the letter from the postbox that was situated at the bottom of the garden path.

Nancy was busy packing her delicate china, and feeling totally lost as she tried to envisage a life away from this delightful home where they had been so happy for all these years.

‘I really don’t know how we’ll ever cope…’ she told Tom
as he wandered in. ‘I’ve never lived in lodgings before. The very idea of it makes me feel ill…’

Distraught, she flopped into the armchair and began to cry. ‘I’m sorry, Tom…’ she started. ‘I can’t even think about it…’

‘Now, now, Nancy…don’t upset yourself love…’ He had torn open the letter and was on his way to console her, when suddenly he screeched out, ‘OH MY GOD! NANCY!’ He was laughing and crying all at the same time. ‘We’re not being thrown out after all!’

Now it was his turn to be tearful, but this time they were tears of joy. ‘We can stay here! Oh, Nancy, did you hear what I said! we can stay!’

Flinging his arms round her, he read the letter to her, and afterwards the two of them danced across the kitchen floor. They laughed and hugged, and when the initial excitement was spent, Nancy wiped the tears from her eyes.

‘I can’t believe it,’ she said brokenly. ‘Read it to me again, Tom love! Just to be sure we’re not dreaming!’

And so he read it, and for a long moment they were silent, holding each other and thinking how the good Lord had smiled down on them. And Nancy had a thought. ‘Tom?’

‘Yes, my love?’ He still could not stop smiling.

‘If I told you I suspect Alice had something to do with this, would you be angry?’

At first he stared at her in astonishment. ‘Alice.’ There was hostility in his voice. ‘Why the devil would you think
she
had something to do with it?’

‘Alice
Arnold!
Whether we like it or not, Alice is still our daughter-in-law.’

Tom chose to ignore her very proper reminder. ‘As far as I’m concerned,’ he declared angrily, ‘that young woman has devastated our family, and you should remember that! As for you thinking she may have had something to do with us staying on here, I can not imagine!’

‘I can’t be certain, but when you were out walking the other day, she came to see me,’ Nancy confessed.

Tom’s features stiffened. ‘She was here? And you never thought to tell me!’

‘I didn’t tell you because I knew you would react like you’re reacting now…with a sour face and a sharp tongue, and anyway she was here for just a few minutes.’

Now Tom was on his feet, staring down on her with a distinctly disapproving expression. ‘I hope you didn’t let her in!’

‘I did, yes, and she opened her heart to me. Look, Tom…I know our family has been devastated but it’s wrong to blame Alice altogether. After all, Joe could easily have turned her away, but he didn’t.’

‘No! Because she had him in her claws, that’s why!’

‘No, Tom. And I know you’ve always had your suspicions that Joe was attracted to Alice on the first day Frank brought her home.’

Tom was shocked. ‘Whatever makes you say that?’

‘Because I know you better than you think, and because I saw how Joe looked at her, like he’d known her all his life. I knew that was why he went away, and so did you.’

Tom could not deny it, but he was adamant. ‘I don’t want her in this house ever again! And as for her having something to do with us staying here, that is just ridiculous.’

‘Maybe not so ridiculous, Tom,’ Nancy explained. ‘She came here because she was distraught about Joe, and all the things that have happened. She said she was sorry about her part in it, and that in a way she didn’t blame Frank, because she and Joe had been wrong to do what they did. She was here to seek our forgiveness, Tom.’

‘Well, she won’t get it…not from me anyway. Never from me!’

‘Think what you’re saying, Tom,’ Nancy urged. ‘Think what
it must have taken for her to forgive Frank. And I’ll tell you now, whatever provocation he may have had, Frank was wicked to do what he did to Joe and to Alice. Yes, she did wrong, and so did Joe. But to my mind, Frank did much worse. And what about what he did to you? His own father!’

This was the first time she had disclosed her true feelings, and now she wanted Tom to realise how strongly she felt at what their son had done to this young woman.

‘Don’t you try and tell me he was justified, because to my mind what he did was unforgiveable. He hurt her bad, Tom, and tell me this, how would you have felt if that had been your own daughter? Frank deliberately tied her down and tortured her. He ripped out her hair and put her through hell! And I tell you now Tom…though I want him safe, I do not forgive him what he did. I don’t know if I ever can!’

Tom had never seen his beloved wife so wound up before, and it shook him to his roots. ‘Oh, I can see it all now! I can see she’s got to you…just like she got to our two boys.’

‘No, Tom! You won’t let yourself look at the wider picture, will you? Alice is just a girl, Tom, a frightened, haunted girl. She looks ill, Frank, and she has nightmares, and she said if there was any way she could help us stay here in our home, she would move Heaven and earth…’

‘Hmm! Anybody can say anything if they’re looking to be forgiven! It means nothing. D’you hear me, Nancy! What Alice says means absolutely
nothing
! Not to me!’

Besides being angry at her for letting Alice in, his pride was dented. ‘The reason we’re staying here is because I know more about this land than any other man will learn in a lifetime, apart from the man who shaped it! They need me, Nancy. That’s why we’re being allowed to stay, and for no other reason that that!’

Nancy stood up. ‘There’s something else.’

‘Oh, so now what?’ His patience was at an end.

‘Alice had seriously considered having an abortion.’

‘Why does that not surprise me?’

‘She decided against it though.’

‘Well, at least she has the decency not to end a life before it’s begun. No doubt she’ll give the child to some stranger after it’s born.’

‘Does that worry you, Tom?’

‘No! Why should it? As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be a little bastard…best given away to somebody else.’

Nancy was shocked. ‘May the Lord forgive you, Tom Arnold.’

‘There is nothing to forgive. I suppose the next thing you’ll be saying is that she’s carrying our grandchild, and we should be looking forward to it?’

‘Yes! Something like that.’ Nancy smiled. ‘Only it won’t just be our grandchild. Alice is carrying our
grandchildren.
She’s having twins, Tom, and they’re our flesh and blood. So, don’t you think it’s time for a little forgiveness?’

Reeling from the shock, Tom would not give an inch. ‘To hell with her and to hell with them! I don’t want her offspring! I want our sons back! I want us to be the family we were before she came along. You need to remember, Nancy…they won’t just be
our
flesh and blood…they’ll be hers too. And I for one want nothing whatsoever to do with them!’