Escape to the Country (8 page)

"So, it's just the chickens to be given feed and water and have
the eggs collected, the pigs to be fed and cleaned out, the sheep to
be fed..." she trailed off. She couldn't do it all before lunch,
she couldn't even lift one hay bale on her own.

"I try to think of it as one job at a time, otherwise it's all
too daunting," Jayne said, but at least she was smiling again.

"Yes, well I'll start with the chickens."

"Thanks, lovey. Tell you what, you do that and I'll take the
pick-up to feed the sheep. I can load up with hay and salt blocks to
store in the little shed up there. That'll save me bothering with
them at all tomorrow and make feeding them much easier for the next
week or so. I've been meaning to do that, but taking the truck means
tackling several gates. Sometimes I just don't have the time or
energy for things that'd make my life easier."

Leah fed the chickens, an easy task compared to trudging up the field
carrying a bale of hay for the sheep and was pleased she was helping
to spare Jayne that task for a few days. She'd get her to think of
other things they could do to make her life a bit easier. Jayne
thought Leah was clever so she'd try to live up to her expectations
with a few time and motion improvements. Maybe she didn't need to
think of them - just help Jayne find the time to set them in place.
Jayne's problem wasn't that she couldn't think of good ways to do
things, just that she didn't have the time or energy because she was
alone.

As soon as she'd taken in the eggs, Leah mixed up the pig's feed and
gave it to them. As they noisily ate, she swept out their pens, and
spread fresh straw. Leah remembered how she'd been unable to shift
the wheelbarrow last time she'd mucked out the pigs and had to get
Jayne to help. She'd learnt her lesson, so this time shovelled half
the dirt at a time into the wheelbarrow and wheeled it to the muck
heap. Already her muscles were stronger. She didn't find the task
easy, but she was able to control the barrow.

Next she checked on Rosemary and Rosepetal. Leah was more than a
little relieved to see their bedding was still clean and their
hayracks reasonably full. All she needed do was to scoop out a few
pieces of straw which had fallen into the younger cow's water trough.
Almost immediately, Rosepetal took a look into the trough, shook her
head sending another couple of stalks into the water. Then she took a
long drink. Leah, remembering Jayne had told her the heifer was
pregnant, wondered if this was some kind of bovine craving. She left
the straw where it was; even if, as seemed most likely, it's
appearance in the trough was accidental, it wasn't going to stop the
cow drinking.

"Leah! You've done everything!" Jayne said when she came
back.

"I have. Must admit I feel pretty chuffed with myself, so while
I'm in a good mood I'll offer to cook lunch while you relax."

"If you're really happy to make lunch, I'll tackle the movement
permits and other records. That's another job I've been meaning to
get done and one that just gets worse and worse the longer I leave
it."

Leah surveyed the well stocked fridge then took a mug of coffee and
plate of biscuits into Jayne. "This'll keep you going while I
try to figure out that scary cooker of yours."

"Oh thanks, love. Just what I could do with."

"Did you have something in mind for lunch, or shall I surprise
you?"

"A surprise would be lovely. It's so long since I had a meal
without having to think about what to cook."

Leah didn't want to use anything Jayne might have earmarked for a
later meal, so decided to do something based on eggs. Jayne had a
plentiful supply of them. There were also home-grown potatoes and
plenty of cheese and bacon. Leah made a Spanish omelette, complete
with sun dried tomatoes and frozen peas both courtesy of Jayne's
garden. Never again would Leah moan about the task of trailing round
the supermarket to stock her kitchen cupboards. That task was nothing
compared to growing and preserving the food for herself.

Leah opened the flue on the Aga and chucked on more dry logs to
increase the heat. It took time to peel the potatoes as they were
soft, from having been stored since last autumn, but that gave the
cooker time to warm up enough to heat a pan of water. Once the
potatoes were on to boil she went outside to pick winter salad.
Fortunately Jayne had neatly labelled the rows and she could gather
rocket, chicory and land cress. Funny how she'd read those names on
imported bagged salad but never known which was which nor realised
the crops could be grown in England over winter.

Leah was proud of her omelette, souffled in the oven to a light
fluffy texture with a crisp cheesy crust.

"That was absolutely delicious. Thank you, I feel quite
spoiled," Jayne said.

"No problem. How did the paperwork go?"

"It's going. I've got things into order now. I think if I crack
on I'll get it all sorted today." She sounded as though that
would be one less thing to worry about.

"Can I help at all?"

"Not really. It's all hand written notes and forms, and half the
information is in my head."

"I'll leave you to get on with it then and I'll go off exploring
with Tarragon."

"Take your mobile, then if you get stuck or lost I'll know where
to send the tractor driver to rescue you."

"Jayne!"

"Do you mean to say the thought of going over to Home Farm never
crossed your mind?"

As Leah fully intended to visit the farm she couldn't really deny it.
The reason wasn't the one Jayne was thinking of, but better to let
her believe Leah was planning to flirt with dishy Duncan the tractor
driver than that she was going to confront his boss, Mr Gilmore-Bunce
about the state of Jayne's roof and his failure to sort it out.

Leah stuffed her pockets with her phone, Tarragon's lead and as many
dog treats as she could fit in.

"Come on boy, us country bumpkins are going to leave the wannabe
townie to her office work."

Jayne grinned but said nothing.

This time Leah wasn't so frightened of the cows and although she'd
have preferred them to display their curiosity at more of a distance
she realised their sniffing noses were just checking her out, not
wondering how tasty she'd be. Without Leah showing fear for him to
react to, the dog barely seemed to notice the larger animals.

Instead of crossing the boggy ground where she'd got stuck a few days
earlier, Leah followed the track down towards the farm buildings. If
she'd been absolutely sure Duncan would quickly appear to lift her in
his strong arms she'd have been tempted to get stuck again. Only
tempted though, she knew if she was to attract his attention she'd
have to come up with something better than looking a complete idiot
every time she saw him.

Once near the yard, she clipped on Tarragon's lead and walked briskly
and purposefully past the various barns and buildings toward the
house, with her head held high. She wasn't a trespasser or lost
rambler, she was there on a matter of business and with a grievance
for which she expected immediate action.

There were several cars parked in the yard. All were coated with more
mud than polish and none were new or expensive looking, so must
belong to the workers rather than the man himself. G-B's was probably
housed in one of the outbuildings. Leah could hear a tractor in the
distance and closer was the low hum of some kind of machinery and
cattle mooing, but there was no sign of people.

The farmhouse looked like a cross between Jayne's Primrose Cottage
and the home of a wealthy landowner. The original building had
obviously been extended with a huge conservatory to the right, low
outbuildings to the left and a neat glass porch built over the front
door. She walked up the uneven red brick path, passing under metal
archways covered in ancient looking brown stems. She guessed they'd
be covered in flowers later in the year, but couldn't tell which
type.

The glass doorway to the porch sported no bell or knocker, so she
tapped gently on the glass pane. Immediately she realised the sound
was too quiet to be heard by anyone even if they were standing
directly behind the solid wooden doorway into the farm house. Leah
tried the handle of the porch door. It opened, allowing a waft of
scent to escape. She went inside and pulled the glass door behind her
to keep in the relative warmth and the perfume coming from the large
pot of blue hyacinths.

Leah pounded the iron knocker onto one of the studs in the wide door.
She noticed how much smoother that stud was than all the others and
wondered how many generations of visitors had knocked just as she was
doing now. After a minute she pounded again and wondered how many
generations of tenants and workers had been kept out in the cold,
their legitimate concerns ignored by the rich landowners who sat
round roaring fires eating lavish dinners or off chasing poor,
innocent foxes.

After ten minutes of banging on the door, walking round outside first
calling 'hello' and taking a few hasty peeks in at the windows Leah
had to admit she wasn't being ignored. There really wasn't anyone in.
She took the opportunity to take a closer look at how her enemy
lived. None of the curtains were drawn, so that was easy to
accomplish. One room was filled with high tech music and
entertainment equipment. There was a huge television, speakers
everywhere, games consoles - in short every expensive boy toy she
could think of. Somehow the large room still looked comfortable. It
was clearly an area he used, not just a place to show off the things
he could afford to buy.

There was also a beautiful library with big squashy looking chairs
placed to receive sunlight at different times of day, strategically
positioned lamps and tables and a cabinet stocked with crystal
glasses and all types of tempting looking drinks. What bliss it would
be to pour a warming drink after a hard day's work and to curl up in
one of those chairs with a good book. She craned her neck to see if
there was a fireplace. She couldn't see one, but felt sure there
would be and that it would be laid ready so a match was all that was
needed to supply warmth and the comforting scent of wood smoke. She
giggled as she realised that in her daydream she was pouring two
drinks as Duncan bent to apply the flame to dry kindling.

Oh well, back to reality. She couldn't confront Mr Gilmore-Bunce but
that wasn't his fault so she'd try not to let her anger build against
him. She had every right to be angry, but it wouldn't help her try to
reason with him and persuade him to fix the roof on Primrose Cottage.

As she turned to walk back down the path, she saw she wasn't even
being ignored - Duncan the tractor driver was watching her. It
shouldn't really have surprised her to see him in the yard of the
farm where he worked, but she hadn't expected to see anyone other
than Gilmore-Bunce.

"Hi, Leah. Can I help with anything?" he asked pleasantly.

To hide her embarrassment at having been caught snooping and
daydreaming of him, Jayne demanded, "Where's your rotten good
for nothing boss?"

"Who?"

"Oliver Gilmore-Bunce. This is his house isn't it?"

"Yes, it is but he's not actually in there at the moment. What's
he done to upset you?"

"It's more what he hasn't done. Fix the leak in Jayne's roof."

"I'll have a word with him." Duncan seemed to be finding
this funny.

"He'll listen to a tractor driver?"

Duncan frowned at her for a moment as though he didn't quite
understand, then grinned.

"Well maybe if I tug my forlock enough, he'll speak to someone
as lowly as me."

"I didn't mean that. It's just he's so pompous. There's nothing
wrong with being a tractor driver..." And hadn't Jayne said he
was a foreman? Her anger with Gilmore-Bunce had made her be rude -
which just made her hate him all the more.

"It's OK, I was teasing. You really don't like Oliver
Gilmore-Bunce do you?"

"No. Neither would you if you knew him like I do."

"Oh?"

She could see he was trying not to laugh. Oh dear, he didn't think
she knew him intimately did he?

"I work for a company that handles a lot of his investments.
Something went wrong with his account and he accused me of fraud and
got me the sack."

"You were sacked? That's dreadful. No one has the right to sack
you without proof and I just can't believe you were to blame."

Duncan really was sweet. He didn't immediately assume the fault must
have been hers and looked sorry that she'd suffered. If it had been
him she'd turned to immediately after her boss had told her of his
suspicions and suspended her, Duncan would have given her the hug she
so badly needed.

"Well, I'm not actually sacked, just suspended while they
investigate, but my boss did think I was to blame. I'm not so sure
what he thinks now."

"Good, well hopefully the investigation will clear your name.
Maybe there's been a misunderstanding or there's a reasonable
explanation?"

"You're very loyal to him."

"Mr Gilmore-Bunce?"

"Yes. He's the one that accused me and demanded that action be
taken."

"If his money was taken then you couldn't expect him to just
overlook it."

"Well, no." That was true. She hadn't really thought about
it from his point of view. She gathered there were several hundred
thousand pounds missing and it was probably natural for him to assume
the person handling his account was to blame. He'd put his trust in
the company and therefore her, no wonder he was angry and demanding
action.

"Leah, is Jayne your father's sister?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I just wondered. Er... Leah, I do have a good reason for seeing
things from Mr Gilmore-Bunce's point of view."

"Or you'll lose your job, yes I see. I know what that's like.
Sorry I don't want to put you in a difficult position so I'll try not
to say anything against that miserable, sexist, snivelling excuse
for..." she giggled. "Sorry, I was teasing. Your face
though, you looked almost as though it were you I was insulting. I
won't be rude about him and won't expect you to be disloyal."
She wished she hadn't ranted quite so much about his boss, being so
mean didn't exactly put her in a good light. She wasn't even sure she
was right. His request to have his accounts checked had, she could
see now, been perfectly reasonable, not a deliberate attack on her.
Maybe she'd also misinterpreted everything else she'd heard about
him.
"So, would you like to tell me what your problem is?
Maybe I can help," Duncan said.