Gareth smiled. “She is that.”
Aaron looked down at the files. “I found more than I bargained for when I looked for the wills. Tanis has files on me, my brother and sister, not to mention accounts, bills, and other stuff for the farm, some in my name, that I’ve not seen. Something just doesn’t seem right about it.”
“Let’s start with the will and codicil. Then we’ll look at the rest and go from there.”
“OK.” Aaron pulled out the folder marked will and handed it over. “These are all photocopies of the originals. The farm went to me by default, as I’m the eldest. The way it’s always been. Isaac and Leah always accepted that. They got a trust fund when they were twenty-one. Or should have.”
“Should have?”
“Isaac came to see me about a year ago. First time since Nancy died that he’d spoken to me. Leah doesn’t want anything to do with me either. He wanted to know where the money was.”
“I don’t understand.” Gareth flicked through the papers. “It doesn’t say anything about a trust fund in here.”
“It wouldn’t. I got everything. Dad set up a trust fund independently for the others. They got so much a month from their twenty-first birthday. Then it just stopped. Isaac said he checked and the fund had been closed. By me.”
“But you didn’t?”
Aaron spread his hands wide. “Why would I do that? I got the farm.”
Gareth nodded, reading the documents in front of him. “I’m guessing that caused tension between you.”
“Yeah, especially with the financial problems. But that’s in another file.”
“OK. When did the codicil turn up?”
“About a year ago along with the new will. Tanis didn’t show any of us. Merely said the farm now belonged to the four of us in equal shares. She persuaded Isaac and Leah to sell their share to her. As the trust fund had vanished, they agreed. But I don’t know they had much choice in the matter. I found these.” He slid across two folders. “Some of it I know is accurate. The rest I don’t know. I don’t want to believe it, but this one—”
He took a deep breath and held out the file with his name on. “This one is spot on. Every single detail.”
“Where did you find them?”
“In a filing cabinet, in the front parlor at the farm, along with the wills. Anyway, Tanis told me that the codicil states if the farm isn’t making a profit by year end, I lose my share to her.”
“She won’t buy it from you, like she did the rest?”
“She doesn’t need to. She won’t offer to buy my share because she doesn’t need to. Besides I wouldn’t accept and she knows it. I’d rather be penniless than take anything from her. I either buy the remaining three shares from her or I lose it because I can’t make a profit by March.”
“And she’d end up owning the whole farm.” Gareth shuffled the papers. “Who is your father’s lawyer?”
“Troy Barrett of Hoskins and Co in Wokingham. But he won’t take my calls, I’ve tried.”
“He’ll take mine.” Gareth looked at him. “If you want me to take the case on, that is.”
“I can’t afford to pay you. I can barely afford to keep the lights on as it is.” There was no way he could afford to pay even a small retainer.
“That wasn’t my question. Do you want me to represent you?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You have hens on the farm?”
“Yes, I do.” Aaron tried to work out where the man was going. Surely, he didn’t want the hens?
“OK, good. Then my fee is six eggs a week. Give them to Megs.”
“Are you serious? Or are you making fun of me?” He started to get up. If this bloke was going to take the mickey, then this meeting was over.
Gareth held up a hand. “Wait a minute. Sit down and hear me out.”
Aaron sat and looked at him.
“I wouldn’t make fun of you. You need my services, and I know Megs loves her eggs. However, just remember a fee is lawyer-client privilege as well as anything you tell me. So it remains confidential. Though, I’ll have to tell Megs, else she’ll wonder why you’re giving her eggs each week.” He looked at the files. “I think you’ve got a pretty good case here and there is nothing I like more than helping the underdog.” He held out a hand. “Do we have a deal?”
“Yes.” Aaron pumped his hand. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. So, these other files you mentioned?”
Aaron reopened his briefcase and handed them over, answering Gareth’s questions as he went through all the files one by one. The man was meticulous in his note taking, asking questions that made him think.
Finally, Aaron handed over the last file. “I found this as well.”
Gareth’s expression turned to stone as he read Meggie’s name on the front of the file. “
What
?”
“Meggie first came to the farm on Monday. My stepmother is an odd woman. Very suspicious. From the minute she saw Meggie, Tanis kept asking me about her. She must have put the file together since.”
“Have you read it?”
“I glanced at it. Meggie told me about Ted a couple of days ago and how he died. That’s in there in detail—newspaper cuttings, even a copy of the prison records. I didn’t read it properly—if it’s something she wants me to know about, she’ll tell me.”
“Fair enough. Do you mind if I hang on to all of these?”
“Feel free. The originals are back at the farmhouse.”
He looked up at a knock at the door, in time to see Meggie peek her head into the room.
“Sorry to interrupt, but dinner’s ready. I can keep it warm if you like.”
“We’re done.” Gareth locked all the files into his briefcase and stood. “Aaron has hired me as his lawyer. We’ve agreed terms and he’ll be paying you my fee weekly.”
“Paying me?” Confusion creased her face. “Why would he be paying me? I’m no lawyer, look you.”
Gareth winked. “Eggs. They’d break if he posted them to Wales, so I told him to give them to you.”
Meggie laughed. “Tidy. A win-win situation.”
“Exactly. Now where’s this food? It smells wonderful, and I’m starved.”
“In the kitchen.” Meggie held Aaron back as her brother headed into the hall. She looked quizzically at him. “Eggs?”
“That’s what he wanted. Though he said not to divulge what I’m paying him to anyone. Obviously you have to know, but other than that…” He laughed. “I can’t wait to see Tanis’s face when she finds out I’ve hired a lawyer, and I’m actually paying him.” He impulsively kissed her. “Thank you. Even if I lose the farm, I’m going down fighting.”
Meggie reached up on tiptoes and kissed him back. “That’s the spirit.”
“Hey, Megs. Did you remember to make Yorkshire puddings?” Gareth’s voice floated down the hallway.
“I made lamb,” she called back. “You only have Yorkshire puddings with beef.”
“When’s that stopped us?”
She shook her head and grinned. “My brothers insist on having Yorkshire puds with every roast dinner Mam makes. Come on, before they eat it all.”
14
I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. Psalm 22:14
Meggie cringed over dinner as Gareth regaled Aaron with yet another tale of her childhood.
“She then insisted the cockerel shared her room until it was better.”
Aaron laughed. “I bet it only stayed the one night.”
“Not even a whole night. Da removed it in the early hours of the morning as soon as it started crowing. Megs slept through the whole thing. She woke to find a note, signed by said cockerel, saying so long and thanks for the wooly hat.”
She shifted uncomfortably as the men laughed. “When you’ve quite finished…”
Aaron looked at his empty plate and then at her. “I have. That was wonderful, thank you. The best roast dinner I’ve had in years.”
“The only one you’ve had in years,” she corrected.
“That’s as maybe, but please, take the compliment where it’s due. I loved it, thank you.”
Gareth cleared away the plates. “I can’t see the welsh cakes, Megs. Where did you hide them?”
“I’m sure you have a bottomless pit for a stomach, Gareth Knight. They are in the cake tin, on top of the bread bin.”
“Tidy.” He picked up the box. “Oh, very patriotic. It’s got little Welsh dragons on it, look you.”
She playfully scowled at him. “It’s a good job I like you, brother of mine.”
“Like?” He sat down and opened the box.
“Yes, like.”
“Well I
like
these, but that’s hardly the same thing, now is it?”
Meggie shrugged. “Anyway, if we want really embarrassing childhood stories, did Gareth tell you about the time he went camping in the field by the house and was convinced there was a zombie trying to get into his tent?”
“Do tell.” Aaron took one of the cakes and bit into it.
Gareth stood and shoved a hand loosely over Meggie’s mouth, tickling her with the other.
Meggie squirmed, trying to get free, laughing, and pulling his hand off her face. “You could hear his screams inside the house with the windows shut.”
“What was it?” Aaron asked.
“A cow.” She screamed with laughter, collapsing as Gareth finally let her go. “Not even a big one.”
“It was a
huge
cow,” Gareth corrected, stretching his arms wide. “At least this big. It kept bumping into the tent, making these awful noises. Not to mention a whole load of grunting and groaning and heavy breathing. What was I meant to think?”
“It would have helped if you hadn’t been watching films you shouldn’t have,” she scolded playfully.
“Says little Miss-I-Never-Do-Anything-Wrong. Who was it got chased by a guy in a burned jumper with knives for fingernails in her nightmares for a week?”
Meggie shrugged. “No one’s perfect this side of heaven.”
Aaron took another welsh cake. He bit into it, looking as if he were savoring every mouthful.
Cadfael winked at his sister. “Think he likes them.”
Aaron inclined his head in agreement. “I do. You’ll have to give me the recipe.”
Meggie picked up two cakes, one for each hand. “Sure.”
He waved the cake, a thoughtful frown creasing his brow. “Do you really think films can influence you like that?”
“Not just films,” Cadfael said. “Book, games, television and so on.”
“In what way?”
“Like the wrong kind of food—a minute on the lips and a lifetime on the hips—the same applies to our minds. Once you’ve seen or read something, you can’t un-see it. Those images will be forever imprinted on your memory and will come back to the forefront of your mind when you least want or expect it. Or reading and watching such things can almost become an addiction, you crave more and more until you can’t function without it.”
“Like smoking.” Aaron paused. “I used to smoke years ago and some days it’s really hard not to start up again. Especially with Tanis breathing her cigarette smoke on me every chance she gets.”
“I was thinking of something else, but yeah.”
Meggie rolled her eyes. “Not the porn sermon again, please.” She looked at Aaron as she took another cake. “It’s one of his favourite topics. Actually, I should probably rephrase that because it sounds really bad, but you know what I mean.”
“Same can be said for tarot cards, Ouija boards, and séances, too.” Cadfael finished his tea. “How’s the farm been since your pastor prayed around it?”
“Warm. The mold hasn’t come back. Tanis doesn’t like it. She complained it was
cold
and wanted to know what I’d done to the place, as it didn’t feel right anymore.”
“That’s an interesting reaction. What did you say?”
“I said I’d put a few things back where they belonged.”
“That’s a good way of putting it.”
“Anyway, when I got in from milking this morning, she was in the kitchen with her bags packed, ready to leave. She’ll be back Monday or Tuesday.”
“Any more trouble in the house?”
“Not a peep. Mind you, it’s only been a day, not even that. I brought your Bible back, Meggie. I got one of my own in town on my way here. I had no idea there’d be so many to choose from. The girl in the shop had to help me find the right version.”
“There are. We’re fortunate in that respect. In some places you can’t get one for love nor money.”
He nodded. “I also bought paper and paint for the red room. I want to do it before Tanis comes home.”
“You’ve got your work cut out. It’s a big room on top of all the farm work.”
“Yeah, but it needs doing.”
Gareth wiped his hands on his jeans. “Then how about we come over and give you a hand getting started. We don’t need to leave until seven and we could put a fair dent in it by then.”
“I don’t want to take you away from visiting Meggie. I’ve taken up your morning as it is.”
Gareth winked at him. “Megs can come as well. She’s the right height for painting skirting boards, as she can reach those without having to stand on a chair.”
Meggie thumped him playfully. “Thanks a bunch.”
“Welcome, sis.”
“A hand would be great,” Aaron said. “Thank you.”
“I’ll load the dishwasher as I can reach it,” Meggie said, pushing to her feet.
“I’ll do it,” Cadfael said. “Least I can do after a wonderful meal like that.”
Aaron grabbed Meggie’s hand. “Meggie…”
“Yes?” Warmth spread through her. His gaze held her still, pulling her into the deep blue pools of his eyes until she began to drown. Only she didn’t care if she never came up for air again. His other hand rested on her waist, steadying her. Which was just as well, or she might have melted and landed at his feet in a very undignified heap. And her brothers would find that funny enough to never let her forget it.
“Thank you.”
Her voice didn’t want to work, so she stood there, like a shop mannequin. Unable to move or speak, just stare into his clear blue eyes.
“For dinner, today, being a friend,” he continued.
“Being a friend is easy,” she managed. “But I want—”
“Want?” His tone urged her on, but she didn’t know how to say what she wanted.
She tore her gaze away and glanced over her shoulder at her brothers. They both wore smirks while pretending not to listen and failing abysmally. She returned her gaze front and center, losing herself once more. How could she have fallen so fast? It hadn’t even been a week, yet he filled her every thought. And being with him, enjoying his very male company, was something she had never believed she’d be able to do. “Later…”