Bella's Vineyard (10 page)

“I guess it
was.” He took a deep breath.

“When do you
leave?”

“I was going to
wait until next week, but I think the sooner the better. I’ll go tomorrow.” He
left her standing alone in the vineyard. She lasted until he got onto his horse
and rode out of sight before she ran back to the house and fell sobbing onto
her bed.

Things were to
get much worse. After lunch the following day, when Bella was working in the
vineyard, Vance returned, riding his buggy up the approach. Her heart leapt. He
had said he was leaving, but here he was. It took her a few moments to realise
he was not alone. One of his deputies sat alongside him. She walked through the
vineyard to meet them. Their faces were solemn.

“Vance, what is
it?”

He jumped down
from the buggy, and his deputy did likewise. They both walked around to the
back.

“Bella…” Vance
seemed to have shrunk in stature, with his shoulders hunched and his head down,
barely able to make eye contact with her. “Bella, I’m sorry, but we didn’t get
to him in time.”

“To who? You
didn’t get to who?”

“Shen’s boy
tried to warn Andrew to get out of town, to lie low for a while. He wouldn’t
listen to reason. He couldn’t see the danger. Where’s May. I think she should
be here. May!”

“What? For God’s
sake, Vance. Tell me.”

“It’s your
brother. He’s been shot in the back.”

The deputy threw
back a blanket, to reveal Andrew lying dead on the back of the buggy. Bella
screamed in shock, then clambered up onto the cart. He was pale, but looked as
if he might only be sleeping.

“Andrew, Andrew,
dearest, please wake up,” said Bella, taking him in her arms. “Please wake up.”
She was vaguely aware of shouting from the house, and people running out
towards the cart.

“Bella, darling,
come away,” said Vance. “Come on.”

“You leave him
alone. He’s my brother,” she cried, throwing Vance’s hand from her. “Don’t you
touch him.”

Vance stepped
back as if he had been slapped. May arrived and quickly took the situation in
hand, climbing onto the cart with Bella. “Come on, baby. Come to me,” she said.
Bella turned and was about to push May away. Instead she fell sobbing into her
arms.

“Take care of
her, May,” Vance said. “She won’t let me.”

Bella protested
loudly when they tried to pull her off the cart, but collapsed in sobs as soon
as they managed to wrench Andrew from her arms.

She came to her
senses sitting on the chair in the parlour, with May sat on a stool, tending
her. Vance and the deputy stood with their backs to the hearth. They were
talking in quiet tones with Shen, who was agreeing to make all the arrangements
for Andrew’s burial.

“Have you
arrested Griffiths?” Bella asked, when her head had cleared.

“There’s no
proof he did it,” said Vance.

“But you know he
did!”

“Knowing it and
proving it are two different things, Bella. We’re doing all we can. But your
brother owed money all over the town. I’m sorry, but Griffiths wasn’t the only
one with reason to…”

“No!” Bella stood
up. “No, that’s not true. Andrew was a good man. He made mistakes, but … it
must have been Griffiths. I want you to arrest him.”

“We can’t unless
we have proof. There were no witnesses when your brother was shot, but there
are a dozen men can say they saw Griffiths playing poker in the saloon when it
happened.”

“We know
Griffiths has got a motive,” said the deputy. “He was mightily upset that your
brother lied to him about owning the vineyard…”

Bella fell back
into the chair as realisation hit her. If she had not told Griffiths the truth,
then Andrew would still be alive. It was all her fault. “I should have given it
to him,” she whispered, a huge tear splashing from her cheek. “I should have
let Griffiths take the vineyard. Then Andrew would still be alive.”

“Would you be
included in that deal?” said Vance, savagely.

“If it meant my
brother would be standing here alive, yes,” said Bella, before her body became
racked with sobs. May held her in her arms.

“There baby, let
it all out now. I think you should go for now, Marshal.” May turned to Vance.
“I’ll take care of her.”

Vance hesitated,
his face a mask of some emotion Bella could not name. “Fine. Come on,” he said
to his deputy. “Shen, will you…”

“Yes, Marshal,
do not worry. I will take care of everything as you asked.”

“Thank you. If
she needs anything, let me know.”

Chapter Seven

Life was such
that Bella could not afford to cry for long. There was work to be done. She
pulled herself together and got up every morning ready to face another day of
work. It helped her, in that concentrating on getting the vineyard back into
shape took her mind off Andrew’s death.

A few days after
Andrew’s burial, Vance called over. Bella let him come to her this time, afraid
to hear anymore bad news.

“I just came to
say goodbye,” he said.

“You’re leaving?
With Griffiths out there, killing people? You’re leaving?”

“Griffiths has
gone up country to take care of his other business interests. The deputies here
are good men. They can manage whilst I’ve gone. I’m only sorry you think I’ve
let you down somehow.”

“No, it’s not
your fault,” she said, exhausted with grief. “It’s my fault.”

“You told
Griffiths the truth. It was something your brother should have done.”

“So he deserved
to die?”

“That’s not what
I said. What I mean is that you can’t spend your life blaming yourself for
Andrew’s death. Or me for not arresting Griffiths.”

“Oh don’t worry.
I know how it works. He’s a powerful man around here. He can do pretty much
what he wants.”

“Is that what
you think? That I’ve been bought by Griffiths.”

“What I mean is
that you’re an outsider, like me, so you have to be careful. After all, you
don’t want to get shot in the back, do you?”

“So now I’m a
coward. Okay, I get that you’re angry. I even understand why you are. But don’t
do this.”

“Do what?”

“Don’t push away
everyone who cares about you. May said you don’t eat, you don’t sleep, and you
barely talk. Shen came all the way down to town yesterday just to tell me how
worried he is about you.  That’s why I came up here today. I could have left
without saying anything, but they’re concerned about you.”

“I’m perfectly
all right. I told you when we first met that English women are tougher than you
think.”

“You’re not that
tough, Bella.”

“Well, I might
not be able to skin a rabbit before it knows it’s caught but…”

Vance caught her
by the shoulders and for a moment she thought – hoped – he would kiss her. To
break the miserable spell she was under. “You have to stop this … this anger
and bitterness. It’s not you.”

“You don’t know
me!” she cried. “I’m not little miss perfect. That’s what Andrew called me. He
was so angry with me, when Aunt Bella left me the vineyard, and I promised him,
I promised I would never tell. That I would let people think it was his so he
could hold his head high amongst the men out here. I didn’t care, but it
mattered to him. He hated being dependent on me. That’s why he did the things
he did. He had to pretend that he was the one in control. That’s why he lied to
Griffiths too, and if I hadn’t opened my big mouth, he might still be alive.
And if I’d let you arrest Griffiths when you offered, Andrew would still be
alive. So please don’t tell me I can’t be angry and bitter. I damn well can be
if I want to.” She pulled away from him, annoyed with herself for how much she
wanted him, even now. No. Especially now. She craved the comfort of his arms,
and for him to tell her that everything would be all right. That would never
happen. He was engaged to someone else. Which made her angrier still, both with
herself and with him. “ Go on, go away to the rabbit skinning Gloria if you
must!”

To Bella’s
surprise that made Vance laugh. “I’ll be back in a week or two. We’ll talk
then.”

“I’m sure Gloria
will be keeping you far too busy, what with planning your wedding.”

“I’ll speak to
you when I return. Maybe you’ll be ready to listen to me then because you sure
as hell ain’t listening now.” He turned and walked away.

She dealt with
his absence by working even harder, staying out in the vineyard long after
dark, and working by the light of the moon and a lantern that she carried with
her. Her back ached, but not nearly as much as her heart. She had cried so much
over Andrew’s death, that she thought she had become numb. The pain she felt on
Vance’s departure caught her by surprise. Several weeks past, but if Bella had
been asked to summarise what had happened in that time, she could not say. Life
was a blur of working in the vineyard and restless nights where on the few
occasions she did sleep, she was plagued by bad dreams.

“Miss Bella.”

“Yes, Shen.”
Bella stopped and stood up straight, her back feeling as if it would break
under the strain. It was eight o’clock in the evening, and the sun had set an
hour before. “What is it?”

“Miss Bella,
come on inside now, and rest. You put me and my boys to shame, out here working
so hard whilst we eat and sleep.”

“You’ve all
worked much harder than me,” said Bella. “You deserve your rest.”

“And so do you,
Miss Bella. Miss Tucker sent me out to get you. She is concerned about you. She
said you did not eat breakfast this morning, and that you hardly ate any
lunch.”

“I’m not very
hungry, Shen.”

“Then come and
rest. Killing yourself out here is not going to help anyone, and it only puts
off the pain for another day.”

“Well, if I can
keep putting it off, then it will never catch up with me,” said Bella, with a
bitter smile.

“That is what I
think, when I remember my wife. But it finds me when I least expect it, and
then it is harder to deal with, because I am not prepared.”

“You miss her
dreadfully, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Perhaps I could
help you bring her over. I could apply for her to come and work for me. Then
you’d be together.”

“You would do
that.”

“Of course I
would. It isn’t right to be apart from the person you love most in the world.”

“Thank you. It would
mean the world to me to have her here.”

“That’s settled.
We’ll go into Milton tomorrow and speak to the lawyer. I’ll tell the
authorities that I’m sponsoring her. I hate to say it but being European I’ll
probably have more luck than you. We should use the unfair system to our
advantage, shouldn’t we?”

“That is a good
idea.”

“She’ll need
somewhere to live when she gets here.” The plan energised Bella, giving her
something else to focus on. “She can’t possibly sleep in the bunkhouse. I’ll
have a word with Mr Peterson. He built nice homes for his workers. I’m sure if
I ask him, he’ll build you both a little cottage to live in.” Bella could see
it in her minds eye, with roses around the door, and Shen and his wife sitting
on the porch, living out their last years together. The image brought a lump to
her throat. If she could not be happy, at least she could make someone else
happy.

“You are doing
so much for me, Miss Bella. Would it be wrong of me to ask for something more?”

“Not at all.
What is it?”

“Will you come
inside and eat, then get some rest?”

“Very well,”
said Bella. “Since we’ll have so much to do over the next few months, I’ll do
as you ask.” She picked up Hector. “Come on, we’ve been ordered inside.”

“There she is,”
said May, when Bella entered the kitchen. Shen’s sons were sitting around the
table eating. They greeted her with affection. “What do you want, honey?,” May
asked. “Do you want some steak? Or fried chicken? I’ve fried up some potatoes
here, just as you like ‘em. D’you know they call them chips in England, Shen?
‘Course being Chinese you won’t know much about fish and chips but Bella loves
‘em.” She turned to Bella. “And there’s treacle tart for dessert. I made it
just how you taught me. Here, sit in my rocking chair. It’ll be more comfortable.
You can eat with your food on your knees. We ain’t standing on ceremony here,
are we, boys?”

Bella sat down,
and let the gentle sway of the rocking chair soothe her. “Please don’t fuss,
May.” She closed her eyes and remembered her home in England. They had lived in
a small village, just outside London, where everyone knew everyone else. She
thought of their house, which was on the village green. They had to sell it to
pay some of Andrew’s gambling debts and the cost of the journey to America.
Bella wondered if it were still empty and whether the local squire who bought
it might rent it out to her. She pictured her room, which overlooked the
square, and the few friends she had left behind. Life, despite Andrew’s
problems, had seemed simpler then. Here, in this wide-open country, she was out
of her depth.