Settling the Account (71 page)

‘Mmm.’ David grinned at her. ‘If I woke up
feeling crook or miserable. I used to be scared the old man would
find out, but I’d do it anyway. You always made it better.’

‘You’ve got a bit too big for that.’ The
idea of curling up with David all night was deliciously tempting,
but it would be wrong now that he had grown into a man.

‘Big enough to look after you properly. You
go and get some sleep, Ma. You can have a lie in tomorrow.’

‘I’ll make sure I’m up before you, so you
can have a bite to eat before you go milking.’

‘You don’t need to, I could get something
for myself.’

‘I
want
to.’ She wound her arms
around his neck. ‘I don’t want to be away from you any longer than
I have to. I thought I’d lost you, Davie. I thought I’d never see
you again.’

‘I’m not that easy to get rid of.’ He yawned
again.

Amy kissed him on the mouth. ‘Good night.
Sleep well.’

She disentangled herself from his arms and
stood beside the bed for a moment, taking a last look at him.
‘Thank you for coming home, Davie,’ she whispered before she
slipped from the room.

*

Over the next few days Amy had to put up
with more scoldings than she had in years. John and Harry both came
over to chide her soundly for not having told them what had been
going on, and Lizzie managed to talk Frank into driving her up to
visit Amy so that she could add a reproof of her own.

Despite her best efforts to appear suitably
contrite, Amy found herself laughing at all her scolders. Nothing
could upset her for long, not now that she had David back. It was
only Lizzie who spoiled her composure, and that was from the
unexpected mildness of her cousin’s harangue.

‘Are you all right, Lizzie?’ Amy asked. ‘You
don’t quite seem yourself today.’

‘Oh, don’t you start,’ Lizzie snapped. ‘I’ve
got enough to put up with, what with Frank hanging around me like
an old mother hen. I’m perfectly all right, I just had a restless
night, that’s all. It was so hot last night, I kept waking up in a
sweat.’

‘It wasn’t as hot as all that,’ Amy said in
surprise. ‘I had two blankets on.’

‘Well,
I
was hot,’ Lizzie said. ‘I
can’t speak for the rest of the world.’

‘Are you keeping well? You look tired.’

Lizzie glared at her. ‘Of course I’m keeping
well. I’ve always done so well having the babies, you know that.
Don’t talk rubbish.’

Amy abandoned the futile attempt at giving
Lizzie advice. ‘You take good care of her, Frank,’ she said when
she went out to see Lizzie off. ‘She’s not looking herself.’

‘Don’t you encourage him,’ Lizzie grumbled.
‘He’s bad enough without you making him worse. You two are as bad
as each other.’

Amy caught Frank’s eye and they shared a
smile, though Amy thought she saw a hint of concern in Frank’s.
Still, she reflected, it was true enough what Lizzie said: she had
never found pregnancy much of a problem.

David threw himself into the work of the
farm. As soon as the potatoes were safely harvested he began
catching up on all the tasks Amy had had to leave undone, ranging
from one end of the property to the other mending fences, digging
new drains, and pulling weeds from the cleared areas. He seemed
able to work all day and barely look tired by sundown, his youth
and strength more than equal to the task.

Released from the farm work, Amy steadily
worked through every room of the house, making good all the
unavoidable neglect of the months since Charlie had become ill. She
washed and scrubbed and dusted. Every dish in the kitchen was
lifted from its place and given a thorough scouring, the floor was
scrubbed till the wood was pale, and all the bedding was carefully
aired. For the first time in months, she could look around her
without being stung by shame.

And for the first time in months she could
tend to her own appearance. Baths were no longer too laborious to
be attempted more than once a month; with David to haul the water,
they could indulge in the luxury of a weekly bath. Instead of
having the state of her clothing vary only between mildly grubby
after a cursory wash day and outright filthy from the farm work,
she now had clean, sweet-smelling and neatly ironed clothes to
wear. Her hair, instead of being an unwashed tangle hurriedly
pinned up each morning, half of the pins giving up the unequal
struggle before the day was over, was as soft, shiny and neat as
she could have wished.

The rousing effect wrought on Charlie by the
shock of David’s return did not last long; he soon retreated to his
room again, not emerging unless Amy coaxed him out to sit with her
and David for a half hour or so. She did not like to leave Charlie
in his room by himself all day, discarded and forgotten.

‘It’s good for him to have a bit of
company,’ Amy said when David complained half-heartedly about his
father’s brooding presence. ‘He doesn’t do any harm.’

‘He doesn’t do any good, either, sitting
there scowling at everyone.’

‘Well, he can’t think of things to say,
that’s all. He gets a bit muddled in the head sometimes, remember.
It’ll only be for a little while, you know he can’t sit up very
long.’

But Amy could not deny that she gained far
more pleasure from the times when she and David were alone
together, with no Charlie to make Amy anxious and David unnaturally
stiff. Those were the times she delighted in, whether spent
chatting and laughing over their meals or whispering together in
the parlour or in David’s room after she had settled Charlie for
the night.

They were lingering over their afternoon tea
one day soon after David’s return, so engrossed in their
conversation that they did not hear the approaching rider until the
sound of a horse’s snort close to the house caught their
attention.

Amy went to the door and down the steps,
just in time to see Sarah Millish appear at the gate.

‘Sarah!’ she said in delight, running to
take the young woman by the hand. ‘I’m so glad you’ve come!’

‘I rather thought you might want to berate
me for interfering in your affairs,’ Sarah said. ‘Though if you’d
wanted an apology you’d have been sadly disappointed—I’ve no
regrets over letting Mrs Kelly in on your secret. But I had to
assure myself that things are in a satisfactory state now.’

She studied Amy, taking in her pretty dress
of flowered cotton, clean on that morning, and the heavy mass of
hair carefully pinned above her face. ‘Obviously they are. It seems
I’ve done some good.’

‘You did the best thing in the world. You
got Davie back for me. Oh, you must meet him, Sarah!’

Amy tugged Sarah’s hand, pulling her up the
steps to the back door, but Sarah stopped in the doorway and would
not be moved. Perhaps she was shy, Amy thought, though it was not a
quality she had associated with Sarah before.

‘Dave, come and meet my friend,’ she said.
David stood up and came across the room to join them. His arm
rested easily across Amy’s shoulders. She slipped her own arm
around his waist and leaned against him.

‘This is David, Sarah,’ she said, her voice
resonant with love and pride. ‘This is my son.’

Amy was startled by Sarah’s reaction. Her
expression hardened and she fixed David with a stern gaze, until
Amy felt him stiffen against her, clearly discomforted.

‘So you decided to come home at last, Mr
Stewart,’ Sarah said. ‘I hope you’re taking some care of your
mother after leaving her to manage on her own all this time.’

‘I… yes, I think I am,’ David said
uncertainly.

‘Of course you are!’ Amy said. ‘I don’t know
how I ever managed without you. Oh, Sarah, do come in and have a
cup of tea with us. I’d love you to get to know Dave properly.’ She
was firmly convinced that no one with an ounce of sense could know
David for any length of time without loving him.

‘No, I won’t,’ Sarah said. ‘You don’t need
my company, I can see that.’

Amy was interrupted before she had a chance
to protest. ‘Amy?’ It was Charlie’s voice coming from the bedroom;
Amy always left the intervening doors open in case he needed her
suddenly. ‘Who’s out there? I heard a horse.’ There was a quaver of
distress in his voice.

‘Don’t worry, Charlie, it’s only a friend
come to visit,’ she called back.

‘It’s not that policeman, is it? He’s not
come about the boy?’

‘No, nothing like that. It’s just Lily’s
cousin, Miss Millish. I’ll come and tell you about it in a
minute.’

She waited a moment, but Charlie did not
call out again, apparently pacified by her answer. ‘He gets a bit
muddled sometimes,’ she explained, as much for David’s benefit as
for Sarah’s. ‘He slips back a few years and forgets what’s happened
in between. He’s thinking about Mal—that was our other son. Do come
in, Sarah, you can keep Dave company while I settle Mr Stewart
down. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Dave?’

‘Ah… yes,’ David said doubtfully.

‘I’ve no desire to come into your house with
him
here,’ Sarah said, casting a resentful glance in the
direction Charlie’s voice had come from. ‘No, I shan’t waste any
more of your time. I wanted to see if things were well with you,
and I’ve done that. You obviously don’t need anything else from me.
Good day to you, Mr Stewart,’ she said coolly to David, giving him
a cursory nod.

Amy extricated herself from David’s
encircling arm, ran down the steps and caught hold of Sarah’s
sleeve as the younger woman moved away. ‘Please don’t go, Sarah. I
thought you and Dave could be friends.’

Sarah looked up at David, who was standing
at the top of the steps appearing uncertain whether he should add
his voice to his mother’s or slink away from Sarah’s
disconcertingly direct stare. ‘He’s very like you, isn’t he?’ Sarah
said, her voice suddenly pensive. ‘It’s quite a startling
likeness.’

She turned her gaze back on Amy. ‘Come out
with me,’ she said, taking Amy aback with the unexpectedness of the
request. ‘Come and visit Lily.’

‘I can’t, Sarah.’

‘Why not? You’ve no need even to saddle
up—my mount would hardly notice the extra weight of a little thing
like you. We could talk on the way.’

‘I’m sorry, I just can’t. I can’t really
leave Mr Stewart, you see.’

‘Couldn’t
he
look after his father
for an hour or so?’ Sarah asked, casting a disapproving look in
David’s direction.

‘I… I don’t like to leave him,’ Amy said
lamely. She could not tell Sarah that Charlie would be frightened
to be left alone with his son; nor that she was unwilling to ask
David to give his father the sort of delicate assistance Charlie
now needed.

‘Really?’ Sarah looked over Amy’s head to
meet David’s eyes and hold them with her own. ‘I do hope you do
something other than sit around the house all day, Mr Stewart,’ she
said, raising her voice slightly to be sure David would hear. ‘I
would have thought one man under her feet was more than enough for
your mother.’

‘You will come and see me again, won’t you,
Sarah?’ Amy asked.

The stiff formality Sarah seemed to be
striving for was marred by an odd fragility; as if she might even
give way to tears if she let her rigid self-control slacken. ‘I
really don’t see how I can. And I fail to see what you might need
from me now.’

‘I want to be able to talk about books and
things. I want someone to make me really think.’ Amy put a hesitant
hand on Sarah’s arm. ‘I want you to be my friend.’

Sarah allowed her stiff manner to relax
slightly, and even managed a small smile. ‘I want those things,
too. Those things and more. We shall have to find some way of
achieving that, Amy. Mrs Stewart,’ she corrected herself.

David came up behind Amy when Sarah had
moved away, resting his arms lightly on her shoulders.

‘What’d I say wrong, Ma?’ he asked. ‘Boy,
she seemed to have it in for me.’

Amy turned to face him, slipping her arms
around his waist. ‘You didn’t say anything wrong. Sarah’s… well,
I’ve never seen her quite like that, but some people find her a bit
hard to get on with.’

‘I’ll bet they do,’ David said with feeling.
‘When she tells you off you really feel told off. And she’s got
that way of looking at you—she’s sort of like Aunt Susannah, you
know.’

‘She is not!’ Amy protested. ‘She’s not a
bit like Susannah.’

‘Well, there’s something about her. It might
be just the way she makes you feel a bit small.’

‘Your Uncle Frank thinks it’s because she’s
a teacher. Maybe it makes her a little bit bossy.’

‘A teacher!’ David pulled a face. ‘Yes, I
suppose that’s why she’s so scary. Must have made me think of old
Miss Metcalf.’

He stared thoughtfully in the direction
Sarah had gone. ‘She’s a lot better looking than Miss Metcalf,
though. Better looking than Aunt Susannah, too.’

‘I should think so!’ Amy studied David’s
expression. ‘Do you think she’s pretty?’

‘I suppose she is a bit.’ He grinned down at
Amy. ‘Not as pretty as you are.’

‘You mustn’t tease me, Davie,’ Amy said,
laughing. ‘I’m too old to be pretty. Would you like to get to know
Sarah better?’

David grimaced. ‘Don’t know about that. I
think she might put me off my meals, telling me off all the
time.’

‘Your Aunt Lizzie’s got an idea that Sarah
doesn’t like men. She’s certainly got no time for your father.’

‘Neither has anyone else,’ David said
sourly. ‘That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with her. Did I
hear her ask you to go out with her, Ma?’

‘Yes, she did,’ Amy admitted. ‘She wanted me
to go up and see Aunt Lily with her.’

‘Why didn’t you go?’

‘I can’t leave your father, Dave, you know
that.’

‘You can if you want to. I wouldn’t mind
looking after the old bugger to give you a break.’

Amy sighed. ‘You can’t even talk about him
without calling him names. You can’t expect me to leave him with
you when you won’t show him a little bit of respect.’