by Ann Cliff
‘I promise to love and look after you, Rachel. Forever.’ There on the moor, in full view of the indifferent sheep, Roger took her in his arms. She felt his warmth and strength as she responded to his kiss. Time seemed to stand still.
They perched on a huge boulder, not talking but looking at the scene, the sunlight and cloud shadows on the rolling slopes of the moor. Planning would come later. Gradually, Rachel felt the peace of the afternoon stealing into her soul. She would learn not to worry so much, to take one day at a time. The distant bleat of a ewe was the only sound.
‘This is the happiest day of my life,’ Rachel told him, her hand in his. ‘I never thought … we could be together. I didn’t feel brave enough.’
‘But now you do, my love. You are a brave woman!’ Roger stood up and held out his hand. ‘Time we went back. We will always remember this spot, Rachel. To tell you the truth, I planned this in my wily way, to bring you here, to the peace of the moor, for a quiet talk.’
They sealed their promises with several more kisses and went back down to the farm hand in hand.
‘May I tell the others straightaway?’ Roger asked. ‘It’s been a day of surprises. Your father and mother have been left out so far, but we’ll tell them tonight. I did tell Kit at Christmas, but neither of us could see how it could work out.’
It seemed, however, that when they got back to the kitchen and Roger told their news, Nathan and Alice were not surprised at all.
‘I told you so!’ Alice said triumphantly.
Nathan stood up and shook Roger’s hand. ‘Congratulations, young man. You know how lucky you are … we are both lucky men. I couldn’t have picked a better husband for Rachel, myself! In fact, it did cross my mind when you were both bairns.’
‘Thank you, Mr Brown, you must have seen into the future!’
Alice looked across at Roger. ‘Have you worked out where you will live? We even got as far as discussing that, while you were on the moor.’
Roger explained his plan for a little house nearby and they nodded. Then Nathan said, ‘I have a better idea. Rachel is to inherit my farm, you see. And now that we are moving to Pateley, I wonder whether you, Roger, would like to farm it with Rachel? She’s got the experience now, but she needs a good man with her. You could maybe complete the Woodley dam before you resigned, but in the end you’d have to give up your career.’
Alice chimed in, ‘Aye, some of the work’s too hard for a woman. Take it from me. I couldn’t have got by without Nathan’s help, bless him.’
Once again Rachel was dizzy with shock. Roger was an engineer … could he learn to be a farmer?
‘Do you think I could do it, with Rachel’s help? I’ve always wanted to farm.’ Roger looked at Rachel. ‘I have learned a little from Kit, of course, and you’ve taught me to milk … but my problem would be lack of capital. I’d need to buy livestock, implements, tools… I haven’t much money, Mr Brown, my inheritance was spent on my training.’ He was frowning. ‘I doubt whether we can do it, you need a tenant with more money than I have.’
‘We’ve thought of that.’ Alice Bolton’s face was alight with interest. ‘You could take over the farm as it is, with the Shorthorn cattle and the sheep. Nathan will get a valuation and you could pay back their value over time, as a sort of rent.’
Roger was looking shocked now and Rachel went to his side. ‘Of course we can do it, Roger! This is your leap of faith for both of us. Unless you can’t bear to leave Leeds and engineering?’
It was time she challenged him. Rachel realized that if this plan worked out, she would be essential to its success. They would have an equal partnership.
‘But maybe you will need more time to think about it?’
‘I would never regret leaving Leeds,’ Roger admitted. ‘As for engineering, I think the training will probably help me, just the experience of solving problems, for a start. We’ll do it, Rachel! I can’t begin to thank you, Mr Brown. You’re giving us the chance of a lifetime.’
‘Aye, well, it’s a relief to think that farm will be in good hands.’
There was a silence while they all thought about the implications of their plans.
Nathan said quietly, ‘The farm will make you a living, there’s no doubt. It’s big enough … been too big for me, lately. If you have a bad year, well, we all do at times, you’ll get through it.’
‘In a bad year, I could sell herbs and eggs. Maybe we should keep geese?’ Rachel laughed.
Kit and Ruth Garnett were delighted when they heard all the news. Nathan had gone back to the Hall in the trap, so he could join in the celebrations. Ruth brought out a bottle of blackberry wine and they toasted each other.
‘I did wonder,’ Ruth admitted after a while, ‘whether Jim was really more interested in Rachel’s inheritance than the lass herself. Folks knew that she is Grandfather’s only heir and it’s a tidy piece of land. Any lad would be pleased to get his hands on it.’
The next week, Lady Agnes returned to the Hall and asked to see the Garnett family after lunch the next day.
‘What now?’ Ruth wondered, putting spring flowers on the library table.
In the library, Lady Agnes sat in her black widow’s dress and the Garnetts filed in at the allotted time. She looked down her nose at them as always, but then she smiled.
‘You will be pleased to hear that the reservoir is not to be built at Firby,’ she began. ‘I am proud of the fact that my intervention helped to save the valley.’
‘It was very well done, Your Ladyship,’ Kit said quietly.
‘My plan is to take a small house on my brother’s estate in the south, the climate is too cold for me here. I do not wish to sell the Firby Hall estate. I would like you to take over the Hall and home farm as tenants and farm it as you wish. The Hall can be open to visitors and you can take the income.’ She paused. ‘I will, of course, expect an annual rent, but your duties as estate manager will require remuneration, so the rent minus your salary will not be high, the solicitor tells me. You will send to my solicitor the rents from all the Hall properties each quarter and supervise the tenants as you have always done.’
Kit was beaming from ear to ear. ‘Thank you, Lady Agnes.’
‘One other thing … I have examined our books and manuscripts, returned from the bookseller. There is a document that will be of interest to your family … their descent from the builder of the Hall is clearly traced. The family of Brown sold the estate over a hundred years ago, after a succession of bad harvests. I have left the document on the library table, for you to examine.’ The lady held up an imperious hand. ‘That will be all. You may go now.’
Roger went to work at Woodley Crags straight away. He spent days surveying the area and on one trip, he met the gypsies again. The caravan was back in the valley and the woman was talking to Alice at the farm gate as he arrived.
‘It’s the young engineer! Have you found your farm yet, bonny lad? And the lass to share it with?’ Her dark gypsy eyes looked deep into his.
‘Thank you,’ Roger said. ‘I have found my farm and my lass, both. You were right, Vadoma. You were right.’
By the same author
Moorland Lass
Bitter Inheritance
Yorkshire Rose
Lavender Girl
Summer by the Sea
Shadows on the Moor
Poacher’s Moon
Haunted Creek
Raven’s Gold
© Ann Cliff
First published in Great Britain 2015
ISBN 978 0 7198 1925 4 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1926 1 mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1927 8 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1741 0 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Ann Cliff to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988