Between You and Me

by Margaret Scott

  “Don’t you? Thought you were all against that sort of thing.”

  “Well, I cannot understand how you’d have a nice girl like Dawn at home and still want to be playing away, but I can see how she can’t just kick him out either. It’s not that easy when there’s kids involved.” Mark gestured to a sleeping Daniel in the corner of the room. “Actually,” he smiled, “if I remember correctly, you didn’t find it that easy and there were no kids involved.”

  “That was different.”

  “Of course it was.”

  “It was, Mark! And I didn’t just give in either, I’ll have you know!”

  “Of course you didn’t!” He smirked again. “Anyhow, let’s change the subject. Did you think about the ball? I’ve asked Harry – he’s said he’ll go.”

  “Oh, yes. Okay. If Harry’s going, I suppose I’ll go.”

  “Oh, thanks a million!”

  “Ha! Sorry, but you know what I mean. I’m not just going to go with a pile of boring old vets!”

  “Boring old vets – Tara’ll be delighted with that description. Anyhow, what about Dawn – did you ask her?”

  “Not yet, but something tells me that’d be far too many happy couples in one room for poor Dawn right now.”

  “Well, happy couples and you and me.” He smirked.

  “And Tara.”

  “Oh yes, I forgot about Tara.”

  Like really.

  “And don’t forget Harry!” I added coyly in revenge.

  “Oh yeah, how could I forget Harry?”

  “Now, now – no nastiness – hang on – shhh!” I hissed, peeping yet again out the window. I grabbed his arm. “Look, the car is leaving. Way to go, Dawn! Not letting him stay the night!”

  “Show me, move over!” He jostled me for position at the curtain.

  “Hey! Aren’t boring vets above peeking out behind curtains?” I teased him.

  “It’s the boring ones you’d want to watch,” he whispered as we watched Graham’s car slowly leave the estate.

  By the time it had disappeared from view, I was hopping so excitedly from one foot to the other that Mark said, “Look, Holly, do you want to call up there?”

  “What about the hot chocolate?” I almost didn’t want to leave the Fielding Christmas extravaganza.

  “I think I can manage.”

  “Well, I suppose I could bring Daniel home – do you mind? I won’t be long!”

  “Yes, it’s okay. I’ll put our children to bed then, will I?” Too late he realised what he said, and blushed. “By ‘our’ I mean the children of this house, obviously.”

  “Of course,” I said solemnly, mimicking his usual response, “and if you do that little thing for me, I just might have a surprise for you tomorrow.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a surprise!” I teased. “Anyhow, it mightn’t work out so I can’t tell you now . . .”

  “Right. Well, go on, but I’ll be expecting an update when you get back. God be with the days when the whole housing estate could be murdering each other and I wouldn’t know.”

  Within four minutes I was ringing Dawn’s doorbell, a sleeping Daniel in his buggy beside me.

  “Oh, Holly! That was quick. How did you know he was – oh, you were watching out the window! I should have known.”

  I studied her face carefully. She definitely looked better than she had that morning.

  “So, what happened?” I asked, pushing past her with the buggy. “Should I put the kettle on?”

  “Listen to you! You’re getting more Irish every day.”

  “Dawn. I am Irish. Now get to the point. I’m assuming as he didn’t stay that it didn’t go too well?”

  “Give me some credit. I was never letting him stay tonight. What do you take me for?” Dawn looked at me in horror as she put the teabags in the pot. He’s gone to his mother’s. My idea.”

  “His mother’s? Oh you cruel woman!”

  “Well, I’m not having him dossing down in some hotel with God-knows-who while I figure out what to do next! Joan will be disgusted with him, so it won’t do any harm to have her know exactly what’s going on.”

  “Oh Dawn, you are a way tougher woman than I gave you credit for!”

  “Holly, this is really, really serious. We might not ever recover from this. Do you know what? He blames my obsession with trying to get pregnant, says it was all I ever talked about, that I never spoke to him anymore. You know, Holly, when we first met I was all about my career. I was even above him in the bank pecking-order. He probably thinks I’ve let myself go or whatever crappy phrase they use for the mothers of young children now. And yes, I could have gone back to work, put Daniel in a crèche but we agreed – we agreed that that wasn’t what we were going to do. I thought he liked coming home to us, that he liked the fact that his dinner was made and that I wasn’t arriving home, later than him, stressed to the nines with a cranky child. Clearly he changed his mind on all that – seems we’re not enough at all.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t quite the standard my-wife-doesn’t-understand-me line but not that original all the same. “What do you think? Could he have had a point? About the all-consuming motherhood bit, I mean?”

  “Well, it was kind of all-consuming, but hardly a reason to go shagging somebody else. I mean, Daniel is his too – we didn’t have him just for me! Look, Holly, I know I might come across as some kind of Stepford Wife and that the highlight of my day is serving dinner to my husband with a pretty bow in my hair, but I don’t do things by halves. I gave up work to have Daniel and to look after him and the house, and that’s what I do. When I worked, that was what mattered. No point in half-doing things.”

  I looked at the determined set of her jaw and suddenly felt a new kind of respect for Dawn, while also remembering guiltily how I’d mocked her housewife-iness when we’d first met. Turns out she was more of an achiever than me when all was said and done.

  “So what are you going to do now?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I really don’t. I just wish it hadn’t happened at all. To think that forty-eight hours ago I was planning another baby!”

  With that she burst into tears and I dashed to hug her.

  “Dawn, I’m so sorry, but it will be fine and I’m sure he feels just as rotten.”

  “I hope his mother kills him!” she managed between sobs.

  “At least you haven’t promised your boss you’d go to a ball with him on Friday night,” I said in an attempt to distract her.

  It worked.

  “You what?” she cried. “Run that by me again!”

  “Now calm down – it’s some table Mark’s boss is putting together and Harry is coming too. He actually suggested you come too, and maybe you should. It would be a distraction and might make that husband of yours a bit jealous!”

  “Don’t change the subject! I can’t believe you’re going to a ball with Mark Fielding and you’re only telling me now!”

  “Now hold on, the whole clinic is going, and I really think he only asked me and Harry to cheer me up.”

  I winced but it was too late.

  “Cheer you up? About what?”

  “Oh, you know,” I tried frantically to think of something, “I hated seeing you so upset and I just got a bit weepy, I suppose.”

  “Ah Holly, you’re such a sweetie.” Dawn patted my arm. “But hang on! You cried, to Mark? And now you think he wants to cheer you up? Whatever happened to you two hating each other?”

  “We never hated each other! Well, okay, we did, but we’ve called a truce now.”

  “Is that what they’re calling it these days? And what does the dishy Oliver think about this ball?”

  She had me there.

  I hadn’t told him and, to be honest, I wasn’t planning to. He was to be away for most of the week so I wouldn’t be seeing him until the following week, by which time he’d know about the promotions and we’d be finalising our plans.

  “I haven’t tol
d him. There’s no need – it’s just a kind of Christmas party and he’d have no interest. I’m not even sure I do!”

  “Well, what are you going to wear? Do you have anything suitable? Do you want to go shopping? I’ll go with you. What are you going to do with your hair? Oh Holly, this is so exciting, are you excited? Why are you not excited?” Dawn, in typical Dawn fashion, was all ready to forget her own problems and instantly put my needs to the fore.

  “I don’t know what I’m wearing! I hadn’t thought about it. I suppose I’ll have to get something as I’ve nothing with me. Do you really have any interest in going shopping with me?”

  “Oh yes! Beats hanging around here, thinking about my marriage going down the tubes!”

  “Oh, Dawn. It might not –”

  “Stop!” Dawn held up her hand. “I literally can’t think about it anymore. Now let’s make a plan for some serious dress-shopping. How about tomorrow? Do you want to go to town? Should we get the bus, the train – oh feck, what’ll we do with the kids?”

  “Hey, hey, slow down – we’re not going shopping tomorrow – I’ve something else lined up for us. Now, tell me again – what bank did you work for?”

  Chapter 47

  “Explain to me again why exactly I’m sitting in a car with you, driving around in circles in the middle of nowhere?” Dawn could keep quiet no longer.

  “Because you’re my friend and you needed distracting. Anyway, your presence is vital to my plan.”

  “Aha! This famous plan again. When do I get to hear what exactly it involves?”

  “Soon, Dawn, soon. I promise.” I peered out the driver’s window. “Now exactly what direction would you think that signpost is meant to be pointing?”

  It was nine thirty in the morning and we were definitely lost. In typical Irish manner, the signposting was terrible and I really had no idea where we were. What was worse was that the two children strapped into their car seats in the back were starting to get restless. I looked at the hastily scrawled directions again. I knew that the address we were looking for was less than a mile from the town, so I turned the car and headed back towards Maynooth along a different country road.

  And then, about two hundred yards down the road ahead, I spotted exactly what I was looking for.

  Two large – like really large – gold eagles, spreading their huge wings atop two grandiose pillars.

  “This is it!” I said excitedly as we drove towards them.

  “How do you know? I can’t read any name from here.”

  “Oh, trust me, I know.”

  We drove on until we reached the entrance and sure enough, there was a big brass plaque embedded into the wall with a name etched in large flowing letters: Trafford Stud.

  Bingo!

  The giant gates were closed, so I got out of the car and looked for the buzzer. Pressing it, I waited.

  “Hello?” came a tinny female voice.

  “Delivery.” I was chancing my arm but to my delight the gates started to creak open.

  “That was easy,” I said to an open-mouthed Dawn as I hopped back into the car.

  “Okay,” Dawn could take the suspense no longer, “before we go any further I want to know exactly what’s going on.”

  I quickly filled her in as we crunched along the gravel driveway. When we came to a fork I chose to keep right and we eventually pulled up to the front door of a huge ostentatious house.

  I took a deep breath.

  “Stay here pet, I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Good luck!” she hissed.

  I walked up the three marble steps to the front door. I gingerly pressed the doorbell which was embedded in a giant brass gargoyle.

  After a minute the door was opened by a small, squat blonde lady. She was heavily made up and dripping in expensive-looking jewellery.

  “Yes?” she asked, in an attempt at a posh Dublin accent.

  “I’m from Raven’s Hill Veterinary. I’m here to collect a cheque,” I said calmly.

  “Is he expecting you?”She looked at me warily.

  “Well, he’s expecting someone . . .”

  “Wait here,” she said eventually, closing the door in my face.

  I waited, and after a few minutes could hear a heavier footstep approach the door. Then it opened.

  And there he was. All five foot two of him.

  “Mr Baron,” I said politely, “how lovely to meet you again.”

  “What the fuck?” he spluttered. “Dorry said you were from the fuckin’ vets?”

  “Oh, but I am. That’s what I do now, Mr Baron. Debt collection.”

  “You fuckin’ wha’?” His eyes narrowed into two tiny slits.

  But this horrible little man didn’t scare me. In fact, as I looked at him, I could feel a massive surge of anger and resentment rise within me.

  It’s all your fault, you despicable little shit!

  Everything was fine until you had me fired.

  Narrowing my own eyes, I took a step towards him.

  “So if you could just give me that cheque, I’ll be off.”

  “I’m giving you nothing,” he spat. “I’ll tell you what I told that prick Fielding – there’s a recession and I’ve no fucking money to give him.”

  “Ah, but I think we both know that’s not true, don’t we, Mr Baron?”

  “You just get back in your car, and fuck off to wherever you came from. I’ll put a cheque in the post when I’m good and ready.”

  “I’d like it today please, Mr Baron.”

  “Well, you’re not fucking getting it today!” he roared before slamming the door in my face.

  I flinched at the force of the slammed door, but it was nothing worse than I’d expected.

  “Time for plan B?” asked Dawn when I got back to the car.

  “Yep,” I answered resolutely, switching on the engine.

  We drove back down the gravel drive.

  “So how long would you think this will take?” asked Dawn.

  “I really don’t know.” I was winging this bit. “But I suggest it’s time we settle down and make ourselves comfortable.”

  Less than twenty minutes later we heard the first crunch of an approaching car on the gravel driveway.

  “Here goes!” I took a deep breath.

  I knew it was him as soon as I saw the flashy red sports car approach us.

  And stop.

  He had to stop because we were parked across the gateway, just under the two giant gold eagles.

  The horn sounded straight away.

  “Don’t even look up,” I hissed, head deep in my magazine.

  “Oh Holly, I’m terrified.”

  “Shhh – he’s coming!”

  “Get the fuck out of my way!” Ger Baron roared as he approached our car.

  I rolled my window down an inch.

  “No,” I answered politely. “We’ll move when you give me what we came for.”

  He threw his head back with laughter, but it was laughter tinged with fury. “You’ll be here for a while so.”

  “I think you’ll find we’re prepared for that, Mr Baron.”

  He looked into the car and I could see his eyes widen as he took in a sleeping Daniel, Amber happily watching Barney on a portable DVD player, and myself and Dawn with a pile of magazines, two flasks and a selection of bars of chocolate.

  “We’re very prepared. In fact, we’re enjoying ourselves so much we really feel we could be here for the long haul. But as soon as we get that cheque, I suppose we’ll have to be off.” I smiled sweetly, before rolling my window back up and returning to my magazine.

  Afraid to look up, I almost winced as I heard him roar outside the window.

  “What if he breaks the window?” Dawn hissed again.

  “He won’t. I promise.”

  God, I hoped he wouldn’t. To my relief, after a minute of ranting, he got back into his car and turned it in a hail of gravel.

  We heaved a collective sigh of relief.

  “What
if he calls the police?” asked Dawn.

  “Again, I don’t think he will. But if he does, then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. The bigger problem will be if we run out of Barney DVDs . . .” I gestured to Amber in the back seat and Dawn laughed.

  “You said it!” she grinned.

  An hour later we were still there. I was starting to wonder what to do next when a big truck pulled off the main road and stopped when it saw we were blocking the way in.

  A huge truck driver got out of the cab.

  “What’s going on?” he asked when I rolled down my window.

  “I’m sorry – you’ll have to come back. We can’t move.” I prayed he wasn’t going to get angry.

  “Ye whah?”

  “We can’t move.”

  “Are you broke down?”

  I took a deep breath. “No. No, we’re not broken down. And I’m really sorry, you obviously need to get in here, but, well, I’m not moving.”

  “Why not?”

  “You’ll have to ask Mr Baron that.”

  “Tell him!” hissed Dawn beside me.

  “I can’t,” I hissed back. “That would be slander or something – we can’t afford a lawsuit!”

  The giant trucker scratched his head and then returned to his truck where I could see him take out his phone.

  Within minutes there was a screech of tires and the little red car zoomed back into view.

  “Move that fucking car!”

  I could hear the angry words clearly through my closed window.

  I rolled the window down an inch.

  “You know what I need before I can do that, Mr Baron.”

  “I said move that car!”

  “And I said no.”

  Eyeball to eyeball we glared at each other, each forgetting everyone else present. It was like the last six weeks had never happened.

  “You were always a fucking bitch!” he spat.

  “And you were always a lying, scheming excuse for a fraudster,” I spat back.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

  I really hoped Amber was still immersed in her DVD. It was bad enough that Dawn was shaking like a leaf beside me.

  “No, you’re not, Mr Baron. You’re going to get your chequebook and pay those two lovely men for the months of hard work they put into your horses.” I looked at the fields beside the driveway. “I’m assuming the foals they saved are in those fields, foals you wouldn’t have today if it wasn’t for the Raven’s Hill Veterinary team. For once, Mr Baron, do the decent thing.”