Beth’s eyebrows flew so far up they almost disappeared into her hair then. ‘Blimey,’ she said, her years spent living in London making a reappearance.
‘I know,’ I agreed. ‘You were right about him all along. We can’t let him take over Hilltop and threaten our way of life. Especially not now when I know he’s only here because of me. I don’t want him in my life anymore.’
‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.
I hated being lied to. Dad was right – Stewart was manipulative. He had been all along. Trying to make me come and work with him because he knew I wanted to protect the farm, using that as a way to try to get me back. But why?
He hadn’t tried to fight for me all those years ago. Why now? Was it just because I was happy with someone else, and he couldn’t stand that? Well, there was no way I was going to let him destroy what I had now. ‘I’m going to make sure he doesn’t get what he wants,’ I promised Beth fiercely. ‘First things first, we need to ring your mum.’
* * *
Beth came with me to the vicarage where we sat around the table with Emily, Brodie and my dad, with Harry perched on my lap, over tea and cake to discuss the situation. Emily firmly believed that tea and cake could help in all situations, and I wasn’t about to disagree with her. The sky had darkened as the afternoon drew on so they switched on the Christmas lights. I filled them in on what I had learned from Rachel.
‘I never trusted him,’ Dad said with a shake of his head. ‘Far too charming for my liking. It never felt genuine. But I honestly didn’t think he’d stoop to these levels.’
‘Me neither. Especially because I haven’t heard from him in five years!’
‘He obviously can’t bear to see you happy,’ Beth said. ‘What a dick.’
‘Auntie Beth, I’m shocked,’ I said with a smile as I handed Harry a piece of my muffin. ‘But, seriously, have we got any hope of stopping this development? I wonder what the council are thinking about it. It will disrupt the countryside, won’t it? And Stewart himself told me he was planning to bring in a team from Edinburgh to work on it so there won’t be any local jobs created.’
‘You stopped them from selling off the High Street, they did the right thing with that,’ Brodie said.
‘But that’s because we had something else to offer instead,’ I said with a sigh. ‘And Hilltop has been empty for two years.’
‘How much will it disrupt your farm?’ Emily asked.
‘Currently, Stewart is planning for the golf course to border our farm. It turns out, we don’t own the land in the lower field like we thought. If we did then he’d have to move the golf course further away, and the hotel itself too, but all the plans say that it belongs to Hilltop.’ I sighed, resigned. There didn’t seem like any easy way to hold Stewart back from Hilltop, or from invading our lives.
‘I know who would know what we should do,’ my dad said then wistfully. When he saw me look at him, he continued, ‘Your mother knew so much about Glendale. And all that research she had been doing before…’ He trailed off, not wanting to finish the sentence. My mother had been a history teacher and she had a passion for local history. She had loved finding out as much as she could about Glendale. In fact, she was doing research to potentially write a book about it.
‘That’s it!’ I cried, putting my mug of tea down on the table so hard everyone jumped, and my half-eaten muffin fell over on the plate. Harry reached for it eagerly.
‘What?’ Beth asked, exchanging a confused look with Emily.
‘My mother’s research! She did so much, about the Hall, about the surrounding farms, the village, she must have something on Fraser and Hilltop Farms. Right, Dad?’ I looked at him, eagerly, hopefully. On her birthday, five years since she left us far, far too soon, perhaps she might still be able to help us through this.
‘It could be worth a look,’ he agreed. ‘It’s all up in the loft at home.’
‘I’ll dig it out. And once we have that, maybe I can find something that might prove that land is ours. Or something that might help us anyway.’
‘In the meantime, what will you do about Stewart?’ Beth asked.
I explained to the others that he’d asked me to work with him and would protect Fraser Farm if I accepted. ‘My worry is if I turn down his job offer, he will do all he can to disrupt our lives. Especially when he realises I’ll never leave Rory. In fact, he might have already started.’ I told them about the things that had been going wrong at the farm and how Angus and Rory wondered if they had been done deliberately. ‘I can’t believe someone could be that vindictive but after all his lies, I think we have to assume the worst of him.’
‘People like him definitely act out when they are denied what they want,’ Brodie said. ‘And it sounds like he very much wants you, Heather. But if that’s the case, would he really want to hurt you like this? Maybe you can appeal to his conscience, make him realise how much Fraser Farm means to you.’
I thought that maybe Brodie was too used to seeing the good in people but I nodded. ‘I can talk to him. The problem is I’m not sure anymore that he even has a conscience.’ Brodie was right though about Fraser Farm meaning everything to me, and that was enough to try anything at this point.
Even if I really didn’t want to have to see Stewart again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dad took Harry back home and I walked into the Glendale Arms to try to find Stewart. Malcolm, the landlord, was wiping glasses behind the bar. The pub was busier than usual for a Monday afternoon, people taking time off for Christmas already, I assumed. ‘Is Stewart around?’
‘In the corner,’ he said, gesturing to the back of the room. I made my way over to the table where Stewart was bent over paperwork with a coffee cup beside him. As I approached, I saw that he was talking on his phone.
He was wearing a suit, looking out of place in the cosy pub. I realised then why I kept thinking that whenever I saw him. It was because he didn’t belong in Glendale. But I did. And that thought spurred me onwards.
‘I know what I’m doing,’ he was saying when I moved into earshot. He sighed, frustrated. ‘Yes, I told you I would,’ he hissed down the phone. ‘Please would you just trust me, for once?’ He paused, listening. ‘Fine, I’ll conference you in. I said I would, okay? Talk to you later.’ He half threw his phone down on to the table, leaning back in the chair.
I wondered who had got him so riled up. His business partner maybe? The one who came scouting around Glendale with him. It certainly didn’t sound like they had a particularly good relationship to me. He looked up then and saw me, adjusting his expression quickly into a much calmer one. ‘This is a nice surprise.’
I slid into the empty chair opposite him before he could get up. I didn’t want him to touch me again. I had no idea where to start, and his hopeful expression wasn’t helping either. ‘Hotel planning?’ I asked, looking at the sheets of paper in front of him. I didn’t miss him sliding one paper underneath quickly although I tried not to show it.
‘I was. I have a meeting with the council later,’ he replied. I assumed that was the meeting his business partner wanted to be part of over the phone. ‘I’m trying to sort out as much as I can before Christmas.’ He looked at me. ‘So, I didn’t think you wanted to talk to me, you never phoned me back or replied to my text… I was worried.’
‘You shouldn’t have kissed me,’ I said, leaning forward and lowering my voice just in case, I was well accustomed to the Glendale gossip machine and I did not want that to become part of it.
‘I can’t apologise for wanting to kiss you. You know how much I’ve missed you, but I’m sorry if it upset you. I thought you wanted me to though.’
‘Why? You know I’m with Rory.’
‘But you’re not happy with him,’ he said, trying to reach for my hand.
I folded my arms on the table out of his touch. ‘That’s not true!’
‘Okay then, if you’re so happy with Rory then why aren’t the two of you married? Why ha
sn’t he asked you yet?’ Stewart asked, looking rather triumphant as he delivered what I assumed he imagined would be a fatal blow.
‘He has actually, and it’s none of your business why we’re not married, is it? You made me a job offer and I said I’d consider it, that’s it. I didn’t say I would consider getting back with you,’ I hissed. ‘Rory and I have a son together. You know that. We are a family.’
Stewart sighed. ‘Okay, okay, let’s park the issue of us then. Have you thought any more about the job? Whatever you say about you and Rory, I know you can’t enjoy being on that farm. God, you even lost power the other day. It’s so backward there. Like you’re living in the past.’
I resisted the urge to say the only one of us living in the past was him, not me. I wondered how I hadn’t noticed just how derogatory he was when he spoke about the farm, and Rory, and our life. I could hear the scorn inside his voice, see it in the curl of his lip. And it made me furious. ‘I have a couple of questions first…’ I propped myself up by my elbows on the table. ‘Why did you tell me that you didn’t know I lived on Fraser Farm when I know you did? Glendale is a small town, people talk, Stewart.’ I raised an eyebrow, waiting for his explanation.
‘Fine.’ He held his hands up. ‘Yes, I knew.’ He leaned forward, bringing us even closer. ‘As soon as I saw Hilltop for sale, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me to come here, and see you again. I knew you lived at Fraser Farm because I read that article. You remember? About how your friend had saved the shops in Glendale High Street. There was a photo of you and Rory outside of your farm shop. And I saw it in your eyes. That you had chosen the wrong life. I knew you’d never be happy with a farmer. I knew that you needed me.’
‘To do what? Save me?’ I asked him incredulously.
‘Yes! To help you save yourself. It’s a joke, Heather – you living on a farm with that scruffy cave man. Come on,’ he scoffed. ‘You belong somewhere so much better. You belong with a man like me.’ He looked so sure, so confident, that he knew me and what I wanted. How could I ever have been charmed by this arrogance, I wondered?
I tried to stay calm. ‘If you think I don’t belong with him then why build a hotel here, we’d both have to stay if you do?’
‘I know you wouldn’t want to leave your father. And that’s okay. We can stay in Inverness. Find a nice place while we work on it. We will make the hotel perfect, and then we’ll move on to something else.’ Stewart shrugged. ‘You are bigger and better than Glendale.’
‘It’s a lot to think about,’ I replied, my eyes glancing at the pile of papers in front of him. ‘I could do with a coffee.’
‘Me too. I’ll get us some,’ he agreed, getting up. I watched him walk towards the bar and couldn’t believe that I had thought my future belonged to him once.
When his back was turned, I lifted the papers and looked at what he hadn’t wanted me to see. It was a plan of his project, a large hotel and golf course as he had said. Scanning the layout, my eyes found the field he believed belonged to Hilltop Farm and I saw that he planned to build ten cottages there, up on the hill overlooking the hotel, priced at a premium no doubt as they looked like luxury spaces to stay. I shook my head. They would be right on the other side of the hill where our cows grazed, so close to our farm we would be able to see them from the house. There would need to be a huge fence between the two farms. The whole landscape would be disrupted. Surely the council wouldn’t approve these plans? I wasn’t sure I trusted them not to though.
I looked up as he returned with our coffees. ‘When were you going to tell me about these?’ I asked, jabbing the paper with my finger as he slid back into his chair.
Stewart sighed as if I was irritating. ‘It was just one idea. My partner’s idea. We haven’t put that in our application to the council, it was just something we were considering. Obviously, if you came on board we could forget all about the holiday cottages. I would persuade him too.’
There was that ultimatum again. If I didn’t work with him, he would do all he could to disrupt the farm and do whatever this partner of his wanted. ‘You’re unbelievable,’ I hissed, trying to keep my voice down still. I could feel Malcolm looking over at us interestedly. I didn’t want him to hear our conversation. ‘You really think by threatening me you’re making it at all desirable for me to come and work with you? Well, you’re mistaken. I wouldn’t want to be within six feet of this project now. I can’t believe how manipulative and arrogant you’ve become. Or perhaps you always were but I was too young and naïve to see it, too blinded by falling in love with you, I don’t know. But know this…’ I stood up and leaned over the table, as close as I could get to him. ‘You don’t know who I am now or you wouldn’t have tried to do this. This,’ I said, gesturing to the paperwork, ‘will never happen now. I will make sure of it.’
His eyes flashed with anger. ‘Really? And just how will you do that? You could never make a decision, Heather, always so anxious and worrying, always so pathetic you let me decide everything. You did everything I wanted you to because you can’t think, or do anything, for yourself. You want to fight over this, go ahead. Because I will enjoy watching you lose.’ He was snarling at me now, his face turning red. Obviously talking back to him wasn’t something he ever thought I would do. His words sliced through me like he was pressing a knife into my skin. He spoke aloud my biggest fears about the person I was, and he was enjoying hurting me. But I wasn’t going to let him. I was going to fight for my life. He underestimated me, that was clear. I had underestimated myself plenty over the years. But I had to believe in myself now. For all our sakes.
‘I feel sorry for you,’ I told him, trying to keep my voice from shaking. ‘You have no one who loves you or who you love, you’re bitter and lonely, and full of anger at the world, but the only person you should be angry with is yourself. For becoming the man I see in front of me today. I am so disappointed that someone I used to love could treat people like this. Treat me like this.’ He gaped at me, stunned by my words. And perhaps a little ashamed too? ‘But you’re mistaken if you think that I’m the same person I was back then. Because I’m not. And I’m going to show you exactly who I really am now.’ He opened his mouth to say something but I swung my bag over my shoulder and walked away. I heard him calling after me but I carried on, hurrying outside of the pub, looking up at the sky as it started to rain.
I started walking, not really knowing in which direction, my eyes filling up with hot tears. I turned around and walked towards my old childhood home. I needed to do everything I could to try to stop Stewart now and I hoped that my mum might have found something all those years ago in her local research that might help me. Rain fell down on me but I paid it no attention, I was too angry to care that my hair was plastering itself to my face.
My phone rang then. It was the landline over at Glendale Hall. ‘Hello?’
‘It’s Caroline,’ Beth’s mum answered. We had asked her to get on the phone with her contacts at the council, and find out what was happening with Stewart’s planning proposal over there. There wasn’t much Caroline couldn’t find out if she set her mind to it. ‘They emailed me over a copy of Stewart’s plans. It’s under a six-week consultation. As we thought, they believe that lower land belongs to Hilltop Farm, I’m afraid.’
‘Has he proposed to build anything on that field? Holiday cottages?’
‘Hang on…’ She returned to the phone a minute later. ‘Actually yes, I didn’t see that before, I’m sorry. There are buildings proposed up there, yes.’
‘The liar,’ I hissed down the phone. Why was I not surprised that he was still trying to manipulate me with his lies? ‘Okay, thank you. I’m going to collect my mum’s research and see if there’s anything we can use to stop this.’
‘Good luck, Heather.’
I was definitely going to be needing it.
Chapter Twenty-Six
My childhood home stood in a non-descript road a few minutes from Glendale village, a three-bed semi with
a small garden. It couldn’t be more different to the farm. Even though you could easily drive past it and never notice it, to me it would always be special. I parked outside and looked at it through the rain that was turning into sleet falling down outside of my car.
Even though I moved out two years ago, and spent three years away from it when I studied at university, it still felt like home to me. The front garden where I sat in summer playing with Barbie dolls, the garage where I stored my beloved blue bike, the small back bedroom which I filled to the brim with books, and the tree out back that I would sit under and read until my mum would call me in for dinner. It had never felt the same after my mother died though. It felt bigger and emptier and less warm somehow. Gone were the wild flowers she would always have in a vase in the hallway, gone was the smell of her vanilla perfume floating around, and the kitchen which always had the radio playing loudly, her singing along cheerfully, was silent now.
But the memories remained and whenever I walked through the door, they would come flooding back. I braced myself as I jumped out of the car and went in, using the key I had never wanted to give back. I didn’t want to dwell on melancholy thoughts, there was no time. I needed to get my mum’s things and go back to the farm and try to find something that would send Stewart away. Because I had no doubt that if his plans were approved by the council, he would become a fixture in Glendale and our lives, and one that would be toxic to us all.
My eyes found the picture on the hall table that had been there for my whole life – Mum and Dad on their wedding day. They’d got married at Gretna Green with just a couple of witnesses, on a summer’s afternoon, and I came along nine months later. Mum had my wild light brown hair and my hazel eyes. Sometimes when I saw a photograph of her at my age, we could almost be sisters. It was proving to be the same with Harry and Rory.
I thought of Rory as I went upstairs, he had worked so hard to keep his family business going when he lost his parents, he didn’t deserve to have it threatened in this way. Nor did Harry. This was his future, and I needed to protect it. But also, having it threatened by Stewart, had made me see that I too loved the land that we lived and worked on. I hadn’t realised that it had become part of me even if I had been scared of it, and still was. It was important to my family so it was important to me. Stewart couldn’t take that from me. I wouldn’t let him.
Hopeful Hearts at Glendale Hall Page 18