Tess’s plan backfired big time. Just as she and Louis were sitting down to a lunch of toasted cheese sandwiches, they heard a car speed into the yard and brake hard as if it had been travelling a little too fast. The two of them looked at each other.
‘Uh-oh.’ Louis put his sandwich down, his face going pale. ‘Shit. I should have known Mum wouldn’t wait patiently by the phone.’
Tess reached across the table and gave his hand a squeeze. ‘Just stand up to her. You’re old enough to decide about your own life. I’m not rich, but you can always stay with me if you need to. And if you decide to do that course you were talking about this morning, you can apply for a student loan. Okay?’
Louis nodded and she saw his mouth tighten with determination. He’d apparently been up early and had already looked into degree courses in gardening. There were a couple of possibilities if he got his skates on and applied soon, so they’d been discussing his options over breakfast. A proper qualification seemed the best way, even if it might mean the odd essay or two.
‘I can always help you with those,’ Tess had said. ‘If you just email them to me I’ll check for typos. No big deal.’
The kitchen door was thrown open now and Rosie stormed in without knocking, followed more slowly by George. Rosie’s face was twisted with fury, while her husband merely looked resigned. He raised a hand in greeting and opened his mouth to say something, but Rosie didn’t give him a chance. She launched into speech immediately.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing, filling my son’s head with stupid ideas and encouraging him to play truant? Let me tell you, you have absolutely no say in Louis’s upbringing and I’ll thank you to keep your nose out of our business.’
This tirade had, of course, been directed at Tess, who didn’t even bother to reply. Better to allow Rosie to let off some steam first. The woman turned on her son next.
‘And as for you, what do you mean by behaving in this way? We pay an awful lot of money to that school and you can’t just up and leave when you feel like it! I’ll be calling the headmaster later to find out why they are allowing their students to disappear without informing their parents. And you’re coming home with us now. Go and get your things, please.’
Louis stood up. ‘Actually, I’m not, so you’ve had a wasted journey. I’ve finished my exams and I have leave. I told the school where I was going, so don’t blame them. Unlike you, they consider Tess an adult who it’s okay for me to stay with.’
‘How dare you speak to me like that? You are grounded for the rest of the summer. And you can forget about those driving lessons we promised you and—’
George held up a hand to interrupt his wife. ‘Rosie, darling, perhaps we should sit down and let Louis speak?’
‘I’m not sitting at the same table as this … this traitor!’ Rosie glared at Tess, who raised her eyebrows at her sister-in-law.
‘Excuse me? Are you saying you’d rather I’d have thrown your son out, late at night and possibly with no money to go anywhere else?’
‘Tess is right, darling.’ George put a hand on Rosie’s arm. ‘As I told you in the car, let’s be sensible about this and find out what’s going on before jumping to conclusions.’
Rosie shook off his hand. ‘Don’t you “darling” me. Why are you taking her side? This is our son we’re talking about. He’s nothing to do with Therese.’
‘Hello? Could we get back to the point here?’ Louis raised his voice and Tess inwardly applauded him. Good, he was standing up for himself.
‘Which is that we’re leaving now. Therese doesn’t need to be part of this discussion.’ Rosie’s mouth set into a mulish line, but Louis matched her for once and didn’t move.
‘I told you, I’m not going anywhere. If you’d just listen for five seconds, I’ll tell you my plans.’
‘Your “plan” is to go back to school until term ends and then—’
‘Rosie! Let Louis speak, for God’s sake.’ Tess had had enough of the histrionics.
Rosie gave her a dirty look, but said, ‘Go on then,’ to Louis, rather ungraciously.
So Louis told his parents he was determined to study horticulture or landscape and garden design, and that he’d been looking into suitable courses. ‘I’m not studying accountancy, whatever you say. It’s boring and I don’t want to spend my life stuck in an office. And I’m going to help Bryn in the garden here all summer. He’s the best teacher ever and it’s good practice.’
‘No,’ Rosie said. ‘This is ridiculous. Gardening isn’t a proper job. You think we’ve spent all that money on your education just so you can fritter away your life pottering around with plants like some … some labourer? Think again. You’ll need a well-paid job in order to afford all the maintenance on this house when it becomes yours one day.’
‘You haven’t bought it yet. And stop going on about how much money you’ve spent on my school,’ Louis snarled. ‘That was your choice and fat lot of good it did me, eh? I still can’t spell and I’m going to get crappy grades in my A-levels.’
Rosie looked to her husband for support. ‘George? Say something! You’re the one who’s always going on about how expensive the school fees are.’
George shrugged. ‘Actually, it sounds to me as though Louis has thought this through and he’s right, it’s his life. It’s not like he’s saying he’s going to become a traveller or something.’
‘Well, if that’s all the support you’re going to give me, I could have come by myself. Thanks a million.’ Rosie sent George a death glare, but he ignored it.
‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I have a meeting this afternoon I need to get to and you’ve seen for yourself that Louis is fine.’ He turned to his son. ‘We’ll see you at the end of term celebrations. You’ll return for that, won’t you?’
Louis nodded. ‘Of course. Thanks, Dad.’
‘I’m not leaving him here.’ Rosie crossed her arms over her chest. ‘Therese is filling his head with a lot of rubbish.’
‘I am not,’ Tess stated firmly, glaring at Rosie until the woman looked away.
‘Mum, I’m not a moron,’ Louis added. ‘I can think for myself, you know. The only thing Tess has done is treat me like an adult. It would be nice if you could do the same.’
‘Well, really!’ Rosie looked like she’d swallowed a lime, whole.
George took her arm and steered her towards the door. ‘Let it go, Rose. Accept defeat, for once in your life, and think about something other than what you want.’
‘Bastard!’ Rosie hissed, but she preceded him out of the door, leaving without saying goodbye to either Tess or Louis. Tess didn’t envy George the journey back to London.
When the door had slammed shut behind them, Tess and Louis looked at each other and both let out a sigh of relief. Then Tess held up her hand for a high five. ‘Go you!’ she said. ‘Well done for staying cool.’
Louis smiled and high-fived her back. ‘And you.’
They both burst out laughing, giddy with relief. They’d won that battle.
Raglan Castle, 12th June 1646
Arabella didn’t see Glyn the next day and thought she could probably avoid meeting him by the simple expedient of never venturing into the Stone Court. The soldiers weren’t allowed in the other quadrangle unless they were on duty in one of the towers on that side, so all she had to do was make sure she looked carefully before going outside. That way, if he was crossing the Fountain Court on his way to a post, she would see him and could wait until he was safely out of the way.
She’d forgotten about the pantry. This was situated at one end of the Great Hall and towards evening she was sent there to fetch some wine for Lady Margaret. Just inside the door, she almost cannoned straight into Glyn, who was standing with a tankard of ale in one hand. He was with another soldier, but grabbed her arm as if to steady her, then bent to hiss, ‘Don’t think you can avoid me forever. I’ll find you, I promise.’
‘Just leave me be.’ She wrenched her arm away from his grip and
because the other man was watching he let go. But the smirk on his face told her he hadn’t given up, quite the opposite. Her avoidance tactics would just make him more eager to find her, but what else could she do?
Unfortunately, she didn’t see Rhys either, except in the distance. He hadn’t come near her in the chapel that morning and the few times she’d caught his eye he was scowling at her something fierce. She could only surmise that he had the wrong idea about her and Glyn. Admittedly, they had been standing very close to each other, with Glyn trying to kiss her, but why hadn’t Rhys noticed that she wasn’t willing?
A lover’s tiff, he’d called it, and that was obviously what he thought. It made her both furious and downcast at the same time. She wanted to explain to him, but if he wouldn’t even give her the benefit of the doubt and talk to her, how could she? Honestly, men were so obtuse sometimes.
All the men were kept busy though and she felt guilty for thinking of herself when all the castle’s inhabitants were in such dire straits. The garrison made several sallies a day against the troops camped outside, with cavalrymen such as Rhys leading the way, and the besiegers had to fight hard to force them back into the castle. But their cannon continued their onslaught on the castle’s walls and the formerly neat Fountain Court was now strewn with debris – stone, mortar, glass and bits of lead. Arabella tried not to jump every time she heard a bang, but it was hard not to.
‘Are the sallies having any impact on the enemy numbers at all?’ Arabella ventured to ask the chaplain, who was a great friend of the marquis and therefore knew all about what was going on.
He shook his head. ‘Not enough, I’m afraid. There are just too many of them and much as I’m loath to admit it, Colonel Morgan is an able leader.’
‘I heard tell a command arrived from the king yesterday.’ There had been much talk and rumour about it throughout the castle, but Arabella wanted to know the truth and the chaplain could be trusted to give her that.
‘Yes, well, it was a message purporting to come from His Majesty, asking any remaining garrisons to lay down their arms, but Lord Worcester refused. After all, how do we know it wasn’t just a ruse on the part of the enemy?’
From what Arabella had gleaned, Raglan was one of the last places to hold out so she thought it entirely possible that such a command could be genuine. After all, the king was in no position to do anything other than surrender, being a prisoner himself. But she couldn’t help but admire the marquis for his staunch support of the monarch. He’d decided on his allegiance and he was going to stand by it, come what may. That was true honour, wasn’t it? Or just sheer stubbornness in the face of insurmountable odds?
She peeked out of the windows occasionally when she was with Lady Margaret, as that room had views over the Leaguer Fields where the enemy had set up their camp. It seemed to her their numbers were swelling, rather than lessening, and her hope dwindled with it. Still, Lord Worcester had been kind to her and she owed it to him to try and be as courageous as he was. As long as he refused to surrender, she would support him in any way she could. She could only hope that God would protect them all somehow.
Chapter Twenty-One
Home Farm, 13th June 2016
‘Either of you guys want to come and help shear sheep?’
Josh came into the kitchen on the Sunday night, asking this strange question, and Tess just stared at him. ‘What?’
‘I’ve promised to help Fred Williams up at Home Farm and I’m sure he could do with a few more pairs of hands if you’re interested.’
Tess wondered if Josh was winding them up, but he didn’t look like he was joking.
‘I’ll have a go!’ Louis was all for it, smiling at Josh.
Tess wasn’t so sure. ‘I doubt I’ll be of much use, but sure, we can come. How do you know Fred?’ She’d only met him herself a couple of times, mostly when he came to pay Giles for grazing.
‘Bryn introduced us down the pub. Anyway, all good, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Come over any time after seven.’
Tess and Louis agreed that seven was a bit too early for any sane person, so they bumped down the lane to the Home Farm at just before nine. They parked in the yard and made their way towards the huge barns as a lot of noise was coming from that direction. In between two buildings, under a roof, a makeshift shearing station had been set up, with stacks of hay either side and several small pens in the middle. There was one set of electric shears on a metallic arm on either side of the smallest pen, and six or seven sheep were crammed into it waiting their turn to be shorn. They were bleating incessantly, some clearly worried while others were taking it all in their stride. Tess soon gathered the animals had to be tightly confined so they wouldn’t jump out. The whole area was strewn with little bits of wool and there was dust flying around.
At first, no one noticed their arrival so Tess and Louis stopped to watch the proceedings. Josh and another man were doing the shearing, while Fred seemed to be herding more sheep towards the central pens with the help of two sheepdogs. The dogs had big grins on their faces as if they were really enjoying their task.
Tess couldn’t take her eyes off Josh. He was quite clearly an expert at this and in his element. Grabbing a sheep from inside the pen, he brought it out and more or less turned it over, clamping it against his legs, belly up. The sheep’s bottom was still on the floor and its head just above Josh’s knees. It seemed docile enough as Josh took hold of the shearing device and started under its chin, working his way down the stomach, but Tess guessed it probably took quite a lot of strength to keep the animal in place. As she watched, he continued with the inside of the back legs, then the outside up towards the animal’s backside before going back to the head, front legs, round the shoulders and along the back down to the other side. Working in quick, sweeping motions, Josh soon had the whole body clear of wool and finished off around the sheep’s neck and face. The entire task took less than two minutes, probably more like a minute and a half, the fleece coming off neatly all in one piece.
Tess was astonished and must have let out a noise of some sort, as Josh looked up and spotted them. He let go of the shorn sheep and it took off, doing little leaps like a gazelle, either for joy or in fright, Tess wasn’t sure which. It joined other equally naked-looking animals that were milling around. Josh smiled. His handsome face was, as always, covered in stubble, his green eyes shining as though he was truly enjoying himself. Tess couldn’t help but admire the confident way he moved, comfortable in his own skin, so sure of his abilities here but totally without the need to be cocky about it. It was incredibly sexy, that innate self-confidence, and warmth flooded her entire being as he came towards them. She hoped it didn’t show on her face.
‘Ah, the new recruits have arrived. Fred, want to put Tess and Louis to work?’
Fred, who’d just finished pushing more sheep into the middle pen, came over, giving them an assessing glance as if he wasn’t sure Josh was serious. He took in their attire – jeans, wellies and old T-shirts – and they must have passed muster. ‘Sure, we can always do with an extra pair of hands. Er, would you mind folding up the fleeces and putting them in those bags over there?’ he said to Tess, indicating a pile of enormous white bags that were slowly being filled with wool. ‘Here, I’ll show you.’ He seemed slightly embarrassed, as if it was somehow not right to ask the lady of the manor to do something so menial, but Tess gave him a big smile and followed his lead.
‘No problem.’
The fleeces turned out to be quite heavy and extremely oily.
‘Lanolin,’ Fred said. ‘You get used to it.’
There was a table at one end of the pens and he showed Tess how to put the fleece on there and fold it into a tight bundle. It was dirty on the outside, clean on the inside, and not at all smelly, contrary to what Tess had expected. The bundle was stuffed into a sack and once this was full, it had to be sewn together with a large needle and twine. ‘Rough stitches are fine,’ Fred instructed, demonstrating on the nearest one, before
turning to Louis.
‘Can you help me herd more sheep towards the pens, please? The older ones know what to expect, but the young ones get a bit panicky.’
‘Sure.’ Louis was soon hard at work chasing sheep, trying to get them to go in the right direction.
They were all working together as a team. It felt good. No, better than good. For the first time in ages, Tess was doing something really useful and she realised she’d missed that. Being a housewife had never been her ambition and she’d hoped to develop her business further in time. Giles, however, had wanted her just to raise their children and perhaps have the furniture painting as a small hobby. She knew now that would never have worked out for her.
The hours flew by and Tess was surprised when Fred’s wife, Mair, came to tell them it was lunchtime. The woman did a double take when she caught sight of Tess and Louis, but smiled when she noticed what they were doing. ‘How lovely,’ she said in her beautiful Welsh accent. ‘Everything goes so much faster with more helpers. Come and have a bite to eat.’
‘I’m sure you hadn’t reckoned on having to feed us all,’ Tess protested. ‘Louis and I can go home and have lunch, then come back later.’
‘Rubbish! There’s plenty for everyone.’ Mair beckoned for them to follow her, and soon the six of them were seated at a long wooden table in the farmhouse garden. The weather continued warm, but with a cooling breeze that was particularly welcome after the hard work. ‘Help yourselves, everyone. I’ll just get some more plates and cutlery.’
Mair had set out what appeared to be a veritable feast on the table – quiche, potato salad, bread, cheese and cold meats. And huge jugs of beer and lemonade. Josh slid onto the bench next to Tess and offered to pour her some beer.
‘Thanks, but I think I prefer lemonade. Better when you’re thirsty.’ She helped herself.
The Velvet Cloak of Moonlight Page 19