Foster's Mill by Val Wood

Author:Val Wood [Wood, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781529948684
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2024-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Chris put his foot down hard on the accelerator and drove out of the village. He speeded on for another mile and then braked. He’d seen the look in her eyes, a plaintive, childlike appeal which he’d deliberately ignored. She wasn’t a child!

Oh, damn it. Should I go back? No, damn it, I won’t. She’s got what she wanted. The only thing she wanted. The blasted mill and the cliffs, that’s all she’s interested in. She’s obsessed!

Well, she’s got the mill now, or will have, and heaven help the Reedbarrows – and the Ministry of the Environment if the erosion appeal gets as far as them! She’s like a Yorkshire terrier with a bone, she won’t let go once she’s got her teeth in something.

He started up again and drove on slowly, mulling over an idea, and then, peering into the darkness, he started looking for somewhere to turn round.

He found a gated entrance to a field and reversed into it; he felt the soft mud slipping beneath his wheels and held his breath, praying he wouldn’t get bogged down. To his relief, the wheels held firm and he drove back into the village, braked briefly when he reached the Ship, and then drove on towards Dot’s.

He knocked on the door and waited, listening to the monotonous beating of the surf on the cliffs. Dot too was vulnerable, living here in her bungalow facing the sea, even though she had a long garden between the house and the cliff edge.

‘It’s Chris,’ he called as she lifted a curtain to see who was there.

‘I’m doing well for company tonight,’ she said, opening the door. ‘Perhaps I should stay home more often! Come in.’

‘You get plenty of company at the Ship, don’t you?’

‘Oh yes, but it’s not ’same as at home, is it? When people call here, I know they’ve come to see me; at ’Ship they’re there for a night out.’

She switched off the television set and sat down in a fireside chair, motioning him to sit opposite her.

‘Am I disturbing you? Were you watching something?’

‘No. I’d only switched it on for the news, but I’d missed it anyway. So what happened? Did Gilbert talk to Liz?’

He stretched his hands towards the fire. ‘Yes. Yes, she’s got her heart’s desire. All she needs now is to get the tenants out, get a wall built, and there’s one deliriously happy lady.’

‘And one miserable man? What’s bugging you?’

He shrugged, but didn’t answer.

‘Come on, you’d better tell Aunty Dot and get it off your chest.’

‘I can’t understand,’ he said heatedly. ‘I can’t understand why her father didn’t tell her before! Why did he keep her waiting all this time?’

‘But that isn’t what’s bothering you – you’re not mad at Gilbert.’ She gazed at him with frank open eyes, forcing him to look at her.

‘No.’ He got up and walked about the small sitting room. Absently he picked up an ornament on the sideboard, looked at it and then put it back again. ‘No, I’m not.

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