The Village Newcomers (Tales from Turnham Malpas) Read online

  Seated comfortably in one of Craddock’s sumptuous leather chairs with the door firmly closed, Peter asked him outright what he had done.

  Thinking Peter meant what he had done to make them disappear, Craddock told his part in the tale. ‘But, Peter, believe me, I have plans in hand for the destruction of this supposed golfing friend of mine. I had a lot of respect for Ford. He sized me up and told me what he thought of me. I’m not accustomed to that, and I had to admire him for it although he made the biggest gaffe by assuming Kate was my daughter, which annoyed me beyond belief.’ He grinned. ‘Was I mad! I raged about after they’d gone until Kate fell about laughing, and her laughing always makes me see sense.’

  ‘But what did Ford do to make them have to run away like this?’

  ‘Ah! Well, he was obviously involved in some sleight of hand to do with scrap metal. Very dodgy business, is scrap metal, difficult not to get caught up in theft and what-not. He made his fortune and retired quick to Turnham Malpas, but this so-called friend of mine began sniffing around. They’ve obviously panicked.’

  ‘He says he bears you no animosity at all; he believes you didn’t mean to ruin him.’

  ‘That’s generous of him. I didn’t mean it to go this far. Can I have his address?’

  Peter shook his head. ‘No. If you wish to write to him you’ll have to give the letter to me and I’ll address it and post it for you. He’s given me two thousand pounds to complete the youth club’s planned activities, and almost eight thousand pounds for the church. Amazing generosity.’

  Craddock toyed with his silver letter-opener for a moment and then said, ‘Tell him I’ve matched his contribution to the church, pound for pound.’ He snatched up a cheque book and wrote out the cheque there and then. ‘There we are. That decorating you want to press ahead with can be done now.’

  ‘You must understand I didn’t come begging.’

  ‘You never do. It would be beneath you. I give this cheque willingly. You see, I feel a little guilty that I influenced his decision to run. Kate almost scalped me for what I did and I can’t have that. I love her more than life itself. Daft thing for an old chap like me to be saying but I know it won’t go further than these four walls.’

  Peter stood up and reached across Craddock’s impressive desk to shake his hand. ‘You’re a kinder man than you seem. Like me you’re very much in love and it’s a splendid state of affairs for a man to be in.’

  With a wry smile on his thin, white face, Craddock replied, ‘Don’t you tell anyone. It wouldn’t do my image any good at all.’

  The businessman was back, and Peter took his leave. The following day Craddock put a sealed envelope through the Rectory letterbox, to be forwarded to Ford at his secret address, and that night he told Kate what he had done.

  ‘Remember Ford and how angry I was about him thinking you were my daughter and that I was retired and living in rented property?’

  Kate laughed. ‘Of course I do. I haven’t quite forgiven you even yet. Why do you ask me?’

  ‘I’ve done something about it. Written him a letter, today.’ He turned away and shook the ash from his cigar into the fire. ‘They’ve gone to a secret address known only to the Rector.’

  ‘Oh! Where?’

  ‘It wouldn’t be secret if we all knew, now would it?’ He grinned at her.

  ‘No, of course not. So what did you say in the letter? I hope it was full of apologies?’ Kate looked up at him from the rug where she was sitting beside her cats.

  ‘He’s forgiven me apparently, says I didn’t intentionally mean to hurt him and Merc by getting those damned scoundrels Nigel and Marcus to interrogate him and dig into his past.’

  ‘Peter told you that?’

  ‘Yes, it was in his letter.’

  ‘So what did you put in your letter?’

  Craddock walked across to the windows, drew back the curtains and stood staring out at the dark sky, wondering if he truly deserved to be forgiven.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘Truth?’

  ‘Of course. What else?’

  Craddock shuffled with embarrassment. Finally he muttered, ‘I’m buying his house for him, if he’ll let me.’

  ‘Buying Glebe House? Whatever for?’

  ‘Because I shall keep it for Ford and Merc so . . . when they want to come back they’ve somewhere of their own to go. I’ll rent it out in the meantime. Can’t have it standing idle not earning its keep, now can I? And what’s more, I’ve resigned my membership of the golf club. They’re a blasted lot of utter rogues there, and I’m having nothing more to do with them. Let’s face it - I never have enjoyed golf. Stupid game, really.’ Craddock turned to look at her at the moment she leapt to her feet. The cats scattered in shock at being so carelessly disturbed by their beloved owner, who apparently cared for nothing at that moment except Craddock Fitch.

  ‘Darling, I am thrilled. They were so right for the village, weren’t they?’

  ‘Rather more right than perhaps I shall ever be. I didn’t like the idea of them not being able to come back. Lovely people, and out of the same drawer as me, which was very pleasant.’ His arms slipped round Kate’s waist, and she kissed him and he kissed her.

  ‘All right now, Kate?’

  ‘Of course.’

  Chapter 22

  The next youth club outing was a weekend camping on the coast. There were ten of them, accompanied by Venetia and Kate, with Craddock in a nearby hotel as he couldn’t face the inconvenience of living in a tent. It proved to be a fantastic opportunity for Jake and Beth to get to know each other better, or so Beth imagined. What Jake didn’t know, until they were waiting for the minibus, was that Janey from Penny Fawcett had unexpectedly decided to go to even up the numbers - and that she was expecting to share a tent with Jake. Jake sat with Alex, feeling that was the easier though not the most exciting option.

  At the campsite Beth and Janey paired up, as the others had come along with their own friends and it seemed the sensible option. Alex and Jake were left to share. Beth wasn’t at all sure that she liked the idea of sharing a two-person tent with someone she only knew by sight. But she decided to make the best of it and appeared positive and cheerful about the arrangements. The campsite had excellent shower blocks and Venetia had brought along some marvellous top-of-the-range cooking equipment. All they needed now was good weather.

  They arrived on the Friday night and by the time the tents were set up and they’d been to the fish and chip shop for a takeaway supper, there was no time to go anywhere or do anything except sit round the campfire, competently organised by Jake and Alex, and talk and drink their cans of beer and soft drinks. They were well wrapped up, and it felt to be a wonderful evening, with a breeze blowing off the cliffs, a full moon and friends. They couldn’t ask for more.

  Jake’s amorous intentions were binned now Janey was there. He’d had fantasies of wandering along the cliffs with Beth and finding a nice hollow out of the wind . . . but that was definitely off the agenda. In fact, he was in a situation so hot he couldn’t possibly have imagined it however hard he’d tried. He had his best girl’s brother in the same tent as himself, and his best girl was sharing with his ‘bit on the side’, as his mother would have said. She’d have laughed, would his mum, but he wasn’t laughing, not at all. It was frustration all the way. If Beth hadn’t been there . . . If Janey hadn’t been there . . . But they were and he’d have to spend a celibate weekend. Though he hadn’t intended to go the whole way with Beth. The Reverend’s wrath would be more than he could cope with. In any case, he was almost afraid to expect to go the whole way with her. She was so precious to him and nothing could be allowed to upset that state of affairs.

  Alex crept into their tent and began getting ready for bed. God! Jake thought. Am I in a mess and it’s all my own doing. Damn Janey! Served him right really.

  ‘You know that Janey, do you, with her living in Penny Fawcett?’ Alex said.

  Oh, hell. ‘Yes,’ Jake answered, cautio
usly. ‘Yes, I do vaguely. You’d best keep your hands off her, she’s dynamite.’

  ‘She looks hot stuff.’

  Jake didn’t have a handy reply ready. ‘Yes, well, maybe you’re right. That’s what I meant actually. She is hot stuff.’

  A torch shone at their tent door. ‘Venetia here. You two OK? Alex? Jake?’

  They both answered, ‘Yes, thanks.’

  ‘Good. Sleep tight. Breakfast at eight-thirty. Departure for the boat trip at nine-thirty.’

  ‘OK. Goodnight.’

  ‘Remember, Jake, you’re on kitchen duty, so you’ve an early start.’

  ‘Right!’ Oh no, thought Jake. Is there no end to my agony? ‘Don’t suppose you’d like to do my kitchen duty, Alex?’

  Alex was shuffling down into his sleeping bag, wishing it was about a foot longer than it was. ‘No thanks! Goodnight.’

  ‘Oh well, goodnight then,’ said Jake, wishing he was anywhere but there. He pulled his wool hat down over his ears and his eyes and groaned.

  In the next-door tent Janey wouldn’t or couldn’t go to sleep. ‘Your brother is utterly gorgeous, do you know that? I like tall men.’

  ‘I don’t know about gorgeous. He’s a self-controlled, clean-living, self-contained, verging on pompous individual, single-minded about his life and his career. A reliable, hard-working, industrious, self-disciplined so-and-so.’

  ‘Oh. Right. Got a girlfriend?’

  In the dark, Beth giggled. ‘Not that I know of. He’d have told me if he had.’ Then she began laughing uncontrollably.

  ‘What’s the matter?’

  ‘The thought of Alex with a girl. I don’t think he’d know what to do!’ She laughed even louder and got several shouts of ‘Shush!’ from the other tents. Which made her giggle more and she couldn’t stop. Then Janey started laughing and inside five minutes the pair of them were friends. Then neither of them could get to sleep for hours.

  The whole weekend was fraught with claims and counterclaims, about who was on kitchen duty, who’d promised to go to the farm to get the milk, who hadn’t got ready in time, who’d held them up by getting back to the minibus late, who’d kept them awake until the early hours talking and laughing, and by the time late Saturday afternoon came Venetia and Kate were exhausted and determined never to bring any of them camping again.

  The second night Jake refused point-blank to share the tent with Alex because he claimed he snored, and Janey offered to share with Jake, as though sacrificing herself by doing so. Beth had been blinded with temper by the whole idea, and to Janey’s fury Jake had agreed it wouldn’t be at all suitable for them to share and he’d just tolerate Alex snoring. Venetia and Kate vehemently agreed. So they shared as first arranged, and Beth was livid and Janey greatly disappointed that her offer to share with Jake hadn’t worked. What was the point of going away for a weekend to find oneself sleeping in the wrong tent? She said as much to Beth. ‘I wanted to sleep with Jake. The two stuffy old biddies in charge can go to blazes as far as I’m concerned.’

  Beth, her equilibrium disrupted by being out of her comfort zone, suddenly saw with the most amazing clarity what the situation really was. Why should Janey want to sleep with Jake if she apparently didn’t know him . . . she must know him! But Jake couldn’t have another girlfriend beside herself. Could he? She must have got it wrong. Aware she could be stepping right into the most appalling row she said tentatively, ‘I’ve got some chocolate biscuits in my bag. Would you like one?’ That question seemed like a very good opening for the next ones she intended to ask.

  ‘Oh yes, please. My plate tonight was filled with the most burnt fatty bits you could imagine. I’d love a biscuit.’ Janey switched on her torch. ‘There, can you see any better?’

  ‘Yes, thanks.’ She rooted about in her bag for the biscuits her mother had given her. She’d said that if things got bad, a chocolate biscuit could work wonders in desperate moments when camping. Well, she’d better be right.

  They had two each and then Janey asked for another. ‘I know it’s disgusting and very bad for my spots, but please?’

  Beth offered her the rest of the packet. She never got spots so she could eat as many as she liked, but if Janey got spots, well, she could have just as many as she wanted. There was a loud rustling and the sound of Janey chomping. Beth smiled to herself and asked, ‘What’s the talent like in Penny Fawcett, then?’

  ‘The one and only bit of talent is Jake.’

  ‘I thought he looked a bit of all right.’

  ‘He most definitely is. He’s the best there is, believe me, and I should know.’

  ‘You should know?’

  If it hadn’t been so dark Beth would have been able to see the most beautiful smile on Janey’s face. ‘Oh yes. We keep it very secret otherwise his mother would be laughing like a drain. She’s so vulgar you wouldn’t believe it. He’d never hear the end of it and she’d tell absolutely everybody she knew. He’s a darling and very, very sexy and wonderful at it. I can’t get enough of him. Best one ever, is Jake.’

  ‘Oh! Like that, is he? Must be marvellous to have someone as good as that. I didn’t know you were an item.’

  ‘Old innocent, aren’t you, I bet.’

  ‘Not specially.’ Beth’s stomach was heaving with distress. He’d never wanted to with her. Well, almost not wanted. ‘He’s OK, then?’

  ‘More than OK. I just hope he never moves away. He wants to live with his dad, you see, but he works abroad a lot so he can’t. If he went, I’d be devastated.’

  ‘Of course you would.’ Beth heard Janey shuffle into her sleeping bag as though settling down to sleep. She was glad. She needed time to think. That was why Jake had never been close to her the whole weekend. She just thought he was being discreet. More than discreet! Very slowly tears began to roll down her cheeks, they kept welling up and wouldn’t stop, and the next hour was miserable and lonely and desolate. If her mother opened up the tent flap right now and said, ‘I’ve come to take you home’, she’d be saved, absolutely saved. She’d understand how this kind of betrayal felt, she’d know exactly. Beth fell asleep just as she was working out how she should behave towards Jake the following day.

  She woke at first light, thinking she’d do just as she had done all the weekend - behave towards him as she did to everyone on the trip: friendly, chatty, helpful and well-balanced. Then she’d talk to her mum at home and decide on a plan of action. Well, the only action she was going to take was nothing. She wouldn’t berate him about two-timing her, she wouldn’t criticise him, lose her temper, nothing, because that was the only dignified way in which to retrieve her self-esteem. But it would be her who finished it. Not him.

  She fell asleep again, and had to be woken by Janey just as breakfast was being served. Janey said she felt sick as a dog after finishing the chocolate biscuits before she went to sleep. Beth thought the biscuit saga had turned out rather well, then she remembered it wasn’t Janey’s fault, because she’d been two-timed, too, so though Janey didn’t know it she also needed sympathy. For the rest of the day Janey and Beth were the greatest of friends, a state of affairs that caused Jake to become increasingly bewildered. Still, that was girls, off and on with their relationships, just like the rain.

  The Penny Fawcett people were being taken home in the minibus after the Turnham Malpas people had been dropped off with their bags. At Turnham Malpas, while the luggage and the sleeping bags were being sorted out from under seats and out of the luggage racks, Jake spoke to Beth.

  ‘Sorry I’ve not taken much notice of you while . . . you know, but I thought it best.’

  Beth looked him straight in the eye. ‘That’s all right, Jake. In fact, I think it would be a good idea if we cooled it for a while. You’ve got loads of work to do for exams in the summer, I’ve got lots of things on and I think it would be for the best.’

  She almost felt his shock, but she kept a rein on her feelings and didn’t allow it to upset her too much. She’d keep all that for when she g
ot in the house.

  ‘I’m sorry, did I hear you right? You want to finish? Why?’

  ‘Just do, Jake. I’ve talked a lot to Janey this weekend and I realise it’s all a waste of time.’ It hurt to say that, but it was true. She had talked to Janey and in the process learned far more than she’d bargained for. ‘Night-night, Jake.’ She kissed his cheek and left him standing in the road. Alex picked up her bag for her, she clutched their sleeping bags, and the two of them walked across to the Rectory, Alex shouting as they left, ‘Goodnight, everybody, thanks for a good weekend.’

  Beth’s heart hammered in her chest and tears were very close, but she held on until her mother, who’d been waiting on the doorstep since the moment she’d heard the minibus pull up, closed the door behind them.