Trying Not To Love You

Part Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Despite the late finish, Martha was up early. She did the rounds with Eamonn and Bill as she did every day, feeding the horses, the dogs and the chickens. They were the newest addition to the farm, and Martha’s pet project. She was hoping that her father would start with them, a gentle reintroduction to things, until then it was another responsibility for her.

She was making porridge for Lucy and pancakes for her father when the kitchen door opened. Sonny stood there a sleepy smile accompanying his bed hair, though how such short hair could be so unruly confused her, and his bare chest was more than a little disconcerting for first thing in the morning. Yep, Sonny was a dreadful distraction, since that night...she shook her head, clearing those images while she still could. Since that night when he'd hinted at a different depth to their relationship, he’d been challenging her every resolve.

                “Sleep well?”

He nodded, “like a log.” And that was the truth. The nightmares were a long way away at the moment, he’d not been so settled in as long as he could remember. “Better than you?” As he lowered himself onto one of the kitchen chairs, Tinker the half wild cat that Martha had only seen less than half a dozen times the last three months jumped onto his lap and started to pound his joggers, settling down to sleep.

She shrugged as she watched the animal in amazement, “I’m always up early. Got a few things to do, so always glad of the extra hours. Wow Mr Charisma, every wild female in these parts seems to love you, hey? I have never managed to touch Tinker.”

Shrugging he scratched the cat’s head and was rewarded with a purr of satisfaction, “us unruly types stick together.”

Martha smiled in amazement, “What you up to today?”

                “Well I’m going to go and clear up the restaurant before the cleaners arrive, restock...then I’m heading to Northfield, meet a mate. You sure you don’t need me to work tonight?”

                “No, I’ve got it covered, you are allowed a night off. So you won’t be here for dinner?”

He smiled, “great. No, I’ll be out all day, that’s cool. Ok, I’m just going to go for a run. Appreciate the early morning and all that.”

                “I’m making pancakes; I’ll leave you some in the fridge?”

After feeding time at the zoo, and cleaning up all the puddles created by Mickey the not quite house trained puppy and sorting through the laundry, it was mid morning. She was desperate to catch Michael Oldbury and beg him to help her. So without revealing too much she climbed into Herman and hit the road.

The Oldbury’s lived in a huge stately home a few miles outside town. Growing up it had seemed like a palace, everyone in school had been jealous, the minions in town envious of their wealth. Now as she drove along the driveway she couldn’t help but notice how austere it seemed, how unwelcoming with its rows of immaculate windows and pillared entrances. Slowing the car on the gravel driveway, she climbed out of it and walked purposefully up to the front door.

She remembered Derek, the housekeeper/driver/companion of Michal Oldbury from her time dating Scott, “Miss Sullivan. Come in. Mr Oldbury is in the library.”

She followed the elderly man along the corridor, then stepped into the vast library. Michael was sat at a desk at the far end. He was seventy or more but had never really retired from his job, how could you when work was your life? That was what he always said. And he had lots of businesses, from the estate he lived on, to a string of nightclubs in the Midlands and a whole lot in between.