Commitment

Part 60

Gray said quietly, "I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill." But Gray was starting to get a bad feeling. He repeated his question, "What do you mean, exactly?"

Mairie shook her head. "Forget I said that." She should not have said anything. Regan would not be happy. "Just tell me why you were being mean!

"Why?"

"Because I don't understand why you would? You're a nice guy. She's a lovely person. She took you in. Gave you and your family a roof,..."

"Yeah." He nodded, and narrowed his eyes as he thought about the way Regan had three of them working for one person's wage and not even the wage he deserved as a manager.

She remonstrated, "She paid you a wage." She patted her tummy to soothe her soon-to-be-born baby.

"Yes, me. Not my grandfather, who also worked on her farm!" He grated with more than a hint of disillusionment in his voice. "And she did not pay me the going rate for a manager. I got the rate for a labourer." He explained to Mairie, pretty sure that Regan would have kept that little bit of information from her friends. She'd hardly want to be labelled a miser or someone who took advantage of people down on their luck. Yet that is what she did. She had taken advantage of them.

"I know." She knew that because Lucy told her.

That surprised him. "I don't have to work for a selfish, miser of a woman!" He shrugged.

Mairie was incensed. "She isn't selfish, and she paid you..."

Grayinterrupted heatedly, "I got a better offer. I took it." He folded his arms, hoping to reign in his temper.

"Yes, I know." Mairie snapped, and realised that she was fighting a loosing battle. She took a moment to calm down. After a second she said, "Regan said it was for the best."

He snorted. "You said the words but your eyes don't convey the sentiment." He squared up, broad shoulders braced with banked aggression.

Mairie apologised. "Sorry Gray." She sounded apprehensive, but still she did not let the conversation go. "What did Regan say to you?"

"About what?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You leaving?"

"Not much." Gray watched Mairie carefully. For someone who usually simply spoke her mind, she was being incredibly cagey now. "I get the feeling you are trying to tell me something." He looked at her in utter confusion.

"You are both proud people." Mairie finally told him, having reached the conclusion that someone ought to bring Gray up to speed. He needed to know that Regan had done her best, at a cost to herself. "Regan has worked hard to ensure that people don't see her current circumstance."

"I know you've known her a while. You are good friends." He chided with little heat. "So of course I expect you to stand up for her. But there are sides to her that you either haven't seen or don't want to see."

"I've known her since we were kids." Mairie told him coolly. "I was Lucy's best friend since we were in school. And I met Regan when she came to stay with her grandparents, at that farm, it is close to Lucy's place." She was far from pleased by what she heard and figured that she was not going to let him continue to believe his false assumptions. The man needed to be set straight. So Mairie decided to tell him some of the details. "Regan used to come stay with her grandparents every school holidays, and I was often at Lucy's place." Mairie smiled as she recalled the fun they'd had. Then she reached a decision. He needed to know everything. So she simply said, "You know Regan was working as a locum. As well as at the centre."

"Yeah. I know that. So?" He didn't have to wait long to have his answers.

Mairie savoured the moment. She knew enough about Gray to know that he would not be happy with what she was about to reveal, "She worked as a locum to pay your wage."

He turned to look at Mairie in incredulity. Gray's eyebrows snapped together, "She worked as a locum..." Mairie quirked a brow, prompting him to keep going down that track. Gray narrowed his gaze, as he finally joined up the dots, "are you seriously saying she did that, in order to pay me?" He asked with a disbelieving shake of his head.

"Yes."

"Come on Mairie!" He shook his head, his eyebrows shot upward, "What do you take me for? She is a diva. She earns a decent amount, I've seen the designer labels she wears. Not cheap!" He hadn't considered the fact that Regan might not have any money. He just assumed she spent it on herself.

Mairie held eye contact and held onto her temper, "She wears old, very old, designer labels." Mairie corrected. "Things she bought years ago when she was earning a decent wage and supporting just one person. I doubt she's bought anything new in the last few years." Mairie folded her arms and glared at Gray, "She took on locum work to pay you and ensure that there was stuff in the pantry for all, your sister, your grandfather and you!" She told him. "She isn't made of money. She sold some personal stuff, her clothes, to get enough money to allow your sister to decorate your rooms at her farm!" Gray frowned. He wasn't too sure about Mairie's statements. Regan owned a farm. She had a decent job. She came from wealthy parents. "She was feeding all of your family and paying you a salary, from her one wage." Mairie repeated. That brought him up short. Mairie sounded pretty sure about her facts. And if Regan was supporting them on one salary then things were tight. Gray grimaced as he considered that fact. "Her wage supported four people. Kept four adults fed and housed. On one salary. That is not a miser! And definitely not selfish!"

"She was strapped for cash." Gray breathed out as a sigh as it dawned on him. That explained so much. Why didn't she tell him that?

"Yes, what did you think? She did locum work for the fun of it?" Mairie pursed her lips. She shook her head at him. "It's hard work on top of her usual GP hours. Honestly, you can be that stupid!" Gray narrowed his eyes while Mairie continued with her rant, "She was running herself into the ground to keep you and your family housed and fed."

"I thought she was staying away because she rubbed me up the wrong way and she didn't like Caro." He found himself admitting. "That the locum stuff gave her the excuse she needed." Why was it that if felt like he had made a bad decision, a wrong decision. He accepted there were lots things that didn't add up, and he had ignored those warnings.

Mairie scowled at him. "She inherited heaps of debt when she took on the farm. She wanted to save the farm." Mairie told him bluntly. She narrowed her eyes as she consider her next statement, Gray waited, and eventually Mairie said, "She's around my and Lucy' age, and despite the fact that she and Lucy are at opposite ends of the spectrum, they got on like a house on fire when Lucy lived at the cottage. And when I came to play with Lucy, I would see Regan at Lucy's place."

"That is likely, they are neighbours!"

Mairie shook her head in disbelief, "For a decent man, you are wearing blinkers! You are still wearing them!"

"What?"

"I couldn't understand why Regan was always so well dressed, not a hair out of place, every item of clothing was ironed with starchy reserve and even when we ran around like demented flies she always tried to remain well groomed. Because that is what her parents wanted. Honestly, they should never have become parents. They were horrible parents!"

"Horrible?"

"Yes. They were horrible to her. They expected her to remain in the background, not be seen or heard. And she should be perfect."

"Perfect? What do you mean, not seen or heard?" Gray started to feel distinctly uncomfortable.

"They ignored her. Ohhh, they used to make me so mad!" Mairie could remember telling Lucy that they should go over and tell them!

"They, her parents, ignored her?" Gray frowned.

Mairie nodded. "They should never have had kids. They weren't very kind. Her grandparents were, which is why she wants to save the farm, because she associates the farm with happy memories. And she feels she owes it to them because her grandparents worked the place. It was their pride and joy."

Gray could understand that. It would be a good farm if it were managed properly.