Chapter 9
I catch up with Danny in the grounds. He’s leaning against one of the massive old oak trees which stand a little way from the house like huge sentries. As I approach, I notice the brash expression has deserted him. Normally he looks so cool and laid back, but now there’s nothing save for a little lost boy and the boy looks desperately unhappy. I can barely stop the impulse to throw my arms around him and give him a hug, but that’s stupid and will probably result in another aggressive outburst. The best thing to do now is simply make my excuses and leave. That was the best way. Let him calm down for a while. There’s no point trying to push him.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers. Dragging a hand through his hair as he speaks.
“There’s no need to be sorry Danny.” I say. “You’re still upset you’re Father can’t walk and that’s not exactly a surprise! I have been on the same sort of treadmill myself and I know it ain’t a fun ride.”
“I was thinking more of my Mother.” He says, forcing a tiny grin. “God she can be so bloody infuriating.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Don’t you like her or something?”
“Of course I like her. It’s just that sometimes she can be overbearing. You know what they’re like at the best of times?”
I nod vigorously, understanding only too well what he means, but there’s something else, far deeper upsetting him. “It’s not just your Father’s disability that’s upsetting you though is it?” I venture. “There is something else?”
“Why should there be something else?” he demands.
I take a deep breath, knowing I’m about to walk on eggshells. “Tell me to go to hell if you like, but even my young brain can fathom out that a disability, even as severe as your Father’s would not still be triggering outbursts like I saw in there, not after so many years. You’ve had a really long time to come to terms with it.”
He stares off into the distance before speaking again and he seems very different from the man I’ve come to know. I can’t make up my mind if it’s the effect of having his parents or Amanda or both in such close proximity. Maybe he simply doesn’t like strangers getting near enough to discover the real Danny Marsden. But whatever it is, I realise I’m not about to find out as I watch the familiar shutters crash down.
“Are you leaving?” He says suddenly.
“Are you asking me to leave?”
“No, no of course not.” he says. “But you did say you were only going to show up for appearances sake and then slope off. Where were you going?”
“I don’t know. I’ll probably go for a drink with a couple of friends.”
“Avril and Alan?” He asks.
I gave him a suspicious look.
“All right,” he says quietly. “I was only asking.”
“No, I don’t think so. Avril’s trying to get me paired off with someone from college,” I lie. “So I’m trying to avoid her in social situations for a while.”
“So you’ve nothing definite planned?”
I wonder where he’s going with this. Surely he wasn’t going to ask me out with Amanda so close by?
“No. But I thought I’d hang on a bit longer in case Mum needs cheering up.”
“She looked as though she’s having a great time the last time I looked. And why shouldn’t she have some fun anyway. Nursing your Father through the last year must have been hell for her too.”
I nod sadly, anxious not to plunge down the same ravine Danny’s just fallen into and he senses this before wisely changing the subject. “If you need a lift home later, I’d be glad to help. Just in case your Mother decides she’d like more than one drink.”
“You?”
“Yes me. Don’t you think I’m capable of being nice at all?”
“With you, I never know what you might be capable of.” I smile. “Besides, are you suggesting my Mother is likely to be too drunk to drive home in another couple of hours?”
“No,” he says. “That’s not what I meant at all and you know it.”
He stares at me hard now, an almost wolf-like expression in the hooded eyes.
“Let’s get out of here for a while,” he says suddenly.
“Why?”
“Because I’m fed up and I’m going to get collared by someone I don’t like for the rest of the evening, I can feel it.”
“I thought you already had.”
He scowls at me as he takes my arm before leading me through the trees and onto the driveway.
“Won’t you be missed inside?” I ask.
“I shouldn’t think so. Once they’ve all had a few drinks they won’t know who’s there.”
“Are you always so off hand with your friends?”
“There you go again, itching for a fight.” he drawls.
“No. I was just asking.”
He says nothing as we reach his car and he holds the door open for me. Without having a clue as to why I’m going with him at all, I climb inside, asking myself the same questions over and over.
“They’re not my friends.” He says as gets behind the wheel. “They’re my Father’s crowd and I don’t even know most of them. A man is lucky if he can count his true friends on the fingers of one hand, did you know that?”
I grimace. “That sounds like Christmas cracker philosophy to me.”
He sighs and shakes his head as he drives out into the lane, carefully negotiating the mass of cars parked at all sorts of alarming angles over the drive. It seems Danny isn’t the only selfish driver in town tonight.
“Have you actually got any friends?” I ask. “I mean people who aren’t related to you, who you can really count on?”
He thought for a moment. “Amanda. I’d rather count on her than just about anybody.”
I notice the sneaky sideways look and wonder if he’s putting me down, dangling Amanda in front of me like some sort of thoroughbred trophy but I refuse to rise to it and instead concentrate on the black countryside as it passes by the window. “Are we going anywhere in particular? Or am I about to get strangled and dumped down that convenient trench you have prepared up at the wood.”
“Not yet.” He smiles. “We’ll see if you behave yourself first. You haven’t eaten properly today again have you?”
“Well, I vaguely recall a packet soup and picking green bits off a stale loaf at the ARC earlier.”
“Oh my God.” He cringes.
I grin at him. “I can see you’ve never been flat broke in your life.”
“No I can’t say I have.” He replies. “And I’m not too keen on the dolly food they’re serving back at the house either. How about we go to a nice restaurant I know on the other side of town?”
Pangs of guilt pulse through me at the idea of leaving Mother alone at the Marsden residence without so much as a by your leave, but I console myself with the fact that she’s among people she knows and likes. As if reading my mind Danny says, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back in plenty of time to help your Mother if she needs it.”
He’s being nice now. Perhaps a little too nice and he’s more relaxed now he’s away from the house. I feel strangely happy at having him to myself for a while even though it’s impossible to predict just how long his mood will last. I wonder what Avril and Alan might say if they saw me, as dolled up as I’ll ever be and sitting in the front seat of his car. They’ll probably never speak to me again. Is he intending to make me another little conquest to lighten the drudgery of another project before he ups the Marsden road show and moves on? Did Amanda simply put up with it? One of those women who pitifully say things like, “He always comes home to me in the end.” Well Danny could forget that.
I let my mind wander onto the Roman relics hidden in the trench. Planting is cheating and it still rankles with me that I had to do it. Beating him fair and square would be the best way to win but that’s impossible. His type played to win, anyway they could. There’s no cheating and no fair play in Danny’s world. It’s all lu
mped together under the catchall banner of ‘business.’ With my nature, being as ruthless as this is never going to happen, but deep down in my heart I still have a slim hope he might be persuaded to change his mind about the project. But how far I’m willing to go to make it happen, I don’t know and I don’t want to dwell on it.
We drive around for what seems an age until he pulls up outside a cafe on the far side of town. It’s a real greasy spoon affair with peeling light blue paintwork outside and six aged wooden tables with blue and white stick-on check tablecloths. The man at the counter watches us through the grimy front window as if we’d just disembarked from a flying saucer, a damp unlit roll-up hanging from the corner of his mouth. Danny pushes open the door and the smell of congealed fat hits me like some invisible, artery blocking fog.
“Here.” I gasp.
Danny grins inanely. “And what’s wrong with here?”
“Well for a start its heart attacksville. I mean..well..I mean they shoot vegetarians on sight in places like this and besides how can you eat here wearing that suit.”
“For your information, you snob,” Danny replies. “It’s the best meal of the day.” He points to the plastic menu board behind the counter. “And they do cater for vegetarians too if you look. You see..even this guy has moved with the times.”
I open my mouth to say more but he bundles me over to a table. We’re spoilt for choice as the place is understandably deserted apart from one old boy sitting alone in a corner near the counter, reading a racing paper and nursing a teacup with a worrying black line running right through it.
I’ve worried for the last thirty minutes about looking poor in the kind of establishments I guess Danny Marsden is used to, but here I feel positively regal. The place is warm and cosy though, if you don’t mind jungle humidity. The man behind the counter stands up straight, an incredulous look on his unshaven face as if gob smacked that we’re actually sitting down.
“Welcome welcome,” he says in a cut throat accent, before throwing his cigarette butt down on the floor somewhere behind him. “Make yourself comfortable, I be right over with menu.”
“I bet they rarely get city types in here.” I whisper, looking around.
“I think you’d be surprised where we city types go when we’re away from home.” Danny replies.
“I can imagine.” I drawl.
He orders an extra large all day breakfast and I go for the least threatening item I can find, a veggie burger and salad. It arrives within minutes and I gawp at Danny’s huge plate laden with fried food.
“Don’t you worry about your heart?”
“This won’t kill me once a month or so. Nor you come to that.”
“No fear,” I reply, cringing at his plate while trying to avoid the ‘Posh Bitch’ look from the proprietor as he catches some of my comments. I’m ravenously hungry though and to my surprise the meal really is good. Apart from the two tiny unidentified nibbles at Danny’s place this is my first food since this morning. We eat for a while in silence until I again think of the Roman artefacts up at the site, lying innocently in the dark, just waiting for the moment they’re found again for the second time in two thousand years. Ticking time-bombs that will surely wipe the smug grin from Danny Marsden’s face for quite some time to come.
Danny stops eating and stares at me.
“What are you grinning at?” He demands.
I hadn’t realised that musing over my secret knowledge had transmitted itself to my face. It was a bad habit around a man like him. “Oh nothing.” I lie. “Just weird pictures of Mum, naked and dancing on your huge dining table back at the manor while everyone eggs her on.”
He laughs, relaxing again. “Is she likely to do that?”
“No,” I reply. “At least I don’t think so. It’s just one of my daft little daydreams.”
“Yes, I always knew you’d have quite an imagination.”
My grin doesn’t last long though as he raises his mug of tea. “Here’s to a sweet victory.”
“You won’t mind if I don’t drink to that Danny.” I reply evenly.
After the meal he orders more tea. He’s still subdued though and I remain curious about his earlier outburst. “Well, are you going to tell me what’s troubling you?” I demand suddenly.
His features immediately cloud and the silence drags on for an age before he speaks.
“My Father’s going into hospital this week,” he murmurs. “It’s pioneering surgery on his back. What they’re going to try is something new and radical and like most new and radical things, it’s very risky.”
“But there’s a chance he’ll be able to walk again afterwards?”
”That’s the gamble.” He replies. “Apparently this technique is still at the experimental stage and they wouldn’t try it on any one who had some mobility in their legs because if it goes wrong it’s going to cause total paralysis from the neck down. No question about it. He’s being really brave and I admire his guts, but it will kill him if it doesn’t work out. Not being able to use your legs is bad enough, but total immobility...” He closes his eyes to shut out the horrible doubts nibbling away at his mind. He’s clearly very close to the old man and the thought of him suffering obviously pains him.
“Do you think it will work?” I ask.
“I don’t know what I think.” He says. “He is nearly sixty and that’s against him for one thing. He’ll need a lot of physiotherapy after it too and if I know him he won’t have the patience for it. But he’s determined to get up on his own two feet again.”
“He has no feeling in his legs at all?”
“No nothing. He reckons there’s nothing to lose if it all turns sour but things can always get worse. He has to be one of the bravest guys I ever met.” Danny shook his head in quiet admiration. “We all desperately want this to work. You know I....” For a moment he’s lost for words and he averts his eyes to some far off corner of the cafe, leaving me feeling guilty at having caused him sadness through my curiosity. It was time to get off the subject of ailing Father’s and try to keep of it. Besides, it was all too close for comfort and it wouldn’t take much more of Danny’s inner turmoil to trigger my own and we chat about more general topics until it’s time to leave.
It’s still quite early as we drive past the southern end of Becmead woods and Danny suddenly pulls off the road, bouncing the big four wheel drive up onto the grass verge in a gap between the trees.
“Why have we stopped here?” I demand.
“Don’t worry.” He says in that easy going laid back way he has of saying things. “I just want to get a look at that ditch to see if they’ve dug deep enough. These builders will have you over any way they can unless you keep a close eye on them.”
Alarm bells clang in my head as he clambers out of the car and starts walking slowly towards the trees. I collapse back in the seat barely able to stop myself from clamping my hands to my head. This can’t be happening; I cringe, my mind racing on ahead and finding nothing but disaster. He stops and stares back at me as I climb outside and saunter over to him, pretending to look at the ground to prevent him seeing my expression. “Do you really have to do this now? I moan as he hesitates, unsure of which path to take in the darkness. “Can’t it wait until tomorrow? You’ll get mud all over your nice suit and besides, you won’t be able to see anything now will you.”
“It’s all right,” he replies. “I’ve got this.”
With that, the sickening sight of an expensive penlight beam cuts through the blackness with about as much intensity as a lighthouse beacon, causing me to teeter on the edge of blind panic as I debate whether to scream, run or simply collapse and feign a major breakdown. “Oh my God.” I murmur, my brain now locked in neutral.
“Are you all right Cathy?” he asks.
“Sick,” I gurgle. “Very sick.”
He quickly turns to face me as I lean against a nearby tree trunk.
“It couldn’t
have been through eating too much.” He grins. “You didn’t exactly overdo it back there.”
“Just a touch of car sickness.” I lie, feeling his arm slip around my shoulders. “I used to get it a lot as a kid.”
“Maybe a little walk will sort it out?”
I nod weakly, that’s the last thing I want, but I manage to lead him to the path I know veers away from the ditch and up to the fairy dell and the lake beyond. He’s too concerned with my condition to notice and at last we reach the top of the hill. I decide to faint at the first hint of his heading anywhere near the work site as he shines his torch down to illuminate the ditch in the distance. I realise we’re too far away to see anything more than the amount of work done.
“Hell.” He grumbled. “I’d have thought you’d have known exactly which path to take.”
“I don’t normally wander round in pitch darkness.” I manage, clutching my chest and trying to imagine myself sitting back at the cafe in an effort to make myself look ill. “It all looks so different from normal.”
“Yeah I suppose.” He concedes.
I steer him on towards the dell and we soon find ourselves standing in the centre of the large natural cavern formed by the ring of ancient trees. It’s deathly quiet and the place seems to hum all around us. Even in at night it feels strangely alive and I sit on the largest of what my Father had always referred to as the altar stones and I watch as Danny walks around with his torch.
“There really is a strange kind of quiet magic in here.” He says eventually.
Suspicion pulses through me, but it’s too dark to see if he’s lying or not. As if sensing my mute disbelief he adds, “Honestly. It’s odd. Sort of still, yet noisy at the same time.”
I laugh then and he looks a little embarrassed. “Hark at me” he whispers. “I’m beginning to sound like you.”
“So you do feel it?” I say as he sits down beside me. The sudden warmth that flows from his body makes me move instinctively closer to him and without warning he catches me by the arm and wheels me around to face him. Before I can cry out or protest his lips meet mine. His embrace strong and manly makes me feel safe amongst the seething darkness all around us. It’s a wonderful sensation and I hold onto him until I feel I’m about to explode with happiness. At last he pulls back.
“What was that for?” I gasp, breathless.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do from the very first moment I saw you stuck down in that pit.” He whispers.
I grow wide eyed with disbelief and pull a face.
“You don’t believe me,” he adds. “Did anybody ever tell you you’ve got a very suspicious nature?”
I’m trembling now and have to ease back from him a little to prevent him feeling it too. It’s hard to see his face and all the while I’m wondering if this is all part of a cruel game he’s playing. “Make a wish.” I say.
“What?” He frowns.
“Make a wish. Everyone who comes here has to make a wish. It’s practically the law round these parts.”
Danny looks around him. “I’ve never had a wish come true yet.”
I slap his arm and he pretends it hurt. “No wonder, with that kind of attitude. Don’t be such an old grouch. Go on close your eyes and think hard about what you want most in this world.”
He eyes me as if expecting me to bash him over the head with a rock the moment he isn’t looking. He’s hesitant and unsure, the man battling the boy.
“You see, I was right about you.” I giggle triumphantly. “No imagination.”
“All right,” he whispers tersely at last. “I’ll make a bloody wish.”
“Attitude.” I say, pointing a finger under his chin, forcing him to even up his hang dog expression. “You’ve thought of one already?”
He nods solemnly. “Yes. There’s only one thing I truly want right now.”
He’s never looked so serious since I first met him. “Then close your eyes and do it.” I urge.
He closes his eyes and I can see the muscles in his face are tense with the worry inside him. “Is that it?” He whispers after a few seconds.
“Well, you’re supposed to leave them something too.”
“Who . Oh you mean your precious fairies?”
“Yours too . now.” I smile.
“I haven’t got anything with me.”
“That’s all right. They don’t mind giving credit.”
He watches me intently, his suspicious nature already feeding him reports about what I might be up to.
“You don’t seriously think I’m going to abandon my plans on the strength of one unfulfilled wish do you?” he drawls.
“No, of course not.” I say, “I know you better than that and I also know a hopeless case when I see one. Come on, it’s getting late.”
We walk slowly towards the entrance.
“Are you feeling a little better now?” he asks.
“Yes, but more to the point are you?”
He nods and we duck down to under the branches before stepping out to the path.
Thankfully Danny seems to have abandoned the idea of a closer inspection of the work site and fifteen minutes later we reach the car and climb inside. I feel remotely aware of how childish I must appear to Danny who seems the type to have been past making wishes at the age of five. But he’s definitely driving slower, more carefully and I wonder if it’s just for my benefit. As we head through the main gates of the Manor I note the family car has gone. “Come on then.” Danny said, “I’d better run you back home.”
“It’s all right Danny,” I protest feebly. “I can manage.”
“Nonsense.” He growls. “And I know you haven’t got that infernal bike with you this time, so there’s no escape.”
I grin at him, almost enjoying the feeling of being his prisoner, yet hating myself for it too.