‘Which neighbour?’ She wasn’t going to help him out here.
‘Antony Arlingham.’
Fran took a sip of coffee. It was cold and bitter and perfectly summed up how she felt. Megan had done a very good job with her interest in genealogy.
‘You see, I know all your dirty little secrets, Francesca.’
‘I don’t have any secrets, Roy, dirty or otherwise. I suggest we go and visit Amy together and see what she feels about you moving into Hill Top. She’s given me a year to make a go of this farm. If I succeed, she’s also said she’ll leave it to me. I think you’ve missed your chance.’
Heshook his head slowly. ‘No. She’ll leave it to me, without me having to do a thing. I’m the closest male descendant of her late husband, and this farm is mine. She only offered it to you because I didn’t get back to her. Once she sees me, she’ll leave it to me.’
Fran looked at her watch. ‘She’ll be having her lunch about now and she has a nap afterwards. I suggest you go away and sort yourself out somewhere to stay and then we’ll go and see Amy together at about two.’
‘That’s not going to happen. I’ll go and get my car and bring it up, while you get my room ready.’
The moment he was gone, Fran sent Issi a text, hoping she was somewhere where she could receive it. Then she went upstairs slowly, wondering how her life could have gone so wrong in such a short time. This morning she’d been full of hope and optimism, excited about her shiny new cheese room, and now it seemed as if it could all be taken away from her by some man from Australia, who didn’t care about the house, who hadn’t so far shown any interest in the farm and who was basically going to hang around ‘until the old lady dies’ so he could inherit, and destroy everything Amy had spent a lifetime building up. She couldn’t let it happen!
She realised Issi probably wouldn’t get her text until she and Roy were on their way to town, but she might be back in the house before she and Royreturned.That would be comforting. Issi might even bring Tig. Frantically she tried to remember if Tig would be milking and decided that he probably would.
She heard Roy’s car and ran downstairs. She would have whisked him into her car and off down the drive to visit Amy but realised she had to give him time to use the bathroom and put his bag in his room.
‘Your room is up the stairs, second on the right, at the end of the corridor.’ He followed her and she went on with the tour. ‘The bathroom’s there round the corner. There’s a hand-held shower and the hot water is better in the evening.’
‘I’d be more comfortable in a double bedroom—’ Roy began.
Fran was prepared for this. ‘I’m sure you would be, but possession is nine-tenths of the law and I was here first.’
‘Fair dinkum.’
‘I can’t believe you said that!’
‘No worries. I only said it to annoy you.’
Fran glared at him. ‘While we’re annoying each other, can I have proof that you are who you say you are?’
His eyes narrowed, never leaving hers as he reached into his coat and pulled out a letter. The envelope was identical to the one she had received from Amy and she could recognise her writing fromwhereshe stood. He handed it to her. ‘That good enough for you?’
She didn’t need to read it to know what it said. ‘OK. Now I know you really are Crocodile Dundee, let’s go and see Amy. I’ll just get ready.’
She wanted a moment to text Antony. She felt she needed to tell him about this invasion. He couldn’t do anything about it but she’d feel better if he knew.
‘Right,’ she said, having reappeared by the back door. ‘We should go. If we don’t get our moment right she’ll be asleep and we’ll have to do all this again tomorrow.’
‘Wouldn’t bother me. I’m not going anywhere for a while.’
How could she bear it? she thought as she locked up the house and they made their way to the car. This man was going to be living in her house and she couldn’t think of a way to get rid of him. There must be a way though. She only had to find it.
‘It’s pretty round here,’ said Roy as they drove along the lanes towards town.
‘Are you planning to settle in the area?’
‘Oh no. It’s pretty, but cramped. Couldn’t cope with the little twisty roads and the hills getting in the way of the view all the time. No, I’ll be back to Oz when I’ve made my money.’
‘You’re very certain you’ll inherit.’
‘I see that really pisses you off, but yes I am.’ Roy paused. ‘It makes perfect sense. I’ve had a goodlookat both family trees – that girl Megan was really helpful with that – and I’m more closely related. Not by much but the thing is, I’m a man, and someone like Amy will want a man to inherit. And secondly, I’m related to her late husband, as I said before. She’ll want the farm to go to me.’
Fran didn’t comment. She just concentrated on driving without attempting to kill him in a carefully staged crash. While part of her couldn’t believe that even Amy could be so old-fashioned, part of her could. It seemed perfectly feasible.
