Amy gripped the edge of the table with her fingertips and crashed into a vacant chair.
‘Sam came to your house to tell you you’re beingevicted?’ Amy said hotly. ‘Howcouldhe?!’
‘It isn’t Sam who’s doing this,’ Barbara continued, reaching for Amy’s hand and patting it. Amy burned with outrage at this intervention on Sam’s behalf– this willingness to defend, toexcusethe person who’d delivered such a devastating blow to a woman who couldn’t have deserved it less.
‘He thought …’ Barbara began, then stifled a sob. She took another gulp of air, exhaled slowly and tried again. ‘He thought it would be better coming from him than some faceless minion on the phone– or, God forbid, by letter. We’ve first refusal on buying the place, he said, and he wanted to tell us as soon as possible so we could try and get something organised. But there’s no way we’ll get a mortgage at our age– neither of us is even working anymore.’
Amy became aware that she’d taken Barbara’s hand and was now holding it gently between her own. ‘What about savings?’ she asked.
‘We’ve enough to keep ourselves, but nowhere near what we’d need to buy the cottage outright,’ Dave put in miserably. He shook his head, as if in disbelief, and it struck Amy that his state of shock was a result not only of the Ainsworths’ decision to sell their home, but also of Barbara’s despairing reaction to it. How many years had it been since they’d met a challenge she couldn’t overcome or encountered a problem she didn’t feel equal to fixing? Amy was willing to bet it had been decades.
‘And … and there’s no way to persuade the Ainsworths out of this?’ she asked, though she already knew that getting Sam’s father to change his mind about anything was nigh on impossible. Roger Ainsworth’s reputation for being cantankerous, selfish and implacable went back further than Amy could remember, and she didn’t imagine his heart was likely to begin bleeding for others at this late stage in his career.
‘No,’ Barbara said, ‘ours is one of the last few cottages in Old Rowton that the estate still owns– and they’re the most valuable and easiest to sell. This is about offloading stuff that’ll bring in the most cash.’
Amy made a face and snorted angrily. ‘You’d think the lord and lady of the manor were on the poverty line, not living in a stately home and swanning around in Chanel. Don’t the Ainsworths own half the village?Surelythere must be other property they can sell? You know, places that people who’ve reliably paid their rent for half their lives aren’t living in.’
She was breathing hard and felt hot all over. Rage was building in her like a wave that threatened to engulf every other feeling. It made her feel sick to think that Sam could have any part in this– nauseous and sad and disappointed, but alsovindicated. And hewasinvolved in what was happening to Barb and Dave, for all Barbara’s insistence that it wasn’t his fault. He would be the ultimate beneficiary of his father’s cut-throat decision-making: the one who inherited his family’s massive fortune.
‘I think you’d be amazed if you knew what Roger Ainsworth has already done for the sake of keeping himself afloat,’ Grace said, her own face like thunder. ‘There’s a fair few places in new hands since you were here last, Amy. This isn’t the first time he’s sold off land or buildings, reportedly to pay some bill or other on the big house.’
Amy exhaled loudly, but expelling her breath from her lungs was a poor vent for her fury. ‘So let me get this straight: ordinary people like Barbara and Dave lose their homes– and Jed might lose the pub– so Roger and Princess Pamela can keep living inDownton fucking Abbey?’
‘Amy!’ Grace yelped.‘Language!Think of Ken.’
Amy glanced sheepishly at her former teacher, whose strong aversion to swearing was all too familiar from her college days. He waved a hand at her in understanding that, if any occasion called for the F-word, this was probably it.
‘That’s about the size of it,’ Dave confirmed. ‘We’ve got to be out within six months.’
‘I can’t believe they can do this,’ Amy said, her voice thick with tears.
‘They can, and they are,’ Barbara sighed, ‘even though we were assuredlongbefore we retired that the house was ours until we kicked the bucket. I’ve met with Roger several times over the years, and I made sure to double-check the situation when I got my pension lump sum. With that as a deposit we could have bought somewhere smaller, on the other side of the water, maybe … We could have got a mortgage, then, while Dave was still working. Weshouldhave.’
Amy winced at Barbara’s tone, heavy with disappointment in her own judgement– judgement that, in all fairness, had probably never failed her until now. Thanks to Gran, she was also aware that most of Barb’s pension payout had been spent on helping their son, Mark, pay for university and get onto the housing ladder. It was beyond unfair that such generosity should come back to disadvantage her like this, to make her vulnerable at this point in her life.
Seeming to recover a little of her usual stoicism, Barbara said: ‘Still. Six months is much more notice than most landlords would have given us. I’ll start looking around tomorrow to see if there’s anywhere local we might be able to afford– though I don’t rate our chances.’
‘I’ll help in any way I can,’ Amy said.
‘Thank you, love,’ said Barbara, nodding. ‘Sam’s said the same. He has a few contacts that might be useful– other landowners that might have places coming up for rent.’
Amy folded her arms and scowled. She bit down on her lip in order to keep from launching into a tirade about this being the absoluteleastSam could do; ranting wouldn’t help anyone, and it would only upset Barb more.
‘That’s good,’ said Grace. ‘I’m sure he’ll do whatever he can for you.’
‘Oh God, not you as well,’ Amy burst out, her temper finally fraying. ‘Am I the only one here who’s joined the dots between Barb and Dave losing their house and Sam inheriting millions of pounds? He’s the good cop to his father’s bad cop, but they’re on the same side! Samprofitsfrom this in the end! He isn’t the good guy here– he’s just really great at handling his own PR. He’ll have everyone eating out of his hand by the time he’s the Viscount, which will no doubt facilitate some nefarious agenda he’s yet to reveal.’
‘I must confess, Amy, I think that’s a rather cynical point of view,’ Mr Bradley said softly. ‘I know you and Sam never saw eye to eye, but it seems to me he’s doing his best to be helpful in a very difficult set of circumstances.’
‘You’re all mad,’ Amy said. ‘I can’t believe any of you are standing up for him.’
‘Amy,’ Grace said, severely enough that her granddaughter felt chastened. ‘Nobody’s standing up for him. He hasn’tdoneanything. This is an awful situation, but it isn’t his doing. It’s Roger at the helm, just like it’s always been. I’m well aware there’s long been some issue between the two of you, but you might want to consider that we know him better than you do these days. This is the most time you’ve spent in the village since you were eighteen, after all.’
Amy looked at the kitchen floor, not wanting to meet Grace’s eyes. She sighed and scrubbed a hand over her forehead, wishing already that she hadn’t made such a show of herself.
‘It means the world that you’re in our corner, Amy,’ Barbara said, ‘but Grace is right. Sam isn’t the enemy here, so I don’t want you wading in and having another ruck with him on our behalf. It wouldn’t make any difference anyway.’
Amy nodded and swallowed hard, trying to tamp down her exasperation.
