THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS/FOLLOWS. It's great to know that you are enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to do so
Chapter 3
Matthew's bones were not quite healed enough to allow movement in his legs and he was still bedridden. As the weeks had gone by, he had found himself becoming ever more frustrated. He was barely able to do anything by himself and this had taken its toll on him. It reminded him of that painful time when he had lost the use of his legs after the war and just as had happened then, he began to became slightly short tempered and snappy. His mother and Mary were with him almost constantly in an effort to keep his spirits up but he was growing weary of their constant, sometimes forced, cheeriness. In fact just that afternoon Mary had drawn his attention to his incompetence. She had swept in, carrying their son, a book and looking annoyingly cheerful.
"Hello darling, I brought you this book on new farming methods, terribly dull for me of course but I thought you might like it for the estate. The work is progressing very well and one of the farm hands even offered to let me drive a tractor. Imagine!" Mary spoke quickly, almost gushing.
Matthew was not amused. He did not want to hear about driving, in part due to his car accident, in part due to the fact that he was, of course, not in any fit state at all to drive. He did not want to hear about progress that he had had little opportunity to see and he did not want to hear about the fun that Mary seemed to be having. And so, because of all of this, he said nothing.
Mary did not miss this pointed silence and said "Matthew?"
This time Matthew felt he had no choice but to reply and so he said wearily, "that all sounds terribly exciting."
Mary was taken aback. "Well it is." was all she could say. Why was he behaving like this?
"Oh you can be so obtuse Mary!" Matthew grumbled.
And this left Mary even more shocked and a little hurt.
"I….." said she.
"I cannot even hold our son!" Matthew burst out.
This was when Mary realised that she had not noticed the effect Matthew's accident had had on him. Perhaps naïvely she had assumed that having gone through a similar situation before he would be able to cope with the second round, so to speak, better. She could not have been more wrong. Matthew felt the world had been unjust to him, a man who had been wounded in the service of King and country should surely never have to undergo serious injuries again? This, all of a sudden, hit Mary. She was meant to be Matthew's wife, how had she not seen this?
Mary sat on the chair next to Matthew and sighed. She felt conflicted, on one hand she felt bad for not having notice Matthew's feelings, on the other hand, she wanted to forcefully remind him that he had a lot of good things in his life, namely her and the baby of course. Mary kept a careful expression on her face and said:
"Oh Matthew, in a few weeks you shall be up and about! And you have me and our son. There are many who would be grateful to be in your position." The last part she said a little more primly than
she meant to. She reeled in her emotions, something she was rather aptly skilled at and then to cheer Matthew, she gently placed William next to Matthew on the bed. She tickled William's tummy and he begin to giggle. The look on Matthew's face and William's told her she had been successful – in both her intentions.
…
A few hours later…
Matthew had been listening to his mother go on about her new conquest at a home for children from troubled families for over half an hour. As pleased as he was that his mother was enjoying helping another cause, he was not in the mood to hear it. Fortunately, or so he thought, Tom entered at that moment.
Isobel turned, gave Tom a broad smile and said "Hello Tom, how are you? Would you like to speak with Matthew?"
Tom gave her a sort of half smile and replied "Yes, if that's alright."
"Of course, well my dear, I shall leave you. Not long until you'll be alright now and walking about now!" said while she walked out the door.
"Now Tom, what is it you have to tell me?" said Matthew.
Tom took a seat on the chair next to Matthew's bed and said "We have a problem. One of the older farmers does not want to leave for a cottage despite the fact he has not farmed for many years."
"Perhaps we can get Robert to persuade him" suggested Matthew.
"Ah, well…" Tom paused.
"What, what is it?" said Matthew, slightly confused.
"Robert does not see why we have to make all the farmers who are not being very productive move. I believe he likes this farmer particularly and is not willing to side against him" explained Tom.
"But I thought Robert had finally come round to our way of thinking?" Matthew was now even more confused and actually rather irritated.
"I think he still has some reservations although he has not voiced them" said Tom.
Matthew did not reply but became lost in thought. He could not understand why Robert was,all of a sudden, against him - again! He wondered which side Mary would take.
"Does Mary know?" he asked.
Tom shook his head.
"Bring them both here and I will just have to persuade him".
Tom nodded and left.
….
Again later that day….
"Robert, Mary, Tom welcome!" said Matthew loudly.
"So Matthew, what is this all about?" Robert asked.
"I hear that you are not going to help us with developments with the estate" Matthew said, trying not to sound too annoyed. Diplomacy was key and he knew Robert would not take kindly to being spoken to in such a way.
To this Robert replied firmly: "Well I…. I just do not see why Gray should have to leave, have enough farmers not been moved or bought out already? Gray has been a very loyal tenant."
"Mary, reason with him please!" Matthew could not keep his irritation out of his voice entirely.
Mary had decided to try and stay out of any problems between her father and her husband . Thus she only said "I can see both sides of the argument."
This threw Matthew; Mary was nearly always on his side. They had almost no disagreements after all they had been through.
"Robert, the point is that these farms are essential for the estate's future. The future we are trying to build for my son who is also your grandchild. Would you like to end up like Shrimpy?" The last part he knew would probably persuade him.
Robert did not want to agree because he felt for Gray yet he could see that he was not going to win and so he agreed and took his leave, taking Tom with him.
Mary moved closer to the bed and took Matthew's hand. He pulled it away quickly and had a grumpy expression.
"Mary, are you not on my side?" said he.
"Always" she said smiling and reached in for a kiss.
Matthew turned his face at the last moment and Mary's kiss landed on his cheek instead.
"Oh Matthew, I just did not want to get in the middle of it" she said.
"Yes well you are married to me!" Matthew retorted.
"Oh Matthew, you are being ridiculous! I shall come back later when you have had time to see sense!" Mary swept out and gave a little sigh whilst doing so.
Matthew crossed his arms and tried to convince himself that his Mary was not always right.
….
Next chapter: Matthew walks! Reviews welcome as always….