When Sorry Is Not Enough by Millie Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

know what it is now,’ he winked before adding, ‘old Sam Steele left you his falsies when he died. Mind you I think they look better in your mouth.’
    Everybody, even Nancy, laughed. This was the ever-jocular William that they knew.
    Flora had been busying herself with the tea and she called them all forward to the table. ‘Great to see the lot of you,’ she began, as she lifted the teapot. ‘Och, Sally,’ she went on, looking directly at Sally and nearly pouring the tea on the table instead of into the cups, ‘see when I don’t see or hear from you I’m fair down in the dumps. And there’s something you and I have to discuss … privately … before you leave.’ Sally nodded.
    ‘Now, William, what happened to you? I mean, did you have an accident?’
    William licked some jam from his index finger before he sighed and drawled, ‘Accident? Suppose it could be classed as that. You see I got friendly, real friendly, with Roy McGregor’s wee brother, Stuart. Then Roy blamed me for Stuart turning gay. The laugh is he didn’t turn gay, he was born gay.’ William stopped to sneer. ‘The only folk that hadn’t worked that out were his bible-punching, prejudiced family.’
    ‘But what has that to do with you being on crutches?’
    ‘Oh, just that Roy vowed to deal with me and, to be truthful, I didn’t want any trouble so, even although it broke his heart, I sent wee Stuart packing.’ William sighed again. ‘But that wasn’t good enough for Roy so two months ago he saw me in the woods there, just by the clootie well, and he started to chase me. Caught up with me on the battlefield … aye well … there wasn’t much I could do to defend myself. You see it wasn’t a fair fight – he had another three of his relatives with him.’
    ‘So they broke your legs.’
    ‘No. I managed to get away from them and I was out-running them when I tripped and fell into that damned stinking clootie well.’ William stopped to lift a piece of cake before finishing with, ‘Know something, that well stinks so much I’m sure the corpses of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s forty-five rebels are still decomposing in there. Didn’t even give me a hand to get out of the filth, the bleeding pigs didn’t. Even chucked in some stinking leaf mould to make it even more difficult for me.’
    ‘Anyway,’ interrupted Shonag who had listened long enough to William’s tale of woe, ‘his accident means that Flora and I have to take on all of the work on the croft.’ She sighed and those looking at her could see tears were not far away. ‘And we’re just too old. I mean have you ever seen two octogenarians trying to learn to drive a tractor?’
    Sally quickly rushed her hand to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. Her merriment was due to the picture that had just popped into her head of Flora and Shonag, suitably dressed in balaclavas and Wellington boots, trying to steer a tractor over the hilly, boulder-strewn terrain.
    ‘Never mind the hysterics, Shonag,’ Flora hissed before banging the table with her fist. ‘I’ve told you – I think I have the answer.’
    ‘And what would that be?’ enquired Luke.
    ‘Och, it’s just that we need …’ Flora stopped abruptly and dismissed Luke with a disdainful wave of her hand. ‘None of your business, sir,’ she emphatically blurted before turning her full attention on to Sally. ‘Before you leave, lass, you and I have to have a private chat.’ She now lifted the teapot. ‘Anyone for another cuppa?’

    Everyone except Flora and Sally had vacated the living room to allow the women the privacy for their urgent tête-à-tête.
    Sally sat with her elbows on the table and her chin cupped in her hands. Flora seemed apprehensive but tentatively she said, ‘Sally, I need money.’
    ‘Are you saying you need a loan?’ Flora bristled but Sally continued. ‘Because that wouldn’t be a problem. You know I could refuse you nothing. After all I owe you.’
    ‘Sally,