A Time To Reap – Episode 28
A Time To Reap by Kate Blackadder
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- 1. A Time To Reap – Episode 28
It was still warm and sunny at eight o’clock as Peggy saw Elizabeth’s car draw up at Glenmore the following Wednesday.
Hugh had not wanted to leave his uncle in the lurch and had insisted on working in the fields every day, so the visit to Rosland had been arranged for an evening.
Much as she would have liked some time at home without Donna around, Peggy asked Elizabeth if she could come along, and be dropped off at June Morrison’s house. She had June’s copy of the script for the SWRI drama competition to give her.
“I could post it,” Peggy explained to Elizabeth, “but I want to check that she doesn’t regret agreeing to be in the play.”
Donna had changed into blue slacks and blouse. The red of the cardigan slung round her shoulders matched her sandals. She still looked dazzling but at least she was dressed in more reasonable attire for looking around a farm.
“Sit in the front, Donna,” Peggy advised. “There’s a lovely view from the top of the glen.”
She didn’t want Donna sitting with Hugh, whispering about how bored she was going to be. To her surprise, though, when the view spread before them, the low sun glowing over the purple hillside and the river below, Donna asked Elizabeth to stop the car so that she could take a photograph.
“Donna’s a wonderful photographer,” Hugh said. “That’s how we met. She’d taken pictures for one of my clients – Bill Brock, a great guy. He’s in the building business like my dad, but on a massive scale.”
“The light is lovely in the evenings,” Elizabeth said to Donna. “And it never gets properly dark here at this time of year.”
“You’re kidding me?”
For the first time Donna seemed impressed with something Scotland had to offer.
“You’re really a farmer, like Hughie’s uncle?”
“I manage the farm on the Rosland estate,” Elizabeth said. “I was brought up on a farm – my dad was a shepherd. It’s in my blood, I suppose.”
“I couldn’t do it.” Donna shuddered. “All those big animals. Besides, I gave up work the day I became Mrs Hugh Mackay.” She turned to give Hugh a flirtatious look.
“Here you are, Peg.” Elizabeth drew up at the dairyman’s house. “Come to the farmhouse once you’ve finished with June. Tibbie will be there, of course, if we’re not back.”
