Calico Road by Anna Jacobs Page B

himself on?
    He would think it a shame not to take advantage of all the opportunities he’d been given!
    Humming happily, he went up to mend the catch on his bedroom window and oil the squeaking hinges on Phoebe’s bedroom door. Then he went out to the stables and sheds, amazed at how perfectly usable stuff had just been left lying around in piles. He spent a bit of time petting the old mare, who seemed glad of the company, then he checked the cart, which was in a sorry state.
    He didn’t reckon much to Phoebe’s husband – slack, he’d been, letting the inn go to rack and ruin – but she was a lovely woman, and hardworking too.
    Jethro was informed that Toby had left the Backenshaw mill cottage and taken every stick of wood from it, even the shelves and coat hooks which he’d claimed were his.
    ‘Shall I cry theft, Mr Greenhalgh?’ the rent collector asked eagerly. ‘We can easily get someone to swear the things were in the cottage when the woman moved in, though I think he has the right of it and the place was bare.’
    ‘No. Why did you turn him out? I didn’t tell you to do that.’
    ‘Your father’s orders. Said as soon as he was buried, I was to give Fletcher notice.’
    Jethro felt anger rise in him, but it wasn’t this man’s fault that John Greenhalgh was trying to control things even from the grave. He dismissed the rent collector and went to sit by the window in the library.
    Jethro didn’t like the methods used, but admitted to himself that it was a relief to have Fletcher away from Backenshaw. But as long as the man lived he posed a threat and whether anyone else realised it or not, Jethro was only too aware of that because his father had taken him fully into his confidence when he’d realised he hadn’t long to live.
    Now it was a question of wait and see. If Fletcher did nothing to draw attention to himself, perhaps things would work out all right.
    And at the moment Jethro had more than enough on his hands running the mill he’d inherited from his father because there were quite a few changes he intended to make there. He’d miss the old man’s expertise, but he wouldn’t miss being told what to do or the penny pinching when money needed to be spent on maintenance.
    But as the days passed he found he couldn’t get his bastard brother out of his mind and decided in the end that it wouldn’t hurt to pay someone in Calico to report on what Fletcher was doing.
    Jethro let out a sniff of amusement as he remembered the strange condition Fletcher had agreed to. The free pot of beer to be provided every January gave him an excuse to go up there himself and check how things were. Was that why his father had made the condition? Surely the old man hadn’t expected the two of them to get to know one another or act as brothers? It was the last thing either of them wanted. He’d never know now. All he did know was that his father had been a very devious man.
    But Jethro would definitely find someone to spy on Fletcher for him. It never hurt to know what was going on. Jethro was his father’s son where that was concerned, if not in other ways.
    Ah, to hell with Fletcher! He had more important things on his mind. He needed a wife to run his home and provide him with heirs, and he wanted several children, especially a son to inherit the mill. He’d resisted marrying while his father was alive because he didn’t want the old man picking out a wife for him. That was something he’d do for himself. His parents’ marriage had been so cold, he had a fancy to marry not for money but from inclination. If he could find someone suitable.
    He’d have to keep his eyes open.
    By December Meg and Ben had spent several Sunday afternoons together because the weather had been fine if cold nearly every weekend. After their second outing he started waiting for her after work as well, walking her home, asking her how her day had gone, chatting gently.
    At home, though, things had gone from bad to worse. Her