Faith - Lesley Pearse [150]
But in May 1977 his wife left him to go and live in France, taking their children with her, and over a drink he confided in her.
Laura was not surprised. She knew he had been a lousy husband and an absentee father, and no doubt his wife was sick and tired of always coming second to his business interests.
What was surprising was that Robbie was devastated. As he blurted it all out to her tears welled up in his eyes and he said he didn’t think he could live without her.
Laura had plenty of reasons to be glad he’d got his come-uppance, not least that he was now experiencing the same kind of pain she’d felt when Stuart left her, but despite everything she couldn’t take any pleasure in his misfortune. She felt genuinely sorry for him.
Throughout that summer she saw a great deal of him as she nursed him through his crisis. In his vulnerable and bruised state she found him to be a far nicer, gentler man than she’d thought. They had many a heart-to-heart over drinks or dinner, and he often came over to Edinburgh at weekends and took her and Barney out for the day. A seven-year-old boy needed male company and even though Laura didn’t think Robbie was an ideal father figure, he was good with Barney. He played football with him, took him on scary rides at fun fairs, and added a little balance to his otherwise female-dominated life. It was during that period that she took Robbie over to Fife to meet Jackie.
Looking back, she supposed she wanted Jackie’s approval. She felt her friend was suspicious about how she made her living, and Robbie could be utterly charming when he chose to be. She hoped he would put Jackie’s mind at rest that both she and Barney were fine, and perhaps too she wanted to show Robbie that she did have some friends who weren’t low life.
Jackie had developed a hard edge since she got into property; she wasn’t above a little conniving or jiggery-pokery to get what she wanted. Although Laura hadn’t been aware that day that Jackie saw Robbie as a useful ally, she clearly did, for she took his phone number and it transpired much later that she’d got him to act on her behalf in the purchase of Brodie Farm because she’d been having some problems getting it. Exactly what he did for her Laura never knew, nor did she have any idea how long they were in contact with each other afterwards. All Laura knew that day in Fife was that Jackie seemed to like Robbie, and that made Laura feel better about herself.
She and Robbie never became lovers again, but she did come to consider him a real friend, which made his subsequent actions far less understandable.
By the following summer their meetings had dwindled to less than one a month and Laura assumed Robbie had found a new lady. On the odd occasion he came to the studio, she was glad that he seemed perkier. He had also changed his style from always wearing sharp suits and dated slicked-back hair to casual, younger clothes and a fashionable blow-dry. She teased him about it once and he laughingly said that they all had to move with the times. That day he thanked her for her past kindness and understanding and said he would always value her friendship.
One day in January ’78, Laura arrived at the studio as usual at ten, to find Katy and Pete, the blond hunk from Manchester, waiting outside in the cold. Katy was wearing an old embroidered Afghan coat and jeans, with a woolly hat pulled down over her ears, but she looked frozen. Pete, in a donkey jacket, didn’t appear to be suffering, just perplexed because normally the studio was open at nine.
After an hour’s wait, all of them huddling in Laura’s car, a large van arrived and some workmen got out and opened