Chapter 17: The Bentleys

The Bentleys came home.

Ben, John, Mark and Dale turned up in their twin-cab ute Friday afternoon. They found Mary and Marty with the horses. They also found Marty in the middle of kissing Mary with his hands up under her shirt.

When Mary heard them, she turned to face them and kept Marty’s arms around her waist. She knew they thought they had proprietary rights over her. However, she had decided it had to end. When she introduced Marty as her fiancée, they had all raised their eyebrows at her.

To say they were surprised to learn Mary was getting married was an understatement. Ben, in particular, seemed to have the biggest problem with Marty. He had known Mary for all of her life, and as far as he was concerned, she was an eighty-years-old just like him even if she didn’t always look it.

What had him worried was the fact that Marty was only twenty-seven. Mary explained that he wore the ring, so he was her partner. Ben hadn’t really understood about the rings, yet he did know that Mary swore by them. He’d carried a torch for Mary for a long time.

When John had started sniffing around her, Ben had sent him off to college. Mary had been in her forties at the time, but she was still the hottest looking forty-year-old in town.

While many of the women around her true age had started letting things slip, Mary still had the body of a twenty-year-old and hadn’t gotten into the habit of hiding it. Most people put it down to her single status as to why she still looked so good.

Ben had been worried about Mark becoming infatuated with her when he started working for her, but Mary didn’t seem to encourage him or Dale. The new man in her life, however, was a different story. He was a good-looking boy in his prime and definitely Mary’s type.

Ben knew that Mary had money stacked away and wondered how the boy had gotten her to give him the ring that she believed her partner had to wear. The ring had never gone to Ben. This bloke was nicely built and not bad looking, but Ben couldn’t see anything special about him.

Ben had asked her to marry him after her Granny died. She had refused and broken off their relationship. That was when she went away, and he had ended up with Janet. The parade of men over the years had irked him. However, there was little he could do about them since he was married, and she wasn’t.

He had contemplated having an affair with Mary many times, but he knew that once she had said no, she meant no. If she broke off the relationship, you didn’t get a second chance. Plenty of other blokes had learned that the hard way and he wasn’t totally stupid.

To be honest with himself, he knew that Janet suited him. He had come to love her and didn’t want to lose her, so he had kept his fantasies about Mary to himself. The fact that Mary had never had any kids was important to him, as it was something Janet did do. He loved his kids and his grandkids.

Mark and Dale wandered off with Mary so she could tell them about some jobs she wanted them to take care of while she was away. Mark often stayed in the basement flat when Mary was away on one of her trips, and he was happy to do so again. Mark had laughed and said he needed the break from the family.

Since the horses were due to foal, Dale would also stay. The horses seemed to like him better than Mark. Mark and Dale wondered how the new bloke would affect their working arrangement with Mary but whom she married was her choice. They both got the impression from Mary that their jobs were safe, so they were happy.

Half the cattle on the other property belonged to them and the arrangement they had with Mary, suited them and her just fine. Ben and John, however, were happy to give Marty the third degree. Mary had warned him that the Bentleys were protective of her and it didn’t take Marty long to work out that it was because they cared deeply for her.

He bit his tongue a couple of times at the very personal questions they asked. Being a lawyer, he was very at good steering the men off in another direction if he didn’t wish to answer. When Ares came over and nuzzled Marty for another carrot, both men stepped back.

Marty happy patted Ares and told the horse that if he got in his stall, he would give him some of the apple that he had. The men watched in amazement when Ares nodded his head and happily put himself to bed. The other horses followed, and he gave them each a piece of apple and a hug, as he closed the stall gates.

Both men were amazed. They had never seen Mary’s horses behave for any man as well as they just had with Marty. The fact that all the horses had nuzzled Marty and obeyed him did say something about the calibre of the man, especially to a cattleman.

Marty then invited the boys for a drink and went to the house. Marty played host and got the beers. The puppy who had been christened Hypo raced up to him and jumped up and down at his feet until Marty picked him up. He licked Marty furiously and then wanted down.

Marty patted him and told him to go find out if Mary wanted a rum or a beer. Hypo immediately raced off to find Mary. Marty made a couple of rum and colas with ice. Hypo raced back, and he sat beside him.

“Rum or beer?” Marty said. The puppy tapped his right foot with his paw. “What about the boys?” Marty asked. Hypo tapped his other foot twice.

“Okay, go tell them that they are on the table,” he said to the puppy. Hypo barked in excitement and raced off.

“What the fuck?” John said, watching the exchange with amazement.

Marty grinned at the two men. “Right foot is Rum, left is Beer,” he explained.

Ben said, “So how does he ask them what they want?”

“Oh, he just barks at Mary. She understands and tells him what she wants. I can’t talk to him like she can, so we made up our own signals,” Marty explained.

Marty turned to Mary, and the boys came up the steps. He handed her a drink and then the boys theirs. He patted Hypo and told him he was a good boy and Hypo happily went and crawled into his dog box for a rest.

When Marty sat at the end of the table, Mary gave him a kiss and sat on his leg. “Hypo is getting too smart for his own good,” she told him.

Marty grinned and hugged her, “Andy picked you a good dog. He learns really fast. I bet he will take to herding the cattle with little trouble when you teach him what is what.”

Mary nodded and turned to John when he asked, “Is Marty having us on, or did the dog ask you what you wanted to drink?”

Mary smiled and replied, “Oh, Hypo asked me. You know I can talk to animals John; you’ve seen me do it many times before. Marty is correct, Hypo is very intelligent and a fast learner. Mark said that he is going to bring Theia over tomorrow, so Hypo has company while we are away.”

Ben said, “They should have nice pups. Shame you didn’t have any Mary.”

Marty felt her stiffen in his arms and hugged her a little tighter. He knew the dig was a warning to him. Even so, Mary was a little sensitive on the subject and considered Ben’s words were a dig at her.