They would make the most of it. They always managed to. Sara just hoped it still ended up being an enjoyable family event and not a complete disaster.
Chapter 2
Family Drama
* * *
Ferguson Hall
County Kent, England
December 24, 2016
* * *
It was just after noon when they pulled up at the address that Amelia had given them. Sara had to wonder if they were at the right place, and she definitely felt out of place in their ten-year-old car, parked alongside a driveway full of luxury vehicles.
She swallowed her feeling of discomfort and sent a smile to the kids in the backseat. “It looks like we’re here.”
Charlotte cast a glance up at the towering house; three impressive stories with large stonewalls. It looked more castle than house, but she knew very little about architecture. All she knew was that it was impressive and that it clearly screamed money.
“Oh joy, oh bliss,” she said sarcastically and ignored the pointed look her mother sent her.
“I want you all to behave. This is Christmas, after all.” Sara warned them as she got out of the car.
“As though that actually means anything,” Stuart grumbled but his mother didn’t hear him. That was a small victory for the day.
He rounded the back of the car and joined his sister on their approach to the house. She was carrying a cheese and meat tray that they’d purchased at an artesian deli on the way over. It was more money than he’d ever seen his parents spend on a food tray, but he imagined they were trying to make an impression.
He eyed the contents of the tray and wondered if any of it was actually edible. It all looked a little too high class for his taste. He preferred ham and cheddar when it came to his trays, not aged Gouda and prosciutto, or whatever the lady at the deli had said was in the tray. He was hesitant to try a lot of the food that he expected to find at the house over the next two days, but he knew that his hunger would get the best of him.
“We could still run away, you know,” he whispered to his sister now that they were several paces behind. “Just snatch the keys from mum’s purse, go down to the pub. No one would be the wiser.”
Charlotte sent him a sideways glance. His offer was extremely tempting and extremely out of character. It wasn’t often that her brother wanted to spend time with her. But since she’d arrived home he seemed to be almost glued to her side.
“You know we wouldn’t make it five miles before mum would be on the phone, screaming. Do you want to do that to her on Christmas Eve?” She raised a brow and watched him shrug.
“It might be better than this event.” He cast a glance at the large front door they were quickly approaching. “I’m not sure we’ll get out of this one.”
“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. Eat, drink, and be merry, remember? It’s Christmas.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm from her voice, but they were at the door now so time for small talk and whispers was over.
Sara knocked and waited patiently. The door was opened by her niece, Amelia, looking like a million bucks in a bright red, fitting dress, her hair recently styled and her bleached teeth shining in a broad smile.
“Aunt Sara and Uncle Harry! I’m so glad that you could make it.” She ushered them into the entrance and made a show of taking their coats to be held in the hall cupboard. She took the cheese and meat tray from Charlotte with a gracious smile. “This is lovely. It will go great with what we have planned for tonight’s early appetizers. Did you have a good trip?”
Harry frowned at his niece. She’d never really been the brightest bulb, but she always meant well. “We’re only on the other side of town, dear. It really wasn’t any trouble.”
Amelia’s brow creased in confusion for half a second before she broke back into a smile. “I still get confused with the new house. Still, I am so glad that you could come. I haven’t seen you since the wedding.”
“It was quite an event, that wedding of yours,” Harry observed as they were led further into the home. His eyes wandered from side to side but he made no comment.
“Oh, that was all Charles’ doing. His family insisted on a big event. I’m sorry I didn’t get to spend more time with you that night. That was one of the reasons that I really wanted you here for Christmas.” Amelia lead them into a sitting room where a tray of tea and biscuits was already laid out.
“Have your parents made it yet?” Sara asked as she settled down on the plush sofa and enjoyed the feel of it. Harry sat beside her and the kids retreated to the corner of the room.
“They’re just leaving their stuff in their room. I forgot to ask if you had overnight bags. I can show you your rooms now if you’d like.” Amelia flitted around the room like a hummingbird in search of nectar.
Sara offered her a smile. “How about later, dear. I don’t want to impose on you. Let’s just sit for a little while and have some tea.”
Amelia nodded and took a seat on the sofa. “I’m just a little flustered, is all,” she admitted casting a glance towards the doorway to make sure that her parents weren’t coming back yet. “It’s my first time hosting Christmas and I want everything to be perfect. You know how mum and dad can get sometimes.”
Sara felt her heart reach out to the girl. She knew what her brother could be like. He had always been a show off and an attention grabber. But his wife was really the star of the show. She was the one who made it all about the money and the prestige. Sara had always felt a little bad for Amelia growing up in a home like that.
“Well, you just do your very best and I’m sure it will be absolutely lovely, dear,” Sara said with a smile and watched the relief wash over her niece’s face.
“Thank you, Aunt Sara. I really needed to hear that.” She jolted a little at the sound of footsteps in the hallway and immediately sat up straighter as her parents entered the room.
Graham and Iris Clarke were a sight to be seen. Graham never went anywhere out of his three-piece suit now that he could afford to own one, and Iris wore a dress that Sara didn’t even want to imagine the price tag on. They both wore plastered smiles at the sight of Sara and Harry.
“Sara, darling, it’s so nice to see that you could make it.” Iris leaned over and brushed two air kisses to each of her cheeks.
“I wouldn’t have missed it. Seeing as I’m just on the other side of town.” Sara watched the same perplexed expression cross Iris’ face as had crossed Amelia’s. Then moments later it was back to smiles again.
“Harry, good to see you.” Graham gave Harry a firm handshake before joining his daughter on the other sofa. “What’s new in the world of finance?”
“Oh, money comes in, money goes out. It’s really all the same.” Harry shrugged. He gave Sara a sideways glance and knew that it was going to be a long two days.
“Sounds absolutely boring,” Graham boomed as he leaned forward to make himself a cup of tea and stack three biscuits into his ham-sized hands. Everyone knew that he should probably lay off the biscuits but no one in the room was going to tell him that.
“Are Charles’ parents going to be joining us as well?” Sara looked at Amelia who had gone silent since her parents had entered the room. She was still sitting ramrod straight and doing her best impression of a porcelain doll.
She blinked owlishly and looked at her aunt. “Oh no. They go on holiday every year for Christmas.” She frowned a bit as she said it. “They said they would swing by the house after they got back.”
“Well that’s too bad. I was hoping to get to know them a little better.” Sara gave Amelia’s knee a sympathetic pat.
“Oh, they’re just great. Lovely people, really. Gavin and I golf every Sunday, we do. We get on just grand,” Graham announced to anyone in the room who would listen.
“That you do,” Iris agreed as she fixed herself some tea and strategically placed herself as far away from her husband as possible in order to avoid getting sprayed with tea and biscuit crumbs when he spoke. How the m
an was a partner in a law firm, she would never understand. His table manners resembled that of a toddler.
“Does he work in law as well?” Harry looked at Graham, brow raised in question.
“He was for years. Now he’s gone into politics, the crafty bugger. He says there is more money to be made there.” He sent his wife a wink. “Maybe I’ll go into politics in a few more years.”
Iris simply nodded. She doubted that he would have much luck in public office.
Sara made herself some tea and leaned back against the couch cushions. It would be a long afternoon of talk like this, that she knew. It would be back and forth about jobs and who knew who. Graham would be always trying to one-up every story.
So she got comfortable and she prepared herself for the drama.
Chapter 3
Ferguson Hall
* * *
There was only so much family drama that Charlotte was willing to put up with before she was concerned about her brain exploding. She sat with Stuart in the room for almost an hour. No one offered them tea. No one offered them biscuits. No one even acknowledged their existence.
Amelia was only three years older than Charlotte, but you would almost think that she was in a completely different category all together. Perhaps she was. A different life category, that is. Charlotte was at university and Amelia was recently married. Those two were very different life paths. Not that married people couldn’t be in uni, but it was definitely not a path that she ever saw Amelia following.
Charlotte nudged at Stuart and tilted her head towards the door. He raised a brow and followed her lead as they crept out of the room. No one even looked in their direction as they made their escape.
When they were safely out in the hallway, Stuart heaved a heavy sigh of relief. “Is it going to be like this the whole time?” he looked at Charlotte for guidance on the issue.
She shrugged. “Likely. We are the odd people out at the moment. I doubt we’re going to get much attention. So we’re going to have to find a way to entertain ourselves while the adults try not to bore each other to death.”
He glanced back towards the room they just left. “Did you see the look on mum’s face? She looked like she was going to start putting whiskey in her tea soon to make it through the rest of the afternoon.”
Charlotte chuckled. “Oh, they’ll break out the eggnog and everyone will be sloshed before dinner. It’ll be a grand old time. We might even manage to get a few drinks in before dad sends up that condescending look of his.”
“As if he didn’t do it at our age.”
“Exactly, but he has to try and be authoritative sometimes.” Charlotte continued down the hall.
Ferguson Hall was really quite an impressive place. She remembered her mother mentioning something about Amelia spending a great deal of time, and money, on redecorating it. And she was rather surprised by how appealing the finished product was.
Sure, much of the house was covered in an obsessive amount of Christmas décor at the moment, but underneath that it was clear that Amelia had put a great deal of time into the house. She hadn’t gone gaudy or over the top. She had stuck to the traditional bones of the home and made it look rather antique and classy.
If her cousin ever wanted to pursue a career, she would likely do just fine as an interior decorator, Charlotte thought as they continued with their exploration.
They popped into the dining room where caterers were already working on getting dinner set up and the pre-dinner appetizers available. She wasn’t surprised to see them there. She hadn’t expected Amelia to be busy in the kitchen, sweating over a hot stove. It didn’t really suit her image.
But still, it was nice to know that food would be available soon. Charlotte could already feel her stomach grumbling from the missed lunch. She searched the sideboard for any trace of their cheese and meat tray and was a little shocked to see it there. She’d thought that Amelia would have hidden it in the kitchen or thrown it out. Perhaps she’d harshly judged her cousin.
Next to the dining room was a salon of sorts. It had a very masculine feel to it and she assumed this was where the men would go to smoke their cigars and have their brandy after a meal. It was furnished in leather and dark wood.
The room appealed to her more than any frilly pink room ever could and she wanted badly to curl up on the couch with a book and stay there for the rest of the day.
“Are you day dreaming again?” Stuart poked at her arm.
She realized she’d probably been standing in the same place for at least five minutes. “Just thinking about how nice it would be to read in this room. If it were another time and we didn’t have parents who would try to find us eventually.”
“You really think they’ll try to track us down?” Stuart eyed one of the couches. It really did look pretty comfy.
“As long as they’re still sober, yes,” she laughed. “Come on. We have more snooping to do.”
They left the salon and found a parlour across the hallway. Likely the room where the women would retire, she thought. Such divisional trends were still common in higher British society, and she assumed that Amelia would make use of them when she threw gatherings with Charles’ family. But for this Christmas, there just weren’t enough people for it to matter.
The parlour definitely had a more feminine feel and look to it. Charlotte could see hints of where Amelia had added to it and personalised it. It was a nice room, even if she couldn’t see herself spending much time in it personally. But it was still well done.
The last room on the main floor, with the exception of the kitchen, which they were avoiding, was a study or library of sorts. The moment they stepped through the door, they were both in love.
They’d been raised on a love of reading and the room filled with books, fancy leather-bound books for that matter, made them both want to run to the shelves and touch. They almost immediately clasped their hands behind their backs in order to restrain themselves.
“You know, you can touch them.”
Charlotte jumped at the sound of the voice behind her and whirled around. The laughing face of a young man about five years older than her with dark brown hair and friendly eyes met her.
“You must be Amelia’s cousins, Charlotte and Stuart. We met very briefly at the wedding so I understand if you don’t remember me. Charles Ferguson.” He extended a hand for both of them to shake.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again,” Charlotte responded because she knew that it was polite. “You have a lovely home.”
“It does us well enough.” He looked around the room as though considering. “Feel free to look around at the books. I assume you ran away from the sitting room?”
She looked down at her feet and shuffled them a little guiltily. “Well, ran away has such a negative association to it,” she said and heard him chuckle.
“I have yet to even step foot in there, so I don’t blame you in the least. I know how my in-laws can get. No need to put up any kind of smoke screen on my behalf.” He ran a hand through his hair and skimmed the room. “This is a pretty good hiding place if you’re looking for one. I am really the only one who ever comes in here.”
“Who said we were looking to hide?” Stuart raised a brow.
“Well forgive me if I misjudged. I can always bring you back to the sitting room.” He made a grand gesture of moving towards the doorway.
“We didn’t say we wanted to go back!” Charlotte protested and hated that she sounded a little desperate as she said the words. But she wasn’t certain that she could take any more of sitting in the sitting room and listening to the adults play my horse is bigger than your horse. She had a feeling she would much rather stay in the study, or even hang out with Charles. He seemed a lot more their speed than the people in the sitting room.
“Oh well, in that case, you two should come with me.” He grinned when they looked confused. “The best way to explore any house is with the person who’s lived there their entire life. You’ve got to k
now that.”
Stuart shrugged. He didn’t need any more convincing. They followed Charles back into the hallway for the nice portion of their adventure.
Chapter 4
History and Heritage
* * *
He led them back through the main floor of the house, careful to avoid the sitting room lest anyone hear their voices and flag them down. None of them wanted to engage with the rest of the guests yet. They were all committed to procrastinating on that for as long as possible.
Charles swung them through the kitchen and let them load up plates of appetizers. He smiled at the caterer and chatted a bit while the kids heaped food on their plates.
He looked at their plates approvingly. “I thought you might be a little hungry,” he observed as he popped a mini quiche into his mouth.
“We haven’t had lunch yet,” Stuart explained around a mouthful of cheese.
“Oh, you poor things.” He frowned and grabbed a plate of cookies for good measure. “I’m starving, so I figured this would be a good place to start.”
“I’m not going to argue that point at all,” Charlotte said with a laugh and ate a piece of cheese. It was good to be eating something, even if it was just finger food. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until that moment.
“You have all the food you want?” Charles asked and when they nodded he waved them towards the back of the kitchen. “We’ll take the servant’s stairs to the second floor. It’s quicker than going around.”
He led them up a narrow staircase that opened up into the hall of the second floor. He closed the door behind them and took a generous bite of a cookie. “This is the second floor. It’s where you’ll be staying tonight. I assume you haven’t brought your stuff in yet.”
Haunted Happenings Page 29
