by Heidi Swain
‘What do you mean?’ he scowled. ‘Surely you didn’t expect me to be pleased about what he’d done?’
‘Not pleased exactly,’ I said, having thought it through. ‘But I thought you might be able to see the benefit of his outrageous actions.’
He looked at me as if I was going mad.
‘Sorry,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You’re going to have to explain.’
I waited while Angela filled the table with cups, pots and plates.
‘The teacakes are on the house,’ she whispered. ‘Just a little thank-you.’
‘Thank you, Angela,’ Jamie smiled back.
I was amazed by how he could turn the charm on and off when he needed to.
‘Come on,’ he said, the second Angela had moved on to the next table. ‘Tell me exactly which part of Archie’s ludicrous actions are going to be of any benefit to us?’
I couldn’t believe he was still being so dense. He was completely blinded by his bad mood.
‘All of them,’ I said simply as I buttered my teacake. ‘His letter, cutting off communication between Catherine and the ramblers, just goes to prove that he has hidden motives about the hall and is a sneaky rat to boot. If you can get a copy of that letter you’ve got even more proof that he isn’t the right brother to take over the running of the hall.’
‘But we already know that.’
‘Yes,’ I said exasperatedly. ‘I know that you all know, but he doesn’t know that you know what he’s been planning, does he?’
Jamie looked thoughtful.
‘And he sounds to me like the sort of bloke who’ll deny he’s done anything wrong unless you’ve got the physical proof to show he’s lying. Archie is still harbouring the illusion that he’s going to get his hands on the hall, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, I think he is.’
‘Then start gathering the evidence to prove to him that you know exactly what he’s been up to and that he isn’t the man for the job.’
Jamie nodded and took a bite of his teacake.
‘But the thing is,’ he said sadly, ‘I can’t help thinking that none of this sounds like something my brother would do at all.’
‘What do you mean?’ I frowned. ‘You’ve described him to me as devious, money-obsessed and desperate to get his hands on the place. Surely this letter backs all that up?’
‘Oh it does,’ Jamie agreed, ‘but absolutely none of this is relatable to the Archie I grew up with. The three of us were always so close, best friends really. I guess I’m just finding it hard to believe that he could have changed this much. There’s nothing about any of this that sits right with me. Mum and Dad always kept us so grounded.’
‘Well, what about his girlfriend, Elise?’ I asked. ‘Could she perhaps be the reason he’s changed?’
‘I dunno,’ said Jamie, shaking his head. ‘Maybe. He’s certainly more materialistic now than he used to be, that’s for sure. His lifestyle is completely different to the one he grew up with and apparently so are his priorities.’
‘Look,’ I went on, ‘whatever the real reason behind all this, I can’t help thinking that it won’t do Archie any harm at all to see his devious behaviour laid out in front of him. It might be just the wake-up call he needs.’
‘Hardly going to make for a happy Christmas though, is it?’
I didn’t have a chance to answer before Jamie was on his feet welcoming a thickset man in a checked shirt.
‘Henry,’ he said, shaking the man warmly by the hand. ‘How are you? How’s Jess?’
‘I’m very well,’ he said, taking the seat Jamie offered. ‘And Jess is great. She’s got everything running like a well-oiled machine already.’
‘Of course she has,’ said Jamie, patting his friend on the back. ‘Anna, this is Henry, our estate man. Henry, this is Anna. She’s recently joined the ranks to help Mum convalesce.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Henry.’
‘Likewise,’ he replied. ‘Another Christmas recruit, eh?’ he winked at Jamie. ‘What is it with the Connelly clan and the festive season?’
Jamie ignored his question.
‘Henry’s wife had twins just a few weeks ago,’ he said instead.
‘How exciting!’ I said. ‘Congratulations.’
‘Thanks,’ said Henry, quickly pulling out his phone and proceeding to show us a collection of photos of his beautiful wife and tiny boys.
‘Anyway,’ he said, when he had eventually scrolled through what must have been his iPhone’s entire memory, ‘what’s the news at the hall? I got the impression when we spoke yesterday that some changes are afoot.’
Jamie told Henry about inviting the community back and then asked me to explain what I had suggested to get the gardens back under control. Henry thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and, as luck would have it, he happened to know one of the lecturers at the college who he thought might be interested in setting it all up.
‘I knew you were the right person to ask,’ said Jamie, leaning back in his chair so Jemma could refill our cups for what must have been the third time.
‘Leave it all with me,’ said Henry as he made some notes on his screen, ‘and I’ll see what I can do before the college finishes for Christmas. Your timing couldn’t have been better, what with spring just around the corner.’
I looked doubtfully out of the window at the falling snow. Spring still felt like a long way off to me.
‘Well, I’d better be off,’ he said. ‘I’ve got some shopping to collect before heading home.’
‘I would imagine it’s difficult for your wife to get to town with the twins,’ I sympathised.
‘Oh it’s not that,’ said Henry with a smile. ‘She’s taken the twins to the riding stables she runs today. Just an admin day, but she won’t have time to go shopping as well.’
‘She sounds like quite a woman,’ I laughed, thinking that if I had recently given birth to just one baby, never mind two, I’d still be struggling to be dressed by bedtime.
‘She is,’ said Henry proudly, ‘she really is.’
‘Right,’ said Jamie, when his friend had gone, ‘I guess we’d better head back to the hall. I don’t think we’re in any danger of being snowed in, but I’ve got lots lined up for you to be getting on with, just in case you thought you were nosing ahead.’
‘Not at all,’ I said, reaching for my coat. ‘In fact, I’m looking forward to getting on with things now.’
Jamie didn’t look as if he completely believed me.
‘I am,’ I told him again.
‘Can I add your name to the list for the auction next Saturday?’ asked Jemma, when she came over with the card machine so we could settle our bill. ‘Only many hands make light work and we’re a bit down on numbers this year.’
‘Crikey,’ said Jamie, ‘is it that time already?’
‘Sure is,’ said Jemma. ‘Tom spoke to Mick last week and he said there’s a fine crop of holly and mistletoe to harvest from your woods this year.’
‘Well that’s good,’ said Jamie, ‘and yes, put me down by all means. I’m more than happy to help out.’
‘Excellent,’ she smiled. ‘And what about you, Anna? I don’t suppose you fancy giving up a Saturday to help out, do you?’
‘With what?’ I asked.
‘Sorry,’ Jamie tutted, ‘I keep forgetting you’re such a newbie.’
‘Does it feel as if she’s been around forever already?’ asked Jemma.
‘Just a bit,’ said Jamie, making me blush, but I knew what he meant.
I’d barely been at the hall any time at all, but it was feeling more like home than anywhere else I’d lived in a very long time. If I was feeling like this already, I dreaded to think how I’d be feeling when it was time to pack up and move on in January. My body gave a little shudder at the thought.
‘Every December there’s a Christmas tree auction in Wynbridge,’ Jamie explained. ‘Trees are sold along with all sorts of greenery from local places, like the hall.’
‘We always have a good supply of holly, ivy and mistletoe to sell off,’ Jemma added, ‘and since Ruby got involved with rejuvenating the market, the tree sale is now accompanied by a community bake which takes place in the town hall.’
‘Some cakes are contributed to go into an auction,’ Jamie went on. ‘Dorothy always sends three or four.’
Why was I not surprised?
‘But in the morning people come to bake cookies and gingerbread families in the kitchens,’ Jemma butted in, ‘and that’s what we really need help with.’
I didn’t know what to say. It sounded pretty full-on on the festive front to me, but Jamie didn’t give me time to wriggle out of it.
‘She’d love to help,’ he said meaningfully. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
‘Absolutely,’ I said, taking his raised eyebrows to mean that this was just the sort of thing he was planning to immerse me in if I was ever going to find a way to reclaim Christmas. It was his idea of throwing me in at the deep end, I supposed, and I couldn’t deny that he had been willing to go along with what I had suggested so far for him.
‘You can come in with me in the morning,’ said Jamie, ‘to help set up and drop off Dorothy’s cakes and then stay to help out while I’m lugging trees about in the market.’
‘Excellent,’ said Jemma, hastily adding my name to the list. ‘Two for the price of one, courtesy of Wynthorpe Hall!’
Chapter 14
During the time leading up to the bake sale and tree auction back in town, I didn’t really have the opportunity to fret over what I was going to have to face because Jamie proved more than capable of keeping me occupied. I might have kicked things off with an early-morning run and suggestions as to how he could see the gardens and grounds regenerated without so much as having to pick up a hoe himself, but he wasn’t so preoccupied with my instructions that he forgot to dole out plenty of his own.
The next few days saw me baking with Dorothy, tidying with Hayley and signing for endless parcels which Angus slyly squirrelled back outside the second they touched the kitchen table. My list of assignments weren’t full-on Christmas chores, but they were the closest I’d come in years, and clearing out one of the walk-in cupboards in the hallway with Hayley had given me cause to realise that I wasn’t the only person in the world who struggled through the holidays.
‘Is there any particular reason why we have to do this now?’ I asked my new friend as I pulled out various dusty boxes and bags that didn’t look like they’d seen the light of day for years. ‘Surely this sort of cleaning can wait until the spring, can’t it?’
Hayley looked at me and shook her head in despair.
‘Look, just think about it,’ she said, stepping forward to relieve me of a particularly grubby-looking box. ‘In no time at all this hall is going to be filled to the rafters with family and friends—’
‘I know that,’ I cut in.
‘And they’ll all need somewhere to put their coats, scarves and boots, won’t they?’
‘I guess so,’ I shrugged.
‘So that’s why we need to do this now,’ Hayley continued, ‘so the entire ground floor doesn’t fall into chaos . . .’
Her voice carried on, but it didn’t reach me. I’d caught sight of something that squeezed the very air out of my lungs and made my heart pound hard in my chest. I’d just opened the lid of the box I had pulled out. They were only toys, a motley collection of children’s things, but the teddy bear on top was so unnervingly similar to my own that I felt completely pole-axed. I’d foolishly left him behind on my bed when I left home and had regretted it ever since. I stuffed it back in the box and went to push it towards Hayley, who was now nagging me to hurry up.
‘Not that one,’ she suddenly snapped.
‘But don’t you want to go through it?’
‘Put it back!’ she said again, her voice ragged in her chest and tears quickly coursing down her cheeks in two thick kohl lines.
‘Hayley,’ I began, but she pushed past me and shoved the box back into the corner of the cupboard then slammed the door shut, banishing it from sight. ‘That’s not for sorting. No one goes near that box.’
I didn’t know what to say. I had no idea Hayley even knew how to cry. She was always so sassy and upbeat. My own upset at seeing the bear was completely diminished by the sight of my friend sitting at the bottom of the stairs and sobbing her heart out. I sat next to her and handed her a tissue.
‘I’d completely forgotten we’d put them in there,’ she said, her voice juddering as she tried to catch her breath. ‘They should have gone away upstairs.’
‘Were they yours?’
‘They were for my baby.’
‘Oh,’ I said, ‘I see.’ But of course I didn’t.
Hayley looked at me for a second before carrying on.
‘I fell pregnant just before Christmas during my last year at school,’ she explained. ‘My mum and dad threw me out the second I told them.’ She stopped to sniff. ‘My nan did a bit of cleaning here at the time and told Catherine and Angus what had happened and they offered to take me in.’
I handed her another tissue.
‘They said I could stay as long as I liked, even when the baby came.’
I wasn’t at all surprised.
‘And what about the baby’s father?’ I asked. ‘Did he come here with you?’
I jumped as Hayley let out a bitter laugh.
‘No,’ she said, her voice sounding harsh and hurt, ‘sir had no intention of leaving his wife but he did leave school pretty sharpish when he found out I was carrying a Christmas miracle. I never heard from him again.’
I wanted to ask about the baby, but she had never mentioned having a child so I couldn’t imagine there had been a happy outcome.
‘Then my nan died,’ she went on, starting to sob again, ‘and I lost the baby.’
‘Oh, Hayley,’ I gasped, wrapping my arms around her. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘The hospital said it was probably the shock, but I think it was because I didn’t deserve to have a baby.’
‘Don’t say that,’ I said, squeezing her tight and kissing her hair. ‘Don’t ever say that.’
Hayley shook her head and sniffed again before spitting on the tissue and wiping the make-up from her cheeks.
‘Anyway,’ she said, sounding more composed, ‘I took on Nan’s job and Mum and Dad let me go home so that was that.’
I wanted to hear more about it, but she had shut the conversation down. I understood why. I’d done it often enough myself but at least now I knew why Catherine kept a room ready should Hayley want it. Personally I don’t think I would have wanted to go back to a home and parents like that, but I wasn’t Hayley, was I?
‘We’ll leave that box then,’ I said, standing back up and holding out my hand so I could pull her to her feet.
‘One less to worry about,’ she smiled, her bottom lip still wobbling a bit. ‘Christmas, eh?’ she said, trying to sound strong.
‘Christmas indeed,’ I agreed.
We didn’t mention the conversation again and I got on with the job of forcing myself to get involved with every little thing Jamie went out of his way to put his own festive spin on. He was clearly determined to keep topping up my steadily growing seasonal spirit.
My evenings were the first thing he set about transforming. Ordinarily I would head up to my room early, as keen to give the family some space as I was to take a swim in the Jo Malone-scented tub, but Hayley’s arrival one morning with a bulging supermarket carrier bag put paid to all that.
‘What have you got there?’ snapped Dorothy, jabbing at the bag with the handle of the spoon she had been using to stir the breakfast porridge. ‘You’ve not brought your lunch with you today, have you?’
She sounded affronted even before she’d heard what was inside and I hoped for Hayley’s sake there wasn’t contraband shop-bought food inside.
‘What would I want to bring my own grub for?’ she bit back, sounding every bit as riled as her fr
iend. ‘Best food in the entire county served up at this table and you’re accusing me of bringing my own. You should know me better than that, Dorothy Dawson,’ she added with a disgruntled sniff.
‘Well, I’m sorry,’ said Dorothy, the heat evaporating from her tone and her expression sheepish. ‘It’s just that when I see supermarket shopping bags turn up on my table I can’t help feeling put out. It’s a natural reflex for me.’
‘Well, you needn’t worry,’ said Hayley. ‘Everything in here is for Jamie and none of what’s inside has been anywhere near a supermarket.’
I wondered what the bag was concealing and my ears pricked up the next second when she mentioned my name.
‘He’s got a little surprise lined up for anxious Annie over there.’
OK, so it wasn’t exactly my name, but it was close enough and I knew she had coined the nickname after she had told me that I needed to ‘chill out’ when we’d found some leftover Christmas paper that reminded me of home and I’d had a minor meltdown.
Everyone at the hall knew my mum had died when I was little, but none of them knew that she had actually passed away on Christmas Day. I had only shared that with Jamie and I wanted to keep it that way. I hadn’t even mentioned to him what happened during the years that followed and I had no intention of digging it all up. There was no point. Everyone else knew that I had no one to spend the holidays with and as far as I was concerned that was all they needed to know with regard to my aversion to December the twenty-fifth. I didn’t need to try and rekindle my Christmas spirit with an eager audience assessing my every move, no matter how well intentioned their interest.
I was just about to ask Hayley what it was that Jamie had asked her to bring in the offending bag, when the man himself charged into the kitchen and plucked it from the table.
‘Well done, Hayley,’ he said with a wink. ‘I knew I could rely on you not to forget.’
‘I’ve even remembered the popcorn,’ she beamed, tapping the side of her nose and soaking up her idol’s praise. ‘And before you pipe up again,’ she added, planting a kiss on Dorothy’s cheek, ‘this stuff came from the healthfood shop, not the supermarket. It’s strictly make-your-own.’
