by Heidi Swain
‘It was my fault really,’ said Elise, just as the silence became embarrassing.
She didn’t sound particularly upset about being the cause of their late arrival.
‘Well, Suki’s really.’
‘Suki?’ frowned Catherine.
‘My new baby,’ Elise said fondly as she teetered over to the table in what looked to me very much like counterfeit Jimmy Choos.
Having taken Elise in from top to toe, I couldn’t see her as the kind of girl who settled for second best and I wondered what the story was behind her fake footwear.
It was hardly my place to think it, but to my mind both she and Archie looked ridiculously out of place in the relaxed Wynthorpe kitchen and I hoped that wasn’t what everyone had thought about me the day I rocked up in my Manolos and tailored skirt. I was almost relieved that Jamie hadn’t been there to witness my arrival, although he had seen me in an only marginally less uptight get-up the day he came back.
Perhaps I was just being overly critical because I hadn’t warmed to the pair and their late appearance. I was sure Angus had mentioned something about their change of arrival meaning they would be driving up straight after work, so that doubtless accounted for their designer attire and lack of time to change.
We all watched on as Elise carefully placed her bag on the scrubbed table, checking she had everyone’s attention before she undid the zip a little. Floss stealthily slid out of her basket and crept on her belly across the floor as a tiny white head and two incredibly pointed ears popped out.
‘Oh my,’ said Catherine as Hugo and Oscar pushed through for a better view and the little doggy face looked around with huge, tentative eyes. ‘You’ve got a puppy.’
‘Whatever is it?’ demanded Cass.
She didn’t sound at all impressed and I could see from the slightly sour expression Elise was now wearing that this was not the gushing and cooing reaction she had been expecting her new bundle to receive.
‘She’s a teacup Chihuahua,’ she pouted peevishly as she scooped the trembling scrap out of the bag and up to her chest. ‘And she isn’t a puppy any more. This is as big as she’ll get.’
‘Sweet,’ said Oscar, giving his teddy a squeeze.
He was the only one, apart from Elise of course, who seemed even remotely keen on the little thing. Even Archie looked a long way from being labelled the proud father. His next words explained why.
‘And she doesn’t travel well,’ he snapped. ‘So we had to keep stopping. She threw up twice on the way here, once all over my freshly valeted interior.’
‘Are you talking about Elise or the dog?’ teased Cass, raising an amused eyebrow in my direction.
‘It’s not her fault,’ said Elise, her bottom lip quivering. ‘She’s a very delicate little thing.’
Christopher had a wicked smile on his lips and I felt sure he was going to say something even more inflammatory than his wife just had, while Floss looked as if she was sizing Suki up for a suppertime snack.
‘You do know there’s no such thing as a teacup Chihuahua, don’t you?’ I quickly interjected in an attempt to diffuse the situation. ‘It’s just a term breeders use to describe the size of the pups.’
‘Is that right?’ said Archie, his eyebrows raised in surprise as it finally dawned on him that there was a new girl amongst the crowd.
‘No it isn’t,’ said Elise, eyeing me with something like loathing. ‘They’re a new breed. Anyway, who are you?’
She clearly didn’t appreciate my Chihuahua knowledge, even though I had shared it with the best of intentions.
‘You must be Anna,’ said Archie smoothly.
‘That’s right,’ I said, wondering how much he knew about me already.
‘Oh yes,’ said Elise scathingly. ‘You’re the new help.’
‘Crikey, you don’t change,’ said Christopher before anyone else had a chance. ‘There’s really no need to be a bitch – or does it just come naturally, Elise?’
‘Time for bed,’ said Cass, quickly gathering her own brood together and shepherding them towards the door before an argument broke out.
Evidently this was not going to be the kind of happy-ever-after Christmas family reunion that was written about in romance novels, and I knew the fact that Archie had caught us all in the post-toast excitement of Jamie’s announcement would make the news even harder for him to take. Now it was going to look to him like we had celebrated ahead of his arrival because we all knew how pissed he was going to be when he was told he wasn’t in line to inherit after all.
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ I said to Cass, keen to leave the boys to it. ‘Show you which room Hayley thought the boys would like.’
‘You don’t have to do that,’ said Cass.
‘It’s fine,’ I told her, with a backwards glance at Elise. ‘I’m the help. It’s what I’m paid to do.’
Once the boys were in their pyjamas and settled I read them a story while Cass unpacked their bags and arranged the many teddies Oscar had insisted he needed to see him through Christmas.
‘You’re a natural,’ she whispered as we quietly closed the door and headed back along the landing.
‘Years of practice,’ I told her. ‘And of course, kids are always easier to handle when they aren’t your own.’
That was one nugget of wisdom I had accumulated very early on in my career.
‘What exactly is it that you do?’ Cass asked. ‘I thought you were here to look after Catherine.’
She sounded more curious than anything, and not at all patronising like her potential sister-in-law.
‘I am,’ I said, ‘sort of. At least, that’s what I was originally employed to do. But I soon discovered the job descriptions are pretty blurred here.’
‘You can say that again,’ Cass laughed.
‘So I’ve been doing all sorts of things since I arrived,’ I explained. ‘But in real life I occasionally work as a nanny.’
‘Rather you than me.’
‘Or a personal assistant, companion or carer.’
‘Sounds varied.’
‘It is,’ I said, ‘and it suits me.’
I ignored the little voice in my head that was keen to turn that statement into ‘it used to suit me’.
‘Do you move around a lot?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I travel all over. You’d be amazed how many people need “help”.’
Cass nudged me and smiled.
‘Don’t worry about old bitchy-britches down there,’ she said with a nod towards the stairs.
‘I’m not,’ I said. ‘I don’t hold any truck with folk who wear fake designer footwear.’
‘No way!’ Cass squealed.
I knew instantly that I had made a mistake telling her that but it was too late to take it back.
‘Really?’ she said, her eyes alight as she plucked at my sleeve. ‘Aren’t they the real deal?’
‘No,’ I said in a whisper ‘They’re not, but you didn’t hear it from me.’
‘Mum’s the word,’ she giggled, tapping the side of her nose. ‘Crikey. I wouldn’t know the difference between one high-end heel and another, but I would have thought Elise would. Are you sure they’re phoney?’
‘I’d bet my very real Manolos on it,’ I told her with a wink.
We hadn’t taken many more steps along the landing before the sound of raised voices flew up the stairs to meet us.
‘Oh dear,’ I said, peering over the banister. ‘That can only mean one thing.’
‘Yep,’ agreed Cass. ‘Catherine has just told Archie he’s not getting his grubby mitts on this place after all. I take it Jamie has told you what his dear brother had planned for the hall should he have been the one to take it on?’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘and at the time I struggled to believe anyone could be capable of something like that. But now . . .’ I hesitated.
‘Yes?’
‘Now I’ve met him,’ I said in a low voice, ‘and her, I’m beginning to understand.’
Ca
ss nodded sadly.
‘He’s certainly not the same guy he used to be,’ she confided, her words confirming what Jamie had said the day we had found out about the letter to the rambling group. ‘When I first met him he wouldn’t have even considered suggesting doing something like this, let alone seeing it through. I mean, can you imagine what it would have done to Catherine and Angus to see Wynthorpe turned into a health spa, of all things?’
I shuddered at the thought.
‘I bet madam would have loved it though,’ she added. ‘She would have swanned about all day having her pores perfected and her legs waxed.’
I didn’t doubt for a second that she was right, and wondered again if perhaps Elise might have been the real driving force behind the project.
‘Have Archie and Elise been together very long?’ I asked.
‘A while,’ said Cass. ‘Archie works for her father. He was a good guy until he hooked up with him and then started dating the boss’s daughter, but my guess is she won’t stick around now.’
‘No?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘There’s no golden ticket now, is there?’
‘I suppose not.’
I didn’t want to say too much more, even though I agreed with everything Cass had just said. Elise didn’t look to me to be the type to hitch her wagon to anything other than a lucrative thoroughbred, but I quickly stopped myself from saying as much. That level of bitchiness wasn’t my style at all, and I had already flagged up her fake footwear – but really, she only had herself to blame for that. The silly woman had gone out of her way to upset me, even though I had tried to rescue her when the conversation had turned against her precious pet.
‘I think I’ll slip off to bed,’ I said to Cass. ‘Give you all some time alone to talk things through. You don’t need me hanging around, and besides, we’ve got a busy few days ahead.’
‘Oh no you don’t,’ said Cass, catching my hand and linking her arm through mine. ‘You aren’t going anywhere. I’ve seen the way Jamie looks at you, so you’re coming back down with me.’
‘What?’ I squeaked. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Yes you do,’ she said, brooking no denial. ‘It’s obvious you’re a Wynthorpe resident now, Anna, and the person who came up with this charity idea to boot, so it’s only right that you should stick out the wrath of Archie with the rest of us.’
I couldn’t imagine for one second that the evening was how Catherine had envisaged it would be when Angus had announced that he was gathering everyone together to celebrate Christmas and Jamie’s homecoming.
For a start, Angus wasn’t there to smooth things over. Had he been, and in spite of his mischievous character, I felt certain that he would have nipped the sniping and snarling in the bud, especially as quite a lot of it seemed to be coming from Elise’s direction rather than Archie’s. However, in Angus’s absence, the few hours before bed that first night were filled with recriminations and accusations, and I sat on the sofa listening to the angry words and wondering if it was ever going to be possible to pull everyone back together in time for the twenty-fifth.
Thankfully, those already in the know had seen fit not to mention the charity idea Jamie and I had cooked up and I hoped that little secret would stay under wraps until Archie had had the opportunity to digest the fact that he wasn’t now facing a future handed to him on a silver salver.
Both Christopher and Jamie had wasted no time in telling him that missing out was all his own fault, and Archie sat with his head in his hands, shell-shocked that they had known what he had had in mind all along. He didn’t even dare look at his mother.
No one wanted to stay up late that night and personally I wouldn’t have been at all surprised to come down to breakfast the following morning and find everyone had left again. Thankfully, however, that was not the case.
Chapter 25
Next morning the skies were crisp and clear and, without having planned to, Jamie and I found ourselves in the kitchen, pulling on our trainers to go for an early run, at exactly the same time. I had no intention of pushing my luck because my ankle was still a bit on the tender side, but I wanted to get outside and clear my head before the day began.
‘I didn’t knock on your door,’ Jamie said under his breath as he struggled with his laces, ‘because I thought you might still be asleep.’
‘Huh,’ I huffed, ‘I wish. I’ve been tossing and turning all night.’
‘Snap,’ he tutted, smiling faintly. ‘Fucking Archie,’ he spat, his sudden change of tone making me jump. ‘And fucking Elise, come to that. I’m so sorry about what happened last night, Anna.’
There had been an awkward few minutes when we had gone up to bed and Elise had realised that she hadn’t been assigned the lovely Rose Room. The tension had escalated tenfold, of course, when she twigged that I had it.
‘But it’s my absolute favourite,’ she had pouted at Archie, no doubt assuming that her theatrics would get her her own way. ‘And it’s one of the family rooms,’ she added. ‘I don’t see why it should be given to—’
‘If you say “the help” once more,’ said Jamie, who happened to be right behind her, ‘I’ll—’
‘You’ll what?’ Archie scowled back, stepping around Elise, who looked smug, and Suki, who was trembling and terrified.
Catherine had quickly stepped between her boys.
‘Elise,’ she said, ‘you and Archie are in the Ivy Room at the far end of the corridor this Christmas, unless you’d prefer to be in Archie’s old bedroom in the attic? That can quickly be arranged.’
Elise didn’t say anything else, but I could tell she was just bursting to.
‘Now stop making such a silly fuss,’ Catherine continued, sounding uncharacteristically cross as she addressed the troublesome trio, ‘and get to bed, all of you. We’ve a busy week ahead and I’m expecting everyone to help out.’
That had been the end of it, aside from the odd slamming door and muffled voices, and I had consequently ended up not sleeping and then getting up even earlier than usual for a run to burn off some of my annoyance. Given Jamie’s bad language and furrowed brow, I thought it would be a good idea to steer us both around the longest possible route, even if I was going to have to take it slowly.
‘Come on,’ he said, unlocking the kitchen door and stepping out into the sharp, biting air. ‘I need to get out of here.’
I had real trouble keeping pace with him, and not just because of my ankle. My lungs were burning by the time we stopped for a breather at the back of the hall and surveyed his father’s abandoned handiwork, the Wynthorpe illuminations.
‘I know you’re cross about all of this,’ I panted, nodding at the lengths of bulbs that had been festooned across the facade and around the windows. ‘But I think that really he just wanted to surprise everyone.’
‘Yes, I know he did,’ Jamie agreed, surprising me with a smile. ‘He’s an annoying old sod, but his heart is in the right place.’
I was pleased he was able to acknowledge that. Angus might have been one of the most exasperating men I had ever met, but he was also the most thoughtful and generous.
‘In that case, you won’t give him too much of a hard time about it all, will you?’
‘No,’ said Jamie, wiping the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt. ‘He meant well. He always does, and I’m actually hoping,’ he confided, ‘that if I can rope Mick and Christopher into helping, we’ll be able to surprise Dad when he comes home from hospital tomorrow by having them all strung up and twinkling. How does that sound for an idea?’
‘Perfect,’ I nodded, feeling moved by the kind proposal. ‘He’ll love that. Everyone will.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Jamie agreed, ‘and given Archie’s reaction to the news last night I can’t help thinking it’s more important than ever that we pull together to put on a united front.’
‘I dread to think what he and Elise will have to say about our charity idea,’ I said, biting my lip as
I scrolled through their potential scathing comments in my head.
‘I don’t care what she thinks,’ said Jamie, sounding scathing himself. ‘Besides, between you and me, I don’t reckon she’ll stick around for long once she realises that Archie really has blown it and missed out on his chance to take over here. She’ll soon be off, latching on to someone else who she thinks will give her the chance to swan around and play Lady Muck.’
I had a feeling he was probably right, but what a blow to Archie’s already dented ego that was going to be.
‘But, believe it or not, I do care about Archie,’ Jamie continued, a deep frown forming. ‘I’m going to need all the help I can get to make this place, and the charity, a success, and as far as I’m concerned that has to begin with a strong core, a strong family core.’
Jamie was obviously as generous and forgiving as his father. I wasn’t sure that, if I were in his position, I would have cared whether I had Archie, the brother who had been prepared to throw it all away, on my side or not.
‘And of course that core includes Dorothy,’ he told me, counting the names off on his fingers, ‘and Mick and Hayley and you, Anna.’
‘I know,’ I swallowed. ‘I know.’
They were all, it seemed to me, waiting for me to give them an answer, but I still didn’t have one to give, and the arrival of such hostility in the form of Archie and Elise had only served to confuse my thoughts even further.
Before the showdown the night before I had been able to visualise a real future for myself here, standing shoulder to shoulder with Jamie, as we developed the charity and served the local community, but now I wasn’t so sure. Dramatic, probably, but I couldn’t help thinking about Demelza Poldark and how, in the eyes of some, her kind-hearted character never quite made the transition from kitchen-maid to mistress of the house. If a flame-haired beauty couldn’t pull it off, what chance did I have?
