by Heidi Swain
‘What the hell’s gone on here?’ asked Archie as he came to a halt next to where Jamie was standing.
‘What?’
‘All this, of course,’ said his brother, pointing up at the pretty hall. ‘However much has this all cost?’
I hardly thought he was the one who should be worrying about how the hall funds were being spent, especially when he had proved himself so willing to squander them.
‘Not much,’ shrugged Jamie, who I guessed didn’t actually have a clue but wasn’t prepared to admit it. ‘Dad got the lights online and we put them up together.’
I liked how he was claiming part of the responsibility for the decision. The united front he had told me about was clearly something he was intent on reinforcing.
‘Right,’ said Archie, looking back at the lights again.
‘Don’t you like them?’ Christopher asked, peering in through Elise’s window and making Suki snarl in surprise.
‘I do actually,’ Archie conceded. He sounded surprised.
‘I had a feeling you would,’ said Jamie, sounding a little choked as he punched his brother on the arm.
‘It looks tacky,’ said Elise scathingly, cutting across the moment, ‘and cheap.’
‘No it doesn’t,’ Archie bit back.
‘It’s like an overgrown council estate,’ Elise carried on with a haughty sniff before pressing the button to shut her window.
Christopher straightened up. He was sniggering at her predictable reaction but I was wondering just how many other things Elise and Archie didn’t agree on. Perhaps Angus’s suggestion about her and her father would turn out to be right after all.
‘Oh I don’t know, Elise. It could have been worse,’ Jamie, who was still leaning through Archie’s window, relished telling her. ‘Dad really wanted multi-coloured chaser lights, inflatables and a mobile disco.’
‘Like Buddy in Deck the Halls,’ Archie burst out laughing.
It was the first time I’d seen him laugh. It suited him and I hoped his trip, wherever they had been, had helped him gain some perspective or at least start to come to terms with his changed future.
‘Exactly,’ Jamie laughed back.
‘Dreadful,’ shuddered Elise, clutching Suki a little tighter as her delicate sensibilities took another battering. ‘Come on,’ she said peevishly to Archie, ‘I want a hot bath before I go to bed.’
‘The Ivy Room has only got a shower,’ Archie dared to remind her.
Elise glared at him and then back at the hall as Archie pulled smoothly away. Had she not been such a bitch I would have offered her a swim in the Rose Room tub, with a drop of Jo Malone bubble bath to sweeten it, but one more look at her sour expression helped me decide to keep my mouth firmly shut.
Chapter 27
Getting Hugo and Oscar to go to sleep that evening took a toll on everyone, except Elise of course, who had disappeared up to her and Archie’s room by the time everyone had finished admiring the lights and had come in to have a warm in the sitting room. She didn’t reappear all evening, thank goodness, and Archie only stuck with the family for as long as he thought he could get away with before being moaned at by his impatient love interest. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but to me their far-from-united front seemed a telling indication that the cracks in their relationship had widened considerably since the announcement that Jamie was taking over at the hall.
‘Did you know the boys were having these?’ Cass asked me as we tried to encourage her sons to settle down at bedtime.
‘I did,’ I told her, ‘but so much has happened since the auction that I forgot all about them.’
Two tiny Christmas trees had magically appeared in the boys’ room and sent their excitement shooting through the roof.
‘If these have been delivered,’ said Hugo knowledgeably, ‘then Santa must think we’ve been good enough this year to get a present or two.’
‘Are you sure, Hugo?’ Oscar urgently questioned his older, and therefore undoubtedly wiser, brother. Clearly he wasn’t convinced. ‘But what if we wake up in the morning and they’ve gone again?’
‘Then,’ I said with a sigh, ‘Santa will have seen how naughty you’ve been about going to sleep tonight and told the elves to take them back.’
It might have been a cruel trick, but given how late it was and what an early start we had to look forward to the next day I thought it was justified.
‘I bet if there’s one in Uncle Archie’s room it’ll be gone in the morning,’ said Oscar furtively as he finally snuggled down with his ted.
‘He’s not that bad,’ said Cass, tucking him in tightly.
Oscar shrugged, or tried to.
‘I do actually like Uncle Archie,’ he said, ‘but not Elise.’
‘No,’ said Hugo, ‘no one likes Elise.’
I was interested to see that Cass didn’t say anything to try to alter their opinions.
‘I don’t think any of the grown-ups have got trees in their rooms,’ I told the boys by way of explanation.
‘That just goes to prove that you’ve all been naughty this year then, doesn’t it?’ said Oscar with a giggle.
Unusually it was my alarm clock that woke me the next morning, and I still felt so tired I didn’t think I could face going for my usual run around the grounds. There was no sound from Jamie’s room next door either, so I guessed he was probably feeling about as sprightly as I was.
Shoving my feet in my chilly slippers I crossed the room and peered out of the window at the garden below. It was still dark but the Christmas lights were glowing and I could see it had been snowing for a little while. A light, icing-sugar dusting covered everything, enhancing the fairy-tale setting which I just knew was going to provide the perfect backdrop for the Christmas Fair the next day.
I watched as the Land Rover appeared through the stable-yard gateway, its headlights lighting up the falling flakes, and guessed that it was Mick going to town to collect Hayley. I knew she was going to be full of herself this week and couldn’t wait to see how she and Elise got on. God help Suki if she had made any kind of mess on the Ivy Room floor or furniture.
A light knock on my door brought me back to the present and I went to answer it. It could only be Jamie and I quickly tried to come up with a plausible reason for not wanting to go for a run before I lifted the latch. It was a pity my ankle had made such a speedy and complete recovery really.
‘Have you seen the weather?’ he yawned through the gap in the door.
Thankfully he was still in the T-shirt and shorts he slept in and not his running gear.
‘There’s no way we can run in this,’ he added, sounding far from disappointed. ‘We’ve no idea where the ground’s frozen. It’s probably treacherous and what with your dodgy ankle and everything—’
‘Are you sure?’ I asked, forcing myself to sound far brighter than I felt. ‘We could at least go and have a look, and my ankle feels much better. I’m up for it if you are.’
It felt good to have the upper hand so early in the day and I enjoyed making out that he was the only one who didn’t want to venture out.
‘Oh I know that,’ he grinned, suddenly wide awake as he tried to force the door open a little wider, ‘but I was talking about our outside exercise routine.’
‘So was I,’ I said, flashing him a smile and keeping a tight hold on the door.
It really was far too early for this kind of flirtatious back and forth.
‘Morning, you two,’ came a voice from further down the corridor. ‘Are we all set then?’
‘Morning, Dad,’ said Jamie, taking his foot off my door and turning to face his father, who was already up, dressed and ready to face the day.
‘Come on then,’ he said, ushering Jamie back to his room. ‘Chop-chop. There’s plenty to do.’
‘I know that,’ Jamie muttered, ‘I was just trying to make inroads into doing some of it right now.’
Fortunately his cheeky comment seemed to go straight over his father’s hea
d.
‘Well, you can’t do it in your pyjamas, can you?’ Angus tutted.
Fortunately we were saved from hearing his son’s potentially bawdy answer as Hugo and Oscar came bouncing along. They grabbed Angus and pulled him off towards the stairs that led to the kitchen.
‘I’ll deal with you later,’ said Jamie with a wink.
‘Oh will you now?’ I laughed, before quickly closing the door again and turning the key in the lock. I was really going to have to watch my step with Jamie in such a mischievous mood. If I wasn’t careful we’d be back to the hayloft scenario and I was trying so hard not to waver.
Listening to the discussion during breakfast I soon worked out that decorating Wynthorpe Hall was going to be nothing like the sort of decorating I had been used to when I was growing up. The place was so ginormous it was impossible to festoon everywhere with tinsel and trimmings, even though I was sure Angus and his grandsons would have been up for that if they’d been given the chance.
‘The main focus needs to be on the trees,’ Catherine reminded us. ‘If we can have the one outside and the one in the main hall finished first, and then add the greenery as soon as Molly has dropped it off, then we should all be out of the way, in there at least, before the traders arrive to set up.’
‘That reminds me,’ said Dorothy, jumping up. ‘Chris Dempster called. He’s going to be here before lunch with a load of trestle tables and a few chairs. The traders have their own cloths and so on, but if we could have the tables arranged before they arrive it would make setting up so much quicker for them.’
‘And I’m expecting a delivery myself before lunch,’ said Angus.
This was no doubt the delivery he had asked after when I picked him up from the hospital.
‘And if it’s all right with you, my dear,’ he continued, trying to sweet-talk his wife, ‘it would be a great help if I could commandeer Mick and Jamie to give me a hand.’
Catherine looked at him suspiciously.
‘That sounds good to me, Dad,’ said Jamie. ‘That way I can keep an eye on him, Mum,’ he added.
‘That’s true,’ she nodded. ‘All right, just please make sure you’ve put out the ladders and everything before you help your father. Our main priority is getting the public areas finished first,’ she reiterated. ‘The tree in the sitting room and all the other bits and pieces can be finished later this evening and early tomorrow.’
Hugo and Oscar looked a little disappointed at hearing this. Clearly they had been hoping to get cracking on the brace of trees that were still in situ at the foot of their beds. Santa obviously thought they had been good boys this year.
‘I can sort out the ladders and things,’ said Archie, who had slipped unnoticed into the back of the kitchen. ‘Unless you’ve got something else you want me to do.’
‘That would be a great help,’ said Catherine, her cheeks going slightly pink. ‘Then you could help decorate the trees with everyone else.’
She sounded thrilled by his offer to help and I was sure she must have been feeling relieved that he wanted to be involved with at least some of what was happening.
‘And what about Elise?’ Cass asked. ‘I could do with a hand keeping an eye on the boys and decorating their trees later on if she can see her way fit to leaving her room.’
I couldn’t help but wince at her words and the boys in question looked more than a little alarmed at the thought of decorating their beloved branches with Elise of all people.
‘Perhaps later,’ said Archie a little sheepishly as he ran his hands through his hair. ‘She has a bit of a headache this morning.’
‘Must be all the fresh country air,’ muttered Jamie, who knew she hadn’t breathed in so much as a single lungful of it.
‘Helping me in the kitchen would soon sort her out,’ chipped in Dorothy. ‘Thankfully Anna and I stocked the freezers to capacity for us lot days ago, but I’m going to be hard at it today to make enough to feed the hungry hordes who will be coming to the Fair.’
She hated slackers and time-wasters and I had absolutely no doubt that she had Elise pinned as both. Personally I didn’t think a stint helping out in the kitchen would ‘sort her out’ at all, and the image of her in one of Dorothy’s floral aprons was almost enough to make me laugh out loud.
‘What are you making?’ Christopher asked. ‘I happen to be a dab hand at making fairy cakes these days.’
‘Don’t ask,’ said Cass, rolling her eyes when we all looked from him to her for an explanation.
‘Thank you, lovely,’ Dorothy said to Christopher, sounding suitably impressed. ‘But I haven’t got to make anything sweet. The lovely ladies from The Cherry Tree Café are bringing their mobile teashop and will be serving sweet treats from there. I’m sticking to the soups and savouries.’
‘I can’t help you there, I’m afraid,’ said Christopher sadly. ‘My flaky pastry is anything but.’
‘Not to worry,’ said Dorothy, who I felt sure was actually going to be happier left to her own devices. She had just flagged up the work she had to do as an opportunity to show Elise up as the lazy madam she was.
Suddenly I felt a little sorry for Archie. I hadn’t forgotten what his plans had been for the future of the hall, of course, or the sneaky letter he allegedly had written to the ramblers, but at least now he knew the truth about what was happening he hadn’t headed straight for the hills, unlike his high maintenance girlfriend, who had apparently taken almost permanent refuge between the high thread-count cotton sheets. At least he was making an effort.
‘I have some really strong painkillers if Elise needs them,’ I discreetly offered, trying to smooth the way for him at least a little.
It was only then that it dawned on me that I hadn’t had so much as a single headache since I arrived at the hall. Ordinarily at this time of year I was plagued with the damn things and took so many tablets that by Christmas Day I could have rattled out the tune of Jingle Bells just by jumping up and down. This place really was turning out to be a cure-all, for me at least, and in so many ways.
‘Thanks, Anna,’ Archie smiled, sounding relieved to have found at least half an ally.
Hayley’s arrival with Mick stopped everyone in their tracks for a few minutes and it was good to see Christopher teasing and winding her up just as he had done with me the evening we met. Somehow the fact that he treated Hayley just the same as he had treated me made me feel even more as if I really had the potential to belong.
‘Right,’ she announced when she had finally hugged Hugo and Oscar, kissed Cass and inspected the bump on Angus’s head. Archie, I noticed, got nothing more than a frosty nod. ‘From what Mick’s told me we have tons to do today, so had we not better get on with it?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Catherine, trying to catch Angus’s attention and stop him filling the boys with the sweets they had just discovered in their allotted drawer on the Advent calendar. ‘Where would you like to start today, Hayley dear?’
‘Um,’ she said, winking at me as she shrugged herself out of her coat, ‘I think I’ll give the bedrooms a quick once-over. I’ll start in the Ivy Room.’
It didn’t take many minutes of Hayley crashing about upstairs with the Hoover for Elise to drag herself from her ‘sickbed’ and down to the kitchen, and just one look at her sulky expression proved that she didn’t have a headache at all. No one with brain-ache would have been capable of pulling off a frown like that. Mind you, given the amount of Botox fillers I reckoned she had subjected herself to, I was amazed she was capable of showing any emotion at all.
She drifted into the kitchen, making a great show of holding the still trembling Suki high up out of Floss’s curious reach, at exactly the same time as Molly called in to say that she had dropped off the greenery from the woods at the garden gate. I was amused to see how the two women reacted to one another.
In a nutshell, Elise looked at Molly, who was wearing her trademark hand-knitted jumper with the ragged sleeves, with thinly disguised disdain. I go
t the impression that she regarded the hall’s witchy friend with as much dislike as something she might have stepped in while wearing her dubious Choos. In complete contrast, Molly didn’t take any notice of Elise at all.
‘Hey, Anna,’ she beamed, her cheeks aglow from the chilly air and her cloud of hair framing her striking face. ‘I hear there’s an even busier time ahead of Christmas lined up for the hall now?’
‘That’s right,’ I said, confirming what she already knew. ‘Not content with just reinstating the Solstice celebration, Catherine has offered to host the Christmas Fair as well.’
‘That’s fantastic,’ she said, her gaze only just falling on Elise, who was standing stock-still and taking in every word. ‘Not fantastic for the town hall, of course, but it’s great that the Fair can still go ahead.’
‘Exactly,’ I agreed. ‘And have you seen the lights?’
‘I couldn’t miss them,’ she laughed. ‘I can even see them from the bedroom in the cottage.’
I hadn’t for one second thought they would be visible to anyone within living distance, but I had forgotten all about Molly and her quirky little cottage in the woods and I guessed everyone else had as well.
‘They aren’t a nuisance, are they?’ I frowned.
‘Not at all,’ she said, her eyes flicking back to Elise again. ‘I think they look really pretty actually and I only have to draw the curtains if I want to block them out.’
‘That’s all right then,’ I said, feeling relieved.
‘I probably won’t though,’ she mused. ‘I can’t remember the last time I drew the curtains in any of the rooms.’
I supposed, living in the depths of the woods, there wasn’t really any need, but Elise’s sharp intake of breath suggested that she wouldn’t have been caught dead with her life on display after dark in her own home. Her reaction drew Molly’s attention again.
