by Jenny Frame
“You know, you didn’t have to do this, Jonah. I could have gotten one of the waitstaff to do it.”
“I’m happy to. It gives me more of a chance to get to know the locals. Rupert and I are still foreigners to them.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Evan said. “Clementine tells me it takes about ten years to be considered a local around here.”
“I’m sure.” Jonah chuckled. “Here’s your drinks.”
“Thanks.”
Evan wandered back into the room to find Clementine. She had moved from the group she had been talking to, to speak to her goddaughter, her cousin Lucille. Clementine had pointed her and her father Peter out at the service, but they hadn’t been introduced. Lucille appeared to be a smiley, open girl, but Peter seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face.
They were an odd mix. Lucille was only fifteen but her dad was in his sixties. Clementine had explained that he had Lucille late in life, in the hope of the title staying in his line after his death. It wasn’t likely that he would get the title, given his age, but he made sure that he at least would have a child who would.
“Evan? Come and meet Lucy. Lucy, this is my—” Clementine hesitated a moment, then said, “My girlfriend, Evan.”
Lucy smiled brightly. “Hi, Evan. It’s really nice to meet you.”
Evan handed over Clementine’s drink. “You too, Lucy. Can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks.” Lucy had a sweet blush to her cheeks at meeting someone new.
Clementine noticed Lucy’s shyness around Evan and said, “You know, Evan, Lucy was telling me about her favourite toy.”
“Uh, yes,” Lucy said, “Mr. Fox. I got him when I was born, and he’s been my favourite toy ever since.”
“That’s wonderful. I gave Clementine a Mr. Fox when we met. He’s a dapper little guy.”
Clementine smiled, remembering throwing Mr. Fox along with Evan out of her house. “I was just saying, Lucy should come and stay sometime. So I can get to know my lovely goddaughter. We haven’t spent enough time together.”
“Sounds like a great idea,” Evan said.
“I’d love that. It would be nice to get a break from Father,” Lucy said.
“Is he still as bad?” Clementine asked.
Lucy hugged herself and nodded. “At least I’m at school most of the time.”
Clementine put her arm around Lucy and said, “Let’s go and say hello to your father, then, before he accuses me of ignoring him.”
Clementine couldn’t stand Peter. Since she was a child he’d been unpleasant to her at family events and whenever their paths crossed. He resented the fact that she inherited the title and that they had lost the house and fortune.
“Peter, thank you for coming and bringing Lucy. It’s so nice to see her again.”
Peter downed the glass of whisky in his hand. “I was surprised, to say the least, that the wake was to be held at Rosebrook. I heard that you may have found a way to get Rosebrook back.”
“Papa, don’t,” Lucy said.
Peter sounded as if his tongue had been loosened by strong drink.
“Excuse me? What do you mean?”
* * *
“No, in all honesty I have to admit that my cattle are doing well on it,” Mr. Mason said.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Evan said.
She, Mr. Mason, Mr. Murdoch, and Mr. O’Rourke were standing together enjoying a drink.
Evan continued, “You see, you get a top-quality food for your animals, and you help save the planet. Got to be good.”
Mr. O’Rourke joined in, “It’s the sea we need to do something about. When I take my fishing parties out, they’re more likely to catch plastic and rubbish than fish.”
Evan nodded. “Yeah, that’s something. What we need is—”
“Excuse me, Evan?” Lucy interrupted.
“Hi, Lucy. Everything okay?”
Lucy appeared to be a mixture of embarrassed and panicked. “No, my papa said something rude and mean to Clem, and she ran. I don’t know where she went. I’m so sorry.”
Evan could feel the fury rise up in her in a millisecond. “Bloody idiot. On her mother’s funeral day. I’ll kill him.”
Mr. O’Rourke place a hand on her shoulder. “Just go and find the duchess. We’ll deal with him.”
What a show of support this was to Clementine, but she had no time to dwell on it. She ran out to the reception hall, spotted Kay talking to Fergus, and said, “Kay? Fergus? Have you seen Clementine?”
“Oh yes,” Kay said, “I saw her hurrying out the front door.”
“Is everything all right, youngster?” Fergus asked.
“I really hope so.”
* * *
Evan looked everywhere, but her final port of call was the beach, and as she hurried down the steps, she saw Clementine, sitting in the sand, halfway up the beach. Whatever Peter had said must have been really upsetting, and that was all Clementine needed today.
She ran up the beach until she reached her. “Clem, what’s wrong? Lucy told me you were upset. What did Peter say?”
“Only what everybody will be saying.” Clementine wiped her eyes, but fresh tears kept coming.
Evan dropped to her knees beside her. “Hey, don’t cry. Tell me what he said.”
She heard a rumble in the distance and looked up at the ominous dark clouds heading into shore.
“He said that I had managed to get back into Rosebrook the same way the very first duchess had gotten the titles and land—on her back. He supposed that kind of behaviour ran in the female line of the family.”
“Fucking prick. He says that to you the day you say goodbye to your mother? If I ever see him again, I’ll knock him onto his bony arse.”
Clementine shrugged. “That’s what everyone will be thinking.”
“Why do you care about gossip? We know the truth—our friends know the truth.”
“I was brought up to care about gossip. Gossip is an enemy in small villages like this. I’ve had people talking behind my back my whole life, and I hate it. You know, before my father died, we had debt collectors at the door all the time, them swanning into the house, sitting in the drawing room, and refusing to leave until they’d been paid.”
“I’m sorry, Clem. I didn’t realize how bad things had been for you,” Evan said.
“At boarding school, I was picked on and laughed at by the other girls. All their parents knew of the money problems we had, and the penniless duke, and then when the school wouldn’t wait any longer for their fees, I was sent to an ordinary primary school. I was already an oddity, because my father was a duke, but then the gossip reached them and everything got so much worse.”
“But you’re an adult now. You don’t need to care about what people say about you. Let’s walk back to the house. It looks like a storm is closing in,” Evan said.
“I can’t. People heard Peter, they won’t—”
Evan was frustrated. Clementine didn’t seem to understand what high regard the villagers held her in.
“Are you kidding? When I left, James O’Rourke, Mr. Mason, and Mr. Murdoch were about to throw him bodily out of the house.” The rain started to fall, but Clementine didn’t say anything or start to move. “Let’s go before the rain gets any worse.”
Clementine did get up and Evan took her hand. The dark clouds in the sky and claps of thunder mirrored Clementine’s mind. Her grief and hurt were clouding her mind.
As they walked Evan said, “We’ll get back home and settle in for the night.”
The word home jarred Clementine. Evan kept pushing this idea that Rosebrook was hers too, and it wasn’t. Evan was moving way too quick, and it was making her panic and question herself. Was she conflating her feelings for Evan with getting her family home back?
Clementine was worried and feeling overwhelmed. She needed time alone.
The rain was falling heavily now, and when they got to the gatehouse, Clementine stopped.
“Come on, we need to get out of this rain,” Evan said.
“I’m going to stay here tonight.”
“But you asked earlier if you could stay at the house. I want to look after you.”
“I know I did, but now I think I’d like to be alone, to think,” Clementine said.
“What do you need to think about?”
“Us, this. It’s all moving too fast. This afternoon you were talking about getting married. It’s too much, okay? You’re jumping into this like every dream you have—without thinking.”
Clementine saw anger etched on Evan’s face for the first time, her look made worse by the rain dripping down her face. That voice inside her head was screaming, Why are you pushing her away again?
“You want to be alone. I’ll give you exactly that. I don’t jump in without thinking. I just know who and what I want, but if you don’t or are too scared to take it—I’ll leave you alone. No problem.”
Evan marched away up the driveway to Rosebrook.
* * *
It was twenty-four hours since Clementine had asked her for space, and she had given it to her. Evan’s anger had dissipated overnight, and all she wanted to do was text Clementine. Make things right between them. It was so hard not to contact her—when there was a problem, Evan wanted to solve it. Evan was sometimes impulsive, yes, but only because she was clear about what she wanted.
Evan sat on the edge of the trampoline and stared at her phone. She wished Clementine would text or call. To Evan it was so simple—she loved Clementine, so why wait? She jumped off the trampoline and walked over to the window. Her mum would probably say, Calm down, Evan. Give her a chance.
The summer evening was dark and ominous as the dark clouds covered the sky and the rain battered off the windows. She gazed at the gatehouse longing for Clementine.
“Fuck it. I’m texting her.”
But before she could, Evan’s phone sprang to life. But it wasn’t Clementine. It was Casper.
“Hello?”
“Evan? We need your help.”
* * *
Clementine pulled on her clothes quickly while talking to Kay on the phone. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
“Don’t come yourself, Clem. It’s too dangerous. Casper is going over to meet Mr. Murdoch at the Tucker twins’.”
“Did anyone phone Evan?” Clementine asked.
“Yes, Casper did.”
“You need to get yourself and the boys down to Rosebrook. The water won’t get up there.”
The wild storm last night and today had finally pushed the Tynebrook to its limits and burst its banks. Water was cascading through the village, seeping through front doors and into homes.
“We called the emergency services, but they can’t tell us when they can get here. The roads are flooded everywhere, all over the south coast. Cars stuck, people stranded. They say the build-up of rain and storms over the summer is unprecedented. We just need to do what we can ourselves.”
“Make Rosebrook the meeting point. You’ll be safe there.”
“I’m going to meet Mrs. Murdoch and Fergus. We’ll be safer together.”
“Okay, keep in touch.”
Clementine hurried downstairs. As she stepped off the last step, she splashed into water.
“Bugger.”
Clementine’s first floor was starting to flood too. She grabbed her wellies by the front door and pulled them on, followed by her jacket. When she opened the front door, more water flooded into the house.
She could worry about that later. Now she had to get to the Tuckers’. The rain was battering down a lot harder than it looked inside. Clementine saw a torchlight at the gates to Rosebrook.
“Clem? Is that you?” Evan shouted.
“Yes.”
Evan being Evan was dressed in green tweed trousers, a green waxed jacket, wellington boots, and a flat cap. Typical country gentleman, bad weather attire. She couldn’t help but smile to herself. Even in unprecedented weather, she was still the dapper gent.
“Is the gatehouse flooding?” Evan asked.
Clementine tried to pull her hood further over her face. “Yes. Kay says there’s flooding all over the area. Emergency services can’t get through, and the Tuckers’ cottage is right on the river, so we need to get them out quickly. They’re sleeping downstairs, remember, so we need to get to them. I’ve told Kay to make Rosebrook our base and to head there. Did you leave it open?”
“Yes.” Evan had to shout over the din of the storm. You could even hear the noise of the waves down on the beach crashing onto the shore. “You go up to the house and wait on Kay and the others.”
“Not likely. These are my people. I’m going too,” Clementine said.
Evan was silent for a few moments, then said, “Then take my hand so you don’t fall.”
Clementine took Evan’s hand and entwined her fingers through hers.
Evan wasn’t crazy about Clementine coming with her, but it was so good to touch her again, even if it was in the middle of such chaos.
“Has anything like this ever happened before?” Evan asked loudly against the noise of the wind and rain.
“Flooding, yes, but not like this. It feels like we’re in the middle of a typhoon.”
Evan couldn’t go any longer without expressing her feelings. “I’ve missed you.”
Clementine stopped and turned around to face Evan. “I’ve missed you too.”
That look and those words were enough to give Evan hope. “Let’s make sure everyone is safe, and then maybe we can talk?”
“Yes.”
They made their way slowly through the floodwater, down into the village. The Seaside Cottages, the ones that were nearest completion, were all flooded, by the looks of things.
Clementine pointed to them. “Evan, look. All that hard work, they’ll be ruined. I think this village has a curse on it or something. Every time someone tries to make it better and rebuild, something goes wrong.”
There was a flash of lightning in the sky, and Evan pulled Clementine closer. “There’s no curse, no bad luck. We make our own luck. Anything that gets destroyed or damaged tonight is only material, it can be fixed. I promise you—I will not let this village die. Tomorrow we can assess the damage, but tonight we make sure everyone is safe.”
“You’re right. I love you, Foxy.”
Evan was surprised and filled with joy at that admission. She leaned in and kissed Clementine quickly on the lips. “I love you too. Let’s keep going.”
Their slow progress led them past the pub. Jonah was there putting sandbags in front of the door.
“Jonah? How’s the pub?” Evan asked.
“It’s filling up. I’m trying to keep the worst out. Where are you headed?”
Clementine led Evan over to the pub doorway, so they could be heard more easily.
“The Tucker twins are trapped in their house, next to the river,” Clementine said.
Jonah threw down a bag of sand at the door. “You head on, and I’ll catch you both up.”
Evan held Clementine’s hand tightly and they waded on through the village. The thunder and lightning continued, and then there was a loud crack of thunder directly above them.
Clementine jumped with fright and slipped into the floodwater. Evan grabbed her and pulled her up.
“Thanks,” Clementine said.
“We’re a team.”
They heard shouts from further up the road and tried to hurry to see who it was.
Kay was with her two sons and Mrs. Murdoch, and Mr. Fergus, who had fallen in the water.
“Is everything all right?”
The water was gushing harder down the street, and the noise was making it almost impossible to be heard.
“Fergus slipped in the road,” Kay said.
They helped Fergus up. “Can you walk on it?” Evan asked.
“Not very well. I’m a bloody fool.”
The two boys were quiet and looked scared.
“What do we do?�
� Clementine asked.
“We split up. You stay with Kay and Fergus and the boys. We’ll call Jonah and ask him to help you back to Rosebrook.”
Clementine nodded. “I think you’re right. You will be careful, won’t you?”
“Of course I will. I’ve got you to come back to.”
* * *
Rosebrook House was filled with the low murmurings of sombre chatter and the occasional squeals from Kay’s two boys as they ran around. Clementine, Kay, and Ash were running up and down to the kitchen fetching tea, food, and hot water bottles to warm everyone up.
Clementine gave hot water bottles to Agatha and Ada and made sure they had enough blankets.
“Thank you, dear,” Agatha said. “That was quite an experience.”
The Tucker twins had been troupers and very brave. The water had gotten high in the downstairs of their cottage, but Jonah and Evan carried them both out, and James O’Rourke had brought one of his inflatable dinghies, since they couldn’t walk. The sight of the twins being pulled through the flooded village in a boat was quite something to see.
Clementine then went over to Fergus, who had sprained his ankle and had it resting on a footstool.
“How are you doing, Fergus?”
“I feel like a bloody fool. I should have been helping you ladies get here safely, and instead I bugger up my ankle. What a bloody nuisance.”
Clementine gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re a gentleman, Fergus.”
“One does one’s best,” Fergus replied.
Evan brought him over a glass of brandy. “Here you are, Fergus.”
Clementine looked quizzically at Evan. “Should he be drinking that? We gave him painkillers.”
Fergus took the glass. “Stuff and nonsense. Don’t worry about it. I was downing a bottle of champagne when I was ten. A brandy is nothing. It’ll just warm up the old cockles.”
Clementine followed Evan back to the drinks table.
Evan said, “Mrs. Murdoch is crying. They’re all really down. All the downstairs refurb of their homes is destroyed.”
“What do you want me to do?” Clementine asked.
“Talk to them. Make them believe that we will get through this. You’re their leader. You know that you always have been. When I met you, you said that you would give up your title if you could, but if a title is worth anything in this modern world, then it’s as a focal point. Someone to look to in time of difficulty, someone who will express how they feel in their time of difficulty. Like the Queen does in a national emergency or tragedy. Take your place, Duchess of Rosebrook.”
