by L E May
I looked at Steven expectantly.
‘So do I get a few days’ holiday too?’ he asked, smiling. I nodded.
‘Of course.’
‘But you don’t?’ he asked, his eyebrow raised in concern.
‘I never get a holiday, Steven, this company is my life, my responsibility 24/7.’ I shrugged, smiling.
‘But you also deserve a holiday, Ols.’ He looked at me thoughtfully. ‘Will you consider my invitation, please? I spoke to my family and they would love to meet you, you’re more than welcome.’
A huge part of me wanted to say yes. The thought of spending Christmas with people again, a real family Christmas, appealed to me so much. I looked at Steven, his eyes pleading with me to agree. I couldn’t understand why it mattered to him so much. Then there was the thought of meeting new people and making all that effort when all I really wanted to do was have a few days to relax. But if I was alone at home, I knew I would be brooding about Chris; maybe a few days away would take my mind off him.
‘Maybe, if I manage to get this app uploaded,’ I said uncertainly.
Steven’s eyes widened.
‘OK I’ll do you a deal; I’ll get the app uploaded if you promise you’ll come for Christmas?’ He grinned.
I realised he had me cornered and shaking my head slowly, I shrugged and smiled.
‘OK, you win. I’ll spend Christmas with you.’
Chapter Thirty-two
There was a car horn beeping below my window and I looked out, whistling as I took in the sleek, black Mercedes Benz stopped in the street. I looked across the road to see who was getting in the car and noticed other faces pressed against the window. Movement caught my eye as the window opened and the familiar mess of hair popped out. My mouth dropped open. This was my ride.
Steven tapped his watch impatiently but I detected a grin on his face.
I grabbed my bags and made my way to the door, glancing around the room one last time to make sure everything was switched off.
I still couldn’t believe I’d agreed to this.
Steven’s persistence in wanting me to spend Christmas with his family had made me realise that I liked the feeling of being wanted. After Friday night, my conversation with Chris and my final realisation that I was lonely, Steven’s family might be just what I needed to cheer me up. Chris had been right. I wanted someone, physically, but I also wanted that someone to be him and his confirmation that it could never be him had emphasised my loneliness.
Part of me wanted to wallow in self-pity, spend all of the Christmas period alone, knowing that no one would be bothering me, trying to encourage me to do anything, but I decided being around people would distract me and put a dent into my attempt to forget about Chris.
Steven met me at the door as I was locking up, took my bag, and walked me to the car. It was cold out, I noticed ice on the path, and the wind was cold. I pulled my coat tight around my neck and my hat further over my ears.
‘I must be paying you too much, why don’t I have one of these?’ I asked, eyeing the car appreciatively. Steven grinned.
‘You don’t need one,’ he reminded me, opening the passenger door for me and throwing my bag onto the back seat. He closed the door for me after I slid into the soft leather seat. It was warm, the heat radiating out of the air blowers and from the heated seats. The car smelled expensive and luxurious. Steven slid into the driver seat grinning at me.
‘I’m so glad you decided to join us, Ols, I really couldn’t bear the thought of you spending Christmas alone.’
I smiled gratefully back at him, my cheeks threatening to blush.
‘Well I’m used to it, but I do miss the old family Christmas,’ I admitted. ‘I would have been OK though, I hope you didn’t feel under any obligation to invite me.’
A look of horror crossed his face and he shook his head.
‘No absolutely not, you were quite clear about that, Ols, but you’re doing me a favour, I love going back to the old house but after a few days it gets a bit stuffy, it’ll be nice to have some company.’
I smiled. ‘So where are we headed?’ I was slightly embarrassed that I’d paid so little attention to his background. ‘Are you sure your folks have room for me? I don’t want to be in the way.’
‘The Peak District, my family home is called Thornton Manor.’ He paused, glancing at me. ‘It’s quite a big house, there’s plenty of room.’ He smiled awkwardly. ‘The house will pass to me when my father dies. Plus the business.’
‘Your father’s business?’
‘Yes, well technically, it’s a family business now. My father made me a director when I turned 18, so I earn dividends on the profits each year. He had hoped I would follow him into the business and run the company when he retires but he also encouraged me to find my own path and be whatever I wanted to be. I went into programming because I loved video games, but I always knew I had a fall-back option, I never really took it seriously until the second year of uni when I discovered I was actually pretty good at it.’
I nodded in agreement with his last statement. ‘Ain’t that the truth! So why come and work for me? Why not just set up your own business?’
‘I could’ve done that, I have enough in savings to set up in business, but I wanted some real experience. And now, I wouldn’t want to set up in competition with you, Ols, I enjoy working with you way too much.’
I felt a surge of gratitude towards him and laughed quietly. Steven frowned, questioningly.
‘And there was me thinking you wanted to do me for sexual harassment, take all my money, and set up a rival business.’
He laughed, remembering my accusation.
‘Yeah, I had to bite my tongue to stop myself just telling you everything.’ His voice dropped, losing its humour momentarily. ‘I wished I had, when all that stuff with Melissa happened, I berated myself for not being honest with you from the beginning.’
‘Well, you did tell me I should snap you up before someone else did,’ I reminded him.
He laughed. ‘I guess things happen for a reason.’
It was a long drive but the time passed comfortably as we chatted and I was surprised at how late it was, when I realised we had left the motorway and turned off onto a narrow country lane, the roads getting narrower until we were surrounded by fields. Finally we approached a large set of ornate gates attached to stone pillars topped with carvings of lions sat guarding the property.
‘Here we are,’ Steven announced. We passed through the gates and drove slowly up the drive.
‘Well it’s not that big,’ I said, ‘I can’t even see it.’
‘That’s because it’s far away,’ he laughed.
To the left was a dense gathering of tall trees, looking empty and bare, their branches glistening with frost in the fading light. To the right were empty fields, in the distance I noticed a small smattering of buildings.
‘That’s the farm,’ Steven explained following my eyes. ‘We have a farmer who manages it, he lives in the building to the right. Over on the left are the barns and stables.’
I managed to make a sound with my voice that resembled something like ‘Oh’.
I wasn’t expecting all this land. I knew he had a big house but I was thinking big as in a four-bedroom detached house in the country. I realised we had been driving for ten minutes since we entered the gate and turned to Steven.
‘Seriously, this is the driveway? Your family business must do pretty well.’
‘It does, but we already had the house, it’s been in the Teller family for centuries,’ he paused, glancing at me. ‘My father is an earl.’
‘Really? OK, how do I address him?’ A look of panic crossed my face and Steven relaxed grinning.
‘However you like, most people call him John.’ He glanced at me again.
‘John?’
‘Because that’s his name.’ He grinned again, ‘I usually just call him Dad.’
‘So you’ll be the next earl then?’ I said, surprised. Steve
n nodded.
‘I will, yes, I’ll take over the business and all this.’ He nodded his head as the house came into view and I gasped. It was something out of a BBC costume drama.
‘Oh my,’ I gasped, ‘turn the car around, you’re going to have to take me home.’
‘We’ve been driving for five hours. You’re stuck here till I leave.’ He laughed.
‘Seriously, Steven, I didn’t pack for this kind of holiday, I packed for lazing on the sofa playing video games and watching zombie films.’
The house was huge. We drove around a small lake and passed gardens on either side of the driveway as I watched the house get bigger and bigger until we were finally in front of the enormous building. Steven moved the car past the house and into a set of garages to the right of the entrance.
‘I think I’m about to come over all Jane Austen.’ I murmured. I heard him chuckle as he got the bags out of the car.
‘Do I get to be your Mr Darcy?’ He grinned at me.
‘No, you’d be more like Casanova.’
‘Ha ha, I’m going to take that as a compliment.’ He laughed. ‘You know we have period costumes if you want to dress up at any point.’
‘Well, I imagine they’ll be more appropriate than the clothes I’ve got packed. Seriously, it’s a good job I’m just your boss because I am not going to make a good impression on your parents.’
The side door led into the main hall near a staircase and facing the main entrance. A second staircase was at the opposite side of the hall, sweeping up to meet the first case in the middle, leading to the second floor of the great house. An open log fire was roaring at either end of the immense hall and a huge Christmas tree was in the centre, between the two staircases. Comfortable leather sofas were positioned around each fireplace with a heavy oak coffee table. Huge wreaths of fresh holly leaves and berries adorned the doors and chimneybreast. The room was breath-taking.
Steven dumped all the bags at the bottom of the first staircase.
‘Hey, Rose.’ I turned at the sound of his voice and saw him hugging a small woman. She looked surprised and embarrassed, patting her hair as he released her and blushing.
‘Steven, welcome home.’ She spoke with a soft voice and I imagined she’d been in this house since Steven was a child. He turned to me.
‘Ols, this is Rose, our housekeeper, anything you need while you’re here, just ask her.’ Rose smiled warmly at me. It hadn’t occurred to me that Steven’s family had help. This was just too strange to be real. I longed to be back on my sofa. It was Christmas Eve, the last episode of Merlin was on, and I should be there, in my pyjamas with a takeaway.
‘Nice to meet you, Rose.’ I returned her smile holding out my hand. She clasped mine with both her hands nodding. She looked up at Steven and back at me, smiling.
‘Your parents are in the drawing room, I’ll make sure some tea is brought through.’
Steven took my hand and led me through one of the doors off the main hall. The room was large by most people’s standards but small in the context of the house. Another open log fire dominated the room, surrounded by leather sofas. It was a miracle there were any trees left, the amount of wood they must get through, I thought. Near the large window was a round table with six chairs and at the other end of the room stood another Christmas tree, smaller than the one in the main hall but beautifully decorated in reds and golds. A sea of presents spilled out from under the branches, all tastefully wrapped in matching red and gold paper and ribbons.
Pine branches decorated the mantelpiece above the fire and a wreath of holly adorned the chimneybreast. Two large stockings were pinned either side of the fire.
Steven’s parents stood to greet us, his father shaking his hand while his mother introduced herself to me and kissed my cheek. His mother was short and slender with white shoulder-length hair. Her cheeks glowed from the warmth of the fire and her eyes sparkled with joy at seeing her son. His father was tall, his dark hair flopped to one side, shorter than Steven’s but with the same unruly thickness. It was sprinkled with grey. I estimated his parents were in their mid fifties.
Rose followed behind us, placing a tray of tea on the table before drawing the curtains. The last of the light had disappeared and the sprawling lands outside the window appeared black in the darkness.
Steven’s mother handed me a cup of tea as I sat down. I heard the china cup rattling against the saucer as I took it. I glanced up to see how everyone else was holding theirs so quietly and felt myself blush with embarrassment. It’s just a cup and saucer, for God’s sake, I chided myself, get a grip.
‘Don’t get used to this, Ols, this is just the show china, we’ll all be drinking out of mugs tomorrow.’
Steven’s mother laughed, she had a melodic laugh and I relaxed immediately. ‘We are usually less formal around here,’ she explained kindly.
His father shook my hand, ‘Unfortunately you join us at Christmas when we have to be a little more formal. But next visit I assure you we will break out the cracked ceramics and return the music posters to the walls.’ He laughed loudly. I couldn’t imagine music posters anywhere in this house.
‘It’s a beautiful house,’ I told them, ‘thank you for inviting me.’
‘You should take Olivia on a tour of the house, Steven, or at least the main rooms anyway, the full tour could take a while and the guests are due at 7 p.m.’ Mrs Teller told him.
I caught Steven’s eye, panic filling my face. He hadn’t mentioned anything about other guests. He smiled reassuringly at me.
‘Come on, Ols, I’ll show you around.’ He held his hand out to help me up and lead me out of the drawing room.
‘Guests?’ I hissed.
‘Oh that? It’s just a party we throw every year.’
‘Every year? So any reason you forgot to mention it?’
‘Honestly? I thought it would put you off coming.’
I stared at him in disbelief. Sometimes his honesty stunned me, but right now, it just irritated me that he was openly acknowledging he’d kept it from me on purpose.
‘OK, well, you’ll have to give my apologies to your parents but I’m staying in my room tonight.’
We made our way upwards as we talked. I paused to peer over the balcony where the staircases met, before ascending the single staircase to the second floor. I took in the long narrow hallway with ten doors on either side. The wooden floor was covered with a burgundy coloured carpet running along the centre of the hall.
‘Don’t be like that, Ols, it’ll be fun.’
‘What are you wearing to this party, Steven?’ I asked innocently.
‘Well it’s black tie,’ he started, glancing at my face as it filled with annoyance.
‘So what should I wear? My Batman T-shirt or my Lego Stormtrooper hoody?’ I punched him on the arm. ‘You should’ve warned me.’ I grumbled.
‘What would you have done? Gone shopping?’ He teased me.
‘I might have,’ I said defensively, ‘or I might at least have given some thought to what I was packing instead of just taking the first things I grabbed out of the dryer and shoving them into my bag.’
Steven stopped outside the fourth door on the right and turned the doorknob.
‘This room is yours. It’s opposite mine so you’ll know where to find me if you need anything in the night.’ We walked into the room and I gasped. It was beautiful. Original oak beams ran across the length of the ceiling. The room contained a large four-poster bed, a heavy oak wardrobe and chest of drawers, a free-standing ornate full length mirror stood next to the wardrobe, and a day bed was positioned under the large window, providing a view across the gardens. In the far corner stood a dressing table and large mirror with an array of lotions and perfumes.
A long red cocktail dress was hanging up in plastic on the front of the wardrobe.
‘I forgot to tell you about the Christmas Eve party on purpose because you wouldn’t have come if I’d told you and I didn’t want you to be alone,’ he e
xplained apologetically, ‘but I did sort out a suitable dress for you. I hope it fits.’
I shrugged. ‘How well do you know me?’ I laughed. ‘A party with a bunch of strangers or a quiet night in?’
‘I know, I know, I’m sorry –’ he held up his hands and grimaced, ‘– but we’re here now and I promise you’ll have a good time.’
‘Will there be many people here tonight?’ I asked cautiously. I really hated social occasions, especially when I didn’t know anyone.
‘We hold this party every year; it’s for the residents on our estate, the farmer and his family, the steward, and all the tenants, and our staff. There’ll be about a hundred people here.’ He paused as my eyes widened in horror. ‘It’s OK, I promise I won’t leave your side for a second.’ He smiled reassuringly. ‘Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the house.’
He pointed out the bathroom next door to my room. ‘This side is mainly guest rooms, my grandma, my auntie and uncle, and two cousins will join us tomorrow and stay over, they’ll be in the these rooms,’ he indicated the doors closer to the staircase as we made our way back downstairs, ‘I’ll just quickly show you the kitchen, so you know where to come if you get peckish.’ He grinned, ushering me towards a door to the right of the staircase. ‘Help yourself to anything you want in here, feel free to come in anytime.’
He threw his arms around a plump, middle-aged woman. ‘Ols, this is Mrs Reynolds, our cook. She makes the best trifle in the whole world.’
I smiled happily at Mrs Reynolds who beamed at Steven indulgently.
‘Can I get you both something to eat? The family ate earlier but I have some chicken still warm and I can rustle you up something nice.’
‘We stopped off on the way here and had a late lunch. You go and get ready for the party.’
‘Are you sure, Steven?’ she asked, surprised but grateful. We both nodded in agreement and she left us alone in the kitchen.
‘OK, we need to be down in the entrance hall for 6.45, so we should go get ready. Do you need anything?’
‘A hairdresser and a make-up artist would be good,’ I said, rolling my eyes as I followed him back up the stairs to the bedrooms. I paused outside my room and looked at him.
