The House (Armstrong House Series Book 1)

by A. O'Connor

  “It came as a shock when Susan asked for a divorce. I just always imagined we would always be together, and of course there was Alex, which was a glue. But she said we weren’t actually happy together. She said we weren’t unhappy either, but she wanted more than that. And she wanted to try and find it before it was too late. We were going through the motions, she said.”

  “You disagreed with her?”

  “Looking back, I suppose she was right. But we still get on very well. We have to, for Alex’s sake. She’s the most important thing in both our lives. Do you and Tony want children?”

  She was surprised that he was being as direct as her. “Yes, I guess. We always planned to anyway. It’s just finding the time . . . our lives are so busy. That’s why it was important for us to find this house and get something back for us, to give us the time to be a family, start a family.”

  “It’s funny with families, isn’t it? One wonders who we take after, who we are like.”

  “It must be interesting with your family as you can trace your family tree so easily, being descended from peers.”

  “I know, but I don’t know what they were like – what they were really like.”

  “Well, the man who built the house, Lord Edward Armstrong, your great-great-great-grandfather must have been a very ambitious man to build a house like this for his bride Anna. You know he imported stone from Germany and there was a handcrafted oak fireplace in the master bedroom.”

  “Where did you find all that out?”

  “Oh, I’ve been researching on the internet about the building of the ‘Big Houses’ and the families who built them. I found some entries about the building of our house. You can see Edward had wonderful vision – maybe he would be an architect if he was alive today, like you!”

  “Hmmm, and I imagine he would be much richer than me if he was alive today as well.”

  “He was very rich then. He had an estate of eight thousand acres. Imagine that!”

  “I guess.” Nico was thinking that, despite Kate’s extravagant lifestyle, she might have too much time on her hands if she was preoccupying herself with pursuing particulars of the Armstrongs’ history.

  “I wish we could find out more about Clara.”

  “Why Clara?” He looked puzzled.

  “I’ve done internet searches on her, but all I can find is she married Pierce, your grandfather –”

  “I know who he is,” said Nico, irritated that she seemed to be hijacking his family history as well as taking over his ancestral home.

  “– in 1914. I found it on an aristocratic records website. So he would have been sent off to war just after they got married. Isn’t that tragic?”

  “Tragic for him when she was screwing around behind his back, I think,” said Nico.

  “Don’t you know anything about her? About her family?” she pushed.

  “For goodness sake, it’s nearly a hundred years ago, Kate! Who knows – who cares?” He saw the very disappointed look on her face and said, “I believe she was a member of the Charter Chocolate family in England. That’s all I know.”

  “Well, that’s something to go on,” said Kate, excited.

  “Go on to where? What do you care?” He was perplexed.

  “Oh, I don’t!” Kate sat back with a nonchalant air. “Just interested in the people who lived in my house, that’s all. Who happen to be your ancestors, the Armstrongs.”

  “Clara wasn’t. And anyway nobody knows who the Armstrongs are any more, and nobody really cares.” Except you, Kate, he added mentally.

  “I think if I had your family tree I’d be intrigued by it,” she said as she looked dreamily into her apéritif.

  97

  Kate was dropping some plans down to Hunter’s Farm and she was surprised to see a young girl answer the door.

  “Hello there!” smiled Kate. “You must be Alex?”

  “That’s right, but how do you know?”

  “Oh, I’ve heard all about you,” Kate smiled.

  “Who is it, Alex?” shouted Nico from the lounge.

  “It’s me – Kate!”

  “Oh, come on in, Kate,” said Nico, popping his head around the corner.

  “Nice meeting you,” said Alex with a grin and she ran up the stairs.

  “Yes, you too,” smiled Kate.

  She joined Nico in the lounge.

  “She looks like you,” she said.

  “Don’t let her hear that, I think she would prefer to look like her mother,” said Nico with a wry smile.

  “I just wanted to deliver these drawings I got from an interior designer to you.” As she handed over rolls of drawings, she spotted the painting of Clara in a corner. “You still haven’t done anything with Clara’s portrait.”

  “No, I’ve been too busy. I keep meaning to bring it up to Dublin for my friend to work on it. I’ll do it this weekend.”

  Alex came bounding into the room.

  “Alex, do you like horses?” asked Kate.

  “Oh, yes, I love them,” said Alex.

  “Well, I’m having a delivery of horses to the stables up at the house today. Why don’t you come up and I’ll show them to you. If it’s all right with your father?” Kate looked to Nico for approval.

  “Yes, fine, Kate,” said Nico, surprised by her offer.

  Kate and Nico worked hard over the following weeks. But it didn’t seem like work as both of them loved the house and wanted it to be restored to its very best. The walls and ceilings were meticulously refurbished, shining polished wooden floors reinstated, cream tiles in the hallway, thick carpet in the drawing room, chandeliers hung. Kate had scoured modern furniture designers, the auction rooms at Christie’s and Sotheby’s, to assemble the right furnishings. Nico was surprised that her decisions were always the correct ones.

  Landscapers worked around the clock to restore the broken walls and ornaments and the gardens were brought back to life under their attentive care.

  Finally the curtains and drapes were hung and the house was complete.

  Nico let out the last of the workers and walked across the exquisite new hallway and into the opulent drawing room where he found Kate opening a bottle of champagne.

  “What’s this?” he asked.

  “A celebration. We did it!” She was delighted.

  She poured them both a glass and they went walking through the house, admiring the work. As he looked around at the rooms he decided the house had been given a modern twist but still retained all of its old-fashioned charm.

  They walked into the library which had been turned into a state-of-the-art office.

  “And I guess here is where Tony will run his empire,” said Nico as he sat down on one of the elongated sofas there.

  “Yes,” she said, sitting beside him.

  “What are you doing about staff for the house?”

  “I’ve arranged housekeepers from the local village, and a part-time cook. As you know Tony likes to do most of the cooking and when we entertain a large group we’ll use caterers.”

  “You’re not having any live-in staff?”

  “No. Tony would hate that, somebody under his feet. I suggested it and he said he was frightened he’d end up getting drunk one night and get into the wrong bed!”

  “Sounds like he’s getting used to the idea of moving down here?”

  “He was only saying this week he can’t wait for the move, can’t wait to get away from Dublin.”

  “He’s changed his tune about the house then? He’s come around to your way of thinking?”

  “Work is very pressurised for him. Building this shopping mall. And everyone is so worried in Dublin these days after the economic crash, so many businesses are closing down. We bought the house for me, but I think it’s going to do him more good. He’ll be able to switch off, as much as Tony can ever switch off.”

  “Well,” he said, leaning forward to chink her glass, “to your new house!”

  “Thank you for all your help. I couldn’t have do
ne it without you.” Reaching forward she kissed his cheek.

  She drew back and smiled at him, their eyes locked and they stared at each other for a while.

  Kate jumped up from the sofa awkwardly. “So when are you going back to Dublin?” She quickly walked over to the fireplace and took a drink of her champagne.

  “Tomorrow!” He jumped up as well and walked to the other side of the room. “Half my clients seem to have gone broke, so I need to see where we stand.”

  “Yes, yes.” Kate spoke in a fast and furious way, almost to distract both of them from the strange feeling that had just passed between them. “Tony said some of the retail stores are trying to get out of their contracts to open up in the shopping centre with the change in the economy.”

  “Really, can they do that?”

  “Who knows? Tony always says you should never let the other person be able to get out of a contract, but always ensure you have some hidden clause that lets you out!”

  “Clever man!” Nico said awkwardly.

  She nodded and managed to look Nico in the eyes. “He’s a wonderful man.”

  “Anyway, I’d better go.” He put his empty champagne glass on the coffee table.

  She smiled quickly at him as he walked from the room and she heard the front door slam. She turned around and looked at the worried expression on her face in the mirror over the fireplace and quickly drank back her champagne.

  98

  Nico had heard the helicopter fly over Hunter’s Farm on its way to Armstrong House. He had felt very uncomfortable about the moment on the couch with Kate. There was some boundary crossed and he didn’t want the feeling to linger. He decided the best course of action was to meet Tony and her together and pretend it had never happened.

  He went out and drove up to the gateway to Armstrong House. An electric gate had been put in and he reached forward and pressed the buzzer.

  A few seconds later the CCTV cameras on the gateway turned and focused on him. He waved and pulled a sarcastic face. The gates opened and Nico drove up the long avenue to the house.

  “I didn’t think we’d be seeing you so soon,” said Kate as she opened the door.

  “I heard the helicopter and thought I’d just check how Tony liked the work.”

  “That was him flying, he’s just got his pilot’s licence,” said Kate as he followed her into the drawing room. She was smoking a long thin cigar and dressed in one of her glamorous outfits. “Tony’s delighted with the work on the house.”

  “That’s what I like to hear – a satisfied customer.”

  “He’s on the phone in the library.”

  Suddenly they could hear Tony shouting at the top of his voice, the sound echoing around the house.

  Kate’s face clouded in concern.

  Nico was surprised. He didn’t imagine the charming Tony Fallon capable of the anger he seemed to be expressing in the other room.

  “Drink?” asked Kate.

  “No, thanks,” said Nico.

  Tony suddenly came into the room, looking hassled.

  “Fucking idiots!” he said.

  “Eh, Nico dropped by to say hello, darling.”

  “Oh hello,” said Tony.

  “Just checking you were settling in all right?”

  “Yes. I wish everybody did a job as well as you, Nico,” Tony said, marching over to the drinks table and pouring himself a large vodka. He turned around and looked at Nico. “Actually, I never spoke a truer word. You did a bloody great job here. I’ve just sacked the architects working on my shopping centre, and I’m going to employ you to take over.”

  “What?” Kate and Nico exclaimed in unison.

  “Makes perfect sense. You’re easy to deal with, you’re good at what you do, and you get on with Kate – always a bonus. You’re hired!”

  “For your shopping centre?” Nico was incredulous.

  “Tony, you need to think this through,” cautioned Kate.

  “What’s there to think? I need an architect and he’s an architect.”

  “But Tony, you need to ask him to tender for the job, and come up with proposals and –”

  “Bullshit! I’m sick of talk and I want action. When can you start, Nico?”

  “Well, I – em –” Nico was flabbergasted.

  “Tony, you’re being ridiculous. Nico runs a tiny little firm and wouldn’t have the resources for what we need for the mall,” Kate argued.

  “Actually that’s not true.” Nico found himself becoming angry. “We are well positioned to accept any employment, including Tony’s.”

  “They do houses, not commercial work,” Kate said.

  “Actually, that is not correct either.” Nico became even more annoyed. “We do a lot of commercial work.”

  “You don’t have the commitment we need,” Kate snapped.

  “We do!” he snapped back.

  She turned to Tony. “I don’t think it’s advisable to hire Nico when he is now our neighbour. If things go sour, I don’t want bad feelings.”

  “It’s an advantage I live close by. I can be available for meetings here when you’re here, and in Dublin when you’re there.”

  “That’s settled then. Hired!” Tony marched over to Nico, pulled him up by the arm and slapped an arm around his back as he walked him to the library.

  Kate sat down and frowned as she dragged on her cigar.

  Kate came down the main staircase in the house that evening having changed into evening wear. She and Tony were going to the Mount Falcon Hotel for dinner to meet some business associates including Steve Shaw.

  “Come on, Kate! We’re running late!”

  They quickly made their way to the car outside and set off.

  “Tony, will you relax! The whole point in moving here is so we aren’t in a rush to everywhere,” she chastised.

  They pulled out of the gateway and Tony put his foot down and sped down the road.

  “I wish you had checked with me before you hired Nico Collins,” said Kate.

  “Why? You don’t usually concern yourself with who I hire and fire?”

  “Well, this is different. Nico is my contact.”

  “Oh, is he indeed?” Tony didn’t hide the sarcasm. “I thought you’d be delighted I hired him. It’s been Nico thinks this and Nico thinks that for months.”

  She glanced nervously at him. “And I valued his opinion when it came to rebuilding the house. I just have reservations about his opinion on shopping malls.”

  “So you made obviously clear today. You were quite rude. Try not to be so tonight?”

  “Tonight?”

  “Yes. I invited Nico along.”

  “Oh Tony!” She sighed loudly and sat back, annoyed.

  “Why not? He’s part of the team now and should get to know people.”

  “Part of the team? You see, this is what I’m trying to say to you. You don’t normally hire people at a whim like you did today. You interview them again and again and consult with everyone. It’s just so unlike you!”

  “Exactly! Look, what has my way in the past got me? A load of hassle building the mall. It’s time I took some quick decisive action.”

  She studied him carefully. He’d looked terribly stressed-out recently.

  “Besides, I do know Nico,” he went on. “We’ve known him for quite a while now, and he seems great. And we can see from the house that his work is great, too.”

  She sat back, resigned to the decision but angry.

  Tony glanced at her and saw the brooch from the house was the only jewellery she was wearing.

  “Where are all your diamonds? Your Rolex? Why are you just wearing that daft brooch?”

  She rubbed Clara’s brooch gently. “I felt like just wearing this.”

  “Well, don’t in future! We need you with all your diamonds on as usual. To give the right impression we are not affected by the credit crunch. We don’t want people to think we’re in financial trouble and had to hock your jewels.” He put his foot down and sped even
quicker.

  “Tony! Please slow down!” demanded Kate, but he ignored her.

  As Nico drove up the long avenue to the Mount Falcon Hotel he rang Darrell.

  “You are not going to believe this – I have great news! Tony Fallon has appointed us as architects of his shopping centre!”

  “You’re right – I don’t believe it, and it’s not such good news.”

  “Sorry?”

  “Nico, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to get any more involved with the Fallons.”

  “And why not?”

  “I don’t know if they’re our sort of people. They are too demanding. Since they employed us to redo their house it’s all you’ve been working on. All our other clients and work has suffered and we’re way behind with everything. Imagine what it would be like if we took on this job? We couldn’t cope.”