A Way Back Home

by Alison Sherlock

  ‘We’ll whip up a couple of Madeira cakes,’ said Megan. ‘That won’t cost much at all.’

  ‘And the Christmas cakes can all be iced white,’ added Eleanor. ‘Then they just need some edible glitter and a few rose petals on them. Job done.’

  They were all murmuring their agreement when Will came through the back door. ‘I’m just grabbing a Diet Coke for me and Sam,’ he announced.

  As he rummaged through the fridge, Megan looked down at her list. ‘Okay, so that’s the decorations. But what about tables and chairs?’

  ‘We were going to hire them,’ Annie told her.

  ‘What about the village hall?’ said Will, closing the fridge door. ‘They have loads of trestle tables, which I’ve literally just moved into our garage for safekeeping. We can use those.’

  Annie scrunched up her face. ‘Aren’t they a bit shabby?’

  ‘We’ll cover them with a lovely table runner,’ said Alex, rolling his eyes.

  ‘My mum can make them,’ said Eleanor. ‘You know she’s great at sewing and she’d be so happy to help.’

  ‘The chairs were going to be wrapped with a big bow on the back,’ said Annie in a wistful tone.

  ‘Keep them simple and we can tie a sprig of something on the back of them all,’ said Alex. ‘More classy.’

  ‘Do you know, darlings?’ said Rose. ‘This sounds like a proper Cranley wedding where all the village are involved and helping out.’

  Annie slowly broke into a wide smile. ‘It does, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Sam will love that idea,’ said Will.

  ‘I agree,’ said Alex. ‘Right, let’s get started on emptying those wine bottles, shall we?’

  Thankfully he was only joking and they were able to carry on discussing the wedding preparations throughout dinner. Will had gone out before dessert, stating that he had to be somewhere so Skye wandered back to the lodge on her own, deep in thought about how much she had to do.

  In the darkness, she held out her phone in front of her, using the torch as usual. So when she was near to the trailer and heard movement nearby, she stilled, her imagination running riot. It was only when there was a crack of wood behind her that she spun round.

  ‘Put that light down,’ moaned Will, holding up his hand in front of his face. ‘You almost blinded me.’

  She lowered her phone. ‘What are you doing creeping around out here?’

  ‘I wasn’t creeping, I was searching,’ he told her, holding up some sticks. ‘Thought I might need to stock up on some kindling before you swipe it all. Besides, the chimney sweep is finally coming this week to make the upstairs fireplaces safe. They’re talking about a cold winter.’

  ‘Isn’t every winter cold?’

  ‘Very funny.’

  As they reached the lodge, she noticed a rug had been placed on the ground in a clearing nearby. ‘What’s that for?’

  ‘There’s a meteor shower tonight,’ he told her.

  Skye didn’t know what to make of that. ‘And you’re going to do what, exactly?’

  ‘I’m going to watch it, of course,’ he said, sardonically.

  ‘Why?’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘You don’t think that streams of cosmic energy streaking across the sky are something that we should bother with?’

  ‘No, I’m just surprised that you’re bothering with it.’

  ‘I like astronomy,’ he told her, with a shrug. ‘Always have done.’

  She looked at him, wondering how a philandering playboy with no responsibilities would become a star gazer.

  Aware that he was smiling as she was staring at him, she tried her best to cover up her shock. ‘Well, it’s certainly no surprise that you’d be handy with a telescope.’

  He broke into a wide grin. ‘Honey, I’ve never needed to be a peeping Tom. The women come to me.’

  ‘Hmm.’ She looked up at the sky overhead. It was glittering with stars but none of them were moving.

  ‘Come on,’ he said. She looked down to see Will sitting on the ground, patting the rug next to him. ‘It might do you some good to see it as well.’

  She burst out laughing. ‘You want me to lie down next to the biggest flirt in the country? What about my reputation?’

  ‘Oh, that’s already in tatters,’ he told her. ‘You’ve spent every night about ten metres away from where I’m sleeping for the past week or so. As far as everyone’s concerned, you and I disappear alone into the woods every night.’

  Skye was horrified. ‘No! They don’t, do they?’

  ‘Who cares if they do?’ His casual tone was maddening.

  ‘I care!’ she told him, standing over him. ‘You might not care about your own reputation but what about mine?’

  ‘Ruined already. Come on,’ he urged her. ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’

  ‘You do remember that these woods nearly flattened me?’ She grimaced and gingerly sat down on the rug next to him. ‘It’s cold,’ she moaned.

  ‘You’ve got a coat on, haven’t you?’

  She checked the ground around the rug. ‘I think I’m on an ants’ nest.’

  He grinned. ‘No, you’re not.’

  She lay down briefly before sitting back up once more. ‘I’m all itchy.’

  He reached out and grabbed her arm, dragging her down beside him. ‘Just relax, will you? It’s nature.’

  ‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ she muttered.

  The noises of the woods began to fill her senses. Owls and the wind whistled through the trees.

  ‘This is creepy,’ she told him, beginning to feel alarmed.

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ he said, going up on one elbow to look down at her. ‘Didn’t you ever creep around graveyards with your school friends? Go out after dark?’

  ‘No,’ she told him. ‘I was too busy working.’

  ‘So you never got yourself into trouble when you were young?’

  ‘Occasionally,’ she said.

  Will frowned. ‘Didn’t your mother ever discipline you? Support you?’

  Skye sighed. ‘Maggie could barely support herself, let alone two kids whose father she frightened off. We had to fend for ourselves. Well, I fended and let Summer study.’

  ‘Doesn’t sound much of a childhood where you’re concerned.’

  ‘It was okay,’ Skye told him. As usual, she found she couldn’t lie to Will about anything. ‘With nobody else around to help, I learnt to do everything myself.’

  He pursed his lips. ‘Sounds lonely.’

  She took a moment before replying. ‘Perhaps.’

  Will lay back down again. ‘Well, tonight you’re going to lie here and look at the stars.’

  ‘Whatever for?’

  ‘Because it’s incredible. And why the hell not?’

  She shuffled around on the rug, trying to get comfortable. But then she forgot about everything else as a flap of wings and the hoot of an owl made her jump out of her skin.

  ‘It’s like we’re in a horror story,’ she moaned, glancing this way and that to work out what was going to jump out of the woods at her.

  ‘It’s probably just a tawny owl,’ said Will.

  ‘What do you mean, just?’

  He ignored her worries. ‘They nest out here in the woods, taking care of their families.’

  Skye was still biting her lip and feeling anxious. Even more so when something else flapped in the trees.

  ‘It’s a bat,’ said Will, quickly. ‘Don’t worry. It’s not looking for you.’

  ‘Does everything out here have to be creepy?’ she asked.

  ‘What about that?’ Will pointed to the edge of the trees as the moon appeared above them.

  ‘It’s huge,’ she said. Without any urban lighting nearby to filter the view, the moon looked incredibly bright.

  ‘Yeah,’ he told her. ‘Not bad for something that’s four point six billion years old.’

  She turned to look at him. ‘You’re a secret space geek,’ she said, smiling.

&nbs
p; ‘You’d better believe it,’ he told her, nodding in agreement.

  She was finding it hard to correlate playboy Will and the quiet nerd on the rug next to her. But when he suddenly shouted out, ‘Here it comes,’ she forgot all about him and the creepy nature in the woods surrounding them. She forgot about everything except the vast sky above them and the shower of stars.

  It was spectacular and one of the most amazing things Skye had ever seen. Will described the phenomenon to her as the incredible show continued overhead.

  ‘How do you know so much about stars?’ she asked.

  ‘My dad was a keen astronomer,’ he said, still lying next to her on the rug. ‘He used to point out everything with his telescope.’

  ‘Do you still use it?’

  Will frowned. ‘I don’t know where it is, to be honest. I think it got packed away during the renovation. But I don’t remember seeing it before then.’

  ‘I’m sure Annie would know,’ she said.

  ‘Perhaps. But I think she’s got more important things on her mind at the minute.’

  A while later, Skye began to close her eyes. The stars were so pretty and it was all so relaxing, despite the rapidly cooling temperature and the fact that they were in the middle of the woods.

  ‘Hey, sleepyhead,’ said a voice nearby.

  She opened her eyes to find Will leaning over at her, smiling.

  ‘Maybe it’s time to call it a night.’

  Skye yawned. ‘Sorry. I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. But it was so lovely,’ she said, taking one last look up at the sky above.

  ‘So nature’s not so bad after all?’ he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

  ‘Maybe not,’ she told him, sitting up. But she was shivering. ‘But perhaps it’s time to get warm again,’ she said.

  As they stood up, Will bent back down to shake out the rug and fold it up.

  ‘Thank you,’ she told him. ‘For sharing the meteor shower with me.’

  ‘I was going to watch it anyway,’ he said. ‘But it was nice to have the company for once.’

  ‘You’ve always watched them on your own?’

  ‘The company I’ve kept hasn’t been that interested in stars unless they’re movie stars.’

  ‘Okay. Well, goodnight.’

  ‘Goodnight.’

  As she walked away and into the lodge, she felt as if perhaps they had moved forwards a little. That perhaps they were learning to like each other after all.

  And she didn’t know what to make of that bombshell at all.

  32

  Having ordered the restoration kit off the internet, Skye spent a nervous few days researching and learning the technique for cleaning paintings and their frames.

  She felt sick to the stomach with the responsibility of the ballroom artworks. What if she ruined them? What if she wiped off a historic and expensive landscape with one swipe of this liquid? She could feel herself getting more and more frantic with worry.

  To help her relax, she sanded down and repainted the small bedside table from the bedroom in the lodge. Once she had turned it a lovely soft cream colour, it looked much better and she decided that a matching chest of drawers would finish off the room properly.

  But when the restoration kit was delivered to Willow Tree Hall, and once Annie had realised what the package was, there was no time for her to work on anything for the lodge. She was going to have to begin work on the paintings.

  ‘Look, if this doesn’t work out…’ began Skye, standing in the entrance hall and wishing she could hide under a rock somewhere.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Annie, holding onto the tubs of specialist cleaning liquid. But her eyes were bright with excitement and Skye had a real worry that the bride-to-be was placing too much on her shoulders.

  With a sense of dread, Skye waited until Annie had left to go shopping in the village and went into the ballroom alone.

  Outside, through the French doors, she could hear the sound of drilling as contractors worked on the installation of the new water supply. Annie had already stockpiled supplies of drinking water just in case the connection was switched off.

  Skye turned on the overhead light, a dusty chandelier that also needed cleaning. The chandelier was beautiful but the yellow, murky light it gave was not particularly great to work by. Skye turned to face each wall and saw the beauty of the works of art underneath all the grime. At least, she was hoping it was just dirt from the elements over the years.

  She decided to start on the lowest painting in the far corner of the room. That way, if it was ruined, it would hopefully not be too much of an eyesore. She carefully knelt down in front of the chosen painting and winced at the unforgiving hard wooden floor. She was just peering at the canvas when somebody spoke.

  ‘Are you praying for forgiveness?’

  With a start, Skye straightened up and blushed as she found Will leaning up against the door frame, his arms crossed as he watched her.

  ‘Praying that I don’t lose feeling in my legs, to be honest,’ she muttered. ‘Or hurt my ankle again.’

  Will came to stand next to her, frowning. ‘You can’t work like that,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You’ll break your back.’

  ‘What choice do I have?’ she told him. ‘This is where the painting is, after all.’

  ‘Leave it to me.’

  Ten minutes later, Will produced a table from somewhere. Then a chair was added, as well as a bright desk lamp, which she had to admit would be far better to work with.

  ‘How’s that?’ asked Will, taking a step back and looking pleased with himself.

  ‘It’s great,’ she replied. ‘Shame that it’s nowhere near the actual painting, of course.’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘Well, take it off the wall,’ he told her.

  ‘You take it off the wall,’ she snapped back, fear making her sound shrill. ‘I’m not running the risk of tearing it or the frame.’

  ‘Who cares?’ he said, striding over to the painting. ‘It’s not like there’s not plenty more to choose from.’

  Skye stared in horror as Will peered behind the frame, took it in his strong arms and, with a tug, freed it from the wall. Then he sauntered over to where she was standing next to the table and placed it in front of her.

  ‘There,’ he said, looking smug. ‘Any more problems?’

  ‘Only you,’ she muttered, with a gulp as she sat down.

  He broke into a grin. ‘Go on, then. Show me your artistic skills.’

  She went bright red. ‘I’m not doing anything whilst you’re standing over me smirking like that.’

  He cocked his head to one side. ‘I don’t believe it. You’re actually scared.’

  ‘Of course I am,’ she replied. ‘This is a huge responsibility.’

  ‘It’s just a painting,’ he told her.

  ‘Yes, but it’s not mine. Some artist spent hours creating this.’

  ‘I can barely see what it’s supposed to be,’ he said, pointing at the dark grime. ‘Is it a field? Who knows?’

  She stared down at the square canvas, still afraid. ‘I can’t do this.’

  ‘I don’t believe this,’ he told her, crouching down next to her. ‘You can drive to some unknown destination with that trailer, to see someone you’ve never met. You even run down my lovely car on the way. You’re brave enough to do all that and yet you can’t clean a single, stupid painting.’

  She made a face. ‘It’s not as simple as that.’

  ‘Yeah, it is.’ His soft tone surprised her.

  She frowned. ‘What’s with you being nice to me all of a sudden?’

  He smiled. ‘I like to keep you on your toes.’

  She stared at him for a second. Was he right? Was she braver than she was giving herself credit for?

  With an unsteady deep breath, she brought the lamp closer. From the box she had ordered, she brought out a magnifying glass and a soft brush. She then unscrewed the specialist cleaning fluid and stared down at the liquid. Just before sh
e dipped her brush into it, she remembered to take a photo of the painting with her phone. It might help when it was completely ruined later on, she thought with another gulp.

  She glanced at Will who, despite his normal swagger, was looking anxious underneath all his bluster.

  ‘Go on then,’ he said, in a soft tone. ‘Get it over with.’

  Relying on her meagre knowledge gleaned from the internet, Skye dipped her brush into the liquid and gently ran it across the tiniest patch of painting in the top left hand corner.

  For a moment she thought it wasn’t going to work. Then, with the second of gentlest brushstrokes across the same area, a patch of bright blue was revealed. She realised it was the sky in the painting.

  Skye gasped and looked up at Will, feeling elated. ‘It works!’ she told him.

  ‘Of course it works,’ he said, smiling back at her. ‘I’m always right, aren’t I?’ But the look of relief on his face belied his casual tone. ‘Well, I’ll check back on you in a while. Go on then, Van Gogh. Get going.’

  And with that, he left the room.

  Skye looked back at the painting, feeling amazed. Could she do this? Perhaps she could. Dipping her brush in the lotion once more, she bent down to continue her work.

  It was only when Will arrived with a mug of coffee some time later that she realised that a whole hour had passed in the blink of an eye.

  ‘How’s it going?’ he asked.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, taking the mug from him. ‘I think it’s okay. See for yourself.’

  He came round the table to stand and peer over her shoulder.

  ‘Can you see the difference?’ she said.

  She had left a third of the painting untouched. In comparison, the rest of the blue sky shone out. The colour of the golden fields was also much brighter. You could even see the brushstrokes of the original artist.

  ‘Not bad,’ he said. ‘In fact, quite remarkable.’ He looked all around the ballroom. ‘Do you honestly think you’ll get them all done by New Year’s Eve?’

  She stared at the wall ahead of her. There were at least five paintings on that particular wall alone. ‘I don’t know,’ she said, with a shrug. ‘I’m honestly not sure.’

  Will nodded as if he understood her concern. ‘Okay. Look, I’ll try and calm Annie’s expectations,’ he told her. ‘I know she’s put quite a bit of pressure on you. I think the whole countess stuff scares her, to be honest. I know being an earl would scare the hell out of me.’