Caribbean Sunset with a Yellow Parrot (The Belchester Chronicles Book 5)
Page 19
Lady Amanda had dragged Hugo out on an antiques and collectibles hunt, leaving behind her a room at the rear of the house covered in items liberally wrapped in cobwebs and dust-begrimed, which she thought would be the core of her new venture into the commercial world of bygones.
Time ticked by nicely, and it was soon nearly a fortnight since they had returned. They had received information from Caribbaya that the police had tracked down the money that Windy and Beep-Beep had embezzled and they were being prosecuted for fraud. The landlord of the island had agreed to extend the leases and negotiations were on-going with regards to the purchase of the villas. Lady Amanda was delighted with this outcome.
Wuffles had also told them that the emerald smuggling ring had been wound up by Customs and Excise, thanks in part to the information that Lady Amanda and Hugo had given them about the dealer on the island.
It was one afternoon just after luncheon that Beauchamp and Enid disappeared upstairs without a word, and didn’t come down for nearly two hours.
‘I wonder what they’re doing up there?’ queried Hugo, musing.
‘Probably some unspeakable thing only concerned with married couples,’ replied Lady A tartly.
‘You don’t really think they’re arguing, do you?’ Hugo’s naivety had depths as yet unplumbed.
‘No I don’t, you silly …’ But she never finished her remark, as the sound of footsteps descending the staircase rather faster than usual was heard. The butler and his wife burst unceremoniously into the drawing room, a wide grin on each of their faces, Beauchamp nearly bursting with pride.
‘What is it, you two?’ asked Lady Amanda, gazing in disbelief at Enid’s hair, which was now a honey-blonde colour and softly waved. She also wore a little lipstick, and looked so much younger, she was almost unrecognisable. ‘If it’s about Enid’s hair, we can already see it. Makes you look so much younger my dear.’
‘You look really lovely, Enid,’ Hugo complimented her, gazing on this new woman with appreciation.
‘No, it’s not that, but she does look amazing, doesn’t she? I’ve just been upstairs helping her with the colour and showing how to use the curling wand I bought her, and the result brings out her real beauty, don’t you agree?’ Without waiting for an answer, he went on, ‘She’s got something very important to tell you.’ At this, his smile grew even wider, and Enid flushed an unbecoming red.
As she hesitated, Lady A chided her. ‘Come along, Enid. Spit it out, whatever it is, there’s a good girl.’
Enid, squeezing her eyes tight shut, so that she would not witness the reactions of the others, said in a hesitant whisper, ‘I’m pregnant. I’m going to have a baby.’
Hugo merely gaped, and Lady Amanda replied rapier quickly, ‘But you’re much too old. You’ve always been old. What is this, some sort of immaculate conception?’
‘I’m only forty-seven,’ she replied, almost as quietly as she had made her previous announcement. ‘My hair went grey when I was barely out of my teens: it’s a family trait. I guess I just didn’t make the best of myself, and settled into old age after my first husband died.’
‘Well, you certainly made a good job of it. I would have put you at twenty years too old to be contemplating motherhood.’
‘Sorry.’ Enid didn’t know why she felt the need to apologise, but it just seemed that she should. ‘I thought I was going through the change at last, but we’ve just used a kit up in the bathroom, because I’ve been feeling a bit queasy in the mornings, and the result was positive.’ Enid positively glowed. There would be another baby, but this one, hopefully crying lustily, and not lying still and silent, as her poor stillborn child had lain, so many years ago.
‘Good Lord!’ said Hugo, with his mouth hanging open with shock and surprise.
‘You mean there’s going to be a baby in this house?’
‘If your ladyship permits there to be,’ replied Beauchamp, his fingers crossed behind his back. ‘If not, we’ll look for somewhere to live, or move back into Enid’s old house in Plague Alley.’
‘I certainly won’t permit that to happen. As long as it doesn’t interfere with the smooth running of this house, you are very welcome to stay on here,’ replied their employer.
‘Good grief!’ said Hugo, still, struggling to regain his equanimity.
‘It’ll be quite a novelty to have the laughter of a child livening up these old walls.’
‘Good heavens!’ said Hugo. ‘Although my mother was over forty when she had me,’ he added.
‘As long as you keep him or her out from under our feet.’
‘Of course,’ said Beauchamp, breathing a sigh of relief.
‘Thank you so much,’ said Enid, also crushing the anxiety she had felt at asking permission to stay on, although when she considered the possibility of Lady Amanda throwing out her half-brother, she realised she should not have been worried at all. The idea was unthinkable. She was far too honourable for that.
This momentous occasion was shattered by the harsh ringing of the doorbell, and it was Lady Amanda who went to answer it, Beauchamp being too busy giving Enid a hug of triumph, and Hugo, too stunned to rise from his chair.
She opened the door, and did a double take, whipping round her head to check that Beauchamp was still in the doorway of the drawing room, then back at the young man who stood on the doorstep, smiling politely at her.
‘Can I help you, young man?’ she asked, taking in his immaculate state of dress. Maybe it was that that made her think that Beauchamp had just used a time-machine and re-appeared on her doorstep as he looked years ago.
‘I hope so,’ he replied, his voice refined and pleasant on the ear. ‘Does a man named Beauchamp reside here?’ he asked, cocking his head to one side to await the answer.
Lady Amanda dithered a bit, before telling him, ‘Yes, he does. He is, in fact, my butler. Whom shall I say is calling?’ She wasn’t used to visitors for Beauchamp coming to the front door, and was momentarily thrown.
‘Would you be so kind as to inform him that his son is at the door?’
THE END … except for the cocktails …
COCKTAIL RECIPES
Banana Daiquiri
2 measures of white rum
1 measure of crème de banana
1 measure of orange juice
½ a measure of lime juice
¼ of a banana, mashed
1 teaspoonful of whipping cream
1 teaspoonful of castor sugar
Blend all ingredients thoroughly, then add a glass of crushed ice and blend briefly again.
Garnish with fruit and a thick straw.
Blue Lagoon
1 measure of vodka
1 measure of blue curacao
4 measures of lemonade
Mix ingredients, then pour into an ice-filled glass. Garnish with fruit as desired.
Caribbean Sunset
1 measure of crème de banana
1 measure of gin
½ measure of blue curacao
1 measure of whipping cream
¾ of a measure of lemon juice
½ a measure of grenadine
Shake and strain all ingredients except for the grenadine. Strain into an ice-filled glass, adding grenadine last so that it can sink down to the bottom of the drink. Garnish with seasonal fruits as desired.
Grasshopper
1 &1/3 measures of crème de cacao
1 measure of green crème de menthe
1&1/3 measures of whipping cream
Shake and strain. Serve with grated chocolate sprinkles and a short straw.
Martini Cocktail
2&1/2 measures of gin
¼ of a measure of dry vermouth
1 teaspoon of orange bitters – optional
Stir and strain into a frosted glass with a twist of lemon.
Yellow Parrot
½ a measure of absinthe – or Pernod
½ a measure of Yellow Chartreuse
½ a measure of apricot brandy
&n
bsp; Shake, strain, and serve.
Happy reading, and happy cocktail hour!
The Belchester Chronicles
by
Andrea Frazer
For more information about Andrea Frazer
and other Accent Press titles
please visit
www.accentpress.co.uk
Caribbean Sunset with a Yellow Parrot
ISBN 9781783753154
Copyright © 2014 by Andrea Frazer
This edition published by Accent Press 2014
The right of Andrea Frazer to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN
These stories are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.