Alice-Miranda on Vacation

by Jacqueline Harvey

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Hugh muttered.

  “What was that, darling?” Cecelia leaned back inside the doorway.

  “Nothing, Cee. Nothing at all,” he lied.

  At breakfast on Friday, Alice-Miranda asked what time her aunt and Mr. Ridley would be arriving. Just as her mother opened her mouth to reply there was the sound of crunching gravel on the driveway and the low rumbling of a sports car engine.

  “She’s here!” Alice-Miranda leapt from her chair, ran to the kitchen door and raced outside to greet her beloved aunt.

  “Goodness me, now, there’s a welcome you don’t get every day.” Charlotte lifted herself from the passenger seat and scooped Alice-Miranda into her arms. Alice-Miranda kissed Charlotte’s cheeks and forehead and lastly the tip of her nose.

  “How is my favorite only niece?” Charlotte maneuvered Alice-Miranda onto her left hip. “I think you’ve grown—you’re getting much too heavy to be carried about.”

  Alice-Miranda frowned momentarily, and then smiled.

  “You can put me down. I’ve grown a centimeter since I started at my new school,” Alice-Miranda proudly told her aunt.

  “A whole centimeter—is that all? I thought it must be at least five.” Charlotte kneeled down to meet Alice-Miranda’s big brown eyes.

  People often said that Alice-Miranda was the image of her aunt Charlotte when she was little. Both had the same cascading chocolate curls, and brown eyes as big as saucers. They shared much the same attitude to life too. Charlotte headed up the public relations team for Highton’s, and it was often remarked that there was no one she couldn’t win over—eventually.

  “So what do you have planned for me this weekend?” Charlotte stood up and held Alice-Miranda’s hand.

  “Tons of things—but you’ll just have to wait and see.”

  Lawrence was retrieving their bags from the trunk of the car.

  “Hello, Mr. Ridley.” Alice-Miranda smiled. “It’s nice to see you again.”

  Lawrence pressed his right forefinger to his lips.

  “Oops,” Alice-Miranda breathed as she remembered that she was not supposed to say anything about his being at the house earlier in the week.

  “Again?” Charlotte interjected. “I didn’t think you’d met Lawrence before.”

  “What I meant to say is, I’m very pleased to meet you.” Alice-Miranda strode forward and offered him her hand.

  Lawrence shook it gently.

  “And it’s a pleasure to meet you too. It’s Alice-Miranda, isn’t it?” Lawrence winked slyly.

  “I suppose it’s easy to think that I know Mr. Ridley because I’ve seen him in movies and things,” said Alice-Miranda to cover her tracks.

  “Yes, I suppose so,” Charlotte laughed. “I must admit that to me he’s just my lovely Lawrie.” He kissed her playfully on the cheek. “I didn’t realize you were popular with the preteen set.”

  “Hello, darling,” Cecelia called from the veranda. “Come on in. Dolly’s put the pot on, and I think there could be pancakes if you hurry.”

  Charlotte greeted her sister with an enthusiastic hug. “It’s so good to be here. I always feel better as soon as I see the chimney.”

  In the kitchen, introductions were made. Alice-Miranda was relieved that Jacinta had obviously remembered that she wasn’t to let on anything about meeting Mr. Ridley earlier in the week. Perhaps Alice-Miranda’s parents had reminded her before he came inside. Jacinta was obviously still besotted with Lawrence. Her eyes glazed over as soon as he entered the room.

  Breakfast was a jolly affair. Mrs. Oliver, Mrs. Smith and Shilly joined the family at the kitchen table. Shilly didn’t even protest that she still had a million things to do; she was afraid that if she raced off it would arouse Charlotte’s suspicions.

  “Charlotte, I’ve put you in the yellow room, and Mr. Ridley, you’re in the blue room adjacent,” said Shilly, glancing at the happy couple. “Your mother will be arriving later this morning, and I’ve popped her in the rose bedroom on the top floor.”

  “That’s lovely, thanks, Shill,” Charlotte replied.

  “Well, I must get off and do some jobs,” Shilly said, rising and tucking her chair away.

  “What are you getting up to for the rest of the day?” Hugh asked Lawrence and Charlotte.

  “Well,” Lawrence began, “Charlotte and I have spoken and I thought, if it was all right with you, that we might take a couple of horses and go for a long ride. I’ve heard there are some pretty villages close by and I’d love to have a bit of a gander.”

  “It will be such fun,” Charlotte enthused. “I haven’t been riding in ages, and I miss the horses so much. What about the girls—would you like to come with us?”

  “Yes, please!” Alice-Miranda jumped up and threw her arms around Charlotte’s neck.

  “Darling, I think you’d better ask Millie and Jacinta what they feel like doing,” Cecelia chided.

  “Sorry, Mummy, it’s just that I haven’t seen Aunt Charlotte in ages. Do you want to go riding?” Alice-Miranda asked her friends.

  “I’d love to,” Millie replied.

  “No thanks.” Jacinta wrinkled her nose. “But I’d be quite happy to stay here and do some stretching and then perhaps a bit of tumbling on the front lawn. The flu really wrecked my training schedule, and I should get back to it. I wouldn’t mind going for a run either.”

  “We won’t go, Jacinta. It’s not fair for you to be by yourself all day.” Alice-Miranda sat back down on her chair.

  “Don’t stay for me,” Jacinta replied. “I’ll be fine, and if I get lonely I can always go and find Jasper and Poppy.”

  “Mummy, what do you think?” Alice-Miranda turned to face her mother.

  “Well, Jacinta, if that’s really okay with you, then I think it would be lovely for Alice-Miranda and Millie to join Lawrie and Cha. It’s such a beautiful day. Daddy and I have some work to do, so why don’t you all head off and get ready,” Cecelia instructed. “But you need to be back by five p.m. Dinner is set for six, and I hope you don’t mind, Charlotte, but I’ve asked the Greenings, Daisy and Granny and the Bauers to join us. And I think Max and Cyril might pop in too.”

  “Sounds lovely,” Charlotte replied.

  “I’ll phone down to the stables and see if Max can get started saddling up. You take Shergar, Lawrence, and Charlotte, you can take Boo,” Hugh offered. “And what about little Phinnie for you, Millie?”

  “Sounds great,” Millie replied.

  “Boo!” Charlotte exclaimed. “Dear old Boo—I haven’t ridden him in forever. Golly, if only I had enough room in town for darling old Boo to come and stay.”

  “I can’t imagine your neighbors would be very pleased if you turned up with an old racehorse in the back garden.” Cecelia smiled.

  “A painting or a picture—that’s the only way I’m going to have Boo at home in the city,” Charlotte said, pouting.

  Alice-Miranda grinned.

  “What are you up to, young lady?”

  “It’s a secret.” Alice-Miranda beamed.

  The group began to move off to prepare for the events of the day.

  “I’ll pack some treats,” Dolly called after them. “But you can take care of your own lunch. I hear the Rose and Donkey is doing some tasty pork pies.”

  “Thanks, Dolly,” Charlotte called. “See you in a tick.”

  With everyone out of the house, Cecelia and the staff flew into overdrive. Both the dining room and ballroom were transformed with fairy lights and massed bouquets of shiny silver and pearl helium balloons. While formal celebrations usually followed a more traditional decor, the theme for Charlotte’s surprise was unmistakably a nod to the sprites and pixies she had so loved as a child. At two p.m. the rooms were declared a triumph and the doors firmly locked. Mr. Greening had been busy in the garden too, setting up the fireworks that would later bedazzle the night sky.

  Jacinta spent half an hour upstairs stretching and doing some of her breathing exer
cises. After a light morning tea, she set off to take a run around the estate. Mrs. Oliver insisted she take a small backpack and spare phone, just in case she tired and needed someone to pick her up. She planned to cover a large circuit—the reverse direction of the route she and Alice-Miranda had taken on their first day.

  Outside, the topaz sky shimmered and the crisp autumn air stirred the emerald fields. Jacinta’s jog took her down the long driveway toward the gatehouse.

  As she passed through the gates, a ruby-colored Bentley entered the driveway. She noticed that it didn’t have any registration plates—which was a bit strange. The Bentley was followed closely by two Jaguars and an Aston Martin.

  Jacinta ran down the laneway toward Rose Cottage. She was looking out for the mysterious black car, but it wasn’t parked where Alice-Miranda had described seeing it. As she rounded the bend near the cottage, Jacinta thought she heard raised voices coming from the garden. She slowed down to a walk, wondering if Lucas was having another spat with Jasper. But she soon realized that the voices did not belong to children.

  “I’m begging you,” a young woman’s voice pleaded.

  “There’s no point. I can’t stop things now,” a man’s voice replied.

  “But what will happen?” the woman asked.

  “That’s out of my hands,” he hissed.

  Jacinta knew she shouldn’t be listening, but she couldn’t resist a mystery. After seeing Mr. Ridley running about in the middle of the night earlier in the week, she couldn’t help wondering if he was tied up with whatever this was too.

  Jacinta peered through the bushes but couldn’t see the owners of the voices.

  “Who are you spying on?” a voice hissed behind her, and she almost leapt over the hedge.

  “Lucas!” Jacinta’s heart thumped in her chest. “Nobody.”

  “That’s a lie if ever I heard one.” He smirked. “Where’s your little friend?” He looked around.

  “Alice-Miranda and another one of our friends, Millie, have gone out riding,” Jacinta replied. “I was just going for a run and then I thought I heard an argument, that’s all,” she replied. “But it was nothing. What are you doing?” She turned and looked at him. She noticed he was holding an envelope.

  “Nothing.”

  “What’s that?” Jacinta pointed at the letter.

  “It’s from my mother,” he said.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?” he snapped.

  “I was just asking.” Jacinta rolled her eyes. An uncomfortable silence divided them.

  Lucas was taller than Jacinta and had a shock of dark hair. He had piercing, almost black eyes, and for a moment, just the way he was standing, he rather reminded her of someone. She couldn’t think who it was, but it struck her that he was actually very good-looking.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?” Lucas demanded.

  “Like what?” Jacinta pretended that she wasn’t looking at him at all.

  “Like I’ve got two heads or something,” he began.

  “No, I wasn’t. I promise,” Jacinta protested. “It’s just that you remind me of someone but I can’t work out who it is.” She changed the subject. “Are you coming tonight?”

  “Lily said something about some stupid party up at the Hall.” He pulled a face. “But I’m not going. I haven’t got anything to say to those people and I’m sure they haven’t got anything to say to me.”

  “Well, I think you should come.” Jacinta stretched her right leg out onto the low stone wall, reached forward and pulled her toes back. “I’ll talk to you, and so will Alice-Miranda and Millie.”

  “Why would I want to talk to you?” Lucas kicked at a loose stone.

  “You’re impossible, you know,” Jacinta snapped. “Yesterday I mistook you for a human being, but I guess I was wrong.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Lucas said. But he looked wounded.

  Jacinta felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Lucas was even more complicated than she was. He could be so rude and horrible, but she didn’t believe that was really who he was.

  She stretched her other leg. “Do you want to come with me now?” she asked quietly.

  “Why would I want to go with you?” Lucas sneered.

  “Well, I just thought it would be nice to have some company. Anyway, I’m going down to the cubby and then back around to the Hall if you change your mind.”

  Jacinta began to run toward the machinery shed.

  “Have you got any food?” Lucas shouted.

  “What?” Jacinta turned around. “Yes, but you’re not getting any unless you can beat me,” she challenged.

  “Beat you—are you kidding me?” Lucas took off after her. “I was cross-country champion at my school three years in a row.” He passed her and grabbed at the backpack.

  “Oh really?” Jacinta overtook him again. “So was I. See you at the cubby!”

  Out on their ride, Alice-Miranda was leading Millie, Charlotte and Lawrence on a merry tour. They had taken a leisurely walk and trot to the local village of Highton Mill and then proceeded to race through Lord Tavistock’s property and on to Penberthy Floss, a quaint hamlet with a general store and a pub. It was here that they stopped for lunch at the Rose and Donkey, and it was here that Alice-Miranda finally had her moment alone with Mr. Ridley.

  “I need to go to the loo,” said Aunt Charlotte. She leapt from Boo and handed the reins to Alice-Miranda. “All that thundering about after two cups of tea, I don’t think it’s good for me.” She grimaced.

  “I’m coming too.” Millie handed Phinnie’s reins to Mr. Ridley.

  “Looks like it’s just you and me to get our transportation sorted,” Lawrence said with a wink. He followed Alice-Miranda with Shergar and Phinnie as she led Boo and Bony around to the back of the pub.

  “We can tie them up here,” she said. “Daddy and I often come over together. It’s a lovely spot.”

  Alice-Miranda loosened Bonaparte’s girth strap, at which point he promptly thrust toward the water trough and took a long, slurpy drink. As he raised his head, he whinnied and managed to spit half a mouthful of slimy water all over his tiny owner.

  “You brute,” she laughed. “Just what I wanted—horse spit all over me before lunch.”

  Lawrence laughed too.

  “Mr. Ridley,” Alice-Miranda began. “May I ask you something?”

  “Yes, of course,” he said, and continued fiddling with Shergar’s saddle.

  “You know when you came last weekend with Daddy—it wasn’t an accident that you ran into him, was it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” said Lawrence a little uneasily.

  “Well, I don’t usually spy on people nor mind their business, but I know you met someone in the garden that night.” Alice-Miranda spoke gently. “Jacinta saw you leaving the house and so she came and woke me up and then we followed you.”

  “You did what?” Lawrence snapped.

  “I am sorry. Jacinta wanted to tell Mummy and Daddy because she’s convinced that you are up to no good, but I told her that there had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for why you were romping around in the garden after midnight. So we haven’t said anything to anyone—well, except Millie, but she’s very good at keeping secrets too,” Alice-Miranda prattled. “I came to see you the next morning but you’d already gone out. The window was open and there were papers all over the floor. I promise I didn’t read them … but I couldn’t help seeing that you had a letter from someone named Kitty.”

  Lawrence looked defeated. “Yes, you’re right, Alice-Miranda. It wasn’t a coincidence that I ran into your father at the club, nor that I ended up at your house that night. But I promise you, there is a very good explanation for my behavior.” His dark eyes met Alice-Miranda’s. There was something about her, something wise and warm, which for some strange reason made him suddenly want to tell her everything. “If I tell you, you mustn’t say a word,” Lawrence begged. “It’s all ra
ther complicated, and I suspect I might be about to make it even more so.”

  “Of course.” Alice-Miranda listened as he shared his secrets.

  A few minutes later, her round eyes were wider than ever. “Oh,” she breathed. “Now it all makes sense.”

  Millie and Charlotte appeared at the rear door of the pub. “Are you two ever coming inside?” Charlotte asked.

  “I’m starving,” Millie called.

  “We’re coming,” Alice-Miranda replied as she gave Bonaparte a rub behind his ears.

  Lawrence got down on one knee to face Alice-Miranda. “So, we’re good?”

  “Of course, Mr. Ridley. Your secrets are safe with me.” She smiled.

  By the time the riding party arrived back at Highton Hall, everything and everyone was in place. The guests were under strict instructions to remain out of sight until six-thirty p.m., when they were to gather in the formal dining room. Their cars had been hidden behind the stables, in sheds and garages. Hugh was to bring Charlotte to the drawing room for drinks at exactly six o’clock, via the back stairs, where just the family and staff would be waiting.

  Alice-Miranda and Millie found Jacinta in Alice-Miranda’s bedroom. She was looking at the dresses Cecelia had had sent up for her and Millie to choose from.

  “Hello, how was your ride?” Jacinta asked as she heard the girls come through the door.

  “It was great fun,” Millie replied. “We had a race and I won—but only by a nose—and that’s only because Phinnie has the longest nose I’ve ever seen on a pony. I don’t think she’d be in the running for any beauty contests, that’s for sure,” she laughed.

  “Poor Phinnie. I think she’s beautiful anyway—and she’s certainly a lot better behaved than Bonaparte,” Alice-Miranda added. “Did you go for your run?”

  “Yes. And I heard some people arguing in the garden at Rose Cottage—it was very strange. I couldn’t work out what it was about. But I think it might have something to do with Mr. Ridley,” she began.

  “I don’t think so,” Alice-Miranda replied.

  “Why? Did you ask him what he was doing out in the garden at midnight?” Jacinta sat down on the edge of her bed.