by Sarah Hope
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my wonderful children who give me the motivation to keep writing and remind me to keep working towards changing our stars.
Thank you to the lovely Dawn Doyle who has created this beautiful cover for me.
Escape To...Christmas at Corner Cottage
Escape To...Series
Sarah Hope
Published by Sarah Hope, 2019.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
ESCAPE TO...CHRISTMAS AT CORNER COTTAGE
First edition. January 25, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 Sarah Hope.
Written by Sarah Hope.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Epilogue
About the Author
For my children
Let's change our stars.
Chapter 1
Biting down on her bottom lip, the sharp metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, momentarily focusing Chrissy Marsden’s attention. Shifting the hamster cage onto her hip, she politely shook Evan Shaw’s hand.
‘Pleasure doing business with you. Well, under different circumstances...’ Evan looked down at his feet before heading back inside the house and firmly shutting the front door.
‘Do you want me to take Star?’ Andrew indicated to the rusty heap on the driveway, the soppy face of a collie cross pressed against the passenger window.
‘Now you ask! You know how difficult it was for me to find a place to rent that allowed dogs! If you’d said you’d have taken her before I’d signed, I would have said ‘yes, sure, make my life a little easier’. But no, you watched me go through the ordeal of actually thinking I’d have to make the choice between taking her to a rescue centre or making the kids homeless.’ Shaking her head, she looked back at her car, Star pawing the window, desperate to escape the injustice of being cooped up while they’d dragged the last of their possessions out of the house. ‘Plus, the kids are expecting her to come now.’
‘Ok, I only asked.’ Holding his hands up, he shook his head. ‘Evan did offer to rent this place to you.’
‘Yes, well, I don’t think that would have been such a good idea, do you? For the kids, I mean.’ She knew a lot of women stayed in the marital home when their marriage ended, but with it being sold to a landlord? Nope, it wouldn’t be the same. She couldn’t picture living in their old home that wasn’t theirs anymore. No.
‘I’m just saying this was your choice.’ Again, Andrew waved his right arm, taking in her car with the trailer attached piled high with their belongings.
‘Right, my choice. Of course.’
‘No need to be like that.’ He looked back at the house. ‘I’m going to get off now.’
‘Bye then.’ Chrissy looked down at the hamster as he squirmed out of his little plastic house, eyeing her nervously. ‘It’s ok, Patch, I’m not going to drop you. I know how that feels.’ Twisting around, she watched Andrew stroll up to her car as Evie and Sophia tumbled out and ran towards their father.
‘Dad, why don’t you come with us? You and Mum can change your minds. This doesn’t even have to happen.’ Looking up at him, Evie hugged her dad.
‘Don’t be stupid, Evie. It’s done. Look, our old home is sold now. They’ve made their decision.’
‘I don’t care, Sophia. It doesn’t mean Dad can’t come with us. Does it, Mum?’ Evie’s eyes flickered from her dad to Chrissy.
Looking down, Chrissy stared at Patch. She’d been through this so many times with the girls. Both her and Andrew had spoken to them numerous times in the long eight months since he’d told her he didn’t love her anymore. Sophia had understood, but Evie, well, she was forever the optimist and Chrissy didn’t have the heart to tell her the real reason Andrew was leaving.
‘Dad, please?’
‘Evie, I’m sorry, I’ve got to get back to work now.’ Andrew kissed them both on their heads and straightened his tie before walking to his car.
Chrissy shrugged, she obviously wasn’t even worthy of a second more of his time. A minute later and he was gone, his company car pulling away, not even a second glance back at her.
‘Come on, girls. In the car. Let’s begin our new adventure.’ Chrissy nudged them both with the hamster cage. ‘Who’s having this one on their laps?’
‘She can. It was Evie who wanted a hamster.’ Scowling, Sophia pointed at Evie.
‘Ok. Here you go, Evie.’ Chrissy plonked the cage on Evie’s lap before sliding into the driver’s seat, pushing Star back onto her side of the car. ‘Sit still, you daft dog.’
‘Don’t call her daft, Mum! You’re not daft, are you, Star? You just don’t like the car, do you?’
In the rearview mirror Chrissy watched as Sophia rolled her eyes and punched her sister on the arm. ‘Sophia Marsden! How many times do I have to tell you not to hurt your sister?’
‘Well, she’s being stupid. Again. I don’t know why you don’t just tell her the truth that daft dogs can’t answer back or understand what humans say?’
‘She can too!’
‘What? Talk? Right, ok, Evie. Whatever.’
‘No, she can understand. Can’t you, Star? You’re a clever girl, aren’t you? Yes, you are.’
‘Girls, please stop. Star get down.’ She pulled Star down, her front paws finally unclinging from the back of the chair as she tried to get to Evie. Chrissy shook her head, the girls had begun to get their signature teenage moods already. They were only ten. She shrugged, she supposed it was inevitable that things would be worse with twins.
She remembered when they’d found out she was expecting twins, her and Andrew had spoken endlessly about how lovely it would be that their girls would have a best friend for life. Unfortunately, the reality was somewhat different, instead, they just bounced off each other. And the older they got, the more they seemed to revel in annoying one another. At least, Sophia did. Poor Evie, the meeker of the two, just seemed to wind her sister up unintentionally.
‘Are we there yet?’ Evie looked up from cooing over Patch.
‘We’ve only just left our old town. We’ve got at least another hour and a half, possibly longer, because I can’t go very fast with the trailer.’
‘Yes, well, if we’d been allowed to be like a normal family and stay in the same town, we’d be at our crummy new house by now.’ Sophia crossed her arms.
Chrissy gritted her teeth, she could hardly tell them that as an unemployed single mum with two kids, a dog and a hamster the only way she’d been able to secure a tenancy had been to find a private landlord who had agreed to take a hefty deposit and six months’ rent upfront. Of course, if their father had told her he would have taken Star before today then things may have been different, but as it stood, he hadn’t, and so here they were, moving to a remote village an hour and a half away from all their friends. It was all very well Andrew saying the landlord who had brought their small but much loved martial home had offered
it to her, but she couldn’t have afforded the six months’ rent, not at the rate they charged in their old town. No, she’d had no choice.
‘I know you’re upset to be leaving, Sophia, but it’ll be an adventure. A new start.’
‘A lonely start away from all my friends, you mean.’
‘You’ll make new friends.’
‘No, I won’t and I won’t even try because you’ve forced me into this, Mum. You’ve taken me away from my home and I’ll never forgive you.’ Sophia jutted out her chin, closed her eyes and pulled her headphones on.
Chrissy could hear the beat of the angry bass even from the front of the car, but also knew it would make things worse if she said anything. Having her iPod up that loud once wasn’t going to harm her hearing, was it?
‘Mum, I can hear Sophia’s music. Can you tell her to turn it down? It’s giving me a headache.’
‘Evie, sweetheart, just leave her be for a bit. You can see she’s upset.’
‘I’m upset too. I really thought you wouldn’t make Dad go. I thought you’d get back together.’
Staring at the road ahead, she switched the headlights on. ‘I didn’t make Dad go. You know that, don’t you? It’s just one of those things, adults break up sometimes. I’m sorry.’
‘I just miss him.’
‘You’ve only just said bye to him. Plus, you’ll see him every other weekend.’ Watching Evie’s cheeks glisten with tears broke Chrissy’s heart. It wasn’t her fault, she had to remember that. Chrissy hadn’t asked for any of this.
‘I still miss him. I don’t want us to live away from him. I want us to be a family again.’ Balancing Patch’s cage on her knees, she quickly swiped the tears away with the sleeves of her hoodie.
‘We’ll still be a family. We just won’t live with Daddy. Lots of families are the same. Didn’t Mattie’s parents from your old class split up last year?’
‘Yes, and his dad moved abroad.’ Evie burst into fresh sobs.
Of course he did, why hadn’t Chrissy remembered that? What a stupid example. ‘Hey, don’t cry. Daddy’s not going to move abroad.’
‘He might do. Anything can happen now.’
‘He won’t, I promise. Now, why don’t you open that pack of sweets I got you for the journey?’ Reaching behind, Chrissy patted Evie’s leg before fixing her attention back to the road. The sky was darkening still, rain was all she needed with only a tarp (and a good few gaps around the outside) protecting their things in the trailer.
‘Sorry, Mum.’
‘Sorry about what, Evie?’ Chrissy strained to hear Evie’s soft whisper.
‘Sorry for saying it was your fault. I know it’s not. I’m just sad.’
‘Oh darling, that’s ok.’ Chrissy pulled a few strands of hair from her messy bun and twisted them around her finger.
‘MUM?’
‘Yes, Evie?’
‘When are we going to get there?’
‘It shouldn’t be much further.’ Chrissy tapped the SatNav. They should have been there at least twenty minutes ago. Maybe there were roadworks or some reason the SatNav was taking her a longer route. ‘Another fifteen minutes, perhaps.’
‘I’m hungry. Can we stop and get something, please?’
The windscreen wipers sped backwards and forward as they cruised along the sheen covered road. Looking in the rearview mirror, Chrissy could see a line of cars trailing behind them. She shrugged, there wasn’t much she could do, she realised she was barely doing half the speed limit but even at that speed the trailer was bouncing behind them. Trying to avoid the potholes seemed to make it worse, the trailer just weaved across the road. But she was doing it. She was pulling the trailer, despite the fact that Andrew had told her that her little car wouldn’t cope with the weight. ‘I don’t think so. We’ll be there soon.’
Chapter 2
‘Here we go, Moorfield. Our new home!’ As they drove into the village, Chrissy twisted around to smile at Evie and Sophia. Evie still clung to Patch’s cage whilst Sophia had nodded off, her head leaning against the window, headphones pushed down to her neck. ‘Evie, love, can you wake Sophia for me, please?’
‘Sophia. Sophia!’
Chrissy watched in the rearview mirror as Evie poked her sister. Sophia stirred, moving slightly before closing her eyes again.
‘Sophia! You need to wake up now. We’re here!’ Chrissy jiggled Sophia’s leg with one hand before returning to the 10 to 2 position on the steering wheel that her driving instructor had ingrained in her.
‘Ok, ok, I’m awake!’ Rubbing her eyes, Sophia peered out of the window.
‘There’s a good girl. Now, look out of Evie’s window, we’re just about to go past your new school.’ Chrissy pointed towards the left. An old Victorian building peeked above a camouflage of trees, the recent cold weather having stolen a number of leaves, leaving the school building more exposed to the roadside than it had been when they had visited three weeks ago.
‘Yuck! It still looks as old and creepy as it did last time.’
‘Sophia! It doesn’t look creepy in the slightest. Yes, it looks different from your old school but that’s only because it was built over a hundred years ago. It’s full of character. It’s beautiful.’ It was true, the ornate archway leading into the building from the playground stood proud, pale bricks fanning the entrance way.
‘I don’t like it. I liked our old school. You know the one I mean, Mum? The one where I actually had friends. I’m going to be miserable here. I hate it.’ Crossing her arms, Sophia pursed her lips.
‘You’ll make friends here, Sophia. I promise.’ Chrissy tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, she was certain they would settle and make friends easily. Especially Sophia, she had always been the more outgoing one, the one who took the lead and went off to search for people she deemed to be friend-worthy when they started a new club. She nodded, Sophia would make friends anywhere. They both would. She’d always done her best to socialise them both. The amount of money she had spent on various clubs for them over the years had always been a sore point between her and Andrew.
‘There’s no point me trying to make friends here anyway. I’ll get settled here and then we’ll just move again.’
‘No we won’t. We’ll make a new life here. A really good life. You’ll see.’
‘How can anything be good around here? Look at it.’
‘It’s lovely here. There’s a lovely park and lots of places to take Star for walks. Plus, Stratford-Upon-Avon is just a few minutes away and there’s always something going on there.’
‘A park? You do know that we’re ten now, right? And who wants to go on a stupid walk with Star? I bet it always rains here too.’
‘Now you’re just being silly, Sophia. You’re excited about starting school tomorrow, aren’t you, Evie?’ Looking back at Evie, she silently pleaded for back up.
‘Umm, not really, Mum.’ Evie looked down at Patch who was poking his head out of his little plastic house again, probably wondering what all the commotion was about. ‘I’m feeling a tiny bit nervous really.’
‘Evie, it’ll be ok. You’ll soon make friends, both of you will. Plus, you’ve got each other, most people would have to start on their own, so you’re ahead of the game already.’ Smiling, she blinked against the sting in her eyes. When they had looked around primary schools before the girls had started, both her and Andrew had fallen in love with the newly built, busy, dynamic school they had ended up sending them to. And it had been the right decision. They had both been happy there, but now, moving an hour and a half away, it just wasn’t possible to keep them there.
When she had taken the girls to look around Moorfield Primary it had seemed nice. Not as bright and airy as their old school, but small and friendly. Like a little family really, the Headteacher had known every child he had come across by name. Plus, the class sizes were smaller, which could only be a good thing.
‘I hope so.’
‘It will, you’ll see.’ Taking a deep
breath in, Chrissy reminded herself again that she hadn’t had a choice. It wasn’t as though she had wanted them to have to swap schools, it had just worked out that way. When they had accepted the offer on the marital home she’d had to find somewhere for them to live, and this place in Moorfield had seemed perfect. The private landlord had agreed to allow Star and to sign a tenancy over to her if she paid six months’ rent upfront, unlike all of the estate agents she’d contacted who seemed to have a ‘computer says no’ generic fit for single mums with no income and a dog. No, the best thing had been to take this house in this village.
‘Where’s the stupid cottage then?’ Sophia looked up.
‘Umm, the next turning on the left I believe. Are you excited to finally see inside? I know we saw the photos the landlord sent us, but it’s not the same, is it?’
‘Not excited, no. But I bagsy the bigger bedroom.’ Sophia glanced sideways at Evie, a slow grin spreading across her face.
‘That’s fine, she can have the bigger bedroom. I liked the small pink room anyway. It looked so cosy in the photo.’
‘Ok, that was easy then. Bedrooms chosen! I wonder what the front garden looks like now.’
‘Hopefully better than it did before.’
‘Yes, it should do. The landlord, Mr Lowen, was going to get a gardener in, so it should be lovely now.’ When they had driven by after visiting the school, the cottage garden had looked so overgrown, ivy had been swamping the short fence around the garden and it had looked as though the couple of hedges flanking the gateway had been left to their own devices for years. When Chrissy emailed her concerns, Mr Lowen had promised to get a gardener round before they moved in.
‘Almost there now.’ As she took the sharp left turn, Chrissy smiled, she was looking forward to village life, to a new start. Even with the rain pelting against the windscreen, their little lane looked beautiful. Brick cottages tucked away on one side with a large green opposite which would be perfect for the twins to run off some energy. At the end of the lane, a wood arched around the back of the cottages and the park and local shop were a short walk away at the end of the High Street.
