The Bluebell Castle Collection

by Sarah Bennett

  The man shook his head. ‘It’s a bit of a long day for our littlest.’

  Tristan understood that. ‘Well, it’s on every night between now and Christmas Eve so if you do decide to come back for it, hang onto your ticket from today and you’ll be entitled to the same discount as if you’d bought a joint ticket this morning.’

  ‘Really? That’s great news.’ The man nudged his wife. ‘Did you hear that, Lisa? We can come one night just for the light show in the woods and get a discount if we show our tickets from today.’

  ‘Oh, that’s great news.’

  They had included it in the programme, and the ticket sellers at the gates had been briefed but perhaps he needed to get Arthur to mention it when he did his little welcome speech they’d planned for around lunchtime. ‘Make sure you spread the word!’

  Twenty minutes later, they’d made it to the front of the queue, which was just as well as Isaac was getting a bit restless. The moment Tristan approached the keeper standing nearer to a small group of tethered, grazing reindeer, the little boy was transfixed. They were bigger than Tristan had expected, and he was surprised to discover as the keeper began his briefing that they were all female, given they all had antlers. The keeper kept her facts short and sweet, including the theory that because the male reindeer shed their antlers in the autumn rut, it could be argued that Rudolph of the famous Christmas song should in fact be renamed Rudolphina.

  After the talk, the children were offered the chance to feed the reindeer by tossing a few handfuls of a specially prepared mix onto the grass near the small herd and there was also an opportunity to pet a smaller female who was being held by another keeper. Each child was allowed to approach with an adult and shown how to gently stroke the reindeer’s flank. Isaac didn’t seem too keen, turning to burrow his face in Tristan’s shoulder whenever one of the animals swung its head in their direction. He retreated to the side lines, steering the pram with one hand and keeping hold of Isaac with the other while they waited patiently for Elijah to have his turn.

  The next section filled with smaller pens holding rabbits, guinea pigs, miniature goats and a pair of rare breed pigs was much more to Isaac’s taste and he clamoured to be let down. Lifting him over the edge of the rabbit pen, Tristan hunkered down beside the fence and watched in delight as the bunnies hopped over to investigate their new visitor. ‘Gently,’ Tristan said when Isaac stretched out a hand towards a fawn-coloured Lop with huge ears. Taking the boy’s wrist in a soft grip, he showed him how to pet the rabbit. ‘Like with Pippin, okay?’

  ‘’Kay!’ The sweet smile Isaac gave him did all sorts of funny things to Tristan’s heart, and he had to sit on the grass and catch his breath at the sudden wave of emotion. If he and Jess were really going to do this, then it would be Tristan’s job to teach these boys, to help them grow into men of compassion the way his father and uncle had done for him and Arthur. He would never be Elijah’s or Isaac’s father – nor would he ever try to assume a role which Steve already did admirably – but he could be a friend, an advisor and a confidante. One hell of a responsibility, but the rewards might make it the most fulfilling thing he ever did in his life. And maybe, just maybe, somewhere along the line he and Jess might have a child of their own.

  A pair of small arms were flung around his neck and Tristan found himself with a very excited five-year old in his lap. ‘I touched a pig!’ Elijah beamed from ear to ear, clearly proud at this amazing achievement.

  ‘Wow! What did it feel like?’

  ‘He was all bristly like a brush, wasn’t he Mummy?’ The pair of them glanced up to Jess who was standing next to them.

  ‘Yes, he was. I thought he was going to be smooth.’

  Tristan laughed. ‘Did you touch him, too?’

  ‘Of course. Though it might be the first and last time I do so.’ She knelt beside him and leaned over the fence towards Isaac. ‘Have you been making friends with the bunnies?’ She stroked the rabbit who’d settled between Isaac’s legs and was happily nibbling at the grass. ‘Oh, he’s lovely and soft. Come and give him a stroke, Eli.’ Tristan sat quietly, watching the three of them pet the rabbit, heart full to bursting and didn’t think he’d ever been happier in his life.

  They were just making their way towards the waffle seller when his mobile started ringing.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Tristan? It’s Will. We’ve got an issue up at the car park, can you come and give me a hand?’

  ‘Sure, give me five minutes.’ He hung up then turned to Jess with an apologetic smile. ‘Sorry, duty calls.’

  ‘Don’t worry about it, it was lovely we got to spend some time with you, I thought you’d be rushed off your feet all day.’ She held out her arms to Isaac. ‘Come on, little man, Tristan has to go and do his work.’ She settled the toddler on his feet.

  ‘I’ll see you later, hopefully?’

  She nodded. ‘We’re heading back in a bit because these two are going to need a decent nap before we go and see the lights later.’

  ‘Wait for me?’ It was only as he said it, he realised what he’d said.

  Jess glanced down then up at him through her lashes. ‘Always,’ she murmured.

  Euphoria gave his feet wings though Tristan soon came down with a bump when he heard horns beeping. Doubling his pace, he found a frustrated Will at the top of the area they’d set aside for parking. In addition to the orderly queue of cars snaking back towards the gate, there was a second queue cutting at right angles. ‘Hey, sorry, what’s up?’ he gasped, bending at the waist to catch his breath.

  ‘Some idiot didn’t want to wait and cut across the field thinking he’d spotted a gap and then couldn’t get through. Only by the time he realised all the rest of these jokers had followed suit. A horn beeped and Will immediately turned, cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. ‘Stop that! It’s your own fault for trying to push in.’

  Fearing Will was about to lose it, Tristan sent him off to placate the drivers who’d obeyed the signs and went to sort out the miscreants. The red-faced driver who’d caused all the trouble in the first place leaned out of his window and began to complain as soon as Tristan approached. ‘What a bloody joke this is! Couldn’t organise a piss-up in a brewery.’

  ‘Terry!’ The woman in the passenger seat snapped. ‘I told you to wait, but would you listen to me? No of course you had to decide you knew best, just like you always bloody do!’

  Oh, Christ. The last thing he needed was to get dragged into the middle of a domestic. ‘You’ve been very patient, sir. Please, give me a few more minutes and I’ll have this sorted.’

  ‘It’s a bloody disgrace, it is, and for the amount you’re charging to get in an’ all! I’ve a good mind to demand my money back.’

  Deciding perhaps Will had the right attitude after all, Tristan pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and withdrew a twenty-pound note. ‘Here you go,’ he said, thrusting it at the driver. ‘Full refund of your entrance fee and a bit towards your petrol besides. I’ll escort you back to the gate as soon as I can get these other vehicles shifted and you can be on your way.’ He strode off, leaving the man spluttering and his wife giving him another earful.

  It took a combination of charm, good humour and firm instructions, but he eventually got the cars turned around and with Will’s help they got them integrated into the correct line and everyone moving once more. The only car remaining was Terry, the driver who’d started it all. ‘Right, then,’ Tristan said, briskly. ‘Thank you for your patience, sir. Now if you head towards that yellow arrow over there, you’ll pick up the route back to the gate. I’ll run up and meet you there and we can get you back out onto the road and on your way. My apologies again for all the inconvenience.

  The driver gave him a sheepish look. ‘Mary wants to have a look around, so I think we might stay after all.’ He held the twenty-pound note out to Tristan. ‘Sorry, mate.’

  ‘No harm done.’ Tristan accepted the cash with a smile. ‘Come on let’s get you par
ked so you can hopefully enjoy the rest of the day.’

  Apart from a couple of other minor hiccups – including a hilarious half an hour when one of the miniature goats escaped its pen and was eventually corralled between a burger van and an ice cream truck by a very flustered keeper – the rest of the day ran like clockwork. Tristan managed to find time to stop at Mac’s van for a hot pork roll, and was delighted to hear that Mac and all the other food vendors were thrilled with the amount of trade they’d done.

  Arthur performed his MC duties with aplomb, while Lucie spent an hour in the craft tent touring each of the stalls and giving each individual vendor some attention. When Tristan crossed paths with his brother, he was hefting two reusable shopping bags stuffed full of trinkets and gifts. ‘Lucie felt bad about singling anyone out, so she bought something off every stall in there,’ he said with a grin. ‘God knows what we’re going to do with it all.’

  Tristan peered in the top of the nearest bag. ‘Looks like you’ve got some nice stuff. Have a chat with Jess and she might take some of it off your hands for the stockings she’s going to make up for the house party guests.’

  ‘Good call. Have you managed to spend any time with her today?’ Arthur never had been one for subtlety.

  ‘We took the boys to see the reindeer. You should’ve seen them, Arthur, they were so excited, it was the sweetest thing ever.’

  Arthur grinned. ‘You should see the expression on your face right now.’

  Tristan could well imagine. ‘I know, I know, I am a goner.’

  ‘It’s good to see. You’ve been really restless since Dad died, but it feels like you’ve got a sense of purpose back. And with Iggy pregnant too, we’re making great progress on the next generation already.’

  ‘I hope so. There’s still a lot of stuff unresolved between us, but I won’t give Jess or those boys up without a fight.’ He didn’t even try to hide the fierceness of his feelings.

  Placing one of the bags down, Arthur gave him a quick slap on the shoulder. ‘That’s the spirit, and don’t forget you’ve got plenty of reinforcements to call in if you need them. Lucie adores Jess – and the boys, too – we both do. Nothing would make us happier than to be able to welcome them permanently into the family.’

  Bless his brother for saying it, even when Tristan knew he’d likely say the same even if they weren’t so keen on Jess because he knew they only wanted to see him happy. ‘If it was up to me, it’d be a done deal already, but the last thing I want to do is rush Jess into something she might come to regret.’

  Arthur nodded. ‘You never were one to do things the easy way, were you?’

  ‘At least I haven’t scared her off yet.’ Tristan couldn’t resist the dig at his brother whose own path to true love had been more than a little rocky.

  ‘Whatever, little brother.’ Arthur buffed his nails on his shirt then blew on them. ‘You wish you had my skills with the ladies.’

  Tristan laughed, of course, but deep down inside his most sincere wish was that he and Jess might end up as happy as Arthur and Lucie were together.

  Chapter 15

  The great hall was the kind of noisy chaos that could only be expected when seven adults, two over-excited children and a rambunctious pack of dogs gathered in the same space. The dogs were milling around by the door, one or other of them giving a bark in the expectation they were being taken out for a walk. As she knelt to buckle Isaac into the harness for his reins, Jess smothered a grin as she watched Arthur and Lancelot’s somewhat ineffectual efforts to herd the dogs back towards the fireplace. With Isaac and Elijah both warmly wrapped up, Jess turned her attention to her own coat and hat, then called Lucie over to help her with the backpack carrier she planned to use rather than the buggy. Although the wheels on the buggy were sturdy and had a good tread, she wasn’t keen on trying to negotiate her way around the woods with it – even though she’d been assured the paths would be able to accommodate it. Isaac would want to explore and she’d only resort to carrying him when he got too tired. ‘I think that’s fine, thanks,’ she said to Lucie, giving the strap around her middle a quick check.

  Another flurry of voices added to the general hubbub as Mrs W, Betsy and Maxwell entered the hall all similarly wrapped up for the cold weather. Arthur had extended the invitation to them when Maxwell served an early supper of stew and homemade bread, and Jess was delighted to see they’d accepted. The boys were particularly fond of the housekeeper and the cook, but she’d come across Maxwell one morning helping Elijah to tie his shoelaces ready for school and had instantly developed a soft spot for him.

  With Maxwell there to help, the men had better luck shooing the dogs away from the front door and everyone was soon gathered at the bottom of the steps. It was a cold, clear night and the heavens were already doing their best to put on a light show to compete with the one waiting for them in the woods.

  ‘Where’s Tristan?’ Elijah asked, glancing around as though realising for the first time he wasn’t with them. Though their original arrangement had been to meet at the castle, he’d texted Jess earlier to say he would meet them at the entrance to the walk instead as he wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly.

  ‘He’s over at the woods with Will,’ Iggy said as she came over and held out a hand to Elijah. ‘Come on, let’s go and find them!’

  Jess followed at Isaac’s slower pace with Constance and Lancelot falling in beside them. ‘Well, it’s a beautiful night for it,’ Constance said. ‘I must say I’m rather excited to see what they’ve done.’ Only Tristan and Will had seen the full display, the rest of the family having been barred from the woods so as not to spoil the surprise.

  Their route from the house took them across some unlit open ground and with Lancelot’s help, she got Isaac settled into the carrier on her back, not wanting him to stumble even though most of the adults were carrying torches and she could see well enough. As they approached, the night before them took on an eerie green glow before switching to a deep violet then a bright red, and she stopped to point out the changing colours to Isaac. Little hands patted the thick, woolly hat on her head. ‘Pretty!’

  ‘Yes, darling, it’s very pretty.’ She spoke too soon. Pretty didn’t come close to describing the sights awaiting them. A shimmering curtain of lights covered the entrance to the walk, concealing what lay in store for them other than the ghostly glow of colour shining here and there above the tree line. There was only a small queue in front of them. The display had opened a couple of hours previously at dusk, and they’d decided to eat first and let the majority of the crowds pass through before they ventured across. A tall figure silhouetted against the curtain of light waved and began weaving his way towards them. Though he had a flat cap tugged over his hair, Tristan’s cheeks and nose were red from the cold.

  ‘How’s it going?’ Jess reached up to cup his cheek. ‘My goodness, you’re freezing.’

  Tristan leaned into her hand for a brief moment. ‘Only my face, the rest of me is fine. Will and I had an Irish coffee from the food van.’ He gave her a lopsided grin, and she wondered if the shot of whisky in that coffee had been a single or a double.

  ‘Tris! Tris!’ Isaac yelled his usual greeting to his new favourite person, almost deafening her in the process.

  ‘Look at you up there, you’re almost as tall as me.’ Reaching over her shoulder, Tristan took Isaac’s outstretched hand. ‘Are you ready to see the lights?’ From the way Isaac was bouncing against her back, the answer was most definitely yes.

  As they approached the curtain of lights, Jess could feel the anticipation and excitement rising inside. ‘Ready?’ Tristan asked her, stretching his hand out to pull part of the curtain aside.

  She nodded, and then found herself in the midst of a breathtaking fairyland. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t anything like the sight before them. Beneath the trees on either side of the path was an amazing array of illuminated toadstools in every shape and size imaginable. On the
trunks of some of the bigger trees, spotlights shone on little doors, and every now and then tiny golden lights twinkled in the branches like fireflies or fairies were hiding in the branches. It was so magical, Jess felt tears prickle her eyes for a moment. ‘Oh, it’s beautiful.’ Her gasp of delight wasn’t the only one as the rest of the family group crossed from one side of the path to the other pointing out different things they’d spotted to one another.

  ‘Down!’ Isaac demanded behind her, and Tristan obliged immediately, lifting him free of the carrier and setting him on his feet.

  ‘Hold on there, mister.’ Jess caught his sleeve before he could escape and reached into her coat pocket with her free hand to fish out the strap which she clipped onto the harness of the reins. As soon as she released his arm, Isaac was off, toddling as fast as his little legs would carry him towards a toadstool standing right next to the path. She was about to warn him not to touch, but there was no need as he came to a stop and just stared in fascination at the glowing red and white spotted decoration as though expecting a fairy or a gnome to pop out from behind it. She wasn’t sure how long they remained in that first section, and would’ve happily stayed longer just to enjoy the wonder in her baby’s eyes as he explored everywhere but Elijah came running up and tugged her sleeve. ‘Mummy, Mummy, come and see!’ And she let him drag her along the path.

  In the next section, the trees were filled with huge baubles, each tree illuminated in a different colour by hidden lights. Every few seconds the colours changed sending a rainbow ripple around the grove. Beyond the rainbow, the next section of trees appeared to be raining sparks of fire from high in their boughs.

  And so it went on, each turn in the path bringing another visual delight. Twenty minutes later, she was standing alone in front of an open grove in the trees filled with a carpet of twinkling stars. Mrs W and Betsy were somewhere behind them with Isaac, having claimed his loyalty with a piece of homemade shortbread the cook produced from her pocket. She could hear Elijah’s bright, high voice a little ahead where he’d gone to explore the next bit of the walk with Iggy and Will. Warmth bracketed her side, and the familiar trace of amber filled the air. Her glove was tugged off and Tristan’s warm fingers entwined with hers. ‘So, what do you think?’