Chapter 72
David Charles rang Bonnie at nine the next morning. It had scared her to death. He’d told her that he didn’t have a great deal of news; the file of collected evidence would be going to the CPS this week, but what she most remembered about the call was that the solicitor had told her it would be wise to prepare herself for a possible spell in prison. She was shell-shocked when she put the phone down. How did you prepare for something like that? She made a to-do list of various utility companies that she would need to contact, but she hadn’t a clue what to say to them. And what would happen if she went straight to prison from court? Who would empty the little house of furniture and where would it all go? She was terrified, as much of being locked up as of what people she valued would think of her. Especially Lew.
He hadn’t arrived by twenty past ten and the thought crossed her mind that he had found out. An anonymous letter – from Stephen – sent to the hotel this time so he would be sure of getting it. Her stomach churned with nerves. Then she heard the cheerful pips of a car horn outside and she leapt to the window to see Lew’s Audi and him waving at her. She was almost drowned by the relief that washed over her. She gave herself a quick check in the mirror hanging on the wall and picked up her key. Her hand was shaking as she locked the door.
‘Bonnie, I’m so sorry I’m late. Some idiot rep for toilet rolls, of all things, blocked me in in the hotel car park.’
‘It’s fine, don’t worry,’ she returned.
‘Everything all right?’ he asked, noticing that her eyes looked slightly red.
‘I’ve just had a sneezing fit,’ she improvised. ‘I think the pollen count must be high today.’
‘Thank you for coming with me,’ he smiled and her heart gave a tattoo of thumps in response.
‘It’s a change from making confetti,’ she said, buckling herself in.
Lew chuckled. ‘Is it a very lucrative sideline you have?’
‘Put it this way . . . no. But the Rainbow Lady does buy my Chinese meal every week for me.’
Rainbow Lady. It fitted her perfectly, thought Lew, noticing the sundress she was wearing, spattered with dots of all colours. On her shoulders rested her yellow cardigan, bright as sunshine. She was bonny by name and nature and she never failed to lift his mood when he was in her presence.
‘Where’s the house?’ asked Bonnie.
‘Just outside Little Kipping,’ replied Lew. ‘The estate agent selling mine thought I might be interested. I should sensibly be renting one of those small flats you told me about, but since he told me about this, it’s become stuck in my head so I thought what the hell. I figured that if it was awful then at least it would leave my brain alone.’
‘Little Kipping is nice and very handy for Spring Hill.’
‘Yep. All the planets are weirdly lining up for this one. It’s a ridiculous size for a single man though.’
You won’t be single for long, thought Bonnie. She wasn’t sure she could bear to be around when he found another lady. The planets were also lining up for her leaving him, she knew.
‘The name will have to go if I bought it. Coldred House. You just know that Colin and Mildred thought it would be a good idea.’
Bonnie giggled and it felt good because she hadn’t been sure there was any laughter in her recently.
Lew took a left into Little Kipping, past the Black Sheep pub and a pretty row of cottages covered in purple wisteria. He took another left up a lane darkened by trees on either side conspiring together high above their heads.
‘It’s somewhere up here I beli— ah, there we go,’ said Lew, ‘just on the bend.’ He took a right down an imposing drive, longer than he imagined, and there in front of them was Coldred House and a man in a slick suit, leaning against his car waiting for them.
‘Wow,’ said Bonnie, more of a sound than a word. How lovely it must be to have the money in the bank to buy somewhere like this. It was huge, double-fronted, square and solid with massive bay windows to the first elevation.
‘Nice to see you again,’ said the estate agent, walking over to shake Lew’s hand and then Bonnie’s, introducing himself to her as Mike Bell. She wondered if he thought she was Lew’s bit of stuff and the reason why he had left his wife.
‘As I said to you on the phone, Mr Harley, it’s been on the market for four years so the owner has just dropped the price again. Quite considerably. It wasn’t a bargain before but I’ll be honest, I think you’ll find it is now.’
Mike unlocked the huge door and pushed it open to reveal an enormous reception hall with the most beautiful ornate staircase. Bonnie would have bought it on this alone.
‘Breathtaking, isn’t it?’ said Mike. ‘I’ll be honest and say I wish the person who’d decorated this had done the rest of the house.’ He grimaced. ‘Let’s start with the worst.’
Bonnie didn’t see the maroon walls in the lounge, she saw windows where sunlight would flood in every morning. She didn’t see the broken, splintered wooden floorboards, but ones which were polished and glossy. She saw a crackling fire feasting on logs in the hungry mouth of the fireplace and a large red bear of a dog asleep on a thick rug in front of it, gently snoring and dreaming of bones.
‘Horrendous, but it’s only a paint job away from paradise,’ guffawed Mike. ‘Plus a total rewire and er . . . all the plumbing work. Let’s go into the kitchen, you’ll like this.’ He clicked his tongue at Bonnie, as if this would be her domain.
‘Mmm, MFI units,’ chuckled Lew. ‘Dozens of them. Nice.’
Bonnie saw a huge dining table in the centre of the room, herself standing at it folding cocoa into the contents of a bowl, a giggling child sneaking fingerfuls of the cake mix into her mouth. She saw a shiny green Aga pumping out heat and smells of stew and bread. She saw the door open to a garden full of nodding spring daffodils, and the cheery bubble of the brook beyond them.
‘Be honest, what do you think so far?’ asked Mike eagerly.
‘It needs a lot of work,’ said Lew, in a neutral tone, giving nothing away to him, though he turned to Bonnie and dropped a sly wink.
There was a study tucked next to a stately dining room, a cellar, a scullery and an orangery, as Mike called it. Lew called it a condemned conservatory, but he could see where Mike was coming from.
At the top of the magnificent staircase was a stained glass window of a garden scene, rays of sunlight shining down on a green field of large yellow daffodils, their trumpets just a shade darker.
‘It used to be called Daffodil House,’ said Mike. ‘And that’s why. It’s a tad cheesy, which is why I imagine the last owners changed it.’
‘Yep, Colin and Mildred totally de-cheesed it,’ Lew said for Bonnie’s ears only and she snorted and then clamped her hands over her face in embarrassment.
‘No ensuites but I’ll be honest, the bedrooms are so large they could easily accommodate them,’ said Mike, pushing open the door to the master bedroom. There was enough room for Bonnie’s house to fit into, never mind an ensuite. Two massive windows afforded a view of the garden and the smoke-blue Pennines beyond. Bonnie saw herself leaning over a cot in the corner, checking that the baby was sleeping, then tiptoing back to bed where a Lew-shaped man was waiting for her to snuggle into. She turned away and found an awful built-in wardrobe temporarily interesting whilst the sudden blush faded from her cheeks. There were five more bedrooms on that floor, a gigantic house bathroom with a 1970s avocado suite and an attic, where once the servants had lived, split into four small rooms.
‘It comes with three acres of land and a garage that is standing up on a wing and a prayer, I’ll be honest,’ said Mike. ‘It’s a house for someone with vision.’
‘And a hell of a lot of money for renovations,’ said Lew, shaking his head regretfully.
‘The new price reflects that,’ said Mike quickly, feeling this potential sale slip through his fingers like ultra-fine sand. ‘I’ll be honest, there haven’t been any viewings for over a year. The owner will look at any reasonable offer.’
‘Offer him seven grand less than he’s asking,’ said Lew. ‘That’ll make up for the knock I’ve had to take on mine plus interest.’
‘You’re going for it?’ said Mike, with a strangled gulp. ‘Really?’
‘Really?’ asked Bonnie also.
‘Yes,’ said Lew. ‘Really.’
‘That was a mad, impulsive, ridiculous, stupid decision, wasn’t it? Thank God I didn’t put anything in writing,’ said Lew, pulling up outside her house half an hour later. ‘I think Colin and Mildred must have cast a spell on me.’
‘The house is beautiful, stunning,’ said Bonnie. ‘It’s got everything you’d ever want a home to have. And it has that lovely happy feel in it.’ Some houses had it; like the one she’d grown up in, which had borne all its best and happiest times like a watermark. ‘If you can afford it, you should go for it.’
‘My heart is leading my head on this,’ admitted Lew. ‘That’s very scary for me.’ Then he grinned his lopsided grin and added, ‘I’ll be honest.’
Bonnie burst into a peal of laughter. ‘He was extraordinarily honest for an estate agent, wasn’t he?’
Lew’s laughter joined with hers and fed it, which in turn fired his and both of them thought that they couldn’t remember when their bellies had last ached so much and so joyfully.
‘I couldn’t carry on calling it Coldred House though, could I? What do you think, Bonnie? Any suggestions?’
‘I think Daffodil House is perfect,’ she said, thinking that when the sun was in the right position behind the stained glass window, it would throw a warm golden light on the stairs. ‘It’s very yellow though. Do you like yellow?’
Lew mused for a moment. He pictured Bonnie standing in front of that same window in her Bonita Banana mac. Yes he liked yellow very much.
‘You might have to change the name of the orangery to the lemonery,’ she smiled.
‘I love it,’ replied Lew. ‘The lemonery. Yes, Daffodil House it is. Let’s cut its marriage with Colin and Mildred out of its history and return it to its maiden name.’
If only it were that simple to erase history, thought Bonnie, unclipping her seat belt.
She didn’t suggest he come in for a coffee. He was a man who could buy a mansion on a whim and she made confetti out of scraps of paper so that she could afford a Chinese takeaway once a week.
‘Thank you for coming with me, Bonnie. Enjoy the rest of your day.’
Lew wanted to suggest lunch but something inside him held up a stop sign. He was developing strong feelings for Bonnie and she had enough on her emotional plate with that husband of hers. Moving in on her when she was vulnerable was Stephen’s trick, not his.
As he drove away, his thoughts strayed to Daffodil House. Bonnie had not been the only one to see past the revolting paint and the peeling plasterwork. He saw logs spitting in the fireplace and a large dog asleep on a rug in front of it. He saw a grandfather clock at the bottom of the stairs made from the same dark wood as all the furniture in the house. He saw children playing hide and seek on every floor, and he saw them drawing at a huge wooden table in the centre of the kitchen. The door to the lemonery was open letting the heady scent of garden flowers drift in. In his imagination, it smelled just like Bonnie’s perfume.