Lucy rang Anna on Boxing Day morning and asked if it was OK to bring the wedding cake round to the flat to ice it.
‘I can manage here if it’s a problem, the parents are leaving tomorrow and we can eat at one end of the dining room table,’ she said. ’I’ll just need to put the cake out of the way so it sets and is not in danger of being knocked by pots and pans and wild children. I’d do it in the granny flat only I’ve promised Mattie she can go there when she moves out of the castle until she goes to Spain to stay with her old admirer.’
‘Of course, come whenever you want,’ Anna said. ‘I’ve got a friend coming here for a day or two, escaping her stepchildren.’
‘Oh, will it disturb you if the cake and I arrive?’
‘Course not,’ Anna said, wondering if the sight of a wedding cake might freak Grania out. She’d only just married James and it seemed to have hit the buffers already. ‘See you… and the cake, whenever. We’re staying in, it’s so cold and Freddie’s got all his new toys to play with.’ It was very bleak outside, the sky like a thick, grey blanket enclosing them. ‘Benny can come too if he likes,’ Anna added.
‘That’s very kind of you but perhaps another time. You know what boys are like, crashing around together, and I can’t risk anything happening to the cake.’
‘True, well see you soon then.’
Lucy, Colin and the cake arrived shortly after her call. Freddie, excited by the amount of Lego he’d received from Anna and his grandparents, had great plans afoot and settled down happily on the living room carpet to build his empire.
‘You’re a star,’ Lucy hugged her, ‘I don’t know when I can use my shop again and fortunately there isn’t another wedding after this one until early March and I really hope we’ll be straight by then.’
Colin heaved everything inside: the cake in two boxes, stands, icing sugar by the ton and various other bits and pieces needed to turn the plain marzipan cake into a fairy tale.
‘OK, I’ll be off, see you later,’ he said, his mind obviously elsewhere. He was meeting with people who might help with the flood damage.
Lucy followed him to the door, reminding him of the repairs she needed done urgently to have the shop up and running as soon as possible.
‘I’ll do what I can,’ he kissed her, ‘and thanks, Anna. Hope to see you for supper or something very soon.’
Back in the kitchen, Lucy took out the two cakes from their boxes, put the larger one on its silver board and started to make the icing. ‘They want a sort of latticework with flowers, which I’ve made already.’ She opened a box and there, nestled in paper, were exquisite flowers in pale colours: forget-me-nots, daisies, rose buds, violets and various others.
‘They are beautiful,’ Anna said in awe. ‘Have you always done this?’
‘I used to cook at the golf club and there were quite a few weddings there and I was often asked if I could make the cake. I’ve always liked baking, but it’s the decoration that must stand out on a wedding cake, isn’t it? Though naturally it must taste good. So I did a course in cake decoration. Then the shop came up, it was very run-down, and the rest, as they say, is history.’
‘Can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.’ Anna said.
‘So what’s up with your friend?’ Lucy asked as she worked.
‘Grania, it’s her first Christmas without her own children and with her new husband and she wants to escape her stepdaughters,’ Anna explained, the thought hitting her that if she found someone else they too might have impossible children to cope with.
‘Oh dear, she sounds desperate. But will this cake be in the way; it’s probably the last thing she’ll want to see if her marriage is up the spout,’ Lucy frowned.
‘I’m sure it’s nothing serious; she just couldn’t cope with the girls any more. Families often get a bit fractious if they are stuck in the house together.’
‘I sympathise, my girls can be right drama queens sometimes, but at least they’re mine and they remind me of myself at that age. I’d hate another woman being involved with the upbringing of my children,’ Lucy said with feeling. ‘But tell me, how was Christmas lunch in the castle?’ She went on as she mixed the icing, clouds of white sugar billowing over her bowl.
‘It was delicious. There were a couple of young girls there, so Freddie didn’t feel swamped by adults, though of course he knows Simon, Luke, Julius and Mattie already,’ Anna said. ‘Did your day go well?’
‘Yes, the in-laws get on with my parents, no granny-bashing there,’ she laughed. ‘They used to be so competitive when the children were little, both being first-time grandparents. But that’s all calmed down now and there were no meltdowns,’ Lucy said. ‘We’ve been to the castle lunches before; they’re such fun. But we’ve never had it actually in the castle. The Partridge is cosy, but it must have been a magnificent feast. I’d have loved to have gone.’
‘Perhaps they should always have it at the castle in future,’ Anna said.
‘Maybe, this has set a precedent.’ Lucy smiled. ‘So who did you sit next to?’ she asked.
‘Luke and Nell for the first course, Julius and Victor for the next,’ Anna said. ‘Apart from Victor, I don’t know if the others brought their own partners with them.’ She threw in the remark, hoping she didn’t sound nosey.
Lucy carefully spread the second cake with icing and stood back to inspect it, before going to the sink to wash up her tools. ‘Quite a few people working at the castle keep their personal life out of it. I think Luke had someone last summer, but it didn’t last. Work and love lives are often better kept apart, don’t you think?’
‘Yes, I do,’ Anna agreed, and why did it matter to her anyway, she and Freddie would be leaving in a few weeks and after Grania’s upset with her stepdaughters she felt that perhaps living near her brother might be a far better option than possibly hitching up with a man who already had children of his own.
The doorbell rang stridently, and Anna opened the door to find Grania there.
‘Oh, the satnav,’ Grania complained, ‘if I hadn’t seen the castle on top of the hill I’d have been in the river.’
‘The river is now in the village,’ Lucy said, coming into the hall, having tidied up her corner in the kitchen and needing to leave the cake to settle. Anna introduced her to Grania.
‘Don’t leave on my account,’ Grania said, ‘it’s been a hell of a drive and the village looks as if there’s been a tsunami. I’m so sorry for you all.’
‘Thanks, it’s not far off one,’ Lucy said as she put on her coat to leave, saying she needed the walk back as she’d eaten so much yesterday. ‘Bye; thanks, Anna, and Freddie, come and play soon,’ she called to him. ‘Lovely to glimpse you Grania, maybe I’ll be back tomorrow to do the next step.’
‘Whenever you want, see you then.’ Anna hugged her.
‘It’s so good to be here,’ Grania said with feeling. She went out and opened the boot of her car, or rather James’s huge Jeep Wagoner, lifting out a large hamper. ‘This is for you and Freddie. I bought it for James and the girls, but they – not James, but the girls – were so rude about it, saying the things were full of additives and sugar and would give them spots and cancer and make them fat, so I took it away to bring to you.’
‘Oh, Grania, are you sure? It looks wonderful.’ Anna took it from her, feeling that she needn’t go shopping for food for ages now. ‘Very macho car,’ she said as they went in.
‘Mine hadn’t enough petrol so James let me borrow it; you know how he collects cars. I don’t really like it but it’s better than not being able to come,’ Grania explained as she followed her into the kitchen. ‘A wedding cake.’ She stared at the two cakes, one large, with the other smaller one on top of it. ’Or is it a late Christmas cake, rather ambitious for you and Freddie to eat, I’d have thought, or are you going to feed the whole village?’
‘No, you were right first time; it is a wedding cake.’
Anna explained about it.
Freddie appeared now, clutching a building with wheels he’d made in one hand, and Ozzie, who he’d just fetched from his home in the shed, in the other. He let Grania kiss him and ruffle his hair and Ozzie’s fur before explaining what he had made, squatting down on the hall floor and pushing the building/vehicle about.
‘So, how’s it going, met any nice people here?’ Grania flashed her a look.
Anna knew exactly what Grania meant. She said, ‘Very nice people: a fascinating elderly lady called Mattie who wears wonderful hats, Lucy, who you’ve just met, and her family; their son Benny is Freddie’s age and they get on so well.’
‘That’s great,’ Grania said, ‘it sounds as if you are having a good time, Freddie.’
‘We are,’ Freddie replied, ‘only I haven’t found my dad yet, but Mum says not to talk about it to people here as they might not understand.’
Grania threw Anna a look over his head. ‘Dads are extra special,’ she said. ‘You can’t just have anyone.’ And she sighed, clearly thinking of her stepdaughters.
There was a sound of motors drawing up outside and Freddie ran to the hall window, climbing on a chair to look out.
‘It’s Luke and Julius,’ he said excitedly, thrusting Ozzie at Anna before pulling on his boots. ‘Can I go and see them, bring them to show them my new toys? Julius said he’d help me run that car.’ Freddie opened the door, letting in an icy draught.
‘Just a minute, Freddie, they probably have work to do,’ Anna said.
Grania looked out of the window to see what the fuss was about. Her eyes sparkled when she saw Julius and Luke get out of their Land Rovers. She turned to Anna, ‘Well, which to choose – or are they both spoken for?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ Anna said, rather wishing now that Grania had not come to stay after all.