For the next two days, Anna and Freddie hunkered down at the castle. The days were short and bitterly cold. It rained from time to time and Freddie longed for it to snow.
They decorated the flat with coloured streamers they’d brought from home and the Christmas cards they’d received. Anna managed to get her last Christmas cards done and posted before the last collection, and hoped they’d get there in time.
She telephoned her parents before they left their home to stay with her brother who lived near Bristol. She suffered a pang of homesickness thinking of all her family sharing this special time together. Since Gary’s death the pain of Christmas without him had been made bearable by being close to them. As if her mother guessed her feelings, she said, ‘It sounds so exciting, a castle for Christmas. Freddie must love it. Do take lots of photos.’
Freddie then spoke to his grandparents, his voice high with excitement, ‘And there’s a drawbridge, but it’s down all the time so we can drive over.’
Despite the cold, they managed to get out when there was a break in the weather to explore the estate.
Freddie climbed the mound, getting up as high as the keep, running his hands over the flint walls before zigzagging down again pretending to dodge arrows flying through the arrow slits.
The ground around the outside of the castle was grassed over, growing down into a moat, though there was no water in it apart from the rain soaking through the grass and the weeds. Freddie ran down to the bottom before struggling back up, laughing as he kept slipping on the damp grass and falling down again until Anna had to heave him out. All around them stretched fields and woods, most of the trees stark now with their bare limbs, and through it all gleamed a river, the water quite high as it meandered through the countryside.
They explored the estate further, going round the back of the castle away from the road leading to the village. They came across a walled garden, the bricks mellowed from age. Opening a wooden gate, they wandered in. There were beds of winter vegetables, potatoes and turnips growing in sodden earth and glass cloches protecting what looked like spinach and lettuce. There was a small orchard beside that and then, through another gate, they came to a field of Christmas trees and branches of holly and bunches of mistletoe.
Luke and Simon were working there, selling them to a few people who’d arrived by car.
‘Good to see you both again,’ Luke smiled at them as he handed a netted tree to a man with three children jumping round him. ‘Are you settling in all right?’
‘Yes, thank you, we’re just looking around these wonderful grounds,’ Anna said. ‘Getting out between the showers.’
‘We’ve had so much rain lately, the river is quite high,’ Simon said as he loaded a whole lot of evergreens into the back of his Land Rover, ‘and every where’s very soggy underfoot.’
‘Hi, how are you?’ Cathie appeared from a small shed beside the trees, a thick, pink scarf wound round her head and neck. She eyed Anna suspiciously, and hovered close to Simon as if she were guarding him from a marauding woman. Anna didn’t want her to think she was after him herself, though he was very attractive.
‘Fine, thanks.’ Anna smiled at her.
‘I hope you don’t feel too isolated in the castle, especially coming from London,’ Simon said to her. ‘Tessa and Nell will be back soon and there’s a wedding on the 5th, so you’ll see more action then.’
‘The castle is such a romantic place to be in,’ Anna said. ‘Is there anything I should be doing, that Philly and Sidney do to help, apart from just keeping their flat occupied for them.’
‘I doubt it, but you’ll be told if there is by Julius,’ Simon said. ‘But we’ve got to get Christmas over first. Are you looking forward to Father Christmas coming, Freddie?’ He smiled at him.
‘We told him where I was, Mum sent a letter,’ Freddie said earnestly. ‘Though we’d better not light the fire that night in case he gets burnt.’ He looked worried.
‘Good point,’ Simon winked at Anna. ‘Ah, here come more people wanting a tree, we’ve nearly sold them all, thank goodness; well, better get back to work.’ He smiled at them before turning to a young couple wanting a small tree to fit in their flat.
It was getting cold and dark now, so Anna and Freddie started back to the flat and made it just before the skies opened with a vengeance. Anna busied herself making some mince pies and some spiced nuts, which she put into bags tied with red ribbon to give as small gifts. In between the rain, she let Freddie outside in the courtyard, to prevent cabin fever setting in, and giving her time to wrap up some presents without him seeing. She told him to keep up by the far end of the castle, safely out of the way of any cars or trucks that just might come up. There were lights in the quadrangle so he could see to play, but after a while she called him in and made him hot buttered toast that they ate in front of the fire while he watched some daft programme on the television, which made them both laugh. She then tucked him and his collection of teddies into bed, and read him a story, but he was asleep before she finished the chapter.
That night, Anna was woken by the wind rattling the windows and howling down the chimney. She got up to see if it had disturbed Freddie, but he lay asleep seemingly untroubled by the noise. The rain lashed down and, going into the hall, she saw water was seeping in under the front door, swamping the mat. Hurriedly she fetched some towels to soak it up, afraid it might reach the living room and ruin the carpet.
Once she’d laid down the towels, she wandered into the living room and pulled back the curtain to look out, but she couldn’t see much in the dark except for a soft glow from the outside lights. There was only the noise of the wind and the rain attacking them from all sides. At least this castle had stood here for over two hundred years, far longer in parts, so they were safe; they just had to sit it out.
‘Mum, the wind woke me up.’ Freddie hovered in the doorway and she held out her arms and he came to her, snuggling in beside her on the sofa.
‘There’s a terrible storm, but we’ll be safe here, this old castle has come through worse.’ She was not going to mention the war… how many wars had it – or at least the old bit – seen?
He soon fell asleep beside her and then she must have dozed off, for when she woke it was morning, though still dark, but the rain was a soft patter now and the wind much weaker.
She got up and went into the hall to inspect the state of the floor round the front door. The thick towels she’d put down were sodden and she dumped them in a bucket and carried them to the washing machine, before making sure the rain had not leaked through anywhere else. She asked Freddie, who’d just woken up, to help her look for any leaks, while she made them breakfast; eggy bread for Freddie and porridge for herself.
She was interrupted by the phone ringing. Who could that be at this time?
It was Simon. ‘Just checking to see you are both all right,’ he said.
‘Thank you, yes we are, though it was quite a night,’ she admitted, touched he had rung and so early; it was barely eight o’clock.
‘Good, but part of the village has been badly hit, the river broke its banks in the night and much is flooded. So I must go, catch up later,’ Simon rang off.
‘The village is flooded,’ Anna said to Freddie in dismay.
‘Oh, can we go and see?’ Freddie jumped off his chair in excitement.
‘We must see what we can do to help, the water could be in people’s houses and shops.’ Scenes from the news of ruined homes in other parts of the country after terrible storms had ravaged them came to mind. ‘Quickly finish your breakfast and get dressed and we’ll go down to the village,’ she said, wondering if she should take Freddie with her and if he’d be safe if there was deep water swirling about.
‘Will my boots be long enough?’ Freddie said as he got dressed to leave, giving them a yank as if they would miraculously get longer.
‘I don’t know, we must be very careful where we walk, we won’t know how deep it is.’ Anna had visions of Freddie being washed away, which she promptly dismissed as foolish. If it looked too dangerous, they would have to come back. ‘We’ve got to be very careful, Freddie.’ She turned him to look at her; to be sure he had taken in her warning. ‘You must hold my hand and if it is too deep for us to walk through, we’ll have to come back, do you understand?’
He nodded, but he was impatient to be off to run over the drawbridge, and she told him to wait by the top of the hill so they could walk down together.
They could hear the soft gurgle of the water creeping through the leaves in the ditches beside them as they went down the hill, but it did not prepare them for the scene of devastation before them.
The main street was under water, lapping round the war memorial where they’d met Mattie just a couple of days before. They saw that Lucy’s shop door was open and she was sweeping out water, biting back tears as she worked. Anna hurried over to her, pulling Freddie with her, the water lashing round their legs and over Freddie’s boots.
‘We’ve never seen anything like it,’ Lucy said, ‘we don’t know what to do. What if it happens again tonight?’
‘Let me help you, you must be exhausted.’ Anna came into the shop, Freddie clutching her hand.
‘Will the shop be washed away?’ he asked fearfully.
‘I don’t think so, hope not anyway, but we won’t be able to use it for ages,’ Lucy said despondently. ‘I don’t know if the Christmas cakes are ruined, I store them in tins and boxes in the back of the shop at night, and with Christmas in a couple of days I won’t have time to make any more.’
‘Let me look for you, if they haven’t got wet they should be OK.’
‘Thanks, but Colin, my husband, is in the back putting things higher on shelves and saving the wedding cake for the 5th. That should be all right as it’s in a plastic storage box which should be watertight, though I don’t know about the other cakes; I’ll get Colin to look, I don’t think I can bear to.’
‘Let me take over the sweeping for a bit,’ Anna said, seeing how exhausted Lucy was.
‘I can sweep,’ Freddie said.
‘Thank you, you’re both very kind, but Colin is here and I’m sure there’s lots you can do elsewhere. The church hall is full of people whose cottages were flooded in the night.’
Anna thought of Mattie’s cosy little cottage, and the river not far behind it. Freddie had let go her hand and was standing fascinated by the water swirling round his legs.
‘If the water’s not too deep, we’ll go to the church hall and see what needs doing. Point me in the right direction, Lucy, and I’ll come back later and see if we can do anything for you.’
‘Thanks, but at least our house is not flooded, it’s quite far from the river,’ Lucy said. ‘You see the church tower over there behind the cottages, the hall’s beside it.’ She continued her sweeping, but Anna thought the more she swept, the less water seemed to be staying outside, creeping round behind her back into the shop. It looked hopeless, and Anna wondered how long it would be before those flooded out would get back on their feet again, with their shops and homes ruined.
‘Is anyone drowned?’ Freddie asked as they splashed their way towards the church, heading down a side street where the water still managed to go over his boots. They stopped every so often to pour it out. ‘My socks are all squelchy,’ he said, but he didn’t seem to mind. Anna hoped he would not catch cold; it would be a disaster if he were ill over Christmas, though it might not be much of a Christmas with so many people flooded out of their homes.
‘I hope no one is drowned,’ Anna squeezed his hand, ‘but we must go and see what we can do to help.’
There were a few people gathered outside the church hall, which was a square, stalwart building. The flood had not reached this part of the village, as it was slightly higher than the main street and shops. Anna, with Freddie clutching her hand, went inside and both were shocked at the sight that met them.
A whole crowd of displaced people had arrived, along with some of their possessions and even pets. Blankets, cushions, bags of clothes lay in clumps everywhere. There was an elderly black cat and a couple of dogs that were behaving impeccably, given the situation. A tea urn was set up on a trolley in the corner, and a tray with packets of biscuits. Anna, and indeed Freddie, stood transfixed with shock.
‘Oh, Anna and Freddie,’ Mattie, her colourful hat slightly crooked on her head, came towards them. ‘We’ve never known anything like it, for the river to break its banks like this.’
‘So your cottage…?’ Anna hardly dared ask.
‘The water came in during the night, it ruined the carpets and I expect a lot more, though fortunately my books are dry. I was brought here in the night around four, by a kind policeman. But I can’t stay here… there’s so much to do before Christmas.’ Her eyes filled with tears, though she struggled to smile. ‘Still, we weren’t bombed, it’s not like the war, no one’s dead.’
‘Mattie, what can we do to help?’ Anna hugged her. She could take her to the flat where she’d be warm and dry and could rest. There were two beds in Freddie’s room, she could sleep in one and Mattie could go in her room. But other people were coming up to them now looking dishevelled and shocked. She spotted Simon and Luke, who seemed to be trying to organise everything but were clearly struggling to deal with the scope of the situation; all these poor people needed somewhere to stay.
‘Look, I’ll make some tea, and Freddie, you can hand round the biscuits,’ Anna said, feeling she must do something, however small, to try and ease the trauma.
Simon began to organise people into two groups, those who had somewhere else to go to and those who had not. ‘Now we’ll try and find somewhere for you all to stay. You’re dry and warm here, but we’ll do our best to find somewhere better, we might have to split you up as some people have offered to put one person up, but they haven’t room for more. The difficulty is that as it’s Christmas many people are full up already with relatives and friends staying.’
‘You can’t expect us to split up for Christmas,’ a middle-aged woman said, clutching a young man, obviously her son, beside her.
‘No, we have to stay together over Christmas, we can make other plans after it,’ another woman said.
‘When is Julius expected back?’ a white-haired man demanded. ‘He should be dealing with this, ringing the council, finding us places to stay.’
‘What about that big house he’s bought, there should be room for a few of us there,’ a hard-faced woman demanded.
Simon looked exhausted; he swept his hair back from his face in despair. ‘I’ve tried to get hold of Julius, as you know he’s away skiing. I haven’t been able to reach him yet, but I’ve left messages on his mobile, I’m sure he’ll contact me soon.’
‘But what about his house? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind putting up anyone who is homeless in the village,’ the white-haired man said.
‘He’s got a lot of work to do on it yet, so he has rooms but no beds, apart from his,’ Simon said, with slight despair in his voice. ‘But don’t worry, we’ll see you are all somewhere warm and dry, just give us a little more time.’
Anna felt enormous sympathy for him having to cope with this seemingly impossible situation, and being so close to Christmas Day added to everyone’s suffering.
Then Freddie spoke, his voice loud and clear. ‘I know, they can go in the castle; there must be enough bedrooms for everyone there.’