Lucy’s husband Colin arrived at the shop with their young son, Benny. He’d had to leave the car further away from the shop to keep clear of the flood. Benny kept complaining about having water in his boots.
‘I told you not to splash in the puddles,’ Colin said mildly. ‘I’ve brought him with me as the girls have gone out,’ he explained to Lucy and then, seeing Anna and Freddie, said, ‘Hello, sorry to meet you in such tragic conditions.’
‘I can’t believe it’s flooded so badly.’ Anna didn’t know how to deal with this disaster. It was so hard to take in the sudden change in the village. Yesterday it had been so charming with its pretty cottages painted in soft colours and the spotless little shops. ‘I know it’s rained a lot, but I never thought there would be so much damage.’
‘The river wasn’t managed properly,’ Colin sounded exasperated. ‘I won’t go into it now. The emergency services are doing what they can, but it’s a bit like shutting the door after the horse has bolted. But we who live here must do all we can to see people are warm and dry for Christmas.’ He turned to Lucy; ‘I suppose we could put Benny on a camp bed in with us and free up his room for someone.’
‘We could,’ Lucy said slightly doubtfully, looking at Benny.
Freddie and Benny were eyeing each other up. Anna remembered Lucy telling her both boys were the same age.
‘Now what else has to go to the house? I thought we should put a notice in the shop window to let everyone know that all the cakes are at our house. Of course they’ll know about the flood and if they feel their cakes have been contaminated you’ll have to give them their money back.’ Colin said, ‘but they were well away from the water and in a tin, so I’d say they are all right.’ He smiled at her, ‘Oh, and will you have the Gateau des Rois ready for Twelfth Night, some people like them earlier, remember?’ Colin reminded her.
‘Oh, heavens, I’d forgotten those,’ Lucy was shocked; she bit back tears of exhaustion. ‘I can see all this mess, but I haven’t processed the fact that I won’t be able to bake here for some time and we’ve got all the Christmas cooking to do,’ she wailed.
‘I can help with the gateaux,’ Anna said. ‘I was an au pair in France before uni just after Christmas. It’s a French custom for the Epiphany.’
‘What kind of cake is that?’ Freddie asked.
‘It celebrates the three kings reaching the manger after baby Jesus was born. I think it had a paper crown and whoever gets the little figures inside is king or queen for the day,’ Anna explained.
‘That’s right, in France you buy them in the boulangerie, but we started doing them a couple of years ago and it’s become very popular,’ Lucy went on. ‘I just don’t know how…’ Her voice tailed off in despair.
Colin put his arm round her, holding her close. ‘This won’t defeat us, love, we’ll carry on, but we’ll have to bake at home and people can come and collect their cakes there. No one will lose out.’
‘If you give me the recipe I can make some too.’ Anna didn’t bake often but she enjoyed it when she did, and she hadn’t as much to do here, as she would have at home, so she could easily do it. ‘People could even collect them from the flat in the castle if that would help.’
Lucy threw her a wobbly smile. ‘Thanks, Anna; I might well take you up on that. We’ll work it out somehow; I just feel gutted, we were woken at five this morning and it’s been hell ever since and it’s not even teatime. But at least our house is safe, warm and dry not like some of the poor people like Mattie who must have lost so much.’
‘It’s a lot to take in,’ Anna said. She thought of Mattie’s cosy cottage where they’d had coffee with her. Whatever was that like now? ‘Somehow being Christmas makes it even worse,’ she said.
Simon came into the shop then and looked round in horror. ‘Oh, Lucy, I’m so sorry,’ he seemed stricken as if he’d stumbled into a war zone, which in a way he had, a war produced by nature, which, in the end, was more powerful that human beings.
‘Don’t be kind or I’ll burst into tears and probably won’t be able to stop,’ Lucy said, making Benny run to her side and cling to her as though her tears might wash her away.
‘We’ll all work together,’ Simon said with determination. ‘Support each other. Now I’m going to take Anna up to the castle, as Marian is meeting us there and we’re going to see what we can do for those who have nowhere to spend Christmas.’
‘What has Julius said about it?’ Colin asked.
‘Haven’t managed to track him down, he’s somewhere on a mountain, nor can I get hold of Nell and Tessa, so I’ll have to make the decisions myself. If there weren’t so many valuable things in those main rooms, I’d have no hesitation letting our friends and neighbours into the castle. But Julius isn’t back until tomorrow, Christmas Eve, and by then it will be too late to find somewhere for the people in the village to spend Christmas. It seems unfair that anyone has to doss down on the floor of the church hall when there are empty beds up at the castle.’
Whilst the adults had been talking, Benny and Freddie thought it rather fun to go out into the water and splash each other by seeing who could stamp the hardest and become the wettest – Benny had seemingly forgotten about his wet socks.
Lucy quickly put an end to this game and, turning to Anna, said, ‘If Freddie would like to come home with us we’d love it. We’re only down the road in a large white house, Wildwood House. The wildwood’s long gone, unless you see the garden sometimes, just the house remains,’ she joked. ‘You can’t miss it. If you’d like to, Freddie, that is?’ She smiled at him.
‘I’ve got a new computer game. It’s best with two people playing, but Dad and Mum don’t understand it and my two sisters don’t like it, anyway they’re not there,’ Benny said eagerly.
‘Can I go with them, please, Mum?’ Freddie looked hopefully at Anna.
‘Of course, if that’s all right with you, but surely you’ve got enough to do just now.’ Anna turned to Lucy. ‘Freddie hasn’t had any lunch, only biscuits at the church hall, do you think I can find a sandwich somewhere nearby?’
‘Don’t worry; he can have a sandwich with us. I don’t suppose Benny has had much either,’ Lucy said, then added quietly as the two boys wandered back out into the wet street together, ‘It will be a blessing Benny will be occupied and I’ll be able to rest a moment, seems I’ve been at it for hours. Colin will be there most of the time too, so they’ll be fine. We’ll ring you later before we bring him back. Let’s make sure we have each other’s numbers.’ She took out her mobile to jot Anna’s down.
‘I’ll come down and fetch him; you don’t want to come out again after all this. Just ring me when you want me to come,’ Anna was sure that Lucy would rather stay at home and not struggle out again to drop Freddie back; she must be exhausted after all this.
‘Let’s see how it goes,’ Lucy said, ‘I’ll call you.’ She hassled the boys out while Colin saw to closing up the shop as best he could.
Anna watched Freddie go along the road to their car, Benny was dancing round him, splashing around in the water, clearly enjoying the flood unlike everyone else in the village. It was great that Freddie had found a friend his age here so soon.
‘Ready to come up to the castle?’ Simon said to her, and Anna got into the Land Rover and they drove up the hill to the castle. Anna looked back and saw the little street behind them still sloshing in water. Even when it ran away, the damage it left behind would probably take weeks, if not months, to put right. As for the cottages so much would be ruined there, and it would probably be a health hazard to live in them for some time.
‘It’s the worst thing that’s ever happened since I’ve been here,’ Simon said, ‘and I’ve been here six years. This is the time, just after Christmas, when we all get geared up for the spring and summer. Come the New Year, we get down to having everything shipshape before opening in the spring.’
‘But you still have the weddings?’ Anna turned to look at him, thinking how attractive he was; she hadn’t really noticed before or been so close to him. She turned away, she shouldn’t stare; Simon was probably married or anyway paired up with someone, Cathie, for instance. Perhaps they were together but didn’t like to flaunt it in front of everyone.
He smiled at her. ‘Yes, we do, but usually they are in late February and March when it is slightly lighter in the evenings. As the castle is closed to the public those months, the stunning main rooms are hired out for events like weddings. People don’t want to waste that glamour by being outside for long; anyway it gets dark by four in the winter. Of course, even in high summer you can’t guarantee the weather, so having weddings inside in the early spring has been very successful. We had a couple in November too.’
‘It must be a wonderful place for a wedding,’ Anna said. ‘I’d love to see the main rooms sometime before I leave.’
‘I’d be glad to show you,’ he smiled. ‘How long are you here? Are you staying longer than the Christmas break?’
They’d arrived at the castle now and Simon drove over the drawbridge.
Anna had a ridiculous feeling that her answer was important to him, though she dismissed it as being foolish. ‘Yes, I think we’ll stay for the full time. Freddie loves all this freedom and fresh air after London and now finding a friend in Benny is wonderful for him, and he’d be furious if I said we were leaving early,’ she said, laughing.
They’d arrived outside the flat. ‘And what about you? Is it wonderful for you too?’ he asked, turning off the engine and getting out.
‘Yes,’ she said, ‘though I’m upset about the flood and want to help where I can.’ She unlocked the door to their flat and they both went inside and she collected the key to the castle rooms. ‘How much damage to your events will the flood cost you?’ she asked when they returned.
Simon looked troubled, ‘It’s very expensive to keep all this going and we have to think of all sorts of ways to make money, so something like this will put us back.’
‘But surely the insurance will pay up?’
‘Hopefully, but you know what a fuss these companies make and it will take ages to sort out. I hope I’ve contacted the right people to deal with it, so many are away so close to Christmas.’ He looked exhausted. ‘We must do what we can, but I don’t mind telling you I wish Julius was here to take charge of it, and Nell and Tess for that matter, or even if I could talk to them I’d feel better about it, I just don’t know if I’ve done enough.’
Anna felt like giving him a hug, a warm, comforting ‘you can do it’ sort of hug, but thought she’d better not in case he took it the wrong way.
‘Hi, anyone home?’ came a singing voice and a rosy, companionable-looking woman with pure white hair and a lively face pushed open the door to the flat.
‘Oh Marian, good to see you, what a mercy that you weren’t away. Thank you for coming on your time off and everything.’ Simon was overcome with relief at having more support.
‘I’ve never seen the like of it,’ Marian said in a shocked voice. ‘I only heard about it an hour ago and then you rang me.’ She smiled at Anna. ‘So you must be Anna, who is house – or rather castle-sitting for Philly and Sidney. What a terrible start to your stay, but at least the water hasn’t managed to get up the hill to the castle, it would need a tidal wave for that.’
‘Don’t wish it on us,’ Simon said. ‘So I don’t know what to do about the poor people who have nowhere but the church hall to go to with Christmas so near and all, as I said I can’t get hold of Julius or Tess and Nell, so it would be great if you could show me around the castle to see if there’s any way we can put people up.’
Anna asked if she could come with them, as she’d love to see inside. The three of them set off across the courtyard to the main door, which Anna was surprised to see was a small unprepossessing door, no different to her own front door to the flat. It gave no hint that behind it lay sumptuous, magical rooms crammed with priceless treasures.
‘Well, we can’t touch the rooms in the gallery on the second floor as they are already booked for the wedding party and we’ve cleaned them and made up the beds, so I’d like to leave them,’ Marian explained. ‘There are a few other bedrooms in the red passage, which are available. We gave them a dust last week, so they should be all right. People will have to share bathrooms, but at least they’ll be comfortable and I’ll see some of the heating is put on,’ Marian said. ‘How many rooms do you think you need?’
‘Four I think, there are five cottages ruined and one of them was empty as it’s a weekend cottage and I’ve left a message with the family who live in London, but haven’t heard back.’
‘That shouldn’t be a problem, I thought there’d be far more,’ Marian said, unlocking the door to the castle.
The small door opened up into a large hall with a couple of suits of armour standing guard by the narrow, stone staircase that led up to the next floor.
Simon and Marian discussed which rooms were needed and how they could go about organising them while Anna looked round the hall. There were a few pieces of sculpture in polished marble, a hare and a couple of birds standing about at the side of the room, and huge cupboards of glossy, conker-coloured wood and some racks stacked nearby in readiness for the many discarded coats a large party would produce. The rest of the room disappeared into darkness where the passage started and, she supposed, went down the length of the castle, with kitchens and sculleries and other rooms branching off it. She followed Simon and Marian upstairs.
This floor was the crowning glory, a long gallery led off across the whole side of the castle; either end was a beautiful stained-glass window with a few clear panes to let in the light, though now of course electric lights were cleverly used to lift the gloom. There were stunning pictures in sumptuous, gold frames all along the gallery. The plain wooden doors were dotted with iron studs, one of which was slightly open, and Anna could see it was a dining room, which had spears on the walls, a long table, its wood like satin, and chairs upholstered in pale green silk with arms and backs of polished wood.
Simon opened the door wider, so she could see the beauty of the room. ‘Can’t resist showing you this magnificent room but we mustn’t be side tracked as those poor, wet people need to be found a warm and comfortable place to rest,’ he said, closing the door.
‘It’s wonderful,’ she said, wishing she could stay longer to enjoy it, but she thought of Mattie waiting patiently to be found a warm, dry room to rest in, and she followed Simon and Marian up a grand stone staircase, with a lion on the newel post, to the upper gallery. They walked to the end of it and to one side of them was the red passage Mattie had talked about, deep red velvet curtains falling on to the matching red carpet. Marian opened a door and there was a bedroom with an open fireplace and a china bowl and jug on the dressing table, which must have been used before hot water ran in the taps up here.
‘This is a single one,’ she smiled at Anna, ‘though, as you see, it’s a lot bigger than rooms in a normal house. There’s a bathroom opposite and four more usable bedrooms, all doubles, one with its own bathroom, which we use very rarely, but if the castle is being used for a film or something and some of the crew need to sleep overnight they use these. The beds are made up, but we’ll need to put on the heating.’
‘Yes, it’s very cold,’ Simon said, ‘but at least the rooms are dry and when the heating’s on they’ll be warm. I just wish Julius were here,’ he said with feeling, causing Anna again to want to hug him, so she moved away and stared out of the window at the quadrangle below them.