Chapter 29
Jamie took his time before answering, which only served to shift my trepidation up a gear.
‘No of course you haven’t done anything wrong,’ he said when he eventually came back from wherever the mental expedition and unexplained frown had tugged him off to. ‘This is nothing serious.’
‘Well, out with it then,’ I said, keen to hurry things along. ‘The Fair will be opening any minute and there are still things to do.’
He shuffled from one foot to the other, even then still reluctant to say whatever it was that was on his mind.
‘Jamie,’ I began again, but he cut me off.
‘It’s a bit awkward actually,’ he said finally, rubbing a hand around the back of his neck.
‘Then you’d better just say it and get it over with, hadn’t you?’
It wasn’t the way I would usually address someone I was working for but the Connellys and I were beyond formal and polite now. Our relationship had crossed over into something far more personal and significant, or so I thought.
‘It’s about your application to work here.’
‘What about it?’
‘Your references, to be precise.’
‘My references?’ I snapped, growing impatient. ‘What about them?’
‘You did supply some, didn’t you, Anna?’
‘Of course I did,’ I told him, feeling further nettled.
Who on earth would apply for such a prestigious position – any position, come to that – without supplying references, and more to the point why was he asking, when I’d heard Angus himself, on the morning Jamie had arrived home, stressing that I had furnished him with some very good ones?
‘And do you know if Dad pursued them?’
‘Of course I don’t,’ I hit back. ‘What business is it of mine whether he went through the usual channels or not?’
Thinking about how quickly Angus had offered me the job after my telephone interview I knew he probably hadn’t, but that was really nothing to do with me.
‘But knowing now how things happen around here,’ I continued, ‘I daresay he didn’t. You’ll have to ask him about it, won’t you? But tell me first, what’s the problem?’
‘There’s no problem,’ Jamie shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter, not really.’
I can’t say I believed him and I think he knew it.
‘It’s just that now I’m taking over,’ he added, ‘I want to keep everything up to date and accounted for – you know. Start as I mean to go on sort of thing.’
‘And that includes interrogating the staff, does it?’
‘Oh, Anna,’ he sighed. ‘You know you’re so much more than staff to me.’
‘No, I don’t,’ I said firmly. ‘Not right at this moment anyway. What on earth has made you ask me about this now, on such a busy day?’
‘Like I said,’ he shrugged again, ‘I’m just trying to get my house in order.’
‘Hall, you mean,’ I corrected, making a vague attempt to put us both in a better mood and lighten the atmosphere but failing. ‘Anyway,’ I said, ‘I have my portfolio upstairs and it’s bursting with references. I’ll bring it down.’
‘There’s really no need,’ he said, trying to reach for my hand but I moved away.
‘Clearly,’ I said, taking another step towards the door, ‘for some reason, there is.’
I had no idea what had prompted Jamie to start asking about applications and references but having quickly photocopied the relevant paperwork and slipped it under his bedroom door in an envelope marked ‘Private and Confidential’, I turned my attention back to the Fair, which was now in full swing, and tried to forget about any potential trouble that might have been looming on the horizon. Dorothy had kindly dismissed my offer to help in the kitchen.
‘You go and enjoy yourself,’ she had said. ‘There’s nothing much left to do here.’
And so I did.
Just as I had known it would, the hall lent itself beautifully to the occasion and as more people started to arrive and the air became filled with spices from the kitchen and voices from the choir, who had set themselves up next to the roaring fire, I gave into the festive feeling and delighted in the kind of shopping and present-buying I had never before indulged in as an adult.
‘Having fun?’ asked Hayley sometime later when she found me weighed down with a plethora of bags and pretty boxes.
I hadn’t purchased anything really extravagant, but there was so much on offer it would have been impossible to resist slipping in a few extra little things for myself.
‘Isn’t it wonderful?’ I beamed, looking around for anything I might have missed and feeling delighted that so many people had come.
Word had certainly got round about the change of venue and there wasn’t a wasted inch of space anywhere.
‘You really are a changed woman,’ Hayley teased, reminding me that on the night of the switch-on in town I hadn’t so much as considered buying a single thing and had snapped her head off when she pointed it out.
She was right, of course. I was changed. Jamie had promised to find a way to give me Christmas back and he had, and I hoped he felt as happy with what I had helped to give him in return. Up until our exchange in the morning room I had thought he was more than satisfied, but his words and demeanour had made me feel uncertain of everything.
‘Anyway,’ said Hayley, ‘I better get on. I’m trying to track down something in particular for Dorothy.’
Once again she was swallowed up by the crowds and I looked about me, my eyes falling on a stall I hadn’t yet explored. Even though the jewels and trinkets clearly weren’t all genuine, the beautiful display, offset by a backdrop of voluptuous and voluminous purple velvet, glistened and sparkled with as much gusto and finesse as those on show in the Tower of London.
This was doubtless the stall that had reminded Catherine of her beloved but broken bracelet. I had almost scanned every piece when my eyes fell upon something which made me gasp out loud and scattered my thoughts to the four winds.
‘Unusual, that, isn’t it?’ commented the stallholder, who had registered my attention but not my surprise.
I nodded dumbly. My voice had died in my throat but thankfully my eyes produced no tears.
‘Take it out of the box if you want a closer look,’ he encouraged.
I had no desire to touch it but the guy was around the table before I could stop him, unfastening the little cameo from its velvet cushion and holding it up for me to take. I put down my bags and took it in my hands, which were less than steady.
It was certainly the same and I could hardly believe my eyes. I had wanted to see it again for so long that for a moment I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me and that my brain had conjured up some sort of hologram.
‘You all right, love?’ the man asked, finally tuning into my reaction. ‘You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.’
‘I’m all right,’ I nodded, my voice dragging itself up from the depths. ‘I’m just rather surprised to see this, that’s all.’
Lightly I ran my fingers over the once familiar chalky blue background and then over the pair of lovebirds and flowers that made up the simple but exquisite decoration.
‘It’s genuine,’ the stallholder continued now I had unfrozen a little. ‘Victorian. The setting is silver and the birds—’
‘And flowers,’ I finished for him, ‘are made from coral and pearl.’
‘That’s right,’ he grinned. ‘You’ve never seen one before, have you?’
‘Years ago,’ I said, unwilling to go into details. ‘Where did you find this?’
‘House clearance up the road a couple of weeks back.’
I nodded, relief flooding through my body. It wasn’t mine then.
The last time I had seen this brooch, or its twin, it hadn’t been sitting on my mother’s little dressing table in its usual allotted spot, but somewhere quite different. My most beloved possession had been the very last thing I looked at before I packed my bags and left home. I felt a lump forming in my throat as I wondered what my mum, and indeed Sarah, would have made of me leaving without it tucked away in my bag for safekeeping.
‘Hello, Anna,’ said Angus, who had been politely working his way around all the stalls during the course of the afternoon. ‘What have you got there?’
‘Just a brooch,’ I said, quickly putting it down and turning my back on it lest my emotional tug to spend the last of my cash, and a lot more besides according to the price tag, got the better of me.
‘It’s very beautiful,’ Angus said, peering over my shoulder.
‘And very expensive,’ I added, before remembering my manners and addressing the stallholder. ‘Thank you for showing it to me.’
‘Let me know if you change your mind about it,’ he said as he carefully reattached it to its display cushion. ‘And I’ll put it to one side for you.’
‘Thank you,’ I smiled, risking one last look, ‘but I won’t change my mind.’
‘You’ve been busy,’ said Angus, taking in my purchases as I gathered them up and moved away from the stall.
‘I have,’ I told him, ‘and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself.’ I didn’t explain about the shock of seeing the brooch again after so long. ‘I’ve got everything I need now, so I’m going to put this lot in my room and get back to Dorothy in the kitchen. She hasn’t let me do anything all afternoon.’
‘Well,’ said Angus, biting his lip, ‘by all means go and offload your shopping, but if Dorothy can still spare you I’ve got another favour to ask.’
‘All right,’ I reluctantly agreed, wondering what I was letting myself in for this time.
‘And bring a coat,’ Angus added as I headed for the kitchen, ‘and some gloves.’
When I opened my bedroom door I discovered the envelope containing my photocopied references had been pushed back underneath. I picked them up and dropped them on the bed. It didn’t look to me as if they had even been opened. However, I refused to let my mind backtrack over the awkward conversation Jamie and I had had earlier and went off in search of Angus once again.
‘So,’ I said when I finally found him tucking into one of the warm mince pies Jemma from the Cherry Tree was selling, ‘what exactly is it you want me to do?’
‘Oh, now,’ he grinned, wolfing down the last mouthful and brushing his hands together. ‘Come outside and I’ll show you.’
The last favour I had undertaken for my much loved employer had been both simple and safe, but looking at the ponies, which appeared far more frisky now they were attached to the sleigh, I wasn’t quite so convinced that I could say the same this time around.
‘They’re quite placid,’ he said, taking my hand and leading me towards the sleigh seat. ‘They’re just keen to get on.’
‘You mean you want me to climb in?’ I asked, pulling away slightly as a crowd began to gather.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I want to take people around the grounds but no one will give it a go until they’ve seen someone else take the first trip.’
I could hardly blame them. The contraption had built up quite a speed on the night of the switch-on and that was without acres of open ground to tempt the ponies into a canter.
‘Oh Angus,’ I said, ‘I’m not sure.’
‘I’ll come with you, if you like,’ said Jamie, who had wandered up with a blanket tucked under his arm. ‘I daresay it will be very romantic once the thing gets into its stride.’
It was the getting into ‘its stride’ that I was worried about, but I was relieved to hear he sounded far more like his usual self now than compared to when he had been giving me a grilling about my references, even if romance wasn’t supposed to be on the cards.
‘How did you find my credentials?’ I couldn’t resist asking.
‘Can we not talk about that now?’ he pleaded.
I shrugged off his seductive gaze and turned my attention back to the red sleigh and tinkling bells. Was it my imagination or had the sound of them just got louder? If this was Mum’s way of telling me to climb inside I wasn’t sure I was keen to acquiesce with this particular suggestion.
‘Oh, Angus, are you giving sleigh rides?’
In pristine cashmere and with her hair cascading over her shoulders Elise appeared in the doorway.
‘I am.’
‘Then count me in,’ she shocked me by saying. ‘What fun. Do you fancy it, Jamie?’
He looked from her to me as if unsure what to do.
‘Sorry, Elise,’ I said, climbing aboard and pulling Jamie in with me. ‘We’re going first.’
Before I had a chance to change my mind and jump out, Angus had hopped into the driving seat and we were off.
‘Here,’ said Jamie, unfolding the blanket as the group of bystanders clapped and cheered and we lunged forwards, ‘wrap this around your legs.’
After a jerky start and some candid advice from Mick, the sleigh began to move off and Elise marched back into the hall. Jamie looked at me and grinned.
‘What?’ I snapped.
‘Nothing,’ he said, pulling me closer.
I let him. As long as he didn’t start quizzing me again, or mention the fact that he knew I had been filled with jealousy as I imagined him sleighing through the winter landscape with Elise cosied up to his side, then I was happy to stay where I was and enjoy the ride.
‘You two all right back there?’ Angus called over his shoulder.
‘Yes,’ Jamie called back. ‘You just watch where you’re going.’
The trip around the perimeter of the gardens and woods was over all too soon and Jamie leant forward to ask his father if he could take us around again. There was quite a queue forming outside the hall door and I knew there would be no rest for the ponies now until it was dark.
‘I bet,’ said Jamie into my ear, ‘that the day you turned up here, determined to work your way through yet another Christmas, you never dreamt that you’d be shopping for presents, making mince pies, taking sleigh rides and planning a whole new future, did you?’
‘No,’ I said, stealing a look up at him. ‘I really didn’t.’
He kissed the top of my head and I couldn’t resist snuggling closer to his side.
‘And I bet you didn’t think you’d be looking forward to your own future quite so much either, did you?’
‘God no,’ he laughed, the sound resonating through his chest. ‘I really can’t thank you enough for all you’ve taken on here, Anna.’
‘I haven’t said I’ll take anything on yet,’ I reminded him, ‘and I still want to know what all the fuss was earlier about my references.’
‘I’m sorry about that,’ he said dismissively. ‘I made a mistake.’
‘What sort of mistake?’ I asked, pulling away a little. ‘Did you suddenly think I was some sort of fraudster trying to wheedle my way into a rich family’s affections?’
I was only teasing him, but the look on his face suggested there might have been some truth behind my silly suggestion.
‘Did you?’ I said again, seriously this time.
‘Of course not,’ he said, tugging the blanket free from my legs. ‘Come on, time to get off. Looks like you’re going to have a busy couple of hours now, Dad.’
‘Thanks to you two,’ said Angus with a wink, ‘I think we’re going to be busier here at the hall for a lot longer than that!’