Kate
Was she the only one about to have a meltdown?
Daniel and Oscar were in deep conversation that sounded all very bonhomie.
She’d just left Juliet in her salon, singing along to the radio as she swept the already sparkly clean floor.
And whenever Emma thought Kate wasn’t paying attention, she was grinning to herself like one of Juliet’s Cheshire cats.
At least the power had come back on this morning, she supposed.
Of course it could just as easily go off again.
Whose bright idea had it been to open in the winter?
During a bloody blizzard.
Unable to stand still, she walked over to the window of Cocktails & Chai and stared out at the fluffy white flakes silently drifting down as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
Kids had been out all day building snowmen. The green was now a mix of Antony Gormley-esque figures and Disney Olafs. ‘I’m going to go outside and shovel the path again,’ she announced.
‘What?’ Daniel looked over to her. ‘But it’s still snowing.’
‘I have to do something. We have guests coming in,’ she opened the locket watch she never took off and glanced at the time, ‘three hours, people.’ Her stomach lurched. ‘How are they going to be able to get here if the snow is up to their armpits?’
‘Relax,’ Oscar said.
Kate watched Daniel give him the ‘stop talking, idiot’ hand-to-the-throat gesture.
‘Oops,’ Oscar added, his gaze swinging back to take in Kate’s expression. ‘Wrong choice of word.’
‘Jake said he’ll shovel the snow for us,’ Emma said as she calmly lifted champagne flutes off a tray and held them to the light for inspection. ‘He’s going to get changed in one of the spa rooms afterwards.’
Kate felt her voice rise to a ridiculous squeak, ‘But we’ll all be using those rooms to change in ourselves. I can’t just magic up another room for him. This wasn’t on the plan.’
‘Re—’ Emma closed her mouth abruptly and then grinned. ‘It’s okay, I’m pretty sure I can share whichever room he’s using.’
Kate stared at Emma. ‘Oh my God,’ she muttered as the light dawned, her nerves momentarily on hold as she called out to Juliet. ‘Juliet? Juliet, get in here. Emma has had herself some sex.’
Emma’s eyes went huge as Jake, who’d been coming through the doors came to an abrupt halt.
Kate saw Juliet bump right into the back of him before she said, ‘Did you call me?’
‘I didn’t say a word,’ Emma, looking horrified, said to Jake, ‘Not. One. Word.’
‘You didn’t?’ Jake joked. ‘First thing I did when I got here.’
Oblivious to his teasing because she was too busy looking like she wanted the earth to swallow her up, she gasped, ‘You told everyone?’
‘What,’ Jake grinned, coming into the room fully, ‘that you saw just how big my tree really is?’
‘Oh my—’ Emma put down the glass she’d been checking as if she was worried she was going to drop it. ‘He’s talking about his bed, guys. His bed.’
‘Sure he is,’ Kate snorted.
‘He is,’ Emma insisted, with a stamp of her foot. ‘It’s a four-poster carved out of wood like the branches of a tree.’ She stopped when she saw the huge grin on his face and then with a playful punch and a quick shake of her head at discovering he wasn’t angry their secret was out, she told him, ‘You should definitely let the photographer take pictures of it.’
‘What’s that?’ Daniel said, walking closer to make sure he’d heard right. ‘You’re going to let some stranger take photos of his tree?’
Emma gave a nod and grinned bigger. ‘To advertise the gardens.’
‘I am so completely lost in this conversation,’ Juliet murmured.
Kate could hold the laughter in no more. As she let it free she felt some of the tension uncoil and it felt good. Better than good. For the thirty seconds’ respite until the nerves came to clamour again. ‘Guys, it’s going to be okay, isn’t it? People will come tonight? Please tell me people are going to come tonight? In their beautiful gowns. To celebrate us opening.’
‘They will,’ Emma assured her. ‘Jake’s going to shovel snow until there’s a clear path.’
‘Plus I have a system of pegs and Clock House business cards for staff to attach names to brollies and wellies, and a storage area all set up for them,’ Juliet soothed.
Kate breathed a little easier. ‘Now all we have to do is figure out what to do if the power goes again.’
‘Candles,’ Emma suggested. ‘I have loads of spare for Christmas.’
‘And I asked Crispin to put something on the Whisperings website asking guests to bring glow-sticks with them just in case,’ Daniel said.
‘And we have copious amounts of alcohol,’ Oscar stated.
‘Copious,’ Emma confirmed.
‘And, yay, for the backup generator,’ Juliet declared with a triumphant grin.
‘What a team,’ Kate declared. ‘Okay. Good. Great.’ She’d just caught her breath when Sheila strode into the room with snow in her hair and lots of boxes in her arms. ‘Mum! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be getting ready.’
‘Relax.’
‘Nooo,’ Daniel, Oscar, Juliet, Emma and Jake all said simultaneously.
‘I think they’re all worried saying “relax” in a spa is like saying Macbeth at a play, or something,’ Kate explained.
‘Really Kate?’ her mum said, setting down the boxes on the bar. ‘It couldn’t possibly be because you look like you’re about to do a spot of projectile vomiting?’
Kate looked at her mum with a mixture of disbelief and awe. ‘So happy you dropped by, Mum,’ she mumbled.
Sheila smiled softly at her and walked over, grasped hold of her cold hands and gave them a quick squeeze. ‘Bea would be so proud, darling. I’m so proud.’
‘Oh.’ Kate felt tears blind her.
‘Now none of that or you’ll ruin your makeup,’ Sheila said with a sniff. ‘Right then, I’m here to help Emma with that surprise for you, so Juliet? Kindly start on Kate’s hair and don’t let her in here until just before the party starts.’
Emma pouted. ‘Last time I tried to tell Kate to keep out of this room, she engaged cohorts and blatantly disregarded my orders.’
‘Last time,’ Sheila said, ‘you didn’t threaten a visit from Crispin.’
‘Crispin?’ Kate looked around worriedly.
‘I have him on speed-dial,’ Sheila said. ‘He’s very worried you’ll have overlooked something. I believe he’s made a helpful checklist for you.’
Kate’s chin came up proudly. ‘I’d like to see him try and find something to fuss about,’ she said and then had second thoughts because she had absolute faith in her team, and knew they could all do without Crispin being here early to inspect the place. ‘Okay, everyone clear this room so Mum and Emma can work and no peeking.’
‘Thank you, dear,’ Sheila said as she started taking off her gloves.
As everyone started to disperse, Kate caught Emma’s hand. ‘Not so fast, you,’ she said dragging Emma off to the side. ‘I want to check something.’
‘I won’t start putting out the canapés until fifteen minutes before,’ Emma said, going straight into work-mode. ‘Gloria’s getting ready now so she has plenty of time to start filling champagne glasses. I’ve double-checked with the catering company and they’ve promised they’re turning up with at least three wait-staff. Let’s see, what else? Juliet’s going to do a simple top-knot hairstyle on me to go with the gorgeous Biba-meets-Studio-54 silver dress she’s lending me so it’ll take hardly any time for me to—’
‘Never mind all that. Jake Knightley came to your rescue yesterday and as a thank you, you slept with him?’
‘Well, no. I slept with him because I’ve been wanting to pretty much from the first moment I laid eyes on him,’ Emma replied with a dreamy look on her face. ‘You don’t have to worry about me.’
Oh, but she did. Jake had told her how awkward Emma’s meeting had been with her dad, and that was all very nice and protective of him, but, Emma didn’t deserve to have thrown herself into a situation without thinking through the consequences. ‘It’s just that,’ she chewed her lip, wondering how to phrase it. ‘Jake’s really intent on getting out of here for Christmas and how is that going to make you feel if at the first sign of snowmelt, he’s freezing up again.’
‘Relax. You’re forgetting about the chandelier.’
‘The chandelier?’ Cripes. ‘Emma, no, you can’t go sleeping with Jake because of some silly village folklore that doesn’t take into account the real emotions of getting involved—’
‘Joking!’ Emma laughed. ‘But it’s super-sweet of you to worry.’
‘You were?’ She looked into Emma’s eyes and along with a new depth of happiness she saw a spark of confidence she hadn’t noticed before. ‘You were. Oh my God. Are you trying to give me a heart-attack on the eve of opening my dream business?’
‘Sorry. But seriously, whatever this thing between Jake and I is – whether we only need each other for right now – or whatever. I’m going in eyes wide-open. He’s been nothing but honest with me the whole time I’ve been here. And if it turns out he and I are just for now, well, so be it. I’m a big girl.’ She grabbed hold of Kate’s shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. ‘Okay?’ And then her earnest expression transformed into a huge, lovely grin. ‘Now let’s get this place ready for a party.’
Two hours later, Kate was ready to wow guests.
She’d thoroughly inspected every inch of The Clock House except for, as promised, Cocktails & Chai and now she was ready for the grand opening.
Probably ready.
Her hand went to her locket watch and stroked over it reassuringly.
Definitely ready.
With the snow continuing to fall, she was going to have to trust that people were curious enough to venture out of their cosy homes to see what Kate, Juliet, Daniel and Emma had done here. Any problems after the party started and they’d simply have to fix them as they went along.
Running her hands down the black velvet, floor-length fishtail gown she’d poured herself into, she paused outside the doors of Cocktails & Chai and took a couple of shallow breaths while she waited for Emma to call her in. Breathing deep was a bit of an issue in the figure-hugging dress, unless she worked out how to breathe from her shoulders, because they were the only thing not being held in.
‘I knew that dress would look gorgeous on you.’
Kate turned as Juliet stepped out of her salon.
‘Right back at you,’ Kate replied, taking in Juliet’s 1950’s cocktail gown in black and gold. In contrast to the plush velvet hourglass silhouette of Kate’s dress, Juliet’s dress had a scalloped lace neckline and a beautiful organza full skirt with gold overlay and with her hair up she looked like a red-haired Hepburn.
‘I jumped a couple of decades and put Emma in a 1970’s asymmetric silver lamé maxi-dress. She looks amazing.’ Turning Kate gently, Juliet checked her hair. ‘These Hollywood waves look good on you and it’s a great way to advertise the salon. Maybe we’ll do prom packages as well as weddings.’ She gave an excited little squeal. ‘God, Kate – I’ve been so, so tired – like wading through treacle tired. But now I can’t wait to start.’
‘Me too.’
‘Me three,’ Daniel laughed as he jogged down the stairs to stand with them in the foyer.
Kate smiled up at him and when he slid his hand around her waist, pulled her in close to his side, and whispered into her ear, ‘You look beautiful,’ her smile got even bigger.
‘And look at you, all hubba hubba in your tux,’ she answered.
The door behind them opened and Emma snuck through, quickly closing it behind her. ‘Ready to see your surprise?’
‘Before you do that,’ Oscar interrupted, walking up to the group with Melody. ‘I wanted to say a couple of words.’
Kate watched Melody automatically hug Juliet and thought about how much the three of them looked like a happy family.
‘Hi, Auntie Kate, I’m so excited,’ Melody said, moving to give her a hug and a kiss.
‘Hello lovely.’ Kate hugged her niece back. ‘Me too,’ she said watching Melody easily greet Daniel and Emma. Despite only recently turning nine, Melody gave every impression of, in fact, being nineteen. Bea would be so, so proud of her.
Oscar gave Juliet a quick kiss before handing each of them a small box wrapped in Christmas paper. Clearing his throat, he said, ‘I realise I’m not officially a part of your venture here—’
‘Your blood, sweat and tears are in this building too,’ Kate insisted, feeling emotional.
‘Thank you. I do consider myself an honorary part of team Clock House. The thing is,’ he blew out a breath and stared down at the box he had in his hands, his fingers tapping against it a couple of times. ‘You all know how much Bea dreamt of opening up this place. And I know she’s up there,’ with a gentle smile he pointed up at the heavens, ‘looking down at all of this and getting such a kick out of it. Championing you all, waiting to see you smash it … You’ve taken a dream and turned it into so much more and I’ve a feeling she’s delighted about that too. I know The Clock House is yours now. All of yours,’ he added, including Juliet, Daniel and Emma. ‘But Melody and I were talking and we decided we wanted you all to have something – a way of remembering Bea’s spirit. So,’ he cleared his throat again as Melody slipped her hand reassuringly into his, ‘um, yeah … we had a little something made for each of you,’ he gestured to the boxes they were all holding, ‘and we thought you could wear them tonight.’
Wrapping paper was ripped off in seconds and somehow they were all opening their boxes at once, to find a tiny gold pin in the shape of a bee. Kate’s fingertip stroked over the pin as warmth flooded her. Oscar had been looking after the bees that lived in the beehives behind the moon-gate, but everyone would always refer to them as Bea’s bees.
She looked up to see Juliet hastily wiping away a tear as she mouthed, ‘I love you,’ to Oscar. Kate smiled as Oscar mouthed the words back, and then, so that she didn’t blubber over them all, she concentrated on removing her little bee from its box and giving it to Daniel so that he could pin it on her, and then taking his little bee and pinning it to the lapel of his suit.
Oscar and Juliet followed suit, pinning their bees, followed by Melody and Emma.
‘So,’ Emma said, ‘Kate, are you ready for your last surprise?’
‘I don’t know,’ she answered shakily. ‘I’m not sure I can handle any more loveliness. I still have a speech to make.’
‘Don’t worry, all I’ve done is add a little extra something to the room,’ and with a grin she threw open the double doors of Cocktails & Chai.