Trisha Ashley - Twelve Days of Christmas

‘I had to bring him with me, I couldn’t leave him to freeze to death in his car. I’ll be surprised if even the snowplough gets through in the morning, if it carries on like this.’

‘I’m astonished you got up here at all if it’s that bad, because George Froggat said the bottom end of the lane often gets impassable in snow and ice and the weather’s much worse now. But I sincerely hope you’re wrong, and it thaws out a bit by morning.’

‘I had chains for the tyres in the back of the Land Rover, so I stopped and put them on as soon as I left the motorway. But no-one in their right mind would drive up narrow country lanes in this weather without them.’ He gave the other man a look of scorn.

‘Well, thank you for rescuing me, anyway,’ Michael said, with an attempt at a smile. ‘And for making me put on half the clothes in my suitcase, too!’

I sat down at the table with my tea and Merlin immediately abandoned his master and came and sat down, leaning against my leg as he usually does, his head on my knees. Jude gave him one of the frowning looks he’d been bestowing on me earlier, though slightly puzzled, too.

Now I’d got over the surprise, I’d started to wonder how Jude’s arrival would affect me: after all, I was only here to house-sit and he wouldn’t need me now. Still, time to sort that out in the morning. I’d pray for a sudden thaw!

‘I’ll have to give Michael a bed for the night,’ Jude said.

‘Then I’m afraid it will either have to be yours or the little servant’s room next to mine in this wing.’

He had been pushing back his unruly dark hair, which was trying to curl damply, but now stopped and stared at me with his treacle toffee-coloured eyes. ‘Why? What’s the matter with the others? I mean, only three of them can be occupied, apart from yours?’

‘Actually, no, all the rooms in that wing are in use tonight: your brother Guy arrived earlier and his fiancée — or ex-fiancée I should say, since they’ve had a falling-out — followed him. I’ve put her in the nursemaid’s room next to Jess, since Guy wouldn’t give up his room for her and we couldn’t put her in yours, because it was locked and even Noël didn’t have the key.’

‘What, Guy and Coco are here?’ he demanded, missing most of the explanation and going straight to the nub of the matter.

‘Yes, Coco managed to run her car off the road and I have no idea where it is now, but the other car outside is your brother’s.’

‘Guy’s got a nerve, coming up here while I’m away!’ Anger sparked in his eyes.

‘He certainly has: he seemed to think he could simply turn up and the Chirks would feed and look after him!’

‘And I suppose you let him bamboozle you into letting him stay?’

‘Look,’ I said shortly, ‘I got back from a shopping trip to the village and he was here already, with your aunt and uncle, in his family home. How do you think I, the house-sitter, was supposed to eject him? Oh, and he’d had a couple of drinks by then, too, so there was no way he could have driven anywhere.’

‘I suppose not,’ he agreed reluctantly. ‘You said Coco had an accident? Is she all right? Where is everyone?’

‘Coco’s fine, apart from some exhausting hysterics after arguing with your brother when she arrived, but it’s been a bit of a day, and they’ve all gone to bed. I was just about to as well, once I’d checked on Lady and Nutkin, but then the electricity went off and the generator obviously wasn’t going to start up on its own.’

‘I hope you’ve been keeping the heating on all the time at a low level, like I said in the instructions?’

‘I don’t think it has any temperature other than low, does it? But I haven’t touched it and I’ve also kept the fire going in the sitting room day and night and opened all the upstairs bedroom doors to let the warm air circulate and air them, luckily.’

‘Except mine, presumably?’

I shrugged. ‘Unless any air sneaked in through the keyhole.’

‘I don’t mind where you put me, I’m just grateful you’ve taken me in,’ Michael offered, sounding much better.

‘The only bedroom left used to be a servant’s one and is a bit Spartan, but it’s warm and comfortable enough and I’ll make your bed up and put a hot water bottle in it,’ I told him.

‘You’re very kind: bed with a hot water bottle sounds like bliss.’ He gave me that charming smile again and I found myself smiling back.

‘That’s all right. You’ll have to share my bathroom, which is just opposite — in fact, you’d better have a hot bath before you turn in. Come on.’

‘What about my bed, aren’t you going to make that, too?’ asked Jude sardonically.

‘No — and if your room is chilly and musty, it’s your own fault for locking it.’

I led Michael up the backstairs, first collecting his two expensive-looking bags from the hall, where Jude had dumped them in a puddle of melting snow with his own. I put out towels and ran a bath while he unpacked his night gear, then while he was in there I made his bed up.

I heard Jude climb the backstairs and walk along the passage, heading for his own wing, and apart from Merlin the kitchen was deserted when I fetched the hot water bottle.

Hoping Michael wouldn’t fall asleep in the bath, I went up to my own bed after washing up the mugs and saying good night to Merlin. Luckily the bathroom was now empty and, in fact, the whole house seemed quiet when I cautiously opened the door to the gallery a crack and listened: a brooding silence reigned.

I had a feeling it wouldn’t be quite so tranquil in the morning. .

By now, I was at that stage beyond exhaustion where you’re looking at everything through thick glass, so I climbed into bed and picked up Gran’s latest journal, saying aloud, ‘Please let me have jumped to all the wrong conclusions so there’s no possibility I’m related to that objectionable man!’

I woke very early, before it was light, and lay there for a little while thinking about poor Granny, for whom the outcome I had feared seemed to have come about. She didn’t marry Ned Martland in the end, but I don’t know if this was because he abandoned her (which looks horribly likely) or because he was killed before it could happen.

And here I was, landed in the middle of a Christmas house-party (the very thing I had tried to avoid), for the family of the man who seduced poor Gran — it’s bizarre!

But I suppose everything at Old Place might be about to change with the arrival of the master of the house, because presumably I was now redundant — surplus to requirements. Assuming, that was, that Jude knew how to cook?

And it was at that inconvenient moment that I suddenly realised that before the arrival of Guy, Coco and the objectionable Jude, I’d actually begun to enjoy all the Christmas preparations and would be sorry to leave!

But if they clear the roads I expect Jude will send Coco and his brother packing back to London, and expect me to leave too. He might want to count the silver first, since he seemed to have a very nasty, suspicious mind.

Up to that point, though, I knew my duty and would carry on as usual, so I got up and showered, then dressed in sensible jeans and jumper and went downstairs to let Merlin out and give the horses a bit of carrot.

It was still pretty dark, but I could see that the snow had drifted up one side of the yard and not the other, where the Land Rover stood. I didn’t think it seemed worse than the previous night though, just crunchier underfoot.

I cleaned out the ashes and stoked up the embers of the sitting-room fire, got everything out ready for breakfast and laid Tilda’s tray.

While I was busy, the radio kept announcing that it was Christmas Eve, as if I might have the five-minute memory of a goldfish, but somehow these reminders didn’t seem to hurt quite so much as they usually did, possibly because I had so much else on my mind at the moment.

Perhaps, at last, I was starting to relinquish the past and move on. A fresh start in the New Year — and maybe a fresh new life to go with it. Thank goodness nowadays having babies out of wedlock was totally acceptable, unlike in Gran’s day!

Merlin was eating his breakfast, liberally sprinkled with his medicine, and I had made giblet stock and a bowl of stuffing for tomorrow and was putting a batch of biscuits in the oven, when Michael came diffidently into the kitchen. He looked a different man to the frozen one of the night before — very handsome in a slightly haggard way, with fine features, light brown hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing a pale cashmere jumper to rival Guy’s, over cream chinos, which was about as practical an outfit for the country as any of Coco’s.

‘Good morning! I heard you moving about down here, so I hoped you wouldn’t mind my coming down for a cup of coffee? I’m a bit of an addict — and something smells delicious!’ he added, sniffing the air appreciatively.

‘Spiced biscuits for the tree,’ I explained. ‘Would you like cereal or a full cooked breakfast?’

‘Well, bacon and eggs and toast would be perfect — but I could do it if you’re busy?’

‘No, that’s fine, this is the last batch of biscuits. No-one else seemed awake, so I thought I’d get them done, because I promised Jess — that’s Jude’s niece — that we could ice them together this morning,’ I said, touched by his thoughtfulness. ‘But there’s a cafetière over there and coffee in the cupboard above it, so you could make us both some while I’m cooking?’

We chatted while he was eating his breakfast and I was washing up those things I’d used for the biscuits that wouldn’t go in the dishwasher, like the old metal pastry cutters shaped like Christmas trees, bells, stars and all kinds of other things. I told him how I did cooking and house-sitting for a living and in return he confessed, with a modest air, that he was an actor.

‘Oh really? I expect you’re terribly distinguished and I should have recognised you, only I rarely have time to watch TV or go to the cinema.’

‘Not really famous — I’m mostly stage, except that I had a part in a film last year and made a bit of a success of it — The Darkling Hours. Sort of Harry Potter crossed with Tolkien and a dash of C.S. Lewis, but it went down well and I’ve had a few high-profile cameo roles since.’

‘Oh yes, that was a huge success! I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard about it. You were in that?’ I was impressed.

‘It certainly put me on the radar.’ He smiled rather sadly. ‘But while we were filming, my wife had an affair with one of the other actors and we’ve broken up.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’

‘We had. . irreconcilable differences. The marriage hadn’t really been working out. Debbie’s taken our little girl, Rosie, to spend Christmas with her parents in Liverpool, so I called in to visit her and take some presents on the way up to stay with my Yorkshire friends. But after that, taking the SatNav’s short cut led to my downfall.’

‘Well, it could be worse — at least you saw your little girl before you got stuck. How old is she?’

‘Two — and I think she’s already forgetting me,’ he said sadly. ‘At first Debbie said she’d rather I didn’t see her at all, but I want to stay in her life if I possibly can and I think we can stay friends if we work at it, for Rosie’s sake.’

‘Yes, of course you do and I’m sure Debbie will come round.’

He smiled at me. ‘I do feel better for talking it through, so getting myself stuck in the snow has had one good result! But my friends are going to be wondering what on earth has happened to me. I tried ringing them from my car last night, but they were out and I had to leave a message. And this morning I can’t get a signal at all!’

‘No, the phone reception here is lousy. You either have to walk down the drive just past the lodge or up the hill behind the house, before you can get a signal.’

‘It doesn’t really look like hiking weather out there, does it?’ he said, glancing out at the winter wonderland. ‘I wonder if it would be all right if I made a brief call from the house phone?’

‘I expect it would have been, only the poles have come down, so that isn’t working either, though there is a call box in the village, about half a mile away.’