The Christmas Invitation

by Trisha Ashley

  ‘It’s an interesting idea,’ said Henry.

  Sybil was sitting in the corner of a sofa as far from Piers as she could have got, but was looking slightly revived by her tea. It was odd, I thought, that despite being so anxious about him before his arrival, now he was here she seemed more nervous of him than fond.

  Mark and Zelda took their plates and cups back to the window seat and carried on their intimately low-voiced conversation, and Sybil gave them another puzzled glance.

  I found Lex was looking at me in a frowning sort of way and when I took my cup and plate to an armchair just outside the fireside circle, he followed and sat down next to me.

  ‘Mark seems surprisingly happy to see my sister again, doesn’t he?’ he said drily. ‘They had a bit of a boy and girl romance years ago, before Zelda went off to drama school, but they haven’t seen much of each other since.’

  ‘When you haven’t seen someone for ages, it can feel as if you’re seeing them for the first time,’ I said.

  He looked at me seriously and said, ‘That was certainly true when I saw you again.’ Then he gave me a searching look. ‘I thought Mark was keen on you. From what Sybil said to me at Underhill earlier, she seems to expect an engagement announcement at any moment!’

  I felt myself blushing. ‘Sybil got the wrong end of the stick.’

  ‘Well, you keep telling me you aren’t interested in Mark, but when he suddenly announced he was coming back with us, I did wonder. He said he wanted to ask your advice about paint colours.’

  ‘I expect he’s asking Zelda’s instead now,’ I said. ‘Look, I know he was a bit keen on me, but I’m more than happy he’s switched his attention to Zelda. I’m sure Sybil just thought that if Mark and I married, it would … sort of make everything tidy.’

  ‘I expect you’re right and I’m glad you’re not nursing a broken heart.’

  ‘No, though there is someone here I do have a soft spot for,’ I admitted.

  I’d put Pansy down while I had my tea and she’d gone to join the other two dogs, who had strategically placed themselves near the coffee table.

  ‘I’m going to ask Sybil if she’ll sell me Pansy, so long as I can pay her in the New Year.’

  ‘I’m afraid she told me earlier that she’d accepted an offer for her,’ Lex said, dashing my hopes.

  ‘Oh, now I wish I hadn’t waited!’ I said sadly. ‘I didn’t realize how quickly I’d get attached to her.’

  ‘And vice versa. She makes a beeline for you whenever she sees you.’

  ‘I hope the people who are buying her are nice.’ I sighed. ‘Oh, well, it wasn’t meant to be. I’ll just have to enjoy playing with her over Christmas.’

  Mark had torn himself away from Zelda to fetch another slice of cake. He looked a bit more mellow: food did seem to sweeten his temper … unless it was love.

  I hoped it was love this time, for Zelda’s sake, because I’d taken an instant liking to her.

  ‘I’d better head back to Underhill shortly,’ he announced, but refused Lex’s offer to drive him back.

  ‘No, that’s all right, the walk will do me good.’

  ‘If the road through Starstone Edge is clear tomorrow, then perhaps I could come over and see what you’re doing with the place?’ suggested Zelda. ‘I’d love to and I’ll help, if you like?’

  ‘That would be great,’ he assured her warmly. ‘Why don’t you come for the day?’

  ‘I’ll do that,’ she promised.

  ‘I suppose Meg and I could help out for a couple of hours in the morning too,’ volunteered Lex, without consulting me.

  ‘Every extra pair of hands welcome,’ Mark said.

  ‘Let’s see what it’s like tomorrow,’ suggested Clara, ‘then we can all make our plans accordingly.’

  ‘Wasn’t Flora going to go to Underhill this afternoon? I’m sure she said so at the Gathering,’ Lex said.

  Mark looked a bit uncomfortable. ‘Yes, she did mean to, but then she rang me this morning to say her visitor was stuck there. She’s got a Mini and it’s not built for these road conditions.’

  ‘Flora took pity on a rather persistent young man who wants to interview Henry,’ Clara explained to Zelda. ‘He was a boyfriend of Meg’s years ago.’

  ‘We all make mistakes,’ Lex said to me gravely and I gave him a look.

  ‘If Flora’s stuck with him till the road is clear, she really might as well have Piers too,’ reiterated Tottie.

  ‘I don’t think anyone will make it over to Thorstane tomorrow if it snows again tonight and then freezes hard,’ said Lex.

  ‘If not, you may just have to put up with me over Christmas, after all,’ Piers said. ‘I’m sure with a little goodwill and rearrangement—’

  ‘I’ll ring Flora,’ interrupted Clara decidedly, getting up. Just at that moment, the doorknocker thumped heavily. ‘Now, what fresh hell is this?’ she muttered.

  ‘It’s not,’ Lex said, going to pull back the curtain and look out. ‘I think it’s the woman of the hour: Flora.’

  32

  Star-Crossed Others

  The knock was clearly a token gesture, for the inner door to the hall opened and a light voice trilled, ‘Coo-ee!’

  ‘In the drawing room, Flora,’ called Clara, and a moment later, having divested herself of boots and coat, she came in as one sure of her welcome.

  Her chestnut curls were feathery with damp, her brown eyes shone and her cheeks were rosy from the cold. She looked very pretty, in a slightly marmoset kind of way.

  ‘Hi, everyone!’ she said, looking round. ‘Zelda, you made it, then? Oh, and Mark, I didn’t expect to find you here.’

  She gave him a very special smile and he shifted uneasily on the window seat, but didn’t get up.

  ‘I came over with Mum, but I’m going back in a minute.’

  ‘I’m so glad you did come, Mark, because it’s wonderful to see you again,’ Zelda said, turning to smile dazzlingly at him and he gave her a besotted look.

  Flora’s eyes narrowed and she looked uncertainly from the pair on the window seat to where I was sitting, evidently puzzled and unsure who her main rival now was. And I couldn’t blame her, because Mark seemed to change direction like a weathercock. First it was Flora, then me and now he only had eyes for Zelda.

  I became aware that Lex was now standing so close behind my chair that we could have been posed for one of those Victorian photographic patriarch-and-wife combos, which couldn’t have helped poor Flora figure it all out, either.

  Baffled, she smiled largely on the assembly and, with a sudden change of tack, said reproachfully, ‘Teddy, darling! Don’t you have a kiss for your old nanny?’

  Teddy got up rather reluctantly and allowed her to embrace him, then released himself politely and went back to sitting on the floor next to River’s chair, where they’d been poring over a large book about dragons.

  ‘We didn’t think anyone would come to call on a day like this, Flora, but cometh the hour, cometh the woman,’ Lex said.

  ‘I simply had to get out for some fresh air, because I’ve been cooped up all day looking after poor Rollo, who has a really bad chill. I thought Meg might like an update on how her boyfriend was.’

  This with a sharp sideways glance at me, but if her innuendo was meant for Mark’s benefit, then it had missed its target, because he hadn’t been listening to a word she said.

  ‘I think we’ve established that Rollo’s not Meg’s boyfriend, or partner, or whatever they call them these days, Flora,’ said Clara. ‘So if he told you he was, then he’s trying to take you in.’

  ‘Oh, sorry! I should have said former boyfriend,’ she amended hastily. ‘And there seems to have been a little misunderstanding, because he only wanted to pop in and see Meg while he was in the area, though of course, being a poet, he’d love to pay his homage to Henry, too.’

  ‘Let him pay it by email, then,’ said Henry.

  ‘Yes, we certainly don’t want his cold germs invading the Red House,�
� agreed Clara.

  ‘Like Typhoid Mary,’ suggested Tottie and, seeing Flora’s blank expression, elaborated: ‘She was a typhoid carrier, infected dozens!’

  ‘Rollo hasn’t got typhoid!’ exclaimed Flora. ‘It’s just a chill, nothing infectious, though I was afraid it might turn into pneumonia. However, he’s started to take a turn for the better.’

  ‘I’ve just got over pneumonia. It’s a viral thing,’ I said. ‘I’m glad he’s feeling better, though, and I hope his mother isn’t ringing you twenty times an hour.’

  ‘She’s naturally very worried about him, poor woman,’ Flora said.

  ‘Well, Flora, whatever your reason for coming, your arrival is very opportune,’ Clara told her.

  ‘In fact, we were just talking about you,’ put in Tottie.

  ‘In a good way, I hope?’ Flora said, though as if there couldn’t possibly be any other.

  ‘I hope it will be good for all of us,’ said Clara. ‘We have a proposition to put to you. But do come and sit here, near the fire, between me and Sybil and get warm. You met River and Meg at the Gathering, didn’t you? And here’s Piers Marten, whom you’ve certainly met before.’

  I don’t think Flora had taken in his presence till this point because he was somewhat obscured by Tottie until she sat back.

  ‘Of course, though not for some years,’ Flora said, shaking hands. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Exhausted and, it appears, unwelcome,’ he murmured with patently false pathos, before adding bravely, ‘but I’m an old soldier, you know: I’ll carry on.’

  ‘But you won’t be able to carry on back to Thorstane till the road thaws enough, which is the root of the problem,’ Tottie said, and Flora looked puzzled.

  Henry explained. ‘Sybil put Piers off coming for Christmas this year because of Mark’s renovations, which is also why she’s spending it with us. But he ignored her letter and turned up this afternoon with Zelda.’

  ‘It was all just a misunderstanding,’ said Piers. ‘But I’m here now and—’

  Clara ignored him and carried on in her best human bulldozer manner: ‘The thing is, Flora, we have a full house and Mark can’t have Piers. He’s told the Gidneys to take a few days off over Christmas, since he can look after himself while he’s working on the house, and they’re looking forward to it.’

  ‘And Piers’d probably freeze, because I’m not turning the heating up till Mum’s back,’ said Mark, joining in the discussion. From where I was sitting, I could see he and Zelda were holding hands, which was pretty quick work.

  ‘Really, Mark, you’ve turned very hard!’ said Piers sadly. ‘When you were a little boy, wasn’t I like an uncle to you?’

  ‘No,’ said Mark. ‘I used to dread it if you were staying at Underhill when we were. You made fun of me because I hated hunting and killing things. Then later you told Grandfather I’d had to take my degree in hospitality management because I hadn’t got the brains for anything else!’

  Piers looked taken aback, but before he could speak, Sybil’s maternal instincts made her say, ‘That’s quite true, Piers! I heard you say so myself, on several occasions.’

  ‘Sybil, you can’t possibly believe that I’m not fond of the boy. I was merely joking,’ he said. ‘You know I’d do anything in my power to protect his interests.’

  She met his eyes briefly, paled and looked away uneasily. ‘Of course … I mean, it’s only that you weren’t very kind to him and …’

  ‘Never mind the past,’ Clara cut in. ‘Let’s get back to the problem in hand: the road is blocked and may stay that way for at least a couple of days. You already have one stranded visitor, Flora, so we wondered if you could also take Piers?’

  ‘But the guesthouse isn’t open,’ she said, taken by surprise by this suggestion. ‘I mean, I contacted Auntie and told her I was home and had a friend staying with me, of course – and Rollo and I have become such good friends already,’ she added, with another pointed glance in my direction to gauge how I felt about that.

  ‘How nice,’ I said pleasantly. ‘He can be very good company, when he wants to be.’

  ‘Of course, Auntie was quite happy to know I had a friend staying, but to have Piers as well …’

  ‘He’d be a paying guest, of course,’ said Tottie. ‘And I expect Deirdre would want you to charge double, or triple rates over Christmas, with full board.’

  ‘She certainly would,’ agreed Flora. ‘But although I’ve often helped out with the guesthouse, I’ve never run it myself.’

  ‘I imagine Deirdre won’t object if you take Piers in, as long as he’s paying. And really, you might as well be looking after two visitors, as one,’ Clara said reasonably.

  ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t want to charge me more than the usual rate, my dear, when I’m so unfortunately stuck here,’ Piers began, giving Flora his best brave old soldier smile.

  ‘You don’t know Deirdre,’ put in Tottie. ‘She’s a businesswoman to the core.’

  ‘And you can’t be poverty-stricken if you can afford to be a member of the In & Out Club,’ Clara told him.

  ‘We’d be very grateful if you could accommodate Piers, my dear,’ said Henry, with his charming smile.

  Flora wavered. ‘Well, I’d have to try and get in touch with Auntie again and get her permission, though in the circumstances I expect she’ll agree. But Tottie’s right and she would expect me to charge you at a higher rate, Piers. And she always insists on taking her guests’ card details on their arrival,’ she added firmly.

  She seemed to be a chip off the old block and there was more than a hint of the steel hand that lay within the velvet glove.

  ‘But surely not in my case?’ Piers protested. ‘This is an unexpected expense, so I’m not sure if … But then,’ he added, brightening, ‘I’m sure Sybil would settle my bill and then I can reimburse her later.’

  ‘Since Mum seems constantly broke these days, I wouldn’t advise that, Flora,’ Mark told her.

  ‘No, it would have to be your card details up front, or Auntie would be really cross,’ Flora told Piers.

  ‘So, if Deirdre agrees, will you take him, Flora?’ asked Henry.

  ‘I suppose so. I’ll go back and see if I can get hold of her now, then get a room ready for him.’

  ‘Wonderful! And do let us know if you get through to her. We can give Piers dinner and then bring him down to the guesthouse after that,’ suggested Clara. ‘Will that help?’

  ‘Yes, though I’m not quite sure how I’ll manage with the catering if both he and Rollo end up staying over Christmas. I got only enough groceries in to keep me going, and though of course there’s a freezer full of food, we’re likely to run out of fresh things quite quickly. And then there’s Christmas Day itself …’

  Clara sighed. ‘I can see your point, dear, but we can probably let you have anything you’re short of. And I suppose if your guests are still here by then, you can all come to the Red House for Christmas dinner.’

  ‘How lovely! That’s so kind of you,’ Flora said.

  ‘And you might as well bring them both to the Boxing Day drinks and nibbles party, too,’ Clara added generously.

  ‘But warn this Rollo that there’ll be no interviews with me, no taking notes, and no writing about us when he gets home, or he’ll be sorry,’ Henry said. ‘I’m not without some influence in the world of poetry.’

  ‘I’m sure he wouldn’t dream of it! He’ll be delighted just to meet you,’ she assured him.

  ‘But if his chill turns into a cold, he can stay in bed and we’ll send his dinner down,’ qualified Clara.

  ‘I don’t think it will. He’s really improving this afternoon.’

  ‘Good, because I don’t want a cold either,’ said Piers. ‘Especially if I’m paying through the nose for the privilege of staying in your establishment.’

  At some point, River must have quietly slipped out, for now he returned, bringing fresh tea and a clean cup for Flora, for which she thanked him prettily. She seemed able t
o turn on a lighthouse beam of charm at the drop of a hat, but it did sometimes switch off again very quickly.

  The pressing problem of Piers seemingly solved, the atmosphere in the room lightened, though Sybil was still quiet and looked anxious, while Piers appeared to be trying to catch her eye. Perhaps he wanted sympathy and thought she was the only person in the room sure to provide it.

  Mark brought his and Zelda’s cups over and Flora patted the empty seat next to her.

  ‘Do come and talk to me, Mark! I hardly had the chance to exchange a word with you at the Gathering.’

  ‘Sorry, I’m afraid I’ll have to be going in a minute,’ he said shortly.

  She pouted charmingly and appealed to Sybil. ‘He’s such a grouch, isn’t he? You’d think he wasn’t pleased to see me again – and after all the fun we had together last time I was home, too!’

  Sybil gave her a chilly smile that barely twitched her lips, but Mark flushed.

  Zelda, though, was regarding Flora thoughtfully. Then she said, ‘How long are you staying in Starstone Edge, Flora?’

  ‘Until I find a new post, I suppose … unless something better offers.’

  There was no mistaking the innuendo of this remark or who it was aimed at, though Mark avoided her eyes.

  ‘I expect you’ll have to return to London straight after Christmas, Zelda?’ Flora asked with a glittering smile.

  ‘Oh, no, I don’t have to rush off again this time. In fact, I’ve been thinking about my future, now I’ve hit thirty.’

  ‘You don’t look thirty, you poor old thing,’ said Lex, and she made a face at him.

  ‘I don’t think you look old, Mummy,’ said Teddy, distracted from his dragon book.

  ‘Thank you, darling, that’s so sweet of you.’

  ‘Thirty’s nothing. You’re a mere slip of a thing,’ said Henry.

  ‘It’s a bit of a milestone when you’re an actor, though, and, let’s face it, my career has never really taken off. I didn’t even get into a panto this year.’