‘The book!’ Sam said, holding it up at last for everyone to see. The gesture was met by gasps of wonder and horror. It was the M R James first edition.
‘The haunted book!’ Grandpa Joe cried.
‘What is it?’ Grandma Nell asked, rousing from a little nap.
‘Callie’s bought Sam that haunted book!’
Callie looked at Eleanor whose eyes had almost doubled in size as she saw what it was Sam was holding.
‘It’s the same exact edition,’ Sam declared a moment later, turning it over in his hands.’
‘Are you sure?’ Eleanor asked. ‘Are you absolutely sure?’
‘No mistaking it. It’s the same book that I was given by Mr Roache.’ He laughed. ‘Callie – you’re a genius! I never wanted to let this book go. I’ve regretted it ever since.’
‘You get that book out of this house, Samuel Nightingale!’ his mother warned.
‘Oh, Mum! Don’t be silly. It’s just a harmless old book.’
‘I don’t want it anywhere near me. I’m sorry, Callie, but I can’t have anything to do with that book. I’m sure your intention was good, but... but – that book!’
‘I’m so sorry, Eleanor,’ Callie said, moving towards her and placing her hand on her arm. ‘If I’d had any idea at all, I’d never have chosen it.’
Eleanor nodded. ‘I know, my dear. You weren’t to know.’
‘I can’t believe it’s the book!’ Bryony said, daring to get a little closer to the copy of Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. ‘It’s like serendipity or something. Callie must have been drawn to this book knowing that Sam had a connection to it.’
‘You think so?’ Callie asked.
‘I do,’ Bryony said. ‘I really believe that about books – there’s something in them that can draw you to them.’
Callie smiled. She liked that idea and remembered the moment she’d seen it in the little bookshop and had held it for the first time, knowing that it was the right gift for the man she loved.
‘Right,’ Grandpa Joe said, getting up from his chair and clapping his hands together. ‘I’ll just let the dogs out. They’ve been nice and quiet tonight considering all the comings and goings. They’ll be ready for a stretch no doubt.’
‘Be careful,’ Frank told his father, ‘it’ll be slippery.’
‘I won’t go far, don’t worry,’ Grandpa Joe said.
‘Hey, let me just see that ghoulish illustration again,’ Josh said, ‘before Sam sells the book for the second time.’
‘I’m not selling the book, Josh,’ Sam told him. ‘Which illustration?’
‘The one with the hairy hand.’
Sam sat down with the book on his lap and carefully opened it, quickly finding the illustration which Josh was after.
‘Just how I remember it,’ Josh said. ‘Look at the way that hand’s bent – just like the legs of a spider.’
‘That’s pretty freaky,’ Lara said.
‘I do wish you’d close that book, Sam,’ Eleanor said. ‘It’s giving me the chills.’
‘What’s that?’ Lara suddenly asked.
‘What?’ Eleanor said.
‘I thought I heard something.’
Everybody was quiet for a moment, listening intently. Sure enough, a light tapping could be heard.
‘It’s coming from the window,’ Frank said. He moved to the curtains and quickly drew them back.
‘It’s Grandpa!’ he cried and they all heard Grandpa’s naughty chuckle from the other side of the window.
Eleanor shook her head in despair. ‘Why, the rotten...! I’ll give him what for, I really will!’
Grandpa was still chuckling when he came back into the room a few minutes later, giving Nell a big kiss on the lips.
‘That was a mean trick, Grandpa!’ Lara told him.
‘Yes, and one I’ll remember tomorrow when I’m serving the extra crispy roast potatoes you love so much,’ Eleanor promised him.
‘Aw, I was just having a bit of fun,’ he said, bending to kiss his daughter-in-law.
‘There’s been rather a bit too much fun today,’ Eleanor said.
‘And I’m afraid I’ve contributed to it by bringing this book here,’ Callie said.
‘It’s okay, Callie,’ Frank assured her. ‘It’s been fun remembering the old book.’
‘Fun for some of you,’ Eleanor said. ‘I’d have been quite happy to have forgotten it. It’s brought back all sorts of memories.’
‘Maybe we should take it home now,’ Sam said. ‘You ready to leave, Callie?’
‘Oh, I didn’t mean to send you packing, Callie, love,’ Eleanor said.
‘No, no – it’s fine. I think it was time I was heading back. Actually, all these ghost stories have given me an idea I really should write down,’ she confessed.
‘You’re going to work on Christmas Eve?’ Josh said, astounded.
Callie laughed. ‘I’m afraid writers don’t switch off just because it’s Christmas. I even managed to get a bit of writing done this morning.’
‘Well, I’m personally very grateful to you,’ Bryony said. ‘My customers love your books so – go on – get back to that keyboard of yours!’
Everyone laughed and hugged and said their goodnights and the two of them left to a chorus of happy voices.
‘We’ll see you tomorrow, Callie!’
‘Bye, Sam!’
‘Merry Christmas!’
8
Sam drove Callie back to Newton St Clare and she invited him in for a hot chocolate which she made after jotting her ideas down in a notepad. Owl Cottage felt horribly cold after the warmth of Campion House but Sam soon got a fire going and Callie turned on a couple of lamps and switched on the lights of her little Christmas tree, turning the tiny living room into a cosy haven.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she told him again as they sat on the sofa with their hot chocolates. ‘I had no idea about that book. I knew you were an M R James fan and I was pretty sure that you didn’t have a first edition. When I saw it, I got so excited.’
‘Callie – it’s an amazing present. I love it! Although you shouldn’t have spent so much.’
She gave a little shrug. ‘I’ve had a pretty good year with my own books,’ she told him, ‘and I just couldn’t leave it behind. I only wished I’d known about the history of the book.’
‘I guess it’s not something we talk about too often,’ he said, ‘although the subject does come up at Christmas as we’re reading ghost stories.’
‘So, what are you going to do with the book?’ she asked.
‘I’m going to keep it of course,’ he said. ‘I just won’t be allowed to bring it within a five mile radius of Mum. I think she’s going to take out a restraining order against it.’
Callie laughed but her smile soon faded. ‘You don’t really believe it’s haunted, do you?’
‘The book? No, of course not. Why, do you?’
She shook her head. ‘Although the night I brought it home from Cambridge, I had a power cut for the first time ever.’
‘Really?’
She nodded.
‘Coincidence,’ he said.
‘Yes. Very likely.’ And then she took a deep breath. ‘All the same, I’d prefer it if you kept it at yours in the future.’
‘Really? You don’t want to borrow it for the night and read it in bed?’
‘Erm, no. I really don’t.’
Sam shifted on the sofa and cleared his throat.
‘What is it?’ Callie asked.
‘You know, there might actually be something in this haunted book idea.’
Callie frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
He turned to look at her, pushing his glasses up his nose. ‘Promise me you won’t say anything to the others. I wouldn’t want to spook them and – well, you’ve seen how easily spooked they are.’
‘You’re spooking me now,’ she told him.
‘Well, I won’t tell you if you think it’ll upset you.’
‘Oh, Sam! You c
an’t say something like that and not tell me!’ she cried, nudging him lightly.
‘You sure you want to know?’
‘Yes!’
He took a deep breath. ‘Okay, then, but you can’t unknow it once it’s told.’
‘Understood. Now, tell me.’
‘Remember me telling you about Mr Roache?’ Sam asked. ‘The man who gave me the book?’
‘The one with the bony fingers who kept saying, “This one! This one!”’
‘Yes. Well, when he gave me the book, he told me a little bit about its history. He’d been a collector and his father had been one too, and it was his father who’d bought the M R James first edition. Mr Roache knew that I’d appreciate the book and I was delighted when he offered it to me, but he said that it wasn’t altogether a gift. I asked him to explain, and he didn’t answer for a moment, but asked me to sit down. He had this big old Knole sofa which was mostly threadbare and we sat on that together. Well, perched. I remember thinking I’d never get up again if I sat on it properly – it was so deep and had half-collapsed in the middle.’
Callie giggled. ‘But what did he say about the book?’
‘He told me that, if I was to take it, I’d have to remember his warning. It was a special book, you see. A book that could make people feel things.’
‘Feel things?’
‘Yes, those were his exact words and I still remember the chill I got when he said them. He told me his father had bought the book from an old man who’d studied at King’s College, Cambridge.’
‘That’s the college M R James was at.’
‘That’s right.’
‘Do you think the old man knew M R James?’ Callie asked.
‘There’s no way of knowing now,’ Sam said. ‘I asked Mr Roache the same thing and he said it was possible. Just imagine if he’d been a student under M R James.’
‘It would be a lovely link to the author. Wouldn’t he have got the book signed, though, if he’d known the author?’
‘Maybe,’ Sam said, ‘but I’ve seen quite a few authors at our literary festival and I sometimes get so dumbstruck that I daren’t even approach them to get a book signed!’
Callie smiled at him.
‘Anyway,’ Sam went on, ‘that’s not all. The man Mr Roache’s father bought the book from believed that it might not only be a first edition, but the first first edition. Can you imagine? The very first to have been printed. And he sincerely believed that that made everything all the more vital. He believed that the emotions in the writing were stronger, the images more real and the terror more horrifying, and – all those feelings – all those emotions – are felt by the reader. Or rather, they’re felt by some readers. Those attuned to such things.’
‘Like your mother?’
‘Exactly.’
‘Do you believe that?’
Sam took a deep breath. ‘I don’t know. But I suppose it could be like a fine art print or etching – you know, the lower the number of the artwork, the more valuable it is, the sharper the image. Perhaps it’s the same with the first print run of a book.’
‘But how do we know it is the first first?’
‘I don’t think there’s any way of knowing for sure. It’s something I’d never really thought about before this book.’
Callie gazed into the flames of the fire. ‘There is always this special quality about a first edition, isn’t there?’
‘Oh yes. Remember how keen you were to get a copy of your own first edition after you realised you’d given the last one away?’
‘Yes!’ Callie said. ‘I couldn’t bear not to have one.’
Sam put his arm around her and they sat still for a moment, watching the fire and listening to the sound of the wind in the chimney.
‘You know, I think you should have your present now, seeing as I’ve already opened mine,’ Sam said after a few minutes.
‘You’ve got it with you?’ Callie asked as he stood up and went to get his coat, returning with it and rifling in one of the deep pockets.
‘Here we are,’ he said, handing her a red and gold package tied with a red ribbon.
‘Oh, Sam!’
‘Go on – open it.’
Callie didn’t need to be told twice, tearing an end of the pretty paper and sliding out a red box and opening it to reveal a pretty gold locket in the shape of a book.
‘Sam! It’s beautiful!’ she cried.
‘I saw it in a little shop on my travels and couldn’t resist.’
‘It’s lovely. Will you put it on for me?’
‘Of course.’
He took the necklace out of its box and she lifted her hair up for him to fasten it, his fingers brushing the soft skin of her neck.
‘Please tell me this little gold book isn’t a haunted first edition,’ she said.
He laughed. ‘I think this is definitely a book with a happy ending,’ he told her and she nodded.
‘I do too,’ she said as they kissed.
‘Merry Christmas, Callie,’ he whispered, holding her close.
‘Merry Christmas, Sam.’
If you have enjoyed reading this story, you might also like my Book Lovers series or my other Christmas novellas.
‘The Book Lovers’ series
The Book Lovers
Rules for a Successful Book Club
Natural Born Readers
Christmas with the Book Lovers
‘Christmas at’ series
Christmas at The Cove
Christmas at the Castle
Christmas at the Cottage
The Christmas Collection (compilation volume)
Get a free ebook and find out about my future releases when you sign up for my newsletter.
About the Author
Victoria Connelly is the bestselling author of The Rose Girls and The Book Lovers series.
With over half a million sales, her books have been translated into many languages. The first, Flights of Angels, was made into a film in Germany. Victoria flew to Berlin to see it being made and even played a cameo role in it.
A Weekend with Mr Darcy, the first in her popular Austen Addicts series about fans of Jane Austen has sold over 100,000 copies. She is also the author of several romantic comedies including The Runaway Actress which was nominated for the Romantic Novelists' Association's Best Romantic Comedy of the Year.
Victoria was brought up in Norfolk, England before moving to Yorkshire where she got married in a medieval castle. After 11 years in London, she moved to rural Suffolk where she lives in a Georgian cottage with her artist husband, a springer spaniel and her ex-battery hens.
If you’d like a free ebook and to hear about future releases, sign up for her newsletter. She’s also on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For more information visit:
www.victoriaconnelly.com
Also by Victoria Connelly
The Book Lovers
Rules for a Successful Book Club
Natural Born Readers
Christmas with the Book Lovers
The Heart of the Garden
Love in an English Garden
The Rose Girls
The Secret of You
Christmas at The Cove
Christmas at the Castle
Christmas at the Cottage
The Christmas Collection (compilation volume)
A Summer to Remember
Wish You Were Here
The Runaway Actress
Molly’s Millions
Flights of Angels
Irresistible You
Three Graces
It's Magic (A compilation volume)
A Weekend with Mr Darcy
The Perfect Hero (Dreaming of Mr Darcy)
Mr Darcy Forever
Christmas With Mr Darcy
Happy Birthday Mr Darcy
At Home with Mr Darcy
One Perfect Week and Other Stories
The Retreat and Other Stories
Postcard from Venice and Other Stor
ies
A Dog Called Hope
Escape to Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)
A Year at Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)
Summer at Mulberry Cottage (non-fiction)
Secret Pyramid (children’s adventure)
The Audacious Auditions of Jimmy Catesby (children’s adventure)
Christmas with the Book Lovers Page 6