A Way Back Home: Full of warmth, laughter, tears and a wedding! (The Willow Tree Hall Series)

by Alison Sherlock

  She knew he thought she was mad. Was he laughing on the inside at her? Maybe. Well, she would prove him wrong. She was proud and independent. How else had she survived childhood with a hopeless parent like Maggie? She didn’t need help from anyone.

  Norman, of course, was different. He had needed her. Her heart still hurt from the pain that she wouldn’t see him again. But she knew that he had believed in her.

  Skye opened up the trailer door and carefully negotiated the single step up into the main cabin. Every movement seemed to take a hundred times longer than usual, thanks to the crutches and the pain in her foot. As she turned to close the door behind her, she looked at Willow Tree Hall in wonder. If anything, it was even more beautiful at night because all the sash windows were lit up from within. It was a stunning stately home and she would love to get to know its secrets and have a proper look around.

  But then she remembered the lodge and felt a flush of embarrassment. It was all too awful to think about. It should have been Will’s property. She was a stranger. She would tell him so the following day and then she could leave by whatever means necessary.

  Strangely though, the link with Norman’s past felt reassuring to her.

  She shut the door, remembering at that moment in the total darkness that she had forgotten to hook up any electricity. She glanced out of the window, but Will had disappeared from view and some of the curtains were now closed as the family bedded in for the night.

  Skye stood in the darkness and swore. ‘You idiot,’ she hissed at herself.

  She put down one of the crutches on the floor and using the torch on her mobile phone, hopped on her good leg across the short space and onto the sofa bench which doubled up as a bed. But she hadn’t even made up the bed as she hadn’t been expecting to sleep in the trailer. Thankfully her duvet and pillow were the last things she packed and she was able to find them easily using the torch.

  Wincing as the heavy cover brushed over her ankle, Skye lay back, exhausted. Maybe it was better just to get an early night and worry about everything tomorrow.

  She quickly realised that the bedding felt cold to touch. In fact, the whole place was freezing. Giving up on finding her pyjamas and unwilling to undress, she used the excuse of her bad ankle to just lie on the sofa fully dressed in her still filthy leggings and top.

  She was fine, she told herself. She could totally handle this.

  After all, living alone wasn’t new to her. Since Summer’s placement and subsequent move to Liverpool, and Norman going to the nursing home, she had lived by herself.

  But this was completely different. She had still worked during the day and come home to sleep in a house built of bricks. With no wheels added either.

  She groaned. If only she hadn’t been too proud to accept Annie’s kind offer to stay in the hall. Was Summer right? Maybe she sometimes was her own worst enemy, but it was better to stay in control.

  She wasn’t normally the type to scare easily. She had been through a lot worse, after all. But lying there in the darkness, everything was magnified. The thin aluminium walls of the trailer not only let in the cold night air, they also brought every noise into earshot.

  Compared to the bustling, ever busy capital city, the grounds of Willow Tree Hall should have been peaceful. But into the uneasy silence, the twit-twoo of an owl made her sit bolt upright. She was sure that owls were nice. Very beautiful and all that. Hedwig was a good owl, wasn’t she? But out in the strangeness of the countryside she was far out of her knowledge and comfort zone.

  It was only for one night, she reminded herself as she sank slowly back onto her cold pillow, trying not to let the creepiness and the darkness freak her out completely.

  Think of Venice, she tried to tell herself. Think of getting to Liverpool and being with Summer again.

  But all she could think of was how cold and scared she was.

  And alone. Always alone.

  9

  Skye woke up early, having spent the night trying and failing to get warm under her duvet in the trailer.

  What would it have been like if it had been the middle of winter and not just the end of October? It didn’t bear thinking about. She shivered, as she poked a bare foot out of the bed and quickly put it back in.

  It hadn’t even been a particularly cold night outside, she thought, turning to peer out through the window from under the curtain. It was an overcast day of drizzle and miserable dampness.

  She let go of the curtain and yawned, feeling absolutely exhausted. Strange noises had kept her awake for the most of the night, along with the pain. Unable to get to sleep, in the end she had spent most of the night on her phone. She had even idly googled Will’s name, reading about the scandal that had hit the headlines a few months ago. So not only was he rude and condescending, he was also happy to sleep with married women. Her already low opinion of him had now hit rock bottom. Although she wasn’t surprised to find out that he was a playboy with a chequered history of many different girlfriends. But her endless googling also meant that her phone battery was nearly dead. She would need to charge it in the car when she set off to stay with Summer later that day.

  And then she remembered. She couldn’t drive anywhere for at least a week. Where was she going to stay? What on earth was she going to do?

  Have a shower, was her first thought. But the trailer didn’t have a bathroom, so a heavy squirt of perfume would have to suffice until she was settled, hopefully in Liverpool with Summer.

  She looked at her foot in the daylight and grimaced. It was a spectacular rainbow of purple bruising, still swollen and painful. She sighed. What an idiotic thing to have done just when she needed her independence more than at any other time.

  Her stomach rumbled and she wondered whether Annie’s invite for breakfast still stood. The phone said it was half past eight. She changed her clothes, carefully avoiding bumping her bad ankle in the tight space. She had a large baggy sock which just about stretched over her sprained foot, although that did make it more painful. But there was no way any shoe was going to fit on it. So she put her fake Ugg boot on the other foot and gave up trying to look fashionable and smart. She was so tired and desperate for a coffee that she was past caring.

  Opening up the front door, she peered around but couldn’t see anyone out and about. She longed for the cheerful, busy streets of London. Here there was only bad weather and one, admittedly gorgeous, stately home. She hesitated, her stomach still rumbling. But she didn’t think that she could just turn up at the front door and expect breakfast as if she were a paying guest so she went down the steps of the trailer carefully with her crutches and made her way slowly round to her car. She was desperate to charge her phone in case Summer needed to get hold of her. So she decided to sit in the car with the engine running and the heating on full blast to try and bring some feeling back into her frozen body.

  She was just beginning to feel warm again when a knock on the window made her leap out of her skin. It was Will, dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt.

  She wound down the window.

  ‘Good morning,’ he said, with a grin. ‘Are you leaving us already?’

  ‘No such luck for you, I’m afraid,’ she replied. ‘I’m just charging my phone.’

  His smile dropped as he looked at the trailer and then back again at her. ‘You’ve not had any electricity? All night?’ he asked, sounding horrified.

  She shrugged her shoulders, letting the criticism roll off her. ‘I’m still here, aren’t I?’

  But he surprised her by saying, ‘Well, if you’re planning on staying here again tonight, I’ll have to hook something up. You must have electricity.’

  ‘I wasn’t planning on staying on here, but thank you.’

  The grin returned. ‘No need to sound quite so surprised. I was brought up quite properly, you know.’

  ‘And then what happened?’ she couldn’t help but ask.

  His eyes twinkled. ‘I reached adulthood and everything was legal.’

&n
bsp; She thought back to his playboy past and blushed.

  ‘Annie thought you might be hungry,’ he said.

  He handed over a parcel of something warm wrapped up in a tea towel. Skye opened it up to find a couple of buttered croissants filled with strawberry jam.

  ‘Wow,’ she said, her stomach rumbling again, this time in expectation. ‘That’s great, thank you.’

  After he had handed over the plate and left, Skye quickly wolfed down the croissants whilst her phone charged. When the battery was about half full, she got out of the car and made her way across the driveway on her crutches. But before she could reach the front door it was flung open.

  ‘Good morning!’ said Annie, with a warm smile as she held the door open for Skye. ‘I saw you out of the kitchen window as I was doing the washing up.’

  ‘Morning,’ said Skye. ‘Thanks so much for the breakfast.’

  ‘You’re welcome,’ said Annie, taking the tea towel from her as they went across the entrance hall. ‘I didn’t want to bother you until you were awake. You had such an awful day yesterday. How’s your foot?’

  ‘Pretty sore,’ admitted Skye.

  ‘Poor you.’ Annie made a face. ‘Did you get any sleep with the pain?’

  ‘A bit.’

  ‘Come into the kitchen and I’ll fix you a coffee,’ said Annie. ‘Do you think you can manage a couple of steps?’

  Skye smiled. ‘It’ll be fine.’

  ‘At least let me give you the short tour on the way,’ said Annie. ‘This is the east wing. That’s the dining room there which you saw last night. And this is the sitting room.’ Skye was surprised to see a number of boxes and general mess inside the large room. ‘The drawing room was the first part to be renovated last winter,’ Annie told her. ‘So we tend to congregate in there these days. We’ve yet to get round to the dining room and I’m not sure we’ll ever need a sitting room again, to be honest,’ she added, with a frown. ‘Now, watch your step.’

  They went down a couple of stone steps at the end of the corridor and into the large but welcoming kitchen where there was a fire lit in the hearth, bringing warmth and cheer to the overcast morning.

  ‘What a lovely room,’ said Skye, having barely registered it the previous day when Will had carried her inside. She especially liked the cupboard doors that had been painted baby blue and the long oak worktops. In the middle was a large island in matching colours.

  ‘Isn’t it?’ said Annie, beaming. ‘It was only renovated in the summer. You should have seen it before. It was a complete health hazard. Now I think it’s my favourite place. We always end up in here or the drawing room if ever you need to find us.’

  Skye smiled although she didn’t like to point out that she wasn’t planning on hanging around Willow Tree Hall for much longer.

  ‘Sit yourself down,’ said Annie, gesturing at the long oak table near the fire. ‘How about a coffee?’

  ‘That sounds great,’ replied Skye, her muzzy head welcoming the thought of caffeine.

  ‘For once, I agree with you,’ said Will, appearing at the doorway. ‘Make mine a large one.’

  ‘You know where the coffee machine is,’ Annie told him. There was no malice in her voice, though. It was just the usual banter between families, thought Skye, suddenly missing Summer.

  Will poured himself a coffee and then sat down opposite Skye. ‘Look, I know you’re feeling a bit rubbish, but I’ve fixed up a mate from school who’s an estate agent to come and see the lodge. Just to get us an idea as to what it’s worth. Will you be up to coming along with us for the viewing in about an hour’s time?’

  ‘That’s fine,’ she said, relieved. Once the viewing was out of the way then perhaps she could work on finding somewhere to stay for the next few nights. Looking for a distraction, she spotted a large sack of pumpkins on the floor nearby. ‘Are you making soup?’

  Annie smiled, as she placed the coffee in front of Skye. ‘It’s Halloween tonight.’

  Skye couldn’t believe it. She had totally lost track of the dates.

  Annie brought over a stack of napkins to fold. ‘I’ve got such a busy day. Willow Tree Hall always hosts a spooky gathering for the local children. I used to love coming here when I was little and my family lived in the village. We missed last year due to Arthur breaking his hip.’ For a moment, Annie’s cheerful face dropped before she rallied once more. ‘So we’ve got to make up for it this year. Lots of costumes, pumpkins and fake cobwebs everywhere. The kids love it.’

  ‘Sounds great,’ said Skye.

  ‘Sounds grim,’ said Will, making a face. ‘A real life horror story.’

  ‘We need all the help we can get,’ Annie told him, sounding hopeful.

  But Will shook his head. ‘No way, future countess. This one’s all on you and my dear brother.’

  He obviously didn’t play much of a part in the family activities, Skye guessed.

  ‘Countess?’ repeated Skye, somewhat confused.

  ‘Annie is marrying my big brother in December,’ Will told her.

  ‘Sixty-one days and counting!’ said Annie, beaming from ear to ear. She held up her hand and waggled her fingers to show off a beautiful diamond engagement ring.

  ‘When my brother becomes Earl then Annie will become the Countess of Cranley,’ added Will.

  Skye couldn’t believe that someone like Annie could be a countess. After all, they were pretty close in age, she thought.

  ‘I hope you’re going to treat me with more respect at that point,’ said Annie, grinning.

  ‘What do you think?’ drawled Will, taking his cup of coffee and heading out of the kitchen.

  Skye felt herself wondering what it would be like to be involved in such a large family with their banter and the ease with which they treated each other. She longed for the love and laughter that they no doubt shared.

  But she was still a little confused. ‘But surely once Arthur is, er, well, you know, not the Earl any more…’ Her voice trailed off.

  Annie shook her head sadly. ‘Sam and Will’s parents were killed when they were teenagers. A drunk driver hit their car one night. Just awful. So there’s no middle generation here. So after Arthur, Sam is to inherit the title of Earl of Cranley and the whole estate. That includes Willow Tree Hall and the hamlet of Cranley itself with all the tenants. It’s a huge responsibility.’

  That meant Will didn’t inherit anything, thought Skye. Perhaps that’s why he was so keen to hang onto the lodge.

  Suddenly the guilt of her unexpected disruption into their lives was more palpable than before. It really was best for her to leave them all in peace. She didn’t need the lodge. She had got this far with it just being her and Summer. And now Summer had found her life, it was up to Skye to discover what hers was going to be just as soon as she joined her.

  10

  Just before ten o’clock, Will led Skye outside to greet the local estate agent with whom the appointment had been made.

  ‘Hi, Ralph,’ said Will, shaking his hand. They had played cricket together on the local green when they were younger so Ralph had been more than happy to pop over when Will had rung him that morning. ‘How are you?’

  ‘Good thanks,’ said Ralph.

  ‘This is Skye Jackson,’ said Will. ‘She’s the co-owner of the lodge which we would like you to value for us.’

  ‘Of course.’ Ralph put on his wide estate agent smile which masked any surprise at Will’s words. The estate and all the buildings in it had been in the Harris family for seven generations. Will knew that for a stranger to be a co-owner of any of the buildings would be big gossip for the locals. Ralph held his hand out to shake hands with Skye, which she managed to do once she had rearranged the crutches under her arms. ‘How do you do?’ he said.

  ‘Hi,’ said Skye, looking, if anything, a little bit shy.

  ‘I must say the old place is looking fantastic,’ said Ralph, turning to gaze at the hall. ‘I heard what a big job the renovation was. It looks great.’

&nb
sp; Will smiled and nodded on autopilot. He didn’t feel particularly great after his third night in a row on the single bed in the lodge. The mattress was lumpy and uncomfortable. The boiler had decided to pack up so he had had to endure a cold shower which hadn’t improved his mood either. Still, it probably had to be better than sleeping in that trailer. He couldn’t believe Skye hadn’t asked him to hook up the electricity last night. Maybe she was the candles and incense type. But still, she should have the bare necessities of life.

  He blinked back to life and stared at the stately home. To be fair, over the past year, his grandfather had embraced all the changes in the house. But he had never liked Will sleeping in the lodge.

  ‘You don’t need to stay in that ramshackle place,’ Arthur had said only the previous night. ‘We’ve plenty of room here.’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Will had told him. ‘Anyway, I’m adding to the value of the place.’

  Arthur had looked sad but added, ‘Well, it’s good to have you back home for however long it is this time.’

  Will involuntarily gulped. Home? It still didn’t feel like it. Would it ever?

  Home. Suffocating, comforting, wonderful, infuriating home.

  He’d left at eighteen, as quick as he could. Straight to university and then out into the world. Anywhere but Cranley.

  Where would he have gone if life had turned out differently? If his parents had survived?

  He didn’t know. He would never know.

  ‘Shall we go?’ he asked, anxious to get the viewing over with. ‘I’m sure you’re a busy man.’

  They clambered into Sam’s Range Rover for the short journey down the muddy track.

  It didn’t take long before they were standing in front of the lodge. Like the hall up until a year ago, it hadn’t been cared for. In fact, it was probably the most neglected building left in the main grounds. But at least it had running water and electricity occasionally. The fireplace in the lounge worked, so there was some warmth.

  Will had always planned to do it up but had never got round to it, spending only a couple of nights there when he came back.