A House to Mend a Broken Heart

by Sherlock, Alison

  He came to a stop right in front of her. ‘I’m talking about you taking advantage of my grandad,’ he said, staring down into those huge green eyes. ‘Batting those pretty eyelashes. Making him feel young again.’

  She stared up at him open-mouthed, appearing incapable of speech.

  ‘What is it you’re after?’ he carried on. ‘The expensive paintings? The antiques? The family silver?’

  ‘There’re no silver or expensive paintings left!’ she shouted at him, suddenly coming back to life. ‘Look around you! Can’t you see that everything that isn’t nailed down has already been sold to keep the place going?’

  He had a horrible feeling that she was speaking the truth.

  ‘I don’t believe this!’ she said, moving as if to brush past him.

  ‘Listen,’ he began, reaching out to take her by the arm.

  But she shook off his hand almost immediately. ‘No! You listen up and listen good,’ she said, her eyes glittering with anger. ‘Yes, I do love your grandfather actually.’

  He was amazed. He hadn’t expected to be right. There must be over forty years between them but then this sort of thing happened all the time, didn’t it?

  ‘I love him like my own grandfather,’ she told him slowly, as if he were some kind of idiot. ‘Not in any other romantic way. He is a kind and wonderful man who I greatly admire. And, can I just add for the record, ewwww! How dare you assume the worst of him? And me too, come to think of it! I take care of him and your Aunt. I help them wherever and however I can. Because, let’s be honest here, there’s no one else looking out for them, is there?’

  Then she pushed past him and went up the stairs leaving Sam alone in the kitchen.

  He sighed. It appeared he had got things very wrong indeed.

  *

  Annie paced back and forth across the entrance hall, seething with anger. She knew she should have joined Rose in the drawing room but she was too mad at that moment and wasn’t so good an actress that she would be able to hide her fury.

  Somewhere in the distance, the bangs and whizzes of the firework display rang out as Cranley celebrated the last night of the Proms.

  Annie could still remember those special nights on the village green when she was younger and they had gone together as a family to watch the fireworks, celebrating various events throughout the year. But her lovely normal life had ended when her father had died. After that, nobody had really wanted her around.

  And Sam Harris was just one more to add to that list. He really thought she would actually try and con his elderly grandfather? He was completely and utterly clueless. As well as uncaring. And possibly unhinged mentally too.

  ‘Erm…’

  Upon hearing Sam clear his throat, she stopped walking but remained with her back to him.

  ‘Look, I messed up,’ she heard him say as he came to stand in front of her.

  Annie raised an eyebrow at the apology but refused to look at him or speak.

  ‘I’m jetlagged, OK?’ he carried on. ‘I’m exhausted. I’m sorry. Of course I don’t think you’re after my grandad. That’s totally unrealistic and just plain wrong. I know I messed up.’

  ‘You said that already,’ she told him, in a cold tone as she finally lifted her head to look at him. And she had to privately admit that his eyes were more red than blue at that moment.

  ‘My car isn’t going anywhere tonight. The garage mechanic said it needs major work.’

  ‘Oh dear. What a shame,’ she told him in a sarcastic tone. ‘Well, you obviously have a very busy life to get back to. I’ll order you a taxi. Don’t let the door slam on your way out.’

  ‘If I can get it to actually close, you mean.’ Sam sighed. ‘Actually, I thought I’d stay the night.’

  Her mouth dropped open in amazement. ‘Really? Why?’

  ‘I’m not sure you or my aunt should be on your own tonight.’

  Meaning that you still don’t trust me, she thought. What did he think she was going to do? Sell the ancient Aga for scrap metal?

  ‘Anyway, more importantly, I’ve just heard from the hospital. Grandad’s OK. Groggy obviously from the general anaesthetic, but they’re happy with the way the operation went.’

  Tears pricked Annie’s eyes. ‘Thank god for that,’ she said. ‘Can I go and see him now?’

  He looked surprised. ‘He’s still pretty out of it. He should be back on the ward tomorrow. You can go then.’

  ‘What about his heart? Do they know if it was a small stroke?’

  Sam sighed. ‘They think it’s possible. So they’ll keep him on medication for now and, of course, we’ve got to keep him relaxed and stress-free.’

  Annie nodded. ‘OK. You’d better update Rose. She’s desperate for any news.’

  ‘I will. Look,’ he said, attempting a smile that didn’t reach as far as his eyes. ‘We obviously got off on the wrong foot. But I’ll make sure that you get a decent reference and a week’s notice before the place is sold.’

  The silence stretched out between them as his words sunk in.

  ‘Sold?’ she stammered. ‘What are you talking about? You can’t sell Willow Tree Hall.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It’s your heritage,’ she said.

  His eyes narrowed at her words. ‘Yes, I’m quite aware of that. I’m also mindful that the whole place is a death trap. It’s completely run-down. I appreciate that you’ll be out of a job, but it will probably take some time to find a developer to take on the land. We can keep you on until then.’

  ‘Don’t you know your grandfather at all?’ she replied, her voice rising in exasperation. ‘He will never ever sell, especially to a developer.’

  He was just so arrogant! He hadn’t been around for over a year and now he was going to decide all by himself to sell his grandfather’s house?

  ‘He can’t live here like this,’ Sam told her, waving his arm around. ‘There’re holes in the roof. Walls. All of it. It’s like a massive piece of Swiss cheese.’

  ‘But isn’t it his choice to live here if he wants?’ she said.

  ‘Not if he’s in hospital!’

  ‘So that’s it? That’s your decision?’ She shook her head in disbelief, causing her long hair to waft around her face. ‘Then you might as well sign his death warrant now because he sure as hell won’t be living anywhere else. This place has been in your family for generations.’

  ‘Don’t tell me!’ he snapped back. ‘You think I don’t know the whole story? How the house and the earldom were both won in a game of cards seven generations ago. Since then, every eldest son has been burdened with it.’

  She shook her head. ‘That’s not how your grandfather feels.’

  But Sam wasn’t listening. ‘Well, I say enough! It’s taken too many dreams along the way. It’s time to let go.’

  She couldn’t believe he could even think these things. ‘Arthur will never let it go.’

  ‘He will when I advise him that’s what needs to be done.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Well, if your intention is to give him another stroke then you’d better tell him whilst he’s still in the hospital. At least he’ll have the appropriate medical care on standby.’

  She turned and ran up the stairs, unable to cope with anymore that day. Her steady, secure, safe life had changed in a matter of hours and none of it for the better. She just about managed to hold it together all the way up the grand staircase. But the tears began to roll as she carried on up the smaller stairway to the staff quarters in the eaves of the roof.

  Down the right-hand corridor were a couple of bedrooms that had once been used for the butler and other male members of staff. But the only things that lived in those rooms now were spiders and bats. Annie turned left and went into the bedroom that had been reserved for the housekeeper.

  It was a tiny but cosy room. The low beams meant you could bump your head if you didn’t watch where you were walking. But at least the roof didn’t leak. The tiny fireplace actually worked too, which
was good because there was no other form of heating in there. The flowery wallpaper was faded and peeling. The furniture was all ancient, but she was used to it after almost a year.

  She walked across the room to draw the curtains from the darkness beyond. The bedroom overlooked the river and fields at the back of the estate. Sometimes she liked to look at the stars whilst she lay in bed, but not that evening. She sank down onto the bedcovers, the bed creaking as it took her weight. She felt overwhelmed and distraught as to the sudden change that was being thrust upon her.

  Arthur was in hospital and wouldn’t be home for many weeks. If ever, she thought. So what would happen to Rose? And to her? Where would she go from there? Her mum wasn’t an option. First of all, her stepdad would never allow her back. Second, she didn’t want to move back there anyway.

  She knew she could move in with Megan but they were already outgrowing their tiny cottage with the three kids. Eleanor lived in some fancy flat in London but, she was living with her boyfriend now and Annie was pretty certain they wouldn’t want her crashing their love nest.

  Annie had no money to go anywhere, full stop. Which was a bit of a problem as her time at the house seemed to be running out. The trouble was, there was nowhere else she actually wanted to go. Willow Tree Hall was her home. It had kept her safe this past year. Protected her from having to endure anymore hurt and pain.

  She felt the tears as they began to flow down her cheeks. It sounded as if she was going to have yet another lonely Christmas this year.

  Chapter 6

  Sam was woken up by the sound of his phone ringing. Normally he put it on silent before he went to sleep but he had kept the volume up in case the hospital tried to get hold of him.

  So he blearily fumbled around in the dark before answering the call. It turned out to be one of the singers he managed who was currently in Australia and wanted to pick his brains about some promotion ideas.

  Sam tried to recall the exact moment when his life had changed so drastically.

  He had dreamt of a life in the music business for so long during his teenage years. Having no actual musical talent of his own, he had become a manager, thinking that he could be his own boss in the industry that he loved. It was a win-win situation. Or so he had thought.

  At first, it had all worked really well. Initially he had gathered together a dozen bands and singers. They were all talented but none of them had had any great success in the charts. His pay had been modest but enough to keep a flat in London. But at least it meant he had never had to ask for payouts from his grandfather who he’d always suspected had been firmly against the idea from the start.

  Then, out of the blue, one of his fledgling projects had taken flight. Sam had spotted Tommy King singing in a local pub in Hampstead a few years previously. With just his guitar to accompany him, Tommy’s talent had shone out and Sam had immediately signed him up.

  Sam had worked hard with Tommy to develop his song writing abilities and they were halfway to building his first album when something amazing happened. About two years ago, the American rapper Jazz Goldblatt had been in London on tour and had gone into the pub where Tommy still played each week. Jazz tweeted his three million followers about the ‘awesome Brit boy’ and suddenly Tommy had become an overnight sensation. A couple of videos on YouTube went viral and he was beginning to rival Justin Bieber for the hordes of screaming girls that had unexpectedly appeared every time he stepped out of his front door.

  A bidding war for Tommy’s first two albums had erupted between two record labels, the result being a contract worth tens of millions. Sam’s cut of the deal suddenly meant that he had more money than he could ever have imagined. Growing up, the family hadn’t struggled and thankfully there had always been food on the table and a roof over their heads. But they had never been awash with money either.

  But he hadn’t been in it for the big bucks. And with the contract came the sudden demands on Sam’s time. The music industry was a massive business and the record label wanted value for money. There were almost constant meetings, both at home and abroad. Tommy was just completing a major tour of Europe and America and Sam had joined him at most of the venues so far. On the back of Tommy’s success, he had been inundated with offers for representation and Sam’s portfolio of quality artists had grown so much that he was finding it was becoming a twenty-four-hour job.

  It had been another reason why he and his grandfather had grown apart. His grandad had no doubt seen Sam’s choice of career as rejecting his responsibilities.

  Sam suppressed a yawn as he clicked on an ancient lamp that he had found in the corner of his old childhood bedroom. Much had remained the same in the room for the past thirty years, although it was a lot more shabby than he had remembered. He had been touched to find his favourite toy, a rocking horse, still in one corner, although it was looking decidedly lame and dusty these days. He stared up at the large and rather ominous cracks criss-crossing the ceiling whilst listening patiently to the conversation. It appeared that whilst he had been away, Willow Tree Hall had begun to come apart at the seams.

  The singer’s ego was smoothed over and he ended the call. One glance at his phone told him that it was a little after six o’clock in the morning. He had finally fallen asleep around two and was exhausted and still jetlagged.

  Coffee, he decided. That would help.

  He got out of bed and stretched his aching body. The old mattress felt as if it had been stuffed with straw.

  Two nights ago, Sam had stayed in a luxurious hotel room but had worked late on his laptop. Only one day previously, he had been in business class on an airplane. Neither night had he slept more than a couple of hours. But both beds were at least warm and comfortable. Neither of which would remotely describe where he was at that moment. There was a force ten gale of a draught whistling through the rotten window frames that made the curtains twitch. And there was no escaping the fact that the room smelt mouldy and damp.

  He felt a sudden pang of remorse. Sleeping in this kind of atmosphere can’t have been good for his grandfather’s health. The same Grandfather who now lay in a hospital bed.

  He glanced out of the window and could just make out the river beyond the trees at the back of the grounds. He and Will had loved playing in the water when they had been growing up. He could even remember his grandad teaching them to fish with his old rods.

  He turned away from the window with a sigh and realised his stomach was growling in hungry protest. He had given up on dinner the previous evening as Aunt Rose had told him she wasn’t hungry and Annie had never come back downstairs after rushing away early in the evening.

  In the end, he had endured an hour’s reassurance from his aunt that Annie was the best thing to ever happen to Willow Tree Hall and that he should stop assuming the worst about her. But that still didn’t answer what she was doing there in the first place.

  He couldn’t believe she had talked to him in that manner after he had disclosed his plans to sell the house. She was thoroughly unprofessional. She had snapped and snarled at him, accusing him of neglecting his grandfather. Well, there may have been a small truth in that but it was none of her business. She was admittedly very attractive to look at but obviously she had issues.

  All the talk about his grandfather had upset him so much that he had gone up to bed soon after Rose. But now it was morning and he was desperate for something to eat. He was thirsty too, but he definitely wasn’t drinking anything that came out of the bathroom tap, especially as the water he had brushed his teeth with was definitely tinged with yellow.

  He pulled on a pair of black trousers and a jumper, both of which were in the bottom of the small suitcase of clothes that he had brought back from New York.

  It was still dark as he crept along the corridor, trying not to wake his aunt as he went, knowing that she had never been an early riser. Using the torch on his iPhone to guide him, he made his way downstairs. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Sam stopped as he heard a noise fro
m the direction of the kitchen.

  Could it be burglars? Was there anything left stealing?

  He picked up a nearby vase which was considerably heavier than it looked and would hopefully do some damage to whomever he found lurking in the kitchen.

  Going past the dining room, he crept quietly down the small flight of stairs and took a deep breath before rushing into the kitchen.

  The scene in front of him made him stop in his tracks.

  Annie was leaping around, dancing to a Taylor Swift song that was playing on her iPhone nearby.

  ‘Shake it out,’ she sang, slightly out of tune.

  The fact that she was in red fleece pyjamas covered in penguins made the sight even more surprising. On her feet were a pair of beige Ugg boots which were slipping across the cracked, tiled floor. Nearby was a white sweatshirt which she had obviously stripped off, presumably because of her energetic dancing.

  Her long, dark blonde hair was flying around as she danced, waving her arms enthusiastically. Her cheeks were bright red from the exertion. He tried not to let his gaze linger lower down where her chest was rapidly rising and falling under the penguins.

  It was only when she saw him that she crashed to an abrupt halt.

  ‘Good morning,’ said Sam, with a smirk.

  He’d certainly had worse starts to his days recently.

  *

  Annie stood still, completely and utterly mortified as she stared at Sam.

  O. M. G. He had caught her dancing! In last year’s Christmas pyjamas that Megan had given her! And she wasn’t even wearing a bra! She quickly folded her arms across her chest.

  What on earth had she been thinking? She had woken up early and come downstairs to make herself a coffee. Rose would never get up before 9 a.m. so she had lots of time to potter about. But, as usual, the kitchen was freezing so she had danced around a bit to get warm.

  Except her cheeks were now on fire from sheer embarrassment. In front of Sam of all people! She had completely forgotten about the man who wanted to remove her from their home and flatten the whole place to turn it into luxury flats or whatever.