Beauchamp Hall

by Danielle Steel

  “How depressing for him. Fidelity is so overrated,” Freddie said and both women laughed. “But thank God he’s marrying her, since they’re our first wedding. What about you?” he asked Winnie. “No boyfriend?” They were all three getting to know each other and curious about their lives.

  “No, I dated a sound technician for a while when I got here, but it fizzled out, and now I don’t have time. I’ve got two jobs and a business to start.”

  “You two should have been nuns,” he scolded them both. “But I’m not much better these days. At forty-one, you’ve seen it all. I’m beginning to like my horses better.”

  “I might as well have been a nun,” Beatrice complained, “locked up with you all my life. And don’t tell me you’re reformed. I don’t believe you.”

  “You should go to London more often,” he said seriously. “You’ll never find a man hanging around here. Unless you want Rupert. He’s perfectly nice.”

  “Our butler?” she said, putting on airs. “Don’t be ridiculous!” But Rupert had never appealed to her, and wouldn’t. She was sophisticated despite her country life.

  The three of them got along well and were becoming friends. Building something together was a strong bond. Beatrice said privately to Winnie that her brother hadn’t been this busy in years, or as happy. He didn’t do well when he was idle and always got into mischief that didn’t serve him well. “Women, mostly,” she explained to Winnie, while they waited for a carpet layer to measure the dressing room one night after work. They had decided to do the carpet in pale pink and have the room repainted so it looked fresh. The room hadn’t been used in years, since Beatrice still slept in her childhood bedroom, which was huge. Freddie had his own, with a library and sitting room attached, and a dressing room that had been their father’s, paneled in mahogany, at the opposite end of the castle. Winnie loved discovering more and more about the house, and seeing things she hadn’t been able to see on the tour, since their living quarters weren’t on it.

  It struck her as odd that neither of them had ever married. Beatrice told her in confidence one day, when they were going through the guest room to see what, if anything, they needed for mystery weekenders or bridal party guests, that her brother had been very much in love with a French girl ten years before. She had run off with someone else and broken his heart, and he had become a determined womanizer after that, and seemed intent on staying that way.

  “I don’t think he’ll ever marry at this point, he enjoys variety too much, and they all bore him after a while. And I suppose by now I’ve missed that boat too. When I go to parties in London, all the sweet young things are twenty-two, and thirty-nine looks quite elderly in comparison. One can’t really compete with that.” She was matter-of-fact about it and didn’t seem to care. “The only unfortunate thing is that the bloodline, the name, and the title will die with us. We don’t have any cousins. And if Freddie doesn’t have children, then it’s all over. My father would have been disappointed by that. So we’re the last Havershams.” That mattered to her more than any regret about not having married or having children herself, but it was important to them. “Maybe Freddie will marry when he’s eighty and produce an heir,” she said with a grin.

  “Who produced an heir?” Freddie asked, as he walked through the room.

  “No one. I was saying to Winnie that you should one day.”

  “I’d rather wait till I’m ninety, I don’t want to miss all the fun before that. Are the brides fair game while their husbands are getting blind drunk on their wedding night?”

  “I forbid you to touch any of the brides, you’ll put us out of business. You can have all the bridesmaids you want, you have my permission for that,” his sister told him.

  “Excellent. Don’t accept any brides with ugly bridesmaids. I’ll vet them for you, with full approval rights.” He smiled at Winnie as he said it.

  “And why aren’t you married? Beatrice is much too outspoken for any man to put up with her, and I can’t seem to stay with any woman for more than three months, six at best. But you seem quite normal and easy to get along with. I would have thought someone would have snatched you up years ago.” It was a backhanded compliment for Winnie and she smiled, and he seemed to expect an answer.

  “I had a bad boyfriend for eleven years. He slept with my best friend, so that was that.”

  “How rude,” he said disdainfully, “and not very imaginative of him. So tiresome. You’re well rid of him.”

  “I think so.” She smiled back at him. She could guess the kind of women he went out with, very young and very beautiful, debutantes or maybe models. “I came here when I left him, so it worked out very well for me.”

  “And for us. You’ve turned out to be our fairy godmother,” he said, and went off to do something in the wine cellar. They were going to have to stock more wine for the weddings, especially Edward’s, who wanted Cristal. Freddie was in charge of that.

  * * *

  —

  They had another good surprise when the video technician from the set came to look at the rooms where they wanted to set up the screens with film clips from the show. They wanted to install three large screens, with scenes shot in the rooms they were placed in. He measured the spaces Winnie and Beatrice indicated, and made note, and then called them back two hours later to tell them that the production company had five screens they would be getting rid of when they left. He’d been told he could give them away, and offered them to the Havershams for free and said he would set them up for them in his spare time before they left. The show was like a retreating army, giving out bounty to the village, but it was going to save them money to have the screens. He set them up just exactly the way they wanted them, and Winnie knew just which episodes she wanted to play in each room while people took the tour. She had watched the DVDs dozens of times. The producers said they had no problem with it.

  Rupert came to check out what they’d been doing right after the screens were installed, and he was impressed. It was beginning to look very professional and Beatrice and Winnie had freshened things up and moved some things around, but not too much. Freddie had selected a set of tails for Rupert, and had them dry cleaned, and Rupert looked the part of a butler once he was dressed. He put on a stern face and they all laughed. He was perfect in the role, and very convincing.

  “I should have had this for the food truck. I could have doubled the prices,” he said and they all teased him and played around with him.

  The four of them had a light dinner one night in the kitchen, when Winnie finished work, and on her way home, she stopped in to see Mrs. Flannagan in her cottage. She told her what they were doing at the castle.

  “I’m so pleased you’re staying here with us.” She’d been happy to hear it. “It’s such a shame they’ve decided not to go on with the show,” she said sadly. “I’ll miss it.” But their weddings and mystery weekends were going to generate business for her too.

  “So will I,” Winnie agreed with her. “I’ll be watching the DVDs for years.” She still watched it at night now that she was alone. Nigel had stopped coming over after they broke up. She had glimpsed him on the set, but they hadn’t spoken. She knew he would be moving on shortly, and going to Ireland. And her DVDs of the show populated her nights alone. She didn’t really miss him.

  She promised Mrs. Flannagan she’d come to dinner soon when she wasn’t so busy. And despite everything they had to do at the castle, she was trying to focus on the final moments of the show and be helpful to Edward. They were all feeling emotional about the end of Beauchamp Hall, and there were frequent tears on the set. It seemed to heighten everyone’s performances, and they wanted to make the last episodes as memorable as they could.

  “How’s it going at the castle?” Edward asked her one afternoon as he waited for the production assistant to call him for his shot. He was about to get engaged to the woman he had loved
all his life on the show. His cold, nasty wife had died and he was going to marry his true love, the mother of his other, clandestine children. His mistress could come out of the shadows now. Matthew had done a masterful job with several very emotional scenes to wrap up Edward’s story on the show. And there wasn’t a dry eye on the set during Edward’s performance with the girl who played his mistress and future wife.

  Matthew had outdone himself in his rewritten scripts for the end of the show. Many of them were very poignant, and even brought tears to the crew’s eyes as they watched. And the actors were giving it their all.

  “We’re getting ready for your wedding,” Winnie told Edward with a smile. “Your real one.”

  “We’re both excited to be doing it at Haversham. I think what you’re planning to do up there sounds wonderful. I guess your days as an assistant are over.”

  “For now. You never know what will happen. They won’t need me around forever. I think the whole operation will run itself eventually, they won’t need a creative director. Just in the beginning.”

  “Maybe you’ll marry the marquess,” Edward said, and she laughed at the suggestion. She knew Freddie better than that now, and had heard the stories from his sister, about all the mischief he got into, and the women in his life.

  “Not likely. He has a whole lineup of women.”

  “You’re a very special woman,” Edward said. “I hope you know that, Winnie. You’re a powerful positive force to have around. I’ve been lucky to have you. Now they are the lucky ones.” She was touched by what he said, and cried when she watched him propose to his true love on the show. It was a perfect ending for their characters. And they were going to show his wedding in the last episode, which was a secret, but he had told her. He had an eye on the wedding dress for Grace. It was spectacular, an antique the costumer had bought for a fortune at a Sotheby’s auction and well worth it, with a thirty-foot-long antique lace veil and train. It had been made for a princess.

  * * *

  —

  Winnie was making room for more racks in one of the old maids’ rooms on a Sunday, when Freddie came to find her upstairs.

  “Beatrice says she’s busy and won’t come riding with me. Do you want to take a break and come with me? Do you ride, by the way?” She was startled by the invitation, but he looked restless and bored.

  “I haven’t in years. I used to ride on a friend’s farm when I was a kid. I love horses.”

  “I’ll give you an easy horse, if you want to join me.” She’d never thought of it before, she’d been too busy working, but it seemed like a good excuse to get some air. The weather had been unusually hot and muggy. And she was caught up on her work, for Edward and for them.

  “Okay.” She was wearing jeans and lace-up shoes with low heels that she could ride in.

  “Do you ride English saddle?” She nodded, and didn’t tell him she liked to ride bareback too. A few minutes later, she followed him out to the stables, and he had the stable boy saddle up a mare for her, who looked as tame as he had promised. She heard him ask the stable boy about a horse called Black Magic. And then he mounted the white stallion she’d seen him ride before, an elegant Thoroughbred with a lot of spirit. She stepped up on the block and got into the saddle, and followed him on the mare at a slow trot. It was a beautiful early fall day, and they headed toward the nearby hills, on a path on their land. It was a wonderful change of pace from the show and their work in the house.

  “I come out here to get sane again.” He looked calmer than she’d ever seen him, and at peace once he was riding. “I get cabin fever in the house.”

  She laughed at what he said. “You would hate my cottage, it’s about the size of your boot room.”

  “I know, we’re spoiled,” he said, faintly embarrassed. “What really brought you out here, Winnie?” He was curious about her. She had a strong creative streak, and a practical side. It was an interesting combination. There was no pretense or artifice about her, which he found pleasant to be around and refreshing. He knew so many arrogant, ambitious women who always wanted something or had an angle and thought they were clever, but were never as clever as they believed.

  “An old dream,” she answered him honestly. “I always wanted to get out of my hometown. It was just as small, but not as charming as this. In fact, it’s not charming at all. Most people there settle for jobs they hate, men they don’t really love, or not enough, and a life I never wanted. I was hoping for a job in publishing in New York, as an editor. My mother got sick, I dropped out of college to take care of her, and it never happened. I did what everyone else did, got stuck in a job I hated with a bad boss, and a boyfriend I didn’t want to marry, who turned out to be a bigger jerk than I’d thought. Then one day, it all fell apart. The job, the man, my best friend. I felt sorry for myself for a while, and then on the spur of the moment, I came here to watch them film the show. I learned a lot from it, about good people and bad people, and having the courage to go after what you want. That’s what they do on that show.” Matthew wrote the plot and characters so well, which was why people loved it.

  “You’re lucky you knew what you wanted. I never did. We’re supposed to protect our land, our history, and our homes, and follow a lot of traditions that are meaningless now. The old ways don’t work anymore, but I never found new ones that work any better. I hate fakery and dishonesty and there’s a lot of it in the way we live. Beatrice isn’t good at it either, which is why she seems to be winding up alone. We’re both allergic to all the nonsense that goes with who we are. She’s too honest, and I just run away all the time. Except when I’m here. I come out riding, and it all makes sense again. I love it here. This land and our home mean everything to me. Thank you for helping us to keep it. It probably seems foolish to you, to hang on to an old house like this, but all of our history, our values, the traditions that matter to us are here.”

  “I can feel it when I’m in the house. It’s what I love about the show. Matthew captured that in the scripts. I fell in love with Beauchamp Hall and everything it stood for.”

  “Matthew isn’t a particularly warm person,” Freddie commented. “But he’s a wonderful writer, with an amazing instinct for people,” he added, with surprising insight. And she realized as she listened to him that there was more to Freddie than she’d thought. He hid behind the jokes and the banter, but he was just as thoughtful, deep, and kind as his sister, and observant. He just didn’t like to show it, although he just had to her.

  They rode on in silence, and got to the top of the hill where they could look out over the land, most of which was still his. “If we have to sell something one day, I’ll sell some of the land. I would hate to give up the house.”

  “I hope you never have to,” she said sincerely. “What we’re planning to do now should shore things up for you, hopefully for a long time. You could make some real money from it.” Some very big money in fact, and the whole franchise was theirs, other than what they’d offered Winnie. But no one would be telling them what to do.

  “It’s a bit of prostitution,” he admitted ruefully, “especially the reality show, but if it works, so be it. It’s worth it.” They rode back down the hill then, and took another path toward the stables, past the stream, and under the cover of ancient trees in fields of wildflowers. She could see why he loved it. “Will you go back to Michigan eventually?” He was curious about it. She seemed so at home here in England, and reluctant to go back where she came from.

  “Probably. I don’t really want to. I’m loving it here, especially now that I’m involved in our project, it’s like a continuation of the love I have for the show, only in real life. But I have a sister and two nephews in Michigan. They’re my only family and I suppose one day I should go back.” He nodded, and she added, “I have no valid reason not to.”

  “Maybe what we’re all doing together will be that reason. It’s ample justific
ation to stay here. We need you,” he said simply. “You made it all happen, and saved us, just like the show did. But your concept may last longer.”

  They rode past a small elegant house on the property then, with gardens around it, where his grandmother had lived, and Freddie pointed it out to her. “That belongs to my sister, and the land around it. I gave it to her when I inherited the rest. She owns some of the tenant farms as well. It seemed only fair. She’d rather live in the castle now with me. But she’ll have the dower house, whenever she wants it. No one can take that away from her.” Winnie nodded. It touched him that the castle meant so much to Winnie, the land, and the village and all it stood for. It was as though she had been drawn to exactly where she was meant to be, and she felt it too.

  “It’s funny how you find your right place accidentally,” Winnie commented as they rode. “I thought New York would be it for me. But it turns out to be here.” He smiled at her.

  “It’s damn lucky you found us. Lucky for us, that is.”

  He helped her dismount when they got back to the stables, and she thanked him for the unexpected treat of riding with him. She liked getting a deeper look into who he was. She was getting to know Beatrice and felt a bond with her, but Freddie was more elusive and harder to get to know. He joked and played all the time, and stayed hidden.

  She was thinking about it as the stable boy led a spectacular-looking black stallion out of the stables and took him toward the ring where Freddie said he and his sister had been taught to ride as children. The horse looked skittish and took off at a gallop around the ring once he was in it, and then switched directions as Freddie watched him intently.

  “He got spooked a few months ago,” he told her. “He slipped when I had him out riding and he fell near the river. His leg has healed but no one’s been able to ride him since. It was my fault. The bank was too steep, and slippery from heavy rains. It lamed him for a bit, nothing serious and he’s fine now, but he still won’t let anyone ride him. He’s a fabulous horse but he’s not himself now.” They were standing at the railing watching him, as he stopped running and pawed the ground. Without hesitating Winnie hopped the fence as Freddie tried to grab her, but she was already in.