Beauchamp Hall

by Danielle Steel

  “Thank you for the ‘young,’ ” Winnie said, laughing.

  “You look even younger than you are,” Paul said kindly, then turned to Freddie. “It’s too bad there’s no marchioness in the mix, but that also makes you an eligible bachelor. Every woman in England is going to want to show up here and meet you, and be your fairy princess.”

  “Now there’s a frightening thought,” Freddie said, looking worried.

  Paul left shortly after lunch to join his crew and drive back to London, and the three of them went to pick up the costumes waiting for them on racks at the set. They rolled them around to the back of the castle, and spent the rest of the afternoon carrying the clothes upstairs. It was exhausting, since many of them were heavy. Freddie called Rupert to come and help them. He came over quickly, and carried armloads of them to the rooms Beatrice and Winnie indicated and had set up for them. There were day clothes, evening gowns, morning coats for the men, and all the suits of tails they needed for Edward’s wedding. They had a separate room set aside, with sheets on the floor for the five wedding gowns they’d purchased for very little money. There were veils and headpieces to go with them, and every dress had a long train, which would look magnificent going down the stairs.

  Beatrice had developed a checklist for Edward’s wedding, and they already had several items ticked off. And they had three months to complete the rest.

  After they put all the costumes on racks upstairs, Winnie was about to leave at six o’clock when Freddie stopped her and asked her to take a walk with him so he could show her something. She had no idea what he had in mind but assumed it was for the tour for the reality show. He led her down a path she hadn’t noticed before. There was a narrow gate and a garden, and then she saw the small elegant stone house with dark-green painted shutters. He had told her when they were riding that it had been his grandmother’s. She hadn’t paid much attention to it, other than that she knew it belonged to Beatrice now.

  He took a key out of his pocket and walked to the front door. “Traditionally, when the marquess died, and his son inherited the title and took over the castle, his widowed mother would move to a smaller house on the property, and live out her days there. The tradition is a bit sad and very British. In France, they live the rest of their lives in their chateaux, but here we put the widow in a small house, and her daughter-in-law takes over the castle. But some dower houses are very pretty. I rather like ours,” he said as he led her inside to gracious rooms of livable proportions that managed to be both elegant and not too daunting. “It’s a bigger version of your cottage, by quite a bit.” He smiled at her.

  “It’s a lot bigger.” She looked around, not sure why he had shown it to her except for its historical value. She wasn’t sure it would be interesting for the tour.

  “No one lives here now. I thought you might like to try it, Winnie. It would be nice to have you close by.”

  “Have me move here?” She looked shocked for a moment. “Wouldn’t Beatrice mind?”

  “I asked her, she likes the idea too. You’re part of our family now. You’ve protected our home, so now we want to protect you.”

  “But I’m safe where I am.” She liked her cottage, although the dower house was truly lovely and very elegant.

  “I’m sure you are, but you’d be more comfortable here. And you could come and go as you want at the castle. We have my grandmother’s furniture in storage in one of the barns. Will you let me set this up the way you want it?” He looked gentle as he said it, and he put an arm around her, as she sank against him. It was a comfortable place to be, like the house, under his wing.

  “Are you sure?” She felt like an intruder or an impostor, but she didn’t want to hurt his feelings and refuse. She could see that it meant a lot to him, and was a gesture of his thanks for everything she was doing, and had done for them.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” he said, smiling at her. “I’ll have it up and running for you in a few days. I had it cleaned up for you last week. And I want to get a few things painted.” She had never known him to be so organized and serious since she’d met him. It wasn’t like him. “I think my grandmother would like knowing you’re here. You’ve become the family savior.”

  “With a reality show? I doubt she’d be happy about that.”

  “True,” he said with a laugh, “but these are modern times. We all have to adjust.” And he liked the producer a great deal more since he’d learned he’d gone to Eton. He knew it was small-minded of him, but he found it comforting nonetheless. Surely he wouldn’t betray or embarrass one of his own. He hoped he was right about Paul Evans.

  “So do we have an agreement, and you have a new home?” She nodded, overwhelmed. He looked happy as they left the house together.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she said softly.

  “Oh, we’ll figure out something. Tithing maybe, or you can give me your firstborn when you have a child,” he teased her, “or call me ‘Your Grace,’ so people think I’m a duke. Or ‘Your Majesty.’ ”

  They were laughing as they walked back to her cottage, and she saw that there were only a few trucks left. The last of Beauchamp Hall had almost disappeared. But they still had the best part, with the castle.

  He walked into her cottage again as he had the night before and it looked familiar to him now. “Well, it won’t take you long to pack up. I’ll tell Beatrice you’ve agreed, she’ll be pleased.” He seemed very satisfied with the arrangement.

  At the end of the week, she moved into the dower house and found an enormous bouquet of white roses from the garden in a vase in the living room, with a note: Welcome home. Love, Freddie and Beatrice. She texted photographs of the house inside and out to Marje, who sat in her kitchen looking at them, frowning, and handed her phone to Erik. “She’ll never come home now,” she said unhappily, and he nodded.

  “No, maybe not,” he agreed when he saw her new home. It was impossible to compete with that.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The first episode of the reality show was a two-hour special, and took a week to film. They did it in the first week of December. Freddie showed off the stables, with a great many explanations about the horses. Then he showed his car collection, which included the Bugattis. There was no mention of what they were worth, which was one of Beatrice’s conditions and they stuck to it. So far, Paul had kept all his agreements with them.

  They began the tour of the house then, with Beatrice in the lead. They walked the path of the rooms that had been most used by Beauchamp Hall, and then explored the family rooms, and some of the most stately rooms of the castle, including the ballroom. Freddie and Winnie joined her eventually, and they talked about the history of the house, who had stayed there and when, all the way back to Queen Victoria, who they explained had been a frequent visitor and a cousin of the Havershams, which Winnie hadn’t known.

  They showed some film clips of Beauchamp Hall, and the important actors who’d been in it, Winnie handled that part of the interview. It saddened her for a moment that it was only history now and no longer the present. Then she told them of their plans for Haversham Castle, and Edward Smith’s wedding, although they didn’t give the date to protect his privacy, and so they wouldn’t be besieged by paparazzi. They described the mystery weekends they were planning, and how they would work, showed off the costumes, and described what a weekend would include. They also interviewed Winnie about her life in Michigan.

  Paul stayed with them for the week. They set him up in a guest room and he ate dinner with them every night. He was good company and had a great sense of humor, and seemed fascinated by Beatrice, and continued to call her “Your Ladyship” for the entire week, even after she’d asked him not to.

  Rupert played his role perfectly, looming throughout as the dignified butler. He thoroughly enjoyed it.

  Paul invited them all out to dinner at a pub the night before h
e left. He walked ahead with Beatrice on the way back, and Winnie tucked her arm into Freddie’s and pulled him back and whispered to him.

  “I think he likes her.”

  “So do I.” It amused him.

  “Do you think she likes him?”

  “You can never tell with my sister. She can be a terrible snob, or she can like people, and men, who have absolutely nothing in common with her.”

  “Like me,” Winnie added.

  “I wasn’t thinking of you. You two get along like two peas in a pod. I was thinking of men. I can never figure out who’s going to strike her fancy. But he’s smart, has a good job, and seems to be crazy about her, although if he calls her ‘Your Ladyship’ one more time she may slap him.” They both laughed at that, and then Freddie walked her to the dower house so she didn’t trip in the dark. He usually took her home at night to make sure she got in safely. She had given up her cottage by then.

  * * *

  —

  When the show aired, it was a mind-boggling success, with fantastic ratings, and they had over a hundred inquiries about weddings and mystery weekends, and sixteen firm bookings, with deposits in the mail. And their rates weren’t cheap.

  “We did it! We did it!” Beatrice said when they got the first check, and she waved it in their faces at breakfast. “Take a look at that!” she said to her brother and Winnie. “And that’s all thanks to Winnie’s dream!”

  “Thank God you listened to her,” he said seriously.

  “I thought she was mad for a minute,” Beatrice confessed, and they laughed.

  Edward’s wedding was two weeks away by then, and Beatrice wanted every detail to be perfect. She went over it again and again with Winnie to double-check everything and make sure they hadn’t missed a single detail.

  The bridal party showed up on schedule on Friday morning. British Vogue and assorted members of the press were staying at nearby B and Bs and the village’s best hotel. Grace had a maid of honor and two bridesmaids. At his insistence, Beatrice gave Grace’s father the room he had occupied at the castle sixty years before, and Rupert helped him up and down the stairs so he didn’t fall. Winnie had given up the dower house to Edward so he would be comfortable, and wouldn’t see Grace on the morning of the wedding. His family was in Australia, and couldn’t come, so the wedding party wasn’t large. A parade of masseuses, manicurists, and a yoga instructor came to minister to Grace and her attendants, and the morning of the wedding, the press appeared in earnest, and makeup artists and three hairdressers got to work, while Winnie and Beatrice orchestrated all of it, with Lucy, the young girl they’d hired from the village who came in as needed. She remained mostly in the background but came running when they called her. And Bridget came to pitch in.

  The caterer had been serving delicious meals for two days.

  Edward had his own exquisitely tailored set of tails, Freddie had the ones that he’d worn since he was twenty, and Grace’s father had his. The guests began arriving on schedule. The music Grace had chosen was being played by the orchestra Beatrice had hired from London. There were flowers throughout the house, fabulous white orchids and fragrant lilies of the valley. The minister was there on schedule, and Freddie went to get Edward from the dower house at the appointed time. His best man was staying at Mrs. Flannagan’s along with the photographer from Vogue. Every single detail came off without a hitch. The bride came down the grand staircase just as Miranda Charles and Elizabeth Cornette had on Beauchamp Hall, and the wedding gown from the last episode of the show was a masterpiece and perfection on Grace. Her father had tears running down his cheeks when he walked her down the aisle, and Edward’s eyes were damp when he saw her.

  The valets had dispensed with the cars for all three hundred guests, and Winnie and Beatrice agreed it was the most beautiful wedding they’d ever seen. They had both worn black dresses so as to be unobtrusive. The reality show filmed every moment of it, and interviewed the guests afterwards, particularly the famous ones. Edward had invited a number of fellow actors that he had worked with, all of whom were major stars. It was an extraordinary wedding.

  Halfway through the evening while the guests were dancing and before the bride and groom cut the cake, Beatrice and Winnie slipped into Beatrice’s office for a break, and found Freddie sitting on the couch with his shoes off, drinking champagne.

  “What are you two doing here?” he asked, pleased to see them.

  “Same thing you are,” his sister said. “My shoes are killing me.” She took them off and Winnie sat down in a chair, relieved not to be on duty for five minutes. She had been watching every detail, as had Beatrice and Freddie. Their future depended on the success of the first event, which could make or break them.

  “I’d say it’s a great success, wouldn’t you?” he asked them, and they all agreed that it was fantastic. And Edward and Grace were a particularly lovely couple. They looked like a fairytale prince and princess.

  Winnie, Beatrice, and Freddie went back out among the guests ten minutes later, and after Edward and Grace cut the wedding cake, Freddie asked Winnie to dance, and Paul stepped forward and invited Beatrice to dance with him. He said the filming was over, and he had stayed to enjoy the rest of the evening. He had been seated with them at their small table for dinner.

  The wedding went on until 4:00 A.M., with a buffet breakfast of eggs and oysters, lobster, and caviar before everyone left and the wedding party went to bed. The bride and groom had reluctantly left at 2:00 A.M., after tossing the bouquet, and departed in a shower of rose petals to be driven to London in a Bentley, and catch the plane Edward had chartered to take them to Tahiti. Every single moment of it had been gorgeous and exactly what Edward and Grace hoped it would be. Edward had left them a huge additional check to thank them. Paul had gotten his crew going again to film the bridal getaway, and the Vogue photographer had stayed until the bitter end too. And in the morning, they were going to put Grace’s father in a Rolls and send him home, and the bridesmaids in another, after they shared a hearty breakfast of eggs and crèpes.

  When the last guest and bridal attendant had left, Freddie, Beatrice, and Winnie danced around the front hall and hugged each other. There wasn’t a single detail that had backfired or been overlooked.

  “It was unbelievable! You did such a great job,” Freddie complimented his sister and Winnie.

  “We all did,” they both said generously. Their suppliers had proven to be reliable and skilled and had done their jobs well.

  “I’ve never been so tired in my life, but it was worth it,” Beatrice said, collapsing on a couch in the main living room. “I’m not sure how often I can do that.”

  “A lot more,” Winnie said to her. “We have eleven more weddings booked, and six mystery nights. And twenty-six calls I haven’t returned yet.” And when Edward’s wedding turned up in Vogue, and the reality show of the wedding aired, their phone would be ringing off the hook.

  “Oh God,” Beatrice groaned at the thought. “I’m going to wear orthopedic shoes to the next one.”

  “We’re going to become the primo location for weddings after Las Vegas,” Winnie said happily.

  Their cleaning woman from the village had come in early and cleaned up the dower house by then, and Freddie walked Winnie back to reclaim it. He walked in with her and she smiled at him.

  “Do you want a drink or a cup of tea?” she offered.

  “A transfusion…actually, tea.” She made him a cup of Earl Grey and handed it to him. “How did you ever come up with this idea, and why didn’t we think of it before? It was so obvious,” he said to Winnie, “to have weddings here.”

  “It was all in that crazy dream I had.” He was smiling at her as he set his cup down. He had changed in the last few months, Beatrice had noticed it too and mentioned it to Winnie. He was more serious and reliable. He was just as funny, but they could count on him to do wh
at they needed and he promised. He was very much a functioning member of the team, and took care of both women. “Did you see your sister with Paul last night, by the way? I thought he was going to kiss her on the dance floor.” Freddie looked amused at what she said.

  “I think he might have. Or she might have kissed him. She won’t admit it because she’s such a prude around me, but I think she likes him, quite a lot in fact. I like him too.”

  “So do I,” Winnie agreed. “I can’t believe we’ve got the mystery night coming up in ten days. And a wedding two weeks later. This is positively athletic!”

  “We can do it,” he said confidently. And then he looked at her in an odd way, and she had the feeling he was going to ask her something, and then his mood changed and he didn’t. “Do you want to go for a walk later?” he asked her.

  “Yes, if you carry me.”

  “We can take turns.”

  In the end, he stayed for an hour while they talked about the wedding and the upcoming mystery night. Then he went back to the main house, and she promised to come over for dinner. She had the option to eat by herself or with them, but most of the time she went over to join them. It was always warm and friendly being with them.

  When they met up for dinner in the kitchen, they were all wearing jeans and old sweaters and running shoes, and helped themselves to whatever they wanted from the neatly organized leftovers arranged by the caterers. Edward had sent them a text saying it was the most beautiful wedding he’d ever been to, and they were thrilled.

  “Did you see the check Edward left us last night as a bonus? I nearly fainted,” Winnie commented.