‘What?’
‘Its name! You were on to something earlier, but not the “happily ever afters” part – its real name. Look at how many people talked to us after I put that sign up at the market the other day because of where we came from.’
‘So we should…’ I look up at the house in confusion. ‘I don’t know, smash out the brick where its name is carved by the door?’
He shakes his head. ‘So many people have mentioned some variation of “when the chestnuts are falling” to us. There has to be something in that. Châtaignier literally translates as chestnut trees. I think we should go to the orchard.’
I squeeze his hand as I follow him through the paths until we find the entrance to the chestnut orchard, and I stay by the gate as he wanders around, kicking at the ground here and there, like he’s expecting to uncover a secret trapdoor or something.
I can’t shake the feeling that it’s something different though. I’m sure Eulalie didn’t have a bank vault buried under her orchard.
I think about the first riddle as I stand there watching Jules half-heartedly looking around for something that doesn’t exist. He doesn’t think we’re going to find anything either. I can tell by the slump of his shoulders.
The château will show treasure to you only when you are ready to see it. It gives the owners what they need but not what they want.
Those recipes we found hidden in the kitchen the other night. Why would Eulalie hide them? She shared recipes with me all the time. There’s a box in the kitchen that’s full of various recipes, neatly recounted in her handwriting. There’s cookbook after cookbook in the library. But there’s something different about those. They were meticulously hidden and they’re all to do with chestnuts.
‘Jules.’ I beckon him over. ‘There’s nothing to find. It’s not that kind of treasure.’
‘What kind is it then?’
I shake my head because I don’t really know myself, not yet. ‘Eulalie wouldn’t hand this place to us on a silver platter. The château mattered too much to her. This whole thing is designed to prove we’re worthy of it, and that riddle isn’t directing us to a treasure chest, it’s directing us to something we can do to earn the money to keep it. Those recipes in the kitchen the other night.’
‘The chestnut ones?’ His face screws up in confusion, but I’m sure of it now.
‘If we’re going to keep this house, Eulalie wants us to prove that we love it as much as she did. That’s what it’s about. The hidden recipes, the most valuable asset, the name. The chestnut orchard. The amount of people who came over in the market and asked us about them. It’s connected.’
‘Well, she’s not giving us an easy ride, is she?’
‘That’s exactly it. Exactly Eulalie. No, she’s not. She’s making us work for it because she thinks the château deserves people who think it’s worth it.’
‘I think it’s worth it, I just don’t know what it means. She made those recipes and sold them? Why? Why were they special? Chestnuts aren’t common around here, but anyone can buy the things and make stuff with them. Why are these ones treasure? Why hide the recipes like that? And did we find them by accident or did the building decide we were ready to see them?’
‘I don’t know,’ I say. ‘But I bet there’ll be a few people at that market on Saturday who might be able to shed some light on it.’
Jules bends down and slides his arms around my waist, lifting me up and turning us around. He kisses me again as he puts me down, and wraps his arms around me, holding me against him and swaying us from one foot to the other. ‘Maybe the treasure is nothing more complicated than a happily ever after,’ he whispers in my ear, his warm accent making my knees feel weak. ‘Maybe everything else just led us here.’
‘That’s exactly what Eulalie would’ve said.’
He grins. ‘I think I would’ve liked her, you know.’
‘She definitely would’ve liked you. And I can’t believe she made it her final act of life to set me up with a bloke.’
There’s a rustle in the trees and we both look up to see the first chestnut fall. If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a romantic old lady watching over us.
Jules kisses me again and I wrap my fingers in his hair and hold on tight, feeling myself fall further as another chestnut falls from the trees. And I know that even if we can’t make that payment in five years, I will never ever regret taking the advice of my batty old neighbour.
I will never regret coming here.
Loved The Château of Happily Ever Afters? Take a look at
HQ Digital’s other wonderful destination stories, where more romance can be found…
If you enjoyed this wonderful story from Jaimie Admans,
why not explore our other fantastic HQ Digital authors!
Copyright
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2017
Copyright © Jaimie Admans 2017
Jaimie Admans asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © June 2017 ISBN: 978-0-00-824048-6
The Chateau of Happily-Ever-Afters Page 31