Henderson Manor

by Emma L. Clapperton

  17

  Six Months Later

  He held a protective hand over her pregnant belly as they stood still, looking up at the house. It was marvelous, with high surrounding hedge growth which reached the height of the large windows at the front.

  “I cannot believe this is our home,” Jodie smiled.

  “I know, a new start for all three of us,” Patrick replied with a boyish grin.

  Jodie turned to face him and she saw a twinkle in his eye. “Shall we go in then?”

  Patrick nodded and handed over the keys to the front door. Jodie felt the baby flutter as she put the key inside the lock. She saw it as a good sign, this was going to be a wonderful place to start their new lives and bring up their first child. After everything that had happened in the last two years, they both deserved it.

  She opened the door and stood still, looking into the entrance hallway and she drank in the view. The place certainly needed sprucing up a little but that didn’t matter.

  The house was huge, with old fashioned carpets and high ceilings. “I love it already.”

  Patrick was behind her, excited to show her the rest of the house. Jodie had viewed the brochure pictures from the auction, but she hadn’t actually viewed the house properly.

  “Come on, I’ll show you the sitting room.” He pulled her hand gently and led her into the room on the right hand side of the hallway.

  The room was large, enough space for a dining table to fit eight around it, plus a three piece suite and still have plenty of room left over. The window was centered at the bottom of the room and stretched from two feet off the floor, almost all the way up to the ceiling. The natural light from outside gave the room a pretty glow which matched Jodie’s mood and appearance.

  “Come on, the kitchen is huge. You’ll love it in there,” Patrick was pulling her once more.

  “Hey, you cheeky bugger, just because I’m the woman?” She joked.

  Patrick led her down the hallway and through an arched doorway. He was right — she did love it. The kitchen ceiling was so high that there was no way that she would be able to reach it even standing on a chair. The large decorative light that hung down was beautiful, with butterfly shaped glass around each bulb. It did need a good dust and polish but Jodie had no clue how she would be able to do that with the height that it hung from. Patrick stole her attention away from the dusty glass butterflies and beckoned her to the large door at the end of the kitchen.

  “Your outdoor space madam,” he said. Patrick opened the door and natural light flooded the kitchen. The garden was partly paved with large neutral coloured concrete slabs, running from the door to the middle of the garden. Jodie could see a small pond in the far right corner, leading her to realise that the other half of the garden was covered in a healthy green grass, overgrown yes, but healthy looking.

  “This will be perfect for our little one here,” she said patting her stomach gently.

  “It sure will.”

  Jodie felt her eyes begin to sting, but refused to allow any tears to fall. Patrick wasn’t blind or deaf, and though he could hear her thoughts, he would never invade her privacy by speaking out. “What’s wrong?”

  Jodie took a breath. “Nothing. I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed by it all. I mean, if you had told me two years ago that this was where we would be, a beautiful new home and a baby on the way, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

  The last two years had been a mental struggle for Jodie. After the Ross situation, she had decided to lay off the psychic scene for a while and had taught herself to tune out from her ability, for two reasons. One, she knew that if she didn’t, it would slowly begin to drive her insane; the last time had almost killed her and sent her mind into darker places that she could have imagined possible. Two, if she and Patrick were serious about starting a family, then that was all that she wanted to focus on and she didn’t want anything getting into her mind set and screwing it up for her. Jodie would never speak ill of the dead, but in her eyes, there was now more to life than death. Of course she still liked the fact that she had this ability — after all it did prevent more deaths two years ago. But she knew that for the sake of her future and mental health, she could never go back there.

  “I know. But we’re here now aren’t we?” Patrick stroked her hair.

  Jodie smiled.

  “Why don’t you go upstairs and check out the rest of the rooms and you can decide which room will be the baby’s. I’ll go out to the car and grab our cases, and then we can start unloading the van.”

  “Ok,” Jodie nodded as she watched Patrick head back to the front door. She closed the door to the view of the perfect garden and headed out to the main hallway. Patrick had left the front door open and she could see him at the van, unloading the cases. Jodie turned her back to the open door and faced the stairway which led to the upper level of the house.

  She placed her hand on the rail on the left hand side and began the climb. Being eight and a half months pregnant did tend to take its toll when climbing a large, old fashioned staircase, and she quickly realised this. The stairs reached a turn three-quarters of the way up, and she was thankful when she saw that there were only another three after the bend.

  “Right, now that I have conquered Mount Everest I can find your room,” Jodie spoke down to her bump. She only had to take three steps forward before she came to the first room, which was on her left. She opened the door and found that it was dark and a little stale. “Oh god, I wonder how long these windows have been closed for.”

  She flipped the switch, but light did not fill the room. She sighed and made her way in to find the window. She opened the large, heavy curtains, lifted the safety latch and pushed the window up to let in some fresh air. She turned back to face the room, which was again, a little old fashioned looking but had some great potential. There was a mountain of space and she was almost certain that this was the room for the baby. Jodie looked up and could see that there were cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling and that some of the paper was coming away from the top of the walls. That wouldn’t be a problem because they would be redecorating anyway. She smiled as she made her way down the hall to explore the next room.

  “This can be the guest room.”

  The room was a little smaller than the last. It didn’t have as much space but was still bigger than any room in the flat at Glasgow Harbour. More cobwebs lingered in the corners and there were a few cracks in the old paint job. Goodness knows the last time it had been decorated.

  She passed the bathroom, which was old and in desperate need of a white suite and new tiles. It would be too big a job for them to do with the baby coming and trying to settle in, so they would just get someone in to do it. Jodie pictured what she wanted in their new bathroom as she glanced quickly whilst making her way down toward the last room, which faced her head on.

  She opened the door and was surprised to find that the removal people hadn’t touched this room. It looked lived in but tidy. The bed was neat, as though someone had only just made it. The window was dressed symmetrically, just how Jodie would have dressed it. She walked in and opened one of the drawers in the large dresser to find clothes inside.

  “Great, another job to add to the list,” she sighed.

  Jodie closed the drawer and walked over to the dressing table that still harbored perfume bottles and the odd scented candle.

  “Patrick?” she called out. Jodie looked out of the large bay window in the centre of the back wall to see if he was still outside unloading the van. She could see that he was struggling with a large box which was labelled ‘bedroom.’

  Jodie smiled and turned to go back downstairs when she heard a large thud coming from the hallway. Thinking Patrick had come into the house and dropped the box, she quickly moved to the top of the stairs, where she found nothing. She could hear Patrick’s footsteps on the gravel outside, which would mean she was the only one inside the house. She shrugged it off, putting it down to the fact that the house was
old and had been unoccupied for quite some time.

  “Patrick, do you need a hand?”

  “No, I’m fine. I just want to get the necessities in before it gets dark and then I can get the rest done tomorrow,” he said as he dropped the box gently, just inside the front door.

  “Ok, well I’ve picked the baby’s room.”

  Patrick looked up to see Jodie coming down the stair case. “Great.”

  She glowed as she moved closer to him. He couldn’t believe his luck at how far they had come. Ross Turner had almost destroyed them, but Jodie had bounced back and was stronger than ever. Patrick understood her reasoning for taking a step back from the church for a while; however, he did miss her at the church. So did the regulars, especially the elderly members. She had a special bond with them and was able to connect with them in a way that Patrick couldn’t. She was sensitive to their needs from the church and they would always ask for her specifically.

  “You ok?” Jodie interrupted his train of thought.

  “Yes, just thinking about the baby’s room. So, you want to show me and tell me your ideas?” He lied, not allowing himself to tell her what he was really thinking. He had agreed that he wouldn’t bring up the church in a way that said he wanted her back until she initiated the idea; it was only then that they would discuss it. Now was not the time, and he didn’t want to put any pressure on her or the baby.

  Patrick followed Jodie upstairs, listening out for the creaks and scrapes that he had heard on his first visit to view the house after bidding successfully at the auction. He had sensed then that there was something lingering there, but was not at all worried and still, he did not worry. Spiritually, nothing could be worse than what had happened to him two years ago. He had decided not to mention it to Jodie, knowing that she probably wouldn’t pick up on anything anyway. Had she not learned to tune out, her pregnancy hormones would have thrown her off anyway. As they climbed the stairs, he heard the scraping sound coming from above him, just like from where he had heard it before. He wondered if it would amount to anything more.

  “Do you hear that noise?” Jodie asked as they reached the top of the stairs. “I thought it was maybe a mouse or a bird when I heard it earlier.”

  “Yeah, I hear it. Can’t think what else it could be.”

  Jodie’s brow creased and then she smiled. “You seriously believe that’s all it is?”

  “Why not? Not every noise is a ghost, Jodie.”

  She paused for a moment more, uncertain as to whether he was genuine or trying to protect her from the ability she didn’t want to face for the time being. She considered the latter for a brief moment and then let it fall out of her head. “So, are you ready to see this little one’s room?” she asked as she opened the door.

  “More than ready.”

  As they looked around, Patrick felt a sense of worth as he imagined his new life. His wonderful wife was carrying his baby and they were standing in their new home.

  “You know, we’ll never have to move again. We are set for life here,” said Patrick as he pictured where the cot would go.

  “I know, it’s amazing. I’m so glad you found this place.”

  They were about to share their new lives together in a wonderful new home which could house a small army. However, Patrick wondered if it would only house them, or if the history of the house would become apparent.

  18

  Jodie took out the dishes from the box that she had sat on the kitchen counter earlier in the day as Patrick unwrapped the fish suppers that had been delivered by the local chip shop. The scent of the fresh chips in newspaper made Jodie’s mouth water. She couldn’t wait to get tucked in.

  “I have been looking forward to this all day,” she said as she put the food onto the plates.

  “Have you?”

  “It’s all this unpacking malarkey: it’s given this baby a big appetite.”

  Patrick smiled as he took in his new surroundings. The kitchen was so big and he knew that it would be cold in the winter time. He watched as Jodie popped the first chip into her mouth. “Good?”

  “Mmm, you have no idea,” she smiled.

  They made their way over to the large table that was situated at the back of the kitchen, near to the back door. “I think I would like to move this away from the door because it will be cold to sit near there in the winter,” said Jodie.

  “Yeah, I think so too.”

  They ate in silence, happily going over the events of the day. It had been very busy, with two removal men in and out with boxes and furniture. There was no way that they could have moved on their own with Jodie being pregnant. The opportunity to buy the house had come at a time which was almost perfect for them. The church had been doing well and Lomond Park had been accommodated every week for the last two years so money was in no way tight. Patrick’s parents’ had also kept by a legal document, which had only to be issued once Patrick was married. He had known about it and that it had been kept under wraps for years after his parents had passed away and his understanding was that he wouldn’t be made aware of what the purpose of the document was until he was married. After the wedding, both Patrick and Jodie had forgotten about it, considering everything that had happened in the run up to the wedding. Patrick had just found his adoptive brother in the same instant that he watched him die and to top it off, had just solved Glasgow’s first murder investigation involving a serial killer, and he had also watched his fiancée go through hell as he tried to do so, so his mind couldn’t have been further from a mystery legal document.

  However, when they did remember about it a few months after their lives had settled down to normality again, Patrick was a little unsure whether or not he wanted to revisit his parents’ deaths once again. He had taken a very long time to move on from their tragedy and if it hadn’t been for Jodie then he was certain that he wouldn’t be here today. Going back to the lawyer to go over legalities of it all was the last thing he wanted to do; it would just bring back the pain from the first time around. Having to go through all of their personal things and all of their finances, he hadn’t wanted to face it all again. Jodie had convinced him to, as she was able to do with most things and after several signatures on various documents, a sum of fifty thousand pounds was paid into Patrick’s joint account with Jodie. To say he had been shocked was an understatement.

  It had been quite simple considering the amount of money that his parents had left for them. Patrick wasn’t made aware of where the money had come from. Had it been an estate or savings that his parents had been putting away in secret? He just didn’t know. All the same, he couldn’t have been more grateful.

  They had celebrated quietly with a bottle of champagne and a three course meal in a restaurant in Byres Road, a nice little Italian with low lighting and a grand piano in the corner. Patrick and Jodie had discussed what to do with the money and had decided upon a new home, since they had been trying for a family.

  They had searched for a few months, finding houses that were nice but nothing spectacular. Then Patrick had come across ‘Henderson Manor.’ Not quite a manor in this day and age but in its early days, certainly a manor house. The brochure hadn’t done it much justice but enough to catch Patrick’s eye.

  He had kept it a secret from Jodie until he knew for sure that it was where he wanted to be. He knew deep down that she would love it. It was being auctioned for a lot less than it was worth due to the fact that the family who had resided there for over a century no longer existed. The last member of the bloodline had passed away suddenly and there was no named person in the legal documents to take the house. The last member of that family hadn’t drawn up a will, so the house was taken to auction. Patrick didn’t understand the whole legal process, but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to see it for himself.

  Having gone to see the house, he could see that it really had been a home for a lot of people from the same family. The house was very big and Patrick could feel the history once he stepped inside it for th
e first time. The staircase in the front hall way creaked in a way that said many, many people had used them. There was an outhouse that Patrick was told was used as a wash and laundry facility. On hearing this, he understood just how long the house had been standing for. The auctioneer had said that the property had belonged to one family since the early 1800s and only recently the last known family member had passed away suddenly. The front entrance to the grounds of the house displayed large sandstone walls and the two front pillars had ‘Henderson Manor’ engraved into them.

  “It makes it sound a little creepy, like something you’d find in a horror film,” Patrick had said to the auctioneer. Patrick made him aware that he wasn’t at all spooked by the house and that he was just making a passing judgment.

  On entrance to the grounds, the stones crunched under his shoes and the fir trees that surrounded the grounds blew gently in the wind. Before he was even inside he just knew that this was the house that he wanted to spend his life in with Jodie and their new addition. The house was in a position where they could move in immediately and make the changes that they wanted, while living there. Patrick was determined, and it paid off as he was successful at the auction.

  “Are you glad we found it?” Patrick broke the happy silence.

  “I couldn’t be happier if I tried. It’s amazing.”

  “I don’t know why I asked you that — I know you’re happy.”

  They finished off their fish suppers and Jodie stood up to take the rubbish out to the bin at the back entrance of the house. She could feel herself starting to waddle as she moved across the floor.

  What are you doing to me little one? She thought to herself as she opened the back door. She could hear Patrick start to wash the dishes as she went outside. The grounds were dark but there was a security light on and it lit up the whole area, allowing her to see into the fir trees and over to an area she hadn’t had the chance to look at since moving in. She placed the rubbish into the bin and walked across the gravel and stones to the back end of the house.