Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

by Faith Bleasdale

  ‘Well it’s quite a recent appointment.’ She laughed.

  ‘Thank you so much for listening to a boring vet go on – no wonder the cats like you so much. When you’ve finished, just put the key through the office letter box and I’ll go and get Harry.’

  ‘See you.’

  Gemma went to see Albert straight away. He swished his tail angrily, clearly wanting to punish her for her neglect today. But in the end, he let her cuddle him and purred into her shoulder. She thought about Connor and Harriet and hoped they’d be all right. Because she knew Harriet was just scared, and she also knew because when she’d seen the fear in her eyes, it was just like looking in a mirror at the fear in her own.

  Despite the victories that she was winning with work, despite the closeness to the Meadowbrook family she was experiencing, the fear never left her, and she wasn’t sure it ever would.

  Chapter 31

  ‘Harriet, will you come for a walk with me?’ Gemma asked.

  Hilda was wagging her tail next to her; they had called in at the house just as she and Pippa were finishing their breakfast. July was well underway, summer was in full swing at Meadowbrook, and Gemma had an agenda. She had been running around the estate and spotted something, and she knew that Harriet would be the person to speak to. As much as Gemma adored Pippa and had conceded that they were friends now, good ones, she had also learnt that Harriet was the person to go to for anything practical. She marvelled at how confident she was, how ideas she never thought she would have were flowing, and she was determined to embrace rather than shy away from them.

  ‘OK, but can I finish my coffee?’ Harriet asked, rubbing her eyes as if she were sleepy.

  ‘Sure, I’ll just go and grab my trainers,’ Gemma said.

  As she left, she bumped into Freddie, who was wearing a short dressing gown and not much else. She blushed and averted her eyes at the same time.

  ‘It’s OK, I’ve got pants on,’ he said. She blushed even deeper. ‘Just getting some brekkie for Charlotte and me. She needs to go to work, but as she’s working here I’ve given her an hour off, hope that’s OK with you.’

  She felt like a silly schoolgirl.

  ‘I’m not the boss,’ Gemma mumbled as she fled to get her shoes.

  She needed to stop being such an idiot and get used to seeing Freddie with Charlotte. They’d been spending a fair bit of time together, and although she wasn’t sure it was true love – she certainly hoped it wasn’t – they seemed to be a couple. The upside of this was that she was even more ensconced in work. It was the only thing that stopped her from thinking about Freddie, Charlotte and her nan, and she was getting loads done.

  She pushed the thoughts aside as she went back to where Harriet was sitting with Pippa, finishing her coffee.

  ‘Good to go?’ Harriet asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  Gemma needed to refocus and stamp out her bad mood. But she had to admit she was jealous. She had never felt this type of jealousy before, over a man. It made her insides burn and twist, and her thoughts dark and unpleasant. This was yet another side to her that she’d never known existed. When she was young and she saw the girls at school with their mothers, she vaguely remembered she had experienced something similar. She told her nan, who explained that although the feelings were natural, the only person jealousy hurt was yourself. So she had pushed them away. And how true that was. She was the only one hurt by these feelings now.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Harriet asked as they settled into a brisk pace, Hilda trotting ahead of them.

  ‘I’m fine, why?’ Gemma replied tetchily. She worried that the others noticed her awkwardness, and she was doing her best to hide them.

  ‘Your nan, you’ve been through an ordeal, but you’ve thrown yourself into work, which I understand, but I just wanted to check that you’re OK. I mean you’ve been working so hard, I barely see you. Maybe you need to lighten up a bit?’

  ‘Not if you want a hotel. But seriously, I mean, it’s hard. I feel like I’m saying goodbye to Nan every time I see her. And it’s like she’s there but she’s not there, so maybe I said goodbye a long time ago. It’s so confusing,’ Gemma replied honestly. ‘Work keeps me distracted.’

  ‘I know. With Dad I was so angry he didn’t tell us he was ill, but then I realised we probably would have just been waiting for him to die, and he would have hated that. But you’re never ready to say goodbye, whether you have any warning or not.’

  ‘No, I’m definitely not ready.’

  ‘But you’re doing a great job.’ Harriet was sincere and Gemma smiled.

  They had built quite a nice kind of friendship, not like Pippa’s enthusiastic one, but she felt as if she might have earned Harriet’s respect.

  ‘Thank you. You know I love it, and I’m so happy, but at the same time I have all these confusing feelings,’ she admitted.

  ‘About your nan?’ Harriet asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Gemma mumbled, beginning to feel uncomfortable. She didn’t need to confide in Harriet right now. She didn’t quite know how.

  ‘Sorry, I really am. Remember when you started, and I said I couldn’t figure you out? Well I still can’t fully, but you work hard, you are lovely, you put up with us, and you’re a great friend to Pippa, well to all of us actually, so it doesn’t matter. And also, it does feel as if you’re becoming part of the family. I mean that, and I wanted you to know.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Gemma tried and failed to feel emotional.

  ‘You will tell me if there’s a problem?’ Harriet asked.

  Gemma nodded. She wondered, fleetingly, if she would prefer scary Harriet back.

  ‘This is what I wanted to talk to you about,’ she said, leading Harriet to a field with two slightly crumbling old barns in it. ‘Harriet, are these part of Meadowbrook?’

  The crumbling barns were old, made of stone, and enormous. Gemma had run past them a number of times, and she always wondered why nothing had been done with them. Then she’d had a brainwave.

  ‘Oh, yes! I always forget they’re here. I believe Dad was going to do something with them at one point, but then the sanctuary was built nearer the cottages, and he must have forgotten about them,’ Harriet said as they stopped.

  ‘What I wanted to know is do you think you could do anything with them?’ she asked.

  ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘Making them both into homes. Or one into a home and the other could be a sort of conference space. You could hold your committee meetings here, and either Pippa or Freddie could live in the other. I know Gwen’s apartments are being readied for someone to be on site at the hotel, but that does leave one sibling sort of homeless … I just wondered if you could convert them.’ Gemma thought that they could easily get road access, and they wouldn’t be disturbing anyone else, as there were no other houses around. It was all Meadowbrook land.

  ‘They’re not too far from the hotel but also just out of sight,’ Harriet mused. ‘And there is access to the main road at the bottom of the field.’ She pointed and Gemma nodded.

  ‘Exactly, and it would be good to put them to use.’ Gemma always used to think she would love to live in a barn conversion. Her nan loved watching those home shows about building projects, and Gemma watched many with her. ‘And well, also, if you could convert them then it will add to the estate. You could have workers staying there if you needed to, you could have Freddie or Pippa or both of them in one. I mean, it’s just an idea.’

  ‘A bloody good one, potentially. I’ll get Roger out here as soon as we get back to the house. Gemma, you are a star.’

  Gemma was going to thank Harriet, but she had already turned and started running, quite fast, back to the house. Gemma sprinted after her, trying to keep up.

  The house was a hive of activity by the time Gemma showered and changed, then went to the office. She was feeling pleased about the outcome of the meeting with Harriet and how far she had come. A few months ago, she would have been far too scared to bring
that up with her, but now, well now she had barely given it a second thought. Gemma was growing into herself, the good, the bad and the ugly, and although she was finding it hard, deep down she felt it was necessary. She was evolving. A bit late but better late than never.

  Pippa, Freddie and Charlotte were designing the bar, and the three of them were in the newly cleared and cleaned garden room, heads together, discussing plans. Gemma didn’t feel that she was needed. Harriet hauled Roger out to look at the barns, not stopping for a minute; the rest of the builders were all in the top rooms, and Meadowbrook felt alive with all the activity.

  She was going to try her best to focus on the good, the now, work, friendship and her nan. She was going to see her nan more often. She had a feeling she was slipping away, and even though more often than not she didn’t know Gemma was there, and she slept through most of her visits, she was going to be in her presence as much as she could. But she had to brush those thoughts away now, she had work to do, so she clicked on her to-do list and began ticking things off.

  She wasn’t sure what time it was when Pippa and Charlotte came into the office.

  ‘I wondered if you had any time to talk about the reception area,’ Charlotte said, sitting down on the sofa.

  Gemma both marvelled and felt annoyed by her confidence. She walked into any room and commanded it, Gemma normally tripped over or walked into something; they were so different.

  ‘Sure,’ Gemma replied, trying to breathe.

  ‘I’ve told Charlotte that you’re in charge,’ Pippa explained.

  ‘Thank you. Right, well …’ Gemma needed to take control. ‘I did have a thought, which was instead of having a traditional hotel reception, we have a sort of lounge area. And when people arrive – as it’s a small hotel, it’s easy to keep track of when guests are due – they are greeted with a welcome drink, and then a member of staff checks them in using an iPad, so there won’t be a need for a desk, or a big computer.’

  ‘I love that idea,’ Charlotte said. ‘I can make the reception area inviting, with perhaps two sofas, an upright chair and a large coffee table.’

  ‘That’s exactly it.’ Gemma grinned. ‘I mean that was how I saw it in my mind.’

  ‘Can I just ask, you know when people want to come and go, they usually go to reception to ask for things, or to hand their key in … so what do we do about that?’ Pippa said sensibly.

  ‘What about finding a high-tech answer?’ Charlotte suggested.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well this is a lovely traditional house, and in decorating we’re mixing the modern with the traditional, so how about finding a communication system within the hotel using the latest technology?’

  ‘I’m rubbish at technology,’ Gemma said. ‘But perhaps we could give everyone an iPad or something like that while they stay here, so they can ping the hotel reception when they need something?’

  ‘That’s such a good idea, but we’d have to look into it a bit more,’ Pippa said.

  ‘It should be easy enough, we just need to find someone who is a bit of a technology expert,’ Gemma said.

  ‘Perfect, what a team,’ Pippa said. ‘And speaking of that, are you both excited for the summer fête?’ Pippa asked.

  ‘I can’t wait,’ Charlotte said.

  ‘Well now you’ve saved the day with the celebrity guest, you are going to be guest of honour yourself.’ Pippa laughed.

  ‘My children are really looking forward to it. How about you, Gemma?’ Charlotte asked.

  Gemma had stopped listening, so she just caught the last sentence.

  ‘Oh I don’t have any children,’ she replied, to be rewarded with two puzzled glances.

  As she burned with embarrassment at her mistake, she realised she needed to pull herself together. She’d made great progress with Harriet and now she was back to feeling like an idiot in front of Charlotte and Pippa One step forwards and a mile back.

  Chapter 32

  Gemma was thankful that the day was finally upon them. The last few weeks had been unbelievably hectic, with all the Singers preoccupied with preparations for the summer fête, and the last couple had been filled with hysteria over every little detail. Gemma tried to lie low, as Harriet had spent most of her time outside with a clipboard as she ticked things off a very long list, barking at people. Pippa and Freddie were checking all the stalls had been allocated the right space, the marquees were going up, the ring for the dog show set, and a main stage, which Gerry took charge of and hoodwinked all the builders to make, meaning the work on the hotel had ground to a halt.

  The stage wasn’t just for the fête opening, announcements and prize-giving. They had also organised for an up-and-coming boy band to perform – Freddie knew someone – which had attracted quite a buzz. Edie said it was going to be just like Glastonbury; although, she admitted, she’d never been. Fleur was so excited, but she got in trouble for selling “meet and greet” tickets to girls from school, which didn’t exist. In the end, Freddie had persuaded Gus to let her honour them if she donated the money to the sanctuary, and Harriet quietly told her that she was proud of the initiative she’d shown.

  John, the vicar, was miffed about the stage, because although the morris dancers were due to perform on it, they hadn’t built the stage for them, and they weren’t headlining the event. It had caused quite a stir, as he almost refused to dance, but then as Pippa said, he never would pass up a chance to get his bells out. And Freddie, feeling guilty, and showing his softer side, had told John that their dance was always his personal highlight of the day.

  After a row about the theme for the baking competition – someone wanted to let only traditional English recipes enter, which was a little bit racist according to Hilary – in the end Hilary had her way and it was open to anyone who wanted to bake anything. There was never a dull moment at Meadowbrook – that much was true.

  The celebrity guest problem had been solved by the perfect Charlotte, who knew Philip Dunster-Blythe, one of the judges on Inventors, the popular TV show where everyone showed their new ideas and one idea from every week was chosen for a grand final. Philip had invented a special kind of duster years ago and made a fortune with a cleaning goods empire. Apparently he owed Charlotte a favour, because she did up his last four houses – after each of his divorces.

  ‘Oh I love a rich older man,’ Edie had said.

  ‘Edie, you know he’s younger than you, right?’ Harriet pointed out.

  ‘Whatever.’ She shrugged like a teenager.

  But the presence of a TV personality meant that local TV and papers were covering it, and Freddie had spent hours on social media. The event was promising to be one of Meadowbrook’s most successful.

  Gemma had dipped in and out of the arrangements, but she was snowed under with hotel work, which had mostly landed firmly on her shoulders while the others concentrated on the village fête. She didn’t mind – she realised that she loved working, loved her job, and she felt ambitious for the first time in her life. God, maybe she was turning into Harriet …

  ‘Are you ready for this?’ Pippa asked with a grin.

  ‘I’m not sure. I mean I’ve never been to a village fête before.’ Gemma smiled back.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘No, I mean we had school fairs, but they were always in village hall, so I’ve never been to a proper one.’

  ‘Not sure this will change that.’ Freddie laughed as the doorbell went.

  He came back with a man who was so good-looking, Gemma had to blink to see if he were real. He walked in, dropped a weekend bag on the floor and made straight for Pippa.

  ‘Hector, how lovely to see you,’ Pippa said, giving him a hug. ‘Gemma, this is Hector Barber. Hector, this is our friend, Gemma. She’s also our hotel consultant.’

  ‘Pleasure.’ He was well-spoken yet affable as he shook her hand. ‘Pippa, you look more beautiful every time I see you.’

  Pippa blushed. ‘Come on, let’s get this show on the road.’
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  Despite being August, it was a bit chilly and drizzly as rain threatened, so they all wore wellies and raincoats as they made their way to the main field. The field they used for the fête didn’t have any animals in it, but it was near the field belonging to the ponies, as well as Gerald – who was watching it all, his leg now fully recovered – and the goats and sheep. Their noises could be heard drifting over. The pig’s field adjoined on the other side, but they ignored the proceedings – Gus had set up a track for pig races, but Geoffrey was the only one who even moved, so Freddie was trying to put his money on him, although of course there was no gambling. The alpacas were further away – they weren’t keen on the fête or people – and of course the cows were safely the furthest away. If David was aggressive before, he was even more so since Madonna had become pregnant. Even Connor had to tread carefully.

  ‘Wow! It looks great,’ Hector exclaimed.

  The place was abuzz with activity and excited chatter as stalls were being set up. The refreshment tent was gearing up for a busy day, the bake tent was accepting competition entries, people were bustling around, and you could almost feel the community spirit in the air. Gerald was being spoilt by Fleur who, still feeling guilty about the fire, was undoubtedly feeding him something she shouldn’t. Harriet was running around, Connor by her side, checking the last-minute details and telling people where to go. They were all frazzled, Gemma noticed, which was not a state she saw the Singers in often.

  ‘I know I’m not your star guest anymore, but you know, if you want me to do anything?’ Hector asked.

  ‘I’ve put you down for judging the dog competition,’ Freddie said. ‘I mean I know you’re not an expert, but just choose whichever you like.’

  ‘Great.’ Hector looked thrilled. ‘Will you help me, Pippa?’ he asked with a flirtatious smile.

  ‘No, sorry, I’m tied up, but I’m sure Connor will.’

  ‘Um, but Connor isn’t my biggest fan.’ His face paled.

  ‘Why not?’ Gemma couldn’t imagine Connor not liking anyone.