by Georgia Rose
Chapter 5
Although the security level on the estate had been heightened, the following week was going to revolve around preparations for the wedding due to taken place on the Saturday, but first, on the Monday, we had to get through Zoe’s interment. Despite the fact she’d attacked me, I’d felt terribly sad for Zoe. She wasn’t in her right mind when she’d done it, and I knew she must have loved Trent very much, so I’d been the one to suggest interring her ashes in the same churchyard as Eva. I knew how Trent had felt about her, and I thought our loved ones should be together. Trent had taken me up on the idea and had arranged for a small service of committal to be held by the vicar there.
I knew Cavendish and Grace were going to go with us, but Trent announced the day before that Carlton and Greene were also going to come. Trent knew I’d told Greene about Eva, so had thought it was best if they came along as additional security as it wouldn’t raise too many questions. I was still getting my head round the fact that Greene was qualified to be taking on a security detail.
We travelled in two vehicles and, though a passenger, I kept my eyes on the road, peeled for any sign of the blue car. We got to Crowbridge shortly before noon when the service was due to start. As we entered the churchyard I glanced across to where Eva lay, as I always did, but then we took a different path and crossed to the other side of the church and the garden of remembrance. The vicar welcomed everyone and greeted me kindly, asking how I was and pressing my hand between his two. It brought back the memory of him doing the same thing before Eva’s funeral, and I had to bite my lip hard to stop the tears. Then we gathered around the hole where the box containing Zoe’s ashes would be buried, and Trent gripped my hand as the vicar spoke kind, well chosen and thoughtful words of Zoe, her life and her achievements. He had done his homework, though I could hear Trent’s influence throughout the words he spoke. After the bleakness of the funeral and the impersonal nature of the inquest, this was what was needed. I was pleased for Trent that we’d taken this opportunity to stand together on a beautiful summer’s day and give thanks for her life.
Once the service was finished and the vicar had gone into the church, Trent bent down to the flowers we were going to leave with Zoe and took a couple out of the arrangement before handing them to me. He took hold of my free hand, threading his fingers in between mine, an indication that he was coming with me. I looked at the flowers, then at the others and asked if they could give us a moment or two. There was a hesitation, and it didn’t appear to have been planned, but Carlton, glancing at the others, cleared his throat.
“We were wondering if we could come with you, Em?”
My throat tightened and I blinked away tears. Not risking speech, I simply nodded. Trent and I led the others round the church to where my angel lay, and as we stopped at the foot of the grave Cavendish and Grace joined us, though Greene and Carlton stood further away, their backs to us, keeping watch. Cavendish, next to me, put his arm round my shoulders, hugging me to him. Grace moved past him and wrapped her arms around me. Trent released my hand so I could return the hug, but as she pulled back I saw her try to wipe her tears away before I saw them.
“I’m so sorry,” she mumbled, “it’s just that I can’t imagine...” Her voice tailed off.
“I know...It’s okay,” I reassured her. Looking at the flowers I held, I broke the moment, giving Grace a chance to turn to Cavendish for comfort as I went to add these flowers to the others I’d left there the previous week.
“I think we’ll head back to the cars and give you some time,” Cavendish said as he and Grace turned and walked away. Greene and Carlton fell in behind them. I rejoined Trent and stood facing him as he took my hands in his, pulling me closer.
“This is the first time I’ve been here,” he murmured. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine actually. It feels good to be here with you, with our friends. It’s good that they know. It’s not like I want everyone to know, but those closest to us...it seems right somehow.” He nodded before leaning in to kiss me, and he asked if I wanted him to leave me to spend some time alone at the graveside. I knew he’d be anxious to get back to Cavendish, to get him back home, so I said no, and after turning to say goodbye quietly to Eva, we left together.
Although activity on the estate over the next few days escalated, my little world remained largely the same as I was not involved with the wedding preparations. I was therefore pleased when Trent arrived one evening later in the week to ask if I wanted to go with him to the tree house. He’d been sent on a mission to retrieve the fairy lights which, it was thought, had last been seen there. I jumped at the chance, having wanted to explore the tree house ever since discovering it the previous year.
Susie and I had found a new path through the woods which opened up into an area cleared of all undergrowth, but with three large trees growing up out of it. I’d looked up in astonishment as, high in the branches and built between these trees, was a huge tree house. A set of wooden stairs climbed up from the woodland floor, spiralling around one tree trunk before leading to the front door. There were three more or less circular rooms that blended together where they touched. The tiled roof of each room was conical, the walls weather-boarded. I’d run up the steps to see if I could see inside, but had been disappointed to find the door was solid, all the windows closed with internal shutters, and I could see no more. It looked like more than just a tree house for children to play in, though, and I’d wondered who used it. Reluctantly I’d gone back down the steps and carried on with my walk, imagining how wonderful it would be to live there.
We drove past the main gate and back into the woodland the other side, before turning off the road and stopping eventually at the end of a woodchip path. Following this path between the trees we came into the clearing and climbed the steps. Trent opened the door and held it for me to enter. He folded back the shutters to some of the windows to give enough light to see by. My eyes widened. This was far beyond any tree house I could ever have imagined. We’d walked straight into the kitchen, which was big enough to take everything a kitchen needed. The floor units fitted the curve of the walls; the windows filled in the space above. There was a small bare wooden table in the centre of the room with two chairs, all in a white Shaker style.
Two doors led off the kitchen, one to a beautiful, cosy snug where a large, curved, comfortable-looking settee hugged the wall. I could imagine the bliss of curling up to read a book in front of the small wood-burning stove. This seemed incongruous in a tree house, but it fitted in perfectly with the no-expense-spared design. The other opened onto the bedroom where I found Trent, who was going through the contents of a built-in storage cupboard. I left him to it as I carried on my explorations into the bathroom. The whole tree house was a perfect fully-functioning little retreat. Trent had told me that was what Cavendish and Grace used it for. I rejoined him in the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, looking over at him as he suddenly appeared to find what he’d been looking for and started taking out bundles of lights and placing them on the floor beside him.
I coughed gently to attract his attention, and when he looked round at me I smiled and raised my eyebrows at him, drumming my fingers on the bed beside me. He returned my smile and I thought for a moment he would come to join me, but instead he carried on with the job in hand. Once he had all the lights out of the cupboard I tried to attract his attention again, and this time succeeded in getting him to come over to the bed. He bent down, planting a kiss softly on my cheek before lifting me up into a standing position. I looked at him and I know confusion must have shown on my face.
“You’re turning me down?” This was a first, and a bit of a blow to my confidence, I had to admit. He put his hands on my hips and studied me thoughtfully before replying.
“Not turning you down exactly, more...putting you off for a bit.”
I frowned, narrowing my eyes at him in suspicion. “That’s not like you, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, it�
��s not the right time, that’s all.” And he kissed me gently as if to mollify me. I felt as if I’d been given the brush-off as he turned to start gathering up the lights, urging me to do the same. We carried them all to the truck and put them carefully in the back before driving off. I was quiet, feeling a little hurt and bewildered by Trent’s rejection, but when we got to the Manor the place was buzzing and I spent the next couple of hours with everyone else, helping to decorate the Manor with the lights. It was good to have others around to dilute a bit of the tension between us. Trent didn’t explain or even mention what had happened at the tree house, and when we got home he was as amorous as ever and I ended up shrugging off the incident as being one of those things, like he’d said...not the right time.
The day of the wedding dawned. The service was going to be mid-afternoon, so my plan was to get the horses ridden and then turned out so I could get the stables ready for the evening and have time to shower and change. Trent was going to pick me up in time to get to the service. At some point I’d pop back to finish off the horses before returning to the party for the evening.
Sophia and Reuben had been to the stables a couple of times in the last week, but it had always been a bit rushed, partly because everyone was so busy with the wedding preparations, and partly because Carlton and Turner had to accompany the children and I felt awkward keeping them hanging around for too long. This meant that there hadn’t been much time for the children to renew their skills in the saddle. I was hoping once the wedding was out of the way the children might be able to spend a bit more time here.
I’d restricted my riding to the estate grounds since the threat against Cavendish had been made, mainly because it was so difficult to get out of the gates, but also because Trent had asked me to do this. Though I didn’t always do what he asked, on this occasion I didn’t want to be too far away in case something happened and I needed to return to the stables quickly. This morning was a glorious one; the sun beat down, but there was a light breeze which took the edge off the heat. I chose my routes so I had a chance to pass by the Manor and see what was going on in the build up.
I knew from Trent that the security for the day was proving to be a bit of a headache, mostly because of the number of guests arriving from off the estate. Stanton and Lawson had fifty or so family and friends coming, and it had taken some arranging to get them all either to stay at or agree to be picked up from a large hotel in the nearby town so that they could all travel in one coach. Unbeknown to them all, the guests had already been security cleared and a system had been set up so that each one could be checked on to the coach and kept tabs on throughout the day, before being checked back on to the coach at the end of the celebrations and escorted off the estate again. This all had to be done as surreptitiously as possible so as not to raise any suspicions among the guests that anything was amiss, not only for their sake but mostly for Stanton and Lawson. Everyone wanted their big day to go off as smoothly and naturally as possible. Trent was hoping that the estate would come across as highly efficient rather than anally security conscious.
As I headed back on Monty, my second ride of the day, I rode up the main drive and, turning right towards the stables, a glint of reflected sunlight caught my eye. I looked over, through the intricate wrought iron of the gates – a car, dark blue, stationary on the road. Spots of sparkling chrome had alerted me to its presence. As it paused for a moment longer, I imagined the eyes behind the tinted windows making a connection with mine as the hairs on the back of my neck rose and my skin prickled. It drove off and, knowing what I now needed to do, I returned quickly to the stables and leapt off Monty, glad to be able to take off the back protector Trent had bought me – and insisted I wear.
I hesitated as I reached for my phone. Should I tell him now? He was busy travelling back with the wedding guests, and I knew he wouldn’t want them to be alerted to anything being wrong. Was it so important that it couldn’t wait until he got back? It was hardly as if the estate was actually being stormed, was it?
I sponged down Monty and Zodiac as I mulled over my indecision at what I should do, then took them out to the field where they joined Regan and Benjy, immediately dropping to the ground to roll. Deciding my news could wait until he got here I returned to the yard, cleared out the stables, made up the beds and filled the hay nets and water buckets ready for the evening. Once I was finished I went into the cottage, disturbing a sleeping Susie who was whacked out after joining me on the first ride.
I leapt in the shower, washed my hair, then went downstairs and made myself a sandwich for lunch before getting ready. I’d bought a simple linen sheath dress in cornflower blue which I squeezed into after drying my hair. I slipped on the pair of heels I was going to risk, thinking that if necessary I could always change into some a little lower and more comfortable when I came back to do the horses. Trent called to say he’d arrived back with the coach, and with everyone now safely on the estate he’d be with me in a couple of minutes.
I went downstairs, checking Susie had all she needed before locking her in for the afternoon, then went out to meet Trent who was driving into the yard. He jumped out of the truck and whistled appreciatively, his eyes lighting up as he came to greet me. Don’t tell him right away, I thought, at least say “Hello” first.
“You look fabulous,” he murmured as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands following the contours of the dress, and my body.
“Looking pretty good yourself,” I responded. He was in a sharp navy suit, crisp white shirt and navy patterned tie. His lips found mine as he kissed me hungrily, but then, glancing at his watch, he exhaled in frustration.
“Much as I want to take you into the cottage and peel you back out of that dress, there’s no time for that now.”
You’re going to ruin this good mood of his, I thought sadly as I shook my head at him in mock disbelief. “You are incorrigible.”
“I know, but I’m kind of hoping you wouldn’t have me any other way.” And he grinned his irresistible grin before leading me round to the truck’s passenger side. As he opened the door and helped me up in my less than practical outfit, his hand lingered a little too long on my backside.
“Steady,” I said, smiling as I heard him chuckle softly behind me. He was in a playful mood, which was good, all things considered, and I hated the fact that what I was about to say was going to bring an end to that.
As he got in the cab, I turned to him. “Trent, before we leave I need to tell you something.” And I told him about the three sightings I’d had. When I finished, I sat back. The evidence for suspicion still seemed fairly thin to me, and I wasn’t sure if I was about to be scoffed at or taken seriously.
We sat where we were as Trent put calls through to Sharpe in the office and Cavendish. He sent out a text to all – we were upgraded to a state of high alert. I was taken very seriously.
Then we drove to the Manor. It was too late to make any changes to the wedding, so it had been decided we would press ahead with the plans already in place and we pulled into the courtyard where I could see the coach parked up to the side. I could feel Trent’s tension as we passed through the stone arch into the garden, our feelings incongruous to the wonderfully relaxed summery scene that greeted us. Groups of guests were scattered across the lawn, enjoying a pre-wedding drink. The marquee that had been erected to hold the service and reception was at the end of the lawn closest to the main house. The sides had been removed, showing rows of chairs, each swathed in cream fabric finished off with a decorative bow to the rear. An aisle ran between them up the centre of the marquee. The roof was lined, and large flower arrangements had been placed in each corner, with two further arrangements marking each side of the place where the couple would be saying their vows.
Trent and I made our way across the lawn, Trent’s hand never leaving the small of my back. I remembered all the reasons why it was such a pain to wear heels in the first place, and to a wedding in particular, as I struggled to avoid them sinking into th
e lawn. Acting as if we hadn’t a care in the world, we took a glass of champagne from the tray offered to us by Sophia in a pale pink dress, the bodice embroidered with small flowers. She was looking very pretty, and blushed when we told her so. We circulated with the guests, chatting to those we knew, introducing ourselves to those we didn’t. Trent discretely took each of the estate staff he came across to one side, making sure they were geared up for the day ahead.
He then disappeared for a while to the office, and on rejoining the gathering told me quietly he’d had a look at the CCTV footage from the main gate. It had added nothing to what I’d been able to tell him other than how long they’d been sitting there taking in the details of the new security around the entrance.
We made our way across to a nervous-looking Stanton to offer our best wishes, and I hoped he hadn’t been made aware of the high alert situation as he introduced us to his brother and best man, Michael. We talked to them for a few minutes, then moved on as others came up to talk to them. A short while later Stanton and Michael started moving through the guests and towards the marquee. As they reached the edge of the crowd they turned, and Michael announced the service would soon start and urged everyone to find a seat. The guests started moving and gradually the marquee filled up. Trent and I remained where we were for a moment, and when we were alone Trent took out his phone and made a couple of calls to those responsible for the security and surveillance over the estate. When he had checked that all was well, we took up our places in the marquee. But I knew he was worrying – if it all kicked off now, how would it go down with all these innocent people around?
The registrar was already in place, standing between the flower arrangements at the front and chatting to Stanton and Michael. Clearly he’d said something funny as they both chuckled lightly, and I could see their tension dissipate a little with their smiles.