Page 8 of Amazing Grace

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Grace fell in love with her home in Little Ollington the moment she saw the details at the agency, sitting on a pile for her to type up. It was a house that she drove past every day on the way to the office and she’d always loved it but never thought it would be within her price range. She immediately asked if she could go and see it before the For Sale board went up. She hoped and prayed that it was as lovely as it looked from the outside.

It exuded charm and character from the moment Mrs Robinson opened its duck-egg blue front door and introduced herself and welcomed Grace and Archie inside. Grace’s heels click-clacked down the stone-tiled hallway, and she walked through the kitchen door and gasped.

‘Oh, Mrs Robinson, what a fabulous room.’

The kitchen was everything she’d ever wished for: cream gloss units and black marble worktops, with a central island breakfast bar to die for. If this was the first room, she couldn’t wait to see the rest of the house.

‘Call me Gladys, dear,’ she said. ‘Mrs Robinson makes me feel so old. Please do join me for a cup of tea. It’s nice to have some company for a change.’

Grace gazed out of the kitchen window looking at the huge garden as Gladys pottered around, laying a tea tray with what looked like the best china.

‘Why don’t you go and look round the rest of the house while I wait for the kettle to boil? And take your time. I’m in no rush today.’

Grace meandered around the house. Sadly, the kitchen was the only room which had been renovated; the other rooms needed a great deal of love and attention. But with her eye for interior design, Grace was able to visualise how each room could look under different circumstances. There would be a lot to do; there were no two ways about that. But it had the bones of a stunning house. The cast-iron fireplaces with tiled surrounds in the lounge and dining room were simply beautiful. She’d always dreamed of having a real fire, the smell always bringing back such happy memories of her childhood. The high ceilings with ornate cornicing gave a wonderful feeling of space, and the huge sash windows throughout reflected light into every room. She just loved it. She knew it would take a lot of hard work and money, but with her design skills and knowledge of using colour, light and shade, and coordinating the soft furnishings, this house could be totally exquisite – the perfect home for her and Archie.

‘What do you think, Arch?’

‘It’s a bit old and gloomy, Mum. I’d prefer to live somewhere newer, like Dad and Lorraine’s flat.’

Grace’s heart sank, but then his face lit up as he walked into one of the bedrooms that overlooked the back garden. Staring out of the window at the lawn, he said that there was room for a full-sized football goal. Grace agreed that it was definitely a possibility. And when Archie saw the huge TV screen on the wall of the bedroom, he claimed the room as his immediately. ‘We could get a TV like that for my Xbox, Mum! Can I have this room? Please, please! I love this house now. I’ve changed my mind.’ He did a strange dance move, and Grace did a funny move back at him.

‘Really, Mum! No one dabs any more. It’s all about the floss. Get with it!’

Grace grinned and heard the kettle whistling downstairs. A memory flooded back to her of her nanna’s house, where there was always a whistling kettle and tea leaves with a tea pot, china cups and saucers, and a tea strainer. She’d spent many hours as a young girl there, as her own mum worked so hard to keep the bills paid and a roof over their heads. Grace’s dad wasn’t good with money; he was old-fashioned in his ways and as quick as her mum could earn it, he could booze it away with his mates down the pub. Nanna was always there for her and her sister, Hannah, when Mum was working. There was a huge Nanna-shaped hole in all of their lives when she passed away not long after Grace turned sixteen. But right now, thinking about Nanna didn’t make her sad, it made her think about how much Nanna would love this house, and that warmed the cockles of her heart.

She returned downstairs, aware that her heart was beating a little faster. Since Mark had left there hadn’t been much to smile about, but looking around this house, Grace felt the first stirrings of anticipation.

‘Let me.’ She took the tray from Gladys and followed her through to the lounge where original leaded French doors overlooked the garden. It was strange but she felt a sense of peace in this house, as if she’d come home. It felt familiar and warm to her and a delicious shiver of excitement ran down her spine. Grace realised that it was enthusiasm, mixed with trepidation. She already knew she wanted this house for herself.

‘Do excuse the garden, my dear, I haven’t been able to keep on top of it. The house too. I’ve tried my best, but the time really has come for me to move to a smaller, more manageable, place. This house is way too big for me now and it’s time for someone new to come in and make wonderful memories like Charles and I made here with our family. I hold ours right here in my heart.’

A lump formed in Grace’s throat, and she hoped she and Archie would make amazing memories here, too. Memories that would make Gladys proud.

As Gladys reminisced about bringing up her family in the house and asked her questions about her life, Grace found herself opening up about Mark and her divorce. She told Gladys how they’d moved to Little Ollington when Mark had been offered a job out at a smaller school, after being sick and tired of schools in inner-city Birmingham. She confided that when they’d moved out to the countryside, they had known nobody, and about the fact that the split with Mark meant that they were living in a rented property but that they were now ready to find their forever home. She smiled at Gladys, hoping fervently that this would be the one.

She glanced over at Archie, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor playing Fortnite on Grace’s iPhone. Grace was going to have to start limiting screen time, as he had been a little obsessed lately, and it was becoming a real issue with him getting way too stroppy when she asked him to do something. Setting the boundaries was increasingly difficult when his dad let him play on the computer as much as he liked, which Grace knew he only did as it was easier than interacting with his son. But while she was chatting to Gladys that day and he was quiet and happy, she let him play.

Over tea, Grace told Gladys all about her family. It felt really natural to share so much with her; she was such a sincere, interesting and open character, and Grace had warmed to her immediately, thinking how much her mum would have liked her.

So Grace told Gladys about how her dad had recently moved out of his house and into a local retirement village. He had gone to pieces when her mum died – they had been together for fifty years – and Grace was so happy that he was finally starting to enjoy life again. He had his own private flat, but it was in a community where lots of people were in the same boat and he could have company if he wanted, but he could also choose to be alone. There was a small supermarket onsite, and carers and cleaners popping in and out for those who weren’t quite so mobile. And he had made new friends who were constantly visiting him. It was perfect and it had given him a new lease of life.

When her dad still lived at home, Grace had made sure to keep popping in to keep him company even though he was quite demanding and often grumpy. Mark was charming in front of his father-in-law but behind closed doors he didn’t like that Grace spent lots of time with her dad and didn’t understand his neediness. But Grace knew her dad was lonely and craving attention. He’d been with her mum so long that he didn’t know how to exist on his own. Sometimes she’d be driving home from his house when she’d get a call on her mobile from her dad’s neighbour to say that he was feeling unwell. Grace knew it was attention-seeking, because he’d been perfectly fine when she’d left him not that long ago, but he constantly needed the reassurance of people around him.

The retirement village was therefore the perfect answer and doing her a favour too, as it meant that she got some time out from her dad giving her earache about her son coming from a ‘broken home’. Her father’s mindset was old school; he thought that people should stick together through thick and thin for the sake of their children and not be selfish and divide their family. Grace was aware that her father totally disapproved when she kicked out Mark and felt that they should have worked through their differences – which was rich, really, coming from him, who had been a bit of a lad in his day. But Grace knew that now she had Archie, she couldn’t put up with what her mum had lived with, although times were different then.

She remembered a conversation she once had over a cup of tea one afternoon when her mum was having a moan about the lack of respect that she was shown in her marriage. Her mum’s view was that you either put up with the person you’d chosen to be with and got on with it or you worked hard to sort it out and fix it. You made your bed and all that. But Grace knew that if she stayed with Mark, not only was she not being true to herself, but she was also showing Archie that it was OK to act that way too. She was determined that she’d make sure Archie would grow up to know how to treat people properly. Grace wanted to show him that relationships were meant to be happy, not tolerated.

Gladys took the details of the retirement village and said it sounded pretty perfect for her too, that she’d give them a call and maybe arrange a visit. Grace found herself offering to take her along to meet her dad one of the days so that she could get a feel for the place. Gladys was someone that she felt she wanted to spend more time with, and this would be helping her too.

She glanced at her watch. ‘Gladys, it’s been a real treat to meet you and to look round your amazing house. We love it, as you can probably tell. But it’s nearly time for Archie’s football training and I’m going to have to tear myself away from your beautiful home and do some workings out, and we’ll be in touch, if that’s OK.’

The moment Grace got in the car, she rang her work and raved to Edward, the agency owner, how much she loved the house, and told him not to show it to anyone else just yet – one of the perks of working as an estate agent. He could hear the excitement bubbling over in her voice but kindly told her to sleep on it and that they’d discuss it when she was next at work.

When she went into the office the next day, they chatted over a coffee and agreed a plan of action. He suggested a low but sensible offer and made the call to Mrs Robinson while Grace waited with bated breath. Gladys wanted to go away and discuss things with her family and said she’d be back to them within a few days, after she’d had time to mull over everything.

In the meantime, Grace couldn’t concentrate on a thing. Her head was full of the house and how it might look once she’d put her stamp on it. Archie had always wanted a navy-blue bedroom, which just wouldn’t have been right in their modern build, but Grace thought it could work beautifully in the new house. She had always loved deep, dramatic colours, and because of the height of the rooms and the light that the huge windows let in everywhere, deep colours would be perfect and really make a statement.

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