Page 136 of One More Christmas at the Castle
He spent quite some time proving to me that he didn’t, before taking himself off to the sitting room for his coffee, passing Henry in the doorway.
‘I’mstarving,’ he announced, ‘and they scoffed all the cheese and onion flan, so how about I make us some cheese on toast? And then I might whip up some Parmesan puffs and a batch of cheese straws, if I’m not going to get in your way.’
‘Feel free,’ I told him. ‘I’m about to put that monster of a frozen turkey in the larder to start defrosting, which will leave a satisfyingly huge hole in the freezer for me to fill up again.’
‘You can cook up a storm after I’ve finished – it won’t take me long – and then I’ll leave you to it for a bit, because Dom and I are going to chop wood.’
‘I hope he’s safer with an axe than you are.’
‘I haven’t chopped anything off yet,’ he said with dignity. ‘And I think,’ he added with a grin, ‘Sophie’s going to findherself dragged down the garden to see the Roman mosaic, even though she looked less than thrilled about the idea of going out in the cold again!’
‘Well, that’s what comes of pretending you’re passionate about Roman history to an expert!’ I said.
Sabine
When we went upstairs before dinner, Nancy followed me into my boudoir and said she was curious to know how my interview with Xan had gone and this was the first chance she’d had to ask.
‘Not that it’s any of my business, really – just call me nosy!’
‘It didn’t go the way I’d hoped,’ I admitted. ‘And even my discussion with Timothy afterwards wasn’t as straightforward as I’d originally intended it to be. I thought I’d come to a decision, but now, things have changed …’
‘Well, you don’t need to tell me what’s worrying you if you don’t want to, because how you leave your property reallyisyour own affair.’
‘But I don’t seem able to keep any secrets from you anyway, Nancy. You home in on them like a human divining rod.’
‘That makes me sound terrifying!’
‘I expect it’s because you know me so well – and I always did call you the voice of my conscience, didn’t I? In fact, whenever I’m about to make a big decision, I always wonder what you’d think of it … as I did when I decided to employ Dido.’
‘That turned out to be a good idea, even if it wasn’t originally undertaken for the best of motives.’
‘Nancy,’ I said abruptly, ‘Xan says he’s in love with Dido and hopes she’ll marry him. She wanted him to just keep things between them on a friendly footing, though, until after Christmas, because she knew I wouldn’t be happy about it. But he said he got carried away – as Sophie so graphically described to us.’
‘I said Dido was a good, kind girl! I expect she didn’t want to upset you with an announcement of their engagement because she’s determined to make this Christmas exactly what you told her you wanted it to be.’
‘And so far, she has – she and Henry, between them,’ I admitted. ‘The tree decorating ceremony in the Great Hall, the Mistletoe Bough and the lovely wreaths and swags of greenery Henry created. And Dido put those solar lights on the fir tree outside as a special surprise for me.’
‘That was a lovely thought –andshe’s cooking all the dishes you told her you missed most, isn’t she?’
‘She’s done everything I’ve asked her to – and more,’ I agreed.
‘But you still need to accept in your heart that Dido isnother grandmother, don’t you?’ she said. ‘She’s never wronged you and, in fact, now she knows of the link, seems to be redoubling her efforts to please you.’
I moved about the room restlessly, picking things up, then putting them down again.
‘I know, it’s just … if I onlyknewforsure,’ I burst out. ‘But even if I did, would that make things better, or worse? I thought worse, but now …’
I tailed off and looked at Nancy, who was regarding me intently.
‘Sorry, Nancy, you have no idea what I’m talking about! It turns out that I do have one last secret you haven’t yet divined.’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that!’ she said. ‘One moment, I’ll just fetch something from my room.’
She was back in a moment, carrying a large, leather-bound volume.
‘Asa’s family photo album. I borrowed it from Xan, though, apart from Asa, I didn’t expect to recognize anyone in it.’
She opened the album where a slip of paper marked a page and held it out to me, so I could see a large photograph of Asa, with his arm around the shoulders of a tall, blonde, frail-looking young woman.
