Page 32 of The Girl with the Irish Secret
As they walked into the house in silence, she wondered what he had meant. Would the making of this movie be more challenging than she had thought? He had hinted at the fact that he could be difficult, and when she thought about how he had behaved when they’d had that drink in London, she realised thatthere might be many sides to his character. Sides that she might not find easy to accept. The reality might be very different to her dreams.
14
The tour around the ground floor and gardens of the manor took longer than Vi had planned. Jack wanted to see as much as he could. He looked into every nook and cranny of the downstairs rooms, asking questions about the family and its history. As luck would have it, the rooms were empty of residents, avoiding any questions or curious stares. He was fascinated by the library, where the bookcases and oak panelling were still as they had been when the house was built. The old books had been replaced by a modern selection, mostly contemporary literature in paperback. But there were still a few leatherbound volumes here and there, books about the flora and fauna of Kerry with beautiful illustrations that Jack found fascinating. He leafed through them, staring at the pictures, impressed by the detail.
They had a quick look in the dining room that was now furnished with round tables and chairs and had art posters on the walls. ‘Nice,’ Jack said, ‘but I bet the old dining room was a lot more interesting.’
‘Of course,’ Vi agreed. ‘There was a huge mahogany table here that could seat twenty people with matching chairs and a beautiful oriental carpet. And then there were Regencysideboards and a glass cabinet and oil paintings on the walls. The old furniture and some of the paintings were sold off when they created this communal dining room. And the ballroom was also modernised and made into a space for events such as weddings and other festivities. It’s very popular for receptions in the summer months because then they can also use the terrace and have drinks outside when the weather is nice.’
Jack looked into the ballroom and agreed that it was a great room and would be perfect for the setting of the movie when they staged the scenes that required a large room. ‘Great for dancing the waltz like Don and Kathleen did after their wedding.’ He smiled at Vi. ‘You know that scene that’s in the script, just after they met? We must rehearse dancing together before we start shooting.’
‘Good idea,’ Vi said, feeling a lot more confident as the day wore on.
They went outside to walk through the Regency garden, Lily’s special domain that she had created with the help of a landscape gardener. Within its walls, they were sheltered from the winds, and despite the flowerbeds being bare of flowers at this time of year, it was a beautiful, calm space where the gravel paths wound around shrubs and fruit trees in a pattern designed after the gardens that had been there nearly two hundred years ago.
‘Here, the ladies of the house would walk and then take tea in the little pavilion over there.’ Vi showed Jack a small building with a roof covered in shingles.
‘I can nearly see them,’ he said. ‘Walking slowly, chatting, their long skirts trailing, holding parasols and then sitting down in the pavilion having tea.’
‘Must have been lovely on a summer’s day.’ Vi walked ahead to the orangery. ‘This is Lily’s café. It’s closed now, but she’s going to open it over the Christmas holidays and have a tea party here on Christmas Eve.’
Jack peered through one of the tall windows. ‘Looks like a nice space. Very nicely done. What are those paintings on the back wall?’
‘Family portraits,’ Vi said. ‘The café is locked but I know where the key is. Do you want to go in and take a look?’
‘Yes, please. I love old family portraits.’
‘Okay.’ Vi went to the door, lifted a potted plant and found the key underneath it. ‘Here it is, as usual.’
Jack laughed. ‘What an original place to hide a key.’
‘I know, but around here nobody would dare break in. That would bring the curse of the Fleurys on them. In any case, there isn’t much to steal.’
‘Except the family portraits,’ Jack remarked.
‘Ah no. Who’d want them?’ Vi turned the key in the lock and opened the door. ‘Here we are. It’s freezing so we won’t stay long. But you can have a quick look at the paintings.’
It was certainly very cold in the café as it hadn’t been heated since it had been closed for the season in early October. Sylvia had turned on the heating briefly while she was doing the accounts, but it had turned cold again after that. Despite the chill, the orangery was a lovely big space with a tiled floor and tall windows overlooking the garden. A weak winter sun cast beams of light on the floor and there was a faint smell of rose petals and lavender in the air.
‘It’s like stepping into the past,’ Jack said in a low voice as he walked over to the back wall to look at the portraits. Then he gazed at the faces in silence. ‘Tell me about them,’ he said after a while.
Vi looked at him with a smile, enjoying how enamoured he was. She pointed at the painting of a dark-haired woman with lovely eyes. ‘That’s Maria Fleury. She married my great-great-grandfather sometime in the eighteen eighties. The tall man standing against the oak tree is Frank Fleury, her husband. Thedark man with the moustache and the mischievous eyes is their son Cornelius, the one who gambled away all the money and nearly cost the family Magnolia Manor and the whole estate.’
‘Interesting,’ Jack said with an amused smile. ‘I sense a story that you’re reluctant to tell.’
‘Oh, I will later,’ Vi said.
‘Can’t wait.’ Jack walked on and stopped at the portrait of a beautiful woman in a red dress wearing the famous Fleury pearls. ‘Oh how lovely. Sylvia as a young woman?’
‘Yes,’ Vi said. ‘It was painted two years after her wedding.’
Jack kept staring at the painting, looking mesmerised. ‘What a beautiful woman. And how lovely she still is. She might have aged, but the charisma is still there. That straight back and the feisty look in her eyes… wow.’
‘She’s a force of nature,’ Vi agreed.
‘That’s for sure.’ Jack had moved on to the last portrait of two men. ‘This one is lovely. Father and son?’
‘Yes,’ Vi said, looking at the painting. ‘That’s my grandfather and my father. It was painted just before they both drowned in a boating accident. A freak wave hit their sailing boat and…’ Tears pricked her eyes as she said it and she didn’t know how to go on.
