Page 28 of The Book of Irish Secrets
Claire looked around the flat. ‘It’ll be a bit of a squeeze but as it’s a drinks party we won’t need chairs except for Sylvia.’
‘Yes, she might want to sit down and hold court,’ Rose agreed. ‘Everyone can walk here so they can have a drink and then we’ll walk with the kids into town to watch the parade. We can all rejoin in the evening for dinner at the pub. I’ll give them a call and see if we can book a large table. That’s usually fine with them. Actually, I think Dominic’s band is playing that night. He’s Lily’s husband, by the way. He and his band are great. All trad. You’ll love them.’
‘Sounds like a fun day,’ Claire said, smiling at Rose.
Rose got up. ‘Yes, I think it’ll be fab. But I have to go now and leave you to unpack.’ She handed Claire a bunch of keys. ‘Here you are. The two small keys are to the flat and the big one is to the laundry next to the catering kitchen. There is a calendar on the wall beside the door. You have to book a slot when you need to do a wash. There are two tumble driers and an ironing board and so on down there, too, so you can do everything you need. I gave you the code to the front door, so you won’t need a key to that one.’ She drew breath and smiled. ‘That’s it. Give me a shout if you need help with anything. And welcome home,’ she ended.
‘Thank you for everything,’ Claire said, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. ‘It won’t take me long to get settled in.’
‘See you later, then,’ Rose said and left, closing the door softly behind her.
Claire sat there for a while enjoying the feeling of having her own space at last. She turned and looked out the window at the view of the garden, the deep blue ocean beyond and the Blasket Islands far away in the distance. Seagulls glided in the blue sky above the water that glimmered in the sunshine. Claire walkedover to the window and opened it to let in the cool fresh air from the sea.
Then she got stuck into unpacking. Better to get everything sorted and put away as soon as possible. She also needed to hide Auntie Rachel’s book somewhere safe, along with the letter and her own files about the Fleury family that she had kept for such a long time. She found them in one of the boxes and flicked through the pages which contained newspaper clippings with photos and articles about the family, some of them very sad. But there was happy news too: all the weddings and then reports of the Magnolia party that was held each year when the magnolia tree was in full bloom. It had once been a yearly ball but as time went on and funds dwindled, the big glamorous parties had been simplified and, as Rose had explained, it was now a tea party but enjoyable nonetheless, Claire assumed.
Once everything was tidied away, it was time to cook dinner in the little kitchen which seemed to have everything she needed even if on a small scale. Claire had swung by the supermarket on her way to the manor and picked up enough groceries for a few days. Tonight she would cook a steak and bake a potato in the oven, along with vegetables and a tomato salad.
The little kitchen was soon infused with the delicious smell of steak with garlic butter and Claire laid the small table in front of the window and opened a bottle of wine to celebrate moving in. As she sat down and watched the sun slowly sink behind the islands and the skies darkened, she lifted her glass in a silent toast to her good fortune and all the kind people she had met since she arrived. She was itching to go into that little room with the archives. Rose had said most of it was a mess, except for the part she had gone through. So Claire assumed that it was the stuff Rose hadn’t looked at that would be interesting. If Rose had found any trace of Cornelius’s twin brother, they would all know about it by now. It was getting late and everyone in the househad settled in for the night. What better time to go into that little room that held so many secrets?
Claire tidied away the dishes and went to the door that led to the landing. She opened it and listened for a moment, her heart beating. Not a sound except for the faint whisper of the wind outside and the sound of someone’s TV. She tiptoed across the landing and kept listening intently for any sounds from the floor below. But all was quiet and she slowly opened the door to the dark little room, her heart beating.This is it, she thought.I must find what I’m looking for, anything at all that can lead me to the true story of what turned Louis and Cornelius from brothers to enemies. About Caroline. I will leave no stone unturned, no letter unread, no photograph unseen. This is my only chance…
Claire stepped into the room that lay in near darkness, lit only by the light from the landing. There was a strong smell of dust and mould which made Claire sneeze several times. She ran her hand over the wall and found a switch which she flicked. The room was suddenly flooded with light from a bare bulb in the ceiling.
Claire looked around once her eyes had accustomed to the glare and found that the walls of the room were lined with shelves crammed with papers, albums and what looked like ledgers. There were also open boxes full of an assortment of papers and photos, all marked with stickers that had numbers which Claire realised were the years of the last centuries. Rose had said that most of the papers had been sorted into decades but nothing looked very organised. Claire realised that she had set herself a mammoth task which now looked impossible. She had no idea where to start and sense of hopelessness enveloped her as she looked at piles after piles of documents and ledgers. But she had to at least try.
Claire went to the far end of the room, the part where there was even more of a mess, and papers and documents had been dumped in no particular order. As the other papers had been at least organised with dates and years, they had to have had someone’s eyes on them, probably Rose’s. But here there was a huge mess of things that had no dates and were stuffed onto the shelves randomly. She flicked through a few of the papers and saw that they were of little importance. She pulled out a few of them to look at in her flat, but felt suddenly so tired and overwhelmed that she decided to leave her research for another day when she could look at things properly.
When Claire got back to the flat, she looked at what she had pulled out at random. They were household bills with dates from the beginning of the last century, that had ‘paid’ stamped across most of them. Nothing much that would give any clue. But then she saw something at the bottom of one of the bills that was dated 1910. It was from a shop that sold musical instruments. It said that a violin had been purchased and a Steinway grand piano had been tuned. It also had ‘paid’ stamped across it and then a signature…
Claire peered at it under the light of her bedside table. The signature was by ‘Louis Fleury’. Claire blinked and stared at it, breathless with excitement. ‘Louis Fleury,’ she murmured. ‘Oh, how incredible to see something actually written by him.’ It was a tiny clue, not to the actual feud but to the fact that he had been real and lived in this house. She kept looking at it and felt nearly dizzy with excitement. She had to try to get back to the little room and do a more thorough search as soon as she could.
Claire shook her head, trying to clear her mind and return to the present. She had a job to do, after all, and it was important to do it well. Sylvia’s birthday party was her first task and she was determined to meet the challenge. It was important both for her and for Karina. Sylvia wanted her party to be a successand Claire promised herself it would be, come rain or shine. It was important to get into Sylvia’s good books. Then, maybe, she wouldn’t be angry when Claire told her the true story about who she really was.
On Tuesday morning, the day of the birthday party, Claire woke up to the sound of something smattering against the windows. She sat up, and listened. Oh no, that sounded like heavy rain. That was not good news. She checked the time on her phone and saw that it was already eight o’clock. Time to get up, dress and go down to the kitchen and help Maura prepare the food. The guests were arriving at five and there would be champagne and nibbles on the terrace, then the doors to the ballroom would be thrown open and everyone invited to find their places around the five round tables, each set for ten people. Claire also had to check the table settings, the flowers, the candles and make sure everything was absolutely perfect, just the way Karina would do it if she were here herself. But the rain would mean that the champagne and nibbles on the terrace was a washout.
‘What are we going to do?’ Claire asked Maura when she arrived in the catering kitchen half an hour later.
‘We’re going to have the champagne reception in the large hall,’ Maura replied, looking completely unflappable. ‘Drinks on the terrace was never going to happen, anyway. Nobody in their right mind would plan something like that in the month of February. No idea why Sylvia thought it would be possible. But the plan B will be fine, so don’t worry.’
Claire relaxed. ‘Okay, I won’t, then. You seem so calm but I’m feeling like an acrobat without a security net because I have to stand in for Karina.’
Maura smiled. ‘I know how you feel, but trust me, we’re better off on our own. Karina is always so nervous around Sylvia.We can do without that kind of tension when we cater for fifty people. I have it all in hand and Ronan and I have done it all according to Karina’s recipes. The finger food for the champagne reception is ready and in the fridge. Five different kinds of canapés: shrimp with a mayo dip, mini cucumber sandwiches, devil on horseback which will be done in the oven just before the guests arrive, cheese twists and cocktail tomatoes with mozzarella and basil. You and I will pass it all around and Rose is going to help out too.’
‘Oh, I didn’t know I had to do that,’ Claire said. ‘Do we wear waitress uniforms?’
‘No,’ Maura replied. ‘Just a white apron over a dark T-shirt and trousers or a skirt, whatever you have. The apron will cover most of it anyway. There are aprons on a hook in the laundry, so you can go and take one when you need it.’
‘And the dinner?’ Claire asked. ‘Do we serve that as well?’
‘No, it’s a buffet, so we just put everything on the long table and then the guests help themselves. Then Sylvia will cut the cake and Rose and Lily will hand out the slices. When the guests are having coffee in the library, we tidy up and put everything in the dishwashers. We’ve done it all before, so there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Oh, good,’ Claire said, feeling better at Maura’s calm voice. It was going to be fine and there was nothing to worry about.
Everything went like clockwork, according to Maura’s plan. The champagne reception in the hall was a great start to the evening and the guests, all dressed up, were soon chatting and laughing and enjoying the finger food that Maura, Ronan and Claire handed around. Then followed the buffet in the ballroom, which looked wonderful with white tablecloths on the round tables, decorated with beautiful flower arrangements. Claire found that she was oddly proud of Magnolia Manor and the way it looked tonight. The soft light of the many candles made herfeel she was transported in time to a bygone era and she felt as if she was part of the house, the family and its history. She gave a start as Sylvia walked past her on her way into the ballroom with an older woman who stared at her and then took her by the arm.
‘Hello,’ the woman said. ‘You must be a relation. You have that Fleury look about you.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Claire stammered, casting a look at Sylvia. ‘I’m just one of the staff here.’
