Page 12 of A Recipe for Love
‘I was going to show Bella round.’
Veronica glanced in Bella’s direction. ‘Well I’m sure that won’t take all morning. I shall wait.’
Flinty reappeared a heartbeat after Veronica left, so precise a timing that Bella suspected she’d been in attendance in the hallway throughout the meal. ‘So that’s Veronica. The baroness,’ she said. ‘Well, the dowager baroness.’ Flinty closed her eyes for a second. ‘No. That’s Darcy. I don’t know what that means.’ She looked at Adam. ‘Are they both the dowager?’
‘I have no idea. I always asked my dad that stuff.’ He swallowed back something that could have been a sob. ‘Then didn’t listen when he tried to explain.’
Flinty squeezed his shoulder. ‘Well, you were young. We all thought there’d be more time, didn’t we?’
The weight of the sorrow in the house suddenly felt heavy on Bella’s heart. ‘Do you want to go for a walk? Clear your head a bit?’
Adam nodded. ‘Let’s give you the grand tour.’
Bella followed him back through the kitchens and outside. She found herself standing at the edge of a large courtyard, surrounded by high stone walls on all sides. Adam pointed back through the archway behind her. ‘So the coach house, where we slept, is through there.’
‘Right. Cos everyone needs a whole spare house on the side.’
He half-smiled. ‘We’re just really short of space.’
Bella turned around to take in the enormity of the building that surrounded her. ‘So this is all your house.’
‘Yeah. Well… it’s not all house really.’ He moved to stand behind her, turning her body back towards the kitchen. ‘So that’s the main wing.’
‘Wing?’
He laughed. ‘What? That’s what it’s called. So the front entrance is opposite the stairs and the dining room on the other side of this part, and the living rooms are sort of…’ He paused. ‘In that corner and a bit along the second side.’
Bella followed his pointing finger. ‘Right.’
‘The main bedrooms are upstairs. Darcy. My…’ He stopped.
Bella turned and wrapped her arms around his waist.
‘I’m OK. My father’s room was up there. Anyway…’ He didn’t continue.
She leaned into his body. ‘So what’s the rest?’
‘All sorts. A lot of these rooms…’ He pointed towards what Bella was thinking of as sides two and three to the square. ‘Aren’t in use any more. There’s the library, and then the more public rooms, for like audiences with the baron, and big receptions and stuff.’
Audiences with the baron? Where the baron did a couple of songs and a big dance number to finish? ‘Audiences?’
‘A long time ago. You know, people wanting their disputes sorted out or begging to be let off paying their rent.’ He looked around. ‘And then servants’ quarters obviously.’
‘Obviously,’ Bella muttered.
He took her hand and led the way through a passageway in the far corner of the quad. ‘This comes out sort of behind the coach house, and here we are.’
In front of them was a long low single-storey stone building, alongside a wide square patch of open grass. ‘So you’ve got a field?’ Bella asked.
‘A paddock.’
Which was different because?
‘And stables.’
‘You’ve got horses?’
Adam nodded and then stopped. ‘Well, I don’t. I haven’t ridden for years, but Darcy does. Only… I’m not sure, I think three or four horses here now.’
