Page 41 of The Secret Christmas Library
Mirren could barely suppress a smile. ‘You mean she has more money than you.’
‘Everyonehas more money than us,’ said Esme.
‘But she still works here?’
‘It’s her home as much as it is ours,’ said Jamie, forcefully.
‘And she has her own smoker,’ said Esme.
‘Can’t you askherto buy the place?’ said Theo.
‘Unfortunately,’ said Jamie, ‘she would have very much done her due diligence as to whether or not it would be a worthwhile investment. What we really need is to find a billionaire who doesn’t care that it’s falling apart, just thinks it’s cool. And to be able to keep going just a little while longer so that we have time to do that, by paying our taxes in January.’
‘And that’s why you should count me in,’ said Esme. ‘More heads are better.’
‘Well, if that’s the case, why don’t we just send Bonnie off to the stables again?’ chipped in Theo.
Mirren concentrated on the salmon. It was delicious; delicate and wild. Bonnie was very talented. The wine, too, tasted like nothing she’d ever had before: deep and velvety, with a peppery flavour. Esme took a sip and nodded appreciatively.
‘I see we’ve made it to the better end of the cellars.’
‘Is there nothing down there you can sell?’ asked Theo.
‘Come on, my good man,’ said Jamie, with a rare smile. ‘One does have one’s limits.’
‘Remember when Grampa sold all the whisky at auction?’ said Esme. ‘Nightmare. Load of crazies turning up like it was Drunk Disneyland.’
‘That actually sounds fun,’ said Theo.
‘Esme had to help Bonnie mop up all the vomit,’ said Jamie. ‘Another brilliant Forres Castle idea bites the dust.’
Esme shook her head. ‘Well, quite. So no more of that. If we have to go down, we might as well do it accompanied by a decent Burgundy.’
Bonnie took the plates away, thanking Mirren when she complimented the fish effusively. She then brought in a huge china tureen, decorated with ancient hand-painted images of sides of the castle they were sitting in right then, and opened the lid.
‘Venison again?’ said Esme, with a slight sigh, and Bonnie smiled.
‘I’m afraid it’s all off the land, Miss Esme. Our cheeseburger budget is unusually low this month.’
‘Yeah, yeah,’ said Esme, as Bonnie started ladling out large portions, with more of the wonderful bread, and dishes of fine green beans and spinach with a sharp lemon dressing. The smell was heavenly, deep and rich and chocolatey, and Mirren inhaled deeply.
‘This is fantastic,’ she said, and Bonnie laughed.
‘I don’t normally get so much appreciation.’
‘That’s because Esme lives off the canapés she gets at fashion parties,’ said her brother.
‘PLEASE,’ said Esme, waving her hands. ‘Who eats at fashion parties? Christ, Jamie.’
With everyone served, Mirren made sure she was using the right fork and dug in, carefully. It was just as delicious as itsmelled; there were berries in there that added a sweetness to the dish, as well as more of the deep red wine to add body, and the meat itself was so soft, you could cut it with a spoon. She tried not to make more noise about it than was absolutely necessary, but she could tell by how quiet everyone was that there was a lot of general enjoyment going on; there was even a truce in the air, of sorts, between the warring siblings, and for the time being Mirren relaxed.
24
Everything always looked better after a good meal, and as Bonnie tidied away the amazing lemon tart she had served with crème Chantilly and which everyone else had eaten with a fork and Mirren had started, too late, with her teaspoon, they moved, replete, back to the drawing room, and took comfortable chairs around the fire.
Jamie had brought his laptop and plugged a router into the wall, which apparently would harness some tiny scrapings of internet every so often from a passing satellite, if nobody sneezed and a mouse didn’t run across the road. Although the snow was not going to help.
Bonnie had announced that the kitchen door was jammed up already and if it didn’t stop soon they’d all be climbing out of the first-storey windows. Mirren must have looked nervous, because Bonnie had smiled and said, not to worry, there wasn’t anything to complain about until it hit the third-storey windows, and Mirren had said are we going to be alright for supplies and Bonnie had said absolutely not, the castle had never been cut off by flooding, snow, ice, storms, harsh weather or war before and they had absolutely no idea what they were doing, what a great idea to think about stockpiling supplies, if only they’d thought of it . . . but she said it with such a sweet smile that Mirren couldn’t take offence.
