Page 105 of The Secret Christmas Library
‘What do you mean?’
‘I told you about the heritage people – they’d liked the back, but not the front?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, now it’s all the back.’
‘Oh!’
‘I really think they could do something with it.’
‘With the ruins?’
‘Uh-huh.’
When she came back the next morning, looking sleepy and happy, Bonnie listened for a long time, nodding seriously. Then she and Jamie made a plan together.
They would use the sale value of the book to pay off the council bill, then generally clean up, then lease the ruins to the heritage people, but it would be hers, and she would run it. They would keep a cottage each, and Esme could have the gardener’s lodge, if she wanted it.
‘What are you going to do for a real job?’ asked Bonnie.
‘I don’t know,’ said Jamie. ‘I’ve never had to think about it before.’ He looked at Mirren. ‘What’s being a quantity surveyor like?’
‘I can’t remember, and I’ve probably been fired,’ said Mirren.
‘Don’t start a podcast,’ said Bonnie.
‘Huh. Okay. Well, I’ll think about it.’
‘That maze needs to be regrown,’ said Bonnie thoughtfully.
Jamie smiled. ‘Are you going to hire me as a gardener?’
‘Got any better ideas?’
‘What are you going to do when he won’t kill the snails?’ said Mirren.
‘Turn him out of his house,’ said Bonnie. ‘Kidding!’
Mirren picked up an old photo again: Joyce as a young woman. She was lovely, with the same round cheeks and soft brown hair as Bonnie.
‘Do you think . . . afterwards . . later on in life, they maybe got back together?’
Bonnie shrugged. ‘I think . . . I don’t know. Who knows? I know he loved her all his life. And she loved him too, once.’ She gave Jamie a sideways look. ‘But sometimes, women are tougher.’
‘You’ll get no argument from me,’ said Jamie.
‘But you stayed,’ said Mirren. ‘How could you bear it? Weren’t you bitter?’
‘The old laird – he offered me all what youse had. The schools and university and that. I went to cooking school in Edinburgh, and I got homesick. I didn’t like the big city, don’t know how you can stand it.’
‘Hmm,’ said Mirren.
‘And the cost of finding a place to live! And all the apartments are just horrible! I mean, shoeboxes!!’
‘Hmm,’ said Mirren again.
‘Why would you do that, when you’ve got a lovely cottage for free, and you’re surrounded by such a beautiful landscape? And I got to be with my family and Ian’s got the next farm over, and all my friends are here, so . . . ’
