Page 25 of Confessions of a Christmasholic

‘Mm. I inherited it when my mum died about fifteen years ago.’

Sutton murmured a low ‘I’m sorry’. She asked Will where he was from, but Eli waved her question away and answered for him. ‘London, dead normal, very liberal, very accepting parents. So endlessly undramatic.’

Will rolled his eyes at his partner’s comment. Sutton wanted to know more about Kate and wondered how she could broach this. Truthfully, she wanted to know more about Gus, but Kate was a big – probably the biggest – part of his story.

And she doubted Gus, being the strong and silent type, would tell her anything. He was the most interesting and compelling man she’d ever met. Good looking, sure, but his self-assurance was even more attractive than his blue eyes and rugged face. He was a man, mature and confident, sure of himself and his place in the world. Sutton hadn’t come across many men like him in her life: her father took off when she was young, she had no idea where he was, and her stepdad did the same when life demanded more from him than he was prepared to give. From the little she knew of him, Gus looked life in the eye and accepted its challenges and responsibilities.

And him being amanwas something she found shockingly attractive. ‘Tell me more about Conningworth, Lady Moira and the family,’ Sutton asked, wrapping her hands around her cup. ‘What was Kate like?’

Eli placed his chin in the palm of his hand, his blue eyes thoughtful. ‘Kate took the responsibilities of the barony she inherited very, very seriously. She believed, rightly or wrongly, it was the family’s job, as Conningworths, to look after the village. When she returned from uni, she flung herself into village affairs, determined to make this part of the district as much a tourist attraction as Windermere and Kendal. She opened the hall to tours, persuaded Moira to convert it into a B&B and started hosting weddings and teambuilding events. That’s how she met Gus – he organised an orienteering weekend for her.’

Sutton wrinkled her nose. ‘Is orienteering where you have to race and navigate?’ She couldn’t think of anything she’d less like to do.

‘Sounds awful, doesn’t it?’ Eli grimaced. ‘Anyway, they got together, and the village adopted Gus, and tourists started trickling in. Kate began organising events – she set up a weekly run/walk through the estate, the weekly farmers’ market and various speciality markets throughout the year, culminating in the Christmas market. More tourists came and she decided it was time to open the shop she’d always wanted—’

‘Kate’s Christmas Shop.’

They nodded, looking sober. ‘A week before the grand opening, she was killed in a car crash somewhere outside Manchester.’

The back of Sutton’s throat burned. ‘That’s awful.’ Poor, poor Gus. And it is so sad those gorgeous children would grow up without their mum.

‘It was a tough, tough time,’ Eli agreed. ‘It was the village’s turn to look after the family, and we set up babysitting and food rosters, organised to have their house cleaned, to do the laundry. Gus bounced back – no, that’s the wrong word—’ Eli flapped his hands in the air, grimacing.

‘Gus had two babies and businesses to look after, and he had to pull it together,’ Will calmly explained.

Eli bit down hard on his lower lip, his eyes bright with unshed tears. Sutton wanted to squeeze his hand, but because she wasn’t good at spontaneous gestures of affection, she kept her hands wrapped around her cup. She envied Eli, he was so open, so unafraid to show his feelings or to put himself out there. She didn’t know how to be like that with anyone but Layla.

She was her person, the yin to her yang. Layla was an only child, but Sutton juggled her schoolwork and her younger siblings. Unlike other kids her age, she had to walk her siblings home, supervise their homework, make them supper, and get them bathed and ready for bed. Her mum would make it home for dinner most nights, but the bulk of household and child-minding chores landed on her too-young shoulders. After dinner, she hit the books, sometimes studying into the early hours to get all her work done. She now understood she was chronically sleep-deprived as a teenager. But when you didn’t know better, and simply had to carry on, you did.

Later, when the boys were old enough to, mostly, look after themselves she split her time between studying for her degree and finding a way to pay for it. She hadn’t had time to make friends. Occasionally she partied, and had the odd one-night stand, but she never allowed people to get to know her. Or her them. Time was a precious, precious commodity and she guarded it fiercely.

Besides, she’d had Layla, always there, and she’d never needed anyone else.

Eli tapped Sutton on the hand, and she was relieved to see his tears were gone and curiosity had strolled back in. ‘Now we—’

‘You,’ Will interjected.

‘—weneed to know why you destroyed Gus’s decorations and passed out on his lawn?’ Eli asked. ‘We nagged him for an explanation, and he told us.’

‘You nagged him, and he toldyou, Eli.’

‘I thought Gus could keep that a secret,’ Sutton protested. Gus folded like a pack of cards!

‘Don’t worry, your secret is safe with us,’ Will replied, narrowing his eyes at Eli. ‘The love of my life is Conningworth’s biggest gossip, on sea and land, but he won’t say a word if you ask him not to. And Gus has asked him not to, so he won’t.’

Eli placed his hand on his heart. ‘I adore Gus.’

‘Partly because he’s a genuinely good guy, and partly because, in summer, Gus runs shirtless,’ Will told her, a smile on his face.

Sutton was rather jealous Eli had seen his bare chest and she had to use her imagination. She sighed and then realised two pairs of curious eyes hadn’t left her face. ‘Well, spill the tea, girlfriend!’ Eli demanded.

And Sutton, who never talked about anything serious to anyone but Layla, did. She did, however, leave out her plan to squat in their house.

* * *

Conningworth Hall was, as Gus told her as he drove his SUV through the ornate iron gates and onto a Pemberley-like road bisecting a thick wood, a classical Grade II listed house, owned by his wife’s family for nearly four hundred years.

‘The family had some dodgy moments hanging onto the place in the fifties, but Kate’s grandfather made some money importing and exporting wine and managed to find the funds to repair the roof and treat the dry rot,’ Gus explained. ‘You’ll get your first glimpse of the house around this next bend.’

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