Before he could begin to speak, she took the lead.
‘Congratulations, Teddy. I think Dixie is perfectly adorable. You have made a good choice and I am sure that the two of us will become firm friends. I simply wished to tell you that I am happy to pay for the necessary refurbishments to the dower house myself. And I would like to know if you are prepared to sell the two hundred acres of farmland that surrounds it to me? Being on the other side of the lane, the land also abuts Home Farm. I am prepared to take it on and farm it in your stead. I have consulted a local land agent and can offer you a fair price, which would then provide you with some funds for the upkeep of High Weald and the London house.’
‘I see.’ Teddy’s expression showed his surprise. ‘I’d have to discuss it with Dixie and my solicitor first.’
‘You do that. I shall move out of High Weald after Louise’s wedding.’
‘Of course.’
‘That is all I have to say.’
‘Right.’ Teddy stood up. ‘Please feel free to take anything you wish from the house.’
‘My needs are few, and I am very good at starting again. All I will say is that you have been handed a beautiful legacy. High Weald is a very special place and I hope that you and Dixie treasure it as your father and I have done.’
And before Flora burst into tears, she swept from the room.
On a sweltering August day, Flora watched Louise marry Rupert Forbes in the church where she had so recently buried her husband. As she prayed for the couple, she could only beg the higher powers to bring the peace that had been promised so often. Both in her own life and the world.
In late autumn, Flora wandered around High Weald, feeling ridiculous for saying goodbye to a house that she knew she would visit many times in the future, but would no longer be hers. But then, she thought sadly, it never had been, as it had never been anybody’s. It simply belonged to itself, as old houses did. And it would stand into the future, long after the present incumbents were dead.
She looked through the kitchen window at the walled garden, remembering the many happy times she and Archie had shared there.
‘Moments of happiness . . .’ Flora quoted to herself. Nothing lasted forever, she mused, even though human beings expected it to. All one could do was to enjoy the moments while they could.
The pony and trap stood outside, piled high with her most precious possessions. She let herself out through the front door and climbed up onto it.
‘Goodbye . . .’ She blew High Weald – and Archie and all the memories – a kiss. Then she turned her head away and, taking a moment to forgive herself for all the mistakes she had made, gave the pony a light tap on its flanks and rode off down the drive into another new future.
Star
November 2007
Rosa x centifolia (cabbage rose – Rosaceae family)
40
The chimes of the grandfather clock brought me out of the past with a jolt. I looked at my watch and saw it was four in the morning. Opposite me, Orlando’s eyes were closed, and he looked grey with exhaustion. I tried to focus on all he had told me, but I knew I needed sleep before I could make sense of it.
‘Orlando?’ I whispered, not wishing to startle him. ‘It’s time for bed.’
His eyes shot open, looking glazed. ‘Yes,’ he agreed. ‘We shall discuss what I have told you on the morrow.’ He stood up and staggered to the doorway like a man drugged, then turned and looked back at me. ‘You do see why I thought it best to keep these away from my brother, don’t you? He was so very bitter. And knowing for certain that our side of the family had been cheated out of High Weald could only have made him feel worse.’
‘I think so.’ I indicated the journals. ‘Shall I put them away somewhere?’
‘Take them with you. My paltry attempt at recounting such a complex story has only given you the bare bones. Those can fill in the detail. Goodnight, Miss Star.’
‘But I still don’t understand why this story is relevant to me?’
‘Good grief,’ he said, eyeing me speculatively. ‘I am surprised. I would have thought that your able mind would have deduced exactly how. Tomorrow.’ He waved his hand at me and left the room.
It was past eleven the next morning before Orlando appeared in the kitchen.
‘Today, I feel every one of my thirty-six years, plus another two score and ten,’ he said as he sat down heavily in a chair.
I too was weary, having spent what was left of the night tossing and turning. Managing to fall asleep only half an hour before my alarm went off, I was up at seven to make Rory breakfast and drive him to school.
‘How about brunch? Eggs Benedict and smoked salmon?’ I suggested to Orlando.
‘I can think of nothing more perfect. We can pretend we are at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, having tipped up there from a speakeasy where we have danced until dawn. And how are you today, Miss Star?’
‘Thoughtful,’ I replied truthfully, as I prepared the eggs.
‘I am sure that feeding the digestion will ease the ingestion of facts.’
‘What I don’t understand is why Mouse gave me the impression that Flora MacNichol was a devious person. I think she was rather wonderful.’
‘I agree entirely. If it hadn’t been for her injection of funds to restore the house and gardens after Great-grandmother Aurelia died, not to mention the work she herself put in by restoring and then steering the estate through the Second World War, no Vaughans or Forbes would be resident today. She also left the farmland she had purchased from Teddy to Louise and Rupert on her death. That land generates the main income for Home Farm today.’
‘She did her best to make amends to Louise,’ I mused.
‘Yes, and how. During the difficult post-war years, my father said Flora held the family together. She did the accounts for Arthur Morston Books, and was there to help Dixie bring up her son, Michael, and assist in the running of High Weald. As you can imagine, Teddy wasn’t much use in either role. She lived a long and fulfilled life.’
‘How old was she when she died?’
‘She was in her late seventies. My father told me that she was found sitting under the rose arbour in the afternoon sun.’
‘I’m glad her later years were happy. She’d earned it. How could Mouse feel it was she who was to blame for all of it? After all, it was Archie’s decision to register Teddy as Louise’s twin on the birth certificates.’