Chapter 14
14
‘Well, looks like you’ve really done it this time!’ Charlotte murmured to the not-at-all-repentant Comet as he trotted back to her, tongue lolling out in the late afternoon heat. Her heart was racing after the new confrontation with Mr Rod-Up-His-Arse, and her legs felt shaky: a combination of embarrassment and upset. She’d never been good at being told off, and this had definitely felt like a telling off. Another one. From the same guy.
All the same, she wondered what the connection was between Lorelai and the man. From the familiar way he’d come around the back of the cottage and strode past her to Lorelai’s kitchen door, they must know each other. Perhaps he was the father of those adorable kids she’d met at the weekend? But would a dad of two children be quite so precious about some paw prints on his trousers?
Charlotte had returned from the observatory a little after four in the afternoon. She’d spent the time before she left unproductively opening drawers carefully and just trying to get a feel for the scale of the job ahead of her. When she’d done her postgraduate qualification in Archives and Records Management, one of her professors had warned her never to rush into an archiving project: that it was better, in the very first hours, to get an impression of a site, to tap into the intellectual lie of the land, and not to put things at risk of damage or – horrors – mis-cataloguing by pulling things out willy-nilly. She’d heeded that advice in every job she’d had so far, and she wasn’t about to ignore it now. Besides, the collection of archive boxes and other paraphernalia wouldn’t be delivered for another few days, and she wanted to make sure she had her cataloguing system up and running before she actually had to start putting things away.
As an astronomical historical archivist, her mission on a project was always complex, and had to be tailored to the specific site she was working on. Lower Brambleton’s observatory had been given the once-over by the University of North West Wessex when it had initially closed a decade ago, but their renewed interest in the area, especially in the light of its proposed demolition, had meant that her job was now to catalogue, digitise and preserve any remaining artefacts of cosmological or historical importance. What if, buried deep in the reams of paper in the observatory’s library and research room, there was a snippet of data, some research that had been overlooked in the first attempt to mothball the place?
She’d stopped herself just in time from gliding off on that particular flight of fancy. Chances were, she’d thought to herself firmly, that all she was going to find was a bunch of yellowing printouts from the dot-matrix printer that had been attached to one of several Commodore computers that had formed the mainframe of the observatory’s internal computer network. It was highly unlikely that anything of great astronomical significance was going to be found. Whoever had archived the Winslow papers would have had ample opportunity to find things and whatever had been left would probably just end up in anonymous archive boxes or a skip.
All the same, Charlotte was excited. The novelty of working alone on this project, the first time she’d been given sole responsibility, was intoxicating, and her senses were tingling at the prospect. It wasn’t just the opportunity to flex her skills as an archivist, but the chance to put her degree in astronomy into practice, too. The project was hers, all hers.
Settling back into the garden chair, where she’d been relaxing and watching Comet frolicking in the spray from the sprinkler, she picked up her phone to check her emails. She’d managed to get logged onto Lorelai’s wi-fi, but it was slow. As she waited for her email to load, she couldn’t help tuning in to the voices that were emanating from Lorelai’s living room. Whoever the guy was, Lorelai was obviously pleased to see him, as even though Charlotte couldn’t hear their conversation, Lorelai’s tone sounded light. In response, he still sounded gruff and uptight.
These musings passed the moments while her emails loaded. When they appeared on her iPhone’s screen, she smiled to see one from Professor Edwin, politely enquiring if she’d settled in all right, and reminding her to check in regularly with updates about anything that she might find to add to the Winslow archive. Not as yet , she thought.
There was also an email from Todd. He hadn’t contacted her since his rather cowardly ‘Dear John’ before she’d come to Lower Brambleton for the summer, and she contemplated just deleting the email without bothering to read it. Her finger hovered over the screen, ready to swipe Todd’s communique into oblivion, but she hesitated. What harm would it do to read it?
Just at that moment, Charlotte’s attention was dragged away from her phone by the sound of the door to Lorelai’s kitchen opening, and voices, still deep in conversation, coming towards her. She glanced up to see Lorelai and her visitor moving towards the gate. As they drew level with her, they paused.
‘Charlotte, this is my grandson, Tristan,’ Lorelai said. ‘I thought it was about time you were properly introduced, although I gather you met yesterday rather less formally.’
‘Hi.’ Charlotte gave her best smile, despite her lingering sense of irritation. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Tristan.’
‘Likewise,’ Tristan replied shortly. Then, turning back to his grandmother, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Think about what I said, Gran. It’s important.’
Lorelai shook her head. ‘And you think about what I said, Tristan, darling. I’m not ready to change my mind just yet.’
Charlotte found that she was watching the interplay between grandmother and grandson keenly as a pause descended between them, which was swiftly filled by Lorelai. ‘Pop in and see me sometime next week,’ she said, and from the tone of her voice, even Charlotte knew this wasn’t a question, but an instruction.
‘I will,’ Tristan replied. He glanced at Charlotte again. ‘I take it you’re going to dry off that dog before it sets foot in my grandmother’s annexe?’
Charlotte bridled at his tone. ‘Of course,’ she snapped back. ‘I’m not in the habit of letting him run riot.’
The ‘could have fooled me’ expression on Tristan’s face stayed with Charlotte long after the man himself strode out of the garden.
Sensing that Lorelai was lingering on the patio after Tristan’s exit, Charlotte smiled as brightly as she could. ‘He, er, seems nice,’ she said, although she could hear from her own tone how insincere she sounded.
Lorelai gave a brief smile, and then sighed. ‘I’m sorry that Tristan was a little short with you,’ she said. ‘He’s been trying to convince me to stop taking in lodgers. Says I’m getting too old. Keeps reminding me what could happen if one of my guests turned out to be a wrong ’un.’ Her smile, this time, was apologetic. ‘He knows I only accept people who’ve got good references, in your case, of course, the university gave you a glowing write-up, but he seems to think, at my age, I might be in danger of losing my marbles.’
‘From what I’ve seen of you so far, all of your marbles are very much in the jar!’ Charlotte tried to lighten the mood.
‘In the jar, and packed in tight,’ Lorelai agreed, and this time her smile was more convincing. ‘But he worries. It’s not surprising, really. He and his sister have had such a tough time of it since they lost their parents. And this Observatory Field development is taking it out of him. He has a habit, though, of, what did the therapists call it, displacing his fears. I just call it lashing out at the wrong target!’
Charlotte’s mind began to whirl. Amidst all of the information that Brian O’Connor had told her since she’d begun working at the observatory, there’d been something that had nagged at her; some connection she’d been struggling to make. She drew a deep breath, wondering if what she was about to ask was going to be too intrusive. She’d only met Lorelai a couple of days ago, and she didn’t want to upset her. But, she reasoned, she was going to be digging into the records of the observatory in detail soon: it would be good to know exactly what she was dealing with before she got too immersed.
‘Can I ask you something, Lorelai?’
Lorelai glanced up from the roses she’d been deadheading in the flowerbed by the patio. ‘Of course, love. What is it?’
‘When Brian O’Connor, who let me into the observatory today, was explaining some of the history of the site, he mentioned a couple of people by name – Laura and Martin. They seemed to be pretty significant people in its timeline.’ She paused, wondering whether to continue, but Lorelai nodded her head almost imperceptibly. ‘Brian seemed surprised that I didn’t know about them, seeing as I’m lodging here.’
Lorelai drew a deep breath. ‘Martin was my son, and Laura was his wife. We lost them in a car accident thirty years ago.’
Although she already knew about the accident, Charlotte was still lost for words as Lorelai confirmed her connection with Martin and Laura. Such a tragedy, even all these years later, was shocking.
‘I’m so sorry, Lorelai,’ she said gently. ‘I can’t imagine how terrible that must have been for you. For all of you.’
Lorelai nodded sadly. ‘It was. For me and their children it was the worst kind of loss imaginable. But for Brian and the rest of the Lower Brambleton Astronomical Society, it was also very painful.’ She gave a brief smile of recollection. ‘Martin and Laura were the heart and soul of the Lower Brambleton Astronomical Society in its heyday. They met at university, where they both studied astrophysics. Although their careers took them into industry rather than academia, they still maintained a keen interest in astronomy, and they helped put the observatory back on its feet in the late 1980s, after the first threat of demolition came onto the horizon. The observatory had been winding down in the 1970s, but there was a flurry of interest in its records when the Winslow papers were deemed to be of special interest. I’m sure you’re well versed in that part of the history. That, and some minor discoveries made by astronomers in the 1960s, kept it from being torn down forty years ago.’
Charlotte nodded. ‘Yes. I’ve studied many of the papers. For such a small site, it was a real hive of scientific activity for decades.’
Lorelai acknowledged Charlotte’s statement with a brief incline of her head before she continued. ‘Well, Laura, Martin and the rest of LBAS, as they became known, kept the observatory going, adding to the records with their own findings and making sure it kept its spot on the astronomical map. I’m sure Brian filled you in on a lot of the history.’
‘He mentioned Laura and Martin’s names, and that LBAS were known for their parties as well as their astronomy.’ She smiled. ‘It sounds like they were a very tight-knit group.’
‘Oh, they were,’ Lorelai smiled, but the smile was replaced quickly by a wistful look. ‘That’s why, when we lost Laura and Martin, you could say that the life went out of the observatory, and of LBAS, too. After that, things went into a decline. None of the remaining members of the society wanted to spend much time there, and it was gradually decommissioned. It couldn’t be sold for a number of years, but when the right time came, its owner felt it was time to repurpose the land.’ Lorelai gazed out across the garden towards the delphiniums at the bottom. Charlotte let her have a moment. She didn’t want to intrude, but she was still very interested in the story.
‘It all became a bit of a white elephant in the end,’ Lorelai continued, finally. ‘As romantic as the observatory might seem to a newcomer, it’s long outlived its usefulness. It’ll be good, finally, to see something new on the land.’
Charlotte was surprised by Lorelai’s philosophical attitude: it seemed at odds with the huge and terrible loss she’d suffered. She would have assumed that, should something so awful happen, it would be comforting to have somewhere like the observatory as a memorial. Then she thought back to the unloved, untidy, nearly derelict site that was Observatory Field and began to see why Lorelai might think that way. What was the point in holding onto a building, when the people who brought it to life were long gone?
‘I hope that having me here, doing the job I’m doing for the next few weeks won’t be too painful for you and your family,’ Charlotte said gently. ‘Please let me know if you’d rather not talk about it. I don’t want to dig up old memories.’
Lorelai leaned over and gave Charlotte’s hand a squeeze. ‘I appreciate that,’ she said. ‘It’s actually therapeutic, in a strange way. I know you’ve not been here very long, but I already feel as though what’s left of the observatory will be in safe hands. And it’s about time someone who really knew what they were doing sorted through all the papers and documents. Bless Brian and his group, they did their best to preserve everything, but actually what’s needed at this point is a fresh pair of eyes. I’m glad you’re here.’
Feeling touched and a whole lot more at ease with the project now that she and Lorelai had spoken, Charlotte headed off to make dinner. She couldn’t begin to imagine how awful the loss must have been for Lorelai, Tristan and Thea, but at least she could understand now why this development project was so important. She vowed to give it the time and respect it needed, to finally bring the strange half-life of Lower Brambleton’s observatory to a close.