14. Chapter Fourteen
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Colin took a deep breath and held up the key his father had given him. “Here we go.”
Mabel patted his shoulder as he fitted the key to the lock. “It’s going to be fine. I’m right here.”
He opened the door into the countess’s suite and a puff of warm, stale air with just a hint of old perfume surrounded him.
“Wow,” Mabel whispered. “It’s like no one has been in here in forever.”
Colin made himself look around the vast room which contained a four-poster bed, a mirrored dressing table, two wingback chairs by the fireplace, and two tallboys. There was still enough space to add a three-piece suite and maybe a pickleball court.
“It’s amazing.” Mabel walked over to open the curtains that covered the windows. “It’s bigger than my whole apartment.”
“I think it’s the same size as the earl’s suite,” Colin found his voice, his gaze on the bed where his mother had lingered until her death.
Not that he’d been allowed to be there when she died.
Either his father or Marjorie—his mother’s best friend and soon to be second countess—had decided he was too young to attend.
When he returned home for the holidays, Marjorie was already ensconced in her new position.
Not that the marriage had lasted long. He suspected his father had married for all the wrong reasons.
Marjorie hadn’t dealt with his continuing grief for his first wife well, having convinced herself that once she got what she’d always wanted, her best friend would firmly be relegated to the past. Colin knew all this because he’d been a reluctant observer of their frequent and public rows.
“Colin?” He looked up to see Mabel with her hand on the internal door. “Can I go through here or will I end up in the earl’s bedroom? Do you know I haven’t actually met him yet? We communicate entirely through Bartle.”
He shook off the past. “You’ll be quite safe. There are two dressing rooms that connect through a third door so you’re miles away.”
“Oh, my goodness! Look at that bath!”
Her voice echoed back to him, and he hastened to join her. Half the interior room was taken up with a luxurious Edwardian bathroom suite, and the rest was a wall of cupboards and drawers.
“From what Father said, no one has cleared out this room since Brigitte, countess number three, left for France sixteen years ago. She died almost immediately, so we’re not expecting her back—not that the twins would want to see her after being abandoned at the tender age of one.
” He opened a cupboard at random and winced.
“I see what he means. It’s packed to the gunnels. ”
“What’s a gunnel?” Mabel had climbed into the bath. He could barely see her within its depths and her voice was all echoey. Her red sneakered feet were propped up on the edge.
He strolled over to her. “I think it means there’s no space left.”
“You know I’ll have to look it up, now.” She tugged her phone from her pocket and began googling. “Idiom, old-fashioned,” Mabel read out the definition. “If something is filled to the gunwales, i.e. gunnels on a ship, it is extremely packed.”
“Makes sense.” Colin offered his hand to help Mabel out of the bath, which proved harder than getting into it. “I wonder if Marjorie got rid of everything that belonged to my mother.”
“She probably didn’t have the nerve,” Mabel commented, her gaze sweeping the multitude of cupboards. “I mean, it’s a lot.”
“Father always told us that he told both of his subsequent wives not to touch anything, but I’m not sure Brigitte took much notice.”
“Because your dad cared about your mom the most.” She nodded. “I kind of get that.”
“Mabel.” He took a deep steadying breath. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
She squeezed his fingers hard. “Then leave it to me, okay?”
“If there is any of her stuff here…” He looked down at her. “Going through her things, remembering her wearing them just feels… too much.”
“Totally understandable.” She held his gaze. “If you just tell me what you’d like to do with the everything, I can handle it.”
He dropped a kiss onto her brow. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You just constantly make things right for me and I don’t know how to thank you enough,” Colin murmured into her hair.
She cupped his chin. “You deserve it. Really. One hundred percent.”
He leaned in and kissed her gently on the mouth until she went up on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. As usual, her closeness righted his world, and he truly believed he would prevail. How would he cope if she left and how on earth was he going to persuade her to stay?
Mabel glanced up at Colin as they went down the stairs to join his family for lunch.
She wanted to suggest he speak to a therapist about his mom and all the other stuff that had gone on in his family, but she’d already learned that the British reacted with horror to the idea of sharing their business with anyone.
“Should we invite Ted to Freddy’s birthday celebration on Saturday?” Colin asked just before they reached the dining room where she could hear the murmur of voices.
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Mabel said. “You should ask the Haywicks and Gavin, too.”
“I already have. I just didn’t think it would be Ted’s thing. He’s quite reserved.”
“Which is probably why he appreciates your sister.”
“You think her interest is reciprocated?” Colin looked down at her before they went through the door.
Mabel nodded.
“He’s a good man who stood up to everything his father did to force him to conform. Ted’s still standing, which I respect enormously.” He opened the door and ushered her ahead of him. “Before I forget—here’s the key.”
“The key to what?” Freddy, who never missed a thing, called out. “Your heart?”
“She already has that.” Colin walked to the dining table and held out a chair for Mabel. “She’s agreed to help me sort out the countess’s chambers.”
“Is there a lot of stuff in there?” Freddy asked Mabel as Colin turned to acknowledge his grandmother and Ted.
“I thought Brigitte would have taken anything valuable back to France with her. Father had a terrible time getting the jewelry that belonged to the estate returned. He had to take the French authorities to court.”
“I don’t know if there is anything of value, but the closets certainly need a clean out. From what I’ve been told, most of them haven’t been touched since—” Mabel hesitated. “The first countess died.”
“Our mother.” Freddy nodded. “Makes sense.”
“That’s not quite true, actually, Mabel,” Felicity said. “Majorie got rid of a lot of mum’s things and when Brigitte came to live here, she needed space for her belongings, too.”
Colin turned to Felicity. “Why didn’t anyone tell me that?”
Felicity shrugged. “I suppose because you were away at school and it didn’t really concern you.”
“But we should all have been informed if Brigitte was trashing our mother’s things,” Colin persisted.
“I didn’t say she’d trashed anything,” Felicity objected. “Just that she wanted as much space as possible.”
“I thought—”
“That all mum’s stuff was still there?” Freddy interrupted him. “Come on, Colin, what difference does it make? It’s probably up in an attic somewhere. You can still go through it. Eric told me that’s where most of it ended up anyway.”
“Eric knew?”
“He was the heir, he knew everything, you know that.” Freddy grinned. “I bet he pinched a few things and sold them off when no one was looking.”
“Of course he did.” Colin’s smile had gone. “It would’ve been nice to have been consulted as to whether there was anything of mum’s that the rest of us might have wanted.”
“Like what?” Freddy asked. “Her hairdryer?”
“That’s not the point,” Colin said. “Why was Father so insistent that I clean out the bloody countess’s suite if there’s nothing I value in there?”
“Probably to make certain that Eric didn’t steal everything,” Freddy said, seemingly oblivious to Colin’s frustration. “And somebody responsible needs to go through it all and that’s you now, mate.”
Colin suddenly stood up. “Excuse me. I have something I have to do.”
He left the room leaving Freddy shaking his head. “Sorry, Ted, I don’t know what’s rattled his tree this morning. He needs to chill out.”
Mabel considered following Colin, but would he prefer to have some space?
Family issues were always fraught, and she still didn’t get some of the undercurrents within the Marcham family.
Still, she didn’t like seeing Colin upset.
Just as she was about to rise, Felicity lightly touched her hand and whispered.
“Don’t worry. Colin doesn’t often get cross but it’s best to leave him to it when he does. He’ll be right as ninepence in a little while.”
“Are you sure?” Mabel whispered back.
“Absolutely.”
Mabel allowed herself to be persuaded, poured herself a glass of water, and considered the offerings on the table. Mrs. Reynolds had provided quiche in various flavors, new potatoes, and salad. There was a slab of yellow butter in its own dish beside the potatoes which were sprinkled with parsley.
“What time do you want me at my party on Saturday?” Freddy asked. “Am I supposed to arrive late and be surprised, or simply be there from the start graciously accepting the good wishes, and more importantly, the presents from my grateful family?”
“What would you prefer?” Mabel helped herself to a piece of salmon quiche and one with asparagus and tomato. “I assume you’d prefer to make an entrance.”
“Only if there are maidens throwing rose petals in front of me and I get to ride on an elephant.”
“Sorry, we can’t afford an elephant.”
Freddy sighed as he handed her the bowl of potatoes. “It’s a shame Father never thought to open a safari park like some of his peers. We could’ve had a lot of fun.”
“You probably would’ve been eaten by something years ago.”
“Possibly,” Freddy conceded. “But what a way to go.”