Chapter Seven
‘Lara? What’s the matter?’
Flynn opened the door of the cottage to find Lara and another woman on his doorstep.
Lara looked up at him, pale with shock.
‘It’s H-Henry. He’s been rushed into hospital,’ she said slowly. ‘Jazz just told me.’
Flynn pushed his hair out of his eyes. ‘Shit, no. How is he?’
‘We haven’t had any further updates,’ Jazz explained.
‘I don’t live on site, but I was here super early and saw the ambulance drive off.
It had the blue lights on … Selwyn, the night porter, was around when Henry was taken ill in the early hours and said Henry had bad chest pains.
The paramedics had him wired up. Selwyn said Henry looked in a bad way as they loaded him into the ambulance. ’
Lara sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘What if he dies? I’ll never forgive myself if—’ she bit back her words and Flynn guessed she’d been about to blurt out something about the chalice.
Flynn would have comforted her had Jazz not sat beside her and hugged her.
‘It’s not your fault, lovely,’ she said.
‘No, it isn’t,’ Flynn said hastily, realising why Lara might, in the shock of the moment, feel a degree of responsibility for Henry’s illness.
He was almost sure that Jazz, while clearly a good friend, wasn’t privy to the chalice incident.
‘Come inside, it’s freezing out here. I’ll make us all a cup of tea. ’
In the end, Jazz didn’t stay for a drink because she had to get back to supervising a business breakfast. It was now 8 a.m. and Flynn’s own meeting with his new team was scheduled for half-past. Fiona had been going to introduce him, but that was now obviously out of the window.
While Jazz said her farewells, he made a quick call to Carlos, the deputy maintenance manager, to postpone the meeting for an hour.
Seated at his breakfast bar, Lara sipped her tea. ‘Did you put sugar in this?’
Flynn leaned against the worktop, mug in hand. ‘Yeah. I thought it would be good for the shock. This isn’t your fault, you know,’ he added, before she could object to the sugar.
‘I know – and of course I don’t believe in the supernatural, but what if? What if there really is something in the legend? Henry collapsed less than twenty-four hours after I broke the chalice.’
‘Henry’s illness is just a terrible coincidence. Henry is – what? Seventy-five? He’s responsible for a big estate and he likes to enjoy a few drinks and feasting from what I can see.’
‘Seventy-seven. It’s true he does live life to the full.’ She sipped from the mug and didn’t seem to mind his being rational.
‘The castle is a huge responsibility and he said he didn’t feel that great last night.
He attended a big event, he was on show the whole time, and I imagine up late.
I’m very sorry to hear he’s been taken ill, but that has nothing to do with a chipped glass,’ Flynn said gently but as firmly as he dared.
‘No. You’re right …’ Lara glanced up, seeming lost. ‘When Jazz broke the news, I was on my way here to tell you I’d decided to confess about the chalice, but now …
there’s no way I’m going to add to Fiona and Henry’s troubles.
Sorting it out myself is the lesser of the evils.
I’ll call my restorer friend and see what I can do.
Somehow, I must have it repaired without them knowing. ’
‘I think it’s a good decision, but you don’t have to sort everything out on your own. Please let me help in some way.’
‘I – I’ll see. Although I think the best thing you can do is carry on with your job. Ravendale needs us both more than ever now.’
Flynn nodded, relieved that Lara had decided not to confess in these circumstances. ‘That’s true for sure.’ He was also glad to see a hint of pink begin to return to her cheeks, now that she’d decided on a course of action.
‘I’ll phone my friend and try to find out how Henry is, and then I’ll come with you to the maintenance office and introduce you to the team myself.
Let’s just hope that Henry will be OK.’ Her voice was steadier and, once again, Flynn glimpsed a steely core.
You didn’t become manager of a place like Ravendale without resilience and determination.
However, he also wondered how much of Lara’s cool professional demeanour was a defensive shell.
He still recalled her reaction when he’d kissed her cheek and bid her farewell that frosty November morning. She’d seemed … bereft, as was he. He had also been unsure if he’d ever return, and uncertain that, if he did, it would be the right thing for either of them.
She put the mug down, a fresh resolve in her eyes. ‘Belle likes to start work early. I’ll call her now.’ She picked up her phone from the breakfast bar.
‘I’ll give you some privacy,’ Flynn said, leaving her in the kitchen while he went into his bedroom, where he’d set up a makeshift office on a dressing table.
He found the task list he’d written the previous evening, both for himself and his team.
Later he had meetings with the lighting contractors and he’d have to be pretty full on with them so they knew that he wasn’t going to be messed about.
As Lara had said, it was now even more vital that the Christmas programme at the castle went smoothly, so that Henry could focus on recovering – if, Flynn hoped, he did.
He sent an email to his deputy and, once he’d stopped tapping at the laptop, he could hear Lara on the phone. While he couldn’t make out all the words, he heard relief in Lara’s voice and several ‘thank you so much’es.
It was clear she was genuinely fond of the Penhaligons, just as he had been of the family who’d owned the theme park where he’d worked. He’d been sad when they’d had to sell up, and hell bent on seizing the moment to see more of the world.
However, wanderlust hadn’t been his sole motivation for taking off in a new direction. It hadn’t been that long since he’d been involved in a tangled romantic web back in Cornwall that had left him feeling betrayed and hurt.
What Lara didn’t know was that it had been barely a year since Flynn had ended a relationship with a woman he’d met at a seaside pub. The break-up had stung, in so many ways, but mainly because he’d had no idea she was married until her husband had turned up in Cornwall out of the blue.
He’d had no inkling she was in any kind of relationship at all, and that, against every desire and instinct, he’d ended up the unwitting party in an affair. Having experienced the same kind of treatment in the past, and knowing how much it hurt, he would never have cheated on anyone. Ever.
Now he was truly free and single, though it was ironic that he’d absolutely not been looking for any entanglements. His road trip – seeing the world – had been his only focus until his Halloween visit, meeting Lara, and now this job coming up.
He still wasn’t entirely sure why he’d gone and done the opposite of what he’d planned, though that was life, he supposed. It had a way of pulling the rug from under your feet when you least expected it.
‘Oh! Thank goodness. That’s such a relief. Though horrible for Henry.’ Lara’s voice had become raised and animated. It now sounded as if Lara was on the phone to Fiona. ‘Please give him my best wishes. No, don’t worry about a single thing.’
Some of the tension eased from his body as she continued and he listened harder.
‘You just take care of Henry and yourself. We are absolutely fine.’
He walked into the sitting room, where Lara met him, shoulders slumped in relief. ‘That was Fiona. Apparently Henry hasn’t had a heart attack. It’s gallstones. Apparently the symptoms can be similar.’
Flynn winced. ‘I’m relieved it isn’t his heart, though one of my managers at my old job was taken ill with gallstones and they’re nasty. Poor old Henry. Is he staying in?’
‘Fiona thinks he’ll be kept for another couple of nights and then he’s got to take things very easy and watch his diet. He might need an operation at some point in the future, but she said she feels confident enough to pop home for a change of clothes and a rest later this morning.’
‘Well, I’m very glad to hear he’s out of danger and being treated,’ Flynn said.
Lara heaved a huge sigh, but her brief smile of relief melted away. ‘I called my restorer friend, Belle. She said she might be able to look at the chalice the day after tomorrow.’
‘That’s good.’
‘I’m lucky she said yes … I hate to do it, but it’s probably a good idea if she comes to get it while Fiona and Henry are away. She said she could come over from Hawes tomorrow to collect it.’ Lara swallowed. ‘This still feels so wrong.’
‘That’s understandable but I think it’s the right thing to do for everyone.
Life doesn’t need to be any more complicated for anyone at the castle at the moment,’ Flynn said, hoping Lara wouldn’t think his approval was only because he also felt partly responsible for the breakage.
‘Like I said, I’m here to help in any way I can. ’
‘Thanks.’ She seemed lost in thought for a moment before squaring her shoulders. ‘Right. We have a lot to do. I told Fiona I’d introduce you to the team. Shall we meet in the estate office in ten minutes?’
‘Absolutely,’ said Flynn. ‘I’m itching to get on with the job I came here to do.’
Flynn was grateful to Lara for introducing him to the staff he’d be working with. He could tell that they respected her. Her calm, quietly confident manner went some way to reassuring them that he might actually know what he was doing.
However, he still had a long way to go to win the trust of a team still shaken by the news of Gerald’s early retirement and now Henry’s illness.
Gerald had obviously been well-liked – almost revered by Carlos – although his frequent absences in recent years had put pressure on the rest of the staff.
Flynn could tell they were wary of ‘the new boss’, with his funny accent and his direct style, and fully aware he had a hard act to follow.