Chapter 39 #2
‘She loves her to bits,’ Callie agreed. She turned to me, a knowing gleam in her eyes. ‘She’s pretty struck on you, too. I’m so happy for her. She’s such a lovely person and deserves to find someone special. Even I couldn’t imagine how special you’d be, though!’
I blushed. ‘I’m not special,’ I insisted.
‘You’re joking, right? After everything you’ve just done in Rowan Vale?’
‘That wasn’t really me,’ I said. ‘It was the shopkeeper. Not that he really was a shopkeeper, obviously. I don’t suppose anyone’s seen him since?’
‘No one, but I have a feeling we’ll see him again one day. I still can’t get what he said about the King and Queen’s children out of my mind.’
‘I’ve been reading up on it, though,’ I said.
‘Those stones are Neolithic, right? There wouldn’t have been kings and queens in those days.
If there were any leaders, they would probably have been leaders in a belief system.
Spiritual leaders, not royalty. And anyway, are we really saying that a witch turned a family to stone? It’s crazy.’
‘“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, then are dreamt of in our philosophy,”’ Callie said. ‘Oh, Lord! Walter’s got me at it now! Funny the things you pick up.’
‘Hamlet,’ I said automatically. ‘I suppose that the shopkeeper could be a descendant of the child of a leader – not the child itself. Maybe that’s what he meant. Even so, how did he do the things he did? How did he know so much?’
‘And what was he doing in Rowan Vale in the first place?’ Callie wondered. ‘No one here can recall seeing him before. I asked all the ghosts, and no one knew of him, so where has he been all this time? And if he only returned to the village for Charlotte and Grace, the question remains why?’
‘I don’t suppose we’ll ever know,’ I said.
‘Hmm.’ Callie folded her arms. ‘I’m not giving up that easily. I want to know who he is, and I won’t let it go until I find out.’
She sounded very determined, but personally I thought she was on a hiding to nothing. The man, whoever he was, had vanished, and since he hadn’t been seen in all the years prior to recent events, I saw no reason to suppose he’d return any time soon, if at all.
Mia came over and slipped her arm through mine.
‘How’s Florrie?’ I asked.
‘She’s okay. She has these moments when it all overwhelms her, but she gets through them. Agnes and Aubrey have been so good with her.’
I nodded over Callie’s shoulder. ‘Speaking of Agnes and Aubrey – they’re heading this way.’
‘Callie, we wish to speak to you,’ Aubrey said. ‘It’s about John and Robert.’
‘Oh?’ she said warily. ‘What about them?’
Aubrey cleared his throat. ‘It came to my attention some time ago that these two young boys have been sleeping on a bus, for want of somewhere more, er, suitable. Were you aware of the fact?’
Callie looked appalled. ‘Of course not! But I thought…’ She frowned. ‘I half thought they lived with Harmony, but then I suppose Quintus Severus would have mentioned that. The truth is, I never thought to check, and no one ever mentioned that they had concerns.’
‘They’ve been cared for at different times by various persons in our community,’ Aubrey said, ‘but it seems no one thought to ask where their actual home was, myself included. I meant to tell you this earlier, but events drove the matter from my mind, for which I feel immensely ashamed.’
‘Those poor children,’ Callie said. ‘They’ve been coming to the Hall nearly every day for lessons with Walter and they’ve never once mentioned that they don’t have a home of their own? It doesn’t bear thinking about. I should have known. I should have checked! I—’
‘Yes, well, what’s done is done,’ Aubrey said.
‘We must all take responsibility for our neglect of these children’s care.
Agnes and I have been talking, and after consulting with Walter about their behaviour and learning that they have improved greatly in both their academic prowess and in their manners, we have decided that we would like to offer them a home with us, if another bedroom can be made available to us. Would that be permissible?’
Callie stared at them and I murmured to Mia the gist of the conversation.
‘Agnes is okay with this?’ Mia asked, sounding surprised.
‘I was just going to ask the same question,’ Callie admitted. ‘Are you, Agnes?’
‘I’ll admit I was wary at first,’ Agnes said.
‘But the way things are going with Imogen, I realise Florence needs friends of her own age. Friends who won’t grow up and leave her behind.
It’s not the boys’ fault that their appearance is so grubby after all, nor that they had such a poor start in life.
I’d like to give them a new home and a fresh start. ’
She hesitated, her face softening into a smile that quite transformed her. ‘It will be nice to have more children in the house. I-I have missed it. Florence has filled a large part of the gap left by the loss of my own children, but the boys will fill it completely.’
‘Your own children?’ Callie asked gently, but Agnes wasn’t to be drawn.
‘So, is it possible for our suite to be extended? I know the room next to Florence’s is full of old books and paintings, ornaments and furniture, but perhaps if they can be moved elsewhere it would make a lovely room for John and Robert.’
Callie smiled. ‘Of course, Agnes. I’ll get right on to it. If you think Florrie won’t mind.’
‘Florence is looking forward to it. Despite her tendency to boss them around and show off, she is very fond of those boys, and I think she’s growing increasingly lonely.
This will be enormously beneficial to her.
Thank you,’ Aubrey said happily. He slipped his arm through Agnes’s.
‘Should we go and break the news to them, my dear?’
Beaming, she agreed and the two of them wandered off.
As I finished telling Mia the outcome of the conversation, Callie said, ‘Well, more people at the Hall!’
‘Do you mind?’ Mia asked.
Callie shook her head. ‘I love it. Harling Hall is so massive, and I’d hate to be rattling around in it on my own. We have so many rooms that could be filled. Two more in the family will be fun. Although,’ she added, ‘I suppose I should have run it past Brodie first.’
‘Like me, he won’t see or hear them,’ Mia pointed out. ‘We shan’t be troubled by them whatever they get up to. Although Lord help us all if Florrie gets into one of her strops with them.’
‘I suppose I’d better go and break it to him just the same,’ Callie said. She rolled her eyes. ‘And to Immi. Fingers crossed they’re both okay with it.’
She hurried off and I shook my head. ‘What a crazy place this is!’
‘Do you think it’s too much for you to handle?’ Mia asked, her expression suddenly anxious.
I laughed. ‘I’ve never felt more at home anywhere in my life!’
‘Seriously?’
‘Seriously. Here I can be myself. I can chat to ghosts without having to hide the fact, have the most interesting conversations with people who lived centuries ago, and most of all be part of a big, happy family. It was just me and Mel for so long, and she was never particularly sisterly towards me. That’s all changed now, of course, but she’s got Diccon and a new career to look forward to.
I must admit that I feel most at home here, where I can really be myself. ’
‘I’m very glad to hear it,’ she said, and squeezed my arm. We smiled at each other, a growing awareness between us that, one day, perhaps Rowan Vale would be my home, too. One day.
‘You know, it would be very easy to fall in love with you, Verity Black,’ she whispered to me and the joy within me seemed to bubble up and block my throat, as I tried to tell her that I felt exactly the same way about her.
She put her arms around me and kissed me, and I allowed myself to dream of a future spent living and working with Mia.
We could open that trattoria. I could bake and create the most delicious Italian desserts.
We’d be surrounded by our friends, living or spirit, and our lives would be full of sunshine and laughter and friendship and love. It all seemed possible now.
‘Good heavens!’ Agnes’s voice cut through my dreams, making me pull away from Mia, as I realised we were being watched by a whole group of curious ghosts.
‘What is it?’ Mia asked worriedly.
‘We have an audience,’ I told her. ‘I think Agnes is a little shocked.’
‘I’ve never seen the like,’ Agnes admitted.
‘Good for you, my lovelies,’ Polly said, while Bill and Millie grinned and gave me the thumbs up.
‘I wonder what Silas would say about this?’ Isaac said, laughing.
‘I think,’ Aubrey said carefully, drawing Agnes closer to his side, ‘that after everything Silas went through recently, he would say, “Be happy. Love is love, and there is nothing greater in the universe. So many people are broken and lonely. If you can find love – in whatever form it may take – then take hold of it and cherish it. Enjoy every moment, because it truly is a blessing.”’
Agnes put her arms around his waist and sighed, a blissful smile on her face. ‘You always know just the right thing to say, Aubrey,’ she said admiringly.
‘What’s going on?’ Mia whispered.
‘I think we’ve just got the ghosts’ seal of approval,’ I told her.
She laughed. ‘Like you said, it’s a crazy place. Only in Rowan Vale!’
But we both knew, as we stood there, our arms wrapped around each other, watched by a group of smiling ghosts, that we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.