Chapter Five #2
‘We are.’ She smiled at Rory beside her – he had swapped into the front when they’d stopped at the services – not wanting the gesture to be a sad one. These few days were going to be difficult for them all, and she didn’t want to linger on the poignancy of their final journey here.
‘Are you okay? How do you feel now about Granny and Grandpa’s move?’ They’d talked about this before, and she knew how much he’d miss his grandparents’ home. How could he not, when she too would be leaving a part of her heart behind in this place?
‘Sad, but happy too, ’cos I know they’re pleased to be moving nearer to us. I’ll be able to get the train up to stay with them.’
‘Yes, and your new bedroom will be fab too, with a bathroom just for you and Isla once it’s all ready. It certainly won’t be draughty, with high ceilings and those rattling windows letting the wind in.’
‘I don’t mind the windows. I am going to miss it, though, Mum. Especially the cycling.’ Rory sighed as he turned over the phone in his hand. ‘This was where Dad taught me to ride a bike.’
‘I know, sweetheart.’ A splinter of sorrow pierced her heart at those quiet words.
‘And Granny and Grandpa are really going to miss it too, even though it’s the right decision for them.
It’s such a lot to look after since Granny took on the garden at the Big House as well, and they’re not getting any younger. ’
Fiona and Gordon had bought their farmhouse and the two small cottages which adjoined it a few years after they’d got married, part of an estate which had been divided up.
The farmhouse sat beside a walled garden and an orchard, a narrow track running through woodland leading to a tiny horseshoe-shaped bay with clear waters and soft white sand.
Since retiring from her nursing job, Fiona had taken on the management of the historic garden surrounding the Big House but was ready to hand it over to someone new.
‘Do you think they feel as though they’re leaving Dad behind?’ Rory’s question was a quiet one, and Cassie’s hand found one of his. ‘We have loads of memories here and I think Dad would agree with the move, but he’d be sad too.’
‘Exactly that,’ she murmured. ‘But Dad would say that we take him with us wherever we go, and he loved London.’
‘That was because you were there, too.’
Cassie was reminded of her university days, how much she’d loved her degree course and had planned to follow it with a master’s before other events overtook them. ‘Yes, but Dad was offered a great opportunity once he became a consultant, and it made sense to stay in London.’
How huge those decisions had seemed at the time.
The simple reality was that she and Ewan had loved each other, and she’d wanted to make her home with him.
And he’d wanted London. ‘Granny and Grandpa are brilliant at making friends and taking care of people, so I don’t think it matters where they live.
There’ll be new things you can do with them, like the cinema and stuff.
’ That wasn’t a great sell to console Rory; they had cinemas and every other kind of entertainment in London.
‘Yeah. I s’pose.’
Fiona and Gordon had fallen in love with the Dales when they’d joined Cassie and the children in Hartfell during February half term, staying in a nearby B she was perfectly capable of putting one stupid kiss behind her.
Sunlight was dazzling as they emerged from woodland and Cassie passed the Big House standing serenely to her left, divided now into holiday apartments behind railings.
The bend in the drive where Rory had fallen off his bike when he was seven, then spent a night in hospital with a concussion, his neurosurgeon father sleeping in the chair beside him.
Moments later the farmhouse and orchard came into view, the ancient apple trees peeking above the wall, their gnarled branches bright with creamy pink blossom.
She pulled up beside the grassy expanse where they’d played countless games of cricket and rounders, heard the familiar scrunch of gravel beneath the wheels.
If she closed her eyes, she imagined she could almost hear Ewan roaring with laughter as he raced around with the kids, casually tossing balls in half-hearted attempts to bowl them out.
He was everywhere here, her darling husband, and she missed him so much.
Before she’d even turned off the engine, Isla and Rory were gone, finding a new burst of energy now they’d arrived and could escape the car.