Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
‘How many are we catering for?’ Ben asked as I walked back into the kitchen. He was wearing a blue apron, a white fitted shirt, and black jeans. His hair was gently tousled, and he’d even tidied up his beard.
‘A lot.’ I giggled with nervous hysteria. ‘I invited quite a few people in the town, and I told them to spread the word.’
Ben scratched his head and cast me a worried look. ‘You know what you’re doing so I will be your glamorous assistant chef.’
‘I am thinking a buffet-style Christmas lunch. We can use the back work surfaces. People can walk along and fill up their plates like you would do in a carvery. They can then go into the house and eat their food.’
Ben stared at me. ‘Wow, you do know what you’re doing.’
I nodded. ‘I still have a lot of nibbles left over from yesterday so we can add those; plus there’s things we can make in the next few hours.’
‘What do you want me to do?’
‘Are you any good at Yorkshire puddings?’
He grinned and said confidently. ‘The best.’
‘Fighting talk, Ben. They better be good.’
He laughed. ‘Right, show me where you want me to set up my Yorkshire pudding factory?’
Once he had got to work, I went into the east wing living room. Aunty Bev, Grandpa, Ben’s mum Cath, and Darren were all admiring the photos of Darren and Abi’s new addition, a baby boy called Freddie. I hadn’t had a chance to have a peek at the photos yet.
‘Ah, he looks cute,’ I cooed.
Darren cast me the proudest smile. ‘He’s adorable and my wife is amazing.’
‘Where are the kids?’ I said, looking around for Rosie and the twins.
Cath smiled. ‘Playing hide and seek with the dog upstairs. You don’t mind – do you?’
I grinned. ‘It’s Christmas Day. I hope they’re enjoying themselves.’
Aunty Bev leaned in and whispered, ‘I hope you know what you’re doing. Letting little kids run wild never turned out well for me.’
I smiled. ‘It’s Christmas. Relax.’
Cath gestured for the door. ‘I am going to go check on the little rascals.’
Layla came into the lounge. ‘Do you want to open up the west wing, Rachel?’
I nodded. ‘Let’s do it.’
To my surprise Aunty Bev gasped. ‘Is that necessary?’
I turned around. ‘We have a lot of people to accommodate?’
Aunty Bev rubbed her forehead. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
I dismissed her. ‘It’s only one day, Aunty Bev. Once everyone goes home, I will clean up every room.’
Grandpa placed his hand on my shoulder. ‘Listen to your aunty Bev.’
I shook his hand away. ‘Grandpa, it will be fine.’
Layla opened the west wing lounge and whilst she was talking to Aunty Bev, I hid Maddie’s journal and the photos of Josh in a desk drawer.
‘Rachel,’ Layla said, ‘Cath is shouting for you upstairs.’
I raced up the stairs to find Cath outside the master bedroom and three naughty looking children. ‘Rachel, I should have been watching them.’
My heart ground to a halt. ‘What have they done?’
She let out a heavy sigh and pushed open the door. I gasped as there were pink lipstick drawings all over one of the cream walls. ‘They’ve also spilt a can of Coke inside the wardrobe, and I think Humphrey weed on the bed.’
My eyes flicked to the huge damp stain on the bedding and my nose picked up the aroma of dog urine. ‘Okay,’ I squeaked. ‘Cath, can you take the kids downstairs while I clean up.’
Once they’d left, I closed my eyes and let out the biggest groan. They had caused havoc. After a deep breath I surveyed the damage. I raced into the en-suite and grabbed a few wet wipes and used them on the lipstick. To my relief it came off easily and I wiped away a picture of a pink snowman, four stick people and what looked like a baby stick person, a dodgy looking dog, and the word ‘DAD’ in big letters.
The bedding would have to be dry cleaned but that could be done as Maddie and Frank were not due back for another week. I stripped the bedding and peered into the wardrobe. Frank’s shoes were swimming in cola. Shit.
The clean-up operation took longer than I had hoped. Layla came to give me a hand with the wardrobe, and she carefully wiped down Frank’s expensive leather shoes.
‘This is going to be okay,’ I muttered, ‘all this is fixable.’
Layla cast me a worried look. ‘It still stinks of dog piss in here.’
I bit my lip. ‘Okay, let’s open the windows and get as many air fresheners as possible on.’
She nodded and hurried away as Aunty Bev peered inside. ‘You need to get rid of that smell, Rachel. Frank dislikes the dog at the best of times so he won’t appreciate bed reeking of Humphrey’s piss.’
‘I know, Aunty Bev,’ I snapped.
By the time I returned downstairs I was exhausted. More people had turned up early and were sat in both the east and west wings. As I passed a few reached out and thanked me.
‘You have saved the day,’ said one lady, ‘my son is over from Australia, and he would have been so upset without his Christmas dinner.’
I nodded as she pointed to a large family stood by Maddie’s bookcase. ‘That’s him, his wife and his three children.’
To my horror one of their children was fiddling with one of Maddie’s books and the other was drawing in one. There wasn’t time to sort that out. I would replace damaged books.
A young man waved at me as I was about to head for the kitchen. ‘The wifi isn’t working. Can you sort it out?’
‘There’s a power cut,’ I said, trying to remain calm.
‘Oh,’ he said looking bewildered. ‘Is that why we are all here? I thought it was free food?’
I had to hurry away to save my sanity.
Ben, Layla, Aunty Bev, and I spent three hours preparing the lunch. We did a great job despite the circumstances and the Christmas buffet looked amazing.
I made sure Layla, Grandpa, Cath, and Rosie were at the front of the queue, which snaked out of the kitchen and into the reception hall.
Everyone loved the food, and it was a wonderful sight to see them all shovelling plates of my Christmas buffet food into their mouths. The queue had reduced dramatically when Aunty Bev came running from the front door. ‘Kay and Dorothy are here,’ she hissed.
‘What?’
I walked into the hallway to find Kay and Dorothy standing with pink noses, damp hair and rosy cheeks. Kay smiled at me, and I knew she’d forgiven me for my outburst the previous day. ‘Mum and I have no power and I can’t cook anything on my electric oven,’ Kay explained. ‘I am sorry about yesterday; it was a bit of a shock hearing Mum was engaged.’
‘I can understand,’ I said, with a smile. ‘Come in and join the buffet queue. Shall I tell my grandfather you’re here?’
Dorothy’s face lit up. ‘Please can you go fetch Eric? I have been thinking a lot about him.’
As she took off her coat I went to get Grandpa. I don’t think I have ever seen him move so fast. I had to run to catch up with him as he rushed to see Dorothy.
‘My darling,’ he cried, on seeing her. ‘Oh, how I have missed you.’
As they cuddled and hugged Kay led me away by the arm. ‘Do you think we could encourage them to date first rather than rush into an engagement?’
‘You have my backing. I have been trying to persuade my grandfather to date Dorothy first, but he’s so headstrong.’
Kay nodded. ‘Overnight Mum has lost all her common sense. She claims Eric makes her feel like a love-struck teenager again.’
‘Let’s take a joined-up approach.’
She rolled her eyes at her mother and Grandpa engaging in a kiss under a sprig of mistletoe. ‘To think my mother was against me marrying a boy at eighteen all those years ago. He’d proposed after a month of dating. She went mad at me. Now – look at her.’
‘At least you had a month of dating under your belt,’ I said with a chuckle. ‘Those two have met three times.’
Kay laughed and I showed her to the queue for the food. She looked around the hallway and at the dramatic staircase. ‘This house is so beautiful.’
‘Thanks.’
‘It would make a great restaurant,’ she said. ‘People would love to eat amongst all this splendour and they’d love this buffet style of dining.’
I looked around. Kay did have a point. There were two sides to the house, which could transform into two different dining experiences. ‘That’s a good idea, Kay.’
She nodded. ‘Harp Brook needs somewhere fancy. Plus, you have the grounds so that would work in the summer.’
My heartbeat quickened as I envisioned the east wing serving traditional food and the west wing Mediterranean cuisine with dishes like fish, smoky lamb, vegetable tagine and meatballs. It was a few seconds before my mind reminded me this was Frank and Maddie’s home.
The downstairs was packed. People were milling in the hall, in both living rooms and on the stairs. Grandpa had turned on the Christmas music and Rosie and the twins were handing out crackers.
Humphrey was being stroked by a group of ladies, Kay was talking to a friend and Darren was showing everyone photos of his new baby son.
Ben tapped me on the arm as I headed for the kitchen. ‘You need to see who is at the front door.’
‘Who?’
I raced to the hallway to find Vanessa, Denise, her children, and a young man who must be Ryan. Vanessa handed me a bottle of wine. ‘Peace offering. Mum says we should all be friends after what you did for her.’
I took it from her, and she nudged Denise. ‘Sorry. I have told Denise’s boy to be nice to Rosie.’
Vanessa looked at me. ‘Say no if you like, but is there any Christmas food left? The energy company are struggling to get the power back on.’
It was Christmas Day, and I didn’t want to see them go hungry. Maybe this would go some way to repairing the rift between our two families. With a half-smile I steered them into the hallway.
As they joined the queue, I saw several people with open mouths and wide eyes fixed on Vanessa and her family at the Baxter Manor House eating Christmas lunch.
Ben came up to join me and I felt his arm circle my waist. ‘Wow, you’ve achieved the unthinkable.’
As I leaned in for a kiss, I caught Denise staring at us.