Chapter 38
Seventeen Years Earlier
Blythe and Kip worked so hard that winter.
But somehow, it hardly felt like work at all.
The trick was, she knew, to bring each room up to its highest standard, so basically, she decided to do just one room at a time because there was simply no budget to do any more.
With a lifetime in the hotel business, she was savvy enough to repurpose all that she could and pick up whatever was needed as cheaply as possible.
Second hand was always best, since the house was so old, and she wanted to retain that original character.
Kip, too, proved to be not only talented and hardworking when given an opportunity and some praise, but also very savvy at picking up materials from odd jobs where there were bits and pieces left over.
By the time spring came round, they had two charming rooms, with ensuites, and the large sitting room to welcome guests on arrival.
Blythe set to sprucing up the family dining room which they’d only ever used at Christmas, because the table sat twenty and in winter, it took blazing fires in both hearths to keep the chills at bay.
The best part, as far as Blythe was concerned, was that they managed to make their plans and carry out the work without anyone beyond themselves and Kip’s mother having any idea of what they were up to.
On the morning that she received a letter from the tourism board telling her that they’d been accepted onto the books as a listed guest house, it all felt surreal.
Blythe’s hands shook as she read the letter out to Kip.
She was strangely nervous, with butterflies playing around her insides, but then Kip had shot up from the table, taken her in his arms and she’d known, this was really happening.
They had done it, together, this was their real beginning.
‘You’ll have to tell your grandfather now,’ Kip said later.
‘I know.’ She was in part dreading it and a little part of her had looked forward to this day for months now.
She had not accepted what fate, and her grandfather, had allotted to her, instead she had gone out and taken her destiny into her own hands.
He would be proud of her. Maybe not today, but someday soon, Pappy would come and ask her to take over the hotel again. She was quite certain of it.
The hotel was quiet when she dropped by later that afternoon.
She hadn’t called in for weeks, she hadn’t had time, although, she didn’t tell Rae or her grandfather what had kept her so busy, until now.
‘Pappy?’ She called out, surprised to see he was not ensconced in his usual spot.
‘He’s out in the garden.’ A woman she didn’t recognise came out from the room behind the reception desk.
‘Thanks, I’m Blythe by the way, who are you?’
‘Hello Blythe, Rae has told me all about you. I’m Rosa, I’m here to help for the summer.’
‘I see,’ Blythe said, and she couldn’t help but feel hurt that no one had come and asked her, if she’d like to lend a hand.
‘Ah, Enkelin, there you are, and you’ve brought precious little Gisela.’ Her grandfather waved at her from the midst of a plot of waist-high sunflowers. ‘Look, your sister has me driven demented with flowers,’ he laughed then as if he’d never imagined anything so crazy.
‘It’s nice to see you out and about,’ she leant in and kissed his cheek.
‘Look at her, more like her grandmother every single day,’ Pappy said, leaning over to plant a kiss on the baby’s head and Blythe could have sworn she saw a tear glisten in his eye.
‘I wanted to talk to you, Pappy,’ she said and she saw his shoulders hunch and she knew, he expected her to come grovelling for work in the hotel. ‘I have news,’ she said simply.
‘Oh, that’s marvellous, another baby, now, there you go, what did I tell you…’ He was about to go on down that wrong road until Blythe interrupted him.
‘It’s not that, Pappy, I’m not pregnant, but I’m really excited about this, and I wanted you to be the first to know.’ She began to lead him towards the small garden bench that sat against the wall of the old stables.
‘Well, I’m intrigued, if it’s not a baby…’ He lowered himself gingerly onto the bench.
‘No, far more exciting.’ She stopped. Nothing could compare to having Siggy, but she was so exhilarated with the challenge of getting her own business up and running, well, she was carried on a wave of enthusiasm. ‘I’m opening my own guest house…’
‘You’re what?’ Her grandfather’s expression had completely changed. ‘What do you mean, you’re opening your own guest house?’
‘At Still Water House, I just got the listing this morning with the tourism board, we’re officially open for business – I’m your new competition.’ She laughed, because she was only joking, really, two rooms were hardly on the same scale as the Hope Square Hotel.
‘I don’t know what you think you’re playing at, but I won’t allow it.
’ Her grandfather’s voice had changed to thunder.
‘You’re meant to be taking care of that baby, making a proper family with Kip, what on earth do you think you’re playing at?
Bothering the tourism board, probably bandying about my good name to get you on the books too, no doubt? ’
‘Actually, Pappy, I didn’t have to bandy anyone’s good name.
There is a process, they came and looked at where I propose to take guests, they checked out the whole house and of course, my background in catering college helped.
Kip and I have got this up and running between us, and I intend to make a great success of it, so unless you’re going to wish me luck, then, I’m not sure there’s much more to be said about it,’ she said and with that, she hoisted the baby up on her hip and stalked towards the open door of the hotel.
On her way past, she spotted Marcus, lurking in the conservatory – her conservatory, which only fired her up further.
‘I suppose you heard all that.’
‘I did actually,’ he was gloating, enjoying the fact that not only had he swiped the hotel from under her nose, but also the fact that he was splintering a family that had once been as close as could be.
‘Well, in case you missed anything Marcus, I intend to give you a run for your money with this place. I’m going to make a great success of it. One day, Still Water House will be in the best guide books in the world, and this place will be nothing more than a three-star hotel.’
‘Blythe, you can talk all you want, but at the end of the day, you’re going to be running a two-bit bed and breakfast in a house that needs a new roof and probably rewiring and plumbing. Let’s see how you get through this season before we start awarding any Michelin stars for the greasy fry-ups?’
‘We’ll see, Marcus, we’ll see.’ She pushed past him, but as she did so, she was jubilant to see a flash of cold fear in his eyes.
He knew she could make Still Water House into anything she wanted, and at this moment, much and all she had always loved this place, she wanted more than anything to make her guest house into something ten times better than the Hope Square Hotel.