Chapter 14
Maureen opened a door on the left and led the way in, smoothing the counterpane of the single bed before depositing a couple of towels onto it.
‘If there’s anything you want, just ask. I’m working all evening, so you’ll find me in the kitchen or helping with the drinks and serving dinner. I hope you’ll be comfortable.’ She offered up an on/off smile, gave Theo a bit of a strange look and left.
‘You OK?’ Theo put my overnight case on the floor and dress bag on the bed, walked over to the open window and looked out and down at the sound of laughter and raised voices heralding the obvious arrival of other guests, but then came over to me.
‘Fine, fine,’ I twittered, my pulse racing as he bent to kiss my cheek.
‘You sure? Can be a bit overwhelming all this, I guess…’ He trailed off.
‘You mean for a poor miner’s daughter from Rothersley?’ The words were out before I could stop them.
‘That wasn’t what I meant at all.’ He grinned down at me. ‘Stop being so scratchy. Right, no en suite to this room, I’m afraid. The bathroom and lavatory are down the corridor on your left. The plumbing can be a bit erratic, but there’s usually plenty of hot water for you to have a shower.’
Another shower? I’d already been in the bath and washed my hair that morning before walking the two minutes to Linda’s sister’s place.
Theo looked at his watch. ‘Drinks in the Great Hall – we pinch it back from the Trust for dos like this – at seven. Dinner will be in the ballroom and out into the marquee.’ He smiled down at me. ‘So, you’ve an hour or so to dress. That OK?’
An hour to dress? All I had to do was slip into the red dress and I was good to go.
‘Lovely,’ I said, wondering what the hell I was going to do with myself for an hour.
It wasn’t as if I’d brought Carmen rollers or needed to redo Kath’s make-up.
Good job I’d brought a book – The History of Working Conditions of Miners – with me.
I could always do a bit of research for my dissertation.
‘OK, I’ll go and get showered and dressed.’ Theo kissed my cheek once more, and it was all I could do not to grab hold of him and kiss the face off him.
Once he’d left, I sniffed my armpits. Did I need a shower?
But I didn’t have a shower cap with me and didn’t want to risk my up-do becoming a down-do.
I undressed down to my underwear, walked over to the large enamel washstand and washed under my arms and between my legs, drying them with the somewhat scratchy white towel Maureen had left for me, and rolled on more deodorant.
I cleaned my teeth, rubbing vigorously before hunting for chewing gum in my bag. Nothing worse than bad breath.
I stepped into the beautiful red dress, admiring the cut and style as I looked down but, unable to see the full effect without a long mirror, I looked round the room.
There didn’t appear to be one of those long mirrors that tilt backwards and forwards.
‘Cheval – that’s what they’re called…’ I muttered.
‘And how appropriate for a horsey do like this…’ I bared my teeth in a neigh of laughter.
Oh, God, now I was talking and neighing to myself like Mister Ed.
I climbed onto the bed, desperately balancing on the overly soft and rather lumpy mattress while seeing as much as I could of my reflection in the mirror over the washstand.
Another couple of minutes had gone.
I wandered over to the open window, looking down onto a courtyard where lackeys and waiters were already assembling buckets of champagne and glasses, directing more overnight guests to the side door where I assumed they’d be allocated rooms and attended to by Maureen and her team.
A rather horsey-looking girl, probably about my age, came into view appearing and sounding slightly exasperated.
Wearing jeans and a sweatshirt, she didn’t seem to be one of the regular guests, but was now standing, hands on hips, gazing round at the courtyard and then towards the huge cream-coloured marquee whose top could just be seen in the field beyond the house.
‘Mary!’ she called, loudly. And then, to herself, but loud enough for me to hear: ‘Where the hell are you now?’
I turned from the window as a soft thumping came at the bedroom door and the handle moved slightly.
Oh, was it Theo back? I did hope so. Baring my teeth once more, but this time for signs of lipstick, I waited with what I hoped was a sultry look on my face.
(Linda had made me practise such a look in the office, but said I was no good at it, laughing that I looked like a constipated penguin.)
‘Oh, hello!’
A small girl stood at the entrance, a huge cheeky smile on her face. She had Theo’s fair hair and soulful brown eyes. And was, very obviously, a child with Down’s syndrome.
‘You not Susannah,’ she said, frowning while gazing round the room. ‘Where she is?’
Where indeed? The whole household appeared to have been expecting Susannah.
‘No, I’m Anna.’ I held out my hand and she took it solemnly. ‘Who are you?’
‘Mary. I’m a princess.’
‘Yes, I can see that,’ I said, taking in the fairy dress and tinsel in her hair. She’d clearly been at the Christmas decorations.
‘I’m going to the ball like Sindy.’
‘Sindy?’
‘Sindy Rella.’
‘Well, how fabulous!’
‘You going? You look lovely.’ Mary stroked at my long dress with her pudgy little hands.
‘I am,’ I said. ‘With your big brother.’
She shook her head. ‘He going with Susannah. Who you going with? D’you want to come with me? I find you some stuff like this.’ Mary removed the garland of red and silver from her fair hair, offering it to me.
‘That’s really kind,’ I replied, laughing. ‘It would go really well with my dress but looks much better on you.’
‘Where Theo?’ she asked.
‘Well, I came with him. He’s gone to put on a posh frock.’
‘Silly, boys don’t wear frocks.’ She giggled and that seemed to satisfy her, but then she asked, ‘So who Susannah going with?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said honestly, praying that the upmarket blonde wasn’t going to turn up and whisk Theo away. ‘Maybe…’ I got no further as a soft knock came at the open door and a head appeared round it.
‘Oh, there you are, Mary. Maureen said I’d probably find you here…’ The girl from down below was now here in front of us, but stopped short once she saw the missing Susannah wasn’t actually in situ. ‘Oh,’ she said once more, staring at me. ‘Sorry, I didn’t realise…’
‘It’s fine, really,’ I started.
‘Susannah not here,’ Mary said. ‘Anna going to the ball with Theo. Not Susannah.’
I held out my hand. ‘Hi. I’m Anna. I’m Theo’s guest tonight.’
The girl looked me up and down, but didn’t take my hand and, when once more there came another knock on the door and Theo put his head round, I immediately saw why.
The girl blushed to the roots of her hair, hiding her face as she bent to fiddle with the already immaculate sash on Mary’s princess dress.
‘Hi, Bridget,’ Theo said easily. ‘How you doing?’ He leaned down to kiss her cheek, and she smiled adoringly back up at him, obviously in a bit of a state.
He turned to me. ‘Wow, you look fabulous, Anna. Doesn’t she look gorgeous, Mary?
’ He bent to pick up his little sister, kissing both her cheeks before throwing her over his shoulder while she giggled and screamed in delight.
‘I going to ball,’ she squealed. ‘Me too.’
‘Of course you are.’ He replaced Mary back on the floor before turning back to the girl. ‘I hope you’ve got an invite, Bridget?’
‘Your dad said it was OK. Not sure what your mum will think though.’
‘Well, someone needs to keep an eye on Princess Mary when the handsome prince is looking to fit the slipper.’
There was only one handsome prince here and both Bridget and I knew it, both of us utterly captivated by the man in the glorious scarlet tailcoat, white shirt, waistcoat and bow tie. I felt lust course through every bit of me and knew I was staring.
‘You OK?’ Theo asked, slightly embarrassed. ‘I guess all this get-up…’ He pulled at the lapels of the red coat.
‘I think you look lovely,’ I said, unable not to.
‘Bridget, how about if you get yourself ready and we’ll take Mary off your hands for an hour?’
‘You sure?’
‘Absolutely.’
Bridget offered up another look of adoration towards Theo and, without another glance in my direction, she left the room.
‘So, shall Mary and I show you round, Anna?’
‘We go look at horses?’ Mary pleaded.
‘Absolutely,’ Theo said, patting his sister’s blonde head. ‘I want to see if McCallister is fit again.’
‘He is, he is,’ Mary crowed. ‘Graham and me been looking after him.’
‘You OK in those heels?’ Theo asked me. ‘It’s a bit of a walk to the stables.’
‘I’m good,’ I lied. ‘McCallister? Graham?’
‘McCallister is my hunter. Had him as a foal from being fourteen. Did most of the breaking in myself.’
Of course he was. And of course he had. While I was working as a Saturday girl in Etam in the town centre, Theo would have been out leaping over fields and ditches, presumably in pursuit of poor little foxes. Ten lords a-leaping: I sang the words under my breath.
‘Sorry?’ Theo frowned and then smiled. ‘So, Graham’s our stable manager here on the estate. There’s nothing he doesn’t know about horses. McCallister’s had a bad case of Sweet Itch…’
(I knew just where McCallister was coming from!)
‘…or Summer Seasonal Allergy,’ Theo went on.
‘A bit like hay fever?’ I asked.
Theo laughed. ‘Suppose so. Right come on, let’s go. We need to be having drinks in half an hour.’
‘Sorry, I’m going to have to take these heels off,’ I said, halfway across a vast expanse of green velvet, ‘if I’m to survive the rest of the evening in them.
’ We were crossing what seemed like acres of grass, the stretch of lawn interrupted only by several white marble fountains, all in full outpouring mode, as well as numerous statues I recognised to be Greek gods in various states of dress and undress.