Page 19 of Christmas Spirits at Honeywell House (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #3)

On Monday, Callie and Brodie were due to come over to Honeywell House for a business meeting.

Jack had swapped his Saturday off for the Monday so he could be present at the meeting without us having the boys running riot as we tried to talk, which is what would most likely have happened if we’d met at the weekend.

We’d all agreed that we should discuss the model village before the schools broke up for the Christmas holidays, as we were anxious to put some firm plans into place.

There was tension in the air even before Callie and Brodie arrived at our home.

Jack and I had a bit of a row because he tried to help me by putting a wash load in and somehow managed to slip my favourite woollen cardigan into a hot wash, with the result that it came out looking as if it would fit our new baby when it arrived.

Not only that, but I had to vacuum the carpet yet again, as Toby had done an epic moult, and to top it all, just half an hour before Callie and Brodie were due to arrive, I discovered that the boys had left the bathroom in a terrible state and I’d had to frantically set to work cleaning and scrubbing, as well as collecting the inevitable wet towels from the floor.

‘If we had a separate toilet, it wouldn’t matter so much,’ I grumbled, as I gathered the cleaning cloths, disinfectant spray, and cream cleanser from the cupboard under the kitchen sink.

‘What kind of four-bedroomed house only has one toilet in it, anyway? What if they need the loo while they’re here?

I’d die of shame if they saw the state that bathroom is in right now. ’

‘What does it matter?’ Jack asked wearily, as he shoved the clothes in the tumble dryer. ‘They’re our friends and they know we have three boys. I’m sure?—’

‘What the hell are you doing?’ I gasped.

He paused, looking puzzled. ‘Putting the clothes in the dryer.’

‘Do you think we’re made of money? Have you any idea how much electricity the tumble dryer uses? You ought to look at that little gizmo we got from the energy company, that’ll open your eyes.’

‘Well, what have we got a tumble dryer for if we’re not going to use it?’ he demanded.

‘It’s strictly for emergencies only,’ I snapped. ‘If you bothered to look at the fuel bills once in a while instead of burying your head in the sand and leaving it all to me, you’d know that.’

‘Fine!’ Jack slammed the dryer door shut. ‘I’ll put them on the radiators then.’

He began to drape various items of clothing on the kitchen radiator.

‘Are you deliberately trying to wind me up?’ I snatched them back off and stuffed them in the laundry basket. ‘We have guests coming.’

‘Only Callie and Brodie!’

‘I don’t want them to see our wet clothes drying on the radiators,’ I said, exasperated. ‘What kind of impression will that make?’

‘Well, what the hell do you want me to do with them then? I can’t exactly hang them outside. They’re not going to dry in this weather.’

‘I don’t see why not. It’s not raining or damp. Hang them on the line and then we can bring them in and air them on the radiators when Callie and Brodie have gone.’

‘Bloody hell!’ Jack looked thoroughly fed up, but he did as I asked, while I frantically cleaned the bathroom.

At least, I thought, Toby never ventured upstairs, despite the boys frequently urging him to.

He didn’t like stairs, and it was a good job because I wasn’t in the mood to vacuum the stair carpet on top of everything else.

By the time Callie and Brodie arrived I was hot, red-faced and thoroughly fed up, and feeling quite irritated by Jack who was smiling from ear to ear, looking all handsome and acting as if nothing in the least bit stressful had happened.

Between us we made them both welcome, and we all relaxed for twenty minutes or so over a cup of tea and the few dodgy-looking biscuits that the kids had left us – most of which ended up being fed to a blissfully grateful Toby.

Callie carefully brought up the subject of the baby by asking how I was feeling, while casting a nervous look at Jack.

To my relief, he appeared to have got over his grudge and even thanked her for being there for me and accompanying me to the health centre and the hospital.

I had to admit, he was a lot more forgiving than I’d have been in his situation, and Callie looked as relieved as I was that he wasn’t still annoyed about it.

Brodie congratulated us both on the news, and we had a short discussion about how well the Christmas lights switch-on had gone, and how busy the market had been over the weekend.

Callie told us that rehearsals for the ghosts’ version of A Christmas Carol were going as chaotically as she’d expected, with plenty of artistic differences coming to a head.

‘They really wanted Harmony to be in it, but she’s said she’ll be too busy elsewhere,’ she told us.

‘I can’t imagine what she’s doing but it doesn’t surprise me she’s not going to be involved.

Anyway, they’ve got Isaac from The Quicken Tree as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Millie as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Quintus Severus as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. ’

‘Quintus Severus!’ Jack whistled. ‘Never thought he’d agree to take part.’

‘He finally did when he found out he wouldn’t have to speak, just stand there looking threatening and point a bit.

’ Callie laughed. ‘Old Perks is playing Fezziwig, Polly and Ray are the Cratchits, and Pillory Pete is Jacob Marley, while Danny and Brooke are playing Scrooge’s nephew Fred and his wife. ’

‘And who’s the star turn?’ I asked, intrigued. ‘Surely the vicar didn’t agree?’

She laughed. ‘Well, no, but luckily, they had someone more than eager to take the leading role. Walter! Should be fun.’

‘I wish I could see it,’ Brodie admitted, as we finally headed outside to look at the model village. ‘You’ll have to tell me all about it.’

‘They’re arguing so much about who has the most lines that I think if they weren’t already dead, they’d have killed each other,’ Callie confessed. ‘Right, let’s have a think about this prospective new tourist attraction, shall we?’

We gazed around the paddock at the jumble of cottages, shops, and other buildings that were such a beautiful representation of the Harling Estate.

‘The issue,’ Brodie said, ‘is obviously how we get the tourists into the paddock while encroaching as little as possible on your privacy.’

‘Maybe,’ Callie suggested, ‘we could put up dividing walls in the central outbuilding and create a corridor so they could go through that without seeing what’s in your outbuildings?’

‘It would have to be a pretty wide corridor in peak times,’ Brodie said. ‘There’d be a big queue in the courtyard otherwise, which isn’t ideal. Plus, they’d still have to go through the garden to get to the paddock.’

‘We were thinking we’d have to put up a six-foot fence,’ I said, ‘creating a path at the side of the garden directly to the paddock.’

‘Six-foot fencing all round your garden, I’d have thought,’ Callie said, rubbing her chin. ‘Otherwise, the tourists will be able to see everything going on in your garden and you don’t want that.’

‘I don’t want the views blocking either,’ Jack said grumpily. ‘I mean, look at what we’d be giving up if we went ahead with the fencing.’

We all stared out across the landscape of farmland with the woodland in the distance.

I could make out Nick or one of the ‘POWs’ ploughing one of the far fields.

They were using the vintage tractor today by the looks of things, rather than Bonnie and Blossom.

It would be hard to give those views up, I had to admit.

‘We’ll be able to see it from the bedroom windows, though,’ I pointed out feebly.

Jack gave me a withering look. ‘And by putting in a pathway we’re losing another slice of the garden. As you can see, it’s not that big to begin with. I’m not happy about it, especially with four kids and a dog to accommodate.’

‘And there’s the ticket office,’ Callie said suddenly. ‘We’d have to find room for that.’

‘Surely one of the outbuildings would be the best place for that?’ Brodie said, frowning. ‘There’s plenty of room in those, after all.’

‘Not as much as you’d think,’ Jack said. ‘There are decades of junk in there. Stuff my dad and grandad left behind. Not to mention the kids’ bikes and outdoor toys.’

‘Time we had a declutter anyway,’ I said.

‘And you’ve got time to do it, have you?’ Jack asked, sounding quite irritated. ‘Cos I’m not sure I have.’

‘Well, when you give up your job…’

‘Give up your job?’ Both Callie and Brodie stared at Jack. ‘You’re quitting the trains? Since when?’

‘I told you this,’ I said to Callie.

‘You told me you were thinking about it,’ she said, shaking her head, ‘but I thought it was just an idle comment. I never thought you were serious.’

‘Well, I am. He’s going to work with me at the model village,’ I explained. ‘We’re going to run it as a partnership. He’ll oversee the maintenance, obviously, and we’ll both work selling tickets, while I’ll also do the promotional stuff. I’ve already had ideas for some posters and a website.’

‘That’s…’ Brodie shook his head. ‘A big step. You have a decent job there, Jack. It’s a bit premature to think about quitting it to go self-employed, don’t you think?’

‘Yes,’ Jack said flatly. ‘I do think. Try telling her that.’

I glared at him. ‘We’ve been through all this! I can’t do it on my own and this was supposed to be our passion project. Something we could do together. Our own slice of the village.’

I turned to Callie, pleading with her to understand.

‘We don’t own this house. Everything in this village belongs to the Harland Estate.

But this model village is ours. Jack’s great-grandfather designed and built it, and Jack’s worked on it ever since he was little, helping to keep it in good condition.

This is something we can pass onto our kids.

We really want to make it work, but I can’t do it alone. I need Jack.’

‘And you need money even more,’ he said. ‘Or have you forgotten our recent conversation about not turning on the tumble dryer? You can’t moan about the cost of living one minute and expect me to give up a perfectly secure job the next – especially now, with a new baby on the way.’

‘You’re just making excuses,’ I snapped. ‘You never wanted to do this really, did you? Just admit it.’

‘It was a pipe dream,’ he said, clearly past caring about pretence.

‘A nice one, but we must be realistic. There won’t be enough demand to make this work all year round.

It’s a summer attraction, that’s all. Ask them!

’ he added, waving a hand at our guests.

‘They’ll tell you. Go on,’ he said to an awkward-looking Callie and Brodie, ‘explain it to her. She won’t listen to me. ’

‘I think Jack’s got a point, Clara,’ Brodie said, sounding apologetic.

‘When we envisioned opening the model village we weren’t thinking of it as a year-round attraction.

I honestly don’t see how it will earn enough money for you to make it a full-time career for both of you, and I certainly wouldn’t advise Jack to give up a secure, well-paid job on the railway to become self-employed at such a precarious business. ’

‘And to be honest,’ Jack said, ‘I don’t see that all the disruption to our lives will be worth it for a seasonal attraction.

Losing more of the garden, losing our views, our privacy, the messing about with the outbuildings.

No.’ He shook his head firmly. ‘The whole thing’s a non-starter. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’

‘You haven’t wasted our time,’ Callie said quietly.

‘It was our idea anyway, and I still think opening the model village to the public would be a good idea, but maybe now’s not the best time to discuss it.

You two obviously have a lot going on in your lives, and perhaps we’d be better to leave it for now and revisit the idea in a year or two. ’

‘I agree,’ Jack said, and Brodie nodded his assent.

‘So, I don’t get any say in the matter?’ I asked tearfully.

‘What about me? This was supposed to be my return to work. You know I’m going to find it difficult to get a job that works around the kids.

This was the perfect opportunity for me to get back into employment while building something we can leave to the boys.

Making our own stamp on Rowan Vale. Something of ours that doesn’t belong to the Davenports or the Chases. ’

I wiped the tears from my cheeks, aware that Callie, Jack, and Brodie were all staring at me as if I’d suddenly grown two heads.

‘I didn’t realise that mattered so much to you,’ Callie admitted.

‘Well,’ I said, ‘it does. Living here – it’s not like anywhere else, is it? No opportunity to buy our own home. Nothing to pass on to our children. It’s not fair.’

‘But that’s the deal with Rowan Vale,’ Jack said. ‘You knew that when you moved here.’

‘When I moved here, I didn’t have any kids,’ I reminded him. ‘I didn’t think about things like that then.’

‘Well…’ He rubbed the back of his neck. ‘It’s just the way it is.

We’re lucky. We’d never be able to afford to buy a four-bedroomed house in the Cotswolds on my wages.

And the estate keeps our rent low, too. Imagine if we had to pay market price.

You’d have to get a full-time job then. As it is, there’s no rush for you to go back to work, is there?

You’ll have your hands full with the new baby.

Like Callie said, we can revisit this in a year or two. See how things stand then.’

‘I can tell you exactly how they’ll stand,’ I said bitterly.

‘The only difference between then and now is that I won’t be pregnant.

I’ll have a two-year-old taking up all my time and energy instead, and then you’ll say it’s too much for me to start working on our own business, and why don’t I wait until the little one starts nursery.

And then school. And then it’ll be, why don’t you just get a part-time job in a shop or something? ’

‘That’s not what I’m saying at all,’ he protested. ‘But you’re not thinking straight. If you’d just be reasonable!’

But I was beyond being reasonable. I stamped back through the garden and headed into the house, slamming the kitchen door behind me.

Let them think of me what they liked. I was past caring.