Page 6 of Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall (Ghosts of Rowan Vale #1)

6

FLORRIE

Florrie was sitting at the kitchen table, her chin propped in her hands as she surveyed Brodie and Mia, who were having a serious discussion.

Florrie quite liked Mia, despite her having a posh accent. She didn’t think Agnes was so keen, but since Mia had practically taken over the running of Harling Hall since she’d arrived here a few years ago, maybe Agnes was just jealous.

Florrie had obviously never tasted any of Mia’s cooking, but she’d smelled it every day and, if she’d been able to produce saliva, she had no doubt that her mouth would have watered frequently. She’d caught the scent of the sauce as she’d walked down the stairs a few minutes ago, and it had led her to the kitchen as surely as if she’d been led by the Pied Piper’s music.

Skipping through the door, she’d plonked herself on a chair and watched Mia at work, wishing with all her heart that she could taste the food for herself, and daydreaming about what she’d most like Mia to cook for her if that impossible dream was ever realised.

Brodie had entered the room not long after, jerking Florrie out of her pleasant thoughts of juicy roast beef, crispy roast potatoes, warm bread straight from the oven, and – oh, imagine the bliss – jam roly poly and custard!

‘He’s in a real state,’ Brodie had announced without preamble. ‘Honestly, I could throttle that woman. What was she playing at, turning down an offer like that? Who does she think she is?’

Florrie nodded in agreement. She’d asked herself the same question after Lawrie had announced to the household yesterday that the stupid woman had said no. Not that she wanted her to take over Rowan Vale, and she certainly didn’t fancy sharing a house with her of all things, but even so, she’d had no right to refuse Lawrie’s request, and him being so generous an’ all. Some people didn’t know which side their bread was buttered.

‘I suppose she had her reasons,’ Mia said mildly. She tasted the sauce she’d been stirring and nodded in satisfaction. ‘Perfect.’

Florrie sighed enviously. She’d just bet it was!

‘What reasons could she possibly have to turn down an offer like that? It’s like turning down the winning lottery ticket. I mean, how else are you going to get your hands on an entire estate, complete with country manor house to live in, all for a tenner? She must be insane.’

Mia turned and smiled at him. ‘I thought you’d be glad about it.’

‘I am. I was. I mean…’ Brodie shook his head impatiently then sat down in the chair opposite Florrie. He rubbed his chin and sighed. ‘Honestly, Mia? I don’t know what to think.’

‘Clearly, you think she made a mistake and that Lawrie needs her. And you’re right. We all need her.’

‘Well, you don’t sound very rattled about it.’

‘Why should I?’ Mia shrugged. ‘She said no. What would be the point of stewing over it?’

A distant memory of her mother’s stew and dumplings popped into Florrie’s mind, distracting her for a moment. She forced herself to pay attention as Mia continued.

‘You know, from what Lawrie told me, you were hardly welcoming to her, which can’t have helped. She’d just had a heck of a shock with all that stuff sprung on her. The very least you could have done was be polite, instead of storming out of the room.’

He gave her a stricken look. ‘Is Grandpa blaming me? It’s not my fault she doesn’t know a bargain when she sees one.’

‘You tell ’er, Brodes,’ Florrie muttered. ‘None of us wants that woman ’ere, anyway.’

‘Whether you want her here or not…’ Mia paused and seemed to steady herself. ‘Look, we need her. Lawrie needs her. The villagers need her. The ghosts need her.’

‘No, we don’t,’ Florrie said with feeling. ‘We can manage just fine without her.’

‘Because at some point,’ Mia continued, ‘and I hate to say this, believe me – but at some point, Lawrie isn’t going to be here any longer, and then what will happen? You might have helped persuade her. It’s a lot to ask of her – uprooting her and her daughter’s lives to move here. If you’d been a bit gentler, she might not have wanted to escape as quickly as possible.’

‘So, this is my fault?’

‘No, but… you didn’t exactly help, did you?’

Brodie sighed. ‘You’re right. I was an idiot. But how do you expect me to feel, Mia? This is my home. My life! Do you really think I can just act as if nothing has happened? As if the fact that I’m about to be turfed out of the place I love means nothing?’

‘Look,’ Mia said kindly, ‘I get it, really I do. Giving up the estate means you’ll both have to leave it completely. It sucks, and it makes no sense to me or to you. But…’

‘But that’s what always happens when the estate changes hands, and we all know Grandpa is a stickler for the traditions.’

‘Florence, there you are, dear.’

Florrie looked round, irritated, as Aubrey entered the room and headed straight to her. ‘Your mother was looking for you. You’re supposed to be having elocution lessons, remember?’

‘Elocution lessons!’ Florrie gave a dismissive snort. She’d been learning to speak “proper” since she’d first found herself in Agnes and Aubrey’s care, and much good it had done her. Who wanted to sound like Agnes? Besides, she was trying to listen to Brodie’s reply and Aubrey was making that very difficult. ‘And she’s not my mother,’ she added for good measure, her annoyance getting in the way of her compassion.

Aubrey looked deeply wounded and Florrie felt a pang of guilt.

‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

Aubrey sat next to her and his hand folded over hers. ‘As far as Agnes and I are concerned, you’re our child. I know you had a real mother and father once upon a time, but we’ve done our best to take care of you ever since… that dark day. We think of you very much as ours, and I’m sorry if you don’t see it the same way.’

‘I do! Honest, I do. It’s just…’ Florrie sighed. ‘I don’t know. Sometimes, just sometimes, I remember…’

Aubrey squeezed her hand. ‘I know, my dear. I know.’ He glanced over at Mia and frowned. ‘What are you doing here anyway?’

Florrie shrugged. ‘I like to smell her cooking. It’s ever so nice. And then ’e came in,’ she added, nodding at Brodie, ‘and I wanted to know what they were talking about.’

‘It’s terribly bad manners to eavesdrop,’ Aubrey told her sternly.

‘Oh, codswallop! Not like they know about it, is it?’ Florrie said, thinking it was perfectly reasonable to listen in on people’s conversations providing they weren’t aware of the fact.

Aubrey looked nervous. ‘I still think?—’

He broke off as Brodie pushed back his chair and thumped his fist on the table.

‘Good lord,’ Aubrey said, startled.

‘It’s that Callie woman,’ Florrie confided. ‘He’s in a proper tizz cos of her turning down Lawrie’s offer.’

‘Yes, well. Even so…’

‘Oh, do calm yourself,’ Mia said, sounding perfectly calm herself. ‘It’s no use getting worked up about things, is it? What will that solve?’

‘I’ve really messed this up! Grandpa’s aged ten years, and he could hardly afford to do that. This is an impossible situation. I don’t want her here, Mia. I just don’t.’

‘Callie? Or anyone?’ she asked shrewdly.

‘Good question,’ Aubrey said, nodding.

Brodie slumped. ‘I don’t suppose it would make any difference who it was,’ he admitted grudgingly. ‘The fact is…’

Mia nodded, understanding in her eyes. ‘The fact is, you want it to be you.’

‘Is that so wrong?’ he pleaded.

‘Of course not. It’s perfectly natural. I’m quite sure everyone here would want that, too, if it were only possible. Unfortunately, Brodie, it isn’t possible, so now we must look at the bigger picture and think what’s best for the Harling Estate. And what do you think that is?’

‘Getting Callie back,’ he said dully.

‘Oh no, Brodes! Don’t give in that easily!’ Florrie cried, as Mia and Aubrey chorused, ‘That’s right.’

‘So, what are you going to do about it?’ Mia continued.

Brodie glanced around helplessly. ‘No idea.’

‘Really?’

‘Okay. Find her. Talk to her. Persuade her that her taking over the estate is what we all want, and that it will be the best thing she’ll ever do.’

‘Good answer,’ Mia said, giving the sauce one final stir before turning off the heat. ‘So how are you going to do that?’

‘Don’t listen to ’er, Brodes,’ Florrie advised. ‘We don’t need no living soul to boss us about. We can manage fine without one.’

‘Hush, dear,’ Aubrey said gently. ‘I’m afraid that’s just not true.’

‘The booking!’ Brodie said suddenly. ‘They booked a school visit, didn’t they? If we can find out which school it was, we might be able to trace a Callie Chase in that area. I’ll go to the study and?—’

‘No need.’

Mia fished in her apron pocket and brought out a mobile phone. Florrie craned her neck, eager to see it in action. How she wished she’d had a mobile phone when she was alive. She’d have been able to keep in touch with her mum, and then maybe she wouldn’t have felt so isolated when they packed her off to this place.

Then again, she thought bitterly, her mum had no doubt been far too busy with Janet, so wouldn’t have had time to talk to Florrie anyway.

‘We received a rather stroppy email this morning from a teacher called Mr Gaskill at Lowerthorpe Primary School in Leicestershire,’ Mia was saying. ‘He complained that one of the parents accompanying pupils on a school trip to the village yesterday had witnessed an altercation between two actors playing First World War soldiers at the station. The parent was a Miss Callie Chase.’

Brodie grinned. ‘And did you reply?’

‘Naturally. I assured him that the two men in question would be disciplined and that we’d take care that nothing like this would ever happen again. I also asked if it would be possible to have Callie’s home address so the estate can send her some flowers as an apology.’

‘He’ll never fall for that!’

‘Do you want to bet? To my utter horror, he gave me her address immediately. I think we should tip her off about that. The man’s an idiot.’

‘Wow. That was easy! I thought we’d have to spend days trawling social media or something,’ Brodie said.

‘Perhaps we should give her a few days to calm down and think about Lawrie’s proposal,’ Mia mused. ‘Give her the chance to think what’s on offer rationally before you go round there putting more pressure on her.’

‘Excellent plan,’ Aubrey said approvingly.

‘What’s social media?’ Florrie asked.

‘I’m not entirely sure,’ he admitted. ‘But from what I can gather, it’s not something that you or I should be part of. Now,’ he said, gently pushing her plaits back over her shoulders, ‘are you going to come upstairs and see your— Agnes? I will try my best to get you out of elocution lessons. Perhaps we can do something else instead? Maybe you and I can go for a walk around the grounds?’

Florrie thought he had the kindest eyes she’d ever seen, and knew he was doing his best, even if she wasn’t always appreciative of the fact.

She smiled up at him. ‘Okay. Thanks.’

As she dropped a kiss on his cheek, the light in his eyes and the delight in his face was enough to convince her to head upstairs, even if he couldn’t manage to get her excused from Agnes’s interminable lessons.

It really didn’t take much to keep them both happy, she reflected, heading out into the hall with her hand in Aubrey’s, and really, it was always worth keeping them onside.

Bless ’em, they were old and needed some sunshine in their afterlives. She just felt sorry for ’em.

That was all.