Page 9 of The Book of Irish Secrets (Magnolia Manor #5)

FIVE

Claire found it difficult to concentrate on what Karina was saying during the drive to Magnolia Manor.

She was too excited to take anything in, except the lovely view down the hill of Dingle Harbour and the street lined with houses painted every colour of the rainbow.

‘It’s so magical,’ she said. ‘All these little houses in bright colours and the fishing boats and the ocean. So different to any Dublin harbour.’

Karina glanced at Claire while she drove across the bridge and down the road. ‘Is this your first visit to Kerry?’

‘Yes,’ Claire confessed. ‘I’ve never been to the southwest before. We always used to go down the east coast to Wicklow and Wexford for our holidays when I was a child. And then my husband and I had a mobile home near Rosslare for a while.’

‘That’s the difficult ex-husband?’ Karin asked.

‘That’s right.’ Claire shrugged. ‘Don’t worry,’ she added when Karina looked concerned. ‘I’m not a bit sad he left me. It was quite a relief, to be honest. We weren’t very compatible, to say the least.’

‘But you kept trying to please him?’

‘Well, yes, I did,’ Claire replied, surprised by Karina’s astute observation. Was she that transparent? ‘I thought if I could be the kind of wife he wanted me to be, we’d be happy,’ she said. ‘But I failed miserably.’ Claire shrugged. ‘I’m not very good at relationships, I suspect.’

‘Doesn’t sound like it was your fault,’ Karina soothed. ‘Sometimes people find fault with everything because they’re not really happy themselves.’

‘Yes, I think that was the problem,’ Claire agreed, touched by Karina’s empathy.

‘He should have loved you for the way you are and not the way he would want you to be,’ Karina remarked as she turned down a narrow lane. ‘Men often don’t get that.’

‘I suppose.’ Claire stared straight ahead while she considered this.

Finola had often said that Hugh had been trying to change her, to mould her into a shape she didn’t fit into.

And she had tried her best to be what he wanted and erased her own persona in the process.

Finola had been right. Claire had been too eager to please a husband who didn’t really care about her feelings.

Now she was happy to have the freedom to be and do whatever she wanted.

She promised herself there and then never to let a man do that to her again.

‘But that was some time ago, I take it,’ Karina remarked. ‘Have you tried to go out there and date again?’

‘Well, I did try a few dating sites,’ Claire replied. ‘Mostly because my best friend told me I should. But I never met anyone I really liked, so it was always a first date but no more.’

‘It must be so hard to be single these days,’ Karina said sympathetically.

Claire shrugged. ‘It is if you’re desperate. But I’m not any more. I like being on my own after all the disputes with my ex-husband. I’m my own boss and happy in my skin at last.’

‘That’s wonderful. Maybe it’s the best way to be if you should meet someone you like.

Strong and independent is better than unsure and needy.

Anyway, we’re nearly there,’ Karina said as they arrived at a set of ornate iron gates.

There was a pretty house just inside which Karina said was the gate lodge where Violet Fleury and her husband, Jack, lived.

They drove up the avenue lined with tall beeches.

The famous gardens could be glimpsed beyond the trees and Claire gazed in awe at the lush vegetation, the palm trees and the camellia and rhododendron bushes in full bloom.

‘How beautiful,’ Claire said in a near whisper, enthralled by it all. ‘I’ve seen photos of these gardens but I had no idea they were so lush and gorgeous at this time of year.’

‘Yes, it’s quite impressive,’ Karina said. ‘There’s a kind of microclimate here which means the shrubs flower early. A lovely backdrop for all those wedding photos. And now you can see the house,’ she added as they rounded a bend in the avenue.

As Claire saw the big house in the distance, her stomach flipped and her throat was suddenly dry.

She felt both cold and hot as they neared the manor and she took in the beauty of the Georgian building and the huge magnolia tree that would soon be in full bloom beside the steps leading to a massive oak entrance door.

‘Oh,’ she whispered. ‘I’m here at last. At Magnolia Manor.

’ She felt like pinching herself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

Karina glanced at Claire. ‘What do you mean? Have you heard about this place somewhere?’

Claire pulled herself together and tried to find a plausible explanation.

She didn’t want to lie to Karina even though she knew she would have to hide the truth.

‘I read about Magnolia Manor when the senior apartments were opened,’ she said.

‘I thought the manor looked amazing and I wanted to come and see it one day.’ That was part of the real story, so Claire felt momentarily a little better.

She didn’t like the idea of lying to her new boss who was so nice to her.

But it was her ticket to Magnolia Manor and the secrets it might hold within its ancient walls, so she just had to carry on.

‘It’s a lovely house.’ Karina shot Claire a smile.

‘The most beautiful building in Ireland, I think.’ She didn’t drive up to the entrance but went around the corner into a courtyard.

‘We’ll find Sylvia in her garden flat. And then you can take a look at the new kitchen in the basement where we prepare the meals for the weddings. ’

‘Great.’ Claire got out of the car as soon as it stopped and looked up at the back of the building. ‘Are all the senior apartments up there?’

‘That’s right,’ Karina said as she banged the door of the car shut.

‘Ten apartments so far. I think they plan to make some more in the attics but that’s all in the pipeline.

They installed a lift last year so that took a lot of money out of the kitty.

’ She walked to a door that was painted a light green and pressed the intercom.

‘Sylvia, it’s Karina and my new assistant,’ she said when a tinny voice answered.

Then there was a buzz and the door swung open.

‘Come in,’ a voice called from somewhere inside. ‘I’m in the kitchen.’

‘Okay, Sylvia,’ Karina called. They both went into a hall and hung their jackets on the hooks by the door and then Karina led the way through another door so that they emerged into a bright spacious kitchen. An older woman with white hair cut into an immaculate bob stood just inside the door.

She smiled at Karina. ‘Hello. You’re right on time.’ Then her gaze drifted to Claire. ‘This is the new assistant?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’ Claire held out her hand which shook slightly.

‘I’m Claire O’Hanlon. Nice to meet you, Mrs Fleury.

’ Her throat contracted as she said the name, and she stared at Sylvia, feeling as if she was dreaming.

Here she was at last, in Magnolia Manor being greeted by the iconic Sylvia Fleury, who despite her age looked fit and sprightly with a straight back and a glint of amusement in her brown eyes.

Sylvia squeezed Claire’s hand in a firm grip. ‘Nice to meet you , my dear. I hope you can cope with Karina. She’s a hard taskmaster. But you look strong, so maybe you’ll last.’

Karina laughed. ‘Please don’t try to scare the girl, Sylvia. I’m really happy to have found her. Claire actually fixed my computer when I thought it had died. So that was a good start and I hired her on the spot. We do get on very well already.’

‘Excellent.’ Sylvia checked her watch. ‘It’s nearly time for lunch. I made soup earlier and there’s freshly baked bread and then I have an apple crumble my very new housekeeper made for me. She’s from Norway and loves baking – can’t seem to stop her.’

‘I’m glad you’ve got someone to help you around the house,’ Karina said. ‘I was wondering how you’d cope when Nora retired.’

‘So was I, to be honest,’ Sylvia said. ‘I didn’t think anyone could fill Nora’s shoes. And this new girl can’t, of course. But you shouldn’t expect to have perfection all the time. Mette is good in her own way. Can’t complain at all. We have to be grateful for nice people who do their best.’

‘Very true,’ Karina agreed. ‘And Arnaud does a lot of the cooking when he’s around, I know.’

‘Oh, he does the fancy stuff,’ Sylvia said. ‘It’s always a performance when he cooks. He makes a huge mess and it takes hours and hours. But it’s always a masterpiece in the end.’

‘That’s the French for you,’ Karina said and moved across the room to a round table in an alcove with windows that overlooked the courtyard. ‘Let’s sit down, then. I think lunch would be a good idea and I see you’ve laid the table already.’

‘That was Mette,’ Sylvia said. ‘She’s here for three hours every day. Sit down and I’ll get the soup and bread.’

Claire hesitated for a moment. ‘Can I help you with anything?’ she asked.

‘Not at all,’ Sylvia said, busying herself at the cooker. ‘Do sit down and I’ll bring everything over.’

Karina winked. ‘Better do as she says.’

Claire smiled and sat down. These two were obviously close friends despite the age difference and the banter between them was fun to listen to.

She sat down and began to enjoy herself, no longer awestruck to be in Sylvia Fleury’s presence.

The old lady was so down to earth and easy-going, far from the forbidding woman she had imagined.

She wondered how she would react if she found out about Claire’s connection to the family.

Perhaps she would be more open than Claire had first expected.

Or she might throw me out and then call the Guards , she thought with a slight shiver.

‘This smells delicious,’ she said out loud, forcing a friendly smile.

‘An old family recipe,’ Sylvia said, ‘that I shared with Karina as she is from the family who invented it. Well, my mother did, as a matter of fact.’

‘You’ve been very generous with her recipes,’ Karina said, picking up her spoon. ‘What would my career be without them?’

‘You wouldn’t have one.’ Sylvia sat down and handed around bread rolls from a little basket on the table. ‘Granny O’Farrell was a legend in our family.’

‘What about the Fleurys?’ Claire asked. ‘Didn’t they have any good recipes to share with the next generations?’

‘They had staff,’ Sylvia said. ‘Those Fleury girls of the older generations couldn’t cook to save their lives. Before I arrived at Magnolia none of them could so much as boil an egg.’

‘They didn’t know much about the real world,’ Karina remarked. ‘I heard old Cornelius was delighted that you improved the cuisine at Magnolia Manor when you came here.’

‘Oh yes,’ Sylvia said with a fond smile. ‘My father-in-law liked good food. But he was a little shocked at the idea of a Fleury wife in the kitchen cooking up a storm. He got used to it very quickly, though.’

‘Once you served up the famous O’Farrell beef stew, I bet,’ Karina remarked.

‘Well,’ Sylvia admitted, ‘I’m not that good at cooking, to tell you the truth. I just gave all the family recipes to Nora and she followed them to the letter. Cornelius never twigged and who was I to enlighten him when he was so impressed?’

Claire forgot to eat, even though the soup was delicious. She stared at Sylvia, taking in every word she said about her father-in-law. Cornelius , she thought, my great-grandfather’s twin. Does Sylvia even know Louis existed?

Sylvia stopped talking and looked at Claire. ‘You look a little pale. Are you not feeling well? Or is it the soup? Did I put in too much chilli? I only meant to add a touch to give it a deeper flavour, but maybe…’

‘No,’ Claire said. ‘It’s very nice, really. It’s just that I’m a little overwhelmed by everything. I only arrived yesterday and, well, this morning I had the interview and I fixed the computer and then we came here and…’

‘Of course,’ Sylvia said with great empathy. ‘It’s been quite a whirlwind for you. Karina gets carried away sometimes. I think you should have the rest of the day off.’

‘Yes, that is a good idea,’ Karina said, looking slightly guilty. ‘I shouldn’t have made you jump in at the deep end. I’ll drive you back to Madigan’s if you like.’

‘No, please don’t worry,’ Claire said. ‘I’m fine. Actually, I’d like to see more of this house as I’ll be involved with the events here. Better to learn the ropes straight away, I think. After that I can go back to the B&B.’

‘Excellent idea,’ Karina said. ‘We’ll do a tour of the premises after lunch. And then you can meet Rose if she’s around.’

‘Great,’ Claire said and picked up her spoon. ‘This is really delicious, Mrs Fleury. I’m sorry about my little turn earlier.’

‘Oh please. Call me Sylvia. Nobody except my doctor calls me Mrs Fleury,’ Sylvia said.

‘I know I must be ancient to you, but I think we will be friends. There is something about you that…’ She looked at Claire for a moment.

‘I have the oddest feeling that we’ve met before.

You look familiar in a strange way. Not sure what it is, but… ’

Claire stiffened under the old lady’s intense gaze.

What would happen now if her cover was blown?

Sylvia Fleury looked like someone who wasn’t easy to fool.

Auntie Rachel’s words suddenly rang through her mind.

You’re a throwback, Claire , she had said.

Maybe it was too obvious and anyone in the family would spot it immediately.

What if her likeness to someone in the Fleury family would give her away right now?

Claire swallowed nervously, trying to think of something to say that would throw Sylvia off the scent.