Thea took a step back to examine the door that had once formed Mill Grange’s servants’ link from the kitchen corridor to the outside world, and admired her handiwork.
Working the runny preserving oil into the grain of the wood had been satisfying and therapeutic, as well as essential. The liquid had absorbed into the surface so fast Thea could have sworn she’d heard the wood sighing with relief after years of dehydration. It had been good to do something that required no thought beyond the rhythmical circling of a cloth.
She’d just laid down the tin of oil and was scrubbing pointlessly at the pattern of dotted brown splodges that now adorned her jumper, when Shaun’s car turned into the drive behind her. Noting the grim set to his face, Thea brushed her dirty hands down her thighs and went to greet him. ‘They said no to the television appearance, didn’t they?’
‘Yes and no. It is dependent on the decision to sell.’ Paying no attention to Thea’s grubby state, Shaun wrapped her in his arms as he explained how he’d underlined how much the Trust would get paid, how good the publicity would be and how, as they already had a trained historian on site, they wouldn’t have to employ someone to oversee the filming on their behalf. But they hadn’t budged. No decisions were being made about the future of the manor until they’ve had a meeting about selling, or not.
From the cocoon of Shaun’s side, Thea asked, ‘And did they tell you when the meeting is going to be?’
‘Today.’ Shaun looked at his watch. ‘Now.’
‘Oh my God!’ Thea’s breath hitched in her throat as she broke free from his arms. ‘Today?’
‘You might want to stay in the office so that when the verdict comes you’re in the right part of the manor to receive the call.’
Thea nodded. ‘Tina thinks the Trust’s up to something. This behaviour is so out of character; Malcolm isn’t usually anything but crystal-clear in his instructions apparently.’
‘She may be right.’
Returning her attention to Shaun, Thea took his hand. ‘Did Malcolm say something then?’
‘Not as such. I don’t know Malcolm, but I could tell he wasn’t comfortable with the non-answers he was giving me.’ Shaun registered his girlfriend’s sticky jumper and hands as he accidentally brushed against a blob of sealant on her sleeve. ‘You’ve been keeping busy then.’
She gestured half-heartedly to the pristine servants’ door. ‘For what it’s worth.’
‘Don’t give up, love.’
‘Come on Shaun, I’m not stupid. They’re going to sell. I just wish I knew why.’
Wishing he could argue, but suspecting Thea was right, Shaun stroked a hand through her hair. ‘Well, we can’t do anything until we know the outcome of the meeting. The income from the filming might be the ammunition we needed to tip the balance in Mill Grange’s favour.’
‘Let’s hope so.’ Thea kissed his cheek. ‘Thanks for trying. I think I’ll go and change. If I’m going to face the firing squad, I think I’d like to do it without looking like a sticky scarecrow.’
*
‘And the verdict?’ Sam paused in the process of tightening the hinges of the gate that divided the walled garden from its main counterpart.
‘The Trust is in discussion about the sale now.’
Giving the gate an experimental swing, to make sure it was hanging level after years of being cockeyed in its settings, Sam said, ‘Let me guess. They withheld a discussion about the filming pending a decision.’
‘You are quoting them almost word for word.’ Shaun glanced up at the attic window where Thea would be changing. ‘I think I’d like to be with Thea when the call comes through.’
‘Quite right.’ Sam pocketed his screwdriver. ‘But before you go, could I show you something?’
‘Thea’s changing her clothes, so I’ve only got five minutes. That girl doesn’t hang about on the clothes front.’
‘It’ll only take two.’ Sam gestured towards the rough slope of land between the back of the garden and the woods.
*
With every step towards the little attic room she’d called home for the past three months, Thea felt increasingly incensed at the Trust’s behaviour towards her, and more importantly, towards her volunteers.
The creak of each stair seemed to echo her thoughts and imprint images of the work her team had done at the manor. She could see Derek and Sam battling against the broken window pulley. Diane, doing her best to clear out the stables, despite her hatred of spiders. Bill and Derek, laughing with the students from Exeter University, as they piled branches and brambles onto the latest bonfire. Tina handing out slices of lemon cake during her early attempts to gain the volunteers’ support. And Mabel… Mabel, both the bane of Thea’s life and Mill Grange’s saviour. Thea knew the manor and mill house would never be as advanced in its restoration without Mabel’s unstoppable gusto. At least nothing stank of vinegar anymore.
Reaching her room, Thea sat on the bed and rested her head in her hands. Mabel was going to take this news harder than anyone.
It might not be sold.
The voice of hope that Thea had been so determined to keep hold of since Tina accidentally discovered the possibility of the manor being put on the market, was becoming fainter by the minute. Peeling off her jumper, she threw it into the corner to join the others. She had hardly anything left to wear that wasn’t coated in some sort of paint or grime. Cross with herself for living in such a mess, Thea muttered, ‘I might as well be back on excavation after all.’
Picturing Malcolm and their fellow trustees sitting around a table playing God with the manor’s fate, Thea moved to the window. She could see Shaun and Sam walking up from the woods, deep in conversation.
Relieved that Shaun was softening the blow for Sam, who despite having never progressed further into the manor than the bathroom nearest the back door, held an obvious affection for the place, Thea closed her eyes.
‘There must be something I can do. Something I haven’t contemplated yet, that can stop the Trust selling. There must be…’
‘Maybe there is.’
Thea swung around, her heart thumping in her chest. Her mouth went dry, while her brain screamed accusations at her for not paying attention to who might be lurking in the other rooms as she’d come up the stairs. ‘John.’
‘You were expecting someone taller? Someone who must have enough money to buy this place for you?’
Thea turned back to the window. There was no one in sight; not even a rogue student with an armful of brambles for burning. ‘What do you want John?’
‘I want to talk to you, just like I wanted to talk to you when I booked the meal at the pub.’ John crossed his arms over his chest, a determined smile set on his chiselled features.
‘Go away, John.’
‘Not until you’ve heard me out.’
Thea’s mind raced as she stared at John. It hadn’t crossed her mind that Shaun could buy the house. Surely television presenters weren’t paid that well. And even if they were, she’d never ask him to buy the manor in a million years. They’d only been together for two minutes. If they’d been married fifty years, she’d still never have asked. ‘Have you any idea how pathetic you look standing there like a Bond villain? Surely you see that you’re being here is pointless.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that.’
Thea was amazed at how steady she was managing to keep her voice. ‘If you’re about to threaten me with outing the fact that Shaun is staying here, then you’re too late. People already know. And if you’re going to start yelling the news that I’m lodging here too, then I hope you have fun doing so. In fact, it would save me a job, as I intended to tell everyone at tomorrow’s staff meeting.’
John’s eyes narrowed. ‘If there really was a staff meeting tomorrow, I would have been invited to it.’
‘No you wouldn’t. You haven’t done any work here for weeks. Your safety check has expired.’ Thea kept talking, hoping he’d believe her lie. ‘Hanging around the village and generally making people wonder what you’re up to is not helping your cause. All you’ve done is create suspicion. Even Mabel is beginning to wonder what you’re up to.’
John didn’t even blink. ‘There isn’t a meeting tomorrow, is there?’
‘There is.’ Thea grabbed the nearest semi-clean jumper from the chair and tugged it over her head. ‘Why are you still here? Do I really need to tell you again what a fool you’re making of yourself?’
‘A fool?’ John raked his hands through his blond hair. ‘Yes, that just about sums it up.’ He sighed heavily, looking rather defeated. ‘My plan today was so straightforward. I’d come up here, ask you a favour, which you’d agree to, and then I’d leave. I never meant to be away from Bath for so long, nor for things to get so out of hand.’
‘Out of hand? That’s an understatement.’
‘I want to explain why I’m still here. But as I walked up the stairs just now the answer came to me – it’s so obvious!’
‘Hold on, did you say you were going to leave as soon as you’ve spoken to me?’
‘Yes! I’d have gone back to work ages ago if you’d listen to me. I only wanted to ask a favour.’
‘A favour?’ Thea sank onto the edge of her bed, ‘John, you asked me out five times in the first twenty-four hours of your stay here.’
‘That was before I realised how much your taste in men has deteriorated.’ John waved a hand, as if his previous badgering was ancient history. ‘Anyway, like I said, I just thought of the answer – a way to get you out of the mess you find yourself in. A way to convince the locals that you aren’t the total failure they’re bound to take you for once word of the sale gets out.’
‘Total failure?’ The words left Thea’s lips at barely a whisper.
‘You came here to save their manor and open it to the public, but you can’t do that. Despite how badly you’ve treated me, I don’t want them to consider you a disappointment.’
Blind to Thea’s shocked expression, John ploughed on. ‘I will buy the manor from the Trust. I have plenty of savings and had a decent inheritance from my grandparents.’
Speechless, Thea watched John as he spoke. He didn’t appear to be talking to her. It was as if he was reciting something: an act in a play, with him as the hero.
Thea cleared her throat. ‘You can’t buy me, John.’
‘Not you, the manor. For you. To say thank you for the favour I need you to do. Then you could let that blonde bimbo you hang around with run it for you, and return to Bath and civilization generally. You never know, we could go back to having the occasional dinner together, like when we first met.’
An image of her best friend flashed through her head as John kept talking. ‘This way, the village gets its precious manor restored for free, I can make a steady income from the events and opening it to the public, and you can be the heroine you want to be in the eyes of these village idiots. On top of that I… Well, let’s just say everyone is happy.’
‘Happy?’ With the words ‘bimbo’ and ‘idiots’ ringing in her ears, Thea pointed to her desk chair. Something inside her snapped as she shouted, ‘Sit down, John!’
Thea could feel a nervous shake in her shoulders, but ignored it as she gave her temper free reign. ‘I’ve had enough! Tell me, what favour is so important that you’re willing to blow your life savings on a house you don’t want? And, I warn you, if you say it’s to make me fall in love with you, I swear I’ll lock you in here until you come to your senses.’
As John sat down, Thea added, ‘And no more lies! I want the real reason you’ve been pursuing me to such a ridiculous degree. I feel like I’m stuck in a Shakespearian farce!’
‘Farce?’ John blustered, rising back up from the chair as he did so.
‘John, all you’ve ever cared about is your career. You’ve just got a promotion, so why aren’t you in Bath doing it?’
‘I told you, I took some holiday so I could come here and…’
Thea was already shaking her head. ‘I know for a fact you never take more than two weeks off at a time, because you’re paranoid someone might steal your position in your absence. So, please John, tell me the truth.’
‘And me.’ Mabel appeared on the threshold of her room, a stack of papers in her hand and a very peculiar expression on her face. ‘And while you’re at it, you can tell us who this wife of yours is.’
‘Wife?’ Thea had never been so pleased to see Mabel in her life. ‘John’s married?’
‘He is. Or at least, he told someone, his boss I assume, as he kept calling them sir, that he was.’
John looked furious, ‘You’ve been listening to my calls, you nosy old—’
‘Shut up Mr Sommers.’ Mabel closed the bedroom door behind her and leant against it. Crossing her arms firmly over her apron, she took in Thea’s stunned face, ‘This young man is going to tell us precisely what he’s up to. That’s if he thinks a village idiot like me can understand his sophisticated reasoning.’
John’s face flushed pink as he reached his hands beseechingly towards Thea, ‘I’m not married, I promise, I’d never cheat on you.’
Mabel’s hawk stare switched from John to Thea. ‘Cheat on you?’
‘I’ll explain later.’
‘I really don’t think…’ John made to get up, but Thea pre-empted him.
‘Well, I do.’ Positioning herself next to Mabel, copying her determined crossed armed stance, Thea said, ‘You were about to tell me what you wanted to say at my “surprise” meal. Something about a favour?’
‘Meal?’ Mabel’s wrinkled face creased further as she regarded John with increasing distaste.
‘I’ll tell you that later too.’ Thea patted her friend’s shoulder. ‘After we’ve discovered when John found time to squeeze a fake marriage into his busy schedule.’
‘It was a misunderstanding.’ Glancing at the door, John accepted he was trapped with a groan. ‘There seemed no harm in it at first. But, suddenly, the companies were merging and I was sent back to Bath and …’
‘Hold on.’ Thea interrupted, ‘You told me you got your new job through an old school friend.’
‘I sort of did.’
‘Sort of?’
‘My best mate from school has worked for Safe Hands Digital in Newcastle for years. He recommended me as the one to liaise between the two company’s COs as I’d worked for them both. And as the new HQ was to be in Bath…’
‘And this misunderstanding?’ Mabel demanded.
Licking his lips, John mumbled, ‘My boss in Newcastle thought I was married – an assumption I never got round to correcting. But he told the managing director in Bath that I’d got married, and as he’s keen on promoting Sure Digital as a family-centred company…’ He swallowed. ‘I needed a wife and…’
‘Hang on.’ Thea raised her hand. ‘Are you telling us you played along, inventing yourself a wife, to impress the management?’
‘It’s worse than that.’ Mabel’s eyes narrowed as she focused on John, ‘He’s told them that wife is you, Thea. Haven’t you John?’
‘You’ve done what?’ Thea went white as she stared at her former boyfriend. ‘That was the favour? To pretend to be your wife every now and then?’
‘Just once! Just at the merger celebration party.’ John gestured his arms wildly around the room. ‘And in return, I’d buy you all this!’
Brandishing her papers as if they were a weapon, Mabel kept her eyes fixed on John as she addressed Thea. ‘Why don’t you sit down, my dear? Have a look at these while I escort Mr Sommers from the house?’
Dropping the pile of local house rental details she’d been clutching into a shaking Thea’s lap, Mabel placed a strong bony hand on John’s shoulder. ‘You’re coming with me.’