Cranley Court, 1913
‘Darling Laura! I’m so glad you arrived before the others,’ Diana exclaimed, hurrying forward to kiss her sister. ‘Come and sit by the fire in the library. I want to hear all your news. And how are you, Caroline?’
She bent down to hug her nine-year-old niece. ‘Archie and Emily are so excited at having you to stay.’
Caroline, pretty and bright-eyed, gazed up at her favourite aunt in silent awe, not knowing what to say.
Laura smiled encouragingly and murmured, ‘Say hello to Aunt Di, darling.’ Then she straightened her back, looking tired. ‘I thought we’d never get here. There was snow on the line and we were held up for ages.’ As she spoke she put down her fur muff and started taking off her small, chic hat.
‘You’re here now and that’s the main thing,’ Diana said soothingly. ‘Caroline, why don’t you run up to the playroom and surprise the others? With all this snow on the drive, I don’t think they heard you arrive.’
The child was staring wide-eyed at the splendid Christmas tree with its quaint Victorian decorations that had been in the Kelso family for two generations. The small, carved and painted animals, miniature bugles and stars had been hung artfully from the dense pine branches and there were even cream-coloured candles held in place by little metal clips.
‘It’s beautiful, Di,’ Laura exclaimed. ‘It must have taken you hours to decorate.’
Diana laughed. ‘Mrs Armstrong and I did it after the children had gone to bed. We didn’t finish until about two in the morning! Their faces were priceless the next day. Emily wondered if Father Christmas had delivered it.’
‘Thank God for Mrs Armstrong,’ Laura observed, sotto voce. ‘I wish we’d had such a good housekeeper when we were young. Poor Mama wasn’t exactly artistic, was she?’
Diana nodded. ‘That’s what happens if you have eleven children. I look back on those days of living in a big castle and wonder how Mama managed to keep the staff we had. Do you remember how cold it was? Even in summer? Living in a house, even a big one like this, is so easy by comparison. Now, let’s get you settled in.’
She turned to Burton and at a signal the butler gave the first footman orders to take Lady Laura Leighton-Harvey’s luggage up to her room, where one of the chambermaids would do her unpacking. Meanwhile, Mrs Armstrong had already taken Caroline up to the playroom where Nanny Kelso was about to preside over nursery tea, while the cousins eyed each other with silent curiosity and suspicion. Caroline couldn’t help feeling inferior when she stayed at Cranley Court. In fact, she felt inferior when she stayed with any of her mother’s sisters. They were all rich. They all had big houses and servants – even Aunt Georgie, who’d scandalized Scottish society by marrying an Irish working-class man who owned several pubs. Every one of her many cousins also had a father they could see every day; respectable men who didn’t get drunk and hadn’t been thrown into an institution. No one really mentioned her father these days, and that hurt her a lot. It was as if he’d brought shame on the family. No one asked after him or mentioned his name, and yet they talked about the other uncles. He might have been dead for all they cared.
Caroline knew he’d spent all their money and it was called ‘going bankrupt’, but Mama earned money with her dressmaking so why couldn’t Dada live with them? Why did he live with his sister?
‘Come along, Caroline,’ said Nanny Kelso. ‘You’ll fade away if you don’t eat something.’
Caroline put on what she considered to be her rather grand and grown-up voice. ‘I’m not hungry, thank you very much.’
‘You won’t thank me if you get ill,’ Nanny retorted sturdily. ‘Now, come along. Eat your bread and butter and then you can have a nice slice of Dundee cake.’
While Caroline nibbled with reluctance, Archie, who was two years older, decided to engage her in stilted conversation.
‘How is Edinburgh?’
‘It’s still standing,’ she replied, glancing balefully at him.
‘Is Aunt Laura still making dresses?’ Emily enquired curiously.
She’s a designer, not a common dressmaker,’ Caroline said rudely.
Nanny sighed inwardly and raised her eyes to heaven. It was going to be a very long Christmas holiday at this rate. Caroline was offended by everything that was said to her. Her Ladyship had warned her it was better not to mention Mr Leighton-Harvey in front of his daughter, because this would be the third festive season when he’d remained with his sister. He’d made no contact with Caroline; not even a Christmas card.
It was Nanny’s private belief that Caroline was the most spoilt little girl she’d ever known. Lady Laura pandered to her one moment and then scolded her the next because she could turn nasty in a flash. For all her prettiness she was a treacherous child who needed a firm hand, in Nanny’s opinion.
Downstairs, Diana and Laura were sitting by the crackling log fire in the book-lined library, which had two French windows leading on to a terrace, and beyond, the snow-covered lawns of Diana’s large estate in Perthshire.
To Laura, Cranley Court had become a sanctuary. It was the only place that occurred to her to flee to with Caroline when Walter had become bankrupt. The only place where she could afford to take the train to. The only place where kindness and understanding were generously given by both Diana and her husband, Robert. The sheer comfort and warmth of the house and the scent of smouldering pine logs made her feel as if she was drifting into paradise, where she could forget about working for up to eighteen hours a day in a cold, rented flat in Edinburgh.
‘Let’s have some tea,’ Diana was saying. ‘The others won’t be here for ages. I want to hear all your news. How is the business going?’
Her sister looked older: there were fine lines on her face and her dark hair had lost its lustre. But her hazel eyes were as spirited as ever, and when she smiled her whole face lit up.
‘I’m doing quite well,’ she replied. ‘I’ll be able to repay your loan by Easter …’
Diana raised her slender hand in protest. ‘You don’t have to, my dear. I want to make sure you’re really all right financially. There’s absolutely no hurry.’
‘Thank you, but I’d like to,’ Laura protested. ‘Once again, Mrs Sutherland, who got me going the first time, has contacted all my old clients as well as new ones to get their wardrobes made by me. She really knows what to say to the “ladies of Edinburgh” to persuade them to buy their clothes from me!’
‘So your former assistant, Helen, who bought the business from you when you got married – she didn’t want to join forces once more?’
Laura’s mouth tightened. ‘Unfortunately not. I offered to buy her out but she was quite nasty. In a way I can understand. She now looks upon me as a rival who will steal all my old clients from her. But I did start the business in the first place and I did let her have it for a song.’ She sighed.
‘Does this make it awkward for Mrs Sutherland?’
‘No, because when I left she stopped finding clients for Helen. Just imagine! Helen refused to give her a commission!’ Laura started laughing. ‘Dear old Mrs Sutherland is thrilled I’m back. I also pay her to fetch Caroline from school every afternoon, which is a great help.’
Diana leaned back in her chair and looked at her elder sister with admiration. ‘Good for you. I’m so glad it’s all going so well.’ Then she smiled indulgently. ‘And how is Caroline getting on at ballet school? Is she still determined to be a dancer?’ She covered her eyes with her hand in mock horror and giggled. ‘Have you told Mama that her granddaughter wants to be a dancer? My dear, she’ll have a heart attack on the spot.’
‘I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,’ Laura retorted, crossing her fingers. ‘Caroline is determined and she’s very talented. Her ballet teacher thinks she should start training seriously at some point with Madame Judith Espinosa.’
Diana raised her eyebrows. ‘That is serious.’
‘I know. She thinks Caroline has great potential.’
‘Did you know that Lizzie and Humphrey have bought a house in London? Apparently it’s near the Victoria and Albert Museum.’
Laura nodded. ‘I’m dying to see her and hear all about it. So who is staying here for Christmas? I haven’t seen any of the family for so long.’
‘All of them,’ Diana replied in a low voice.
‘All of them?’ Laura looked stunned. ‘Where will they all sleep? I know you’ve got over thirty bedrooms, but isn’t it going to be rather a crush?’
Diana looked unperturbed. ‘I’m putting all the very little ones in the night nursery. Some will have to sleep on camp beds but they’ll be fine.’
Laura’s eyes widened. ‘There will be complete chaos when they all wake up on Christmas morning and find that Father Christmas paid them a visit in the night. Have you thought this through, Di?’ She started laughing. ‘How is Father Christmas going to know which child is which if they’re asleep higgledy-piggledy all over the place? Supposing … you know … he trips over the camp beds …?’ Overcome with mirth and unable to continue, Laura leaned back in her chair, helpless with laughter at the thought of Father Christmas stumbling around in the pitch dark.
Diana started giggling. ‘Let’s at least thank the stars Robert is now an orphan as well as being an only child. If he’d come from a big family too, half of us would be sleeping in the stables, which might be apropos at Christmas but jolly chilly, I’d have thought.’
Laura wiped tears of laughter from her eyes. ‘There could be complete chaos if all the children woke up to find Father Christmas in the night nursery.’
‘Oh dear, what shall we do? I’d forgotten all about Father Christmas.’
‘You’d forgotten? How could you have when that is the whole point of their visit?’ Laura exclaimed.
Overcome with gales of laughter, the sisters were still guffawing loudly, unaware their mother, the Dowager Countess of Rothbury, was standing in the door watching them disapprovingly.
‘May I ask why you’re both behaving like kitchen maids in a scullery?’ she asked crisply.
‘Mama!’ Diana jumped to her feet like a child who’s been caught stealing chocolate biscuits. ‘I’m so sorry. I never heard you arrive.’
‘I would have thought we all made enough noise to awaken the dead,’ her mother replied.
Laura was the only one who had never been scared of her mother. She rose slowly – a tall, slim and elegant figure in a dark plum-red dress, which showed off her small waist.
‘Hello, Mama. You’re looking very well,’ she said, kissing her lightly on the cheek. ‘Where are the others?’
‘We’re here,’ chorused her three younger sisters as they came rushing into the room.
‘We were checking we had all our luggage,’ said Alice, sounding flustered.
‘The trouble is we have far too many suitcases,’ complained Flora.
‘That’s because we’re so looking forward to dressing up for dinner every night! We haven’t really done it since we left Lochlee,’ added Catriona in a small voice.
Laura gave Catriona a hug and kissed her warmly. She felt particularly sorry for the youngest member of the family because she’d had to leave the castle when it was sold and, apart from attending the last ball Lady Rothbury had held before the new owners took possession, she’d gone straight from the schoolroom to a comfortable but very ordinary house. Unlike her mother and sisters, she had missed out on knowing what it was like to be a grown-up living in a grand castle that had belonged to the Fairbairn family for five hundred years.
It was all right for Alice, who had married the local parson the following year when she turned twenty, and Flora, who had made up her mind to become a teacher, but for Catriona it was staying at home, doing needlework and reading the newspapers aloud as her mother’s eyesight deteriorated.
Lady Rothbury had long ago decided she would keep the sweetest and most amenable of all her daughters at home with her as the perfect companion with which she would share her dotage. Watching her mother send Catriona off to fetch a cushion for her back made Laura sad, but Catriona seemed to relish her role of a nurse. It made her feel important and at the same time safe from the world. Laura was of the opinion that her mother shouldn’t be allowed to deliberately force Catriona into spinsterhood for her personal benefit, but Diana had insisted it was what their youngest sister wanted.
At that moment they began to hear the approach of several motors, and suddenly the rest of the Fairbairn family were spilling out on to the drive, greeting each other with hugs and cries of delight. This was the first time they’d all gathered together at Cranley Court, and it was a bittersweet reunion because they no longer had Lochlee.
Diana’s husband, Robert Kelso, went out to greet them all while the footmen rushed around, collecting the luggage.
‘Welcome!’ he said. ‘How lovely to see you all.’ Kissing the women on the cheek and shaking the men by the hand, he led everyone into the hall, including the eldest of the Fairbairn sisters, Lizzie, with her husband Sir Humphrey Garding and their four daughters. Beattie followed behind them with her husband Andrew Drinkwater, who had travelled all the way from London.
Always keen to show off his wealth and the only son-in-law who was ‘in trade’, Andrew pumped Robert’s hand enthusiastically.
‘Hello there, old chap. By George, this new train, the Royal Scot, is remarkable! We booked first class, of course.’
‘Of course,’ Robert agreed gravely, but his eyes were twinkling with amusement.
‘It’s the last word in luxury,’ Andrew continued. ‘It’s only been running for a few months and the restaurant car is magnificent – not quite the Ritz, you know, but jolly good. The wine list is excellent. It was built in England in spite of its name, you know. So here we are in two ticks because I ordered three motor cars to meet us at the station in Edinburgh and bring us here.’
Robert’s eyebrows rose a fraction. ‘Three cars?’
‘One for Beattie and I, another for Nanny, Henry, Kathleen and Camilla and then, of course, one for the luggage.’
‘Of course,’ Robert said gently before making a move to talk to the rest of his guests, but Andrew hadn’t finished.
‘It’s incredible to think it’s the fastest passenger express so far with Pullman-style cabins. Do you know one day it might even be possible for ordinary people to travel like that?’
‘Oh, I do hope so,’ Robert retorted.
The drawing room was crowded now and children were running all over the place while Burton stood in the middle of the hall keeping track of everyone’s luggage, commanding the footmen to take it upstairs where Mrs Armstrong would make sure it was put in the right rooms.
Meanwhile, Jock, the six-year-old son of Georgie and her husband Shane O’Mally, was doing his best to create chaos by throwing a small cardboard aeroplane into the air again and again.
‘Mind out!’ Flora snapped sharply in her schoolmarm manner. ‘That could hurt someone, Jock.’
Georgie, very overweight after the births of her three children, smiled indulgently. ‘He’s all right. He’s only playing.’
‘He could knock over the Dresden figurines on the mantelpiece,’ warned Lizzie, inwardly thankful she’d had four girls.
‘It’s only a small toy,’ Georgie pointed out. Unfortunately, Jock chose that moment to deliberately target Diana, hurling the aeroplane up into the air, where it crashed into the side of Diana’s face, causing her to give a small shriek of shock.
‘Where did that come from?’ she asked.
‘Your nephew is trying to kill you,’ Flora retorted, turning on Georgie angrily. ‘You really should keep him under control. The child is a menace.’
Shane O’Mally sauntered towards them, grinning from ear to ear. ‘It’s only a bit of cardboard, Flo, and he’s just a kid …’
Jock, who was watching Diana, roared with laughter as she rubbed her cheek. Then he ran to pick up his toy from the floor but Flora was nearer and scooped it up, refusing to give it back to him.
‘You’re not to play with this indoors again,’ she told him firmly. ‘You’ve hurt poor Aunt Di. Supposing it had gone into her eye?’
‘You’ve no right to speak to my son like that,’ Georgie said querulously.
Flora swiftly retaliated. ‘I wouldn’t have to if you’d brought him up properly.’
‘Leave Georgie alone,’ said Shane defensively. ‘She’s a first-rate mother.’
At that moment their four-year-old son, Ian, grabbed a cushion from an armchair and threw it in the direction of his eight-year-old sister, Harriet, but missed, instead knocking over a vase of flowers on a side table, soaking her.
‘Bugger you!’ she screamed, looking down at her wet dress.
Shane grabbed both Jock and Ian by the scruff of the neck and marched them out of the room. Then he could be heard in the hall scolding his sons in his broad Irish accent for ‘making a show of me and your Mum’, and telling them that he’d ‘have the hide of you both if you do it again, see if I don’t’.
Diana stepped forward to take control of the situation. ‘Why don’t we all have a cup of tea while the nannies take the children up to the day nursery,’ she announced firmly. ‘Burton, could you possibly …?’ There was no need for her to continue. The butler was already standing in the doorway and he would carry out her wishes quickly and without fuss because he had an impressive instinct in what needed to be done. Quietly and calmly the children were ushered upstairs and, a few minutes later, several footmen were offering the guests refreshing cups of tea, an array of dainty cucumber sandwiches and small cakes with pink sugar icing.
‘Full marks for diplomacy, Di,’ whispered Laura. ‘Has Georgie gone up to the nursery with Harriet?’
Diana nodded and replied in a perfect Irish accent, ‘Apparently Harriet didn’t want “no bleedin’ nanny taking off me wet dress”.’
Laura nearly choked on her tea in an effort to stop laughing. ‘Is that what Harriet said?’
‘Loud and clear. I think everyone except Mama heard her. I thought Burton was going to faint.’
‘It’s catching, too.’
Diana looked alarmed. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Children are notorious for copying each other. By Boxing Day they’ll all be effing and blinding. We might even learn a few choice new words ourselves,’ she added darkly.
‘Oh, no! You don’t really think so, do you? Robert will go mad.’ Diana rose from her chair. ‘I must go and have a word with Georgie and Shane.’ As she hurried out of the room Lizzie came over to sit beside Laura.
‘What is Di doing?’ she asked.
Laura explained.
Lizzie shrugged. ‘Yes, those children will have to be stopped if only for their own sakes. Do you remember when I said “oh my God” when I was about fifteen? Mama and Papa’s faces! He told me “never to take the name of the Lord God in vain”. Then I was sent to my room and not allowed to join all of you for dinner. Or for breakfast the next day!’
‘Yes, I do remember. Mind you, I don’t think that either Jock or Harriet knew they were swearing. That’s what made it so funny. They’ve got the faces of angels and the tongues of gutter-snipes, I’m afraid.’
Lizzie smiled. ‘It’s very brave of Di to have invited the whole family for Christmas. I hope she’s not going to regret it. It’s the first time we’ve all been under the same roof since that last night at Lochlee three years ago.’
‘How the time has flown,’ Laura observed.
‘Slower for some than for others.’ Lizzie suddenly looked terribly tired, and her mouth tightened.
‘What is it?’ Laura asked.
‘Nothing. Nothing at all.’
‘Come on, Lizzie. I always know when you’re trying to hide something.’
Lizzie looked at her with pain-filled eyes. ‘Well, I – gosh; I don’t quite know what to say.’ She looked away for a moment and took a breath. And then, in a low voice, she whispered, ‘I’ve fallen in love with someone. He’s … he’s the most wonderful young man.’ She stopped instantly, regretting her use of the word ‘young’.
Laura pounced on it like a cat catching a mouse. ‘How old is he?’
Lizzie blushed and refused to meet her sister’s eye.
‘Lizzie?’
‘Twenty-three. Humphrey has no idea, of course.’
‘But your girls?’ Laura protested in a horrified undertone. ‘What about them?’
Lizzie spoke bitterly. ‘Having children doesn’t make one immune to falling in love.’
Laura sat in silent bewilderment. Of all the sisters, Lizzie was the last one she’d have expected to behave like this. Furthermore, Humphrey was one of the nicest men she’d ever met: kind, humorous, and able to give his family a very comfortable existence in a lovely house in London.
‘How old is Margaret now?’ she asked.
Lizzie looked pained. ‘She’s ten and Isabel is eight.’
Laura nodded. ‘Then Rose must be sixteen and Emma seventeen.’ She paused before saying coldly, ‘Shouldn’t you be looking out for suitable young men for them, instead of for yourself?’
Tears sprang to Lizzie’s hazel eyes.
‘I simply couldn’t resist Justin,’ she said brokenly as she averted her face to hide her tears. ‘I love Humphrey; he’s a dear man! But when I met Justin I realized I’d never been in love before. I’ve never felt like this before, and I thought …’ She paused before continuing in a rush of words, ‘I suddenly realized this was my last chance of really understanding what being in love actually meant. I can’t tell you how glorious it is when …’ Her voice faded with emotion.
‘For heaven’s sake, Lizzie, you’re forty now. In August you’ll be forty-one. You simply can’t let yourself get carried away by this infatuation. Think of your wonderful husband! And what would your girls say? It will harm their future chances of making good marriages. They’ll be notorious! Known as the children of a woman who had a love affair with a man young enough to be her son … You’ve got to stop this folly right away.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Lizzie whispered fiercely.
Laura leaned back in her chair so she could cast her eyes casually around the room. Humphrey was deep in conversation with Robert and Andrew at the far end of the room and Beattie, Alice, Catriona and Flora were seated in a circle, chatting brightly to each other and laughing a lot. Laura wished with all her heart that she were a part of their happy group instead of being burdened by Lizzie’s dreadful secret.
At that moment Georgie and Shane came back into the room with Diana, who was smiling broadly.
‘That’s the young’uns sorted out,’ Shane announced. ‘They’ve been taken to look at the horses. That’ll keep them quiet for a bit.’
Lizzie, having unburdened herself, smiled serenely while Laura took a deep breath and wished that life wasn’t so complicated. For the past three years she’d struggled to get over her husband’s alcoholism that had eventually led to their bankruptcy, leaving their six-year-old daughter and her with nothing but the clothes on their backs as he was once again hospitalized. Their home and all their possessions had gone. If it hadn’t been for Diana they’d have literally been on the streets. When she’d borrowed the money to start her dressmaking business, once again Laura had faced a heart-breaking struggle to make ends meet. There were nights when she’d lain awake with sheer hunger. She feared the mail every day, terrified that it might be a final demand to pay her gas or electricity bill, and enough money had to be put aside for the rent of their little two-room flat, which had to be in an area of Edinburgh where her clients would be willing to come for fittings.
It had been so different when she’d started her business before her marriage to Walter. She had only herself to think about and only herself to feed. Now she had Caroline, who showed great promise as a ballet dancer. Her father lived with his sister now and Caroline adored him. Laura had loved him once but his addiction had worn it away – all she felt now was a kind of pity and sadness at the loss of the kind and loving man he used to be. Alcoholism had obliterated a once noble soldier, husband and father.
It had been a hard struggle to get back on her feet but she’d managed; all she wanted now was to be able to give Caroline a good education and training in ballet.
At that moment Laura was struck by the full realization that Lizzie was in danger of risking everything in her foolish pursuit of sexual gratification. Sir Humphrey Garding was a warm and delightful man with wealth, a beautiful country house and the means to provide Lizzie and their four daughters with a life of quiet elegance.
Laura turned back to look at Lizzie and felt like shaking some sense into her. She had to be stopped at all costs.
Up in the bedrooms and dressing rooms of Cranley Court, all the guests were changing for dinner, assisted by their maids and valets, while on the top floor a score of nannies and nursery maids were giving the little ones their supper before putting them to bed.
‘Are you all right, old girl?’ asked Humphrey, wandering into Lizzie’s room.
‘Why shouldn’t I be?’ she responded tartly. She was sitting at the dressing table, staring at her reflection.
‘You seemed put out when you were talking to Laura,’ he replied mildly. ‘Is she all right? Are you worried about her?’
Lizzie looked surprised. ‘Laura’s always all right. God knows how she manages. I suppose she’s very strong.’
‘To have survived what she’s been through, she’d have to be.’ He laid his hand affectionately on her pale bare shoulder. ‘I never worry about her,’ he added quietly.
Lizzie rose quickly to avoid his caress. ‘Let’s go downstairs. I hope Diana’s giving us all champagne before dinner.’ She swept out of room, her beauty and elegance undiminished by age. ‘Come along, Humphrey.’ She spoke impatiently. ‘The others are probably in the drawing room by now.’
He followed her slowly. Something was wrong and he was determined to find out what troubled her.
Up in the nursery, Laura, who had already changed into a rich satin dinner dress in dark plum red, trimmed with matching lace, was reading a bedtime story to Caroline, the only mother among all of her sisters to do so.
‘How long are we staying here, Muzzie?’ the child asked.
‘For six days. Isn’t that lovely?’
‘I wished we lived here. Aunt Di would let us, wouldn’t she?’
‘It wouldn’t be fair if we did, darling. It wouldn’t be right to sponge off her and Uncle Robert. And we’re all right on our own, aren’t we? The flat’s cosy and it’s nice to be in the centre of Edinburgh. You’d miss your ballet classes, wouldn’t you?’
Caroline lay still, frowning. ‘If we can’t live here why can’t we live with Papa and Aunt Rowena? Papa wants us to be with him and she’s got a nice house.’
Laura rose. ‘How would I make money if we lived in the country? I have to be in Edinburgh.’ She bent over her daughter and stroked her face tenderly. ‘Now go to sleep. I must go and help your grandmama go down to dinner.’ She stooped to kiss Caroline but the child buried her head in the pillow. ‘We always have to do what you want,’ she said rudely.
Laura recoiled at her daughter’s words, stung, and stood silently over her for a moment before turning and slowly making her way down to collect her mother.
Lady Rothbury had aged greatly since she’d been forced to leave Lochlee, largely because of the crushing death duties that had been incurred by the deaths of Lord Rothbury and his two heirs, Freddie and her beloved younger son, Henry. After five hundred years of prosperity, the castle and hundreds of acres had been sold, and although the nearby manse was comfortable, she’d never recovered from the shock and the grief.
‘There you are, dear,’ she greeted Laura with a brief kiss on the cheek. ‘I thought you might have forgotten you’d promised to take me down.’
‘How could I possibly forget?’ Laura asked, forcing herself to sound cheerful, although she still felt hurt by Caroline’s attitude. ‘It’s so lovely we’re all together for Christmas, isn’t it? Goodness knows how Di has managed to fit us all in.’
Lady Rothbury nodded sagely. ‘She made a very good marriage, that’s how.’
Laura didn’t reply as she took her mother’s arm to help her down the wide, oak, red-carpeted staircase. In the hall below, Beattie and Andrew were talking to Georgie and Shane, and through the open drawing-room door all they could hear was a babble of voices and excited laughter from Catriona and Flora.
‘They all sound very happy,’ Lady Rothbury remarked indulgently.
At that moment Lizzie and Humphrey emerged from the library. They were both tight-lipped and she looked flushed and angry. Laura’s heart sank. Maybe this wasn’t going to be the congenial family gathering she’d imagined.
It was clear even to the staff that Sir Humphrey and Lady Elizabeth Garding had ‘had words’.
‘Is anything wrong, dearest?’ Diana whispered to Lizzie as they all trooped into the candlelit dining room, where the long mahogany table was laid with magnificent silver and crystal glasses and garlands of holly decorated with scarlet satin ribbons.
Lizzie looked at her sharply. ‘What has Laura said to you?’
Diana blinked, surprised. ‘Nothing. I just thought you looked upset. I’ve placed you between Robert and Andrew. Is that all right?’
‘Perfectly fine.’
Diana looked at her doubtfully, watching Lizzie force a hard, cold smile, although her eyes were over-bright.
‘Get a move on, you two,’ said Georgie as she followed them into the imposing dining room, where up to thirty guests could be seated.
There were small cards bearing the name of each guest at every place setting so everyone was quickly and smoothly seated. Laura was delighted to find her host on her left side and Humphrey on her right. They were her two favourite brothers-in-law and she flashed Diana a grateful smile. Her sister grinned back and slightly raised one eyebrow as she gently tilted her head towards the two men she was sitting between. To keep the numbers even she’d invited the local mayor and a retired doctor, both in their seventies. Laura tried to repress a giggle. Diana knew exactly how to do the right thing and she admired that very much. Glancing around the table she saw that their mother was seated between two charming men of her generation, one a bachelor and the other a widower, and that Flora was next to a professor of science, while Catriona discovered that the young man on her right was a violinist in a big orchestra. This, Laura assured herself, was going to be the best Christmas of her life.
At the top of the house Caroline lay in the darkness of one of the small bedrooms next to the night nursery, aware of the snuffling and sighing of some of her cousins as they fell asleep. Normally she slept in her mother’s room, but Aunt Di had insisted Muzzie must have one of the grand suites on the first floor with its carved four-poster bed and beautiful oyster silk hangings.
‘You need a good rest, Laura,’ she’d heard Aunt Di say. ‘I’ve given orders that you’re to have breakfast in bed. And if you appear downstairs before noon I’ll send you right back to bed again!’ Then Caroline heard her mother laughing happily, something she seldom did when they were at home.
A deep pang of jealousy arose in Caroline’s chest. Why should she have to share an ugly, stuffy little room with Aunt Lizzie’s and Aunt Beattie’s little girls and the badly behaved Harriet?
Rage flowed through her veins like poison and she kicked the foot of her bed viscously. Why didn’t she live in a beautiful big house? It wasn’t fair. That was the constant mantra that filled her mind. It wasn’t fair. Why didn’t she have expensive shoes like all the other girls? Why didn’t she have more clothes? Bought at an expensive shop, instead of things made by Muzzie?
All her cousins had nicer lives than she did and it was so unfair. Round and round her bitter grievances went in her head, slowly causing her to cry quietly, the sobs busting forth from her throat with an ugly sound.
‘Are you all right, Caroline?’
She recognized the voice of Aunt Lizzie’s prettiest daughter, Margaret.
Caroline lay still in the darkness, not answering. She particularly hated Margaret, who was a year older. She had a sunny disposition, was liked by everyone and was her grandmother’s favourite – everyone’s favourite. Caroline was filled with thoughts of revenge. One day she’d show Margaret who was really the prettiest, the best dressed and the most popular, and she’d make sure that Margaret would feel as unhappy as she felt at this moment.
On the floor below, both Laura and Lizzie slept fitfully. Laura tossed and turned, worried about Lizzie and what she’d confessed, and Lizzie lay awake, unable to stop counting the days until she could see Justin again. God, she loved him so much and she wanted him so desperately. She’d never felt like this before, and while she was deeply fond of Humphrey, her feelings for Justin were altogether different. She was burning up with desire, playing over in her mind that first time that he’d kissed her and she’d thought for a moment that she might faint. Such passion could not be denied. Justin loved her as much as she loved him and, lying beside Humphrey, she knew she had to leave him. When was another matter. She didn’t want to think about it yet. All she wanted was to get through this family Christmas.
Justin had no ties, no responsibilities and he was a popular guest at many homes. Would he meet someone else over Christmas? An attractive woman – younger, much younger than her? He’d laughingly admitted that his mother was looking for a suitable bride for him. Every time Lizzie thought about it her heart turned to ice and she felt sick with misery. She realized with anguish that her eldest daughter Emma would, at seventeen, be a more suitable bride for a man of twenty-three. It was madness to even countenance the notion that they could run away together and live happily ever after. But she simply couldn’t stop herself from dreaming about him … His strong, young thighs made her weak with desire. The thought of his smooth hands, not freckled and lined like Humphrey’s, made her long for Justin’s caresses. He was an Adonis compared to her middle-aged husband, with his thinning hair and paunch; a good man, no doubt, but beside this passionate youth he was a tired old man. Her passion for him was long spent.
How could she resist Justin’s ardent kisses, which sent shockwaves through her body? How could she turn a deaf ear to his tender words of love? Lizzie realized that if she had resisted the powerful rush of passion on that first occasion, when he’d been desperate to possess her, she might have died without ever experiencing real love.
Turning over carefully in bed so as not to awaken Humphrey, she lay on her stomach, pressing herself against the hard mattress and wishing with all her heart she was with Justin.
The following day belonged to the children, who awoke at dawn and proceeded to continue opening their presents for the rest of the day.
‘Children weren’t indulged like this in my day,’ Lady Rothbury observed tartly.
‘It only happens once a year,’ Diana said soothingly, ‘and it is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to get together.’
Laura, who was sitting next to her mother, looked anxious. ‘I have a terrible feeling that this is the last time we’ll all be together,’ she murmured quietly.
Lady Rothbury looked at her sharply. ‘Now don’t go spoiling everything with your “second sight”! You probably have a premonition that I’ll be dead by this time next year … well, if I am, I am, and the rest of you will have to get on with things,’ she stated matter-of-factly.
Laura looked shocked. ‘My feelings aren’t about you at all, Mama. I have a feeling … like the one I had before the Boer War? In eighteen …?’
‘Eighteen ninety-nine,’ Lady Rothbury said immediately, her face grave.
‘I knew it was going to happen.’ Laura’s voice faltered. ‘I … I knew Henry would never come back …’
‘Killed on the last day of the war.’ Diana shuddered at the memory of their handsome young brother setting off with excitement to fight the Boers.
‘I feel now what I felt then,’ said Laura. ‘There couldn’t be another war so soon, could there?’
Robert, who was sitting nearby, commented gravely, ‘Laura isn’t speaking from second sight. The unrest all over Europe is mounting and at any time the most serious war the world has ever known will involve all of us. Every man, woman and child. The situation couldn’t be more serious.’
Diana looked at her husband, her expression anxious. ‘Is it really as bad as that?’ she asked.
‘I don’t want to sound gloomy,’ Robert said carefully. ‘Not today.’ He looked at his wife’s frightened face and forced a hard smile. ‘It could be worse. Much, much worse.’