I’ve arranged to meet Eddie after dark. I’ll hide on the secret staircase and then we’ll take the tunnel that leads to the woods. At least there we can be alone together and now that the summer is coming, it’s warm enough for us to stay out in the gardens, even after dark. It’s the most perfect route and, as far as I’m aware, the previous owners may have had it built during the First World War as a way to get away from the house should the Germans invade England and take over the hall.
Eddie has made a wooden house in the trees. It’s a summer house; it has a kitchen, a bedroom and a living space. Eddie say’s it’s a special place for us to be alone and undisturbed and tonight he’s taking me to see it for the very first time. I’m so excited.
Mother is pregnant and, again, there will be another addition to our family. I do hope it’s another brother; they’re so much fun when they are babies, much nicer than little girls. It is, however, such a shame that they grow up and end up like Jimmy. So maybe a brother wouldn’t be preferable after all, except of course that I wouldn’t ever be expected to share a room with a boy, even if we had a party and lots of people came to stay. Mother says the baby will come in the late summer. I just dread the new nanny that will reside in the house to look after it. But, then again, whoever my parents employ, she can’t possibly be as bad as the nanny that came to look after us as children. She was bad tempered, strict and expected us to bathe every day.
* * *
Madeleine flicked over the page, looking to see what Emily had written next. But the next page had more of her sketches on it.
She thought back to the part of the diary that had spoken of Eddie going to ask Emily’s father for permission to marry. It was hard to believe that this had really happened in years gone by, but the diary hadn’t mentioned it since, and Madeleine wondered what Emily’s father had said.
Had her father given his permission or not?
Madeleine laughed, remembering how she and Michael had run away to the register office. They’d both known that they’d been far too young and that their families would try to dissuade them. But they hadn’t cared; they were in love and hadn’t been able to wait a moment longer to get married, which made her feel all the sorrier, after all that had happened, that she hadn’t asked her father to walk her down the aisle.
Life had been so different for Emily Ennis. She may have had a big house to live in, posh clothes, and servants, but her choices had been so very limited, her lifestyle restricted and her actions were very much accountable.
Madeleine’s laugh turned to a sigh as she walked through her room and stared at Poppy’s bed. Jess had taken Poppy for the night, and although they’d only been gone a few short hours, the place seemed quiet and empty without her.
‘I really need to do some work,’ Madeleine said out loud as she walked through the room and sat down at her desk. Switching on her laptop, she checked through her emails. There was still no word from or about Bridget and, after two whole weeks, Madeleine wondered if she really might have gone on a last-minute holiday without telling anyone. But according to the policeman who’d phoned, they didn’t think so. She felt helpless, but being just one of Bridget’s many clients didn’t give her any right to ask the police for information.
She stared at the screen, but all the words blended together. None of them made sense. Her writing didn’t seem to have the edge that it normally had and she realised that she hadn’t been motivated to write since she’d moved out of Liam’s house.
She thought about how different episodes in her life had influenced her writing. After Michael’s death, she’d managed to throw her anger into her work. But her father’s death had affected her differently and she couldn’t concentrate for a minute. Perhaps her spark had gone because she no longer had to make a living from her writing, as she was now a wealthy woman with a hotel to run. But she couldn’t think about that now.
She looked across to Emily’s diary. Reading it had become a part of Madeleine’s day, a time she looked forward to. It was an escape and gave her an insight into the history of this house, the people who lived here and how their lives had been. It was even more special that she had the story in Emily’s own words. Emily mentioned so many things about Wrea Head that she didn’t know, things that even her father hadn’t known, which made her wonder just how many secrets one house could really have.
She picked the diary back up and flicked back to the page where Emily had mentioned the staircase, but on this occasion she’d also mentioned a tunnel; in fact what she’d said was that she’d taken the tunnel that led to the woods.
‘There must be more than one tunnel. If Emily was taking the one that led to the woods, where did the other one lead to?’ she whispered to herself. ‘If there are tunnels, where are the openings?’ She put the diary down. If there was a staircase or tunnels she had every intention of finding them. But not today, today she wanted to avoid Liam at all costs. He was only booked in for two nights, which meant that tonight would be his last and tomorrow, after breakfast, he’d be gone. She’d left strict instructions with reception never to allow him to book in again.
Pushing the laptop back across her desk, she looked out over the gardens. She’d been scanning them for most of the morning and even though Bandit had told her that he’d be off all day, she’d still hoped to catch sight of him pottering around.
A knock on her door made her jump. She went to answer it.
‘Hi, Jack. All okay?’
‘No, Mrs Frost, we seem to have a problem. It’s the electrics in the kitchen. They don’t seem to be working and Nomsa is right in the middle of tonight’s desserts.’
Madeleine ran behind Jack and followed him down the stairs.
‘Have we called an electrician?’ she asked as she entered the corridor between the kitchen and the office.
‘No need, I’m sorting it,’ Liam’s voice echoed. He appeared to be half in and half out of the cupboard where the fuse box was. ‘There you go, all done. Nothing serious.’
Madeleine stared at his smug face. ‘Really. It seems quite convenient that you repaired it so quickly, Liam O’Grady.’
‘Maddie, darlin’. Seriously? What are you suggesting?’
‘You really don’t want me to answer that, do you?’ She looked him up and down, at his perfectly pressed shirt, his shiny shoes and his slicked back hair. ‘What the hell did I ever see in you?’ she blurted out without thinking.
‘Would you excuse us, Jack, I’m sure you have work do,’ Liam ordered.
Jack glanced at Madeleine but she nodded her head at him. She didn’t want Jack caught in the crossfire between her and Liam and Jack immediately retreated into the office, closing the door behind him.
‘Oh, so now you think you have a right to tell my staff what to do, do you?’
‘You should be grateful that I was here,’ Liam said as he continued to look at the fuse board. ‘I did tell you that you need a man around the place, Maddie. I did say that things go wrong with electrics and, what’s more, you know it makes sense for us to get back together. I’ve apologised for what happened. You’ve made me suffer enough by leaving me. But now it’s time to sort things out.’ He paused. ‘As for my telling the staff what to do, they need to get used to it and so do you.’
Madeleine was stunned. He seriously believed that he could walk in here and take over. He was delusional and obviously totally unable to take no for an answer.
‘Liam, first and foremost, stop calling me “Maddie, darlin’”. I’ve told you before I don’t like it, and second, I want you to leave my house and I want you to leave it right now!’ she screamed so loudly that Nomsa ran into the corridor, broom in her hand.
‘What’s going on with you, mister, making Mrs Frost scream like that?’ she shouted, the broom held up in her hand as though ready to strike.
‘Hey, kitchen girl. Put down the broom and get back to work. Everything’s fine. Isn’t it, Maddie?’
Nomsa looked between Madeleine and Liam, the tension in the air could be cut with a knife.
‘For your information, mister, I is not a kitchen girl. I may work in a kitchen, but first and foremost, sir, I is a lady and if I hear Mrs Frost yell again, I’m gonna show you how this lady’s gonna whoop your ass with her broom,’ she shouted as she shook the broom in the air. ‘Do you get that?’