Lily’s nerves were jangling as she drove up the long driveway to Willow Tree Hall. Thankfully, her grandad had been home for lunch and had accepted her offer of a lift as he didn’t drive any more, so she had some company.
‘Have you got a busy afternoon?’ asked Lily, as she slowed down to avoid a massive pothole.
‘Salad leaves need sowing,’ said her grandad. ‘More mouths to feed than ever at the big house these days.’
Lily stared out of the windscreen as Willow Tree Hall came closer and closer. The huge manor house was a familiar place to her. She had attended many fetes in the past, as well as Annie’s wedding. But as she had grown up, it had retained its sense of awe as the imposing centre of their tiny village.
‘I’m a little nervous,’ she confessed, slowing the car down. ‘I mean, I know Arthur’s nice, as is the rest of the family, but look at this place!’
‘They’re just like you and me,’ said her grandad. ‘Just got bigger walls, that’s all.’
Her grandad was unlikely to be intimidated by anyone, Lily had always thought. He had attended the tiny local infant school with Arthur, so had no need to put on airs and graces either.
But Arthur was the Earl of Cranley. He owned Willow Tree Hall and the whole estate, which encompassed the hamlet of Cranley and all the cottages and businesses therein. As far as Lily was concerned, he was also a kind landlord who had given lots of families in need, including her own, a vastly reduced rate of rent each month.
They got out of the car and Lily watched as her grandad wandered around the side of the house towards the walled vegetable garden at the rear of the house. She gulped and then went up to the front door. Could she really work in this amazing place as a housekeeper? She honestly didn’t know.
She was somewhat relieved that it was Annie who opened the huge front door.
‘You’re here! Come in,’ she said, with a wide smile.
They went into the entrance hall. Lily had been there for Annie and Sam’s wedding the previous December. That had been the first time she had ever been inside the main house, as the summer fetes had always been held on the front lawn when she was younger.
On a cold, winter’s night, in the soft glow of candlelight and fairy lights, it had been glittering and magical. On a late summer’s day, it was just as magnificent. Despite the deep red walls, it was a light and airy room. From the double-heighted ceiling hung a chandelier, glittering in the afternoon sunshine. A large fireplace was waiting to be lit when winter arrived.
‘This is lovely,’ said Lily.
‘I’m so lucky,’ Annie told her, nodding in agreement. ‘Come on. We all tend to gather in the kitchen most of the time.’
Lily followed Annie through a corridor off the side of the entrance hall and down a couple of stone steps into the large but welcoming kitchen.
‘Wow! You weren’t kidding about how great the renovation was,’ said Lily, staring around the room in wonder.
Lily tried to imagine how run-down the place must have been, but it was hard to see past the baby-blue cupboards and long oak worktops. In the middle of the room was a large island in matching colours.
Annie gestured for Lily to sit down in one of the comfy chairs that had been placed either side of the large fireplace, near the long oak table.
‘The whole place was falling apart but now it’s my favourite room,’ Annie told her. ‘We always end up chatting in here at some stage of the day. Especially now there’s so many of us. Tea?’
‘Yes, please,’ said Lily. She watched Annie head past the table, which was laden with paperwork, and then past the sink, which appeared to be full of mugs.
Annie sighed as she glanced at the crockery. ‘I don’t know how it gets so messy.’
‘There are a lot more people here these days, aren’t there?’ asked Lily.
‘Oh, yes. There’s Arthur, of course,’ began Annie.
‘I hope that’s not my name being taken in vain,’ said Arthur, appearing at the top of the stairs before beginning to step down gingerly, holding a walking cane in one hand.
A fall a few years previously had slowed him a little, but otherwise he was still full of life despite the air of fragility about his slim frame, encased now in a tweed jacket and old worn trousers.
‘How are you, my dear?’ said Arthur in his clipped, aristocratic way of speaking as he walked across the kitchen.
Lily leapt up to shake his hand. ‘Very well, thank you.’
‘And your parents?’ Arthur’s grey eyebrows crossed into a frown. ‘I must pay your father a visit. It’s been too long since I last saw him.’
‘Thank you. He’s OK.’ Lily blushed and shrugged her shoulders. ‘Well, you know. He’s keeping busy.’
Arthur had been wonderful when the terrible car accident had taken place. He had refused to take any rent from the family for the cottage until her father was back home from the hospital. Afterwards, Arthur had kept the rent as low as possible.
‘I’m glad to hear it,’ said Arthur. ‘Please pass on my regards to him and I shall give him a call this week to arrange a suitable time to visit him.’
Annie came over to them both, carrying two mugs of tea. ‘There you go,’ she said, placing them on the table.
Just then, the back door was flung open and a woman with purple hair came into the kitchen.
Annie smiled. ‘See? I told you that everyone’s always coming and going,’ she said. ‘Hi, Skye!’
‘Hello,’ said Skye, beaming. ‘Lovely day out there.’
‘Have you met Lily Harper?’ said Arthur, doing the introductions. ‘She’s one of our tenants. The Harper family have been in the village for as long as the Harris family. Lily, please allow me to introduce my granddaughter-in-law Skye Harris.’
‘Lovely to meet you,’ said Lily as Skye came across to shake her hand.
She had heard that Arthur’s youngest grandson, Will, had recently got married, but this was the first time that she had met his bride. Skye’s bohemian taste in clothes and purple hair were a stark contrast to the sharply dressed playboy that Lily could remember from having seen Will at a distance.
‘Harper? Is Bert the gardener any relation?’ asked Skye, frowning in thought.
‘He’s my grandad,’ said Lily.
Skye’s eyes widened in recognition. ‘Ah! Thought the surname was familiar.’
‘I’m less grumpy,’ Lily told her, to which Skye laughed.
‘I was just going to check on the stables,’ said Skye to Arthur. ‘Did you want to come with me for your afternoon walk?’
‘That sounds lovely, my dear,’ said Arthur, smiling.
‘What about your meeting?’ asked Annie.
‘All done,’ Arthur told her. ‘I left Sam chatting to his old school chum. Seems a very nice chap.’
‘Oh!’ said Annie, getting up. ‘I wanted to meet him as well. Lily, come with me and then you can see Sam. He’s probably almost done with his meeting, anyway.’
Without waiting for Lily’s answer, Annie headed up the steps so Lily had no choice but to follow her towards the entrance hall. They were just passing the grand staircase when Lily noticed the French doors at the back of the hall open.
She recognised Sam, of course, as he strode in from the grounds at the back. He had been the handsome groom at the wedding the previous December. He was chatting to a man who was hidden behind him.
But it was only as Sam moved to one side that Lily came face to face with her past.
There, in the large, elegant entrance hall of Willow Tree Hall, stood the man who had broken her heart all those years ago. She stood and stared at Jack Carter.