Lily told her family about her new job over dinner that evening.
‘A housekeeper?’ Celia looked stunned as she served up the shredded chicken. ‘Up at the big house?’
Willow Tree Hall had always been referred to as the ‘big house’. It held both a sense of awe and respect mixed together.
‘I thought it would tide me over whilst I look for something else.’
Her mother nodded, knowing that her daughter’s income would help. But she still looked confused. ‘So you’re a cleaner now?’
Lily shook her head. ‘Apparently Megan’s niece is starting in the next week or so as a sort of maid, I think. So she’ll do that kind of thing.’
‘A chambermaid,’ said her mum.
Lily looked at her, surprised.
‘I watched Downton Abbey just like you did,’ said her mum in a prim tone.
Lily frowned. ‘I don’t think it’s really like that.’
‘They’re just normal people,’ said her grandad, reaching across the table for a buttered roll. ‘Nothing to fret about.’
‘Still, a housekeeper role is a huge responsibility,’ carried on her mum, looking pleased. ‘Like Mrs Hughes. You’ll keep the whole place going. Afloat, as it were.’
‘Sounds more like the Titanic,’ said Lily’s dad, with a wink.
‘I hope not,’ said Lily, feeling a little more nervous now.
She decided to Google the job requirements after dinner and was startled to read up on how much it entailed. Apparently, the main aim of a housekeeper’s role was to ‘maintain a clean, sanitary, comfortable and tidy environment for a private household’.
Lily made a face as she looked at the screen. Clean? Well, she could ensure that Megan’s niece kept it all looking nice. Tidy? She lived for neat and organised, didn’t she?
She glanced around the box room. Well, she normally did. Current circumstances didn’t help, as everything had to be squeezed into one tiny room. She hadn’t mentioned the possibility of sleeping at Willow Tree Hall yet. She would see how the first few days went. But the thought of a normal-sized bedroom and an en suite was tempting.
The other jobs that the housekeeper role entailed interested her more. She needed to ensure that groceries and household supplies were maintained to adequate levels. Fireplaces needed to be lit. But seeing as it was August, and summer was still going strong, that could be ignored.
To plan and cook meals for her employer? That made her sit up straighter in a slight panic. She had many gifts but cooking wasn’t one of them. But Annie hadn’t mentioned cooking, so that was fine.
Anyway, she was certain that she could totally handle it. After all, she had checklists. She would be fine.
She turned up the following day at nine o’clock sharp in the morning. She waited outside the front door for about five minutes until a blond man appeared from around the side of the building, carrying an empty coffee mug.
‘Hey. You must be Lily,’ he said, by way of welcome. ‘I’m Will.’
‘Hi,’ she said, shaking his hand.
Will was a slimmer, blonder version of his elder brother, Sam.
‘You can just go on in, if you dare,’ he told her.
‘I would, but it’s locked,’ said Lily.
‘Nobody’s used it yet probably. It’s still early. You’d better come around to the back door, then,’ said Will. ‘That’s the one everyone uses, anyway.’
Lily followed Will into the kitchen, where she found what appeared to be most of the family. In fact, she could hear them all before she saw them, such was the crescendo of noise that was created.
‘Will!’ called out Sam from the head of the long kitchen table. ‘Settle this argument once and for all, would you? I caught a fourteen-pound carp in the river when we were younger, didn’t I?’
Will laughed. ‘I think you’ve added ten pounds too many to that estimate, bro.’ He picked up the kettle and, finding it empty, went to the sink to refill it. ‘By the way, I found our new housekeeper if anybody wants to say hi.’
A chorus of welcome bubbled up from the table.
‘Welcome,’ said Sam, jumping up to shake Lily’s hand. ‘I didn’t get a chance to say hello properly yesterday.’ He looked along the table. ‘So, do you know everyone?’
‘More or less,’ said Lily, blushing at being the centre of attention.
‘That’s the senior end,’ said Sam, nodding at the other end where Arthur and Rose sat.
‘I’m not sure I relish being referred to as “senior”,’ said Rose, making a face. ‘Darling, I’m middle-aged at best.’
‘At seventy?’ murmured Arthur, getting up.
‘My dear brother, it’s sixty-five and you know it,’ said Rose, with a smirk.
‘Welcome to Willow Tree Hall,’ said Arthur, smiling as he turned to face Lily. ‘You’ll find us quite a noisy bunch to contend with.’
‘That’s fine,’ Lily told him softly.
‘Sweetheart,’ said Rose, leaping up to hug Lily. ‘It’s been too long. I’d forgotten how beautiful your red hair is. Do you think I could get away with that colour?’
‘Well, I don’t see why not if you’re only middle-aged,’ said Arthur pointedly.
Rose held up a heavily bejewelled hand. ‘Darling, you know I knock off a couple of years for luck. It’s not good for my sex life, otherwise.’
A groan went up around the table.
‘Moving on,’ said Sam, in a loud tone above the hubbub.
‘As quickly as possible, please,’ added Will, coming over to the table with a mug of coffee.
‘Quite,’ said Sam. ‘This is my younger brother, Will, and his far lovelier wife, Skye.’
‘We met yesterday. Hi,’ said Skye, looking up from her phone. ‘I’m so glad you took the job.’
‘Do you know Eleanor?’ continued Sam. ‘She works at the stable block in one of the workshops.’
‘I think “work” is being a bit optimistic,’ said the good-looking man sitting next to Eleanor.
‘Watch it, buster,’ said Eleanor, giving him a nudge with her elbow before smiling up at Lily. ‘Hi. You were in the year below us at school, weren’t you?’
Lily nodded. ‘Yes. I’ve heard that your business is doing so well.’
Eleanor had begun Eleanor’s Apothecary, creating homemade creams and soaps and, according to local gossip, it was going from strength to strength.
‘Thanks,’ said Eleanor. She glanced at the familiar-looking man next to her. ‘This is Tom. You might know him as global superstar Tommy King, but to us he’s just the carpenter.’
‘Hi,’ said Tom, with a shy nod.
Lily smiled in reply trying not to look goggle-eyed at the famous singer.
‘Unfortunately for us,’ said Will, sitting down opposite them. ‘I’m desperate for an electrician and all you know is wood.’
‘And a few songs as well,’ added Sam. ‘Tom’s been taking a year off away from the limelight.’
‘And I’ve spent all of it helping Will do up one of the old barns,’ said Tom.
Will shrugged his shoulders. ‘I’d have hired someone to do it instead, but your charges are much more reasonable.’
‘I’m doing it for free!’ said Tom.
‘Exactly,’ said Will, grinning.
‘Who have I left out?’ asked Sam, frowning.
‘Just me,’ said Annie, appearing at the bottom of the stairs.
‘How can you forget someone that fat?’ said Will, who promptly received a clip around the ear from his big brother.
‘She’s not fat,’ said Sam. ‘She’s beautiful.’
‘Apart from my ankles,’ said Annie, sitting down and putting her feet up on the bench. ‘They’re most definitely fat.’ She looked up at Lily. ‘Give me five minutes to recover from the walk downstairs and I’ll give you the tour.’
Lily had found the family warm and welcoming. Surely it would be a piece of cake to organise them all?
True to her word, Annie led Lily across the large entrance hall a few minutes later to show her around the house.
‘This is the west wing,’ began Annie, as they walked through a large doorway on the opposite side of the hall. ‘Here’s the drawing room.’
It was a large, elegant room painted in soft green, with oak floorboards, comfy-looking sofas and chairs. The large sash windows overlooked the front grounds. There were framed photographs, antique ornaments and candlesticks everywhere. It felt homely, warm and welcoming.
‘Isn’t it nice?’ said Annie. ‘We tend to all end up in here or the kitchen most evenings, apart from when the weather’s warm like at the minute and then we’ll be on the patio.’
They walked back into the corridor and into the next room, which was the library.
A long wall was covered from floor to ceiling with a vast number of bookcases filled with classics. There was also a full-size snooker table, which looked to have been used recently, although one end was propped up with more books.
‘This room’s not been renovated yet?’ asked Lily, nodding at the cracked plaster and haphazard oak floorboards.
Annie shook her head. ‘We ran out of money. Besides, everyone seems to quite like it like this. But all the windows are new so it’s not so draughty. And the fireplaces were all swept last winter.’
On the opposite side of the corridor was Arthur’s study, which was also a little threadbare but had a lovely view over the grounds at the back of the house.
Sam’s office was next door, which apparently was the old music room.
‘Very apt,’ said Lily, noting all the piles of records and CDs amongst the paperwork.
‘He still manages a few bands and singers,’ Annie told her. ‘But he’s taking on more and more of the estate work as Arthur gets that little bit older.’
‘What about Will?’ asked Lily. ‘I thought he worked abroad?’
Annie shook her head. ‘Not any more. He and Skye live in a lovely cottage in the grounds and Will is the estate manager. He’s currently doing up one of the barns to hire out for weddings.’ Annie sighed. ‘We’re always looking for more ways to try and keep out of the red.’
They walked to the room at the end of the corridor and through the double doors.
‘You might remember this from our wedding reception,’ said Annie, smiling in memory.
‘It’s such a beautiful room,’ said Lily, looking around in wonder. The gilt-edged paintings that decorated the room filled the place with colour, and the touches of gold on the frames made the whole place shine.
‘Most of it was thanks to Skye,’ said Annie. ‘She’s so artistic, whereas I can’t even hold a paint roller. She designed most of the wedding decorations as well. Now she uses one of the workshops to restore ugly pieces of furniture into things of beauty. You’ll have to go and have a look. It’s amazing what she does with it all.’
Lily thought how wonderful it would be to have a skill like that. She only knew how to organise things. But hopefully that would stand her in good stead when it came to starting her new housekeeper role.
As they continued their tour downstairs, Lily became more and more excited. To work in such an amazing space every day would be incredible.
Despite her nerves at the unknown, she was ready for a little bit of excitement in her life, she realised. Life had been such a struggle for so many years. Ever since the accident, in fact.
Perhaps she deserved to enjoy the next few weeks at Willow Tree Hall. To finish the summer in the countryside, which she loved so much and had missed whilst she was in London.
With that happy thought, she began to plan all her to-do lists.