Meet Me at Willow Hall: A perfectly charming romance for 2019!. Carla Burgess

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СКАЧАТЬ advertise,’ I suggested. ‘There’s bound to be someone who’s left everything to the last minute.’

      ‘Liz suggested that. I’m not sure it’s the best idea, though. It makes us sound a bit desperate to be so public about it.’

      ‘Where is Liz, by the way? Is she here or is she at home with the kids?’ Julian and Liz had two children and lived up in Scotland. ‘How are they all?’

      ‘Oh, Liz is fine. But this is home now. We all live here.’

      ‘Here? Really?’

      ‘Yes. It all came to a head last year. After Anthony’s accident, we realised we couldn’t stay living so far away. It put a lot of things into perspective and made us all sit up and open our eyes.’

      I nodded. ‘How is he?’

      ‘He’s doing well. You saw him before, didn’t you?’

      ‘Yes. But we didn’t really speak.’

      ‘Oh, really?’ Julian looked surprised, as though he’d imagined Anthony and I having a good old chat. ‘Well, he’s fine, anyway. Recovering well. His accident made us see we’d been living our own separate lives, carrying on like it was fine to leave our mother here, managing this massive hall and twenty-two acres on her own. The more we visited, the more we realised Mother wasn’t coping quite as well as she claimed, and the old place was rather falling apart. So Liz and I moved back. We’re living in the east wing with Mother and Arthur.’

      ‘Arthur the gardener?’ I interrupted, remembering a bit of gossip from the Christmas before last where Julian and Liz were speculating about him and Cath being in a relationship. Anthony had been appalled by the idea.

      Julian laughed. ‘Yes, we all live together now, like one big, happy family. It’s only temporary, though. Liz and I are renovating one of the houses on the estate to live in.’

      ‘Does Anthony live with you too?’

      ‘No, he’s moved into Arthur’s old cottage to be miserable on his own.’

      ‘He lives here, though? On the estate?’

      ‘Oh, yes!’ Julian looked surprised at the question. ‘Yes, we all live here now. Got to make a go of this place or else we’ll have to sell it.’

      ‘I kind of thought that was what Anthony wanted? He hates this place, doesn’t he?’

      Julian shrugged. ‘Hmm, well, we can’t sell while Mother’s still alive. It would kill her. Right, I’ll show you the Great Hall if you want to see it?’

      I glanced at Elena, who was looking eager and excited. ‘Oh, yes, please.’

      He led us into the house through a side door, and we walked through long, wood-panelled corridors with high ceilings and threadbare carpets. It was gloomy, and the air smelt musty and stale, as though this part of the house was rarely used. Julian stopped at the end of the corridor and opened a door on the left.

      ‘Here we are,’ he said cheerfully, as we stepped into darkness. He flicked a switch on the wall, but the room remained dark. ‘Oops! Just a moment. I’ll open one of these curtains and let some light in.’ We watched as he wrestled a long, dark drape to one side, releasing clouds of dust as he did so. It sparkled in the air as the light poured in, revealing a large, rectangular room with mystery humps of furniture hidden beneath dustsheets. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the light, I started to make out family portraits hanging on the walls.

      ‘Wow!’ Elena said, looking round, impressed. ‘This is a great room, isn’t it?’

      I turned a slow circle, taking in the sadly neglected room. It could be a great room, but right now it just made me feel sad. As a florist, I’d delivered many wedding flowers to venues like Willow Hall, and their rooms were all sparkling silverware and polished floors. It was sad to see this beautiful old house so uncared for and a shame they couldn’t have sorted it out before this wedding fair. A beautiful big room like this had the potential to convince people to have their wedding here. Especially a winter wedding. I imagined a roaring fire in the big fireplace at the end of the room, decorated with garlands of holly and mistletoe.

      ‘What will you be offering this room for? Wedding breakfasts?’

      ‘Yes. Well, eventually, anyway. It’s not ready, as you can see. This is next on our list.’

      ‘It’s a pity you couldn’t get it ready for today. A lot of people would have liked to have seen it,’ I said, staring up at a huge oil painting of a man riding a horse. It looked like it had been painted centuries ago, but with the bright-blue eyes and chiselled features the man’s resemblance to Anthony and Julian was uncanny. I was just about to say something about it when the door swung open and Anthony stalked in.

      ‘Ah, here you are,’ he said to his brother. ‘What are you doing in here? I thought we weren’t showing anybody in here today.’

      ‘I know, but I’m trying to convince Elena that she wants to get married here this summer.’

      Anthony pulled a face and glanced disdainfully around the room. ‘By showing her this horrible, creepy room?’

      ‘It’s beautiful!’ Elena said, spinning round as though she were a Disney princess. ‘You can really see the possibilities this place has.’

      ‘It would be great for a winter wedding,’ I said, pleased when my voice didn’t squeak or tremble with nerves. I took a few steps forward, feeling awkward, and clasped my shaking hands behind my back.

      ‘I suppose so,’ Anthony said, stiffly. ‘We haven’t used this room for years and years, have we, Jules?’

      ‘No. I can barely remember using it, to be honest. I expect that’s because I’m younger than you by a good few years, though, isn’t that right, Anthony?’ He grinned cheekily at his brother and Anthony laughed.

      ‘Only by three years. Let’s not exaggerate.’

      Julian chuckled. ‘Apparently we used to have family parties in here at Christmastime. It’s a bit big really for general family use, don’t you think? I think we’d all lose each other.’

      Anthony shivered slightly. ‘It gives me the creeps.’

      ‘That’s because it’s so dark. If you pulled open the curtains and uncovered the furniture it would be lovely. Especially with a big Christmas tree and roaring fire.’

      Anthony dipped his head. ‘If you like that sort of thing.’

      I felt guilty then. I knew very well that Anthony hated Christmas because his father had died at Christmastime when he was fourteen. The last thing he needed was me trying to make his childhood home look like a scene from a Christmas card.

      ‘Well, even a bit of sunlight would make all the difference. Just look at these amazing family portraits. Do you know who they all are? This one looks just like you two.’

      Julian laughed. ‘Yes, that’s our great-grandfather. He made his fortune in the shipping business.’

      ‘Oh, really? So you’re not dukes or earls or whatever?’

      ‘No. СКАЧАТЬ