He walked up the fellside in pouring rain that was turning to sleet, having to cut Trevor’s walk short because of the conditions. Despite the shitty weather, his heart was a little lighter. There seemed to be an unwitting conspiracy among everyone he knew to help him ‘move on’. His parents, Lottie, even her nieces. All of them kept nudging him back to the ‘real world’ of family and normality.
He wasn’t relishing the idea of Christmas Day. He knew his parents would try to engineer a reconciliation again and that his mother would find it impossible not to regret the lack of family members, her grandson in particular, around the dinner table.
Yet he couldn’t reject them. He kept thinking: What would Lottie do?
There was no denying he felt much brighter. She’d already had quite an influence on him. It was her reminder of how much family mattered that had prompted him to make a kind of peace with his parents.
She’d also – somehow – not only persuaded him to go to the staff ball, but even succeeded in making him look forward to it.
Chapter Seventeen
Everyone at Firholme, including Lottie, breathed a collective sigh of relief when the rain cleared on the day of the Edwardian evening. It meant that there would probably be a bumper crowd of visitors, keen to get in the festive spirit and hopefully spread the word about how gorgeous Firholme was to keep people returning.
It was also a welcome distraction from Steph’s upcoming scan, not to mention Connor and Keegan’s wedding.
Darkness fell and soon after headlights wavered on the driveway, as the first visitors started to arrive at the estate. At first it was a trickle of cars, but soon became a torrent of locals, tourists and even a few coach tours. Feeling buoyed by the early signs, Lottie hoped the event would be well received enough to become an annual fixture. Looking around the courtyard, alive with excited visitors, she was confident that it would.
She nodded a hello at Irina and Jan, buying hot chestnuts from a stall, and smiled as she saw Wilf Carman getting out of a minibus with his mates from the sheltered housing scheme where he lived.
The air was filled with delicious aromas from hot stalls and cabins selling roast chestnuts and mulled wine while a special menu was being served in the café. A local choir were dressed in Edwardian costume, and singing carols, and later, a brass band would play a festive concert in the courtyard. Lottie had also booked a troupe of circus performers. Dressed in period costumes, the jugglers, fire-eater and stilt walker roamed the courtyard, entertaining the crowds.
Bedecked in its festive finery, Firholme House was at the heart of the celebrations, its windows glowing like a beacon, as visitors queued to take a tour. Lottie had helped supervise the preparations and even though she’d seen the house a hundred times, she was entranced by how atmospheric it looked in the flickering candlelight.
Jay and his team had worked incredibly hard, making sure the tree and foliage were in tip top condition. The effect of a lavish country house Christmas was complete, with the dining room laid out for a splendid Christmas Eve dinner, fires burning in the hearths and the tree providing a dramatic centrepiece in the ballroom.
Although Lottie was on call throughout the event, and buzzing about the site to make sure all was well, she’d arranged to meet Steph and the girls who’d come over after school.
Jodie and Myra hurtled up to her, dressed in hats and scarves. Steph followed, smiling but looking knackered. Her coat hung off her slender frame, though her hair was growing thicker now and the gamine style did suit her. Lottie didn’t want to show any concern, however, because she didn’t want to worry Steph, especially when the twins were so bubbly.
While Steph went to buy hot chocolate, Lottie took charge of the girls – although it was more accurate to say they took charge of her, clutching a hand each.
‘Auntie Lottie! Auntie Lottieeee! Will the reindeer be here tonight?’ Myra’s voice was so hopeful that Lottie wished she had arranged for the reindeer to be at Firholme’s Edwardian evening.
‘Sorry, sweetheart, but I’m afraid not. Jay told me they’re busy visiting children in other parts of the Lake District. We can’t have them all to ourselves.’
Myra wrinkled her nose in disappointment but then Jodie tugged her sister by the hand. ‘Look, there’s a lady putting fire in her mouth!’
Shrieking in horror, Myra covered her eyes with her mittens. ‘She’ll get burnt. I don’t like it!’
‘Don’t worry,’ Lottie soothed. ‘She won’t be hurt. She knows what she’s doing.’
Myra peeped through her mittens while Jodie gawped as the woman – who was dressed in an Edwardian circus costume – licked flame from the burning brand.
‘I don’t recommend you try yourself though,’ she said, seeing the fascination in her nieces’ eyes.
‘Why?’ the twins chorused together.
Lottie braced herself for a complex discussion about why the fire-eater could shove a flaming stick in her mouth and the kids couldn’t. She shuddered to think about it herself. She scanned the crowds, willing Steph to reappear soon but instead, she spotted a different source of distraction. ‘Jay!’
Hearing her, he doubled back. The girls started dancing around and quizzing him about the reindeer. Lottie had been about to ask him if he knew the technicalities of fire-eating but there was now no need. Jay was soon explaining exactly where the reindeer had gone – Ulverston Dickensian Fair apparently – and Lottie had been spared.
Steph arrived with a cardboard tray of drinks, which she distributed to Lottie and the girls.
‘Sorry I didn’t realise you were here or I’d have bought you a hot chocolate,’ she told Jay, with a barely concealed glance of delight
