Guilty Pleasures

‘Of course,’ she smiled. ‘Julian is the best. His hair cut will change your life, I guarantee it.’

She took a step back to look at the old Emma one last time.

‘From now on you’re going to look the part, act the part and be the part,’ said Cameron with a wicked grin. ‘Milford is a sleeping giant, my sweet. And you’re going to be the beauty to wake it up.’

18

‘Why? Why, Emma? I just don’t understand.’

Virginia stood in Winterfold’s red room, fixing herself a large gin and tonic, watching her daughter pack her belongings into boxes. She couldn’t believe Emma was leaving the grandeur of Saul’s exquisite manor to move into the converted stable block on the edge of the estate. She looked around the room with its ruby wallpaper

and elaborate classical cornices over the doors and tall, elegant windows. Why would anyone leave somewhere this beautiful to move somewhere so small, so poky, so bleak? Virginia shivered and took a gulp of gin. The truth was that the Stables brought back unhappy memories for Virginia; Saul had given the cottage to her as a favour after the death of her first husband Jack. It meant that Virginia could sell the Baileys’ family home and swell her modest bank balance; but that whole three-year period, from Jack’s death to when Virginia met her second husband Jonathon at a dinner party in Barnes was the darkest time of her life. Isolated, lonely and resentful, the romantic notions Virginia had once harboured when she’d married the poor but handsome academic Jack Bailey were completely gone. But that had been then, she thought quickly sipping her drink – a different time, a different person – here and now her daughter had a golden opportunity to live the life she had always wanted for herself. Why on earth wouldn’t she take it?

Emma tried to remain patient, drawing a hand across her forehead and leaving a white dusty smear. ‘What do I need a twenty-five-bedroom house for?’ she said, briskly clapping dust from her hands.

‘You could say the same about the royal family,’ scoffed Virginia.

‘That’s not the point. It’s not a question of need.’

Emma winced at the snobbery. Having tasted the loneliness of Winterfold she was quite looking forward to a smaller, more manageable home. When she had first opened up the Stables the previous weekend, it had looked and smelled a little unloved with dusty surfaces, grimy windows and a general air of neglect. But she had rolled up her sleeves and, with the help of Ruan and Abby, had given it a lick of paint and brought in some squashy sofas, big rugs and a new sleigh bed. And now her collection of books, pictures and photographs had arrived from Boston, the Stables was beginning to look more like home.

‘Roger and Rebecca are furious, of course,’ said Virginia taking a sip of gin. ‘You know how much they wanted to live in Winterfold. They can cope with you being here, because that was Saul’s wishes. But to lease it to a stranger – well, it’s hurt them.’

‘Moving out of Winterfold is really a matter of cost, Mother,’ said Emma firmly. ‘The way the company finances are at the moment, I need every source of income I can get. I doubt very much Roger would have been able to afford the rent I get from Rob Holland. Rob can afford to pay top dollar and he’s promised to keep Morton on.’

‘Why not just stay and fire Morton if you’re watching the pennies?’ whispered Virginia, looking behind her in case the butler was listening.

‘He’s worked here forty years, Mother.’

‘He is rather dishy,’ said Virginia sinking back into a chair. ‘He’s got the village in quite a lather.’

‘Morton?’ said Emma frowning. ‘He’s about 80!’

‘Rob, silly,’ said Virginia, raising her eyebrows. ‘He’d be good for you.’

Emma gave a short laugh. That was just what she needed right now. She had no desire to complicate her life any more with a relationship; after Mark, she felt cut off from her desire. And besides, if Mark had turned out to be so unreliable and selfish, she could only guess what trouble a relationship with someone like Rob Holland would be.

Virginia poured herself another gin from the decanter and they both jumped as they heard the distant clanging noise of furniture being dropped.

‘Hi, do you want this?’ said a voice at the door. Emma looked up to see Julia brandishing a silver candelabra. Emma had asked her to come round to identity any semi-valuable antiques, furniture or pieces of art so they could be put in storage while a tenant was living in Winterfold.

‘Take it,’ said Emma, waving a hand at the candelabra. She still felt guilty that Saul’s own sisters had received very little in his will. He had obviously drafted his will at a time when there was plenty of money sloshing around so that the ‘remainder of his estate’ gifted to his sisters would have amounted to something significant. In actual fact, Julia and Virginia were rumoured to have received less than £30,000.

‘Actually, Julia, there’s some stuff in the attic that needs restoring. I was wondering if you knew anybody good who could do it? I don’t really want to leave anything around that might be of value.’

‘Of course I know people,’ she said, sounding offended.

‘Could you pop up, have a look and then sort it out for me?’

‘I could,’ said Julia, ‘if you might do one little thing for me?’

‘Name it,’ replied Emma, keen to repair relations within the family where she could.

‘I hear that your friend Rob works in the music industry. I was wondering if he could help Tom. Everyone keeps saying how talented he is and he loves music, what with his DJing and whatnot.’

Emma smiled. Tom was one of her favourite people for all his faults, so anything she could do for him would be a pleasure, but she was well aware of Tom’s many sudden changes of direction in career – not that Emma was one to talk – and knew of his reputation as something of a dilettante layabout. While she knew it was bad business to upset her tenant so soon, she also felt an impish glee at the prospect of foisting Tom onto Rob; it would be rather like throwing a spanner into the works.

‘Well, I’m not sure I have that kind of influence over Rob Holland,’ said Emma, ‘but I will ask him if he has any openings. Leave it with me, Julia, I’ll try my best.’