Restoring Grace (25 page)

Demi sighed. 'Oh, pooh! I
wish I'd never told you about
i
t.'

‘
Come on,
Dems. You know if you did a really good
job on it and got a good mark,
Edward would be pleased and perhaps bring your computer over.'

‘I can't do it at all without the computer!'

‘
Nonsense.
You can make a plan, write notes and then
type it up at school -
college, I mean. I tell you what, if you make a good start, I'll ring Edward
and tell him you
need the computer
urgently. And the television. At least,
I won't say you need that urgently, but I'll say you deserve
it
because you're working so hard. Deal?'

‘Suppose so. Can I do it in the kitchen? It's
freezing everywhere else.'

‘Oh, all right! But don't get in Ellie's way,
poor girl! Apart from cooking dinner, she's fretting about going to see her
picture restorer tomorrow.’

Demi was impressed by Grace's perception. 'How
do you know that? She hasn't said anything.'

‘
Art books
in the loo. She spends so much time in there
anyway, she's obviously
decided not to waste it.’

Flynn arrived just as Grace had finished
arranging things in the drawing room. She opened the door to him
and suddenly felt shy, remembering how sharp she'd
been
on the phone to him when he'd rung her at the supermarket. 'Hi.'

‘Hi yourself,' he replied, regarding her
quizzically. 'You've lost your spikes.'

‘No, I haven't!' she replied, determined to
prove him wrong but smiling despite herself. 'Do you want to bring your stuff
in this way? Or shall I unlock the back door?'

‘
The back door is traditionally the servants'
entrance,' he replied.

‘
Oh, pooh,' said Grace, aware that living with Demi
had
had an effect on her language.

He leant
forward and brushed her cheek with his lips. 'Go on then, Lady Chatterley,
unlock the back door.’

She blushed all the way to the kitchen, glad
that he was driving his van round the back and wasn't there to see her. She
managed to avoid the kitchen for a good half-hour.

*

'Hello, Allegra. How
lovely to see you,' said Grace,
kissing her
sister on the cheek. She realised, rather to her
surprise,
that she
was
quite
pleased to see her and only wished Allegra wasn't carrying a briefcase and
wearing her office clothes; it made her look like a VAT inspector
about to make a raid. 'Let me take your coat. No,
I expect
you'd like to keep it on.'

‘
It is only February,' said Allegra, returning
the kiss. 'Well, come into the drawing room. It's quite warm in there. I've lit
the fire.’

In fact, Grace was quite proud of the drawing
room. Ellie, with her artist's eye and talent for home-making, had put branches
of newly-unfurling leaves in a bucket disguised by an old chimney pot in the
window embrasure. She had up-lit it with her bedside lamp and it cast
decorative shadows on the wall. The stone mantelpiece was lit with a row of
candles on a pile of odd saucers
found in a
box in the old tack room, and the most comfort
able kitchen chairs had been drawn up next to the blazing
fire,
made inviting by well-plumped cushions.

Given that it had very little furniture in it,
and only a very threadbare rug, it looked beautiful, if rather minimalist.

Allegra allowed herself to be ushered into it. 'But
^d
arling!' she cried. 'Where's all the
furniture?'

‘
You know where all
the furniture is, you and Nicholas
took it,' Grace replied a little
stiffly.

‘
But only what the aunt left. Where's all yours?’

‘It was
Edward's. He's got it.'

‘
But he didn't leave you with
nothing,
surely?'

‘
His
furniture was all terribly valuable. It was only right
he should take
it. And, as you keep reminding me, he
made
me a generous settlement; I had the roof fixed and
bought a car, and
have got enough left to keep me going for a little while.’

Allegra put her briefcase down on the floor and
sat as
near to the fire as she could get
without singeing herself.
'I had no idea,' she muttered. 'I suppose you
come and
visit me, mostly, and that time I
came just after he'd gone,
we sat in the kitchen.’

Thinking of the chaos in the kitchen now, Grace
was
relieved that Allegra wouldn't be near
it until it was a
little more
organised. Still, it would be a lot warmer than
it was usually. That
should please her sister.

‘Let me get you a glass of wine, then you must
meet Ellie, who's living with me, and Demi, who should have
finished her essay by now. Oh, and Flynn,' she
added as
if somehow she'd forgotten
he was there. In fact, she was
just trying to avoid the explanations.

. 'Who's Flynn?' demanded Allegra.

‘Wine first, Legs, then you can meet everyone.
Ellie is
very kindly cooking the dinner for
us, as you know I can't
cook.' Grace
frowned, hoping fervently that she hadn't
let Allegra think that Ellie
was staff. 'She's been such a good friend to me,' she said, hoping to make the
situation clear.

‘
How long
have you known her?' asked Allegra,
perfectly reasonably, Grace
realised.

‘
Not long,
but we got very close very quickly. I'll get
the wine.’

Once in the kitchen,
which was warm and full of bustle
and delicious cooking smells, Grace
said, 'Pass me the wine and some glasses. You lot have got to come out of here
and meet my sister.'

‘I can't leave the sauce just at the moment,'
said Ellie, stirring madly.

‘
My essay! I
do have to do it, you know!' said Demi,
who in fact had closed her file
ages ago.

‘What's your excuse?' Grace demanded of Flynn,
who was observing the scene with quiet amusement.

‘I need to wash my hands and take off my boiler
suit,' he said gravely.

‘Oh, yes,' Grace acknowledged. 'But you're to
come in as soon as you can, you and Ellie. Demi, you can come now.' She picked
up one of the bottles of wine sitting on
the
back of the Rayburn and a couple of the better glasses.
She was nearly out of the door before she turned and
said, 'The Rayburn is going to be
great, Flynn. Thank you
so much.'

‘Oh God, I'm so nervous!' said Demi as they
hurried across the hall.

‘There's no need. She won't bully you, she's
not your sister. Now be a love and open the door.

‘Come in, Demi. Allegra, I don't think you've
met my stepdaughter, Demi, have you?'

‘We met at the wedding,' said Allegra,
acknowledging Demi with a small smile. 'But I don't know, strictly speaking, if
you're still Grace's stepdaughter, now your parents are divorced.'

‘Well, never mind, we can just be good
friends,' said
Grace. She put the wine and
glasses down on a tea chest
covered
with one of the leftover curtains she had bought
to hide the paintings.
'Have a glass of this. I think you'll like it.' She spent a few moments describing
the wine to
Allegra before she remembered
that she wasn't really that
ⁱ
nterested, and stopped.

‘Can I have some wine?' asked Demi.

As Grace knew she'd already had some, and would
probably have reached the giggly stage had
she not been
so nervous about Allegra, she wanted to refuse. But as
she wanted Ellie and Flynn prised out of the
kitchen, she
said, 'Of course. Go and fetch a glass and could you see
what Ellie and Flynn are up to? Ellie might not be
able
to leave her sauce, but Flynn should have washed his hands and
cleared up his tools by now.'

‘
So remind
me who Flynn is again?' asked Allegra when
Demi had gone. 'Some sort of
artisan?'

‘
He's a
friend,' said Grace, deliberately not enlightening
her sister, and
wondering if 'artisan' was the politically correct term for workman. 'What do
you think of the wine?'

‘Very nice,' said Allegra.

‘I'm glad I haven't got you as a wine taster,'
Grace laughed. 'You have to be much more explicit than just "very
nice".'

‘Well, you know I think it's nonsense, but at
least it's respectable. Now stop playing with the candles and let me tell you
about this report while we're alone. Oh, too late.’

Ellie came in first. She
was slightly flushed and Grace
thought she looked extremely pretty
although unmistakably an ex-art student. She was wearing an apron over her
jeans and her hair was wrapped up in a bandanna.
A brooch consisting of a bunch of bananas made of Fimo
decorated her sweater, and there were matching
bunches
dangling from her ears. Grace couldn't decide if she was pleased
that Ellie would look so Bohemian in Allegra's eyes, or sorry.

‘
Allegra,
this is Ellie Summers, my friend, who's kindly
agreed to live here for a
bit.’

Ellie offered her hand. 'It's so kind of Grace
to let me stay.’

Allegra gave
a reserved but polite smile and waited for
Flynn
to be introduced. 'This is Flynn Cormack. My sister,
Allegra
Statherton-Crawley.'

‘
How do you do,' said Flynn, talking Allegra's barely
offered hand.

Allegra's formal smile
didn't move; she was confused
as to Flynn's
status. She'd assumed he was the plumber
who, for
some wild, loony-left reason, Grace had invited
to eat with them. But although he wasn't wearing a suit,
he
obviously wasn't a workman, either.

‘
Demi's just
finishing her essay,' said Ellie. 'And
keeping an eye on the potatoes. I
won't be able to stay
long, either. We don't
want overcooked vegetables, do
we?’

Ellie had thoughtfully brought more glasses
with her and Flynn, to Grace's gratitude, poured more wine for Allegra and
Grace and some elderflower pressé for Ellie.
When
he had given himself a glass of wine, Allegra turned
to him.

‘So what is it you do, exactly?'

‘
Oh, you'll
approve of him,' said Grace, aware that she
was on her third glass,
hadn't eaten much, and was
already a bit
unstable because of nerves. 'He's a property
developer.’

Allegra turned to her sister. 'Grace, darling!
Have you seen sense at last?'

‘Oh no,' said Flynn. 'We're just friends. We
have an interest in wine in common.'

‘Pity. There are probably millions tied up in
the property. There's a lot of land, you know,' said Allegra.

‘I do know,' said Flynn. 'But you'd never get
planning
permission for anything out here.
It's hard enough to get
planning permission for a barn conversion in
this area.'

‘
So,
Allegra,' asked Grace, grateful to Flynn for slip-
Ping in this useful information. 'Tell me about
the report,
then.'

‘
I'd rather wait until we're alone, Grace. In
fact, I had
no idea you intended to have a dinner
party as such. I thought we were going to have a working supper.'

‘It is a working supper,' said Grace. 'Flynn's
been working.'

‘And so have I,' said Ellie. 'Well, cooking
anyway.’

‘
And there's
nothing you can't say in front of my
friends,' said Grace.

She caught Flynn's eye and
realised he was amused at
being referred to as her friend. She
gave him a quick furtive smile and realised that for the first time that she
did think of him as a friend. It was probably
because she
missed Edward. He had
been so good at social situations.
He could chat amusingly and eruditely
about almost
everything, which meant all
Grace had to do was nod
and smile. Without him, she had to do the
chatting bit.