Restoring Grace (65 page)

‘But, Ran, are you really sure you want to have
a rela
tionship with someone like me? You
didn't seem to
before.'

‘I know, and now I'm not even sure why. It's
just that,
somehow,
you made me feel like a wicked old roué.’

‘That's my
favourite kind of roué. What's a roué?’

‘French for
a dirty old man.'

‘
So what made you change your mind?'

‘I just finally saw you for who you are.
Thinking you
might be in danger put it all
into perspective, and I
realised how much I care about you. And I also
realised
that although you're more grown up
than I thought, you
need someone. whatever von say'

‘
I would
have been fine on my own, really. I don't want
you to be with me out of
pity.'

‘I know. But perhaps I need someone too.’

Ellie sighed with happiness and the kissing
started again.

Grace rang
Ellie at lunchtime the following day. She sounded dreamy and giggly and
thoroughly silly. 'Don't tell me,' said Ellie. 'You've done it!'

‘
I'm certainly not going to tell you anything. Yes.’

‘
Oh, Grace!
I'm so pleased! It's so lovely! Are you going
to get married?'

‘We haven't discussed marriage yet.'

‘No, nor have we, but I think maybe—'

‘
Ellie?
What's this? Are you talking about you and Ran?’

Ellie sighed deeply and nodded before
remembering
Grace couldn't see her. 'When
we went for the scan – did
I tell you he came with me?'

‘Tell me!’

°Well, in the middle of it the woman who was
doing it
stopped, and had to get someone
else to check everything
was all right. Those moments while she was out
of the room were about the worst in my entire life, but then afterwards Ran was
really different. And finally, when I told him I was going to move out, he said
he wanted me to stay, and . . . well . . . you can imagine the rest!'

‘
That's so
wonderful! We could have a double
wedding!' Grace was practically
squeaking with excitement.

‘
With Demi
and Allegra as bridesmaids. What shall we
make them wear? Purple?
Turquoise blue? Shiny satin, obviously, so they look really fat.'

‘Poor Demi, she doesn't deserve that.'

‘
And I
wouldn't start planning the double wedding yet,
either. I think Ran and
I have got a way to go before we start discussing Marriage!'

‘
No, OK,'
Grace agreed. 'But the reason I rang is Allegra
wants to have a meeting
of all the relevant parties, at Luckenham House, next week. Tuesday. Is that OK
for you?'

‘What do you mean "relevant
parties"?'

‘Everyone involved with the panels. She says
she's got
hot news and wants an audience to
hear it. Can you and
Ran come?'

‘I'll have to ask him, but I expect so. Is the
Richard Coatbridge expert going to be there?'

‘
I don't
think so, though she did find one. She's terribly
excited.'

‘
I can
imagine. And so am I, actually. Never mind, it'll be fun finding out about the
panels after all this
time.'

‘I know, as long as they are worth something.
It'll be such a disappointment if they're not.'

‘Should Ran bring the panels?'

‘Has he finished them?'

‘No. He's had to fit them round other work.'

‘Then they may as well stay where they are, in
safety. I'm not putting them back up, after all.'

‘That's a shame, really.'

‘No, actually, it's not. If they are valuable
think of the
insurance! Besides,' she added
shyly, 'they may not fit in
with Flynn's colour scheme.'

‘Flynn's colour scheme!'

‘
Yes. He has
got a good eye – and a good interior
designer. He's made this house
lovely.'

‘So, are you going to live in his house?’

`Nope. We're going to sell it. He says he
doesn't mind.’

‘That's so romantic!'

‘
What,
selling his house and living in mine, thus
making a fairly large fortune?' said Grace crisply.
'Nothing very
romantic about that. It's called property

‘
No! Idiot! Giving up his dream home so you can
have yours.'

‘Yes. It is,
isn't it?' Grace subsided into dreaminess again. 'He's so lovely.’

Chapter
Twenty-eight

 
When Ran and Ellie drove up to
Luckenham House four
days later, they saw by
the cars in front that Grace, Flynn
and Allegra were there already.
There was another car, long, low and expensive-looking, as well.

‘
That probably belongs to Nicholas, Grace's
brother,’

said Ellie. 'I hope they don't try and bully Grace.’

‘
They won't have
a chance with Flynn there.’

‘Although
Grace has been very determined to fight her own battles lately, I've noticed.'

‘Come on.
Let's go.’

The front door was
unlocked and Ellie and Ran went
in
unannounced. They could hear voices from the dining
room and
followed them.

Grace was standing by the
window looking flushed
and extremely pretty. Flynn was
standing by a tea chest covered with a cloth, and on the cloth, were a couple
of bottles of champagne and several glasses.

Allegra, in a black jacket with a hound's-tooth
skirt, stood by the fireplace with a man Ellie didn't know. She assumed he was
Grace's brother Nicholas. Next to him
was a
tall, slim, elegant woman inspecting the panelling.
She looked part of Nicholas, and Ellie wondered if
she was
inspecting the panels for
paint, and therefore more money.

Demi, who'd been texting
someone on her mobile
phone, was the first to see Ellie
and came up to greet them. 'Hi!' She hugged Ellie and nodded to Ran. 'This is
all so exciting!'

‘
Not at college, then?' asked Ellie.

‘No! I can't
miss this.' She frowned. 'And I don't think Mum's coming, is she?'

‘
No reason why she
should,' said Ellie. 'But would that
stop her?’

Grace noticed that Ellie
and Ran had arrived and
danced across the room to greet
them. 'Allegra is being
terribly coy about
what she's discovered, but Flynn and
I thought we ought to celebrate
anyway. After all' - she gave Ellie a meaningful look - 'lots of good things
have happened lately.’

Ellie smiled in agreement; an awful lot of good
things had happened to her lately, too.

The doorbell jangled and
Grace went to answer it. 'Oh,'
she said. 'It's
you, Edward. And Hermia.' Grace waited
for her
emotions to come rushing in to swamp her, but nothing happened, and the
certainty that she was now
over Edward for good
added to Grace's store of happi
ness, which was already pretty full.

‘We didn't come together,' snapped Hermia.

‘
But why
did you come at all? Not that you're not always
welcome,' she added,
opening the door, wondering what
they would
say when they saw that their daughter wasn't
at college, and not really
caring.

‘
I came to
look after your interests, Grace,' said Edward.
'You're such a child in
these matters.'

‘What matters?'

‘Money matters. Hermia told me about the
panels.’

Did Edward and Hermia want a cut? Grace
wondered as she followed them into the dining room. Well, not
Hermia: There was no way she could justify it. But
Edward? No. He'd never been mean about money. He
was presumably here just out of interest, or to
protect her.
She hoped there wouldn't be any awkwardness between him and
Flynn. She absolved Edward of having any feel
ings
for her, but she didn't want Flynn becoming all Irish
and quarrelsome on
her.

‘Is everybody here?' asked Allegra, after
greetings
between parents and daughter had
been exchanged, and
murmured admonishments for bunking off college
administered. She was obviously impatient to
deliver her
bombshell.

‘I'll just make sure everyone knows each
other,' said Grace. 'Edward, come and meet Flynn.' She made the introductions
warily.

‘So are you and Flynn together?' said Edward
with a mixture of concern and amusement.

‘We are,' said Flynn firmly.

Edward nodded. 'I thought
Grace was looking even
more lovely than usual.’

Grace looked away so she
couldn't see Flynn's reac
tion to Edward's statement. It was
odd: once she'd have opened a vein for a remark like that. Now, it was just a
compliment - a nice compliment, but no more than that
- from a man she'd once loved. When she was confi
dent a fight wasn't going to break out, she added,
'Edward,
you know Nicholas, of course. And that's his
girlfriend,
Erica.' Erica nodded at Edward across the
room.

‘
Right,
now
we're all here,' said
Allegra firmly. She
glared at Hermia, who was still telling Demi
off for not being at college. 'Can you all stop talking, please?'

‘
What have
you found out, Legs?' drawled Nicholas
from his pitch by the fireplace.

‘If you keep quiet, I'll tell you!' Allegra was
getting
annoyed. It didn't usually take her
this long to bring meet
ings to order. Finally satisfied she had
everyone's full attention, she began.

‘
As most of
you know, it was thought that these panels
were by Richard Coatbridge.'

‘
Who?'
interrupted Erica, earning herself an unex
pected place in the hearts of
Ellie and Grace.

‘
He's very famous, darling,' said Nicholas.

Erica shrugged.

‘And, fantastic as it may seem, it appears they
arc indeed by him!' Allegra smiled as if she were personally responsible for
this.

‘It's not fantastic,' said Ellie indignantly.
'I knew they were!’

Ran put his arm round
her. 'Don't heckle, it'll only hold
things up.’

Allegra glared in Ellie's direction, and she
was quite glad of Ran's protective arm.

‘
Apparently
it was known that he spent time in this part
of the world as he had a
sister in Devon and he used to break his journey here, often for several weeks,
and—'

‘So what are they worth, Legs?’

Allegra gave her brother a withering look. 'My
expert wouldn't say. He said it wasn't his business. He could
only verify that it was ninety per cent likely the
panels
are by Richard Coatbridge.'

‘All this for nothing?' said Erica.

‘No!' snapped Allegra. 'I went to Sotheby's and
asked them.'

‘And what did they say?' asked Edward.

‘They said they couldn't possibly judge without
actually seeing the panels, but looking at the slides, and having documentary
evidence—'

‘That scrap of paper?' asked Grace, surprised.

‘
They would
probably fetch around the two million
mark,
and if more than one person was really interested,
it could go through
the roof.’