Three Graces (19 page)

December 1984

I can’t believe this is the last page already. So much has happened since I began this diary over seven years ago. I haven’t been a very good diarist. Sometimes, many months can pass without a single entry. I have three children now: my handsome sons and my beautiful daughter, and I have the feeling I may be expecting again.

I feel a little more contented here now than I was when I first moved in. It’s taken all this time for me to think of Amberley as a home. It has its faults: I will never get used to having the public walking around the house, and I’m still not a huge fan of Chippendale, but I’m learning to live with Amberley’s quirks.

Carys closed the book and got up from the rock-hard ground, rubbing her numbed bottom. Her limbs would probably be red-raw from the sun now and she was beginning to feel a little dehydrated. She hadn’t meant to read so much but, as soon as she’d opened the diary, time had been swallowed up as curiosity had taken over. She could have read for hours, dipping in and out of the years like a nosy yo-yo, but time had marched on and she had to be on her way.

She slowed her pace as she approached the large Victorian house. Mungo edged up beside her and looked up expectantly. She could see that an upstairs window was open and a pretty flutter of curtain was trying to escape. Francesca, Carys thought, must be in.

She knocked on the door and waited.

And waited.

And knocked again.

‘Francesca?’ she called. Mungo gazed up at the house, his tail wagging in mild excitement before he lost interest and went to nose around the plants in the garden.

‘It’s Carys. Are you there?’

Carys stepped back from the door and looked up at the windows before shrugging and sighing. Once again, she had the feeling that the house wasn’t empty. She also had the feeling that Francesca wasn’t washing her hair or tied up in the kitchen. She didn’t want to see her, did she?

Stepping back into the tiny porch, Carys laid the book down on the slatted seat underneath a hanging basket. She hoped it would be safe there.

‘Come on, Mungo,’ she said, and he followed her out of the garden and back towards Amberley.

‘Long time, no see,’ a cheery voice greeted her as soon as she stepped into the hallway. It was Phoebe, closely followed by an ever-attentive Dizzy the spaniel.

‘Phoebe!’ Carys said, and they embraced. It felt an age since they’d had a chat - long before the old duke’s funeral. Phoebe had been a little distant since then, finding a job in the nearby town of Pennington Bridge and living quietly.

For a moment, Carys just smiled at her. ‘How are you?’ she asked, trying to banish the image of the dark-haired youngster in the hallway on her pony, Minstrel.

‘Okay,’ she said, her smile warm and genuine. ‘Moving on,’ she added.

Carys nodded. ‘It takes time,’ she said, realising, too late, that she’d used the very phrase that she hated to hear herself.

‘And how are you?’

Carys shrugged. ‘Fine.’

Phoebe’s eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yes.’

‘Sure? You look tired.’

Carys nodded. ‘A little.’

‘They’re treating you okay - everybody?’

‘Yes, fine.’

Phoebe didn’t look convinced. ‘Including Richard?’

Carys blinked. There was no hiding from Phoebe. She was a woman who couldn’t be fooled and she always managed to isolate a problem immediately.

‘To be honest, I don’t see much of him.’

Phoebe frowned. ‘I thought as much. Rotten man.’

‘No. No, he’s not.’

‘He jolly well is. He doesn’t deserve you. Expecting you to run his house for him all day every day whilst he goes off and-’

‘He’s got so much to cope with.’

Phoebe placed her tiny hands on her tiny hips. ‘When was the last time you two went out for a nice meal?’

Carys blinked even harder. ‘Well, he’s always so busy-’

‘
When?
’

Carys’s mind span back through the months since their wedding. They hadn’t, had they? They didn’t even have time for a proper sit-at-a-table meal alone together any more It was always grab-a-sandwich or else a stifling meal with local dignitaries in the State Dining Room where conversation was invariably mundane and impersonal.

‘Just before we got engaged,’ she said at last.

‘I thought as much. It’s not good enough.’

‘But, Phoebe-’

‘Stop making excuses for him. It’s outrageous!’

‘Not really-’

‘We need to discuss this,’ Phoebe continued. She was off now and there was no stopping her. ‘We need a meeting.’

‘I don’t really think-’

‘There’s only one thing to do at a time like this.’

For a moment, Carys was silent with wonder. ‘What?’

‘Get the YBG’s together, of course.’

‘So, are you going to tell me what the YBG’s are?’ Carys asked. It was later that evening and she was sat in the Yellow Drawing Room with Phoebe and Serena who were looking at each other with sisterly intimacy. Phoebe had kicked off her shoes and was resting her feet on Dizzy who had rolled over to expose a fluffy white belly which demanded much rubbing, and Serena was curled up in a winged chair, her feet tucked under her bottom, making her look like a contented cat.

Finally, Serena nodded.

‘The Yew Bower Girls,’ Phoebe explained quietly.

Carys tried not to giggle. ‘What on
earth
is that?’

‘You’ve not been to the yew bower?’

Carys shook her head.

‘It’s a part of the wood above Amberley. It’s mostly beeches but there’s this spooky little corner of yew trees.’

‘Not spooky,’ Serena said, ‘magical.’

‘Oh, yes,’ Phoebe corrected. ‘I forgot. You used to practice all your spells up there.’

Serena gave Phoebe a glare which could easily have become the Medusa.

‘We used to hide out there as kids,’ Phoebe explained. ‘It’s very important to have a place to call your own when you’re a kid, even when growing up in a house the size of Amberley. It’s vital to have a little hideaway where nobody can find you.’

‘Away from the house,’ Serena added.

‘Most important,’ Phoebe stressed.

‘And one the boys could never find out about.’

‘And we only ever went there at dusk,’ Phoebe said.

Serena gave a little smile. ‘We used to sneak out and run across the lawn in our nightgowns.’

‘But it’s miles away,’ Carys pointed out.

‘That was all part of the fun,’ Phoebe said. ‘Cupboards and wardrobes were no good to us. Where’s the adventure in that? But a secluded part of the wood when evening is drawing in - now that’s exciting!’

‘I’m not sure I like the sound of that,’ Carys confessed.

‘Town girl,’ Serena admonished.

‘I have just as much country running through my veins as you.’

‘Prove it then.’

‘Okay,’ Carys said. ‘We’ll go.’

‘Great.’ Phoebe clapped her hands.

‘We’ll have to tell Penny,’ Serena said.

‘Of course. We couldn’t go without Pen.’

‘Who’s Pen?’

‘A founder member of the YBG’s. We can’t think of holding a meeting without her,’ Phoebe said.

‘It would be unlucky. And Natasha too.’

‘Of course,’ Serena said.

‘Another founder member?’ Carys asked, becoming more and more intrigued by this secret society. ‘Anyone else?’

‘Anyone you’d like to invite?’ Phoebe asked.

Carys thought. Who could she think of who’d enjoy traipsing through the undergrowth at night?

‘Louise - my best-friend,’ Carys said at last, thinking she couldn’t possibly let her friend miss out on such an adventure.

‘She’ll have to be initiated,’ Serena pointed out.

‘So will Carys, but that won’t take long.’

‘Initiated?’ Again, Carys sounded a little unsure.

‘Initiation by Bailey’s,’ Phoebe explained. ‘Simply delightful.’

Carys smiled. ‘When do we go?’

After a few phone calls, they left the house when the sky’s burning apricot light was mellowing and fading. Carys had told Richard that she was going to meet Louise in the local pub and he’d simply nodded before tumbling onto the sofa with a glass of whisky.

Louise had parked down the driveway, away from the house, and had waited for Carys behind a big rhododendron bush.

‘This is rather fun,’ she giggled, nodding to Phoebe and Serena. ‘What do we do now?’

‘We’re meeting Pen and Nat by the stile,’ Phoebe said. ‘Less suspicious that way.’

Carys frowned. ‘Who are we hiding from?’

‘The men, of course,’ Serena said.

‘They mustn’t know.’

Carys decided that this must be some sort of hang-up from childhood and that they weren’t willing to reveal their secret hideaway even now.

‘They had their secret dens and so did we,’ Phoebe explained.

‘Do they still use theirs?’ Carys asked, trying to imagine Richard and Jamie sneaking off to some secluded spot on the estate.

Phoebe shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t put it passed them. Come on.’

They ran across the lawn like naughty school girls. Then, it was up the bank and into the beech trees and along to the stile where Penny and Natasha were. Penny was as tiny as a church mouse but had a huge smile. Natasha looked more serious, her dark eyebrows hovering over a pair of stern, inquisitive eyes.

Once over the stile, they slowed their pace to a fast walk.

‘What’s the hurry?’ Louise asked.

‘I think it’s the thought of a plastic cup of Bailey’s,’ Penny said. ‘If memory serves me correctly.’

‘It does,’ Phoebe called back.

‘So, Carys,’ Natasha began. ‘How are you enjoying life at Amberley?’

‘Gosh!’ Phoebe laughed. ‘Can’t you say anything without sounding like you’re interviewing someone?’

Serena grinned back at Natasha and Carys.

‘You’re a reporter?’ Carys said, somewhat startled.

‘Don’t worry,’ Serena said, ‘she’s one of us.’

‘A true YBG,’ Phoebe added.

‘Okay,’ Carys said. ‘Well, I didn’t think it would be quite so much work,’ she confided to Natasha. ‘Everything’s so big after my little terrace in town.’

‘I bet you don’t know what half the rooms are for,’ Natasha laughed.

‘I think I’ll get there eventually but I do tend to get a bit lost every now and again.’

‘Nobody can be expected to feel at home straight away,’ Louise said in defence of her friend. ‘Whether it’s a huge stately home or a tiny bungalow.’

They walked on through the silent wood. They’d passed through the beeches now and everything suddenly seemed much darker. Large smooth trunks gave way to dark, gnarled, knuckly trees with sharp-looking foliage.

‘This is it,’ Phoebe said in tones that were hushed and rather reverential. ‘We’re nearly there.’

Louise looked at Carys and her eyes widened as if to say, what are we doing here? But Carys was rather taken with the place, deciding that both Phoebe and Serena were right: the yew tree bower was both magical and spooky. The thick, twisted trunks and dark emerald fronds were quite bewitching to behold in the fading light and everything was so quiet. Carys believed that she’d never heard a silence like it before.

She reached out and touched one of the yew trees, surprised that the fronds felt so soft. The ground was carpet-soft too and swallowed the sound of their footsteps. Then, all of a sudden, there was a small break in the woodland where you could see out over the rolling fields beyond.

‘What’s that?’ Louise asked, pointing to a white bird flying low.

‘A barn owl,’ Penny said. ‘Out looking for mice.’

Louise pulled a face. She didn’t like being anywhere where there might be mice.

‘This way,’ said Phoebe unnecessarily: there was only one pathway after all.

Carys felt a hush of excitement and half wanted to scream out in delight at their little adventure.

‘Just up ahead.’

And then they were there. The path seemed to end in a secluded bower - a little cathedral of trees.

‘It’s completely weather-proof,’ Phoebe said. ‘We’ve been here when it’s pouring with rain and you stay wonderfully dry.’

Serena spread a large red tartan blanket on the ground and Phoebe quickly placed a bottle of Bailey’s in the middle.

‘I hereby declare this YBG meeting open,’ she said in an ever-so-serious voice.

They all sat down and plastic cups were handed round.

‘Anyone for Baileys?’ Phoebe asked, her dark eyes sparkling with joy.

‘Come on,’ Penny said. ‘I’m dying for a drink.’

Phoebe unscrewed the lid of the bottle and poured a generous amount into each cup. ‘Save time later if we have trebles now,’ she said with a little laugh.

‘What about the initiation?’ Natasha said.

‘Oh, yes. Carys and Louise haven’t done this before.’

Louise gave Carys an anxious glance in fear of what might be about to take place. ‘Don’t look so worried. It’s just a few words.’

‘And you’ve got to hold your cups out, like this,’ Serena said, holding her cup high in the air in demonstration.

Carys and Louise held their cups aloft.

‘I solemnly declare,’ Phoebe began.

‘I solemnly declare,’ Carys and Louise repeated in unison.

‘That all said and done in the privacy of this bower …’

‘That all said and done in the privacy of this bower …’ they chanted, trying hard not to giggle.

‘Will be repeated to no-one.’

‘Will be repeated to no-one.’

‘Now drink,’ Phoebe ordered and Carys and Louise lowered their cups to their lips and drank deeply, the creamy liquid turning to fire as they swallowed.

For a few moments, there was the complete silence of appreciation.

‘This is good,’ Penny sighed.

‘Mother’s best,’ Serena said.

‘She left a good collection in the drawing room,’ Phoebe nodded. ‘We thought it wouldn’t do to waste it.’

‘Quite right,’ Natasha said. ‘I hate waste.’

‘And I can’t stand a drink without something to nibble,’ Penny said, unzipping her jacket and taking out a carrier bag hitherto hidden. ‘Cheese straw, anyone?’

‘Oh, Pen!’ Serena laughed.

‘Penny, you are priceless!’ Phoebe said. ‘Penny can’t go anywhere without bringing some home baking along,’ Phoebe explained to Carys and Louise as she took a perfect, golden straw.