The Winter Garden Read online

  She was looking as unsure about everything as I was.

  ‘Come into the front room,’ he said, steering us inside before I had a chance to gather my wits, ‘and we can talk properly. From the look on your face my dear, I daresay you haven’t got a clue what’s going on, have you?’

  ‘No,’ I swallowed, ‘I haven’t.’

  ‘Not a Scooby,’ he laughed. ‘I’m Harold, by the way.’

  Having politely refused Harold’s offer of yet more tea, and a cold sausage leftover from his lunch for Nell, the four of us sat in the living room, which had a large bay window overlooking the square, and Kate insisted on explaining everything because she knew Luke’s enthusiasm would get the better of him and he’d end up missing bits out.

  ‘You see the house next door,’ she said, beckoning for me to look out at the lovely house next to Harold’s.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, I own it,’ she told me. ‘I bought it when I moved here from London before I met Luke. Then, when I moved in with him at Prosperous Place, I decided to keep it and rent it out. A lovely young woman called Poppy lives there now with her brother, Ryan.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said, still not seeing how that was anything to do with me, or how it explained why I was sitting in Harold’s house when I should be thinking about heading back to Suffolk.

  ‘As it was part of the original Wentworth empire, for want of a better word,’ Luke couldn’t resist butting in, ‘Kate decided it would be lovely to keep it and view it as an extension of Prosperous Place.’

  ‘Right,’ I said.

  ‘And now I’m moving into assisted living accommodation,’ chimed in Harold. ‘I’m selling my house, which has been lived in by my family since Charles Wentworth built it, back to Luke.’

  ‘So, it’s another piece of Mr Wentworth’s legacy that’s being returned to the fold?’ I guessed. ‘It will be another extension to Prosperous Place, like your house, Kate?’

  ‘Exactly,’ she said. ‘And the plan was to rent it out, but…’

  ‘But, as you need somewhere to live, Freya,’ put in Luke, ‘and Kate and I really want you to take the job as head gardener and Winter Garden project manager, we’re thinking that it would be perfect for you.’

  It sounded wonderful in theory and my heart leapt at the prospect, but if I accepted, was I going to be jumping from the frying pan into the fire? After all, as lovely as Luke and Kate were, the set-up might end up leading me into the same mess that I was currently facing if things didn’t work out.

  ‘It would all be above board,’ said Kate, clearly picking up on the reason for my reluctance, ‘we’d have a contract properly drawn up, along with a tenancy agreement.’

  ‘It’s not that I don’t trust you,’ I began to say.

  ‘We know that,’ she smiled, ‘but we also appreciate that the circumstances you’re dealing with now would make you wary of potentially facing a similar situation in the future, so we can take steps to ensure that wouldn’t happen.’

  I nodded and let out a breath, trying to take it all in.

  ‘But you don’t really know anything about me,’ I said, still determined not to get swept along. ‘You haven’t asked about references or qualifications, my experience or anything really.’

  ‘We know enough,’ said Kate. ‘We’re great believers in gut instinct.’

  She sounded just like Eloise, and again I thought how this offer of a job and home echoed my last.

  ‘And I have to admit I have found out a bit about you, courtesy of a quick search online,’ Luke admitted. ‘I found some information about the Broad-Meadows open day last summer, along with your interview in the local press. It made for impressive reading and the photographs were wonderful.’

  Eloise had opened the garden up for charity and insisted the focus of the newspaper article was on the garden and my work in it, rather than her life story.

  ‘I see,’ I said.

  ‘Look,’ said Luke. ‘Don’t say anything yet. Let Harold show you around and then come back over to the house. I know it’s a big decision for you.’

  ‘Huge,’ agreed Kate.

  ‘And there’s no rush,’ Luke added, with a twinkle in his eye.

  ‘But you would like to start the Winter Garden project in time to have something to show this winter,’ I smiled, making a calculated guess. ‘Am I right?’

  ‘Exactly,’ he grinned, as Kate shook her head.

  ‘We’ll see you in a little while,’ she said, ushering him out. ‘And in spite of what Luke says, there really is no pressure.’

  Harold showed me proudly over the house, pointing out the room where he had been born and explaining that most of the furniture and some of the contents would be staying as he wasn’t going to have room for them.

  ‘I don’t know how you’d feel about that,’ he said, looking about the kitchen. The room clearly hadn’t been decorated for a while and featured an abundance of orange pine and Hornsea pottery containers. ‘I don’t suppose any of this is in style now.’

  ‘On the contrary,’ I told him. ‘This kitchen is the height of fashion, Harold. The retro look is very popular right now.’

  ‘So, it wouldn’t all go straight in a skip then?’ he sniffed, his voice a little shaky.

  ‘Absolutely not,’ I reassured him. ‘None of it would. Not if I moved in, anyway. Between you and me, I haven’t got an awful lot in the way of furniture and material possessions. I’ve always travelled light, so anything you left would be very much appreciated.’

  Harold was clearly much cheered by the thought as we walked through the dining room and back into the living room where he had kindly turned the electric log-effect fire on for Nell because he thought she looked a bit chilly.

  ‘So, what do you think?’ he asked. ‘Are you going to take the job?’

  ‘I’m certainly going to give it some serious thought,’ I told him.

  ‘If I were you, I’d snatch their hands off,’ he said firmly. ‘You won’t find a better place to live or a better family to work for.’

  I thanked him for showing me around and Nell and I walked back over to Prosperous Place. If I did accept Luke and Kate’s offer, then my daily commute would be barely longer than the one I had now. The pair had certainly given me plenty to mull over.

  After Luke’s call asking me to come back, I had wondered if the job offer would still stand but I hadn’t for a single second speculated that there might be accommodation to go with it, and certainly not an entire house set around the pretty green in Nightingale Square!

  ‘So,’ said Luke, rocking back on his heels, from where he was waiting for me on the drive. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘The house is lovely,’ I told him, ‘and it’s a very tempting offer.’

  ‘And I can email you with salary details and holiday entitlement and so on, this evening, if you like.’

  Kate came out of the house to meet us with Abigail in her arms. The little girl’s cheeks were flushed as if she had just woken up, which she probably had.

  ‘That would be great,’ I nodded. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘So, there is some hope then,’ said Luke, biting his lip.

  ‘There’s always hope,’ I told him. ‘And I promise I won’t keep you hanging on,’ I added, addressing them both.

  ‘I really hope you say yes, Freya,’ Luke reiterated.

  ‘And of course, we’re more than happy for you to bring Nell,’ Kate added.

  If only she were mine to bring.

  ‘You two look very much like you come as a pair and she would be a lovely addition to our community here, as would you.’

  I thanked them both, kissed Kate on the cheek, before remembering to collect my wellies and paperwork, and then climbed back into the van, settling Nell next to me.

  ‘See you soon,’ Luke said hopefully, as they waved me off.

  I waved back and pulled out on to the road before turning on the radio. It had somehow switched back to Radio Suffolk, even though we were definitely i
n Norfolk and in spite of the fact that I hadn’t re-tuned it since it had mysteriously reset itself after I had asked Eloise for a sign.

  ‘Thanks, Eloise,’ I laughed into the air around me. ‘Message received and understood.’

  Chapter 4

  I’d never been much of a one for lying in late, not even when I was on holiday. I’d never seen the point of getting out of the habit of setting my regular alarm. If I was awake, I’d get up and get on, no matter what day of the week it was. However, having had such an overwhelming start to the weekend, I did allow myself a slow start on the Sunday. Not that it wasn’t productive.

  Luke and Kate had wasted no time in emailing the promised details about salary, holiday entitlement and numerous other perks I would enjoy, should I decide to take up their offer of starting a new life at Prosperous Place. The finer details made for very pleasant reading.

  My only real concern about accepting their offer came from the fear that I might not be up to the job and that I would let Luke down. When Eloise was alive, I always felt more than capable, but Jackson’s barbed comments about my lack of formal training and qualifications nagged away at me in low moments when I was missing my friend most.

  Deep down I knew he had sown the fear to keep me in place and toeing the line while he sold the estate off, but he had done his job well and my confidence had dipped right when I needed it most. I would have to dig deep if I didn’t want to pass up Luke and Kate’s generous offer.

  ‘What do you think?’ I asked Nell, hoping for some encouragement as I stretched out my legs to where she was curled up at the end of the bed and gave her a gentle nudge. ‘Do you think we should go?’

  She thumped her tail and I wasn’t sure if it was wishful thinking on my part or not, but there did seem to be something of the old twinkle in her eyes. She hadn’t looked this engaged since she’d lost her mistress and entered her period of mourning.

  My gaze returned to the details currently filling up my phone screen and I let out a groan as a reminder to ring home flashed up. As loath as I was to do it, I knew I couldn’t keep putting it off. It had been six weeks now since my fortnightly calls to my parents had tailed off and if I left it any longer, they’d most likely start calling me, or worse still, turn up in person. Dreading the thought, I hastily pressed the number for home.

  ‘Freya,’ answered my mother, her tone full of relief. ‘At last. We’d all but given up on you. We were planning to drive up this afternoon and find out what was going on.’

  I could hear my father’s deep voice agreeing in the background and thanked my lucky stars that I had got myself together and called just in the nick of time.

  ‘I have been meaning to ring,’ I fibbed, avoiding Nell’s knowing stare, ‘but I’ve been so busy, what with the warm weather.’

  ‘I can well imagine,’ Mum surprised me by saying.

  Usually when I made any sort of comment about my workload her standard retort was that it was my own fault for taking on such acreage single-handed. My parents ran a very upmarket landscape design company and were well aware of how many hours of weekly maintenance and what sized team it took to efficiently run somewhere the size of where I was working.

  Neither she nor my father had made any secret of the fact that they had been deeply disappointed when I stopped working for them, ditched my horticultural design software and picked up my spade. These days, they didn’t go in for getting their own hands dirty, opting instead for remote project management, whereas I had discovered I still needed the closer connection to nature, the daily dose of green things growing, to keep my mind balanced.

  They had never forgiven Eloise for offering me the opportunity to go, quite literally, back to my roots, after I had broken off my engagement. It didn’t matter how many times I told them she had nothing to do with my decision not to marry, they wouldn’t believe me. To their minds, it was all too much of a coincidence and I had long since given up trying to convince them otherwise.

  ‘I daresay you’re having to go all out to keep things pristine now, aren’t you?’ Mum carried on, surprising me further by sounding almost sympathetic. ‘Well, as pristine as one person can in grounds of that size.’

  That was more like it.

  ‘Jackson won’t want anything out of place when he starts showing prospective buyers around, will he?’

  Clearly, word about the sale had already reached her. I shouldn’t have been surprised, she and Dad had contacts everywhere when it came to property sales which included more than a few acres. They were always on the lookout for the next potential project and clients with pockets deep enough to turn their visions into reality, so they were bound to find out sooner rather than later. Definitely sooner, in this case.

  ‘I can’t deny,’ Mum wistfully carried on, ‘that I had been wondering if, thrown together in grief, you and Jackson might have formed some sort of an alliance.’

  I didn’t waste my breath telling her that Jackson hadn’t been grieving, but I was keen to cut her off because the thought of forming any sort of alliance with him made me feel quite bilious.

  ‘When did you find out he’s selling up?’ I asked.

  ‘I heard a rumour a couple of weeks ago,’ she told me. ‘And your father and I have been waiting for you to call ever since.’

  ‘Why?’ I shot back. ‘I wouldn’t have rung to tell you, even if I had known, you know gossiping isn’t my style.’

  ‘I wasn’t suggesting that,’ she tutted, sounding snippy.

  ‘Why then?’

  ‘For you to ask if you can come home, of course. I also heard that Jackson’s already moved you out of that poky little cottage, so he can make a bit of money out of it, hasn’t he? So, I’m guessing your services are going to be surplus to requirements soon too. He’s bound to contract your job out. Where has he put you? In the stable block?’

  It never ceased to amaze me what she could find out. I bet she’d somehow picked this titbit up via the cleaning agency Jackson had employed.

  ‘There’s no way he’ll contract out,’ I told her. ‘He wouldn’t want the expense and, for all you know,’ I added, more for the sake of my dignity than anything else, ‘whoever buys the place might want to keep me on. And I’m not in the stable block, I have rooms in the house.’

  ‘Even if they did want to keep you,’ Mum pointed out with annoying accuracy, ‘I can’t imagine you’d want to work there for someone else, would you? What if they wanted to change things? Goodness knows, the place could do with an overhaul, but I can’t imagine you’d want to be involved with it, would you, Freya?’

  Seeing Jackson sitting at Eloise’s desk in the morning room was difficult enough, the thought of someone else instructing me to make changes in the garden was unbearable. Even if they did love the place, like Eloise had, they were bound to want to put their own mark on it, weren’t they?

  ‘Of course, I wouldn’t,’ I sighed, feeling the fight leave me. ‘I’d hate that.’

  For a moment, I’d forgotten all about my potential fresh challenge and possible new home. Thank goodness I had such exciting prospects and, should I be brave enough to accept them, I wouldn’t have to wait to find out what was going to happen to the estate once Jackson had banked his fortune and headed back to the States. In fact, according to my informal contract with Eloise, the one he was so keen to keep waving in front of me, I wouldn’t officially be obliged to wait barely any time at all before leaving.

  ‘Well, there you are then,’ Mum said smugly. ‘You’ll have to come home, won’t you?’

  She sounded a little too happy that my time at Broad-Meadows was coming to an end, but I wasn’t in any way tempted to tell her about what I might be doing next. I wouldn’t be telling anyone until I had given it more thought and shared my answer, whatever that might be, with Luke and Kate.

  ‘And when you do,’ she carried on, ‘you’ll soon find out that your dad and I have just the thing to get you back on track.’

  I wasn’t aware I’d fallen off i
t.

  ‘We’ve got a project currently taking shape in Wellington that you can work on,’ she told me. ‘It’s going to be an eighteen-month contract.’

  ‘At least,’ I heard Dad say in the background.

  ‘At least,’ Mum reiterated, in case I hadn’t heard him.

  ‘Wellington,’ I repeated.

  ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘You know, the capital of New Zealand.’

  Of course, I knew where Wellington was. It was only a week or so ago that I had been video-calling my ex who had relocated there.

  Peter’s family firm was in the same industry as mine and we had met through a work project. I knew full well that our mutual business interests were one of the reasons why my parents had been so keen for us to get married. I think they rather fancied a future merger that mingled more than blood.

  I got the impression that now Mum knew Jackson was a no-go, she was hoping I might consider reforming my alliance with Peter. If that was the track she was hoping to shove me back on, then she was going to be in for a shock. We might have managed to stay friends, but there were no romantic feelings between us whatsoever.

  ‘Well,’ I said, fiddling with my hair and deciding now was not the time to set her straight, ‘I’ll certainly think about it.’

  ‘Yes do,’ she said, sounding pleased. ‘A fresh start away from Suffolk is just what you need.’

  She was right of course, but I was considering crossing the county line, rather than travelling halfway around the world.

  ‘Come on,’ I said to Nell, once I’d finally got Mum to hang up and fired off a text to Peter warning him to look out for any hints of rekindled romance that my parents might be about to start sending his way. ‘Let’s go and talk to Eloise.’

  * * *

  It was too soggy underfoot to sit in my usual spot next to Eloise’s head, so Nell and I made use of the nearest bench instead.

  ‘Thank you for the sign, Eloise,’ I said aloud, grateful that there was no one else about to hear.

  The morning service had finished and everyone had no doubt rushed off to tend to their Sunday roasts.