The Spark - Jules Wake Page 0,74

she’s just looking for the right man.’

‘God help him when she finds him.’ Sam gave a delicate shudder, laughing lightly.

We rounded the last final bend and the road widened into a large gravel turning circle.

‘Oh!’ we both said in unison as we caught sight of the view out over the sea. To the right, the house perched on the very top of the cliff, which fell away in rocky folds down to the shoreline below.

‘Wow. That is one amazing view.’ Unable to stop ourselves, we both got out of the car, barely taking time to stretch our stiff limbs as we crunched over the gravel like excited children to take in the view. Sunlight danced on the dark-blue sea, sparkling like showers of fireworks. Below us was a wide crescent of sand enclosed at either end by cliffs. Sam took my hand.

‘This is magnificent. Do you think it’s a private beach?’ He stepped a little closer to the edge to take a better look, resting his foot on one of the small wooden posts of the fence a metre in from the drop. ‘I think I can see a wooden staircase going down.’

‘Looks like it might be. Smell that air. God, it’s lovely.’ The light breeze lifted my hair, carrying the tang of the sea, and I could taste the salt on the air.

‘Yoo hoo! Jessica!’

I turned to see a tall scarecrow of a person in a bright pink tutu, fluorescent green leggings and a well-filled pink ballerina cardigan come hurtling out of a set of French doors on this side of the house and race over the lawn in bare feet before abruptly stopping to a teetering halt at the gravel’s edge.

I tugged at Sam’s hand. ‘Come and meet my aunt… Looks like she’s channelling ballet Barbie today.’ I heard his low chuckle. ‘There’s still time to do a runner.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ he murmured as we crunched our way over the gravel to meet my aunt.

‘Darling, you made it.’ She flung her long skinny arms around me. ‘We’re just having a ballet class. I say we, it’s just me and the housekeeper. Do you want to join in?’

‘We’ve been in the car for the last five hours, I think—’

‘Perfect, it’ll help stretch out all those kinks. You must be Sam.’ Gladys gave him a full inspection. ‘I bet you’ve got a fine pair of gluteus maximuses.’

‘So I’ve been told,’ said Sam. ‘But I’m not sure I’m a ballet man.’

‘Pfft, of course you are. But I’m guessing you young things want to get settled in your room. I’ve allocated you a lovely one at the top of the house, plenty of privacy. And I’ve put you at the opposite end of the house to your mother.’

‘Thanks, Gladys.’

‘If you go around to the front entrance, Hendricks will meet you. He’s the butler. Sound man but doesn’t say much.’

‘Butler?’

‘This is Dodie and Freddie’s house. Old chums from my Oxford days. They Airbnb it these days. Far too big for them to rattle around in. They live in the coach house.’ Gladys pointed to a set of barns further behind the house that looked pretty grand in their own right. ‘Hendricks is Freddie’s cousin and his wife is the housekeeper and general factotum. Scary woman but jolly good at ballet. And I must get back. We’re all congregating for G&Ts on the side lawn at five. See you then.’

With that she ran off back across the lawn, executing a couple of quick grand jetés en route.

‘She’s a bit of a whirlwind.’ Sam blinked and I laughed.

‘Oh, yes, there’s no one quite like Gladys. She is totally bonkers but harmless, and she just wants everyone to enjoy themselves around her.’

‘And how is she related to your mother?’ he asked in a dry voice that made me giggle.

‘I know. Difficult to believe, isn’t it? But you can see where Aunty Lynn gets it. Gladys is their dad’s sister.’

‘You have interesting genes.’ He slipped an arm around my shoulder and kissed my neck. ‘I think I’ll stick around.’

‘Let’s hope you still think so by the end of the weekend,’ I said. ‘Come on, let’s unload. In another hour I’ll need to go and pick up the rellies from the train station.’

Hendricks, as delightfully stiff and snooty as a butler should be, invited us to leave our bags in the hall while he led us up a very grand staircase, along a corridor and up another flight of stairs to what were probably once the servants’