Chapter Thirteen
The Incident
Mrs. K put the finishing touches on the grocery list that included the ingredients for a bakewell tart, an apple crumble and a variety of other bits and pieces that she would have made for her own children if she and Roddy had ever decided to have any. Sommersgate House had always been their child, hers the house and her husband’s the grounds. As it turned out, there wouldn’t have been time for anyone else.
She heard her before she saw Julia come in the back split farm door to the kitchen, a way that Tamsin had sometimes used, Douglas never used and Julia nearly always used. She was wearing a pair of slate grey pants, a pale, dusky-blue blouse with feminine tucks down the front and a winter-white tailored blazer. The finishing touch was a pair of navy pumps with a big silver oval affixed to the toe and a heel that was dangerous in two ways, it was way too high and it was way too thin. Miss Julia strode in like she was wearing slippers.
“Hey Mrs. K,” she greeted with a small wave of her slim black briefcase and a bright smile.
“How was work?” Mrs. K asked and Miss Julia threw herself at a bench at the table while Mrs. K flipped the switch on the kettle.
“That place is a mess!” Julia answered with contradictory delight in her tone. “But the staff is great and dedicated and I think we can turn it around. Where’s Ruby-girl?”
“Veronika’s taken her to the petting zoo. Coffee?”
“I’d kill for some coffee,” Julia replied, a grateful smile on her face.
Mrs. K returned her smile. Mrs. K hadn’t smiled so much in a very long time, in fact, never, and she knew exactly why.
Before he left after what Miss Julia cheekily described as “The Thanksgiving Fiasco”, Lord Ashton had given the edict to all the staff that orders were now to be taken from Miss Julia. Miss Julia, he stated firmly, had the running of the house. This not only came from Lord Ashton’s lips, he’d even scrawled a note to confirm his wishes in writing. Upon seeing it, Lady Ashton’s face had turned white as a sheet, her lips thinning to invisibility. She said not a word, left the room and shortly after, left the house to go to Kensington.
For her part, Miss Julia looked rather stunned and, fighting for composure, simply said, “I figure, Mrs. K, you know what you’re doing so you probably should just get on with doing it.”
And with that, everything had changed. Mrs. K never had the full run of the house and she was having the time of her life.
Mrs. K almost felt like finding the awful woman she’d worked for most of her life and thanking her for bringing Julia’s dreadful father (Julia had, of course, confided the whole story to Mrs. K and Ronnie over coffee) back on the scene. Her actions had triggered a great deal of change, or, Mrs. K had to admit, had solidified the changes that were already taking place. Also, with Monique gone, to Mrs. K’s way of thinking, things could finally progress a lot more smoothly in another quarter if Lord Ashton would just come home.
She was a little surprised at the turn of events. Mrs. K thought that it would be Julia who had to win over Douglas but it appeared that it was happening the other way around. This made Mrs. K’s hope blossom as she knew Douglas Ashton always won, no matter what he attempted.
After Thanksgiving, Lady Ashton left first thing in the morning, Carter stuffing her and the seven Louis Vuitton cases (that Veronika methodically packed) in the Bentley. Even after all these years, Mrs. Kilpatrick didn’t mind seeing her go. That woman had never been very nice to her staff or to her children. To Mrs. K’s way of thinking, she deserved everything she got, especially for orchestrating that nasty turn with Miss Julia and Gavin’s father.
Charlotte, Sam and Julia went out shopping with Ruby, Oliver went out on the rounds with Roddy and Lizzie and Willie went back to school and nary a word was said about Lady Ashton or Dr. Fairfax. Though everyone was far more relaxed and at ease. Sam, Charlotte and Oliver finally left on Sunday morning after spending a lovely weekend at Sommersgate.
Monday arrived and Miss Julia went in to Bristol to start her new job. She was supposed to work Monday through Thursday from ten o’clock until two. But she didn’t arrive home until well after three even though it was only a fifteen minute drive to Bristol. Mrs. K glanced at the clock, it was nearly four and the children would soon be home.
“Anything exciting happen today?” Julia asked as the kettle burbled.
Mrs. K wanted to tell her that everything exciting had happened that day because nothing had happened without Lady Ashton to please. Mrs. K felt a sense of such deep relief, she didn’t exactly know how to handle it. She did not keep an eye out for every speck of dust, every slight smudge on window, mirror or the sheen on the banisters or tables. She didn’t have a pile of laundry to inspect to make certain they were fresh smelling and stain and wrinkle free. She didn’t have to mentally calculate every calorie in every dish she was making. And she didn’t have to calm Veronika’s nerves every time she saw the girl, who was also adjusting to this new feeling at Sommersgate with rapid ease.
All they had to look forward to was Miss Julia’s smiling face coming in the backdoor, a quick gossip over a fresh cuppa, the children’s rushing about when they got home and the rest of the time nothing but peace.
Even the house seemed to be settling into this new regime. The days were getting shorter but at Sommersgate the evening shadows were receding. The weather was becoming chill but in the house the draughts and cold were disappearing. In the evening, when it always seemed so dark, in the house, the edge was off the night. Shadows lost their menace. Rather than seeming alive and frightful, as they always had done, they just became shadows of this piece of furniture or that shape of a tree hit by the moonlight.
Even The Master and The Mistress had been silent. Not even Ruby saw or felt them anymore, Mrs. K knew because she’d asked the girl.
“No, nothing exciting,” she answered and Carter walked in just then with a nod and grabbed the grocery list and one of Mrs. K’s homemade scones. “Make it quick, I want to get that crumble ready for tea.”
“Aye, aye, captain,” Carter grumbled but he did it genially while Mrs. K poured the water into the freshly ground coffee in the cafetière.
“I was reading about The Master and Mistress last night,” Julia told her as she got up to grab mugs, sugar bowl, teaspoons and the jug of milk out of the fridge. “There are a couple books about the Barony in the library and in one, there’s quite a bit about them.”
Mrs. K pressed down the cafetière.
“Learn anything?” she asked as she sat down at the bench across the table from Julia, something she’d done every day this week so far, something she’d never have done, ever, with Douglas or Monique Ashton. But then, both of them rarely came into the kitchen.
“Their names, Archibald or ‘Archie’ as he was known and get this…” she paused for effect, “Ruby! I bet that’s why Tamsin named Ruby-girl that.”
Mrs. K nodded, looking fondly at the other woman’s glowing face. “It’s likely. Miss Tamsin was taken with that story, always was from the first moment she saw The Master and felt his lady.”