Autumn Leaves at Mill Grange by Jenny Kane (the little red hen ebook .txt) 📗

splashed her face with warm water, then, taking a roll of tissue paper, did her best to scrub at the dirty jacket. Seconds later she was less muddy, but had tiny fluffs of tissue all over herself, which no amount of shaking would get off.

Resigned to literally picking them off one by one, thinking it would at least give her something to do as they drove to the house, and might help take her mind off her nerves, Tina gave up on her clothes, hoping the grey collar would be hidden by her hair, which she attacked with her hairbrush.

‘This is not about you.’ She tugged at a knot. ‘This is about Sam and his parents.’ She attacked another clump of tattered hair. ‘If they hate you, you’ll live.’

Tina stared at the reflection of her anxious face. ‘I just hope they don’t.’

Thirty-Seven

September 24th

‘I wonder how Thea is getting on sorting out Sophie and the Landscape Treasures team.’

Tina had lost count of how many bits of tissue she’d pulled from her velvet jacket. ‘Seems odd that they’re working at one stately home, we’re about to reach another, yet none of us are near the one that needs us most.’

‘I’m sure Thea will phone when she has news.’ Sam focused straight ahead as he spoke. There was something about his tone that made Tina stop battling the tissue fluff and look at him. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Not really.’

‘Do you want to stop again before we get there?’ Tina’s own nerves zipped up a notch as the carefree air Sam had shared during the journey evaporated.

‘Too late, we’re almost there.’

He indicated left and steered the MG down a narrow lane. A sign told them they were going towards West Malvern, on a road that was not suitable for heavy vehicles. Tina thought the sign should have said: “Not suitable for anything bigger than a Mini”. She found herself wincing as the hire car scraped past the greenery, risking developing scratch marks that they’d have to explain when they took it back.

‘Sam?’ Tina felt her pulse quicken as she caught the determined expression on his face.

‘I’m okay.’

‘No you’re not.’

‘They’re just my parents. It’s not like we’re visiting the bloody Taliban.’ His tone was laden with apprehension as they got nearer to his childhood home.

Tina felt herself shrink inside. Everything she could think of to say sounded trite or feeble. Saying it would be alright would be just hollow words. She couldn’t promise that. Her own anxiety wasn’t helping either, and she wondered if Sam was picking up on it – if her nerves were contagious.

As the track widened out, Tina exhaled loudly and Sam abruptly burst out laughing. ‘You were holding your breath, trying to make the car thinner, weren’t you?’

‘Maybe.’ Tina blushed, and laughed with him, relieved that something she hadn’t realised she’d been doing had broken the tension. ‘It’s a bit like ducking when you drive into a multi-storey car park. Sort of automatic, although it makes no difference to the size of the car.’

‘Did I mention I love how nuts you are?’

‘Once or twice.’ Tina was aware of the world opening out around them as the bramble hedges dropped away, and the folds of the Malvern Hills stretched out on either side as far as the eye could see. ‘It’s stunning. I’ve never been to this part of England before.’

‘It’s not unlike the Blackdown Hills we saw earlier, but it goes on rather further.’

‘Without an Elizabethan beacon.’

Sam licked his lips nervously as he veered to the right into a private road, with a stone gateway marking the entrance. ‘But there is the house.’

‘This is it then?’

He drove slowly. ‘In a mile, the house will appear in a dip off to your side.’

‘A mile.’ Tina suddenly wished they’d had a coffee at St Ann’s Well. That they’d stayed there for lunch too. And perhaps dinner.

Sam broke through her thoughts. ‘I’m going to apologise in advance for my father.’

‘If he can’t take you for what you are, then I don’t care what he thinks.’

‘Liar.’ He spoke with a smile, but Tina could feel the weight of how much Sam wanted this to be alright hanging over him.

‘Maybe.’ Tina was about to elaborate, but the words were sucked away by the breath-taking view that assailed them to her left. ‘Wow! You grew up here?’

‘I grew up in the forces, but I was a child here. Mostly.’

‘Mostly?’

‘Boarding school.’

Tina couldn’t picture Sam in a posh school. In fact, she couldn’t picture him in the mansion they were approaching with more speed than she would have liked, despite only travelling at five miles per hour.

‘This is the only manor house in the Malvern Hills.’

Tina stared at the house. Its rich red brickwork was a stark contrast to the warm grey granite of Mill Grange. ‘Is it built in the Queen Anne style, or am I getting my architecture muddled?’

‘It is. There used to be a formal garden at the front, but my parents got rid of it, for reasons I’ve never known, and gravelled it over. Around the back the gardens and orchards go on forever.’

‘I wasn’t expecting so much.’ Tina felt overwhelmed. ‘Is there a large staff working here?’

Sam shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t know.’

‘Sorry. I didn’t think.’ Tina held his leg as Sam pulled the car up outside the front door.

‘I’m as much a stranger here as you are these days.’

‘How long has it been?’

‘Six years.’

‘Six?’ Tina felt her mouth go dry as Sam remained sat in the car, his eyes fixed on the imposing front door, which sat in the middle of the house.

The more Tina looked, the more she thought Malvern House resembled a giant doll’s house. Two storeys high, plus an attic, the centre of the house was flanked by two symmetrical wings either side. These accommodated three perfectly square windows per floor. Not knowing what else to say, Tina peered up at the roof. ‘I love the chimney stacks.’

Sam’s hands remained on the steering wheel as he followed Tina’s eye line. ‘When