Hope at Holly Cottage (9 page)

‘Poor little Anna,’ Gilbert commented quietly when she had finished. ‘Well, I will have to make your time at Ashcroft Hall a happier one, won’t I? We must get to know each other better, and then who knows what the future might hold?’

Anna paused as she lifted the delicate teacup and saucer, and had a job to stop her hand from shaking. Whatever did he mean by that? It was clear that he liked her, but surely he wasn’t suggesting that their relationship might develop into something more? Oh, goodness. But he was a baronet and she was a servant. And yet, this was 1955. Two world wars had levelled out society to a great extent, and she considered herself as good as anyone else.

‘But I know so little about you,’ she answered cautiously. ‘I’ve told you all about me, but all I know is that you’re a baronet and you live in a house in London and sometimes come to visit your mother at Ashcroft Hall.’

‘Ha, ha!’ Gilbert threw up his head with a soft laugh. ‘Don’t let the baronet thing fool you! We’re not aristocracy, although my mother would have you think we are. No. Our
family roots were never so grand. My great-grandfather was awarded his baronetcy in Queen Victoria’s time for services in engineering. Marine engineering, in fact. In the time when steam-driven ships were developing apace. Anyway, if your father’s a baronet, you can
claim
his title when he dies. It’s a costly business and I wasn’t fussed to be honest, but Mother insisted.’

‘Is that still the family business, then, marine engineering?’ Anna asked, becoming intrigued. ‘So all those letters and phone calls, you’re still running the business even when you’re down here?’

‘To a large extent, yes. But I do have some old and trusted managers who helped me a lot in the first place, especially when Father died. The business side of things, at least. I studied engineering at university so I was already fully qualified on the production and design front. We make parts for ships’ engines, you see. For the Royal Navy as well as merchantmen, so we really played our part in the war.’

‘You have your own factories, then?’

‘Several. We supply all the main shipbuilders in Britain, and we export, too, of course.’

‘You … you must be very rich, then,’ Anna considered, quite crestfallen. It accentuated the difference between them too much.

‘Yes, very. But I still had to do my National Service. I did it just after the war, between school and university. But because of our connections with the Royal Navy, my father wangled me an admin job with the Admiralty, so I never even went abroad, thank God.’

‘That was lucky. My best friend back in Plymouth has a young man. But he’s eighteen, so he could be called up any
time and he could be sent anywhere. Ethel will be brokenhearted.’

‘Well, at least you know when it’s going to end. Not like during the war. And then there was a strong chance that you wouldn’t be coming home at all.’

His tone was suddenly so different from his usual roguish banter. Anna felt herself swell with emotion. Gilbert was everything she could want in a man: intelligent, a hard worker, kind, thoughtful, and yet with a strong sense of humour. That he was handsome and well off were bonuses. And the fact that he was showing such interest in her was a gentle balm mending her sorely tried spirit. Every cloud had a silver lining, the old saying went. Well, she would only ever see the loss of her dear mum as a tragedy that had shredded her heart. But coming to Ashcroft Hall, and the humiliation and unhappiness she had suffered there, would all have been worthwhile if something came of her relationship with Gilbert!

As they sat there, sipping tea in the hotel, it seemed to hit her between the eyes. She was falling in love, a new and exciting experience that tingled out to her fingertips. Suddenly she could have shouted with the joy of it.

‘Well, I think we’d better get back while we still can,’ Gilbert announced. ‘It’s coming down thick and fast. I hope we can still get up the hill.’

Oh, Lord. Anna kept her fingers crossed as she sat quietly in the passenger seat while Gilbert concentrated hard on driving up the steep hill with the perfect amount of acceleration for the tyres to grip without spinning fruitlessly in the deepening snow. Gilbert was obviously a skilled driver, although he puffed out his cheeks in relief when they reached
the relatively flat road that would take them back to Ashcroft Hall.

It was pitch-black outside now, with not another soul on the road. The streaming snowflakes glittered eerily in the powerful beam from the Jaguar’s headlamps. It really was a blizzard now, and unused as she was to travelling by car, Anna was aware when the tyres slid slightly on the treacherous surface. The road ahead was inches deep in snow and had merged into the grass.

All of a sudden, the inky sky was ripped in two by a jagged dagger of brilliance that for an instant revealed the pearly wilderness that surrounded them. A split second later, a great boom exploded overhead, and Anna let out an audible gasp.

‘Good God.’ Gilbert’s voice beside her was flat with astonishment. ‘You don’t get that very often. Thunder and lightning
and
a blizzard.’

It was certainly something. But with Gilbert beside her, Anna didn’t feel afraid. The storm flashed and raged around them, but before too long, they were safely back at the Hall.

As she went to get out of the car, Anna felt Gilbert’s hand on her arm, and the sensation fizzed through her body.

‘Better not say anything about having tea,’ he said quietly. ‘Mother might not quite approve.’

A little cloud passed over Anna’s euphoria, but she quickly thrust it aside. No, he was right. If anything was to develop between them, they would have to break it gradually to Lady Ashcroft. And anyway, it was quite romantic, having a secret relationship. ‘All right,’ she agreed at once.

‘And, Anna, I’m going back to London in the morning.’

‘Oh.’ Her elation deflated like a pricked balloon. But she
knew he would have to go back soon, didn’t she? ‘Thank you again for rescuing me,’ she said with a forced smile as she scrambled out of the car.

The blizzard continued all night. Anna awoke the following morning to a magical, twinkling ivory ocean as far as the eye could see. And she rejoiced. They were snowed in, and it would be some time before Gilbert could return to London after all!

‘You’m proper keen on that Sir Gilbert fellow, bain’t you?’

Anna looked up sharply from stirring her cup of tea. It was late March, and the first time Ethel had managed to come up and see her since before Christmas. It had been a hard winter, the snow from the January blizzard lying thick and deep for weeks on end, only to be followed by more snowstorms earlier in March.

Anna shrugged, trying to appear casual and noticing the condensation streaming down the windows of the café. ‘Well, he’s the only one in the place who treats me like a human being,’ she said somewhat guardedly since Ethel’s suspicions had obviously been aroused. ‘Actually, that’s not quite true,’ she admitted, though as much to put Ethel off the scent. ‘Lady Ashcroft’s quite nice to me nowadays, especially if we’re alone for any reason. But when we were snowed in, it would have been
awful
if Sir Gilbert hadn’t been snowed in with us. There was no escape, you see. You couldn’t even get into the garden.’

‘Really?’ Ethel bit into her slice of Victoria sponge. ‘Mmm, this is good. Mum’s cooking’s so bad I likes to make the most of it when I goes out.’

Anna couldn’t help but smile as Ethel smacked her lips, but then she went on excitedly, ‘It was quite an adventure, all that snow. Mr Jackson and Sir Gilbert gradually dug us out, leaving me in sole charge of the entire house.’

‘Oh, how come?’

‘Mrs Davenport was in bed with flu. I quite enjoyed being housekeeper, actually. And I helped Sir Gilbert clearing the drive as well. Mr Jackson had to give up. Did his back in. So it was just Sir Gilbert and me. It was jolly hard work, but I did enjoy it. And we had lots of fun. We made a snowman and had snowball fights and …’

She paused, realising she was letting her tongue run away with her while Ethel observed her dubiously. ‘It took over a week to clear a way to the road,’ she concluded more sombrely, ‘and another before the roads were clear enough for Sir Gilbert to get his sports car out and drive back to London.’

She waited as Ethel nodded and swallowed the delicious morsel in her mouth. And then she met Anna’s eyes steadily. ‘You fancies ’en, doesn’t you?’

Ethel’s gaze was so fixed that Anna had to take a grip on herself. ‘Like I said, he makes my life at Ashcroft Hall more bearable. Without his visits, I think I’d have left by now.’

‘Yes, I bets you would. You cas’n fool me, Anna. Us’ve known each other most of our lives. You lights up like a beacon when you talks about ’en.’

‘No, I don’t.’

‘Oh, yes, you does.’ Ethel’s face had taken on that obstinate look Anna knew so well. ‘You be careful, my maid. I knows you’m from a better class than me, on your mum’s side leastways, an’ far cleverer an’ everything, like. But folk like us doesn’t mix with folk like ’en. Seemed funny at first when it were just a joke, but if you’m getting serious, like, well, you’m playing with fire, you knows.’

A little voice at the back of Anna’s mind told her that Ethel was right to be cautious, but then she hadn’t met Gilbert, had she? If she had, she’d have known differently. ‘Oh, Sir Gilbert’s not like that,’ she assured her friend. ‘But, honestly, there’s nothing between us, I promise.’

Even as she spoke, she was mentally crossing her fingers. There was, in fact, very definitely something between her and Gilbert. It felt very much like an electric charge whenever they were in the same room together. They had to hide it in front of everyone else, of course, but when they were alone, they were like friends. More than friends.

The best time had been when they had been clearing the drive and had stopped to play in the snow. At one point, she had slipped over, twisting her ankle slightly so that she hadn’t been able to pick herself up straight away. Gilbert had shot over to her, kneeling in the snow beside her. He had helped her to her feet, his arm tightly around her. She had relished his closeness, holding on to him while she hopped on one leg until the pain had subsided. It was only a mild sprain, but it seemed to have furthered
their relationship, and she was pleased it had happened, despite the discomfort. And when Gilbert had finally been able to set out for London, he had given her a peck on the cheek when no one else was around. She had gazed into his smiling eyes, and her heart had turned a cartwheel of joy that was only dampened by her sadness at his departure.

He had returned for a long weekend near the end of February, and Anna had dreamily prepared his room, lovingly smoothing the sheets as she made his bed. When he had burst into the entrance hall with his usual hearty call, she’d had a job to stop herself running from the kitchen and into his arms. Instead, she had waited until he had gone upstairs, and then scooted up to his room with the excuse that she had forgotten to put out the towels.

Anna saw his face light up as she came in.

‘Anna, how jolly good to see you again! Here, let me take those.’ He duly removed the towels from her arms and dumped them on the bed. ‘Let me see you properly. Well, you’re certainly looking well. I’ve missed your chirpy little face!’

Anna couldn’t believe her ears and blinked at him in delicious amazement. ‘I’ve missed you, too,’ she ventured coyly, and the next moment found herself crushed in a tight hug while her heart tripped along in delight.

‘You’re just as beautiful as I remember,’ he whispered, his voice suddenly ragged. ‘That little snub nose, that lovely mouth, and those eyes.’ He tipped his head to one side and frowned. ‘You know, I can never work out quite what colour they are, blue or brown. I’m sure they change with
the light. So, I shall call them smoky. My Little Smoky Eyes!’

He tossed his head with a light laugh, and Anna had smiled back. She could see it all so clearly again as she nodded reassuringly at Ethel across the table.

‘Anyway, tell me about you and Bert,’ she neatly changed the subject. ‘Have you heard from him since he was called up?’

‘Yes. ’E’s being sent out to Germany, like, an’ ’e won’t get any ’ome leave for, I doesn’t know, six months or more.’

‘Oh, dear.’ Anna’s voice rang with sympathy, and she sought a way to cheer Ethel up. ‘But I’d have thought Germany would be a relatively safe posting, so it’s not all bad. And you can write in to Jean Metcalfe and get him a mention on
Two-Way Family Favourites.’

‘Yes, I suppose so,’ Ethel grunted, obviously unimpressed.

‘It’ll probably go quicker than you think,’ Anna tried to encourage her. ‘And if you both save hard, you can get married as soon as he comes home, if that’s what you both want. And he’s bound to get his job back on the railways, so there’ll be nothing to stop you, will there?’

And by then, Anna herself would have been able to prove her worth to Lady Ashcroft and perhaps she and Gilbert would be married, too, as it looked as if things were going that way. And she hugged to her heart the memory of the soft kiss he had placed on her lips just before he had left for London again.

‘It’s your afternoon off today, isn’t it?’ Gilbert asked as they met by chance in the upstairs corridor by the door to the servants’ staircase. Or perhaps it wasn’t quite by chance,
Anna suspected gleefully. ‘And what is my Little Smoky Eyes going to do with herself?’

Anna’s brow puckered with curiosity. ‘Go for a walk, I expect. It’s such a lovely day.’

‘Indeed it is. I wouldn’t mind a walk myself.’ Gilbert glanced furtively about him and then brought his gaze back to Anna’s. ‘Wait for me at the end of the drive,’ he instructed in a low voice. ‘Now get along before you’re missed.’

Anna’s mouth spread into a broad smile. Oh, that would be super! She’d had to contain her jubilation at Gilbert’s visit, which hadn’t been easy under everyone’s nose. He would be staying for a whole week and she would relish every minute!

She duly waited, skulking behind the last tree of the drive and admiring the drifts of daffodils beginning to open their heads in the spring sunshine. If anyone came along, she would pretend she had stopped to see to something in one of her wellingtons. Her heart had taken wing at Gilbert’s invitation. A walk on the moor would be so romantic! She had never been in love before, and the sensation was exquisite, overwhelming. To think that the tragedy of her mum’s death had brought her to the man of her dreams was … well, she wasn’t quite sure what. She only knew that her mum would have been so happy for her.

The thought cast a shadow over her present pleasure and set her mind on what Ethel had told her when they had met some weeks previously. There had never been any trouble from her dad, Ethel had said. He appeared a reformed man, going to work each day and evidently holding down his job.
A pang of guilt pierced Anna’s side. Perhaps she should try to get a whole day off and at least go to visit him. But then he might try to follow her back here and she didn’t want anything to spoil her happiness. So perhaps she should wait until her future with Gilbert was secure before contacting her dad again.

The sound of a car coming along the drive banished all thoughts of her dad from her mind. She peeped out from behind the tree to see Gilbert in his beautiful sports car. She stepped across the verge and he stopped to let her in.

‘Oh, I am looking forward to this,’ she grinned as she settled herself in the passenger seat, and nearly squealed with joy when he leant over to kiss her briefly on the mouth. Her lips tingled and she had to look out of the windscreen to hide her flush of elation as Gilbert turned out onto the road. ‘Just a pity we have to keep things secret for now,’ she flustered in an attempt to conceal her feelings, ‘but I suppose there’ll be time enough to tell your mother about us.’

Gilbert didn’t reply as he concentrated on negotiating the tight turn onto the Moretonhampstead road. You went back on yourself as well as going sharply uphill which, although Anna didn’t drive, looked quite tricky so she shouldn’t expect Gilbert to talk at the same time. But once they were bowling along again, she asked brightly, ‘Where are we going?’

‘Ah, ha, wait and see!’ he teased. ‘Just enjoy the view. Not that the moor’s at its best just now. Still yellow from the winter, but it’ll soon green up if this nice weather continues.’

Anna nodded in agreement and swivelled her gaze out of
the window again. A short way from the road on her left, she noticed a row of tumbledown buildings, a couple of old chimneys, and strung out across the opposite hillside three substantial-looking ruins, remains of the gunpowder mills she had seen on her map, she supposed.

‘We must be nearly at Postbridge and the clapper bridge,’ she observed as they left the ruins behind. ‘That’s where I was aiming for the day the blizzard set in. I’ve not tried going back since.’

‘I thought as much, so we’ll have a quick stop there so you can see it, but then I thought I’d take you somewhere else even more fascinating a bit further on.’

‘I can’t wait!’ Anna sang back.

They spent ten minutes at the pretty spot on the river, standing side by side on the ancient bridge and absorbing the peace and quiet. Anna suddenly felt Gilbert cup her chin and turn her face towards his. Her knees turned weak and she closed her eyes as he brushed his lips against hers, sending ripples down to her stomach. Oh, there was a need in her, something she didn’t understand, but she was ready to let it swamp her like a tidal wave.

Back in the car, they zoomed along the gently undulating road, only slowing to avoid a flock of sheep wandering across the tarmac. The scenery was stark and magnificent, but to Anna it was one joyous blur.

‘Look over there,’ Gilbert’s voice cut through her reverie just as they passed the Warren House Inn on the left. ‘See that giant ring on the hillside? That’s where we’re going. Grimspound. It was an ancient village, Bronze Age, I think.’

‘Really?’ Anna strained her neck to look out of the driver’s
window. ‘How interesting! And there are lots of even older things on the moor as well, aren’t there? Stone rows and circles and things.’

‘Certainly are. ’Tis a mysterious place indeed,’ Gilbert said, mimicking a Devonshire accent.

Anna chuckled, feeling she would burst with rejoicing. She shared so much with Gilbert, and this love of the moor which enchanted and sparked the imagination was the crowning glory.

Grimspound was amazing, a vast stone wall that would have protected the ancient village’s livestock as well as its little round houses. They sat inside one of them, or at least the stone foundations that survived, imagining they were cooking over an open fire.

‘Here, woman, eat,’ Gilbert barked, passing some imaginary item of food to her. ‘We eat, then children eat.’

Anna grinned back. ‘How many do we have?’

‘Twelve at the last count.’

Anna roared with laughter as they sat and enjoyed the fresh air on that mild spring day, happy and relaxed. Later they strolled back to the car, holding hands. Anna was sure she was in heaven, basking in blissful paradise. And this was just the beginning.

‘Oh, good Lord! Your mother’s had a stroke?’ Anna looked up from her bowl of creamy porridge the next morning with a cry of sympathy. ‘Where does she live? You must go to her straight away.’

‘How can I?’ Mrs Davenport snapped back, her drained face regaining its colour. ‘I can’t leave Lady Ashcroft, especially when Sir Gilbert’s here!’

‘Yes, of course you can,’ Anna insisted. ‘And you must. Lady Ashcroft will understand, and I know Sir Gilbert won’t mind. Mr Jackson and I can manage, and Mrs Smudge, of course. We might have to cut corners and things might not be done to your high standards,’ she put in persuasively, ‘but I’m sure we can muddle through. Your mother is far more important.’

She spoke the words with conviction. Oh, yes. It might be Mrs Davenport’s last chance to be with her mother. Anna felt she had to persuade her to go. She herself would have given the earth to have had the chance to say a proper goodbye to her mum.

In the event, Lady Ashcroft insisted that Mrs Davenport should leave immediately, and even instructed Mr Jackson to drive her right to Plymouth’s main North Road Station to catch the train for London where her family lived. Anna felt deeply sorry for her, but she had to admit that the tensions below stairs were much relieved the moment the housekeeper had left. And what Anna had said to Ethel was indeed true. She really had enjoyed being in charge the week when Mrs Davenport had been in bed with flu. She recognised, though, that she would never have been able to run the kitchen without all that she had learnt from the older woman since she had come to Ashcroft Hall nearly five months ago now.