Coming Home to Glendale Hall Read online

  ‘But now they’ve had the offer from New Horizons, they don’t have a great incentive to change,’ I said.

  ‘They will after they see the trail and how much people want to keep the village,’ Drew replied. ‘At the end of the day, they won’t want to do something they can see is that unpopular, surely?’

  ‘We shall have to wait and see,’ Mum said. ‘At least the trail is coming on beautifully.’

  ‘I had a quick look,’ Sally said. ‘I’m amazed at how fast you have pulled it all together.’

  ‘We’ve had so much help,’ I agreed, pleased that so many people had pitched in.

  ‘It’s been a lot of fun,’ Drew said, smiling. ‘It’s true that there is more of a community here. I barely know any of my neighbours at home.’

  ‘Same for us,’ I agreed. I was always too busy to reach out to anyone in our building. We all had such busy lives it was easy just to pass by one another without saying anything. ‘That’s why I think it’s so important for us to fight for Glendale.’

  ‘Here’s to Glendale,’ Izzy said, raising her glass of squash. We all lifted our glasses and toasted the village along with her. I really hoped that all our hard work would pay off. It would be so sad to leave for London and know that the village wouldn’t be there waiting for us.

  After dinner, Izzy begged Drew to stay and watch a film with her, so they went to set it up, and I helped Sally clear up while Mum went to take Gran some food, not that she was able to eat much.

  ‘It’s lovely to see how close Drew and Izzy are becoming,’ Sally commented as I carried over the plates to her at the dishwasher.

  ‘I know,’ I agreed. ‘I honestly never thought they’d be together this Christmas.’

  ‘Glendale brings people together,’ Sally said. She gave me a shrewd look. ‘You look worried.’

  ‘I was just thinking about what is going to happen after Christmas. I can’t imagine us going back down to London and Drew flying off to America. It’s like we’re in this bubble up here. I just don’t want it to end.’

  ‘I’m sure both of you will be able to make it work: there are so many ways to keep in touch nowadays. Right?’

  I sighed as I wiped down the counter. ‘I know. It’ll be hard for Izzy, though, to say goodbye.’

  ‘And for you,’ she said, raising an eyebrow at me. ‘I can see how happy you are that he’s back in your life.’

  ‘Is it that obvious?’

  Sally smiled. ‘Perhaps only to me. You seem so much lighter already. Happier. As if a weight’s been lifted off your shoulders. And you light up when you’re around him. This place is good for you, and so is he.’

  ‘Is it crazy to feel that way?’ I asked, admitting maybe for the first time to myself, and certainly to anyone else, that he did still light me up.

  ‘Not to me. My husband was my childhood sweetheart. I never loved anyone but him.’

  ‘I’m sorry you lost him, Sally. I know how much you still miss him.’

  She nodded. ‘That’s why if you do have feelings for Drew now then don’t let him go back to America without knowing. Life is too short. People can be taken from you in an instant. Grab any chance of happiness while you can.’

  I knew she was right, but our situation was so complicated. ‘How could he feel the same after what I did?’ I said, biting my lip. I really didn’t think he could be that forgiving of the past. But I couldn’t stop my heart from wishing it.

  ‘You’ll never know unless you ask.’ Sally patted my shoulder as she passed me. ‘You deserve to be happy, Beth. You just need to decide what will make you happy and then go out and grab it.’

  It sounded so simple coming from her lips. I thought back to Drew telling me I should go after a job that would fill me with passion. And now Sally was saying I should follow my heart. I wanted to follow their advice, I knew that I should, but life wasn’t always that straightforward, was it?

  I went to find Izzy and Drew and saw them curled up on the sofa together watching Elf. I stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, watching them. My lips curved into a smile. My two favourite people in the world. Sally was right about one thing, though – I felt as if everything had changed since we’d come to Glendale, and I really didn’t want things to go back to the way they were before.

  Chapter Thirty

  The next morning, I came in from the garden where we were working hard to finish up the trail, to grab an extra jumper, and walked straight into my dad in the hallway. The Christmas tree lit up the room against the grey clouds outside. Light was rapidly fading, and we were all out there working as hard and as fast as we could to get the trail ready for the grand Christmas Eve opening. Dad was carrying a case and his coat, and he jumped when he saw me. Evidently, he had been hoping to come in and go out again without any of us seeing him.

  ‘Dad, what are you doing?’ I asked. Just as Glendale was coming together, my family was fracturing. My father looked tired and unshaven.

  Sighing, he put his bag on the floor. ‘I’m checking into a hotel for Christmas.’

  ‘Seriously? But Izzy and I have come home to spend Christmas with you all.’

  ‘I’ll still come over for Christmas Day lunch but it’s best that I don’t stay. Your mother and I need some time apart. And I really can’t stay here with all of that going on outside.’ He waved his hand in the direction of the garden. ‘I can’t be seen to support your trail, Beth. I am on the board of the company trying to develop the high street shops. How would it look if I was here helping you stop them?’

  ‘It’s all about how things look for you, Dad, yet you’re happy to bulldoze the place you’ve lived for thirty years. How does that look? Like you care more about money than people, that you don’t believe in community or your own family? I don’t understand.’

  ‘I love her, Beth. Cathy – I love her.’

  I sighed; I couldn’t believe he was doing this to my mum. ‘Why are you not staying with her then?’

  He wouldn’t meet my eyes. ‘She will be with her husband over Christmas.’

  ‘Wow, Dad. You’re not only breaking up your own marriage but hers too. Is it really worth it?’

  ‘I won’t stand here and explain myself to my daughter.’ He picked up his bag again. ‘We were fine until you came back and poked your nose into everything. Your mother knew about Cathy and it didn’t bother her before.’

  ‘You can’t really believe that,’ I snapped at him, furious that he was blaming me for all of this. ‘Of course, it bothered her! She’s devastated. How can you not see that? She’s looking after her sick mother, and all you care about is what your other woman thinks. You’re so selfish.’

  He snorted. ‘Coming from the girl who has hidden herself away for ten years. Where were you when Margaret got sick? In London. You only came back because I begged you to.’

  I hated that he was right. I had left my mum to deal with way too much on her own. ‘I’m here now, and I am going to keep poking my nose into things. Because you’re wrong. About everything. We’re going to save Glendale, and I’m going to make sure Mum knows she is worth so much more than being stuck in an unhappy, loveless marriage.’ I spun around and ran up the stairs, my hands shaking slightly. I was so angry with my dad. He was right though. Mum had had to deal with so much alone. I couldn’t change not having been there before, but now I was back, I was going to help as much as I could.

  After I put on an extra jumper, I popped my head into Gran’s room. ‘Do you need anything?’

  ‘I heard raised voices,’ she said, looking away from the book she had been reading.

  ‘Dad came back to pick up some things: he’s going to stay in a hotel. I’m dreading telling Mum,’ I told her.

  ‘This has been a long time coming, Beth.’

  ‘He basically told me it’s all my fault.’

  ‘If giving people the encouragement they need to make changes is wrong then you’re doing an excellent job. I have never advocated a marriage splitting up, you kno
w that, but times are different now, and your father has shown himself to be incapable of being the man I thought he was once. You will be there for your mother, won’t you? After I’m gone I mean. She will need you, and Izzy. She has never been alone, you know.’

  ‘I know. I’ll help her, don’t worry.’

  ‘This is helping you too, isn’t it? I can see the old spark in your eyes is back. Glendale is good for you. Don’t fight it. I think you’re exactly where you need to be.’

  I watched as she went back to her book. I wondered if she was right that a spark had returned in me. I left her to it and made my way back out into the garden. Seeing Izzy come to life here had warmed my heart. We were surrounded by family, which I had missed even if I hadn’t allowed myself to admit it. There was also the relief of everything being out in the open. No more secrets. The pain of the past seemed further away than it ever had. And there was Drew. He was back in our lives. And that was making both me and Izzy happy.

  I hadn’t even realised that my spark had been missing but years of raising Izzy alone, dealing with everything myself, had dampened it. It wasn’t just Izzy who had come to life at Glendale Hall I knew then. I had too.

  I looked at Heather shouting to John and another man to move the banner up a bit to make it straight, and I headed over to them. She had drawn the huge banner with festive flourishes and the words were bright red and green; it brought a big smile to my face.

  Glendale Hall Christmas Trail

  ‘What do you think?’ she asked me.

  ‘I love it.’ I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her. ‘You’re a genius.’

  ‘I better not tell you that I had to start over when I realised I had written ‘trial’ and not ‘trail’ then.’ She looked at me and we both started giggling.

  I spotted my mum then and hurried over to her. ‘I just saw Dad,’ I said, falling into step with her as she headed towards the winter wonderland, her arms full of holly and ivy for it. ‘He’s going to stay at a hotel.’

  She sighed. ‘Typical of him to not even talk to me about it. I don’t think that man has ever had an honest conversation his whole life.’ She glared at me. ‘There’s no need to look so worried. Right now, I’m focused on getting this trail ready and making sure we all have a lovely Christmas. I will deal with your father after that.’

  ‘This isn’t my fault, is it? That you two are fighting. I mean, all of this…’

  ‘You’ve given me a kick up the backside when I needed it the most, that’s all,’ she replied. ‘Now, come on, we need to decorate the fireplace,’ she said, ducking through the entrance to the grotto.

  ‘Yes, sir,’ I muttered but I smiled as I followed her inside; it finally felt as if Mum and I were putting the past behind us and growing closer. We’d always be different, but we had a common purpose right now and I thought we were making a pretty good team.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The day before Christmas Eve dawned bright and sunny, if freezing cold.

  We were all in the garden at the trail: Mum, Sally, Izzy and me, John, Heather and her dad. The banner was swinging slightly in the breeze, and the inflatable snowman and Santa were smiling and ready to greet guests. All the lights were in the perfect place. Excitement flooded through my veins. It looked magical even before it was all lit up, and I was sure that everyone would be impressed.

  John was standing by the generator. ‘Right, I think it’s time to test everything and make sure all the lights are working.’

  ‘Five!’ I cried, and the others joined in loudly, Izzy’s voice above the rest. John rolled his eyes but waited for us to count down anyway. ‘Four! Three! Two! One!’

  John pulled the levers down, and the generator started up. We turned around, but nothing happened. The trail stayed dark.

  ‘Uh-oh,’ I said.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Izzy asked, her face falling in dismay.

  ‘I have no idea,’ John said, frowning. ‘Right, we need to check everything.’ He rushed over to the cables to check them, and we all fanned out looking for anything amiss. My heart sank. We were due to open tomorrow and our trail was dark – had we failed before we’d even started?

  ‘Oops!’ Heather was waving frantically so I hurried over to her. ‘Look,’ she said, pointing down to her feet. Her spikey boot was standing on a cable. She pointed, and I could see she had pulled it out of a socket: the cables were all on a loop, so it had stopped any electricity getting to the lights.

  ‘Seriously, you need to get a pair of wellie boots,’ I said, remembering what Rory had said to her at the farm. ‘John, we’ve found the problem!’ I called him over, shaking my head.

  The others all joined us. John looked at Heather. ‘Don’t you dare turn up tomorrow wearing those,’ he said, grumbling under his breath as he went to sort the issue.

  ‘Honestly, my boots are being discriminated against,’ Heather said, her cheeks pink.

  ‘No countdown this time,’ John said then, reaching for the levers once again. I crossed my fingers as he pulled them down.

  We watched as all the lights around us came on. I breathed a sigh of relief as Izzy cheered beside me.

  ‘All’s well that ends well,’ Heather said, cheerfully.

  I laughed, unable to believe our trail had almost been called off because of her boots. We slowly walked down the trail. We couldn’t see the full effect in the daylight, but the lights twinkled through holly and berries, reindeer sparkled in front of the oak trees, and the glow of the Santa’s grotto could be seen from far away, beckoning you into its warmth. It was full of festive magic already, and I knew it would be stunning at night.

  ‘It’s perfect,’ Mum said, smiling at me.

  We went into the grotto. Inside was dark enough for us to see the lights draped over the sleigh, and across the ceiling of the tent, and the piles of presents, which glittered in red and gold ready to be claimed by the children. I knew that everyone would be excited to see it, which made me think it had all been worthwhile even if the council didn’t come around to our thinking, but I desperately hoped that they would.

  ‘All that’s missing is Christmas music,’ Izzy said then.

  I turned to her. ‘You’re right! We need music. I have just the thing. Come and help me, Iz.’ We left the others and went back to the house, Izzy following me up to my room.

  I went to the wardrobe and shifted under everything until I found an old box, relieved that it was still there.

  ‘What’s that?’ Izzy asked from her perch on the edge of my bed.

  ‘A boom box. We can put it in the tent and play one of our Christmas CDs for everyone.’ I took it out of the box. ‘I used to listen to music on this as I did my make-up before I went out to meet your dad. You know, you were named after our favourite song.’

  ‘Can I hear it?’

  I had played it for her before, but I always indulged her. I found it on my iPhone, and we listened to the singer crooning about his lost love ‘Isabelle’. I closed my eyes and pictured me and Drew dancing to it together. We had never dreamed in that moment that we would have a little girl together. I wondered what our younger selves would say if they could have looked into the future.

  ‘You look sad, Mum,’ Izzy said when the song had finished.

  ‘Just thinking back to hearing that song for the first time, that’s all.’ I smiled at her. And then I played the song all over again.

  * * *

  The fairy lights we had bought with Drew at the garden centre greeted us as I parked outside the farmhouse. We were the only car: Heather hadn’t arrived yet.

  The earlier sunshine had faded away, and a cloudy afternoon had taken its place. Izzy jumped out of the car and raced to the door to ring the bell. I followed more slowly, feeling a little nervous. I had changed my outfit twice. I had settled on black jeans, my cashmere jumper, a pretty scarf and boots, and I had attempted to straighten my hair. Izzy had put on her green dress, and I had styled her hair into two plaits.


  ‘Hi, guys.’ Drew opened the door with a wide smile, and I felt slightly more at ease. He hugged Izzy and gave me a kiss on the cheek as we walked through into the house. He was wearing a dark shirt and jeans, and I tried not to drink in the smell of his musky aftershave. It was the one he had always worn and the familiarity of it was disconcerting.

  ‘Rory has gone to pick up Heather as her dad needed their car tonight,’ Drew explained. ‘They won’t be long.’

  ‘Something smells good,’ I said, as he led us through to the living room.

  ‘I’ve made my signature dish as promised,’ he said. ‘Let me get us some drinks. Take a seat, make yourselves at home.’

  It was a simple sentence, but it still made my pulse speed up a little. I sat down on the sofa, and Izzy went over to look at his Christmas tree standing at the edge of the room. ‘Let’s put his present under here,’ she said. I took it out of her bag and passed it to her. ‘There are two here for us,’ she hissed at me. I was immediately curious as to what he could have got for me.

  Drew returned with wine for the two of us and a Coke for Izzy, who stepped away from the tree quickly, and he turned on the radio softly. ‘Merry Christmas,’ he said, raising his glass. We returned the toast and took a sip of our drinks. ‘I’m glad we’re all here together,’ he added.

  ‘As we’re not seeing you on Christmas Day, maybe we should open our presents now,’ Izzy suggested, trying to look solemn as she said it.

  Drew chuckled. ‘As we’re waiting for the others, I think that’s a good idea actually.’

  ‘Go on then,’ I said, smiling. I knew that Christmas to Izzy was really all about the presents: it was for us all when we were kids. And this was the first year she’d get one from her dad, so I couldn’t blame her for being eager to see it.

  ‘Open ours first!’ Izzy rushed over to the tree to grab it. She went to sit beside him on the sofa, and we watched as he unwrapped the silver paper and pulled out a photo album. ‘It was Mum’s idea,’ she said.