Alice-Miranda on Vacation (23 page)

Lily caught sight of her nephew and rushed over to greet him. “I’m so glad you changed your mind. Lawrence will be thrilled.” Lucas shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other and scowled at his aunt.

Jacinta sighed. “It’s been quite a night.”

“Yes, you could say that,” Lucas agreed with a grin.

And then, all at once, that smile—Jacinta knew exactly who he reminded her of. “Oh!” she gasped. “Has anyone ever told you, you look just like Lawrence Ridley?”

Lucas blushed.

“I just wish I knew what he was up to.” Jacinta scanned the ballroom, not realizing she had spoken out loud. “He was out on the veranda talking to himself earlier and then he was kneeling in front of a statue upstairs.”

“Talking to himself?” Lucas replied. “The way you were just having your own private conversation with yourself?”

“Ha, ha,” she said, and narrowed her eyes.

“I’d love to know what he was doing out there in the garden at midnight on Sunday too,” Jacinta insisted.

“Meeting my aunt, I suspect,” Lucas offered.

“Lily? But why? Does Charlotte know?” Jacinta demanded.

Millie returned with two glasses of lemonade just as Alice-Miranda and Jasper finished their dance and joined the group.

“As a matter of fact, I think she does,” Lucas replied.

“Well, I still say he’s been up to no good—even if he is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.” Jacinta sighed.

Alice-Miranda and Lucas shook their heads in unison.

“What were you going to tell me yesterday, at the cubby, before you changed your mind?” Jacinta asked, looking carefully at Lucas.

“Nothing really. It’s just that, well, I met my father,” he replied. “And he wants to get to know me.”

Jacinta looked as if she had swallowed a fly. “Nothing much? Are you kidding? Well, who is he?” she insisted.

“Umm …” Lucas glanced around the room.

“There he is.” Alice-Miranda pointed to the terrace,
where Lawrence Ridley was down on one knee and Aunt Charlotte was positively beaming.

“Lawrence Ridley’s your father?” Jacinta’s mouth gaped open.

“Yeah, weird, hey?” Lucas replied.

“But how? When did you find out?” Jacinta demanded.

“It’s complicated. Maybe I’ll tell you one day,” Lucas teased.

“And from the looks of what’s going on out there, I suspect he might soon be my uncle too.” Alice-Miranda grinned. “That means we’ll be cousins, Lucas—how lovely!”

Lucas glanced over at her and rolled his eyes, then smiled broadly.

For the first time in a very long while Jacinta couldn’t think of anything more to say.

The clock in the hallway began to strike twelve. Outside a rocket soared into the night sky, then burst into a spectacular shower of silver and blue.

“Look!” Alice-Miranda exclaimed. “The fireworks!” She grabbed Millie’s and Jasper’s hands and ran out onto the terrace, with the rest of the party close behind.

L
ord Gisborne was summoned to a meeting with Aunty Gee, where, in a blubbering mess, he confessed to everything. He had employed Rupert Blunt to find out all about the Hall under the guise of writing a history book. Clarry and his partner were two idiots for hire. Along with Blunt, they were charged with breaking and entering, possession of an unlicensed firearm and fraud. The judge handed down the longest sentences on record for crimes of that nature.

Blunt claimed that the buyer for the formula was Mr. Addison Goldsworthy. While he couldn’t prove Goldsworthy’s role in the conspiracy, it seems the
government had been after him for a multitude of things. He has recently been charged with massive tax fraud, as well as several hundred outstanding parking tickets, and is awaiting sentencing. Lord Gisborne’s allowance was cut and he was forced to run nightly ghost tours of his crumbling castle to pay the bills. Aunty Gee felt that was punishment enough—for now.

Hugh signed JAW contracts with twenty-eight countries. Alice-Miranda decided that Just Add Water had a much better ring to it than FDF. Mrs. Oliver has since made dazzling progress on her organic vegetable project, but it’s still not quite ready yet.

Ambrose McLaughlin-McTavish has given up watching television, as he much prefers taking Mrs. Oliver to the movies, out for dinner and on picnics. She says she hasn’t had this much fun in years.

Lawrence Ridley is proving himself to be a model father. After years of not knowing he had a son, he’s trying hard to make up for lost time.

For the moment Lucas is staying with Lily and her family, until some new arrangements can be made for school, but he spends every weekend with his dad and Charlotte and is helping them to plan their wedding. Alice-Miranda will soon get to be a flower girl for the third time this year.

Lucas and Lawrence share a love of choc-chip biscuits and watching reruns of
Doctor Who
. As you can imagine, Jacinta is completely besotted—with both of them.

Lucas’s mother has been home to visit a couple of times now. She wrote him a letter explaining everything. He’s glad she finally told him the truth.

And it didn’t take too long for Lucas to explain everything to Jacinta either. It seems that Lawrence and his mother had been married when they were very young but had quickly realized that working in movies, often in different countries, made things impossible. They agreed to go their separate ways and then his mother found out she was pregnant. Worried that a baby would hold Lawrence back in his career, she made the difficult decision to raise Lucas on her own. She said that she had planned to tell him one day, but the time just never seemed right. Lawrence became a famous movie star and it got very complicated.

Lily had always suspected that Lawrence was Lucas’s father. She had argued with Kitty when the boy was born and said that Lawrence had a right to know about his son. The sisters hadn’t seen each other since Lucas was a baby. But when he was expelled from school, Kitty had no choice but to ask for
Lily’s help. Lily agreed, but only after Kitty promised that she would write to Lawrence and tell him everything.

Millie and Jacinta stayed on at Highton Hall for the rest of the holidays. Together with Jasper, Poppy and Lucas, the children had new adventures every day, but none quite as exciting as the night of Aunt Charlotte’s birthday party.

And as for Alice-Miranda’s surprise? Her father recently noticed that one of their three topiary horses—the old girl affectionately known as Beetle—was missing from the front lawn. Somehow she had managed to get all the way to the city to Aunt Charlotte’s back garden—just to remind her of home.

THE HIGHTON-SMITH-KENNINGTON-JONES HOUSEHOLD

FRIENDS OF THE HIGHTON-SMITH-KENNINGTON-JONES FAMILY

WINCHESTERFIELD-DOWNSFORDVALE ACADEMY FOR PROPER YOUNG LADIES STAFF

STUDENTS

OTHER

J
acqueline Harvey has spent her working life teaching in girls’ boarding schools. She doesn’t have her own topiary horse in the back garden, but she has come across quite a few girls who remind her a little of Alice-Miranda.

Jacqueline has published three novels for young readers in her native Australia. Her first picture book,
The Sound of the Sea
, was named a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honor Book. She is currently working on Alice-Miranda’s next adventure.

For more about Jacqueline and Alice-Miranda, go to:

alice-miranda.com
and
jacquelineharvey.com.au