Restoring Grace (9 page)

‘And you met your husband at the wine place?’

Grace nodded. 'He was a customer. My family
were
beginning to nag me to go in for
improving my wine
skills, try for a
Master of Wine, which is like a degree,
you have to know so much. But
Edward didn't want to change me. It was one of the reasons I married him, I
suppose. He liked me as I was. And I needed to get
further
away from Allegra and co. I was beginning to get bored with
being bullied.' Grace stopped, realising Ellie had
gone rather quiet. 'Have you told your parents that you're
pregnant
yet?’

Ellie
nodded. 'Were they horrified?'

‘Sort of,
but they'd guessed.'

‘Oh my God!
How?'

‘
Possibly because I went to stay with them for days
and
days for no apparent reason.'

‘
So what did they say?'

‘
They said
I couldn't bring the baby up with them, and
they're quite right, I couldn't possibly. Their house is like a show
home. No place for a baby. It's hard enough being
an adult in that
space.' Ellie smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. The hurt she'd felt at
their reaction had been slow to dissipate.

Grace didn't quite know how to react. She knew
that her own parents were woefully inadequate, or perhaps just inappropriate for
her - they'd made a very good job of Allegra and Nicholas - but they were her
parents, and only she could comment on them. She didn't want to offend Ellie by
saying the wrong thing.

‘
They gave me
a cheque, though,' said Ellie, 'for a
deposit on another house.'

‘Have you got anywhere in mind?'

‘
Yeah.
There's a friend of mine from college who stayed
in Bath and has got a
studio attached to her flat. I'll be able to kip on her floor until I find
something. I won't be
able to afford to live
anywhere on my own, so I'll have
to find people to share with who don't
mind babies.'

‘I don't mind babies,' said Grace, aware she
sounded
wistful. She regarded Ellie,
wishing there was something
she could offer her that had the same bright
lights, jobs and so on that Bath could offer.

‘Yes, but you're not looking for a flatmate.'

‘I could be looking for a person to share the
house if I thought anyone else would want to live out here in the sticks.'

‘
But it's
lovely here! I'm sure you could find someone
. . . Grace?' Grace had a curious expression on her face.

‘
I was
just thinking - I don't suppose for one minute you'd want to, but you could
stay here until you found
somewhere you c d
afford in Bath. I know it wouldn't
be any good to you ermanently, but .
. . I have got a blow-up mattress.’

There was a moment's silence while Ellie took
in what Grace had suggested.

Grace rushed on. 'I realise it's not a very
attractive
proposition. Freezing cold, miles
from anywhere, but
there's plenty of space. d I would love having the
baby here.'

‘
And I would
love to live here! I don't want to live in
Bath at all. It's just the
work thing.'

‘You could do your painting. I've got a lovely
attic you could have as a studio.'

‘And I've got a bit of money to tide me over.'
Ellie
suddenly frowned. 'Oh, God, I do hope
it didn't look as
if I was dropping hints. I would so love to live here.
It's such a beautiful house, and we could have so much fun
doing things to it. But only if you want to do
things to
it, I mean.' She suddenly felt rather awkward. After all, they
hardly knew each other.

Grace smiled. 'The reason I haven't done much
is
because I don't know if I can afford to go
on living in
it—'

‘But if you had a lodger - me, for instance -
that's another way of making money out of it. Apart from the wine tastings.'

‘
Oh, Ellie!
It would be such fun! Facing all this alone
is dreadfully daunting.
Sometimes I even wish circum
stances would
force me into selling the house, so I
wouldn't have to struggle any
more.'

‘That would be so sad! To give up this lovely
house!'

‘I know. But it does get terribly lonely.'
There was a
huge banging noise from above.
'And the poltergeists are
dreadfully noisy!’

Ellie smiled at this little joke. 'So what do
you think would be a fair rent? It's hard to relate this house to anywhere I've
stayed before.'

‘I really don't want to charge you rent—'

‘I won't stay if you don't. You need the
money.'

‘But I have no idea what to charge you. I'm so
out of
touch. Couldn't we just pool our
expenses? After all,
unless your parents are going to keep on sending
you money' - a look at Ellie's face told her this was probably not the case -
'you're going to need to save all you can.'

‘
Grace!' said
Ellie firmly. 'I'll pay you rent or I won't
stay.’

The thought of Ellie not
staying was so dreadful, as if
a treat she had been promised for a
long time was now being taken away from her, that Grace capitulated. 'No! You
must stay. But not too much rent. We don't have many facilities. Though I might
buy a television licence and rent a television.’

Ellie got up and hugged Grace. 'Thank you so
much!
Instead of being a homeless single
parent, because of you
I'm living in a mansion. It's going to be such
fun!’

Grace hugged her back. Meeting her was the best thing
that had happened to Grace for a
very long time.

Chapter Four

‘
Could I have another tour?' said
Ellie.

‘
Of course.
And I'll find the blow-up mattress. Oh, this
is going to be such fu ! Although I ought to warn you
that the
immersion heater is very small so we have to be careful about hot water.

‘What happened to all he beds that were here?'
Ellie asked as they trooped upstairs. 'There must be at least five bedrooms.
What would your brother and sister do
with so
many? And they couldn't have been worth
anything.'

‘Well, no, they didn't take the beds,' Grace
explained,
trying not to feel embarrassed.
'They were all burnt when
Edward and
I first moved in. My sister had the idea they
had bed bugs – they were
fairly old and smelly, with horse-hair mattresses.'

‘
Oh,' said
Ellie. She stopped on the landing. 'The futon
that Rick and I used to
sleep on is actually mine. When I'm feeling a bit – stronger – I'll go and get
it. In fact, I bought all the furniture. We could bring it here.' She
paused. 'It's all tat, really. It won't fit in
this house at all.'

‘
But it'll
be better than nothing. I was going to have to trawl the junk shops for stuff,
as and when.'

‘At least they left you a bed.’

Grace chuckled. Ellie obviously thought she'd
been
attacked by a swarm of
furniture-locusts. 'Of course. It's not as bad as that. Edward left me ours,
the goose-down
duvet and pillows and
bed linen, the wardrobe and a
chest of drawers, which was generous,
because it had been his before we were married.' Ellie noticed a shadow of
sadness pass across Grace's face and saw her try to shake it off. 'Mind you,'
she went on, falsely bright, 'I might not have got the bed and the duvet if his
new wife hadn't insisted that she wasn't sleeping in a bed that
Edward had made love to his previous wife in.' She
made
a face designed to be comical, but
didn't quite manage
it. 'It must be rather expensive, having to buy a
new bed
every time you get married. At least
for Edward, who's
on his third wife now.'

‘
Serves him
right,' said Ellie. 'Now, which is your
room?'

‘
In here.
You can have any of the others. But I suggest you use one in this section of
the house. It's slightly less
arctic than the rest of it.’

The young man in a boiler suit emerging from
one of the rooms made them both jump.

‘Right, Miss Ravenglass—' he began.

‘
It's Mrs, actually. Mrs Ravenglass or Miss
Soudley.'

‘Or Ms
Ravenglass-Soudley,' added Ellie, for texture.

The man looked down at his
clipboard. 'I was asked
to come by a Mrs Statherton-Crawley.
She told me to speak to a Miss Ravenglass.'

‘Just tell me what you want.' Grace took pity
on him. She knew only too well how bossy Allegra was.

‘
Well, she
said I was to send the report to her, and just
tell you when I've finished.' He frowned. 'Is that right?
I mean,
you live here?'

‘I do, but that's fine. You do what Mrs
Statherton Crawley asked you.'

‘You just sign here, then.’

When Grace had signed, she said, 'I'll come
down and show you out.’

When she went upstairs again, Ellie had found
the bedroom she liked best. It was double aspect with a fantastic view, and
Ellie was kneeling on the built-in
window seat admiring the
distant hills when Grace came
in.

‘This is a
nice room,' said Grace. 'Good choice. Pity
about
the wallpaper. Could you live with all those roses?'

‘
Of course. They
may be a little bit - colourful, but I'm sure I'll get used to them.’

Grace frowned. 'They must be about a foot across! And
day-glo pink. They'll give you
nightmares.'

‘
So why did you leave them here, if you feel like that
about them?'

‘The decorator we always used left the country,
and
then Edward went, and I never got round
to doing
anything about it.’

Ellie, who had been
peeling off a bit of loose wallpaper,
turned
round. 'You didn't fancy tackling the decoration yourself?’

Grace shook her head. 'There seemed no point,
really. But now you're here perhaps . . . Would it be very difficult?'

‘Of course not! Easy as pie to paint over that
lot. We should strip the wallpaper really, but that would take ages.'

‘And it needn't cost a lot?'

‘
No! And
redoing it could be such fun! If you could
see what I did in the cottage - I hardly spent a thing, but
it
looked wonderful in the end.'

‘
Oh. You must
be sad to have to leave it,' said Grace.
'I mean, however you feel about
Rick, it was your home.'

‘Oh, I'll get over Rick soon enough. He was
just a boy,
really, and being a father is
man's work. Leaving the house
did cost a pang or two, because we were
happy there in the beginning, but Rick . . .' She sighed. 'He was just an
interlude, I guess.'

‘
That's how
I feel about this house. Edward and I were
happy here, too. Unfortunately he was a bit more than
an
interlude.’

That flicker of
unhappiness passed across Grace's face
again and Ellie, determined to cheer her up, chirped, 'But
we're both going to survive! We're strong, modern
women!'

‘Yes!' Grace tried to punch the air to demonstrate
her positive spirit, but even the air seemed too much of an opponent just then.

‘Hey!' Ellie didn't comment on Grace's pathetic
little gesture, but an idea had suddenly come to her. 'I must tell you! I
wasn't going to, because I thought you'd be shocked—'

‘
And don't you think that now?’

Ellie shook her head and grinned. 'Don't think
so. It's just that I thought I'd like to have an affaire! Why don't you have
one, too?’

Grace couldn't help laughing. 'Ellie! That's so
silly! I couldn't possibly have an affaire!'