Lavender Lane (Larch Tree Lane #4)

Chapter Five

The woman was well built and about sixty, Nina guessed, and she didn’t look at all pleased to see them stopping there.

‘This is private property. You can’t have business at this house because there’s no one in residence, so why are you stopping here?’

‘I’m the new owner,’ Nina said.

‘Name?’

‘Nina Thomas.’

The woman stilled, staring at her, then said, ‘And about time, too. These houses need looking after.’

‘I haven’t even seen them properly yet.’

‘You’ve come to the wrong place anyway.’

‘What do you mean? The sign says Lavender Lane.’ She pointed.

‘Yes, but the parking spaces for cars are at the rear of the house. These spaces are mainly used by people delivering goods to the cottages. That’s when there are people in residence there, which there aren’t now.’

Sean looked round. ‘Which way do we go to get to the main parking area, then?’

‘If you’ll give me a ride, I’ll show you. There’s something else I want to show you, then I can walk back home. It’s not far if I come down the front way.’

‘How about you tell us your name too?’ Nina said.

‘Elizabeth Jenkins.’

‘Do you live in that house?’

She grinned at them. ‘I certainly do. I’m the sixth generation of my family to do so.’

‘Good heavens!’ Nina stared at her enviously. ‘My parents moved to Australia and I have hardly any relatives. And even there my own family moved around a lot, so I don’t know my distant relatives at all.’

‘I know just about everyone in this part of town and I’m also the current president of the local gardening and horticulture group, which I’ll tell you about later. Is that respectable enough to be allowed to get into your car?’

Sean smiled at her. ‘Sounds highly respectable to me. Can you get into the back of the car now and tell me how to reach this parking area?’

She did that, taking them back to the other side of her house and then up a narrow road to turn right up a slope and right again at the top, then turning in at the rear of the house they’d seen from the street.

‘They call this “the big house”, but the whole group is called Lavender Lane,’ Elizabeth explained. ‘It’s a lovely house, don’t you think?’

‘It’s beautiful.’ Nina smiled at it. If she really had inherited all this, something she still found hard to believe, she knew where she’d like to live from now on, even if the house was too big for one person.

Sean stopped the car close to the rear of the house and switched off the engine.

‘Let’s walk round to the front of the house and go in through the front door,’ Nina suggested.

‘Do you have the keys?’ the woman asked.

‘We have a bundle of keys.’ He reached sideways to lift the lid of the storage compartment between the two front seats, pulling out a fat, jangling bunch of them. ‘The lawyer we’ve been dealing with gave me these, but unfortunately they don’t have any labels, so we’ll have to try them one by one till we find which one it is that opens which door.’

‘For the front door it’ll be one of those fancy wrought-iron ones,’ Elizabeth said. ‘The others are too small and modern for these ancient locks.’ She touched one, smiling at it as if it were an old friend. ‘I have one similar to this for the front door of my house. I think our two houses must have been built around the same period in history.’

‘They’re certainly impressive. Which key do you fancy trying first, Nina?’

There were several big, ornate keys, but she was strongly drawn to one of them and pointed it out, liking the symbolism of his suggestion that as the owner she try to find one first.

He wriggled it off the huge key ring and handed it to her with a slight bow, then stepped to one side, so that Nina could insert the key into the front door lock. Elizabeth and Sean stopped slightly behind her and they both waited for her to act. She took a deep breath then inserted the key in the brass-rimmed hole, surprised when it went in easily and turned smoothly with only the faintest of clicking sounds.

The other two edged a little closer and stared at it then at her, looking surprised.

‘Wow, bullseye! I was sure it’d be the very last one you tried that turned in that lock, not the first,’ he admitted.

‘Well, you should certainly feel welcome here with that piece of luck to start you off,’ Elizabeth said.

‘It didn’t feel like luck. I just knew that was the key. But it did feel a bit weird because when I used it I had a feeling of familiarity, as if I’d turned that same key many times before.’

‘Is this where we play spooky music?’ he teased.

‘It did feel rather spooky, Sean, and that’s not something I usually experience. In fact, I’m normally rather cynical about that sort of thing.’

‘Then you really must be the owner by birth,’ Elizabeth said. ‘This has happened before, I gather from neighbourhood gossip.’

She could only shake her head in bafflement, then try to pull herself together and get on with things. ‘I’m not the owner by birth, though I am the legal heir.’

She didn’t move to go inside yet and couldn’t understand that. She didn’t normally dither about.

‘Aren’t we going in?’ Sean asked. ‘We can’t stand here all day or we’ll get nothing done.’

Elizabeth smiled at her. ‘Identifying the true heir is a big step forward, my dear. And I’m sure that’s why you chose the right key.’

‘But I told you—’ She broke off. Clearly her new neighbour was determined that she was the blood heir. Well, she wasn’t going to waste time persuading her differently at the moment. She was still getting used to the idea that these houses were hers now.

Sean asked quietly, ‘Does everything feel more real? Aren’t you going to go inside?’

‘In a moment. I’m still trying to feel like the owner.’

They stared at one another again in that way they couldn’t seem to help doing, as if each was trying to get to know and understand the very soul of the other person. Then both of them jerked back into normal mode and turned to their companion.

Sean spoke first. ‘Sorry for ignoring you, Elizabeth. Do you want to come inside with us?’

She stepped back, shaking her head. ‘Not today. I need to talk to you about the lavender bushes at some point, though. I’m more interested in them.’

‘Oh?’

‘They’re a bit special and we need to check them, and we may need to replace some because they don’t have a long life. But I think Nina needs to settle into the ownership of Lavender Lane before she focuses on anything else, and she doesn’t need me butting into this special moment, so the lavender can wait a day or two longer.’

‘I don’t know much about English plants and gardening,’ Nina confessed. ‘I’m from Australia.’

‘And I’m a townie from way back,’ Sean admitted.

‘Then I’ll contain my enthusiasm, stroll back home and let you look round your domain in peace. It’s nice to meet you and I can come back in a day or two to discuss the gardens. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to nip round and ask me if there’s something specific you need to know about the area. You’ll have a lot to learn as you settle in here, I’m sure, and I’m happy to help you any time.’

When they were alone, Nina didn’t attempt to go inside but stood looking at the group of buildings. ‘I don’t know what to say or do next, Sean. It feels so strange to think that this house and these cottages all belong to me. How can I possibly own all this?’ She gestured around her.

‘You do own it, though. The will was unequivocal about that.’

She shook her head as if bewildered. ‘I know that mentally but they don’t feel as if they’re mine. And for some reason, I’m reluctant to go inside.’

‘Maybe they will feel as if they’re yours after you’ve been into them all and got to know them.’ He gestured down the gentle slope. ‘Meanwhile, let’s walk slowly down the lane and look at the outsides of the cottages as we go, then study the big house from a distance before we come back and brave the inside.’

‘I’m being silly.’

‘No, you’re not. This place is going to be a huge responsibility. You can take all the time you like walking into it.’

‘I like your suggestion. It’s lovely and sunny. Real spring weather. Perhaps my brain needs warming up literally before it confronts the reality of this place.’

She was still looking rather anxious so he shoved the bunch of keys into his pocket and held out his hand, joking, ‘Want to hold my hand for comfort?’

To his surprise she didn’t hesitate to take it. ‘Yes, please. If you’re sure you don’t mind. Your hand feels so nice and warm, it seems to prevent me feeling that I’ve lost touch with reality.’

‘Happy to oblige.’ Very happy, actually, because it was ages since he’d met such an attractive woman, though of course he didn’t say that aloud. He was out of practice at chatting anyone up and doubted he’d ever been particularly good at it. But he did like Nina. It surprised him how much.

Enjoying the feel of her warm soft hand in his, he set off. He half expected her to pull the hand away after a few steps, but she didn’t. Good.

He had the strangest feeling that this was how things were meant to be, and he didn’t normally believe in such premonitions.

Damn! She wasn’t the only one to feel strange today.