Lavender Lane (Larch Tree Lane #4)

Chapter Seven

Nina took a deep breath. ‘OK, here goes.’ There was a big old-fashioned doorknob below the keyhole made of multi-faceted glass that looked so pretty she couldn’t resist running her forefinger round it before turning it and pushing the door slowly open. A dusty smell greeted them as they looked inside.

At that moment the sun peeped out again from the clouds and its beams shone slantwise towards them across the hall from the window part-way up the staircase. The sunbeams were full of floating particles that sparkled slightly, presumably caused by the dust they’d disturbed when opening the door.

Well, even if it was only dust, it looked pretty in this light, Nina thought.

For some reason she found herself speaking in a hushed voice. ‘Better leave the front door open, Sean. It feels so stuffy I don’t think anyone can have been in here for quite a while.’

‘I agree.’

‘You stay there and I’ll move further in.’ She couldn’t resist teasing him. ‘If I suddenly scream and vanish from sight, the floor will have collapsed under me and you’ll have to be my Galahad and pull me out of the abyss.’

‘Don’t even joke about that!’ he said sharply.

Nina blew him a mocking kiss and stepped inside. She moved part-way across the hall and the floor felt firm beneath her. She paused there to turn slowly round on the spot and study her surroundings. It was a pleasant space, neither large nor small, just right, somehow. There were windows on either side of the front door and above it as well, which had thin, patterned strips of coloured glass round the edges to match those on the big window over the stairs across from it.

But best of all, there was a distinct feeling of welcome and if she was being silly to think that, Nina didn’t care. It really did feel welcoming to her.

She wasn’t surprised when Sean came across to stand beside her and she welcomed the arm he put gently round her shoulders. In fact, his close presence seemed to add the finishing touch to her own pleasure in this moment. When she turned to look at him, he was studying her rather than their surroundings, staring as if he hadn’t seen her properly before.

As they moved forward, he kept his arm round her, then they paused to look back across the hall and he murmured, ‘This is a not only a pretty entrance but you’re right. It does feel cosy and welcoming.’

‘You can sense that too?’

‘Oh, yes.’ He removed his arm from round her shoulders but took hold of her hand again instead.

That felt nearly as nice. What was there about this man that made him so attractive? More than that, she felt as comfortable with him as if she’d known him for years.

‘Let’s do a quick tour first, to get the overall picture,’ he suggested.

‘Good idea.’

They moved into the other rooms one by one, finding them equally appealing, not in a showy way but quietly elegant. The furniture might be dusty and old-fashioned but its quality showed even in that condition.

‘Why did no one put covers over these pieces?’ she wondered aloud.

‘There was probably only the old caretaker left to do that after Murray Ashworth died and as the old man’s wife had died recently as well, there must have been too much for him to keep up with. When he died too at the end of that year they closed the place up till the heir, in this case Laura, could take over. Only she was never able to come here.’

‘I hadn’t expected her to own such a large, lovely old house, let alone leave it to me.’

‘It’s a rare privilege and thank goodness no one’s messed around with the original historical details.’

They’d seen from outside that it was three storeys high and there were iron grilles about two yards long in front of the ground-floor windows, showing the presence of cellars, but they hadn’t realised that the house stretched further back than they’d expected, forming an L shape with the tail end at the left.

‘I was told there were servants’ quarters at the rear,’ he said. ‘That part looks slightly newer.’

Most of the rear garden was now given over to parking spaces, but she caught sight of a couple of clumps of rhubarb in one corner. ‘It was probably once a kitchen garden. If that’s ripe, I’ll bake you a rhubarb crumble.’

‘I didn’t know you were so domesticated.’

‘When it suits me. I love fresh rhubarb.’

It was silly to focus on something as unimportant as that, but everything about the place seemed to suit her taste, even the details. It’d make a lovely home once the facilities had been modernised and renovated, she felt sure.

They went back indoors and walked round the ground floor again, this time studying the rooms much more carefully, standing in doorways scanning each area and not moving on until both of them had seen enough.

One room was like a library with all the walls lined with shelves absolutely crammed with books of all shapes and sizes. ‘Look at all those,’ she said in a near whisper. ‘It makes me want to sit down by a cosy fire and read.’

‘That’s one of my winter pleasures, too. But I bet that bay window would be nice for a reading nook in the summer.’

When they stopped again in the kitchen, she spoke without thinking. ‘We could use this as our casual living area.’

‘ Our area? What about the servants?’ he teased. ‘Won’t they need it?’

She rolled her eyes, pretending to be shocked. ‘You’re a spoilt brat if you expect servants.’

‘Am I? It’s more as though the house deserves them. And if this place begins catering for people who’re convalescing again, we will definitely need more permanent domestic help.’

‘We’ll get a good cleaner or two, and I can cook sometimes but there will probably be takeaways in the town itself.’

‘I like cooking too,’ he said. ‘Though I haven’t always had the time to do it properly, in the ways my gran taught me.’

‘You’re a male treasure, then!’

‘That’s sexist, Nina.’

‘Oops. Sorry. I can cook but I’d not exactly call it a hobby. I did teach my sons to cook, but some of their friends mocked them for that, even in this day and age.’

‘More fools them. Every adult ought to be able to prepare healthy food and generally look after themselves. Come on. Let’s finish our tour. We’re going to need to stay overnight somewhere, aren’t we? Do you think there will be a spare bedroom or two here?’

She laughed. ‘There might be. But what about sheets and food? I think we’ll need a B it was Sean, the possibilities with him, the feeling that her life was going to blossom in all sorts of ways.