The House that Florence Left (Portuguese Paradise #4)

Chapter 19

Bella stood on the patio as the convoy of cars arrived at 9 a.m. on Friday and the occupants got out, marching towards her determinedly.

Ignacio took his sunglasses off. ‘Well, Bella, and here we are. Are you ready?’

‘Yes?’

Duarte got a steam cleaner out of his car and slammed the door shut, carrying it in front of him. Bella thought it looked like a very large, very ineffective weapon.

‘There are a lot of you, aren’t there?’ she said. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘We thought we’d make it quick and easy if we all came together.’ Minnie took her sunhat off. ‘Where’s Hugo?’

‘I’m here.’ He appeared from behind the house. ‘I took the shortcut!’

Bella beamed at the sight of him, then turned away and tried to compose herself, annoyed at herself for having feelings for someone she knew she couldn’t have. Or anyone, really.

‘So,’ said Layla sternly, ‘lead the way.’

‘We’ll go and get some refreshments then.’ Duarte put the steam cleaner on the patio and walked to the gate with Ignacio.

Minnie and Elena watched them go and sighed. ‘Honestly,’ they said in unison.

Layla looked like she was going to laugh. ‘Shall we start then, everyone?’

Bella walked inside and stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring up.

‘Shall I?’ Hugo walked purposefully up to the landing. He opened the door a crack and peered in, then shut it dramatically. He looked down the stairs, shook his head and said solemnly, ‘I’m not sure we are up to the task.’

‘Oh, stop mucking about!’ shouted Minnie. ‘He’s joking, Bella. You are, aren’t you, Hugo?’

Bella laughed. ‘Yes I know. I shouldn’t have let him go first.’

Minnie strode up the stairs brandishing a bin bag. ‘Come on, you.’ She pushed the door open, nudging Hugo inside.

Layla stood in the living room with a notepad and pen. ‘I’ll make notes on here, and I’ve got the lists on the table of furniture, clothes, and miscellaneous.’

‘Thank you,’ murmured Bella.

Ignacio and Duarte carried in a tray of takeaway coffee and cakes. ‘Sustenance!’ shouted Duarte. ‘We’d ordered them to be delivered to the gate. Excellent service.’

‘We haven’t even started yet.’ Minnie shook her head.

‘It will get us prepared.’ Ignacio placed the cakes on the table in the living room. ‘We will work faster if we are properly fed.’

Elena hovered by the door. She was dressed in an old pair of black leggings and a faded blue short-sleeved T-shirt. ‘Who’s here?’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘I can only help if I know who’s here.’

‘Will is not here!’ bellowed Minnie. ‘Now get a grip. You are a grown woman.’

‘That’s not very sympathetic,’ she muttered. ‘I was always sympathetic to you when you were endlessly crying about all those men.’

‘You used to give me a handkerchief, buy me a gin and say “ plenty more fish in the sea ”,’ huffed Minnie. ‘And say “he’s not worth it.” So, he’s not worth it. Have a blueberry muffin and move on. There are plenty more fish in the sea.’

Elena stood, her face like stone, then shuffled inside and picked up a cake as Minnie walked down the stairs, then put her arms around her. ‘He’s not worth it. He’s not.’

Elena hugged her friend back. Duarte smiled happily and took a sip of his coffee. ‘Delicious. Delicious.’

‘Is anyone going to help me up here?’ Hugo’s voice carried down the stairs.

Bella looked at the clock on the wall. ‘Well, I suppose we’d better get on?’

Layla nodded. ‘Yes we had. We need to get this done today.’

‘Then,’ shouted Hugo, ‘Bella can tick it off her spreadsheet. Although—’ he laughed ‘—she’ll probably add more subsections to it once she’s seen what’s in here.’

‘That’s why we get on so well.’ Layla searched through her phone. ‘I’ve got an app.’ She winked at Bella. ‘You’ll love this. Everyone, to your stations, one... two... three... GO!’ She pressed a buzzer and began to giggle. ‘Oh, the power.’

* * *

‘Gosh, she didn’t like getting rid of things, did she?’ Bella was going through a trunk full of old paintbrushes, easels and watercolour paints.

‘In the last couple of years, no, I think she just slowed down.’ Hugo brushed a cobweb from his face. ‘I think she just put things in here and felt if she couldn’t see them, she’d dealt with them.’

‘Do you think any of these can be used again?’ Bella picked up an unopened tin of paints.

‘Duarte and Ignacio may be able to pass it on to the school they’ve been helping. If they are useable, they will go to a good home.’

Ignacio was pulling an empty chest of drawers out onto the landing. ‘Charity shop?’ he asked. ‘It’s in reasonable condition. Someone could make it better.’

‘Ah, make it better.’ Bella sighed. They had been working for three hours and the room was almost empty. ‘There’s just that wardrobe over there now.’ She looked at it and hesitated.

‘Clothes — they can be difficult to deal with when someone’s gone. But, getting rid of them, I think, would be regarded by Flo as making it better too.’ Ignacio smiled kindly at her.

‘OK. Right.’ Bella couldn’t work out why she felt so emotional when she’d only known Great-Aunt Flo for two weeks oh so long ago.

‘Shall we open the door together?’ Hugo put his arm around her shoulder. ‘I think we are all feeling a bit sensitive. We may see something Flo wore and...’

Bella nodded, fighting the urge to cry. Biting her lip, she put her hand on one of the handles.

Hugo did the same. ‘Right.’ He took a deep breath. ‘One, two, three and... pull!’

The opened the doors and for a moment they didn’t say anything.

‘Where have all of her clothes gone?’ Bella mumbled eventually, touching the only occupant of the cupboard — a long, green silk dress decorated with tiny bright red flowers and edged with black lace along the neckline and the bottom of the skirt.

‘Maybe she just threw everything away when she got ill. All the clothes, I mean.’ Ignacio sighed. ‘I feel very relieved that we don’t have to sort out more.’

‘I have a picture of her wearing that.’ Hugo laughed. ‘The story was she had another argument with my uncle as he was trying to persuade her to sell her house and her land. AGAIN!’ He shook his head. ‘He used to try it with my parents regularly, but they ignored him. Flo would always react.’

‘Oh yes. Minnie told me about that. Long before my time.’ Ignacio squeezed Bella’s hand. ‘He was convinced he could make them all rich, wasn’t he?’

‘The photo was taken the year he parked the bulldozer at the end of the lane. My parents told me about it. Just to provoke us. And he did. Flo was furious.’

‘Oh dear.’ Bella’s eyes widened.

‘She was wearing this dress. I remember because she came round for dinner afterwards, which is when my parents took the photo.’

‘Minnie says your great-uncle was like a dog with a bone.’ Ignacio was smiling and shaking his head too. ‘Where is he now?’

‘Living in a big house on his own in Quinta do Lago counting his money.’

‘Well, we think he’s been in Lagos actually,’ said Bella, ‘don’t we?’

‘Let’s ignore him and his money-grabbing ways, for now anyway.’ Hugo looked back at the wardrobe and took the dress off the hanger. ‘It smells of lavender. Your aunt loved lavender.’ He handed it to Bella. ‘I think it belongs in your wardrobe now.’

‘I’m not sure...’ Bella was still feeling emotional.

‘I’ll just pop downstairs with this.’ Ignacio was holding another bin bag and left the room.

‘She wanted you to have the house. She’d want you to have the dress too.’ Hugo kissed Bella on the cheek.

She felt herself blush bright red.

‘Bella!’ Elena yelled from downstairs. ‘We need you in the garden now to help us sort all this stuff.’

‘OK!’ Bella turned to Hugo. ‘Thank you so much for today. I was getting very overwhelmed. Every time I walked past the room I felt it was pulsating!’ She laughed. But then she remembered Francisco Lopes and his sad eyes when he’d stopped at the gate the previous week and began to feel anxious again.

‘Why don’t you try the dress on?’ Layla shouted. ‘It looks like it fits you perfectly.’

Hugo smiled. ‘Yes, go on. It’s a beautiful dress. It deserves to be worn.’ He walked out onto the landing and down the stairs.

Bella took a deep breath and went into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. She put it on, didn’t look in the mirror and went downstairs to show it to the others.

Hugo walked out of the kitchen as she stood in the living room.

‘It suits you,’ he said eventually. ‘It really...’

Bella felt a pull towards him, as if she was being lifted, her feet moving despite her brain telling them not to.

‘. . . suits you,’ his voice was low and quiet.

‘Come on!’ Duarte appeared in the doorway. ‘We have a picnic set up in the garden.’

‘Right,’ said Bella.

‘Right,’ said Hugo.

They followed Duarte outside.

‘We used to meet here regularly when Flo was alive.’ Hugo sat down next to Bella. ‘We’d all bring food and sit here and chat and enjoy one another’s company.’

‘Oh, happy days.’ Layla sighed. ‘It’s lovely to be here doing this again.’

‘And seeing you in that dress — it’s as if Flo is here somehow too.’ Ignacio poured himself a glass of wine. ‘To Florence Creswell. And to Bella Creswell, who is making things better just by being here.’

‘Hear, hear.’ The table echoed with the clinking of glasses.

‘When my parents were alive, they were always talking with Flo about organic farming, and how they wanted to spread the word.’ Hugo took a piece of bread and spooned some salad on his plate. ‘They kept reminding themselves that they were so lucky to live here.’

Bella looked at the guests sitting around the garden eating and chatting, the swathes of red bougainvillea hugging the wall of the house now a deep, rich crimson, the cherry tree in the garden heavy with lush green leaves, pots of bright flowers she had carefully brought back to life, the storks preening on the nest, the cats sitting patiently at her feet, and the tree outside the gate gently waving to and fro in the breeze.

And she realised last time she had anyone round for a party was when she had been at university. Which was a very long time ago.