The Sweetness of Liberty James (36 page)

‘Oh that's great for a pregnant woman – exhaust herself before the birth,' huffed Deirdre, ‘but it could certainly help the money situation. I may let her stay on living here while she gets on her feet. And it could be fun to have a new baby in the house. But Tom may come round to wanting it.'

‘He seems to have been very attentive since she went back to him,' said Liberty.

‘Yes! Too bloody attentive, apparently!' Deirdre said with a laugh, but then they remembered the horrid situation at the park, and fell into their own thoughts.

30

Two days to go until Christmas. In preparation for the arrival of the French guests, Deirdre and Liberty had made a simple supper of parsnip and chestnut soup, walnut bread, a salad and a platter of local cheeses to pick at. There was also a salted caramel chocolate torte to be served in front of the fire when they arrived, along with freshly baked scones, damson jam and clotted cream.

Liberty was torn between excitement at seeing her godmother and sadness at losing Savannah, who had decided to return to Abu Dhabi. It had only been a few months since the magical time in France, but so much had changed in her life since she had left Percy in Florence. She felt sad that she wouldn't be helped by Savannah in the café; it had sounded fun, although it had seemed a bit of a dream.
Things can't be that perfect
, thought Liberty,
and we could have been a disaster together. Maybe I do need a man in my life
. She grinned, and phoned Fred, the blacksmith with the roving eye.

‘Well, hello young lady! Happy Christmas to you.' He was shouting, as the furnace was blasting away. ‘Are you phoning to take me out for a drink?'

‘Um, yes . . . no . . .'
Oh, why do I have to be so flustered? He's a flirt, a slut, just too bloody good-looking!
she thought, pleased he couldn't see her furious blushes. ‘I have decided that J-T was right, and I'm going to be self-indulgent and call the café LIBERTEAS, so now you can get on with the sign.'

‘So,' he replied, and she could hear his smile, ‘should I change the motif to one of the outline of a sexy lady, then?'

Liberty snorted with laughter and said, ‘I think we may be mistaken for a knocking shop if you did, but thank you for the compliment!'

‘Of course, me darlin', just pulling your leg – and a very beautiful pair of those you have too. Sure you don't want that drink?'

‘Quite sure,' said Liberty, giggling, ‘but I think Mother has invited you along with the rest of the village for New Year's Eve, so we can have a drink then.' She put the phone down, amazed that anyone could be so forward, but he had cheered her up.

Liberty raced up to Denhelm to say her goodbyes to Savannah, who was being pragmatic.

‘I need to be with my children, simple as that. I realise I was being selfish, just because I have been homesick, and I have no right to mess the darlings around.' She flapped her hands at Liberty as she could see that her dear friend was going to interrupt with platitudes about her being completely unselfish and a fantastic person. ‘I am fully aware, despite what many think, of my faults. Selfish is probably number one, and rash decision-making number two. I have to grow up, take my responsibilities seriously, and commit myself to the life I chose to follow with Khalid. I do love him, and I think I must give it a go.'

Although she wasn't sure if Savannah would be saying any of this if the children were still with her, Liberty felt nothing but pride for the woman. It was true that people thought she was a flake, just out for a good time, and this had been the case in the past, but Liberty had seen Savannah with her children, and seen the responsible mother she had become.

‘Just don't let him clip your lovely wings too much,' she said as they embraced in a warm hug. Savannah was crying quietly, but calmly, and said it was down to nerves. ‘I'll be back, with bells on!' she declared. And Liberty knew she would.

By the time Liberty returned to The Nuttery, Paloma was ensconced in the kitchen, glass of wine in her hand, having
been picked up by J-T along with Evangeline and Claude, and a quiet Bob. Many hugs and kisses and don't-you-look-wells later, they settled in the sitting room. Bob and J-T were sitting close together, a French bulldog on each lap, which made the eating of cake and the drinking of champagne rather difficult.

‘It's no wonder you guys stay so slim,' remarked Paloma as she noticed both men were feeding more to the dogs than themselves.

‘Oh, I have missed you three boys so much!' exclaimed J-T. Bob was asking about Duck End, and whether it was fit for purpose now. ‘I have been putting in so many hours at the gallery, I need you home to help,' he said to J-T, who pouted and stated, ‘If that is all you want me for . . .'

Liberty couldn't be bothered with their catty chat as she had the blooming, beautiful Evangeline to get to know. Claude was clearly madly in love, his eyes never leaving hers, and he kept jumping up to plump cushions and get glasses of water.

‘We are to be married soon after the baby arrives,' explained the petite, clear-skinned woman, her bump barely showing beneath a tidy blue trouser suit with a cleverly positioned long scarf that fell to mid thigh to disguise any thickening of her waist. Her hair was almost black and cut in a neat bob, her chestnut eyes were rimmed with impossibly long lashes that needed no mascara, and a rosebud mouth gave her the look of a chic china doll.

‘My parents will never forgive me, having a baby out of wedlock. I had wanted to get my figure back first, but for peace of mind we have promised to marry as soon as I feel able, so the baby can be baptised in Claude's name and they won't think I am going straight to hell!'

‘Your English is better than mine!' remarked Liberty.

‘Oh, I was educated in an international school. My father is American.'

‘And this torte is better than your father's!' exclaimed Paloma to Liberty. ‘Your baking is obviously coming on.'

‘The British seem to be having a love affair with salt and sweet, so I thought it worth a try,' replied Liberty, blushing with pleasure.

Paloma suggested they went to take a look at Liberty's new house after she had unpacked.

‘That may take some time,' whispered J-T as she walked upstairs. ‘We had to put her steamer trunk on the roof!'

‘You would have thought it was an elephant, the fuss you made!' said Bob, and they grumbled happily to each other as J-T showed him to their room.

You are definitely in love
, thought Liberty about Claude as they chatted, Evangeline having gone for a bath and a nap. She noted the puppy dog longing had left his face, and he could for the first time in her memory look her straight in the eye without blushing.

‘Evangeline is so gorgeous. You must be so happy. Where are you living?'

‘Maman let me build a little cottage in the grounds, and that is progressing. Meanwhile, we are renting in town. Paloma wants to help with the
bébé
when it arrives, and Evangeline is keen to get back to work. She manages a yachting lease company.'

Only in St Tropez
, thought Liberty.

‘She will be able to work a lot from home, but Maman will be a great help. And I have started working on a new collection of pottery and sculpture. I sold a few last summer and realised how much people are willing to pay, so I dumped the photography and now I am taking commissions from wealthy Russians. I have one for a missile sculpture a fellow wants in his mansion. Can you imagine? He already has a real one – he says it's decommissioned – in the middle of a fountain in his garden!' And they both laughed.

They walked across the green to Duck End. Paloma was draped in fur. The beautiful dusting of snow had given way to a true English winter, dull and misty, so by the time they arrived at
the cottage she looked like a polar bear that had gone swimming for seals; beautiful, but somewhat damp.

Liberty had left the Aga and the heating on low so everything was warm and welcoming. After admiring J-T's choice of furnishings, Paloma said with typical bluntness, ‘It's very you, but it desperately needs to be lived in. You are stalling, my dear.'

‘It feels so safe at Mother's,' explained Liberty. ‘I have needed that and we seem to have been busy, but I have said I will move over here early in January, so don't worry.'

‘I am not worried at all; I just want to make sure you are going to take the independence leap. You are teetering, not sure whether to jump, and you will be so proud of yourself once you take that step. And what of the café? Have you organised help? Deirdre mentioned some ghastly couple in the village.'

Liberty explained that although Gwen was a treasure, her husband was a liability, and then she mentioned Savannah's predicament.

Paloma, on hearing how dreadful Christmas would be at Denhelm without the guests of honour, exploded. ‘Can you imagine? The toys nestling beneath the tree, waiting for the children, the empty seats at the dining table? No! We must do something!' She suggested that the entire de Weatherby clan, including Mrs Goodman, should come to The Nuttery for Christmas Day. On telling Deirdre, who thought it a fantastic idea, the three women set off for the park. Jonathan, however, deemed it a ridiculous plan; he assured them Mrs Goodman had already ordered the turkey.

‘Turkey? Never!' protested Paloma.

Deirdre said she would talk to Mrs G. ‘And you need to get out of the house on Christmas Day,' she commanded. ‘It's no good moping about Savannah and the grandchildren not being here. You can still ride out in the morning and come along early in the afternoon. We will play silly games, open presents, eat too much – all the things you do here, but without the ghosts.'

Liberty gasped at her mother's bluntness, and waited for a
growl from Jonathan. It didn't come. Jonathan glared at her mother for a moment, looking as though he intended to bite her arms off, but simply said, ‘If you can persuade Mrs Goodman, then we will come.' And he retired to the library, knowing that Mrs Goodman would never hear of such a thing. He hated to upset her, and anyway, she would be so much better at saying no to Deirdre Steamroller than he was. He was therefore amazed when she agreed to the change in their ritual.

‘It will be lovely for me,' she explained. ‘I won't have to do a thing, they say.'

‘But Mrs G, you have never asked for time off at Christmas, and you always said after Mr G died you preferred to spend the time here, rather than with your family.'

‘But not this year. No good looking at the children's presents unopened under the tree. It will be good for us all to do something different.' Mrs Goodman would never before have entertained the idea of allowing the Christmas celebrations to be arranged by anyone but herself. She had in fact been working like a dervish for the last few weeks to get everything ready: cakes, puddings, turkey ordered from the farm shop, along with all the veg and cheeses. But now, with the children gone and no certainty they would be seen in the country again, she felt it would be a fantastic plan to spend Christmas Day at The Nuttery.

Jonathan kept to his word, and spoke to Gray and Edmund, expecting a battle. ‘Good idea, Pa,' they both said. And that was that.

31

Christmas Eve morning: rain without but warmth and good cheer within. The house party stood in their dressing gowns round the tree in the hall after being roused from their beds by an over-excited Deirdre, leaving the dogs eating mince pies in the dog room. They sang ‘we wish you a Merry Christmas' and handed each other a present.

‘How can this be?' asked J-T. ‘I was always told I had to wait until Christmas Day!'

‘Not in this house,' explained Deirdre. ‘We used to hand one round in the evening, but it's usually chaos, serving out drinks to people who call round, getting to Mass, etcetera, so we changed it. And Liberty's may suffocate if left in there any longer!'

As Liberty took the box from her mother, she was told to be very careful. She noticed it was moving and shuffling around. Liberty looked worried. ‘I thought you were joking about the suffocating!'

‘Go on, hurry up. She's been in there for five minutes already,' said Deirdre. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the box, their own presents forgotten. Liberty lifted the lid.

Looking up at her, sitting on a tiny sheepskin mat was an adorable pug puppy. The puppy did what pugs do best, and snuffled and reached her tiny paws up to balance on the rim of the box, as if to say ‘Here I am, get me out and cuddle me'. Her bottom was wiggling frantically as her tail was wagging so hard.

Deirdre was watching Liberty's reaction closely, prepared to take the pug as her own if she had got her wires crossed. She
said cautiously, ‘Every person needs a dog, every house needs a dog, and so here's yours, if you will have her.'

Liberty scooped up the tiny fawn puppy from the box and was immediately licked around her neck. Deirdre breathed again. From the expression on Liberty's face, she knew it was love at first sight.

‘She's perfect. So tiny, and – ooh –so wet!' she squeaked.

‘I've had her in my bedroom since yesterday. She's twelve weeks old, and she seems to want to go out, but it's all been a bit too exciting.'

‘But Mother, I can't have a puppy. I'm opening a café!'

‘Well, I am two steps away, I can help. And you can keep her in a basket behind the counter.'

‘Oh, yes, Health and Safety would love that!' But Deirdre was right, and Liberty had already fallen for the little dog's charms. She took her outside for a leg stretch and the little dog snuffled around, with Feran and Bulli, who had been let out earlier, yapping at her heels.

‘They will be fine,' said Bob, who had followed in hot pursuit. ‘They are just excited to have all this fresh country air. They love their London park, but you can't compete with this.'

True enough, the French bulldogs left the new addition alone and raced off after an imaginary rabbit.