This small cottage with the huge fir tree and the childlike decorations wasn’t heaven, but it came close… close enough to make him realize what he had been missing all these years.
Chapter Eleven
The holiday toursat Langley Park had begun and, while Rhys wasn’t in the part of the house being toured, there was activity all over the estate and he was fine working in the morning, but by noon the lines begun to form for the one p.m.tour, and for the next three hours it was loud with the hum of conversation and the nonstop parade of cars coming and going.
Today, he packed up early and said quick goodbyes to Mrs.Johnson and Mrs.Booth who were in the kitchen, trying to stay out of the way of the tours, but also being available should they suddenly be needed.
“I don’t know how you handle this,” he said to them.“It’s chaos.”
“Mrs.Booth has the worst of it,” Mrs.Johnson said.“I just hide here in the kitchen making my Christmas puddings while she manages the volunteers.”
“Or the volunteers manage me,” Mrs.Booth said with a wry smile.“But it’s only for a few days, and the tours raise money for many local nonprofits, Bakewell charities that wouldn’t survive without the donations from the event.You’re not alone, though, in wanting to avoid the tours.Lord Sherbourne won’t be here until the twenty-third, just in time for the VIP champagne tour that wraps it all up.”
Rhys’s eyebrow lifted, surprised.He’d only decided to take the cottage here at Langley Park because Alec wouldn’t be in residence for the holidays.“I didn’t think Alec would be here for Christmas this year.”
“He wasn’t going to, but the twins have only just gotten over the influenza and Lady Sherbourne didn’t think it would be wise to have them travel internationally so soon after being sick.They’re just toddlers and still building up their immune system.”
“Good for her,” he said.Cara was wiser than his wife had been when their girls were little.Lyndsey had insisted on Christmas in Texas nearly every year until Olivia was two, and he put his foot down saying the girls needed some English Christmas traditions, and he could see going to Houston every other year, but not every year.
Him putting his foot down just might have been the beginning of the end.
“I’ll be back tomorrow,” he said.“I’ll try not to bother you too much.”
“Not a bother, ever,” Mrs.Booth answered warmly.“You know how happy I am you are here.This is a house made for families, and it’s a wonderful thing that you’ve brought your girls here with you.”
The cottage was quiet when he opened the front door.He found Cat in the sitting room, curled into the armchair with her laptop, on what appeared to be a Zoom call.She looked at him and pointed to her computer.
He nodded, understanding, and headed to the kitchen where the girls were painting pinecones in silver and gold and adding bits of glitter to the wet paint.
“Hi Daddy,” Olivia said, pointing to her pinecone, which had more glitter than cone in some places.“These are for the fireplace mantle.”
“Very nice,” he said, pulling a chair out and sitting down with them.“You’ve made some very nice decorations,” he said, inspecting one cone with precise gold paint on each of the tips.
“That’s Cat’s,” Jillian said.“She only could make one before her interview.”
“She has an interview?”Rhys asked.
Olivia nodded.“With someone in Michigan.On Facetime.”
“They wanted her to start soon but she said she can’t, not until after the holidays,” Jillian added.
Cat appeared just then in the kitchen doorway, her cheeks flushed, and a smudge of gold on her chin.“Sorry about that.They asked for my phone number but I didn’t expect them to call so soon.”
“How did it go?”he asked.
“Fine, I think.”Cat grimaced.“Except they think I should be thrilled to get an offer and jump on a plane and fly home soon.I told them the earliest I could be there was January fifth or sixth, and I’d let them know after I gave the job some thought.”
“That’s excellent news,” Rhys said, thinking it was anything but excellent news.
He didn’t like the idea of Cat going anywhere, never mind back to America.
“You’re back early,” Cat said, crossing to the table to check on the pinecone production.“These are lovely, girls.They’ll make a stunning table wreath for our new Christmas candle.”
The girls began discussing the candle and how many pinecones would be needed and they were all so engaged in their art project that Rhys hated to interrupt, but he’d returned home with an idea, and he wanted to run his plan by everyone.
“What would you think if we went on an outing?”he asked.
Jillian set her paintbrush down instantly.“Where?When?”
