Chapter One
Dorset, Spring, 1966
Just for a moment, Meg was on her own on the station platform. She had travelled into deepest Dorset and it felt like another world. It was just after two o’clock in the afternoon and everything was very still. She had time to take in the hanging baskets, the tubs of scarlet tulips, narcissi and blue grape hyacinths, the sense of peace. It was an unseasonably hot day for April and waves of heat shimmered above the platform.
Then her mother, Louise, hurried into view. ‘I’m so sorry I’m late, darling! And thank you so much for coming at such short notice. It was such a relief when you said yes!’ She took Meg into her arms and they hugged each other hard.
‘It’s OK,’ said Meg. ‘The moment I said, “My mother needs me,” the manager accepted my notice without question and allowed me to leave straight away.’
‘Let me look at you! It’s been far too long since we’ve seen each other. I love your hair like that.’
Meg ruffled her dark brown locks disparagingly. ‘It needs cutting again really, but keeping it stylish wasso time-consuming! Apart from having to keep going to get it trimmed, I was supposed to stick down my fringe and the bits at the side with Sellotape when it was wet and I couldn’t be bothered. Now it’s just curly and does what it likes.’
‘It’s very attractive and I like your dress too. The colour brings out the green of your eyes. Though it is quite short.’
‘Too short? It’s only just above my knee, not halfway up my thigh.’
In fact, Meg didn’t have many dresses: she spent most of her time in kitchens wearing chef’s whites and checked trousers or in black dresses with aprons for when she was working as a waitress. When she wasn’t working, she mostly wore slacks, but it was so hot she had felt a dress would be more comfortable to travel in.
‘It’s lovely,’ Louise said, not sounding quite convinced. ‘But we’re a bit behind the times in Dorset. Swinging London is a long way away. The only thing that swings here are the church bells.’
Meg laughed, glad to see her mother hadn’t lost her sense of humour in spite of her worrying new job. ‘I’ve brought my working gear. I don’t want to frighten the horses with my modern ways.’
‘Cows mostly.’ Louise took hold of Meg’s case. ‘Good journey? The last bit is so pretty, isn’t it? Are you hungry? I can make you something when we get back, but we should hurry.’
‘It’s OK. I ate on the train – sandwiches and leftovers from an event last night.’
Meg followed her mother, who had set off at quite a lick into the car park which only had two cars in it. Louise stopped by a pale blue Mini Traveller. ‘This is us.’
‘Oh, Mum! A Mini,’ said Meg. ‘How dashing. This would be perfectly at home on the King’s Road.’
‘I know! Andrew – he owns the hotel – bought it for my use. Purely for practical reasons, of course.’ Louise laughed. ‘I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see you. I couldn’t decide if I was going to murder the chef or he was going to murder me. But whatever, it’s all going to hell in a handcart!’
‘I was delighted to have an excuse to leave my job,’ said Meg. ‘I’d got awfully bored with cooking nursery food for rich bankers. This will be the perfect job before I go and work with my French chef.’
‘It’s so exciting that you’ve managed to arrange that. In Provence? So you’ll be near Alexandra?’
‘That’s right. Antoine, her husband, who’s a count—’
‘I hadn’t forgotten!’
‘—helped me arrange it after their wedding. It’s going to be terribly hard work and I don’t think the restaurant will pay me, but I’ll learn such a lot it’ll be worth it.’
‘They won’t pay you?’ Louise was outraged.
‘No. I’ll be learning so that’s my payment. In the old days young chefs had to pay old chefs for the privilege, so things are a bit better now.’
Louise pursed her lips in disapproval. ‘Well, I do hope you won’t find working down here as boring as what you were doing in London. They’re not richbankers, but most of our clientele like what they call “simple food”. In fact, everyone gets what the chef decides to give them.’
‘Please don’t worry, Mum. I’ll do anything you need me to do. My French slave driver doesn’t want me for a while, anyway. You can have me all summer, or however long you need me.’
Louise put Meg’s case in the back of the car and walked round to the front. ‘Get in, darling. It’s not locked.’
As the car pulled away, Meg said, ‘Now tell me everything! I’ve been dying of curiosity ever since you rang. I know it’s been awful for you, but I feel quite excited about it. You know I love a challenge.’
Louise swallowed. ‘We have a big function coming up, a lunch. The hotel does it every year and it’s quite a moneymaker for us. It’s been going on for years. It used to be for the birthday of the squire and all the tenants came and celebrated. There aren’t many tenants left now, so other people are invited too. Since the war, people have had to pay for the lunch themselves, but they still love to come. Some of them travel from quite long distances. Andrew made sure I knew all about it before he went away.’
‘Where has Andrew gone? It seems a strange thing to do just before this big event.’
