Shortly afterwards she rushed back to Nightingale Woods to tell Louise, so they could make sure that it was indeed lovely. Luckily, there was nobody in for afternoon tea and Meg and her mother could focus their attention on Ambrosine’s room. They were justwondering if the bed should go right near the French doors or a little way back when Cherry came in.
‘Meg? Russell’s on the phone; he needs to talk to you.’
Meg’s heart sank. It had to be about the play. ‘Did he say what about?’
Cherry shook her head. ‘But it’s never good news when people telephone, is it?’
Really hoping that Cherry was wrong, Meg left the room.
‘I am so sorry, Meg love,’ said Russell. ‘But we can’t put you on to the end of the season like I thought. Dame Miriam has a holiday booked.’
‘Oh no!’ said Meg. ‘That’s very sad. Everyone will be so disappointed.’
‘Well, don’t despair,’ said Russell. ‘Wecanfit you in. But next Saturday – that’s only five days’ time, which is very short notice, and probably too short. We’d come to Nightingale Woods on Thursday.’
Meg gulped. This was the same day that Ambrosine was due to come out of hospital, but that needn’t affect the theatre people. And there wasn’t time to consult everyone else about this. They only had three days to arrange things anyway, and couldn’t afford to spend two of them wondering if the hotel could manage it or not.
She took a bracing breath. ‘OK. Next Saturday it is,’ she said quickly. ‘It will be too late for us to publicise the play though. I’m so sorry about this. It would be an awful shame if everyone went to all the trouble of putting it on and nobody came to watch it.’
Russell laughed. ‘Don’t you worry about that! We have a mailing list. People will travel miles to see Dame Miriam. We’ll get a mailshot out today. We’re never short of bums on seats.’
‘That’s wonderful then, Russell. Thank you so much for managing to squeeze us in.’
‘We really wanted to come,’ said Russell. ‘So! We’ll see you sometime on Thursday afternoon.’
Meg went to break the news to Andrew and Louise.
‘You mean Ambrosine is coming home and the theatre company are coming here on the same day?’ said Louise.
‘I’m afraid so. It’s either that or the theatre company don’t come at all.’ Meg looked apologetically at her mother and Andrew. ‘I didn’t think we could miss the opportunity of a full hotel for several nights.’ She paused. ‘Although I can ring him back and say we can’t do it.’
‘No, no,’ said Andrew. ‘Nightingale Woods will come up trumps, I’m sure. We can get Ambrosine settled in her new room in the morning.’
‘I’ve got the list of how many rooms Russell’s troupe need somewhere,’ said Louise. ‘It’s a lot. And while they are getting a special rate, as arranged before they cancelled, it’s a good amount. Meals are extra.’
‘Have we got enough really good bedrooms?’ asked Meg.
‘If we haven’t now, we will have by Thursday!’ said Louise brightly. ‘We’ll all just have to work extra hard.’
Chapter Thirty-Three
Running a hotel and a building site had its difficulties, Meg thought, but nothing was impossible if you just put your mind to it. By the Thursday the hotel was as ready as it could be for twenty or so extra guests and Ambrosine’s room was looking beautiful. Meg had got up extra early to get ahead with the meals and the baking. It was just a shame it was raining, Meg thought, praying that it would clear up before the actual performance in two days’ time.
The previous evening Justin had rung her and they’d managed to have a long, private conversation. He told her that he had repaired the leaking toilet, but while he was in London, he’d come across problems with other property he apparently owned. He was really hoping to be able to come back down to Nightingale Woods to see Ambrosine, even if he couldn’t stay down for long. It had been lovely to talk to him, Meg thought, even if the conversation had mostly involved plaster, brickwork and the difficulty of getting various tradesmen to turn up on time.
‘We’re lucky having Susan,’ Meg had said. ‘As almost everyone who works here is related to herin some way or another, none of them dare slack on the job.’
Justin had laughed. Then there was an awkward pause, filled with unspoken declarations. Then he said, ‘Goodbye, Meggie,’ and Meg’s heart overflowed with love.
Now, while she was flattening escalopes of pork (nice and quick to cook), Louise came in.
‘Big day today!’ she said. ‘You’re well ahead, I see. Tea?’
Meg had already had about three cups of tea but didn’t decline.
‘Now, remind me of the plan,’ said Louise, having poured tea for everyone, who now included Susan and Cherry.
‘I’m going to collect Ambrosine at nine,’ said Meg. ‘We’ll come back here and have a brief welcoming party. Justin is going to try to be here but how he’ll manage that, coming from London, I don’t know.’
