Sebastian frowned, glancing at his mother. He hadn’t noticed her being anything more than her normal controlled self. What did Robbie have to do with it?
‘Will you talk to her?’ he said, aware it sounded as though he was palming the problem off onto his sister, which was – in effect – exactly what he was doing. But Freya had always had the knack of getting to the heart of whatever was the matter.
‘I’ll try,’ she said.
Dee was doing her best to appear normal, but her shoulders didn’t relax until Robbie had set up the tree in the drawing room and wished them all a good evening. His gaze had fallen on her before he’d left, but he’d dragged it away almost as quickly, the frown momentary before his expression again became inscrutable.
Perhaps it would have been better if she hadn’t accompanied them out into the wood, but she had wanted to spend precious time with her grandsons, wanted to try to get close to the sheer joy radiating out from them as they were told they could choose whichever tree they liked. She tried to soak it up, but instead it seemed to glance off her prickly exterior, leaving her feeling excluded.
The children were running on fumes by the time they set about decorating the tree; little Karl could barely keep his eyes open, and yet he was still resolute in his determination to hang every piece of tinsel. The boys would allow Olivia and Candida to help, but nobody else. If anyone else’s fingers so much as strayed into the decoration box, they were swiftly shoved out again by firm little hands and told off by fierce, hot-cheeked little faces.
Any moment now, something would go awry for one or other of them and they would lose the plot. Dee remembered it well from when her own children were a similar age. She allowed herself a smile as she watched her own three: Olivia, dancing around with a piece of tinsel hanging around her neck, making the little ones laugh; Sebastian checking everyone had a drink, making sure everybody was comfortable; Freya serene, quiet, but not missing a thing.
Dee’s smile faded. Were any of her children happy? Sebastian had the weight of the world on his shoulders and was desperately trying to find a way to cope. Olivia remained a challenge, and Dee wondered how much longer she would need before she began to open up about Candida. And then there was her baby, Freya. Was Freya truly happy with Christian? Or had she married him purely to escape Kirkshield? Freya was so inscrutable, so calm and balanced that it was almost impossible to know what was going on behind those pale eyes. She kept joy and pain equally well hidden, always had. And although she’d explained that business had delayed her husband – had it really? Or was the delay in his arrival evidence of a chink in the otherwise serene armour of her youngest daughter?
When Karl managed to put a bauble in the wrong place – according to Freddie – the extent of their exhaustion became clear, and Candida valiantly offered to help Freya sort them out and put them to bed.
With the screams dying away as the boys headed upstairs, Olivia flopped onto the sofa beside Dee. ‘She’s so much better with children than I am.’
‘You were doing very well,’ Dee said, her gaze flowing over the tree. ‘But I have to say that is making my eyes hurt. There’s no symmetry to it at all.’
Olivia laughed. ‘You never were any good at letting anyone else decorate the tree.’
‘Do you blame me?’ Dee gestured towards the mismatched ornaments, overloaded tinsel, and baubles and bells which rattled against one another.
‘Well, you’re not to touch it,’ Olivia said. ‘They’re bound to know if you move anything. We’ll get Robbie to put another one in your bedroom and you can have that one all to yourself.’
‘No, there’s no need for that,’ Dee said, a little too quickly.
‘I’m going to help Jess with supper,’ Sebastian said, standing abruptly. ‘Get Freya to choose a film when she’s back downstairs.’
Olivia’s gaze tracked him until he’d left the room. ‘What’s with him and Jess?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed,’ Olivia said, a wry smile on her face. ‘You know I’m the world’s least observant person when it comes to people’s feelings, but he seems to be spending a lot of time with her, going to the village choir rehearsals and stuff. And did you notice – when I suggested we let her go, begin to cut some costs – he was very quick to say no. Wouldn’t hear of it. Do you think he fancies her?’ When Dee didn’t respond, Olivia shrugged. ‘It’s probably nothing.’
‘Yes. It’s probably nothing.’ Dee sighed, unsure how Olivia’s observation made her feel. ‘I genuinely don’t know. And he has far more important things to be thinking about than that. We all do.’
Olivia arched her eyebrows as Candida re-entered the room. ‘Yes, but you can’t control who you fall in love with, can you?’
Sebastian found Jess seated at the kitchen table, a piece of paper in front of her, pen in hand. The aroma of whatever tomato-based sauce she’d created made his mouth water within seconds; he could see a covered pan on the Aga’s warming plate, a tomato-coated wooden spoon resting on top.
‘Supper’s all under control,’ she said, frowning at whatever she had written on the paper.
‘What have you got there?’ Sebastian drew close enough to see the list.Dances and recitals. Clay pigeon competitions. Wildlife photography. Film set.
‘Oh, it’s nothing. Just some ideas. Probably nothing worth considering, but …’ She glanced up at him. ‘I mean, they have to film all those period dramas somewhere, don’t they – so why not here? And my friend Amina was talking about a TV series set in the Highlands only the other day, and then I rememberedOutlander, andThe Traitorswith the fabulous Winkleman. And wasn’t one of the James Bond movies filmed partly up here somewhere? You’ve got an entire Scottish castle at your disposal, plus loads of beautiful countryside. Surely film companies would pay well to use somewhere as beautiful as this?’
‘Looks like you’ve been busy,’ he said.
‘Do you think the tenants would mind the village being used as a set? Because that’s chocolate-box perfect, too.’ She shrugged. ‘Being a potential extra in a movie has got to be better than having to move away, hasn’t it?’
Sebastian nodded, pointing at the sheet of paper. ‘And wildlife photography. What’s that all about?’
‘Robbie is more interested in clay-pigeon shooting than real shooting, so it would be easy to add that string to your bow – if you’ll excuse the pun. And that made me think about other kinds of shooting – like shooting photographs. Robbie knows the countryside around here like the back of his hand. He’d be able to lead groups of people to all the right spots to see wildlife, wouldn’t he? You could even put up some hides in the right places. It could be like a safari, Highland style.’
Sebastian frowned. ‘Are you and Robbie getting on well?’
