‘That sounds perfect.’ Diplomatically, Ezz added, ‘We’ll have to be flexible this Christmas, with the family being here.’
Gwen shrugged. ‘I would only have visited my sister onChristmas Day. Her shower are so noisy that the hall will be more restful, even with folk to feed.’
Ezz smiled, envisaging Gwen tying her black apron over her striped dress and whipping up Christmas dinners on demand. ‘Thank you.’
When Gwen had departed, Ezz headed for her office, phoning her sister Thea as she went. ‘Hey, Head Gardener. Just letting you know of the imminent arrival of family on Saturday. Grete, Mats, two children and the nanny.’ Her online course would have had her refer to them as ‘Madam, Mr Mats Larsson and his children,’ but they’d told her to use first names, so she did.
Like Gwen, Thea dealt with the situation. ‘OK. I’ll delay the planting of the tulip bulbs so Sheena and I can get the garden vac on the pathways.’ Sheena was the assistant head gardener. She worked daylight hours only from November to February, unless Thea was off. As Skye winter days were short, that usually meant nine-thirty a.m. to three-thirty p.m., or maybe four.
‘Great. Thanks.’ Happy that Thea had everything under control, Ezz settled to working on a neater floor plan. As she wrote names into boxes representing bedrooms, she mused on all the empty rooms. By her count, even when all the family arrived, that would still leave around eight rooms unoccupied – mind-boggling to someone living in a two-bedroom cottage in Rothach village, nestling below the hall in a bay that looked to have been scooped out with a spoon.
But she felt no envy. The Larssons could afford an enormous house, partially open to the public, with a café and a car park in the beautiful grounds, but she was rich in other ways, like having two fantastic sisters, Thea and Valentina, and this job that she loved.
She paused on a sliver of regret. She did feel a tiny bit isolated this winter, as Thea was now part of a couple with lovely Deveron Dowie. And in the summer Thea who, like Ezz and Valentina, had been adopted when very young, had found her French birth mother, Ynez. Understandably, Ynez and her partner Jean-Jacques occupied some of Thea’s time with calls and video chats. They even planned to buy a cottage on the mainland, and Thea and Dev had visited them in Brittany in September. Adding to her slight loneliness, Ezz had paused her dating apps after the last man she’d met, Henry the auctioneer – she thought of him that way because he announced his profession so frequently – had been a bit weird.
But her heart lifted as she remembered that Valentina, husband Gary and lovely son Barnaby would be squashing into Ezz’s house over Christmas, Thea’s spare room being too small. Even if Ezz’s duties took up some of the time, there would still be some to spend with them.
Who needed eight spare rooms, when the one you had was full of family? Family meant love.
