Page 90 of Mirrors of the Past

‘Tegan! I thought I might find you in here!’ called the person. He walked into the room and she exhaled.

‘Ryan. It was you.’

‘Was me what?’ He came over to her, their voices oddly echoing in the long room.

She stood up and brushed the dust off her bottom. ‘Was you what came in here a moment ago. I recognised your aftershave.’

‘That sentence isn’t even English. And, no, I didn’t come in before. I just got here.’ He smiled down at her. ‘I parked the van out front. Going a bit further north, home for Christmas and all that. Devon.’ He nodded approximately north. ‘But I brought Sybill up and brought you something too.’ He flushed and stuffed his hands in his deep pockets. He was, she saw, sporting the hideous man-bag again.

‘Man-bag.’ She nodded to the offending article.

‘I’m getting quite attached to it,’ he said. ‘Does that mean I’m now officially an adult, or does it mean I’ve turned into a hipster.’

Tegan smiled. ‘You could never be a hipster.’

‘Good.’ Ryan grinned. ‘An adult I am, then. I still like the Mission, still play their songs all the time, so I was hoping not to be hipster. Truth is, the man-bag contains the things I have for you.’

‘Oh?’ Tegan looked up at him, their eyes fixed on one another, and a weird little charge of electricity seemed to flicker between their gazes. It made her catch her breath and her heart pound just a little faster.

By the look on Ryan’s face, she felt that he had experienced something similar.

She cleared her throat. ‘Do you — want to talk in here, then? Or go elsewhere.’

‘Are we alone in here?’

She slowly shook her head. ‘Not certain.’

‘Hmm.’ He tore his gaze from hers with apparently some effort and looked over her head. ‘This is amazing, by the way. Elsie’s dress — it’s fantastic. I know I’ve said it before but you’ve really got the feeling in here. That magical Christmas shizzle. Sorry you couldn’t get a real sleigh. But that one looks great.’

‘It does, doesn’t it?’ she said. ‘But, yeah — my budget-busting sleigh was not to be.’

‘Not to worry.’

‘Um, I was just about to go outside.’ She pointed to the window. ‘I was going to—’

‘Rose’s garden?’ He fixed her with a look that sent a strange combination of static and apprehension throughout her body.

‘Exactly there.’

‘On Christmas Eve,’ he said, almost to himself. ‘Could it be more perfect?’ Then he grinned and nodded. ‘Yes. Okay. Let’s go. I think what I’ve got for you would work pretty well there.’

‘Cool.’ She nodded. ‘I’ve been told I can forage for my flowers there. Just want to refresh the display.’

‘Perfect. After you.’ He took his hand out of his pocket and gestured for her to go ahead.

And so she did.

* * *

Ryan followed Tegan out of the ballroom, with the weirdest sensation that they were being watched.

It wasn’t surprising, considering what he had in that document case.

In fact, when he’d come into the ballroom to find her, she hadn’t looked as if she’d been on her own at all. There’d been definite shadows moving behind the dress, but, oddly they hadn’t worried him. He could almost see two people, one tall, one petite, walking together hand in hand, heading out of the door at the far end of the room.

But his attention was on Tegan and she was the one he wanted to see. And, yes. He did want to see her. And when she’d said she was going into that garden . . . It just made perfect sense.

They walked past the Grand Staircase, the place no longer feeling eerie or scary or anything negative at all. Since he’d been here last, Pencradoc, like Wheal Mount, had gone all out for the festive season. A huge Christmas tree was in the hallway, and Little Elsie, at the bottom of the stairs, had a cheerful garland around her hair, not unlike the holly and ivy headdress she’d been wearing on her wedding day. Bowls of pinecones were placed on tables and jam jars with lights inside were strung in a zig-zag fashion across the hallway ceiling, interspersed with giant silver stars and baubles, suspended there for good measure. The scent of spices and fir trees was everywhere, and it really did feel like Christmas was eventually here.