Page 4 of Christmas Secrets

CHAPTERTWO

Holly Wakefielde slid off her horse and pushed open the old wooden gate to the secret garden. The snow fell faster now, and the flakes seemed even bigger. She felt relieved to have made it to her destination before the winter storm worsened. Or before they were caught.

It had been over five years now since she’d been here to the secret garden to visit her grandmother, Imanie. If she had been allowed to visit more often, she surely would have taken the opportunity to do so. Shame as well as excitement filled her being, wanting to see the old woman again after so long. Grandmother had never even met Holly’s little brother, Noel. Nothing pleased Holly more than to think they’d be spending the Christmas holiday with the only family member they had left. This would be a special Christmas indeed. Noel was anxious to meet her, although he was still missing his mother. So was she.

“Grandmother, we’re here! Grandmother, where are you?” Holly called out, her smile dying on her face when she eyed the snow-covered cottage and the frozen secret garden that surrounded it. The small wooden one-room home had a thatched roof and a small porch out front with three steps leading to the front door. It was surrounded by an enclosed garden with lots of trees and a wooden fence. Nestled away in the woods, not many people even knew this was here. Her grandmother even had a small barn off to the side with one stall for her horse. It was also where she’d kept all her tools to do her gardening.

While the place didn’t look to be in really poor condition, something was different about it and definitely not right. She felt a loneliness in every bone in her body when this house and garden used to make her feel happy and so alive. Even though she couldn’t understand it, she had the eerie feeling that this place was now uninhabited. Looking closer, she realized there was no smoke rising from a hearth inside the house. Also, the front steps were half-fallen down and the porch hadn’t been swept at all and was filled with snow. Even the barn looked deserted with the door wide open and just darkness inside. She didn’t see signs of life anywhere.

“I’m cold,” complained her brother from atop the horse. Noel had just turned five years old yesterday. Holly would be more of a mother to him now than a sister, since the death of their mother two days ago. “I’m also hungry and I have to pee. Holly, I want Mother!”

“Oh, Noel, so do I, but you know she is gone from this earth now, and we are on our own.” Holly walked back to the horse and reached up, helping her brother dismount, putting his feet on the ground. “As soon as we get inside, everything will be taken care of, I promise.”

She held the hand of the little boy while she led the horse over the frozen, desolate ground. Tall flowers were brown and wilted, falling over from being in the wind and snow. There were squares of earth with small fences around them that she remembered being used for vegetables and flowers of all kinds. Now, all they held were dead plants. Death was something she didn’t want to feel right now.

The last time she and her mother were here, her mother had been pregnant with Noel. The secret garden, which was the home of her grandmother, had seemed like such a happy place then. Of course, it had been in the summer when everything was in full bloom. Beauty had flourished everywhere. Birds made their homes in the trees, and a trellis arched over an old wooden bench, filled with climbing, colorful roses. Holly remembered the bees and butterflies had flitted from flower to flower, and happily she had chased them through the mazes of magical-looking vegetation that her grandmother had so painstakingly tended to in order to make things perfect and special in this secret garden—this hidden place.

Leading the horse to the small barn, Holly entered to find it empty. There were no other animals anymore. At one time her grandmother had a horse and had even raised a few chickens, mainly for the eggs. She didn’t understand why everything was so different. It all seemed so sad.

Her grandmother should be here. Things shouldn’t seem so dreary. Even in the winter, Imanie had taken measures to keep up the grounds and decorate the cottage with juniper boughs and holly and trailing ivy wrapped around the railing on her porch. She even used to make fresh wreaths and hang them on her door.

Well, her horse wasn’t here anymore. This wasn’t a good sign at all. Where in the world could her grandmother be? Holly was sure that her mother never would have sent her here if she thought Imanie had left. In all of her twenty-one years of life, Holly’s happiest memories came from the few times she came here with her mother to visit her grandmother. It frightened her that she wasn’t feeling that same happiness now. Now, she felt sad to be here and she didn’t know why.

After stabling the horse, Holly led her brother up the broken, snow-covered stairs to the front door. Quickly knocking, she hurriedly put her hand back beneath her cloak for warmth. Even wearing traveling gloves, her fingers felt nearly frozen. Two days it had taken them to make the journey from Keswick in the storm when it should have taken no more than one. She hadn’t even brought the wagon, not wanting to be slowed down or spotted by anyone. Sleeping on the ground last night in the woods had been colder and felt harder than even the thin straw pallets back at their hovel. She had lit a campfire to keep them warm, and thankfully it didn’t give away their presence.

“Hello? Hello, is anyone home?” she called out, trying the door and finding it unlocked. She cautiously stepped inside the cottage, peering around the room, trying to get her eyes accustomed to the darkened area. Dust and mildew immediately assaulted her senses. As she entered farther into the room, her muscles clenched, already aching from the frigid air inside and the dampness of her surroundings. Something ran over her foot. She screamed and jumped, feeling her heart skipping against her ribs.

“Mousey,” said the little boy happily, releasing her hand and chasing the rodent around the room trying to catch it and make it his pet. Noel loved all animals. Back home, while she and her mother had worked the land, Noel would occupy himself catching frogs at the creek, and chasing the birds. He even caught a baby rabbit one day, but Holly convinced him to put it back in the nest so its mother could raise it.

“Noel, stop running around,” shouted Holly. “It’s dark in here and hard to see. You’re going to trip and fall.” Thankfully, she spotted the hearth and knelt down to inspect it. There weren’t a lot of logs, but still enough wood to start a small fire. Reaching into her bag, she retrieved her flint and knife, as well as some dried moss that she always carried with her to start a fire should she need it.

It took several tries, but she managed to light the hearth, the flames steadily growing higher to brighten the one-room cottage. Now, at least, there would be light enough for her to inspect the small home. Walking through the room, Holly removed her traveling gloves and ran her fingers over the dust covering the doors of the cupboard. She remembered how clean her grandmother Imanie had always kept this place. She used to tell Holly that no matter how small a home was, it didn’t matter. It still deserved the proper attention, and to be clean and tidy. Never before now had Holly ever seen dust anywhere. Pulling open the cupboards one after another, she realized they were nearly empty. She did manage to find a few wooden cups and some bowls, but where was her grandmother’s favorite ceramic platter, or the little covered box she used for special items, like putting her rings or pins inside? Holly used to feel like a princess when she peeked into the box and found jewelry that, to her, had looked like it belonged to a queen. Her grandmother used to tell her none of them really meant anything to her, except for the heart brooch she always wore that had been given to her by someone very special.

Inside a drawer, Holly discovered a handful of spoons and a large ladle. She even found a box of thread and needles that was once Imanie’s sewing kit. These things all seemed to be abandoned. She could tell they hadn’t been used in a long time.

Inspecting the place further, she realized there was no food at all to be found. Her stomach convulsed. They’d eaten most of what little they did have on the trip here. Had she known there’d be no grandmother or food when they arrived, she would have rationed the food a little more wisely. Now, with this winter storm, it wasn’t even going to be plausible to think she could go out and hunt for a rabbit to fill their bellies. Dread washed through her, worrying for her little brother even more so than for herself.

Holly didn’t see many of Imanie’s personal belongings besides the sewing kit, a few aprons, and an old comb. No clothes, or books, or even her favorite wimple. Had her grandmother gone visiting for the holidays? Or perhaps moved? Nay, not likely. Imanie usually didn’t like to go far. All her visitors, she’d told Holly, usually came to see her. Holly wasn’t sure how that could be when this place was so hidden in the woods. Her grandmother was most mysterious at times. Now that Holly thought about it, so was her mother.

God’s eyes, Holly hoped nothing had happened to her grandmother and that she wasn’t gone for good. She was counting on the woman to take them in, now that they couldn’t go back home and this would be their new home.

She glanced back over her shoulder to see her little brother pulling down his trews. “Wait! What are you doing?” she shouted, thankfully spying a metal pan under the bed. She pulled it in place just in time for the boy to relieve himself into it.

“I’m hungry. And tired,” said Noel with a yawn, wiping one sleepy eye with his fist. Holly pushed back a lock of his dark hair, so unlike her own bright blonde tresses.

Next, she helped him pull his trews back up and tie them in place. “I’ll bring our things in, and give the horse some of the water and oats we brought with us. Then I’ll find something for us to eat.” She seriously wanted to cook the oats for themselves, but couldn’t risk the horse dying on them or they’d really be in a bind. Picking up the bedpan to empty it outside, she headed for the door.

“Where is Grandmother?” asked Noel with another yawn. “You said she would make us fruit tarts.”

Yes, Holly had promised her brother that, among many other things. But she was doing whatever it took, trying to get Noel to stop crying over the death of their mother. His crying would have only alerted the guards at Castle Kestwick. She hadn’t even allowed herself to cry, because she knew she had to be strong now for her little brother. If they had been nobles, or even merchants, things would be so different right now. But they were only serfs. Having only a small portion of their own land, they had to work and farm the lord’s land, giving him not only the crops they grew, but paying him taxes on top of that. Being a serf was a hard life. They were poor and lived in small hovels with dirt floors. Their homes were always cold, even with a fire burning. They had to get the lord of the castle’s permission to marry, and were not allowed to leave without Lord Neville’s approval as well. The evil lord very seldom gave that kind of permission, and when he did, it was only for a few days at a time. The last time they’d visited Imanie was only because Lord Neville’s brother, Lord Henry, had convinced him to let them go. Lord Henry had been kind to her family in the past and her mother liked the man. This was probably the reason why his brother had sent him on long journeys overseas. Holly hadn’t seen Lord Henry for quite a while now.

This time, in order to leave, she and her brother had to sneak out during the night. Thankfully, they hadn’t been caught, or they’d have been punished severely. The last serf who was caught trying to escape was locked in the dungeon for a fortnight, then put in the pillory for a week while Lord Neville instructed everyone to throw rotten food at him. The poor serf almost froze to death since it had been winter. The man was warned that if he tried to escape again, next time he’d lose a finger or toe.

Nay, they weren’t going back to Castle Keswick. Ever. Their mother was right in telling them to come here just before she died. Imanie was a strong and a good woman. She wasn’t a serf, because the late Queen Philippa had taken a liking to her and brought her to the king’s castle. If only she had brought the rest of her family along as well, things would be different and they’d have a better life.

Now, since escaping, what Holly and Noel had to do was to keep hidden for a year and a day. If they could stay out of sight and keep from being caught for that long, they would no longer be serfs, but be free. It seemed like such a long time. And now that they had no mother, no grandmother, and no food, it was going to seem much, much longer.

God’s teeth, she prayed they hadn’t been followed by any of Lord Neville’s guards. Holly had left in such a rush in the middle of the night that she hadn’t had time to take any of her belongings, let alone enough provisions for the two of them to survive. Then again, she had been counting on her grandmother giving them food and shelter. Obviously, that wasn’t the case here anymore.