Page 21 of Christmas All the Way

The whispering became a hum as those in the room began to understand the implications. Some looked intrigued, others were obviously still concerned. Keeley held up her hand. ‘I’m well aware that the proposed tours can’t happen without your support. I hope you’ll be excited to be part of our first Christmas-themed event at the cottage but I appreciate not all of you will be able to adjust to the new schedule. I’ll be speaking to you all individually, of course, but if you have any general questions, now might be a good time to air them.’

Jenny raised her hand. ‘Will we be expected to deliver the tours?’

‘Good question,’ Keeley said, smiling at her. ‘I don’t have a lot of detail at this stage – everything is still very much up for consultation. But all being well, there will be a number of tours running each evening and I can’t deliver them all myself, which may mean there are opportunities for some of you to step up if you’d like to.’

‘And what if we don’t want to deliver tours but can work in the evenings?’ Jenny pressed. ‘What will we be doing?’

‘A variation on what you do now,’ Keeley replied. ‘Greeting attendees, supporting the tour guide and helping to create an unforgettable experience for our visitors.’

‘Please don’t tell me we have to dress up,’ Isobel said, rolling her eyes.

‘Absolutely not,’ Keeley said firmly. ‘As always, Eliza and the story of her life and work will be the main attraction and we don’t want to distract from that. The rooms will be dressed up a little, however, to add some extra Christmas spirit.’

Elspeth stopped whispering to Minnie and turned an enquiring gaze Keeley’s way. ‘Will Xander be present for the tours?’

Keeley tried not to grit her teeth. She supposed the question was only to be expected, given that she’d mentioned his involvement. ‘He may be on site from time to time, but I don’t imagine he’ll come along for every tour. There will be an additional briefing with him in the next week or so. You can ask him for more details then.’

Brian folded his arms. ‘What happens to those of us who can’t do evenings? Are we going to be mothballed?’

Keeley hesitated. ‘I don’t have all the answers yet,’ she said, deciding honesty was the best policy. ‘Once I have a better idea of who will be able to help, I can start to think about the logistics of everything else. But the tours will only be running over the festive period. In January, our opening hours will return to normal.’

She waited, anticipating more questions, but the volunteers had begun talking among themselves. There were some unhappy faces but plenty of excited ones too. Elspeth seemed especially animated and Keeley guessed she would be among the first to put herself forward as a tour guide. ‘Right,’ she said, when it became clear no one had anything further to ask her. ‘Thanks again for coming in. As I said, I’ll be speaking to you all over the next few days but if you have questions before then, my door is always open.’

Slowly, the room cleared. Jenny began to fold the chairs, stacking them neatly against the wall. ‘Thank you,’ Keeley said gratefully. ‘I’ll take them down to the stable block.’

‘I’ll help,’ the volunteer said, smiling. ‘Many hands make light work, right?’

Keeley pursed her lips. ‘I wouldn’t call four hands many, but it’s much better than two.’ She took a chair in each hand. ‘Ready?’

‘Ready,’ Jenny confirmed, collecting two chairs of her own, and they set off for the yard.

‘How do you feel about the new proposal?’ Keeley asked as they walked.

Jenny flashed her a sideways grin. ‘Excited. A tour sounds like a brilliant idea – there’s so much about Eliza that people don’t know, like the reason she never married.’

Keeley nodded. ‘They see the term spinster and decide she mustn’t have had any suitors, which is the opposite of true.’

‘Exactly,’ Jenny said. ‘But imagine standing beside the priest hole behind the dining-room chimney and explaining to visitors that she’d hidden there to avoid the attentions of Geronimo Glover.’

Keeley couldn’t prevent a snort of laughter. Eliza’s diaries were filled with details of the almost comical lengths she had gone to when practising the delicate art of rejecting the men who saw in her a comfortable home and generous income. Her housekeeper, Mrs Mortiboy, had been a willing accomplice and, as far as Grace could tell, had gone as far as providing men’s clothes to allow her mistress to escape the house when a would-be suitor insisted upon seeing her. ‘That’s exactly the kind of story people would love to hear,’ Keeley said approvingly. ‘Do you think you’ll apply to be a guide?’

The other woman puffed out her cheeks. She was a stay-at-home mum, albeit with two children who were now teenagers, and Keeley suspected evenings might be a problem. ‘Maybe,’ she said, after a moment’s thought. ‘If I can manage it around football training and swimming and homework.’

Pushing back the door of the stables, Keeley swung her chairs inside. ‘You’d be great at it,’ she said, slotting the chairs alongside the others that hadn’t been needed that morning. ‘But no pressure. I know the boys keep you busy.’

‘Leave it with me,’ Jenny said as she put down the chairs she was holding. ‘When do the applications close?’

‘No idea,’ Keeley replied honestly. ‘They haven’t actually opened yet.’

Jenny laughed. ‘Ah! I’ll talk to Ned and see if he can pick up a few of the training sessions,’ she said, holding the stable door open for Keeley to pass through. ‘It’s not as though it would be every night, is it?’

‘No,’ Keeley said, recalling Xander’s suggestion that they restrict the tours to a few nights each week. ‘In fact, it might only be two or three.’

Jenny nodded thoughtfully. ‘Okay, I’ll talk to Ned,’ she said again. ‘Thanks, Keeley.’

‘It should be me thanking you,’ she answered. ‘Juniper Cottage couldn’t open at all without the help of you and the other volunteers. I hope they’re not too upset by the changes.’

‘They’ll adapt,’ the other woman said cheerfully. ‘We all love the cottage and everyone wants more people to discover Eliza’s brilliant books. Even Brian, who never met a moan he didn’t like.’