shrubs, scenting the air with a cocktail of fragrances including rosemary, thyme and bay.
Her face broke into a broad smile as she nudged her sister.
‘I think this might do nicely. What do you reckon?’
‘I had no idea it was going to be like this.’ Angela twisted her hands together, as if she couldn’t quite believe it either.
They stood together examining the house. ‘I love the roof. Terracotta tiles. So Mediterranean. So romantic. I have a good feeling about this.’
‘It looks wonderful.’ Carrie squeezed her sister’s arm.
‘For Pete’s sake are we going inside or not? Listen to you. It’s a house. It’s flipping gorgeous.’
Angela rummaged in her bag, pulling out the precious envelope, crumpled from the dozens of times she checked it was still there during the journey. Opening it, she pulled out the keys.
She held the key gripped between twisted thumb and finger, eyeing the lock with the intense concentration of a surgeon about to make the first incision. Jade and Carrie hung back with practised patience, determinedly not looking at each other. It was a familiar routine, where neither acknowledged the slow, painful attempts that any fine motor skills demanded or made any attempt to speed up the process. Although Angela’s rheumatoid arthritis limited her in many ways, she never complained and had never once said, ‘why me and not you’ to Carrie.
The door opened, light streaming out and Angela stood poised on the threshold, a triumphant smile on her face.
‘Looks like we’re in the right place.’
They crowded in through the door, their feet echoing on the polished marble floor, blinking in the light thrown by a huge dandelion clock of a lighting fitting, with what looked like hundreds of brilliant bulbs. For a second they stared around the high-ceilinged hallway, larger than the whole of their semi-detached home.
On a console table of painted wood, in a cracked glass vase, spilled a blousy, extravagant bouquet of flowers, a white card tucked into the foliage.
Angela plucked the card and read out aloud.
Dear Angela and family, you are most welcome to La Maison de Clemont. Please do make yourselves at home. The fridge is fully stocked to get you started but please do let Marisa, our much-loved maid, know of your preferences and she will shop accordingly. She’ll pop in to say hello. I hope you have a happy and joyous holiday here and I look forward to hearing all about it on your return.
Enjoy
With much love
Marguerite
‘How lovely, said a rather shell-shocked Angela.
‘This is going to be ace.’ Jade threw her arms around her mother.
Carrie stepped forward, opening a set of double doors to reveal a spacious lounge. No, lounge sounded too mundane, this was a salon, a sitting room … just gorgeous. Looking up she traced the bleached-blonde wood beams criss-crossing a high-pitched sloping ceiling, smiling at the wonderful sense of light and space.
‘Come and look at this,’ she called, taking the three broad, shallow steps down into the room, unable to resist the temptation to sink into one of the two taupe-linen-covered sofas, each of which could have comfortably seated five people. Contrasting arm chairs in cream were dotted around the modern wooden coffee table opposite the sofas. Understated and classical, Carrie could imagine the key words, in capitals, on the interior designer’s brief had been ‘style’, ‘taste’ and ‘elegance’.
‘Get a load of that TV,’ said Jade with a squeal of delight, crossing to the flat-screen television framed within the wall above a fireplace with a log burner in it the size of a small bath tub. ‘Whoa! That is fab-u-lous.’ Almost reverently she reached up to touch the sixty-five-inch, or, whatever it was, screen. ‘Much better than our piddly little thing.’
Personally Carrie thought the thirty-inch screen at home was more than adequate, although she had to concede the size of this room meant you did need a monster screen this big.
Angela came and bounced on the sofa next to Carrie, letting out a happy sigh. ‘Oh my days. I never imagined it would be like this.’
‘You pulled a blinder, sis,’ said Carrie, hugging her.
‘You certainly did, Mum,’ agreed Jade, coming to join them on the sofa.
With a sudden squeal, Carrie threw herself backwards, taking Angela and Jade with her, kicking her feet up in the air.
‘Woohoo!’ she shouted as the other two burst into giggles and copied her, all three bicycling their legs like mad.
Euphoria fizzed in Carrie’s stomach like an errant Catherine wheel, spinning so hard it had taken flight. ‘It’s like that scene in Pretty Woman where Vivienne throws herself on the huge bed.’
‘OMG. What do you think the bedrooms here will be like?’ Jade sprang up. ‘And the bathroom?’
‘I suspect bathrooms as in multiple. Which will be great. You can spend as long as you like in there.’
Jade stuck her tongue out her aunt.
‘And what’s out here, do you reckon?’
Soft flowing linen drapes skirted the room on two sides. Jade tugged at them to reveal a complete wall of French doors. It was too dark to see beyond the patio area and the dark shapes of furniture. Lights dotted on the hillside were testament to a potentially fabulous view in the morning.
‘I’m starving,’ announced Jade.
‘Why don’t I find the kitchen, while you two go and bring in the cases and then you can explore the bedroom situation?’ asked Angela, falling into her usual mothering role.
‘Okey doke.’ For once Jade was happy to follow orders without arguing the toss. ‘I reckon there’ll be a bedroom each.’
‘I hope so,’ said Carrie, laughing. She’d been worried she’d have to sleep in the lounge on a sofa. These sofas were bigger than her double bed at home.
Angela stood uncertainly. ‘Which way do you think the kitchen is?’
They burst out laughing, looking around them, all of them amused by the thought of being in a house so big that it wasn’t obvious where the rooms were.
In unspoken agreement they retraced their steps.
‘Blimey, this is fancy,’ said Jade as they walked along a glass corridor linking the first building to another on a slightly different level. ‘I think Marguerite’s idea of everything being on one floor is slightly different to mine,’ said Angela as they tripped up a set of three steps. ‘Oh!’ She gasped. ‘Isn’t this lovely? Look at the range stove. I would love one of those at home. It’s
