of a Greek temple. It had seemed so much taller when she’d been a child holding on tight to her mother’s hand while they’d climbed these same steps. Coming to Stonedown had been as much a family tradition as Christmas pudding or carols. After their parents’ passing eight years ago, Clara and Adam had continued to come to Stonedown, to keep the tradition and their memory alive until that awful Christmas six years ago.
With a sigh, she started her ascent, but Anne took her by the arm, giggling like a new maid. ‘Do you remember how old Lady Pariston used to pinch the footmen on the cheeks?’
Clara tossed back her head and laughed, having quite forgotten. ‘I do. Didn’t she catch one on the bottom once?’
‘She said her shoulder hurt too much for her to reach the higher cheek. She will be here.’
‘Then no footman is safe.’
They almost doubled over in laughter when they reached the top, the old memory and the chance to see the charming Dowager again giving new life to the prospect of being here. It didn’t have to be all pain and regret, and Anne was right, Clara must think about the happy memories instead of dwelling on the unfortunate ones.
She and Anne stepped into the main entrance hall and craned their necks to take in the tall-ceilinged room with wide-eyed wonder. Despite the marble floors, the stone and iron of the curving front stairs and the high plastered ceilings and stark white moulding, there was a cosiness to Stonedown, an air of family and comfortable living one often didn’t find in estates this grand. This was the seat of the Earls of Tillman, but also their true home and, where it once rang with the noise of their five children, it now echoed with the sound of their grandchildren and the children of the guests and all the people gathered to celebrate Christmas. Fresh boughs of holly adorned every table and garlands of evergreens draped the long banister of the wide staircase leading up to the first floor. The crisp and spicy scent of cinnamon and nutmeg mingled with the earthy aroma of pine while the tinkling notes of someone playing Christmas carols on the piano in the music room drifted through the air. Clara took it all in, allowing the many happy memories of Christmases with her family here to fill her and make her doubts about coming fade. This delight was exactly what her tired soul needed.
‘There’s Lady Tillman. She will be so happy to see you.’ Anne guided her to where their stately hostess stood beneath a magnificent painting of the Italian countryside.
Lady Tillman, with her grey hair done up and decorated with a sprig of holly, and her thick figure regal in a dark green velvet frock with long sleeves and fur cuffs, reminded Clara of her mother and the way she used to appear whenever she’d greeted house party guest at Winsome Manor. The Countess smiled while she watched a group of children race past her. One of the little boys bumped into a half-pillar and made the vase on top of it rattle, causing the footman near it to leap at the ceramic to make sure it didn’t fall. Lady Tillman uttered not one word of reprimand, the near loss of a vase a worthy price to pay to have this much joy echoing off the overhead frescos.
Clara watched the children dart between the guests, the ribbons of the little girls’ dresses fluttering while the shoes of their brothers and cousins and friends slapped against the stone. Clara smiled at the sight, but it slowly faded as the familiar sadness she’d endured too many times in the past six years dropped over her like a blanket. At one time she’d dreamed of returning here for Christmas with a son or daughter who could play with her niece and nephew and enjoy the festive season the same way she had as a child but it hadn’t been. As with his first wife, she and Alfred had had no children. With Alfred gone, her dreams of having a family of her own were in danger of never coming true and it left a hole in her heart that made her want to weep.
‘Lady Kingston, Lady Exton, how magnificent to see you both.’ Lady Tillman strode up to Anne and Clara. Clara struggled to push aside her melancholy and greet their hostess. This wasn’t the time to cry and lament. She’d done enough of that at Winsome and there would be plenty of opportunities when she was alone in her room at night, but no matter how much she smiled, she couldn’t shake off the sadness completely. Alfred wasn’t even here to comfort her. ‘Lady Kingston, you don’t know how thrilled I was when Lady Exton told me you were coming. You’ve been away from my parties for far too long.’
She wagged a reprimanding finger at Clara before clasping Clara’s hands, her gracious and heartfelt greeting soothing Clara’s sadness. ‘You’re right, Lady Tillman, and it’s a mistake I intend to rectify.’
‘You already have.’ Lady Tillman patted her hand, then let go. ‘You both must go on through to the dining room and have your tea before the children eat all the tarts. The little cherubs, how I adore having them here.’
‘Are my children somewhere in this crush?’ Anne glanced about to see if she could spy the tow-haired heads of James and Lillie.
‘Oh, yes, they went running through here some time ago and your husband is in the billiards room with Lord Tillman and many of the other men.’
There hadn’t been enough room in the carriage for them all so Adam and the children had gone on ahead while Anne had ridden with Clara. Clara felt sure she’d done it to offer her support and she was thankful for the company, especially as they waded through the guests on their way to the dining room. Clara gave and accepted greetings from many old acquaintances, all the while enduring their consolations. It made her feel loved and wanted, but even these kind words reminded her of the loss of Alfred and how grief had made her stay away. It was a bittersweet arrival.
‘Lady Kingston, is that you?’ Lady Pariston stopped them. Wisps of her grey hair stuck out from beneath her white lace mobcap and she stooped a bit where she gripped a walking stick in her frail hands. Clara had never remembered her as robust or young, but she seemed even older today, but no less cheerful than she’d been before. Nothing ever appeared to dampen the Dowager Countess’s delight in everything. Lady Pariston leaned forward on her stick with a little too much amusement and no small amount of mirth. ‘What trouble do you intend to get up to this time, Lady Kingston? Plan to get jilted by another marquess while you’re here? I don’t think there are any in attendance, and if there happens to be more than one then you must share. It was awful of you to keep both of them to yourself last time, even if you did land the better of the two.’
Clara stiffened, struggling to maintain her smile. ‘I’ll be sure to share this time if there’s more than one marquess.’
‘Good. I know you won’t believe it to look at me, but I used to have to fend off marquesses, and even a duke, with a stick.’ While Lady Pariston waxed on about her past, Clara glanced around to see if any footmen stood in danger of her fingers, but none was so close. ‘If I hadn’t loved Charles so much I never would have consented to becoming a mere countess, but he more than made up for the step down by the size of his manor.’
She nudged Clara with her elbow and Clara laughed.
‘A sizeable manor does make a great deal of difference, doesn’t it?’ Clara could enjoy Lady Pariston’s jokes because they were not cruelly meant. She spoke plainly and frankly and expected everyone around her to do the same.
‘I’ll say. Now go on through to your tea and pick out the man you want to catch this time.’
Lady Pariston strolled off, her gait, despite the walking stick, as spry as her laugh.
Clara crossed her arms and trilled her fingers on them as she turned to Anne. ‘So much for no one remembering that unfortunate incident from the last time I was here.’
‘Well, if anyone was going to bring up what happened, you know it would be Lady Pariston.’
‘I
