A Proper Family Christmas (27 page)

CHAPTER 17

William wouldn't have said he was a great one for surprises, but he was enjoying this one. Daniel and Oliver walked him up the short distance to the Common, carrying an ungainly parcel between them. William privately decided it must be a kite.

When they got there and he was allowed to open it, however, it turned out to be better than that: they'd manage to find him a huge balsa wood aeroplane.

“You put it together from a kit,” Daniel explained. “We didn't know whether you'd have liked to do that bit, but it would have taken so long, and we did want to see it in action!”

“So do I!” said William.

It flew beautifully. Oliver, with his extra height, helped William launch it, and there was just enough breeze to carry it a satisfactory distance along the field. Daniel did the running about at the other end.

“You can see why we didn't want the kids along,” he panted, after retrieving it for the third time. “They'd have taken over completely, and never given you a look in.”

“…They'd have had to get it off me first!” said William, launching it again.

Meanwhile Lesley was trying to organise Tobias's walk. The trouble was, nobody else wanted to go. Most of those who weren't helping to clear up were already asleep, and Lesley herself kept yawning as she gave instructions to Frances.

“Don't take him far. …Ooh dear! …Just enough to get a bit of fresh air. I would have come with you, but…Dearie me! …I think I'm going to have to have a little nap.”

Any sensible child would have wanted to play with his new toys on Christmas afternoon, but having been promised this ‘treat', Tobias was grimly determined not to relinquish it, even if it did mean a dull trek up the lane with no one but his nanny for company.

Frances wouldn't have minded some exercise, - they always had a walk after Christmas dinner at home, - but Tobias's snail's pace could hardly be called that. She wished she could have gone with the others to the Common, wherever that was.

“You'll have to remember I'm a stranger round here,” she told Tobias, as they set off down the drive. “Have you had a walk at Haseley before?”

“Um… Don't know.”

“We'd better be careful not to get lost, then.”

There wasn't much danger of that at the moment. Once the lane met William's drive, it gave up all pretensions and became a rutted farm track. One could only really go the other way.

“There was a ruined house.”

“What?”

“When we came before, - when I was little,” said four-year-old Tobias, “we saw a ruined house.”

“Oh - right. That sounds interesting.” He must be talking about an abbey they'd visited or something.

She wondered what present Daniel and Oliver could be giving William that had to be used on the Common. A quad-bike perhaps?

“What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing. …Which way shall we go now?”

The lane had joined a bigger road, giving them a choice of uphill or down.

“The ruined house is this way.” Tobias pointed down.

“Really? All right. …Oh, hang on a minute, I've just had a thought!” She pulled out her phone. The land was a bit higher here. -
Yes
!

“Hello, Mum. Happy Christmas! …No, I couldn't get a signal before.”

“
I
want to talk on the phone,” said Tobias, after waiting quite patiently for a while.

“Okay, then.”

Of course he didn't know what to say. After a little prompting to wish everyone Happy Christmas, he was glad to give her the phone back, but her mother was amused. “He sounds rather sweet. Is he really such a horror?” - Frances was hardly in a position to reply!

Kath was a bit bored. All that the boys wanted to do, when they got back from the White Hart, was play with those stupid things Himself had bought them. And where had the money come from, she'd like to know? Those computer games cost a fortune, - and if Himself was earning a fortune nowadays, it wasn't showing up in the Child Support cheque, that was for sure!

No good phoning any of her mates on Christmas afternoon. No shops open. …Perhaps she'd better just take herself off for a walk on the Common and ‘see what she could see', as her mother used to put it. - Might be someone else about.

What Kath saw, as she climbed the road from the village, was William, Oliver and Daniel, on their way down, carrying an aeroplane.

“Blimey! What you got there, then?” She waited for them at the junction of the lane. “Somebody's Christmas present?”

“Mine,” said William proudly. “We've been flying it on the Common. Goes pretty well.”

“And now you're off home for a nice cup of tea, I suppose?”

“That's right.”

“Well, I was just going back myself. …Tell you what,” she scanned all of them, though she knew William wouldn't, “why not come and have a cuppa at my house? You were saying yesterday that you'd be interested in looking at my old cottage,” she reminded Oliver.

“Er, that's very kind…”

“Go on, Oliver,” urged Daniel. “You don't want to miss a chance like that! I'll see Uncle William back with the plane.”

“Oh! - Um, right. …Okay then.”

Kath led him home with all the triumph of a hunter who has successfully bagged a plump deer for the pot.

“We'd better not be out too much longer,” Frances warned Tobias, after reluctantly making her phone-call fairly short. “It's getting a bit dark.”

“But I want to see the ruined
house
!”

“I think it might be too far away…”

“No, it's not. It's just down here.”

She let him lead her a hundred yards down hill to humour him, - and there it was!

“Good heavens! You were right. How pretty!”

A derelict cottage lay a little back from the road, almost buried in its tangled garden. The roof had fallen in, showing the big old timbers that had once supported it outlined against the sky. All the windows were broken, and the door off its hinges. Nevertheless, there was something picturesque about the scene. Frances wondered if she might get a chance to come back with her sketch-book one morning.

“Let's ‘splore.” Tobias squeezed past the dangling gate and ran up the path.

“I don't think we'd better. It doesn't look very safe.” …But he was already out of earshot.

Inside, the house was almost pitch dark, and smelled strongly of decay. Even Tobias had hesitated in the hallway, but seeing her follow, ran boldly into one of the rooms.

“Tobias stop, for heaven's sake! This floor's all rotten. You'll fall through and hurt yourself.”

“No I won't!” He showed her how he could run across, dodging the holes in the floorboards, and shot her a look of gleeful challenge from the other side.

How could she put an end to this? The more she chased him, the further in he'd go. There was another doorway beyond.“Well I'm going back now. But if you want to stay in this mouldy old place on your own…” She turned to go, stepping round a half-decayed plank, listening for what he would do behind her.

“I'm coming
too
!”

Thank God! She hurried as much as she dared on the perilous floor.

“Do watch this one. It's wobbly… Agh!” She broke off, with a little scream of pain.

Avoiding the wobbly board, she had stepped on one that had gone right through. Her leg had disappeared into a void. She tried to pull it out, but the rest of the plank clung stubbornly to her ankle, refusing to release it.

She sat down gingerly, finding a stable board to rest on. This was ridiculous! Of course she could get her foot out, if she just kept calm, and breathed through the pain. …
Ouch
! No, she was never going to force it. Picking at the wood with her fingers wasn't any use either. Even the woodworms had had to give up on this one!

“Well this is silly, isn't it, Tobias?” She tried to sound cheerful. “My foot doesn't seem to want to come out. What
are
we going to do?”

He glanced at her to see if she meant it, then came over. He, too, tried to pick at the board with his little hands. …That nearly unmanned her! But it was no good crying.

Suddenly she had an idea.

“Of course, - I've got my phone!” She didn't have a number for Haseley House, but perhaps her mother… “Oh. No signal.” They must have already walked too far downhill.

“Are you crying?” said Tobias in fascination.

“Listen, Tobias,” said Frances, when she had got her voice back, “ - do you think you could find your way home on your own?”

He thought about it. “I'd rather go with you,” he concluded.

“I know, but I can't move, and I think the only thing is for you to fetch help. …Even if you could get back to the road and flag a car down, it would be something.” Better not to think of what would Lesley say about Tobias accosting strange cars.

“I think I'll go home to Mummy.”

“But do you know the way…?”

Too late. Tobias, having made his decision, had already disappeared.

“I dare say you're wondering why I didn't give you a Christmas present, Hilary.”

She should never have said ‘yes' when Leo had offered to help her put the china away in the dining-room cupboard. He wasn't actually doing anything, and it was obviously an excuse for one of those confidential talks she found so wearying.

“No, Leo, that's okay. I didn't get you one either.”

She tried and failed to recall Leo ever giving a present to anyone, even Daniel when he was little. In those days he had tried to ascribe it to some kind of Marxist ideology. - Everyone knew that in fact he was just too mean.

“The truth is, I didn't want to cause problems by leaving anyone out, - you know what this family's like! And the old purse-strings wouldn't run to presents for everybody, I'm afraid. …Well, you're in the same position yourself.”

No, actually. She
had
made the effort to get something, however small… Oh, never mind! Best to stop listening and let him talk himself out. Then he might leave her in peace.

She wondered what present Daniel and Oliver had got for William. It was a secret even from her. - A kite, perhaps, if they'd had to take it up to the Common. …How she'd loved to have gone with them! But she could see that if they relaxed the ban for one person, they'd have had no excuse to keep the children away, which had obviously been the idea. - Probably was a kite, in that case.

“It's a bloody nuisance, being poor all the time.” Leo was moaning again. “Life would be so much easier, with a bit of cash around.”

“Yes, wouldn't it? …Pass me that jug, will you. I think it goes up here.”

“Or even the prospect of having some in the future.”

“Absolutely! …No, the big jug, not the gravy-boat.”

“Well,
you'll
be all right on that score, Hilary. Not much doubt about that.”

“Will I?” …Easier to climb down off the chair and fetch it herself.

“Why, - what are you saying?”

God knew! Did Leo really think she was concentrating on whatever he was rabbiting on about? She was trying to get all this china into the cupboard without breaking anything, - and if he wasn't so damn self-centred, he'd realise that and make more of an effort to help.

“…You're afraid he might skip a generation? I suppose that's possible. …Hm. Food for thought, isn't it?”

“Definitely.” Perhaps he should go away and think about it then, and leave her to get on.

“So
this
is where you two are hiding yourselves!” said Julia, as if she hadn't sent her in here in the first place. “The others are back now. I'll put the kettle on.”

Alone in the derelict house, Frances succumbed to a fit of shivering, - reacting to the shock of her injury as much as the cold. Then she grew still as the cold took over, seeping into her body, freezing out the urge or ability to move. …At least it had numbed her foot a little. The sharp dagger pain had turned to an all pervasive throb, part of her whole being now, rather than just her leg.

She tried not to think how serious the situation was. If Tobias couldn't find his way home, or was knocked down by a car, or abducted… Well, no one would care what had become of her, for a start. And if he did make it back to Haseley, would he be able to explain what had happened, and exactly where she was? …Would he even bother to try?

How long was she destined to spend in this cold, empty ruin? - Not all that empty either. She could hear little rustlings and creakings. …God knew what might be creeping about under these floorboards, looking for its next meal, and tempted to sample anything stray it found in its path! Horrified by the thought, she made one more attempt to move her foot away, but it jarred unbearably.

Did anyone at Haseley House care enough about her to notice if she wasn't around? - Daniel? Hilary? …Nice Julia and Tony? Or would they carry on with their Christmas celebrations, assuming vaguely that she was somewhere else in that big mansion? It seemed more than likely. - How long had it been before people realised that Stephen and Lesley were locked in the cellar? The best she could hope for was that her services would be needed badly enough at bath-time for Lesley to bother to investigate where Nanny Frances had disappeared to. …God, how she'd love to be in that bathroom right now! - deep in the huge old bath, sinking into warm, scented water.

William and Daniel were back, but Oliver had somehow been magically changed into a model aeroplane.

“What? - Oh no. This was Uncle William's present. Isn't it mega?” exclaimed Daniel, putting it down on the hall table. “There's a funny story about Oliver, though. I'll tell you in a minute. …Hey, gran! Have you seen what we gave William?”

Hilary had to contain her impatience, while every antic of the plane was described both to her and to Margery, who was coming downstairs after her nap. William had obviously enjoyed himself as much as Daniel, and she couldn't help being pleased.