Strawberries and Suffering Page 4

  Rather than follow them, Holly settled back to have a cup of tea all by herself. She had no desire to get into a car with any undue risks added to the journey. After her recent road accident—or deliberate sabotage, to be more precise—Holly would be quite happy never to drive or be driven again.

  That option wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, but there was no need for her to volunteer.

  After a few minutes, Crystal and Wendy bustled back into the room. They had such an air of excitement about them that Holly instantly knew they had scored a vehicle suited to the task. The less-happy looking owner must be the man hovering behind them. He shifted from foot to foot nervously, coughing when Crystal neglected to introduce him.

  “Oh. This is William,” Crystal said, clapping a hand to her forehead. “He’s lending us his car for the journey and doesn’t even insist on coming along.”

  The strain in William’s jaw suggested to Holly that the decision may have been taken entirely out of his hands, but she didn’t say anything. Just wished her sister and Wendy luck and looked after them with a bemused glance as they ran down to the back door.

  “Hadn’t you better go with them?” Holly asked as William stayed standing. “They won’t know where you’ve parked.”

  “Are your friends always this insistent?” William asked, his brow furrowing into lines that added a decade to his age. “I’m pretty sure I began this conversation by saying no they couldn’t borrow my car.”

  “You’d better get after them,” Holly advised. “If you leave them to their own devices for too long, then things will just get worse.”

  Taking pity on the fellow when his face deepened into distraught lines, she leaned forward. “If you don’t want to do it, then just tell them you’ve changed your mind. Won’t somebody else on the staff have an off-road vehicle, too?”

  William nodded, then shook his head. “We car-pooled out here for the most part and the manor house laid on a bus out of Hanmer Springs. They don’t like it when we fill up the parking lot when they’re staging a big party. I only brought my car along because I missed my alarm and woke up late.”

  “They’ll be very careful,” Holly said. “You don’t need to worry on that account. Neither of them wants to end up stuck in a ditch by the side of the road. If it’s not safe to drive, they’ll turn straight around and bring your vehicle back.”

  “You think so?” William’s face turned eager, and Holly nodded, hoping that it was the case.

  “I do.” She pointed to the rear entranceway. “Now, get after them before they stand out in the rain for so long, your car seats end up being drenched.”

  William scurried out the door, a new worry pasting itself into the lines on his forehead. Holly sat back and stared after him, continuing to look in the same direction long after William had disappeared.

  “Knock, knock. Not interrupting anything, I hope.”

  Holly jumped at the sound and then turned with a smile. She recognized that voice from earlier. “Aidan! What are you doing here?”

  “Well,” he said with a grin, “I had so many options that I didn’t know what to choose. I could’ve stayed at the church and sat on a hard, wooden pew waiting for a wedding that wasn’t happening.”

  Holly snorted, but Aidan shook his head and continued, “Or, I could risk the drive through a constant downpour to arrive at the manor house where there are three servants to every person and somebody laid on a whole heap of cupcakes!”

  Holly pulled a tray closer and handed him a strawberry cupcake. With the freshly cut fruit forming part of the decorations, they needed to be eaten first.

  “I don’t think the staff here will appreciate it if you refer to them as servants.” She grinned at the thought of them being in a Downtown Abbey skit. “But if you are going to, please give me full warning so I can stand in the background and watch all the fun!”

  Aidan painstakingly peeled the paper wrapper off the cupcake. “I might take your first warning to heart, at least until I know that I can make a speedy exit.”

  He looked back to her from the cupcake and pointed to his cheek. “I guess that’s an advertisement for how good these are.”

  Holly reached up and traced the skin of her cheek in the spot he’d indicated. A glob of frosting was stuck there, and she quickly wiped it up with her fingertip, popping it into her mouth.

  “We were having a competition,” she said, flushing a bit at the thought of what she must look like. A drowned rat that’s got into the bakery her mind gleefully provided.

  “All of you?” Aidan asked, looking about the otherwise empty room. “Must have been a fierce contest, indeed.”

  Holly laughed so hard that she raised her hand to hide her open mouth. “There were other people here earlier,” she said between bursts. “I’m not making it up.”

  “Never said you were,” Aidan said, taking an enormous bite of his strawberry cupcake. A white smear of frosting soon landed in much the same spot that Holly had just wiped clean and she smiled.

  “Are there still many people waiting down at the church?”

  Aidan shook his head, taking a minute to deal with the mouthful he’d just bitten off the cupcake. “A lad from here came to tell us the news about the road closures. He invited us all back here.”

  Aidan shrugged and took another bite—the last one—screwing up the napkin and tossing it in the kitchen bin like it was a penalty shot.

  “He said they had plenty of rooms, but we’ve all got to wait for the head butler to assign them.” Aidan dipped his head in closer to Holly and dropped his voice to a whisper. “It’s all fascinating. I feel like I’m living in the middle of a period drama and something grandiose is about to happen.”

  Holly laughed and nodded. “Arnold seems to believe he’s living in Upstairs, Downstairs or something. It’s really very cute.”

  Aidan raised his eyebrows and gave a slow nod. “On a first name basis with the butler, eh? I’m going to have to keep an eye on you.”

  “Yes, please.” The words burst out of Holly before she had a moment to think about it, and when she heard how they sounded, she blushed and pretended to get to work, frosting cupcakes that would never be eaten.

  “Do you need a hand with that lot?” Aidan nodded at the trays.

  “Handy with a frosting bag, are you?”

  He laughed and shook his head. “Elvira is wandering around the grounds somewhere. I thought it might be good to give her a chore to do. If not—” he shrugged and pursed his mouth “—she might get into trouble.”

  “Sure.” Holly didn’t need the help, but she’d love the opportunity to perform a favor. “If you see her wandering the halls aimlessly, send her in.” Holly dropped her voice into a lower register. “I’ll teach her the ancient arts of cake decoration, but she’ll have to swear an oath.”

  Instead of laughing, Aidan looked worried at the statement, and Holly wondered if she’d misjudged the situation. As he said goodbye and left, he looked far more miserable than when he’d found her.

  Not that Holly should care. She should be concentrating on what she could do to help out in this unexpected situation, not worry about what a man she’d only just met thought of her. “Great job, Holly,” she whispered as she organized the next lot of decoration tools, in case Elvira did turn up looking for a job. “You can flirt someone into a state of misery. Such talents!”

  Elvira showed up a few minutes later, dragging another woman who Holly didn’t want to see in tow. Esmerelda.

  “What are you doing here?” Holly asked, not caring too much that she might sound rude. “If you’re looking for Dad’s old recipe books, they’re not here.”

  Esmerelda frowned and jerked her head at Elvira as if to say, not in front of the child. For her part, Elvira looked more interested than shocked. She took a step further into the room, peering at Holly’s face as though it was a signpost.

  After a moment, Esmerelda sniffed. “My nephew told me that you needed help in here. That’s all I
’m here for.”

  “He told you that my help was needed here, granny.” Elvira turned a delighted smile toward Holly. “No mention was made of you tagging along for the ride.”

  Esmerelda gave another sniff. With her long nose, the sound was quite frightening. Holly put a protective arm up in front of the cupcakes in case the old woman’s breath reversed and sneezed out the other way.

  “You shouldn’t speak about your elders that way, Joan. Just because your mother was too ill to bring you, doesn’t give you a license to be a brat.”

  A stormcloud equaling the one raging outside swept across Elvira’s face. She whirled on her heel and poked a finger into her grandmother’s chest.

  “This has nothing to do with my mother and don’t you call me Joan. I’ve told you, my name is Elvira now.”

  Before the family row could escalate into full-scale war, Holly stepped between the pair, nudging Elvira’s finger aside to do so.

  “How about you stay here with me and help decorate the cupcakes?” Holly suggested to Elvira, then looked over her shoulder. “Esmerelda, would you be able to help out Arnold in the other room? I heard he’s about to assign all the rooms and I’m sure that you’ll need to ensure you get one on the lower floors.”

  Holly glanced briefly at Esmerelda’s knees, gnarled and deformed with arthritis. The woman nodded and retreated out of the room. “Okay. I’ll make sure that Joan and I get a good one.”

  Elvira’s mouth pursed, and her brow drew down, but she held her tongue until the older woman left the room. The moment that Esmerelda disappeared, that changed.

  “She’s not even my real grandmother! Just some old relative who thinks she has the right to boss me about.”

  “I’m sorry about that. It must be hard if you’re mother’s often ill.” Holly had picked that out of the conversation. Given the teenage girl’s aggressive behavior, it seemed the likely reason for her anger. Certainly, Elvira’s response was out of proportion for someone just calling her by a different name.

  “She’s doing okay,” Elvira said. As she spoke, her head shook with a silent no, betraying the words she said aloud. “If it weren't for granny butting in, she’d be able to look after me full time!”

  The situation wasn’t about to be cured today, so Holly clapped her hands together to change the subject. “Now, about these cakes. How much experience do you have in decorating?”

  The answer turned out to be none at all.

  A half-hour later, Arnold came through to tell Holly and Elvira that a house meeting was about to take place. Pulling a face at the girl, Holly fell in behind the butler as he marched through to the kitchen.

  “We’ll meet out in the great hall,” Arnold announced. “Come along quickly. I don’t want to have to go through everything more than once.”

  “Yes, sir,” Holly muttered and was rewarded with a shy smile from Elvira. Although the two of them hadn’t talked much, Holly was growing fond of her presence.

  When she caught sight of William, Holly excused herself and crossed the room to tap him on the arm. He was engrossed in a discussion about a rugby game with a young woman, and a look of irritation flittered across his face before he saw who it was.

  “Are they back?”

  Holly sighed and shook her head. “I was about to ask you the same question, so I guess that answers us both.” As William stole a glance toward the young lady again, Holly withdrew a step. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

  “Don’t be silly,” the woman said, extending her hand. “Since William apparently can’t be bothered, I’ll just introduce myself. I’m Emma.”

  William looked flustered, and Holly felt a bit sorry for the lad as she shook Emma’s hand. “I’m Holly. My sister and I were in charge of the wedding cakes until all this happened.” Holly pointed vaguely at the ceiling as if that explained, “all this.”

  “Bill and I are with the wait staff,” Emma said. “We’re all very excited to see where Arnold is going to place us for the night.” She leaned forward, her eyes glinting with good humor. “I’m guessing it’s not the upstairs suites. Not for the likes of us!”

  Holly fell into step beside Emma as the crowd wandered out into the main hall. “How many rooms are available, in any case? I didn’t even know they had people staying overnight.”

  “Oh, yes. But only the very rich, I’m afraid. The manor laid on a bus service to ensure that all the ‘servants’ got off the property at the end of the day.”

  Emma used air-quotes around the word and giggled, but a fleeting shadow passed over her face as she did so. Holly thought she understood. The minutes she’d spent in the opulence of the suite upstairs had shown up every other hotel room she’d ever stayed in. If the rooms weren’t for the likes of Emma, then they weren’t for the likes of Holly, either.

  With the wait staff, the caterers, and the early wedding guests assembled, it looked like Holly would be spending the night with another hundred people. Although she knew already the guest list for this event was huge, the sight of everyone crowding into the one space took her breath away. And this was just a tenth of those expected. In a way, Holly’s introverted soul was glad that she hadn’t experienced the full wedding party.

  The chatter subsided as Arnold took his place on the lower steps of the staircase. It gave him just enough height that everyone gathered could see him. He held his arms out to hush the few stragglers still making conversation, and the room became eerily silent.

  “This has been a very unexpected turn of events, and I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing better tidings for the mother-of-the-bride in the future.”

  There was a pause as everyone looked around. No member of the bridal party or close family seemed to be left.

  Holly cleared her throat and took a half-step forward. “Wendy has left to try to reach her daughter,” she explained. “She thought it would be a better use of her time to check on Sheila than to stay here.”

  A brief frown clenched Arnold’s brow then he relaxed it back into the usual mask of calm civility. “Well,” he said in a jocular tone, “I guess that’s one room less I need to worry about.”

  “I’ll take hers,” Emma said, holding her hand up. “Wouldn’t want it to go to waste if she’s not coming back.”

  When she pulled her hand back down, she nudged her elbow into Holly’s side and gave her a wink. “Worth a try,” she mouthed.

  Arnold continued on as though Emma hadn’t spoken. “I’ll assign the rooms to the staff who regularly work here first. Since you know your way around, I’d appreciate it if you stayed here and helped to show the other guests their accommodation.”

  He proceeded to roll off a list of names. Half belonging to the people gathered and the other half naming a strange selection of grasses and flowers.

  As Holly raised her eyebrows, Emma leaned over. “They named everything after the gardens. It was the pride and joy of the original lady of the manor.”

  Holly nodded in thanks. From the list that Arnold was issuing, it appeared that everyone would be bunking up, at least eight to a room. Emma’s face fell in dismay when her name was read out followed by the word Lavender. “And here I was,” she whispered, “hoping for the royal suite.”

  Arnold broke off, clearing his throat. “Could someone grab me a glass of water?” he asked. “I’ve got a cough building.”

  “I’ll go,” Holly called out. It made sense since she was right at the back. When all the eyes in the room fastened on her for the second time, Holly blushed and turned back toward the kitchen.

  “Trying to curry some favor, eh?” Emma said, winking. “I’ll keep an ear out in case he starts reading from his giant list again.”

  “Thanks.”

  Holly went straight to the wine glasses set out but shook her head. The ones on display already had a slice of strawberry beginning to turn brown in the bottom. Waiting for the addition of champagne that would never be poured.

  She opened a box further along to reveal
a set of beautiful crystal wine glasses. Holly gently tipped it to one side so that one of them peeked out and she could grab it. After filling it with water, she ducked back to the cupcake room and also put one on a plate.

  Nothing was ever complete without a cupcake.

  Smiling, Holly balanced the plate and glass and returned to the main hall. A path cleared in front of her like the red sea parting, and she handed her goods over to Arnold who gave a smile at the cupcake.

  “Maybe, later.”

  He wiped at the edge of the glass with his sleeve, a tiny frown on his face. Holly saw with embarrassment that she’d somehow managed to pick a wine flute with a small lipstick smudge. She was about to offer to get a new one when Arnold drank the whole thing down.

  “That’s better,” he said, handing the glass back to her and picking up his list again. “Now, where were we?”

  “You’d just assigned the lavender room,” Emma called out from the back. “But I won’t think ill of you if you change your mind and upgrade us to the royal suite.”

  “Nice try, Miss Whelps,” Arnold returned with a small smile. “Next up on the list are William, Erik, Tane, the two Davids, Craig—”

  Arnold broke off to clear his throat again, giving a concerned look at Holly.

  “I’ll get another glass,” she said and turned to run back to the kitchen.

  “Look out!”

  William’s voice startled Holly. He pushed past her, and she turned as the crowd surged forward, twisting and lifting her so that her feet scuffed along the tiles.

  “What—?” she began to say, then saw Arnold collapsed on the ground.

  Chapter Five

  “Call for an ambulance!” William shouted, edging his way to Arnold and feeling at his neck. “There’s a landline outside the kitchen.”

  Holly tried to turn and do as he said but at least four other people closer got the message and ran in that direction. Instead, she fought her way through to the collapsed butler, kneeling beside William who was cradling Arnold’s head. The butler was limp and unresponsive.