Secrets at Meadowbrook Manor

‘We haven’t changed a thing about our father’s study,’ she said, her voice softening as she spoke of him. ‘Apart from putting the painting of him in here. It was upstairs – Dad was a little vain you see – but it seems right here, in his study.’

‘I understand,’ Gemma said carefully. ‘I guess this is his personality right here too.’

‘Yes, yes it is. I know when we open this hotel, if we do—’ she narrowed her eyes at Gemma, who felt her cheeks flame ‘—then I suppose this will have to be changed, but it’s so hard to eliminate him.’

‘I don’t see why you’d have to. This room isn’t going to be used by guests, so as long as it’s a functional office, you can have it as you want it. You might need to reorganise if more than one person needs to work in here. It might be nice actually, make you feel that your father has a place in the hotel.’ Gemma hoped she hadn’t overstepped the mark.

‘I hadn’t thought of it like that. Yes, you’re right, I like that.’ Harriet almost smiled at her, and she sensed a little thawing. Gemma nodded. ‘Right, well I suppose that’s by the by. I wanted to speak to you because I doubt very much Pippa has given you the background.’ The thaw had frozen over again.

‘Perhaps only a potted history,’ Gemma admitted.

‘My sister is bright, beautiful and enthusiastic. She is committed to this project, more than any of us, but we have all decided to support her. Did she tell you about her divorce?’

‘A bit, yes,’ Gemma admitted.

‘It knocked Pippa’s confidence, so she needs this. She’s never been a career woman but now she wants to be, and I for one want to make sure that happens. And of course, none of us want to see the house empty, and apart from Pip and Fred, none of us want to live here. Did you hear about last year?’ Gemma shook her head, although she had. ‘Right, well you know our father, Andrew, died suddenly, and it was a terrible shock to us all.’

‘Yes and I’m sorry.’ Gemma thought she could see a tear glistening in Harriet’s eye. She liked the tiny human glimpses she got from her, but she wished there were more of them.

‘Right, well yes, but anyway, that was when I came back from New York. My father, who had, shall we say, eccentric ideas, made a will, which meant all four of us had to live here, in this house, for a year. And we had to keep the animal sanctuary open, which is his great love – was, I mean – or we would forfeit our inheritance.’

‘So you all lived together for a year?’ Gemma knew all this, but was interested to hear about it from Harriet’s perspective.

‘Yes, and of course we hadn’t lived together since childhood, so it was interesting to say the least. The year was tough for us all.’

‘In what way?’ Gemma asked, wanting to hear more.

‘Oh many ways. But that’s by the by. The upshot was that in the will, Dad stated that the house had to be kept in the family. So when Pip and Fred came up with the idea for opening the house as a hotel, Gus and I agreed, well eventually we did, because the house needs to be used and this seemed like a good way to ensure all the family could be involved.’

‘I agree, and it will very much be a family hotel,’ Gemma stated, trying to sound authoritative. She wanted to hear more about the year they’d spent together – it was intriguing – but Harriet was once more all business.

‘Quite, although none of us agree exactly how at the moment, which is why your job isn’t going to be easy. But enough of that. Right, well, I want to go through the details with you. The salary is fine. In fact, before Pippa hired you, I did the budget for set-up costs. I’ll give you a copy, and if you do a good job then you’ll be worth what we’re paying you.’

Gemma felt more than relieved. Not only was she getting a good salary, much more than she used to earn, but also she was living rent-free, so in theory she should be able to ensure her nan’s care was covered until the house sale went through. She almost wanted to hug Harriet, although she was far too scared to do so.

‘I hope to prove to you that I am the person for the job,’ Gemma said, her confidence increasing.

‘Well if you’re not, you’ll be out. Sorry to be blunt, but this is our home, it’s our passion, especially Pippa’s, but it’s also a business. Somehow we have to make money, or at least not lose any. You see, I have taken over the running of the animal sanctuary, which we are expanding, but I also look after my father’s investment portfolio. I’m not going to pretend that any of us are in danger of poverty, I can’t apologise for the fact that my father was awfully rich, but at the same time Meadowbrook is important for the animals, for the village, for the family and for our future generations, so I will do all I can to protect it. And besides, I like to succeed, so the hotel has to be a success.’ She laughed, but she was obviously far from joking, and Gemma’s new-found confidence fled as quickly as it arrived.

‘So your role in the hotel?’ Gemma asked, hoping her voice wasn’t as shaky as she felt.

‘Finances. I’ll look after the money, which is what I do best. Gus isn’t bad, but he prefers to look after the gardens, and he also paints, so I’m not sure how much use he’ll be.’

‘So, you’re happy for me to carry on, trying to figure out how best to go about opening the hotel, for now I mean?’ Gemma asked.

Harriet had shown her an almost human side. The way her features softened when she talked about her family was endearing. She was sure Harriet was ambitious and driven and even ruthless, but she seemed caring – she was hit with a wild notion they could be friends. But that was probably temporary insanity.

‘For now. But you see, we all have different ideas, which might be a problem. I see a luxury hotel for professionals wanting to get away from their day-to-day lives – I almost think a kind of corporate retreat. Freddie thinks it should be full of beautiful people who want to spend time watching him make cocktails and getting drunk. Pippa wants to help those who have had their hearts broken – I don’t know how on earth she thinks she’ll manage to target them, by the way, unless we become the anti-Tinder, and Gus wants it to be a creative place where guests can explore their artistic side.’

‘I see.’ She really didn’t.

‘Well you probably don’t.’ Harriet stared at Gemma, who felt exposed under her gaze. ‘And I’m not a tyrant, I do understand that this isn’t going to be easy for you and honestly, I do want to support you. But I’m hoping you’ll be able to see all that for yourself soon. I just want to reiterate: the house needs to maintain its personality. It also has to be beneficial for the village, Parker’s Hollow, and the community as a whole. My father’s memory needs keeping alive, and of course the animal sanctuary, the gardens, all have to be incorporated somehow.’

‘Goodness,’ Gemma started.

‘Oh yes, and Pippa has to feel as if she’s really achieved something. Fred as well to be honest.’

‘Wow.’ Gemma couldn’t help but stare at Harriet. She really did expect a lot. What she described wasn’t a hotel; it was a whole world.

‘Yes, wow, but if you’re as good as Pippa says you are then it shouldn’t be a problem, should it?’

‘Um, no. No, of course not.’ She shook her head.

‘Good, I’m glad we had this chat, and we’ve come to an understanding. Hopefully, we’ll be friends in no time.’

‘That would be lovely.’ Gemma was surprised that Harriet would want to be friends with someone like her, but she also felt her heart lift a bit. It might be possible, after all.

‘Right, what’s your favourite animal? After all, we want you to get started at the sanctuary for the full Meadowbrook experience. The alpacas are quite fun.’ Her lips twitched.

‘Really?’ Gemma’s eyes filled with horror.

‘No, not really, I’m teasing. The alpacas don’t like anyone much, although they seem keenest on Connor. Do you have a preference?’ Harriet spoke as if it were totally normal to be having this conversation.

‘The cats.’ She didn’t hesitate – after her tour, the cats were definitely the easiest and the least scary. She had never had a pet, not even a hamster. Her nan offered to buy her a goldfish once, but it hadn’t come to anything.

‘Great, I’ll put you on the feeding and petting roster. It’s very sad that our domestic animals are waiting for loving homes. Really, I wish we could re-home them all, but it’s a process, so we’re always looking for people to come in and spend time with them – they need affection and love, as well as food.’

Again, Harriet took Gemma by surprise, she sounded so heartfelt.

‘I’d be delighted.’ She was delighted, because it wasn’t the alpacas.

‘Right, so tonight we’re all having dinner here at the house – we try to have a family meal once a week at least – so you’ll meet Connor, Gwen and Gus properly. Unfortunately Amanda can’t make it, but you’ll meet her soon. Tomorrow, in fact. The gardening club are due, so it would be great to spend time with them and Gus, getting to know the gardens.’

‘It all sounds great.’

It did, Gemma thought, feeling a little cowed still, but she also felt a stirring of hope. Harriet was scary, she was confident, and she clearly knew what the purse strings needed to be doing, but at the same time, she seemed fair and reasonable. And if she needed to cuddle a few cats to keep her dream job then she would be happy to do so. She might feel a bit browbeaten and out of her depth, but she also would do anything to keep the job here at Meadowbrook and make it a success. She needed it. But more than that, she realised that she really, really wanted it.

‘This is fabulous, Gwen,’ Harriet said as they sat around the formal dining-room table. Gemma was overwhelmed by family mealtime at Meadowbrook. Her family meals consisted of herself and her nan and whatever was on special in the supermarket that day. Her nan wasn’t a bad cook, but she made traditional things, lots of mashed potatoes, vegetables and meat and nothing considered “foreign”. Tonight they were eating a pasta dish, which was made from scratch, even the pasta. Gwen always cooked the food for family night; she wouldn’t have it any other way. The sauce, which was tomato-based, was the nicest Gemma had ever tasted, and all the vegetables were grown at Meadowbrook. There was also home-made garlic bread, and a fresh salad – again from the Meadowbrook garden.

‘If you serve food like this, you’ll have people flocking to the hotel,’ Gemma said.

There was an easy chatter around the room. Everyone, even Harriet, was relaxed as she and Connor shared some affectionate looks and touches. Gemma still had her guard up, but sitting here, seeing how the family operated, she almost wanted to let her barriers down. Almost but not quite, hence why she tried to stick to comments only relating to the hotel.

‘Thank you, that’s what we’re hoping,’ Gwen said. ‘We thought it would be a feature that we serve as much food that we grow here as we can, and if we don’t grow it here, then we buy local products.’

‘What about meat?’ Gemma asked, noting there wasn’t any and nor had she had any since being here.

‘Well,’ Connor started, looking around the table, ‘we’re pretty much vegetarian, you know with the animal sanctuary and everything. Well I am anyway, as is Harry, but Pippa, Gus and Freddie eat some meat.’