Page 18 of The House of Hopes and Dreams
‘They’ve made it very clear that they do, and Willow had already drawn up an inventory of the contents of the cottage before I got back, so she could check I only take what belongs to me personally,’ I said bitterly. ‘Nat is doing the same thing right this moment in the workshop.’
‘It beggars belief that they should behave in such a vindictive way for no good reason,’ he said sadly. ‘Do you have anywhere to go to until you decide on your future – a relative, perhaps?’
‘No, there’s only my mother and stepfather in Antigua, though I could stay with Molly and Grant Long for a few days – that’s Grant from the workshop. I’ll have to pack over Christmas and put my things into storage until I know what I’m doing, and what Nat intends doing with the workshop.’
‘Since he immediately applied for permission to continue the business until the legalities are completed, it appears he intends running the workshop himself. This will obviously put you in a difficult position when he becomes, to all intents and purposes, your employer.’
‘I hadn’t really considered that aspect of it yet,’ I said. ‘Whatever happens, it’s my intention to finish off Julian’s final commission as quickly as I can. I was painting some of the pieces for it early this morning.’
I paused and thought it through. ‘Nat won’t want me working there, but he hasn’t got an artistic bone in his body, so he’ll need to find someone to replace me. I mean, he can carry on making new windows in Julian’sstyleindefinitely, but it will all get very stale. He can’t very well accept new commissions as Angel Arrowsmith, though.’
‘Very true,’ Mr Barley agreed.
I ran my fingers through my short, tangled mop of brown curls. ‘It’ll be best if I pre-empt Nat by handing in my notice when he comes backafter Christmas, but for Julian’s sake, I’ll tell him I won’t leave until he finds someone else.’
‘Could you afford to set up on your own?’
‘No, not really, because I don’t have a huge amount of savings and I’ll need to rent somewhere to live, too. I mean, Julian paid me generous wages and also let me take some private design commissions, so I’ve got a little nest egg, only I tended to break into it whenever I heard of anyone selling up and putting their stock of Antique glass on to the market. Julian said I was like a squirrel storing up nuts against a rainy day – and here it is, a perfect storm!’
I sighed. ‘I expect I’ll have to move away in order to get a job with another firm, probably somewhere down south. And I really don’t want to do that, because I love this area of Lancashire. This is where my grandparents lived and where my roots are, even if I wasn’t brought up here.’
‘Couldn’t your mother and stepfather help you in these circumstances?’ he suggested.
‘Mum doesn’t have any money of her own, and though I like my stepfather, I’ve never felt I had any claim on him, and he’s already forked out for my school fees and put me through university. No, I’ll find another job.’
‘I wouldn’t imagine you’d find that difficult, because Julian told me your work was increasingly in demand.’
‘I have had a couple of job offers from firms who haven’t realized Julian and I were a couple and I wasn’t just working for him.’
I’d always valued my independence, which was probably why I hadn’t wanted to marry. I liked earning my own wages and in fact Imorethan earned them, for I worked longer hours than those I was paid for: you do, when you love your profession. Julian and I were never happier than when we were together in the studio, working separately, but attuned by our mutual passion for what we were creating.
Mind you, that idyll had come to an end after Julian’s first stroke, though I counted myself lucky to have had those years.
I sat up straighter. Time for decisions. ‘Thank you for making everything so clear to me and being so kind,’ I told him gratefully. ‘I’ll pack up my things over Christmas, put them into storage, then move in withMolly and Grant while I finish off the commissioned work and look for a new job. It will at least stop me thinking too much.’
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to help,’ Mr Barley said, getting up and shaking hands.
‘At least I’ve got it all clear in my mind and a plan of action. And now I’d better get back and make sure Nat hasn’t added my stock of glass to his workshop inventory!’
It was still barely mid-morning and though I didn’t feel hungry – I was starting to think I’d never feel hungry again – I thought I’d better have something now because I had a couple of short visits to pay before my return to the workshop.
So I had a large, warm and buttered cheese scone and coffee in the village café, while making a few notes before I set off to call on the vicar who would be taking Julian’s service tomorrow, followed by the undertakers. Nat was going to have one or two surprises …
When I arrived home and parked at the side of the cottage, Nat’s car was gone and there was no one about. He wasn’t at the workshop either; there was just Grant and old Ivan sitting in the studio, finishing their lunch.
‘Have a Chelsea bun,’ Grant said, offering an old biscuit tin. ‘Molly baked them this morning and brought some down.’
‘Where’s Nat?’ I asked, automatically taking one and then wondering if I could actually eat it after my scone: they were quite big.
‘That Willow wafted in earlier and dragged him off somewhere,’ Ivan said. ‘Just as well, because he’d poked his nose into every corner of the place by then and his face was enough to curdle milk.’
‘How did you get on with the solicitor?’ asked Grant.
‘Mr Barley said Nat was right and he will inherit everything. I have no legal status because Julian and I weren’t married, so he can take over the house and business whenever he likes.’
‘Well, that don’t seem fair,’ Ivan said, running a gnarled hand through his thick thatch of silver hair. ‘And even if it’s true, he shouldn’t be throwing his weight about even before the burial. It ain’t decent.’
‘He may be legally in the right, but he doesn’t have to be so unpleasant about it,’ Grant said.
