Page 32 of A French Country Escape
‘I’ve never spent much time here in the actual château,’ Eliza said. ‘I used to help William in the stables occasionally but…’ She stopped as she saw the statue in the foyer. ‘Merlin,’ Eliza whispered as she turned excitedly to Peter. ‘C’est incroyable.’
‘We found him in the stables and sent him off to be restored, he was in a bad way. He’s only been back a couple of months.’
‘He looks perfect in here, better than being outside,’ Eliza said.
‘The strange thing is the name plaque, although damaged, was still attached, so we’ve always known he was called Merlin, we just didn’t know his history,’ Peter said.
‘I’m sure he’ll thank you for his restoration and work the magic that William always insisted Merlin the real horse had,’ Eliza said, her voice cracking with emotion as she moved closerto gently stroke the statue. ‘It broke William’s heart when the Ermottes took him to Ireland and he had to say goodbye to him.’
24
Sasha was still thinking about Eliza the next morning as she walked Mimi and Mitzi along one of the paths she’d discovered in the château grounds. Eliza had been quite emotional when she had returned from seeing Merlin, and had left soon afterwards, with Alice and Lucas hovering protectively at her side. Ingrid had asked Sasha before she left if she would think about how the contents of the box could be displayed in the château entrance hall.
Some of the racecards, the photo of William and Merlin and also the poster could be framed and hung on the wall, Sasha decided. Rosettes and some of the more fragile weigh-in cards and racecards could be displayed in a locked glass-topped cabinet beneath them. The photo and the other items would need mounting in cardboard before framing them – something she could easily do in her workroom once it was operational.
Sasha gave a frustrated sigh. So far, she’d painted the walls and that was it. Until she got a working desk, some shelves and a cupboard, and could empty the boxes piled on the floor, it was impossible to do any work in there. She was hoping to find a few things she needed at the upcoming villagevide-grenier. Itwasn’t that she was desperate to start earning money right away, but she really wanted to get back into sketching and painting. It had been out of her life for far too long.
Freddie, on the other hand, was getting more and more work. He had two regular customers in the village and another three in the next village, as well as working for Peter several days a week now on the estate. He was grumbling the other morning as he’d joined Sasha for breakfast, about not having the time to do much to the cottages. ‘The weather’s so good, everyone wants their garden sorted for summer instantly.’
‘There will probably be rainy days when you can’t work outside,’ Sasha had said. ‘So make the best of it.’
Today Freddie was working with Peter, finishing the cleaning of the fountains in the Italian garden. Three of them, all with old granite horse statues and small ponds, had been built into the rock at the beginning of the twentieth century and were apparently fed by a natural spring from higher up the valley. Peter was desperate to see them working now they’d been cleared of all the self-seeded small trees and weeds.
The path Sasha was following petered out by a small wood of hawthorne and ash trees, brambles and a holly bush. A few metres away on the far side of the copse, a white wooden pole and rail fence stopped access onto the field directly ahead. Mimi and Mitzi, desperate to explore this new exciting playground, tugged on their leads.
‘No,’ Sasha said firmly. Shortening both leads and pulling the pups to heel, she started to walk home.
Back at the cottage, both the pups flopped onto their bed as if totally exhausted, which Sasha knew was not true. They would be up and bouncy in an instant, ready for another walk if one were to be offered.
Sitting out on the terrace with a piece of toast and a cup of tea, Sasha thought about her day. She needed a few things fromthe village shop and then she’d walk up to the château to see how Ingrid and Penny were. Ask whether they needed any help with anything.
Putting her mug and plate in the sink to deal with later, she saw the van keys hanging from the hook by the door. Sasha took a deep breath before taking them off the hook, picking up her purse and grabbing her tote from the back of the kitchen door before closing it. She was going to drive to the village, like she’d been promising herself for weeks she was going to do. The main thing was to stop thinking about it and just do it.
Sitting behind the steering wheel, Sasha carefully adjusted the seat and the mirror before ignoring her shaking hand and slipping the key into the ignition and turning the engine on. ‘I can always turn back at the main gates,’ she told herself.
But she didn’t, and a few minutes later she was parking by the church in the village.
Pulling on the handbrake and turning off the engine, Sasha mentally gave herself a high five. She’d get what she needed in the shop and then she’d go to the boulangerie and buy a gooey cake or two to celebrate.
Both Ingrid and Penny had set their laptops up on the kitchen table after breakfast and spread the paperwork they’d already accumulated for the ‘wedding of the year’, as Ingrid had christened it, over the rest of the table.
‘I sent the quote last night, so hopefully Stella will email her acceptance this morning,’ Penny said. ‘I also suggested the minimum number of bottles of wine she needs to buy for the after-party – hopefully she’ll know how much her friends drink.Did you make a list of what you found on the internet? I’ve done one for cooking trays, extra bowls and serving things.’
‘Mine’s mainly crockery, glasses, cutlery, tablecloths, ornaments, fairy lights, candles,’ Ingrid said. ‘I was thinking about tables and chairs – we haven’t any guests that weekend so we could use the dining room furniture, d’you think?’
‘Good idea,’ Penny agreed. ‘If they’re not too big and heavy.’ She glanced at her laptop as an email pinged in. ‘Stella is happy with the quote and the small changes to the menu I suggested. Phew. Right. We’ve got two weeks now to sort everything. It’s going to be tight, but we’ll do it. I think we’ll order the bread rolls and baguettes from the boulangerie. I can make them, but even with two domestic ovens and everything else that needs to be cooked, making enough could prove difficult. We’ll get the cheese from the village shop too. Spread the business locally. Could do with someone trustworthy to delegate a few things to.’
‘Why not take Sasha up on her offer to help?’ Ingrid said.
‘I’m here, ready and able,’ Sasha called as she walked into the kitchen. ‘So long as you don’t want me to cook – although I don’t mind preparing veg or washing up.’ She placed the box of cakes on the kitchen table. ‘But first, have a celebratory cake,’ and she opened the box with its strawberry and cream tartlets. ‘I drove to the village this morning,’ she said, a big smile on her face. ‘So no more excuses about driving, although I’m not sure about driving to Carhaix yet.’
Penny got up and put some plates on the table. ‘Well done. I’ll make some coffee.’
As they drank coffee and ate the tarts, Penny told Sasha what she needed help with. ‘Menus to go on tables – need about thirty-five, one for each place setting and a couple of spares, but what I’d ideally like is for there to be a faint outline of the château visible with the menu overwritten, and on fairly stiff paper or thin cardboard.’
‘I can do that. Next,’ Sasha said.
‘The orangery needs to be made as romantic-looking as possible on a small budget.’
