Page 98 of The Christmas Retreat
‘It’s like having a special extra Christmas present!’ she said, and she didn’t even make a token protest when it was time for bed a little later.
Evie, too, had lost her air of abstraction and was back to her old decisive self. She finally opened up a little bit about the contents of the Memory Box, which were, she said, surprisingly illuminating about Arwen Madoc’s stay at Triskelion.
‘Luckily Milly Vane kept every letter Arwen wrote her during her visit,’ she said, and I saw Nerys exchange an uneasy look with Timon. Once again, I had the suspicion that there was some kind of family secret she was afraid Evie might ferret out.
‘No diary?’ I asked.
‘No, not as such,’ Evie replied ambiguously. ‘But the letters are very illuminating, since they confirm one or two suspicionsI’d had – the first being that Arwen had helped her father with his paintings from quite a young age, after he developed a tremor in his hands.’
Some of the tension seemed to leave Nerys and she said, with interest, ‘Really?’
‘I remember you said you suspected that, ages ago,’ I said. ‘Did you make any more interesting discoveries?’
Evie smiled, showing a lot of teeth. ‘I’m not ready to disclose what I’ve learned from the contents of the box just yet. In fact, I copied the letters and emailed them to Liv for her to transcribe into a Word document. That will make them easier to work on, but there are other documents I’m still typing up myself.’
‘Whatkindof documents?’ I asked, but Evie just tapped the side of her nose infuriatingly and said I’d have to wait a little longer, while she got both her notes and her thoughts in order.
‘However, there’s something you could help me with, Nerys.’
‘Oh?’ said Nerys, looking tense and wary again.
‘I’d like your permission to search the attic tomorrow.’
‘Search theattic?’ Nerys repeated blankly.
‘Yes, the one above our bedrooms, which Tudor says is just used for storing junk and suitcases – the usual kind of thing.’
‘That’s true,’ agreed Timon. ‘It’s just a lumber room, really, with all the broken or unwanted furnishings of the past decades in it.’
‘I’ve only ever gone up there to help you fetch down the Christmas decorations, or to get my suitcases, Timon,’ agreed Rhys.
‘What do you think you might find up there?’ asked Nerys, still looking edgy.
‘The answer to something that puzzled me. I was sure Arwenmust have created a lot more work than was extant in the trunks of her belongings that came to me through my mother, or the three paintings of hers I have so far tracked down, and her letters to Milly Vane confirm this. But it seems that when she made up her mind to run away from Triskelion, she hid what she couldn’t carry away with her in the attic.’
Nerys seemed to relax again and looked interested. ‘If she did, then I don’t think anyone can have discovered them since. And of course, I’m happy for you to search the attic, but it will be very dusty, and I expect some things will have to be moved out of the way.’
The others had all been listening with interest.
‘A treasure hunt!’ said Noel.
‘It’s quite exciting. We could all go and have a looknow?’ suggested Timon.
‘There isn’t much light up there, I’m afraid,’ Nerys said. ‘And things are fairly jammed in so there’s not much room to manoeuvre.’
‘Tomorrow will do admirably and I’ll just need two helpers,’ Evie said firmly. ‘Rhys, for some muscle power, if you don’t mind.’
‘I’ll be delighted,’ Rhys said, grinning.
‘And Ginny, who is small and slight enough to squeeze into small spaces.’
‘You couldn’t keep me away!’ I told her. ‘After all, Arwen was my great-grandmother, so I feel I should be in on any discoveries!’
‘The rest of us will just have to contain our curiosity until you’ve searched,’ said Timon. ‘But I’m not sure how you will keep Cariad from joining you, if she finds out what you are up to!’
‘That’s OK, Mel’s nanny is picking her up early tomorrow and taking the girls out for the day. The zoo again, I think, and then a film in the afternoon in Llandudno Junction,’ said Nerys. ‘Since Rhys’s old nanny retired from looking after Cariad, the Prynnes’ nanny looks after the girls a lot during the holidays, and there’s more for them to do at the castle than here, too.’
‘It sounds a very sensible arrangement,’ Evie said. ‘I was lucky because I hired a nanny for Ginny and she turned into an excellent housekeeper and PA.’
