Page 36 of The Runner
‘You’ve done the most amazing job,’ she said, reaching up to kiss him. ‘And the best thing is I can see you’re loving it.’
He nodded. ‘I am. I think I may have found my dream job and am looking forward to developing this place. We’ll hire a small team to support us in the day-to-day running, so we can focus on the more interesting aspects.’
‘Wonderful. That means I can assist when needed, but will have time for the launch of my new book and for my client work. I’ve neglected my consultancy during the past few years, but I feel the urge to run with it again.’
George said, ‘I’m so pleased it’s all coming together for you, Dr Bailey… I mean, Dr Cavendish, or will you go by the name Dr Cara Bailey-Cavendish for your work?’
‘Bailey-Cavendish has a lovely ring to it, don’t you think?’
‘It does. Will you work from here or would you prefer to return to your office in the city?’
She shook her head. ‘I’ll work from here. As a Tudor and Elizabethan specialist, it would be crazy not to make the most of the opportunity to have my office on an authentic Tudor estate. My clients will love it. Besides, it will be brilliant working near each other but both having plenty to keep us busy with our various projects.’
George pulled her into his arms. ‘Perfect. I want you to do what’s right for you, but both of us being based here at the house is brilliant. It was your idea even before we bought the estate, if you recall?’
Cara nodded. ‘I do. I imagine I’ll need to travel for client assignments and the occasional conference like I used to, but it shouldn’t be often, so most of the time we’ll be working here together.’
They walked around the main room of the new centre and caught up with Kate. ‘What do you make of it all?’ said George.
‘I think it’s amazing. What’s the story with this priest hole? I see it says we can view it in the library. I don’t remember you mentioning that!’
George shifted his weight from one shoe to the other, and Cara stayed quiet, letting him handle the sensitive topic. He always knew what to say. It wouldn’t do for them both to blurt out different versions of what had happened in their effort to avoid saying the unsayable.
‘Cara discovered it recently, quite by chance, when she was organising the books in the library. The shelf lurched backwards to reveal one of those infamous priest holes so common in the Tudor and Elizabethan eras.’
Kate’s eyes gleamed. ‘Goodness. I want to see that. Show me, please!’
George and Cara exchanged a discreet look. Kate wasn’t someone who could be brushed off easily, and they both saw how excited she was by the unusual discovery. They may as well deal with it now—as if it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in a Tudor house.
‘Okay, let’s walk back to the house and you can check it out. I’m afraid the idea of it is significantly more exciting than the reality… it’s just a dark tunnel that leads nowhere, but come—it’s fitting you should be our first visitor to check it out,’ said George.
Apart from Eddie.
George and Cara exchanged another look as they crossed the yard and headed towards the back of the house, through the kitchen and up through the maze of corridors,and then arrived outside the heavy wooden library door.
‘Have you seen this room yet, Sis?’ asked George.
‘I don’t think I have unless I saw it when we were here for the wedding?’
George shook his head. ‘No, I shouldn’t think so.’
He opened the door and beckoned for Kate and Cara to enter ahead of him. Kate’s face was animated as she surveyed the library. ‘This is absolutely divine. What a simply gorgeous room. I can’t believe I haven’t been in here before,’ she said, spinning around like a manic dreidel,only stopping to study the names of the tomes on the floor-to-ceiling shelves, and then crossing to gaze out of the tall windows. After a few minutes appreciating the view, she turned and said, ‘I cannot tell you just how much I love this place. And this room feels like home. I can’t put my finger on it, but do you ever have that feeling you’ve been somewhere before even though you know you haven’t? This is how this house feels to me. And this room even more so. Deja-vu is the only way to describe it.’
George and Cara looked at Kate, and then at each other.
‘Do you know what I mean?’ said Kate. ‘Did you feel it too when you first entered the house, George?’
‘A little, yes. It seemed familiar. I put it down to all the stories we’ve heard about the house since we were kids. Those things enter our consciousness more than we realise.’
Kate nodded and then switched her laser focus to Cara. ‘I don’t suppose it was the same for you, with the estate being fairly new to you?’
Cara nodded. ‘Living here gives me a lovely feeling of being connected to history. It’s certainly the perfect home for a historian,’ said Cara. ‘Of course, I don’t have the same long-standing ties to it as you two. I am new to the Cavendish fold, but I already feel very much at home,’ she said carefully. ‘It’s such a beautiful house.’
‘It’s only natural you’d feel something after hearing so much about Willow Manor over the years,’ said George, turning to Kate.
‘Yes, that must be it. Although, I do wonder about deja-vu. I read an article recently about past lives and how when we have that odd feeling of having been somewhere before, it’s because in a former life we have. Woo-woo, I know, but that stuff fascinates me,’ said Kate, with a wry smile.
‘Me too,’ said Cara.
