Page 39 of A Christmas Celebration
‘You were in here with us the whole time,’ I pointed out,feeling a bit put out by both the suggestion and his tone. ‘Did you hear me ask him to leave them?’
‘No, but then you could have said something when you went out just now, couldn’t you?’
‘But he would have already left them by then, wouldn’t he?’
Albert shrugged.
‘I don’t know why you’re being like this,’ I said, picking up the tray.
‘You can leave that,’ he barked and I put it back down. ‘In fact, you can leave, too.’
‘What?’
‘I can manage now. And you won’t need to come back.’
‘But your glasses…’ I stammered, my frustration giving way to upset.
‘You’ve just said yourself that I can wear these,’ he said, roughly shoving on the pair Mr Wilson had either genuinely forgotten or discreetly left, ‘and I can see well enough with them to ring and ask him to send the new ones.’
‘Oh,’ I said, feeling my cheeks start to flame. ‘Okay. In that case…’
‘I’m not ungrateful for what you’ve done.’
He could have fooled me.
‘But you can go off and busybody on someone else’s behalf now. I’ll be able to manage on my own again from now on.’
His words hit their mark and tears sprang to my eyes.
‘Bye then,’ I said, as I walked to the door and opened it.
There was no answer and when I looked back, Albert had carried the tea tray to the kitchen and closed the door behindhim. The bubble of excitement I had felt when I got up that morning had disappeared with a pop and for the second time since I’d arrived at Wynthorpe Hall, I left Albert’s cottage with tears streaming down my face. Only this time, for a very different reason.
Chapter 12
I felt absolutely wretched after Albert’s gruff dismissal and my emotions swung like a badly balanced pendulum. One minute I was feeling frustrated with him and the next I was feeling furious with myself. My inability to stick to the original tasks I’d been assigned since arriving at the hall had caused tumult, both for me and the person I had misguidedly tried to help.
I had foolishly thought I was making progress, but that wasn’t the case at all. Within weeks of making the mistake overseas, I had now made another closer to home. I’d told Archie and Kathleen that I wanted zero responsibility and they’d reassured me that I wouldn’t have any. I was the one who hadn’t been able to resist taking more on and it had come back to bite me, but that was it. From now on, I would be sticking to what was written on the lists and not doing a single thing more.
After a day spent cleaning the hall, I was due back in town early on Thursday but first there was Angus’s excitement about the date to contend with.
‘Come along! Come along!’ he excitedly called on the morning of December the first. ‘Come and see what Santa has left us!’
In spite of my upset, I couldn’t help but be swept along by his exhilaration and I couldn’t suppress the gasp which escaped my mouth when I entered the kitchen either.
‘What on earth is that?’ I gaped.
‘The Wynthorpe Hall advent calendar,’ Angus proudly said. ‘Every November thirtieth, Santa has his elves hang it back up, ready for us to enjoy the run-up to the big day.’
‘Assuming we’re all on the nice list,’ Archie, who had come over from the woods with Molly, jokingly added. ‘If we were in trouble, it wouldn’t be here at all, would it, Dad?’
‘Quite right, my boy,’ Angus merrily boomed.
Well, that was something, I supposed. At least my recent mistakes hadn’t been heinous enough to get me booted off Santa’s nice list.
‘Come along, Paige,’ Angus encouraged. ‘You’re up first this year.’
‘Really?’ I laughed.
