Amelia Grey's Fireside Dream (31 page)

A Christmas tree stood in the corner, the tip nearly touching the ceiling, a tiny angel balanced on the top.

‘It feels like home now, doesn’t it?’ Jack said, turning to me, his face warmly coloured by the glow of the fire.

‘It does. Well, almost.’

He looked at me. ‘You think we need to do more work on the place? I thought you said that we were finally finished? Just a few changes to the dining room, right?’

I shrugged and smiled at him. Over these past few weeks, something inside me had shifted. Perhaps it was that after all the ups and downs of the year I felt closer to Jack, and more in love with him than ever. Maybe it was finally understanding what my mother had gone through in order to bring me up, and realizing she was a better parent than I’d ever thought. Or perhaps it was seeing Eleanor, getting a glimpse of the pain she still had inside over not being able to be a mother to every child she’d given birth to. My ideas weren’t set any more. I didn’t need me and Jack to remain just the way we were. I wasn’t scared of change any more. Rather than being a project drawing to a tidy conclusion, finishing the cottage felt like the start of something for the two of us.

‘It’s just that we’ve got a spare room upstairs,’ I continued, ‘and I’m not sure we need a study after all. And the garden … it seems too good now, not to share.’

‘What are you saying?’ he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

‘The room upstairs, with the view of the apple tree,’ I
said. In an instant I imagined how the cottage would be. Full of laughter, and chaos, and mud – and it wasn’t such a bad image after all. ‘It would make a lovely nursery, wouldn’t it?’

Jack took my hand and squeezed it tight, a wide smile spreading across his face. ‘Are you sure you’re ready? We can wait, if you want.’

‘Nothing can be harder work than doing up this cottage, can it?’

‘You want to bet?’

‘I’m ready for the challenge.’

Jack took me into his arms and kissed me. In that kiss I felt the blending of our past and present and a glimpse – just a glimpse – of our future.

On the Mood Board

Large oak table from Heal’s, wooden chairs, branches draped in fairy lights, fireplace with Christmas cards on the mantelpiece, Persian rug on the floor, dark red curtains, mistletoe
.

Wednesday, 25 December

The dining room was the last room in the cottage that we finished, and Jack and I had done it with my mum’s help. The two of us had hacked away at the green-tiled seventies fireplace to reveal the original brick one behind it. I’d sewn the red drape curtains and reupholstered the window seat, and Jack had papered the walls in a cream and red paper that matched the soft furnishings.

But it was Mum who noticed that just a couple of weeks before Christmas we still didn’t have a dining table or any chairs, only the cheap kitchen table we’d brought with us from Addison Road. As a surprise, she bought us a beautiful oak table from Heal’s, with matching chairs, that she knew Jack and I had fallen for. It was a very generous Christmas present, and one we were making use of today.

Eleanor was seated at the head of the table, closest to the fire that kept the room toasty. To her left was David, and opposite him my mum. Then came me and Jack, with Sunita, Nico and baby Bella next to us. A funny sort of family really, but just the right one for me.

In the centre of the table were decorations made from holly and the evergreens from the garden, wound into candle holders and left as sprigs. Red candles bathed the room in a warm light.

Mum passed me a plate piled high with pigs in blankets, and smiled. ‘Your Grandma Niki would be pleased to see you serving these. They were her favourite.’

‘Most of this stuff is from her recipes,’ I said, looking out over the Christmas spread, our dining table heaving with turkey, roast potatoes and bread sauce.

‘She was a great cook, my mum,’ Mum said to David. ‘Taught us all a thing or two.’

‘Seconds for me, please,’ Eleanor called out from the head of the table, banging her fork against her plate.

With her family around her, in what was once her home, Eleanor bore barely any resemblance to the woman I’d seen lost at the bottom of the garden. Back then her skin had been translucent and her eyes empty and she’d seemed adrift. Today she was wearing a smart red top and had her hair neatly combed and there was a glow in her cheeks. ‘Delicious, this is,’ she said.

‘Seems like today’s a good day,’ David said to me quietly, with a smile. ‘The cottage looks wonderful. I think that’s cheered her up.’

My dad had called me that morning to wish us a happy Christmas, and to let me know that he’d paid our loan back in full. It was too late to use it on the house, but we had something else in mind for it now. He invited Jack and me to stay with him in the new year, and this time I’d said yes.

Mirabel had snatched the phone off him to tell me about the NVQ course she’d signed up for, a foundation in animal care. She wanted to get some more experience on farms over the next year and then planned to start the following September.

Callum wasn’t here today – when December had rolled round he’d driven to Spain. He’d left some presents under the tree for all of us to open though, and said he’d be back next summer to see how the garden was doing. ‘Perhaps we could talk again then about the summer house,’ he’d said. With the permanent job I’d had confirmed at Woodlands
Secondary starting in the spring, we might actually be able to afford it this year.

As for Carly and Alex, my Facebook timeline was full of pictures of the two of them sunbathing on Bondi and eating oysters in Sydney fish market. Carly looked tanned and happy, and Alex was relaxed beside her in board shorts. It seemed now as if they’d always been together.

Bella gurgled from her place on Sunita’s lap. ‘I think she’s enjoying her first Christmas,’ Nico said, tickling his daughter under her chin. ‘Hopefully next year she’ll be able to eat a bit more.’

‘She loves the fairy lights,’ Sunita said. ‘She’s been staring at them for ages.’

‘You guys have done so much with this place,’ Nico added.

‘I guess we have, haven’t we?’ I replied.

Jack caught my eye and smiled. ‘It feels like home now,’ he said.

I thought of the plans we’d made, and realized it was finally true.

Abby, here. I hope you enjoyed reading about Amelia and Jack’s adventures in home renovation! In case you’re inspired to take on the challenge yourself, I’ve got a few ideas to get you started.

As always, I’d love to hear about your own home make-over triumphs (or catastrophes!) Here are the ways you can contact me …

www.abbyclements.co.uk

Twitter:
@abbycbooks

Pinterest:
/abbycbooks

Lots of love,

Abby x

In the book, Amelia plans how she wants her house to look by using a mood board. Here are a few tips on how to get started making your own!

1. A mood board is a collection of colours, textures, images and shapes that will help you plan how you want a space to look before you begin decorating. Professional interior designers use them to create a feel for a room, and to check that everything from the furniture to the fittings look good together.
   
2. You can make a mood board either on the computer, or scrap-book-style on paper. Work how you feel most comfortable.
   
3. Begin by brainstorming images that make you happy, and that you want to be incorporated into your space. These can be anything from colours and patterns to images of people, places or things you love. For example, if you want your bedroom to have the feel of retro Hollywood, find some pictures of vintage fashion, beautiful houses, or stills of old films and add them to the board to inspire you!
   
4. Remember your mood board doesn’t have to be flat – fabrics, textures, bobbles and buttons make great additions.
   
5. Be realistic – we’d all love to have an unlimited budget, but your mood board will be most useful if it’s a practical tool. Use the board to brainstorm the most cost-friendly ways to get the look you love.
   

Good luck! x

Where were you born?
In north London

What’s your favourite tipple?
Rum and ginger beer

What superpower would you want?
To know what male family members really want for Christmas

Dog or cat?
Dog all the way – particularly dressed in antlers or silly outfits (sorry, dogs)

What keeps you sane?
Friends who’ve known me since I was in school, when I wore huge red glasses and my mum cut my fringe

What scares you?
I can’t swim in the sea without thinking of great white sharks

Beaches or adventure?
Both. Just not at the same time, thanks (see above)

What’s your holiday read?
The Villa
by Rosanna Ley

What is the best present you’ve ever received?
A silver necklace with a fox, from my boyfriend. The chain also has a little silver hat on it, so at certain points of the day the fox can be wearing the hat. Hours of entertainment for a writer with deadlines to meet

What have you learned about yourself as you’ve got older?
That I’m more cheerful after my first coffee of the day

What would people be surprised to discover about you?
Quite how grumpy I can be before that

Sweet or savoury?
I love chocolatey things

What is your favourite way to travel?
Buses – I can’t resist snooping in people’s first floor windows …

What’s your comfort food?
Macaroni cheese, or gnocchi. Yum. I can’t resist carbs

Night in or night out?
summer – night out, winter – night in by the fire

As always, thanks go to my brilliant editor Jo, whose creativity, skill and kind encouragement has been essential in shaping this novel from the very start, and to my agent Caroline Hardman, for her practical support, keen editorial eye and unwavering sense of humour.