Dawn worked swiftly, drying out and then relighting the AGA explaining to Molly and Mrs. Jessop what she was doing as she went along. She stood, and dusted herself down. Her white skirt now streaked with black soot and dirty water.
Mrs. Jessop smiled for the first time since Dawn and Gabe had come into the kitchen. “Thank you. I’ll remember that for the next time.” She looked at Molly. “I hope you were paying attention, my girl.”
“Yes, Mrs. Jessop.”
“Good. Now go and wash your face and get those carrots on to cook.” She turned to Gabe. “Dinner will be half an hour, sir.”
“Thank you.” He took Dawn’s hand and led her up a different set of stairs. These led to the main entrance hall. “We should probably find you something else to wear.”
“What on earth is going on?” Countess Florence’s voice echoed, dripping with disapproval.
Dawn’s pleasure at having fixed the AGA evaporated swiftly as she saw Gabe’s mother standing in the hallway, Blake at her side.
“There was a problem in the kitchen,” Gabe told her. “Dawn fixed it.”
“So I see,” the old woman muttered.
“Mother,” Blake said. His scowl resounded in his voice.
“I don’t remember inviting her for dinner.”
“I did,” Gabe said, not letting go of Dawn’s hand.
“Well, she isn’t eating at my table looking like that. She’ll get soot all over the chairs, and they date back to the 1800’s.”
“So, I’ll find her something else to wear,” Gabe said, his scowl matching the one on Blake’s face. “Or I’ll put a cover over them. They are my chairs. This is my house and my guest,
Dowager
Countess.”
His mother glowered. “How dare you speak to me like that?”
Dawn had had enough. “Actually, I can’t stay for dinner. I just remembered I have something to do at home.”
“Good.” Countess Florence turned her back. “And don’t come over again. Not unless I invite you myself. And that is not going to happen.”
“Mother. I need a word in the study
now
.” Gabe turned to Dawn. “Dawn, I’m sorry. If you’ll excuse me just a moment, I’m going to take care of this situation. Please stay. There wouldn’t be any dinner if it weren’t for you.” He grabbed his mother’s arm walking with her.
“OK,” she whispered, not really wanting to stay, but not able to get home.
“Come on, Dawn.” Blake winked, and she knew the silly smile was to defuse his mother’s atrocious behavior. Dawn wondered what had happened in the woman’s past to make her that way, but the countess wasn’t her problem and at the moment getting home was.
She walked to stand by Blake.
He smiled at her. “Gabe’s right. You leave and Mother’s won. Can’t have that. So how about we go find something to drink in the library before dinner.”
“I can’t stay. It’ll just make things worse for him. I’m sorry. I’d better go.”
“Then I’ll take you home.” He walked with her from the house and over to his car. Once they were seated inside he looked at her. “See, Mother’s got this thing about the title and behaving properly. They almost lost the house after the First World War. Several bad investments and a gambling habit meant we were left with the then Countess having to work just to keep the estate afloat. She ended up working in vaudeville as a singer, having first failed as a teacher in the local school. You can imagine the scandal.”
“Yeah.”
Blake started the car. “The marriage between Mother and Father was an arranged one—her dowry made the estate solvent again. And she’s never let anyone forget it. So Gabe working as an actor just doesn’t sit well with her—just rubs salt into an already raw wound. And being the eldest, he’s always had a huge measure set against him, and he’s never managed to meet it. But he’s got an impeccable sense of right and wrong.”
Dawn nodded. No doubt her being a teacher wasn’t helping any either.
Blake dropped her off, and Dawn walked up the path. A bunch of cornflowers lay on the doorstep. Without even reading the card, she lifted the lid of the dustbin and tossed them inside.
~*~
Gabe shut the study door and prayed for guidance as to what to say.
His mother stood by the desk, rigid and unyielding. “Well? Are you going to do as I say and not see that woman again?”
“No. I will see who I like in my own house. And this is my house and my staff. You have wanted me to step up since Dad died and take control both of my life and the estate. Well, this is what I’m doing. If you don’t like the way I run things or live my life, then you can pack up and move out.”
“I beg your pardon?” Outrage crossed the Dowager Countess’s face. “You know full well that Blake is using the Dower House for his children’s home. Another venture I don’t approve of.”
Gabe sighed. Was there anything his mother approved of? “Mother…I don’t want a heated debate over my choice of occupation. Or over my choice of friends. I’ve allowed you a certain measure of latitude since Dad died. I know how much we owe you—that without you the estate would no longer exist. But things are different now. And if you don’t like it, well you’ll need to make other arrangements. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my dinner guests are waiting.” He paused. “Will you be joining us?”
“No, I will not.”
“Then I will have your meal brought to you on a tray. Where would you like it?”
“My room.” His mother turned and left the room, almost blazing a trail behind her.
Gabe rubbed his hands over his face and sucked in a deep breath before going to find Dawn and Blake. If they were still here. The way his day was going, it’d be dinner for one. In which case, he’d eat in the study.
11
Monday break time arrived with a bunch of blue roses. Dawn inhaled the scent deeply before reading the card.
Dawn, these mean impossible and unattainable. Which is what your forgiveness is, but I am really, really sorry. In Derbyshire this week. Will call when I get home.
Dawn slowly walked down the hallway.
“More roses?” came Jonathan’s amused voice behind her. “I think it’s time you are honest here.”
Dawn moved to the side of the corridor and lowered her voice. “OK, yes, I like him, a lot. But his mother hates me. He’s a different person around her and up at the house. I simply don’t know where I stand with him.”
“Then you need to go and talk to him.”
“He’s away filming still.”
“Then go up there. Tomorrow is an inset day. I’ll give you the papers you’ll need to cover the course so you can miss it and see him.”
“Are you sure?” Dawn was surprised. Normally, no one was allowed to miss a training day, unless on their death bed.
“Quite sure. Now go text the man and tell him you’re coming up to see him.” Jonathan took the flowers. “I’ll put these in the staff room for you.”
She rubbed her temples. “OK.”
“Are you all right?”
“Headache, that’s all.”
Jonathan handed her the flowers. “In that case, go home. I’ll cover your classes today. Go, before I change my mind.”
“After lunch. I’ll take this class then go.” Dawn went back to her classroom and looked out of the window. The summer sun beat down sending ripples of heat rising from the tarmac. She pulled out her phone. Hesitating briefly, she texted Gabe.
Need to talk to you. Can I see you 2moro? I will come to you as have day off.
The phone beeped just as the kids piled into the classroom. The message was from Gabe.
That’s fine. Need to talk to you too. Meet me Ladybower Dam midday. Filming AM. Free in afty.
Dawn dropped her phone into her bag. She moved over to the window to open it. “OK, settle down.” The same red sports car was parked over the road from the school. The driver, black hair, middle aged, same bloke as before, leaned against it, looking up at her classroom.
Jonathan stuck his head around the door. “Miss Stannis, do you have a minute?”
“Mr. Brooks, you’re just the man I wanted to see.” Dawn went over to him, an idea striking her. “Fancy coming outside with me and the kids? My stalker’s back. There is a red car parked opposite the school. I’ve planned to have the students count cars as a carbon emission experiment.”
Jonathan grinned. “Nice—just leave the stalker alone. Did you phone your friend?”
“I did. It’s all arranged for tomorrow.”
“Good, don’t come back until it’s sorted.”
Dawn turned to the class. “OK, grab your pencils, notebooks and come and line up. Mr. Brooks and I are taking you outside to count the traffic.”
Henry looked at her. “Why?”
“I want you to note the color, make and model of all the cars parked around the school and that pass by. We’ll repeat the experiment on and off all week, at different times of the day. See how it differs and what effect the pollution is having on our environment.”
~*~
Watching the stalker had had the desired effect, and he’d gotten back in his car and driven off. At the end of the lesson, Dawn drove home in a car that was more like an oven than anything else. She lugged her stuff up the path to the house. On the doorstep lay another bunch of cornflowers. She sighed and dropped them straight into the bin. Then she shivered. She did a slow three-sixty, the feeling she was being watched heavy upon her.
Not seeing anyone, she headed inside and locked all the doors. She grabbed the landline phone and called the florist.
“Carnation Street Florist.”
“Hi, it’s Dawn Stannis. This is kind of a silly question really, but have you been delivering a lot of roses to me recently?”
The florist laughed. “That would be from Gabriel Tyler. He comes in or rings each day for them.”
“What about cornflowers?”
“No…we don’t sell those. No one has ever asked for them.”
Dawn pushed a hand through her hair. “OK, thanks.” She rang another three florists before she found what she was looking for.
“Yes, we stock them. I have a regular daily order for them. They are collected and paid for in cash.”
“What does he look like?”
“Black hair, about five ten, mid-forties maybe. He has strange eyes.”
Dawn shivered. It was him, it had to be.
“And he drives a red sports car with a personalized plate.
GAB 8T.
”
Dawn leaned back against the wall with a thud. Her heart sank. Her throat tightened and she felt sick. Gabe’s car. The same one she’d been in. She wasn’t sure if it was the one following her as the front plate was broken and needed replacing.
Things would get sorted tomorrow, but not the way she’d initially wanted. This had to end. One way or another.
~*~
Gabe finished for the day and walked into the car park at Ladybower Dam just as Dawn pulled in to the only free space. The morning had been busy, with multiple takes of the same scene, and he had begun to doubt he’d be done by lunch at all. He crossed quickly to the car smiling as the door opened. “Hey, how was the drive?”
“Long. The traffic was awful.”
“I’m glad you’re here though.”
Dawn picked up her bag searching for something. “Are you still filming?”
“I’m done for the day. Shall we go for a walk while we talk? I would drive us somewhere, but I don’t have my car with me.”
“Oh?”
“Peters drove me up here in the limo. He’s collecting me on Friday.”
She put her sunglasses on. “Why didn’t you bring your car?”
“Mother insisted on Peters driving me and no one but me drives my baby.” He held the door for her as she climbed out of the car and stretched.
“Ah.” She locked the door and shouldered her bag. An expression he couldn’t fathom crossed her face. “So, which way?”
“There’s a chip shop just down this way a bit.”
“OK.” She began walking with him keeping pace easily.
“I really am sorry about Sunday,” he said. He knew she said she wanted to talk, but he figured it was about this and decided to start himself. “Mother had no right to speak to you like that, and I told her so in no uncertain terms after you left. That’s why I didn’t run after you or take you home myself—I wanted to deal with it there and then. Mother wants me to take this role of Earl seriously, so I will. And that means running the house as I see fit.”
“I see.”
“It’s hard,” he said honestly. “I’m trying to bring the whole system kicking and screaming into the twenty-first century—seemingly singlehanded. Mother’s old school. She likes things done the way they have always been done and hates change.” He rolled his eyes. “She won’t touch a computer. Let alone answer the telephone, use a mobile, or even pick up the TV remote control.”
“Do you mean to tell me she has a servant to change channels for her?”
Gabe laughed despite himself. “She would if she could, believe you me.” He paused as they reached the chip shop. Film crew and extras mingled eating and drinking. “What can I get you?”
“Just chips, please.”
Gabe went over to the counter and ordered. The food took a moment. He paid and carried the two cones of chips back to Dawn. “Here you go.”
Dawn took it. “Thanks.” She walked over to the wall and sat stabbing the chips with the wooden fork.
“What are you thinking?” he asked wondering why a frown creased her otherwise gorgeous face.
“Just wondering how many facets there are to you.”
“What do you mean?”
She stabbed her chips slowly eating them. “There’s the actor, the Earl, the Hollywood playboy. Even the flowers—two different types. It must be costing you a small fortune, but I guess you can afford it.”
“You mentioned that Sunday,” Gabe looked at her over his food. “I meant to ask and didn’t get the chance.”
“Roses to where I work and cornflowers to my house. Almost as if you were two different people.” She raised her fork and pointed across the courtyard, a visible shudder running through her. “Over there, see him?”
“See who? Where?”
“Over there. It’s the same bloke who’s been following me for days.”
Gabe looked in the direction she indicated. “There’s no one there.” He turned back to her. “I haven’t sent you anything other than roses. I don’t even like cornflowers. Why would I send them to you?”
“I rang the florist. The girl said it was definitely you sending the roses. A florist on the other side of town said she had a daily order for cornflowers. A bloke came in and paid in cash, before driving off in your car.”