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Emma frowned. “No, it was excellent, but we can’t very well ask Cara to whip up a batch, can we?”
“I can make fudge. Cara and I use the same family recipe.”
Emma nodded, satisfied with the solution. “Well, then, we’ll all crowd into the kitchen later and do some holiday baking.” She looked at Baird. “Will you be helping, or only eating?”
Baird knew they were all looking at him, waiting expectantly for an answer, and no one appeared more interested in his answer than Ella. “I can lend a hand,” he said gruffly. “Crack eggs, measure, stir things. If that would be useful.”
Ella’s gaze met his, amusement in her lovely eyes. “A useful man is a wonderful thing.”
And that settled that, Baird thought. He would be useful if it killed him.
*
Late that afternoonwith Emma’s peppermint creams, Dorothy’s shortbread, and Ella’s American fudge cooling, everyone independently decided some quiet time was in order. The aunts went one way, Ella checked in on Cara who was napping, and Baird disappeared in another way.
Ella had far too much sugar and tea to nap, and she felt way too many feelings to just sit still. Having been given permission by both Mrs. Booth and Cara to explore the house, she decided she would see what she hadn’t seen yet.
Taking the stairs to the second floor she went left at the landing instead of right. Everything on this side of the house was different, the hallways narrower, the materials heavier, tapestries and old gold framed oils. She walked until she reached a back staircase and went up a floor where there were more bedrooms, and found yet one more narrow curving staircase that went to what proved to be attic bedrooms, probably once used for servants, she imagined. It was freezing up there and the windows were small and high.
Ella went back down a floor and opened one of the closed doors. It was a small bedroom with dark paneling covering the walls and a lowered ceiling with the paneling, too. The ornate four-poster bed even featured a paneled top, the wood heavy and intricately carved. Dark red brocade curtains framed the narrow diamond paned windows, the bed’s coverlet a red and gold silk, with a thick red border. She was most definitely in the old part of the house, and although it was chilly with no fire laid, it was a stunning room.
Ella closed the door, and then tried another closed door just two doors down. It was another bedroom, the paneling similar but only on two walls, the other wall a stone partially obscured by an enormous medieval tapestry. The colors were gold and blue in this bedroom, the blue a rich royal, curtains blue with heavy gold fringe. A small stained-glass picture depicting what looked like a coat of arms being held by a standing leopard and a unicorn was inset in the diamond paned windows.
A leopard and a unicorn?
Or was it a lioness and a dragon?
Ella moved closer to the circular stained-glass art and couldn’t really decide what the creatures were, but the colors were stunning, and she could only imagine how beautiful it would look with the sun shining through.
Leaving the bedroom, she continued down the hall, discovering that it turned sharply right into another corridor, also long and narrow with no visible windows except for light coming in at the far end. She walked all the way to the end and discovered a relatively tall, narrow window inset into narrow circular stairs. She suspected from the lack of ornamentation it was probably another servant staircase, but she took the stairs down, the stone walls cool, the stairwell quite chilly. Pushing open a door, she discovered she was back on the ground floor, in an elegant corridor with higher ceilings, modern light fixtures, and large framed landscapes on the wall.
Ella paused before one, realizing it was a picture of Langley Park but from hundreds of years ago. The house itself had the same shape as it did now, but the outside was different, with fountains and formal gardens. There weren’t many trees, at least not from this angle. It fascinated her to see how the house had evolved over the centuries.
“There you are,” Baird’s voice sounded from behind her. “Mrs. Booth thought we’d lost you.”
Ella jumped, and then laughed, startled. “I’ve had an adventure,” she said. “What an incredible house.”
“It is.”
“I take it this is the old wing, at least upstairs.”
“Yes. Right around the corner is the original hall.”
“I haven’t made it that far. I went up the new staircase but turned left instead of right, as I’d go to Cara’s room. There are so many rooms and so many hallways and staircases.”
“It’s a remarkable house. But I wouldn’t want to be responsible for it. The maintenance never ends.”
“Even on a normal house.” Ella gestured to the painting she was standing in front of. “Where are the trees here? The parkland? Or has the artist just left it out?”
“There was a period of time when the trees weren’t wanted. Like on many old estates, the woods were cleared to better show off the house, as well. Intricate gardens were in, natural landscapes were out.”
“But the house looks so naked here.”
“And yet it’s more imposing, isn’t it? You can also appreciate the new elegant Georgian exterior, emphasizing symmetry and classical lines.”
His tone was slightly mocking, and she knew he was teasing her. “I think I prefer the Elizabethan design over the pretty Georgian era.”
“As do I.”
