AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Nothing will change for you,’ Alessio said. His dark eyes were thoughtful. ‘Except, of course, you may notice that my father’s mood goes noticeably downhill while I’m around. Aside from that, you’ll do what you usually do.’ He looked around him. ‘And you can forget about picking up the slack. I’ll ensure suitable help is arranged so that you don’t have to tidy up this huge pile along with all your other duties.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘Trust me when I tell you that I never do anything because I feel I have to,’ Alessio said. ‘It will be arranged. As for me? You won’t notice I’m here.’
That was true for precisely ten hours the following day. Because Alessio, as Leonard informed her just as soon as she had prepared their breakfast and sat opposite him at the kitchen table, was off to the office, even though it was Sunday and no one would be around.
‘Probably getting a head start on laying a few explosives underneath the desks,’ he said, and scowled, continuing the theme which had started the second she had entered his bedroom that morning, to find him up and alert and already dressed for the day.
Leonard, now in his late seventies, still had a mane of grey hair, and although age and poor health had slowed him down, he still possessed the demeanour of someone whose entire working life had been spent giving orders he expected to have obeyed.
‘Why do you say that?’ she asked now.
‘Well, you’ve met him! Now that he’s got a bee in his bonnet, he’s not going to give up until he’s sacked every one of my CEOs! He’s there right now, poring through the files and finding out all sorts of who knows what against who knows who!’
Sophie was adept at pouring oil on troubled waters, and in truth she was used to Leonard’s cantankerous take on almost everything, from‘young people these days’to‘all this computer nonsense that’s taken over people’s lives.’
She placidly let him rant and rave until he had subsided, and then they had a sensible discussion about Alessio with only a handful of disgruntled expletives thrown in for good measure.
Sunday was meant to be a day of relaxation. It should have been one of her days off. But Sophie rarely took that day to herself, because she knew that it was her employer’s loneliest day—the one that seemed to stretch into infinity for him, with no sense of purpose and nothing to do.
It was cold and miserable today, but she drove him to their favourite National Trust house, with its extensive gardens, where they had a light lunch and killed some time, he in the wheelchair he loathed, even though it was only pulled out if he had to cover a lot of distance.
‘Your son mentioned something about getting another housekeeper,’ Sophie said, as she drove them back to his own country house, the windscreen wipers not quite keeping up with the sudden freezing downpour.
‘You told him that Edith had left?’
Sophie sighed and slid her eyes across to Leonard, who was glaring at her, his bushy eyebrows drawn into a black, accusatory frown.
‘Don’t you think he might have noticed, considering he’s going to be around for longer than a handful of hours? Unless he’s blind as a bat, he’s going to spot that no one’s appearing from the woodwork to serve the dinner and clear away the plates.’
‘Hmph...’
‘You’re a crotchety old man, Leonard White.’
‘Andyouwould try the patience of saint, Miss Court, running around telling tales!’ He snorted. ‘But I suppose the boywouldhave noticed sooner or later,’ he conceded grudgingly. ‘Just one more thing to add to the list.’
‘What list?’
They were back, and as she slid the car into its usual spot in the grand circular courtyard she glanced across to him to find that he was flushing, his mouth downturned.
‘Nothing.’
Leonard began opening the car door and Sophie flew out so that she could unfurl the umbrella always kept on the back seat and help him out on to the drive, where he teetered and then stabilised after a couple of seconds.
‘Don’t younothingme,’ she chided as they made slow progress to the front door. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Just something else I’ve managed to get wrong,’ he muttered, allowing himself to be helped out of his layers of waterproof clothing, which Sophie shook and neatly hung on the row of coat hooks in the cupboard by the front door.
The draught from the cold outside hung around inside the house like a miasma. It felt damp, and she hurried them into the kitchen where the Aga could be relied upon to keep the room warm.
It was later than she thought, so she made them a pot of tea and then started preparing Leonard’s early dinner—toast and scrambled eggs. After that they would retire to the sitting room that adjoined his bedroom, and there they would pass an hour or so while Sophie reread some of the stuff he had previously gone through...memories filed away and now brought out and dusted down to be put on paper for the memoirs that were more a labour of love than a plan with a destination.
At the rate at which they were travelling down Leonard’s memory lane, he would be two hundred before the task was completed.
She loved Leonard, and wanted to pry further into what he’d meant earlier, but when she thought of Alessio and the disturbing effect he had on her she wondered how far she should allow her curiosity to go.
The equation now wasn’t just about her and Leonard. With Alessio physically in the house, it was a picture that was getting wider and broader and more encompassing, and something inside her warned against being swept away and getting too involved. Whatever simmered between father and son wasn’t her business.
