16 Surprise Revelations

We were all up bright and early to get ourselves ready for Christmas Day at the Abbey with Charles and Sarah. After a quick light breakfast of toast and coffee to keep us going until the main dinner of the day, We brushed out our hair, made sure our makeup was perfect, packed our bags for the overnight stay, and got dressed ready to go.

Carol looked so attractive and sophisticated in the summer cocktail dress Helen and I had bought her on our first shopping trip together, and I settled for the Azure silk dress that I had worn for my first presentation. I hoped that we had interpreted Charles’ version of ‘a bit formal’ correctly and that we were not overdressed, or even underdressed.

Mum surprised and delighted us when she came out of her room wearing a strappy bright scarlet calf-length figure-hugging evening dress, she looked absolutely stunning.

“ Oh my god Mum, that is amazing it really suits you, it is a long time since I have seen you looking so beautiful.”

“ Well, I wasn’t going to be outshone by you two was I. I’m glad you like the dress, you haven’t heard yet what it cost. It is many years since I have had a really good excuse to dress up all glamorous and I thought I would make the most of it. Are we all ready to go now ?”

It was a short trip up to Charter Abbey. The long sweeping drive up to the house from the gated estate entrance was so impressive with an avenue of willows either side, which although they were a bit bare and not in their summer glory were still amazing. We arrived at the mansion with its mirrored Georgian façade and were beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed by it all.

We did not even have to go up to the door, Charles must have been waiting for us, and, a true gentleman, he opened the car doors and helped us out.

“ Welcome to the Abbey Ladies, you are all looking gorgeous, I needed have bothered about decorations in the house, you three are enough. Let’s get in, it is too cold to be standing out here.”

Once inside he took our coats and then led us through an enormous split level hall with a sweeping staircase into what he called his Drawing Room. I was surprised to see not just Sarah, but Helen too.

“ Let me make the introductions, some of you already know each other. My sister Sarah, Helen, who works with us, Dani’s mum, Samantha I believe, Carol, a good friend to Dani, and last but not least, Dani who you all already know, oh and I am Charles. That’s the formalities over, let's have a Christmas toast and get to know each other, Merry Christmas everybody.”

We all broke into little groups chatting and I found myself with Helen.

“Delighted to see you here Helen, I didn’t know you’re coming.”

‘ I was at a meeting in Canterbury the other day with Charles and he told me you were coming down here and asked if I hadn’t anything planned would I like to join the party as we all know each other except for your Mum. I must say that I can see where you get your looks from, your mum is so attractive.”

“ She doesn’t get out too often and jumped at the opportunity to glam up a bit. She seems to be getting on with Charles, I thought that she might be a bit overawed by him, but they are chatting away quite happily.” Sarah was playing the hostess with Carol who still seemed a bit fazed by it all, but was beginning to relax.

Ok Ladies, I’ll show you to your rooms and you can unpack and whatever. Dinner will be ready in about three quarters-of-an-hour, is that ok Sarah?”

The bedrooms were all magnificent, large windows, high embossed ceilings, fancy cornices, sophisticated William Morris print wallpaper, and quality antique furniture, it was a different world to the modern flat-pack trappings of our flat.

I was the first one back downstairs and went out to the kitchen to see if Sarah needed any help.

“Thanks for offering Dani, but everything is under control and should soon be ready. The table is all set, but it just needs the wine put out. The claret and the burgundy need decanting, but just open the bottles of Sauvignon Blanc and leave them on the table, the desert wines and port can just stay on the side table for the moment. Come back in, help by putting the vegetables in the tureens and give me a hand getting the turkey onto the carving plate to cool a little. Charles likes to play the head of the household by carving it at the table. When people start coming down again put the smoked salmon, paté, and toast, on the table and they can serve themselves. Charles may have asked you to dress a bit formally, but that is where it all ends, there is no standing on ceremony at the table.”

It was too large a table for just the six of us with him at the head, so Charles sat us all on the long sides of the table with him in the centre, Mum in the ‘Guest of Honour’ place to his right, Helen to his left, Sarah opposite him, me on her left and Carol on her right, a small intimate gathering where we could all talk to each other. After the light starter of salmon and paté, Charles made a big show of carrying in the turkey and carving it at the table while I helped Sarah bring in the vegetables. Later he also made a spectacle of bringing in the Christmas pudding with the brandy flaming on the top. He was obviously enjoying himself as the genial host and kept us all amused with anecdotes of his life, even referring to the five of us as his harem.

We sat down for an hour or so, with glasses of wine, or in his case brandy, to relax and chat more and it was all very jolly and merry. Afterwards Sarah offered to take us for a tour of the estate to get a bit of fresh air and to walk off some of the excesses of dinner. Helen, Carol and I put on our coats and joined her, leaving Mum and Charles in deep conversation together. It was a beautiful estate, formal gardens immediately outside the house, with manicured lawns drifting off into woodlands and a carp lake beyond.

“ This is an amazing place Sarah.” I told her, “ it must be so enjoyable living in such beautiful surroundings.”

“ It wasn’t always like this, when Charles bought it 25 years ago as a home for him Emily and Julie, it was a bit run down and neglected, but he got it at a very good price and spent quite a lot of money doing it up. It was a happy family home until Emily and Julie died, when my David and I moved in with him.It hasn’t been the same since. I try to keep it as a pleasant place for him to come back to and unwind at weekends, but it is not the same without a lot of people in the house. He is really enjoying it today with you all here, I know you three all work together with him, but he really looks on you, particularly you and Helen, as friends not just employees. Thank you for coming to make our Christmas a pleasure again, I haven’t seen him so relaxed and happy for a long long time.”

“ He does seem a lot more relaxed than he is at the office. He is getting on very well with Mum too, they always seem to be deep in conversation. It is as good for her as for him, she doesn’t get out much as she is on her own, so it is a wonderful change for her, thank you so much much for inviting us all.”

None of us had any need to rush back to our normal lives, so we stayed at the Abbey all the way through the week to see in the New Year. I had to take Mum back home to get some extra clothes as she had only brought things for the two days we originally intended to stay, Carol and I were ok as we had packed a full weeks worth in our cases for the stay at Mums.

“ I’m glad I have got you on your own, there is something I need to tell you.” she said as we were driving back to St Leonards. “ Charles and I are almost the same age, so we started reminiscing about life in the 70s and 80s, and it turned out that we had both been to the Glastonbury Festival in 1990 for the weekend and we had actually met each other there, well more than just met, but we will come to that in a minute. Charles was there with some friends for what was a sort of Stag weekend before he married Emily. I was engaged to your Dad at the time, but went there with some friends for a bit of an excitement before we all settled down. Well, the two gangs of us got together, and I ended up spending a lot of the days, and nights, with Chad as I knew him. a bit of last fling for us before we both got married.”

“ Mum, do I really need to know about this, it’s not a normal conversation between a mother and her son, or daughter, whatever.”

“ Dani, your generation did not invent sex you know, we were both adults and knew what we were doing. Anyway, a couple of months later I found out that I was pregnant and the following March Elizabeth came along. At the time we just assumed that she was your Dad’s child. However now I have seen Chad again, and his sister, I can see some resemblance between her and them, and without looking up all the dates, I think that she might be Chad’s child.”

“ Have you told him, you seem to have been having some very serious conversations? ”

“ Not as such, but he knows about her and when she was born, he’s not daft, I am sure that he must have his suspicions.”

“ Are going to take this any further, and are you going to say anything to Liz? ”

“ Not for the moment, I need to think it through, it could open a real can of worms.”

We collected what bits and pieces she needed and went back to join the others. for the rest of our stay, every time I saw Charles and her talking together my mind was in turmoil. Could I really be some sort of relation to him, I am not even sure whether there is a word for a half-sister’s father? Would working with him be any different, would I always be looking at him and comparing him to my sister?

Other than the big shock from my Mum, it had been an amazing week and a total change from the way we normally lived. Charles and Sarah had been wonderful, generous, hosts and we left with invitations for us all to meet up again soon. It was time to get back to reality, we dropped Mum off at home and Carol and I made our way back to Canterbury to get sorted out for work.

“ That was fantastic Dani, I am so glad that Charles and Sarah invited me too, I have never been in a place like that, except as a visitor to National Trust properties, but the atmosphere of a family home is totally different. I’ll never forget it.”

“ I don’t think it will be the last time you go there Carol.” I said cryptically, “ Don’t forget, do not tell anyone where you have really been, just say you stayed with Mum and me in St Leonards, and remember it is ‘Sir Charles’ if you ever talk to him at Cunninghams.”

“ I forgot to mention it to you Dani, you’ll never guess who I met at the office party.”

“ Go on then you seem eager to tell me, and you have a smile on your face.”

“ Remember Callum and Jamie that we met in the Pub? Well, Jamie is now working at Cunningham’s in the IT department, and we have arranged to have a night out.”

“ That’s great, he seemed to be a nice lad. What about his friend Callum? ” I replied, rather too quickly and eagerly.”

“ Don’t worry, he is around too, he also got a job with us as an analyst. You sound like you want to make it another double-date.”

“ I would love to, but are you sure that you are ok, you know what happened with Ben? ”

“ I’ve calmed down a bit. Ben was a pig, but I can’t treat all men as the same, there are a lot of nice ones out there, it is just a matter of finding them.

Back in the office, when we had cleared the backlog that had built up over the holiday break, Sir Charles called me into his office, “and bring in some tea and biscuits with you, I want to have a chat.”

“ I hope that you and Carol enjoyed yourselves at the Abbey, Sarah and I really enjoyed your company, it was a change having some younger faces around again. Your Mum has told me that you know about us meeting all those years ago at Glastonbury. I have been doing a lot of thinking about that, and have realised that one the reasons I related to you when we first met is that you reminded me of her, you look so much like she did at your age. I obviously didn’t realise all this until I met your Mum on Christmas Eve and saw the two of you together, but somewhere in my subconscious a link must have been forming.

I know that we are not related by blood, or in any legal way, but this is all too much of a coincidence to brush aside, as far as you and your Mum are concerned I now see you both as part of my extended family, in fact, apart from Sarah and her son, my only family. Feel free to come up to the Abbey anytime you are back home in St Leonards, and if you need a bed for the night in town, the Chelsea apartment is always available, you just have to ask.”

“ We had a super time, we are all so grateful. I promise that Mum and I will visit.”

To be continued