There is Nothing like a Dame A novel by Bronwen Welsh Copyright© 2017 Bronwen Welsh A sequel to 'The Might-Have-Been Girl' and 'All the World's a Stage'

Chapter 8   Farewell to Aunt Peggy

When I awoke the next morning, Reggie looked at me warily. Men feel so awkward when the woman they love cries, as they don't know what to do, so I smiled at him.

“I'm alright now, darling. Mum is with Dad and she's very happy, so I am happy for them too. There'll be no more tears.”

The look of relief on his face was very obvious as he kissed me.

I rang the airline later in the day and managed to get Aunt Peggy a flight four days later. When I rang to tell her I said: “Is there anything you'd like to do before you leave, any place you'd like to see?”

“Would you like me to help you sort out your Mum's things and then we'll see what time is left?” she said, ever the practical one.

The next day, I met up with Emma and Aunt Peggy at Mum's house. Mum had said she would like her clothes to go to a charity shop, 'That way they'll make a little money for people who need it' she had said. I kept a couple of her scarves as mementos but the rest was dealt with as she wanted. We asked Aunt Peggy if there was anything she'd like to take to remember Mum, and she chose a few small trinkets which Mum had inherited from their parents.

We all visited the solicitor who handled Mum's affairs to hear her will, and as we expected she had left her house jointly to Emma and me. She had three diamond rings which she'd inherited from her mother and a couple of aunts, and she left one each to Emma, Aunt Peggy and me. Among the other bequests was a thousand pounds to the RSPCA and another thousand to each of the grandchildren, including Penny and Stella, showing how she considered them part of the family. The money was to be invested and held in trust for them until they were eighteen. The residue of her estate after all costs were paid, she left to her church. We thought it was an excellent distribution of her assets and just what we would have expected of her.

“What will you do with the house?” asked Aunt Peggy.

“I think Emma and I will have to discuss that,” I replied.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry,” said Aunt Peggy, and I felt awful.

“I didn't mean that the way it sounded Aunt Peggy. There's a number of options and we need to decide which is the best one; do we sell it or rent it? It's smaller than Emma's house, so no advantage for her to move into it, and it's not worth keeping empty for the odd occasion when Reggie and I might want to stay.”

“I didn't mean it the way it sounded either, Harriet. Of course you need to work out what's the best way to handle it,” and with that she gave me a hug.

In the end, I didn't take Aunt Peggy anywhere. She was content to spend the time with the family, so, on her final evening in England we had a really nice tea at Emma and David's house with Reggie there too. Aunt Peggy had agreed to come and stay with us in York for the last night, so that we could drive straight to Manchester Airport. We said we would sleep on the sofa bed, but she insisted that is was perfectly fine for her, so we had to concede gracefully.

We were up early the next morning and left York soon after breakfast. The traffic is unpredictable, but it wasn't too heavy that morning and we arrived at the airport about four hours before Aunt Peggy's flight was due to depart. We had a light meal together since we had got up quite early, and when baggage check-in opened, and Aunt Peggy went to the counter with her suitcase, something strange happened.

She came back with a funny look on her face and said: “Alright, how did you do it?”

“Do what?” I replied.

“They've just told me they're upgrading me from Business to First Class,” she said. “You're not going to pretend you didn't know about it?”

I was stunned. The fact is I didn't know. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, someone else had achieved a minor miracle as a way of saying 'thank you' to her sister for all that she'd done. Naturally, I didn't say it, they might have carted me off to the asylum!

“Well I'd like to take credit for it Aunt Peggy, but I think they just liked the look of you.” It was true that she was smartly dressed and maybe that made all the difference. “Maybe you should have brought your crown for this trip,” I said, and we all laughed.

“Just wait until I tell the family. They are going to be so envious,” she said.

We kept chatting until it came time for her to go through Customs, and then there were hugs and kisses and not a few tears of course.

“You must come and see us in Australia, both of you,” said Aunt Peggy and we promised that we would come to see where she lived, in that small town with the wonderful name of Yackandandah, which she assured us everyone calls 'Yack'.”

Finally, she picked up her carry-on case and walked through the double swing doors, turning for a final wave. We weren't in a hurry to get back to York so we went to the Runway Visitor Park to watch Aunt Peggy's plane take off before finally hitting the road once more.

While I think of it, I did phone Aunt Peggy after she arrived back in Australia to ask how the flight had been.

“Well I thought Business Class was amazing, but First Class was like a different world,” she said. “I know you claim you didn't arrange it but I'm still not sure I believe you, so I want to thank you again, even though it really wasn't necessary.”

I laughed. “Well if anyone arranged it, it was Mum, not me,” I replied. “Don't quote me on that or people with think I need locking up.”

Aunt Peggy laughed too: “Alright, it will be our secret.”

As we left Manchester Airport I suddenly felt very 'down', so much so that I didn't notice for about ten minutes that Reggie had turned south instead of north after leaving the Visitor Park.

“Reggie, where are we going?” I enquired.

“Stratford of course,” he replied.

“But why?”

“It's very simple. If we go back to York, you're going to mope around. What you need to do is get back to work as soon as possible. Your boss wants to see you, so we're going to Stratford.”

“But I'm not dressed to see Mr Morgan,” I protested, but Reggie had an answer.

“I think you look fine, but if you insist on changing, then we'll stop off at the flat.”

“And another thing, how do you know Mr Morgan wants to see me. Did you ring him?” I was starting to feel a little annoyed.

“Don't be mad at me darling, “ he responded. “Just for once, believe that I know what's best for you, and actually, he rang me.”

I had no answer for that because I knew he was probably right. Unusually for me, I stopped talking and watched the scenery as we drove to my second home. By the time we reached Stratford, I realised that Reggie was right again, I really didn't need to change, so instead, we drove straight to the theatre.

Reggie went for coffee while I walked up to the Admin area. When I arrived, Penny looked at me sympathetically.

“Good afternoon Harriet,” she said. “Would you like to go straight in? They're waiting for you.'” Another change – we were suddenly on first name terms!

'They?' I thought as I knocked on Duncan Morgan's door and he called out “Come in.” As I walked inside the room the two men stood up. The second one was Chris Johnson.

“Come in Harriet, won't you take a seat?” said Duncan. “I'm so sorry I couldn't get to Bridchester, an important meeting came up at short notice.”

“It was very kind of you to allow Penny to come and pass on your condolences,” I said.

We all sat down, and Penny appeared with a tray of tea for us. I was certainly getting the royal treatment.

“I asked you to come today for a special reason. Chris will tell you about it.”

“Do you remember when we were rehearsing “Two Gentlemen” and I had to go to London for a couple of days to see the management at the Globe Theatre? Well, they've asked ISC to stage a production of “Much Ado About Nothing”, and I've been asked to direct. The thing is, I want you to play Beatrice and also be my Assistant Director again. What do you think?” said Chris.

I was stunned. “When is this going to happen?” I asked.

“Sooner than we expected,” Chris replied. “Another production has had to be cancelled and they want us to start in five weeks' time. I know it's not long to cast and rehearse it but I've assured Duncan that we can do it. Auditions start next week, and if you accept, I will want you there of course.”

I knew that there was no need to consult Reggie on this offer as I was sure he already knew all about it, and what's more he really wanted me to take it.

“Well Chris, Mr Morgan, I am very happy to accept your offer,” I said.

After the meeting, I met Reggie in the coffee shop

“You knew all about that, didn't you. Why didn't you tell me?” I said.

“I presume you said 'yes'?” he said. “Of course you did, and I'm so glad. When Duncan rang me about the play I was so pleased, because I spoke to your mum about a month ago and she asked me to make sure that you started work again as soon as possible. She was quite worried about you slipping into depression and she thought this was what you needed.”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. “Fancy her thinking of me when she was so ill. It's no wonder I miss her so much.” Then something occurred to me. “When did you and Duncan Morgan get on first name terms? I call him Mr Morgan.”

Reggie laughed: “The difference is that he's your boss, not mine, and I called him Duncan because he asked me to.”

I suddenly felt serious again. “You do realise that this will mean we're apart again don't you?”

“Darling, I knew that when I married you, and it makes no difference to how much I love you. I'll come down to London each weekend while you're away, otherwise I'll miss you too much.”

If we hadn't been in such a public place I would have kissed him.

Back in Bridchester there were still things to be done, including a decision on what to do about Mum's house. I didn't like the idea of it standing empty. Even in a quiet town like Bridchester there had been instances of empty houses being broken into and things stolen or the interior trashed. I phoned Emma and asked her if she and David could meet up with me and Reggie to make a decision on the house, and she invited us over the following evening. I mentioned that we might stay overnight in Mum's house. Now that she was a part-owner it seemed the right thing to do. She had no objection, but it just showed how circumstances had changed.

The following evening we arrived at Emma and David's house and after a cup of tea we got down to business.

“Do you have any ideas on what to do with the house?” Emma said.

“Well my preference is to keep it and rent it out and then share the proceeds after deducting costs,” I said.

Emma and David looked at each other. “We were thinking of another option,” said Emma. “With the family growing up, we are soon going to need more room. We have room on our plot to renovate and extend our house and it would be cheaper than moving. Besides, we like where we are. That would involve selling Mum's house and dividing the proceeds, so that we would have the money to make the changes.”

“Is your need to extend partly due to Stella living with you?” I asked. “If so, and you are prepared to let her stay with you, then we should make a contribution to the costs.”

“No, Stella isn't a factor in our decision to extend,” said Emma.

I suddenly had an idea: “Let me run another option past you. Reggie and I need to keep renting at present, but we have been thinking that we should invest in some real estate. As another option, could we buy your half interest in Mum's house? We'd have to get a number of valuations of course and base what we pay on the highest valuation, that's only fair.”

Emma looked at Reggie. “What do you think about that Reggie?”

“Well, it's the first I've heard about it, but it does make sense if you are in agreement.”

I felt bad. I had spoken of my idea the moment I thought of it instead of running it past Reggie first.

“I'm sorry everyone, I've spoken out of turn,” I said turning bright red.

Emma laughed. “My dear sister, if you didn't do that from time to time we'd think there was something wrong with you. Look, why don't we all think about it before making a decision, and perhaps meet again in a few days?”

We all agreed that was the best idea, and after a cup of coffee, we made our farewells and drove over to Mum's house (I couldn't think of it any other way) to sleep.

As we drove I said. “Reggie, I feel such a fool. I should have discussed my idea with you first instead of opening my big mouth. I'm really sorry, I've got to learn to keep it shut.”

“It's alright,” said Reggie. “It's actually a very good idea, but it might have been better if we had discussed it first so we were both on the same page.”

That made me feel worse. “I hope you're not regretting marrying me,” I said.

“Of course not; I love you and nothing will change that.”

“You'd just like me to think before I open my mouth,” I said, feeling really miserable.

Reggie reached over and took my hand. “It's like Emma said, if you didn't do things like that it wouldn't be you.”

“The more I think of it, is it really a good idea? I mean, if we buy it and the value goes up and later we sell it at a profit, will Emma and David feel that we've somehow ripped them off?”

“Well they shouldn't. It's exactly the same as if we sold your Mum's house, took your half and bought another house that rose in value.”

“I suppose so,” I replied, but I still had a niggling feeling that it wasn't exactly the same. I was reminded of that saying by Johann Kaspar Lavater 'Say not you know another entirely till you have divided an inheritance with him.' I was very close to my sister and would do anything to avoid a rift between us.

As it turned out, when we next met up with Emma and David, they agreed to my proposal.

“You realise that the value of Mum's house may go up in future and by taking the money now, you will miss out on that?” I said.

“Yes, we've discussed that,” said David. “But the value of our own house will increase with the renovations, and we couldn't do them without that money.”

I was very relieved. We set about getting a licensed valuer and three real estate agents to value the house. They all came out within £5,000 of each other, and as I had already promised, we based our purchase on the highest valuation. Then we had to see our bank about a loan and engage a solicitor to deal with all the paperwork, putting the house in Reggie's and my names. Inevitably the government had its hand out for some money in the form of various fees and charges but I think we were still ahead of the costs we would have incurred if we had used the money from Mum's house to buy another one.

In the meantime, we had to set about clearing the house of furniture. I took an old sideboard which while not an antique, had been in the house as long as I remembered and was something that would always remind me of my parents. Emma took a few items too, including the beds which would come in handy as the children grew older. We gave Mum's bed to a charity shop, along with a number of different items. No-one wants a bed in which they know someone has died, but anyone buying it from the shop wouldn't know that. Second-hand furniture is almost impossible to sell unless it really is an antique, but at least by going to charity some money might be made from it.

The next thing to have done was painting inside and out in order to prepare it for letting. The house itself was generally in good order, but it was many years since it had last been painted and it needed to be freshened up. Having heard horror stories of tenants who have ruined houses, I discussed this with a couple of local estate agents and finally settled with one whom I felt I could trust. The tenants they found for us were excellent and we had no trouble with them at all. I exercised my right as an owner to visit the house every few months at first and then less frequently since it was obvious that they were keeping it in very good order. We charged a very fair rent since we preferred to have someone trustworthy living there.

'All's well that ends well' as the saying goes although I still kept my fingers crossed.

To be continued

I would like to acknowledge with thanks the assistance I continue to receive from Louise Ann and Julia Phillips in correcting errors and alerting me to 'typos' so that they can be eliminated before I post chapters.