Eve Devon - Christmas at the Little Clock House on the Green - An enchanting and warm-hearted romance full of Christmas cheer

‘The fam can tart up a couple of the main rooms for you, but I’ve stressed it’s the gardens that you’re going to be opening up to the public, not the house.’

‘As long as the focus isn’t on the inside. When can she come?’

‘Soon, hopefully. I’ll show you some of her work in a minute. Oh, and I have something else to show you.’ She held up her laptop and grinned determinedly. ‘If you don’t love it, tell me you do anyway, because it took a gazillion number of hours and it’s probably the best thing I’ve done in ages.’

‘Hey, you always do good work.’ Jake knew his sister struggled to feel like she was back at the cutting edge of her work since she’d had Elton and he’d seen on more than one occasion glimpses of how shocking she found motherhood. She was a brilliant mum but both she and her husband were way more used to their tech than a little person who didn’t behave like one of their designs, even though, technically, he was. ‘I wish I could pay you for doing the brochures for this place when we’re ready.’

‘Please. Are you planning on charging all of us whenever we come to you for advice?’

‘Maybe if any of you actually took it …’ It still befuddled him that any of the Knightley brood, of which there were another three brothers and a sister, came to him at all, for advice. Particularly as he wasn’t the eldest.

He guessed he was the one best able to cope with no longer having the family’s money to fall back on though – probably because the estate had never been about money for him. Out of all of them he was the one who carried this place in his bones, his heart, his soul. And maybe having those roots so deeply embedded represented a familiarity – a stability – that the actual Hall couldn’t because even when he’d been in London and his siblings dotted all over, they’d been drawn to him whenever their lives got chaotic.

Sarah sipped her tea. ‘Has Seth been around since the split?’

Seth was their youngest brother and had been married to Joanne for two years, yet they seemed to be happier apart than together. ‘I think he knows that if he does, I’m just going to send him straight back to her.’

‘I don’t know, Jake. It sounds sort of final, this time.’

‘As opposed to the other times? If it’s all so bad, why did he bother marrying her in the first place?’ An uncharitable anger kicked against his insides wanting to get out.

‘Maybe if he stayed with you for a while,’ Sarah suggested.

‘No. Way. I’ve got enough to do without babysitting a grown man with zero interest in what I’m trying to do here.’

‘But maybe a little hard work would make him see sense.’

‘No.’

‘Is that a, “No”, no or a—’

Jake simply stared at his sister.

‘Okay so that’s a real and actual no.’

Elton chose that moment to chase Bingley around the table with a marker in his hands. As Jake reached out to grab the marker, Sarah took her son in her arms and settled him on her lap. ‘So, what’s all this, then?’ she asked, indicating the plans that had been spread out on the large kitchen table.

‘I found them in the library last night.’

Jake watched her turn her head to look at the plans and found himself holding his breath for her reaction.

‘It’s the rose garden you’ve been working on, right?’

Jake nodded. ‘Notice anything unusual?’

Sarah leant forward to stare at the plans, making sure she captured Elton’s sticky hands in her own so that they couldn’t reach the age-spotted foolscap drawings. ‘This looks bigger somehow.’

‘I know. I don’t know why this area was never finished, but finally I’ve found the missing part of the puzzle.’

‘All this time there’s been a missing part of the garden?’

‘Mmmn. Every time I’ve worked in that area I’ve kept feeling as if the perspective was off. And I was right. Look,’ Jake said, pulling out a kitchen chair and shoving his mug down on the end of the plan to stop it rolling back up. ‘This looks like the same wall that divides the kitchen garden from the rose garden, but it isn’t. There’s another small private garden that extends down from a doorway that’s been bricked up.’

‘You mean, like a …’ her nose scrunched up. ‘Secret garden?’

‘Exactly. A secret garden.’ Jake grinned, trying and failing to keep the excitement from showing in his voice. ‘Yesterday I broke through that part of the wall. Next step is to dig out some of the foundations and see what I unearth.’ At least he would, as soon as he had the time. ‘Actually, can you tell me what you think of this?’ Getting up from the table he walked over to the dresser, pulled out a drawer and took out some sketches. ‘I drew them up last night. It’s how I think it should look when finished.’

Sarah stared at the watercolour sketches. ‘Oh, I love these. You’ve made it into a sort of garden chapel.’

‘Actually, that’s not a bad description.’

‘It’s stunning. A private oasis beyond the rose garden.’

‘So you can see how it should look in bloom?’

Sarah nodded. ‘It’s a shame you can’t finish it straight away. With The Clock House opening up in a few weeks, Crispin’s going to start bringing up your plans at the village meetings.’

‘If Crispin wants me to open earlier, then he can raise the tens of thousands of pounds needed to finish this project off.’ Jake wasn’t rushing anything. If it was worth doing, it was worth doing well.

‘Maybe if you did Gloria’s charity calendar – joking,’ Sarah added, as soon as she saw his trademark scowl hit his face. ‘You know if you’re going for the chapel look, you could hold weddings here.’ She pointed to his sketches and the plans. ‘Set up a marquee on the back terrace, or have a picnic down by the lake, but the ceremony should be here under this main connecting arbour. Can you imagine the scent? So romantic.’

Jake winced.

Yes, okay, the thought had trickled in, along with the puzzle of why his great-great grandfather, George, had added a plan for this area but never had it made.

George Knightley had started his career in theatre construction so it wasn’t that surprising to Jake he’d shown a true gift for design. What was surprising was why something that would have worked so well on the estate had been bricked up?

George’s designs had been fascinating Jake since he’d stumbled across them while poking about in one of the potting sheds, looking for a bottle of beer or a cigarette when he was fourteen.

After overhearing yet another conversation about money between his parents, he’d been in need of a distraction. They’d all found ways to deal with the stress and reality growing up on an estate the size of Knightley Hall but he’d been the only one to put that energy back into the land and that had been down to Sid, the head gardener at the time, taking him under his wing. Showing him a different way of dealing with pressure and showing him George’s designs so that his passion for restoring the gardens had sparked.

Years later and Jake knew his plans to get the place to pay for itself were going to work. He just needed to be done with winter and for spring, summer and autumn to last about twice as long as it usually did.

‘Sorry. Shouldn’t have mentioned the “R” word,’ Sarah said, getting up to plonk her mug into the cheap-as-chips stainless steel sink before turning around to walk back over to the table and switch on her laptop. ‘So, about what I brought to show you … the thing is, I kind of wanted you to see it first so that when you receive your invite, you’re not too shocked.’

‘Invite?’

‘Mmmn. It’s for the opening of The Clock House.’ She brought up the gif she’d been designing and said, ‘Okay, press “Play” and tell me what you think.’