Chapter Four
The
Grange
It was so cold Greta noticed Kate’s breath
first as she entered the kitchen and placed her school bag on the floor. Heath
dawdled behind his eye-catching counterpart. Kate was meticulous about her
appearance. Her perfect curls lay in bunches behind her ears, tied in royal
blue ribbons, the colours of her school. Her long socks were not rippled as
other children’s were. In fact, the uniform she wore was in good condition,
unstained and nearly uncrushed. Greta looked at Kate again. She knew that after
her mother had fled, literally fled the house one night to go gallivanting
around Europe with a man she’d met in
rehab, Kate had become unmanageable - but bunking school? She really didn’t
know what to do about this.
From the moment Kate had been born her Papa
had indulged her every childish whim, much to the displeasure of her mother who
worried that the child would be spoiled and difficult, like Harrison. Well, he
was in boarding school where Kate would surely be sent soon, just as her older
brother had been.
As for the “wild child”, as Greta thought
of him, he looked completely unkempt – shirt hanging out, hair unbrushed, knees
scratched. He ran upstairs to Kate’s bedroom (a converted ballroom) or to his
own, the more modestly sized room opposite, to play video games and listen to
music. The children would lounge around on the floor (strewn with the striped
wrappers of Kate’s favourite boiled sweets) in the afternoons. They ate and
listened to music, hardly bothering to even attempt their homework.
Heath had long ago discovered the path
around the side of the house, through the kitchen door where the new au pair
was standing and peeling potatoes for dinner. He fled past their elderly
gardener and crept inside the kitchen, thinking he might sneak past, but Greta
was too quick. She grabbed him by the hands.
‘Wait…’
‘What Greta?’
‘Don’t say “what”, I know what you’ve been
doing…or rather not doing.’
‘You just said “what”…’
‘That’s not what I meant…’
‘Said it again…’
‘Oh, you little rascal…’
Heath sighed.
‘What is it Greta?’
‘You haven’t been to school, have you? You
and Kate have been gallivanting on the High Street. I can’t believe you’ve not
been detained by police! The meadow must be too freezing even for both of
you…scamps. And look at that bruise on your leg, Kate.’
Kate moved behind the bench protectively.
She didn’t want Greta to have too much knowledge about the behind-the-scenes
household warfare.
‘If that’s Harrison’s doing, I told you to
tell me if he ever tries to hit either of you again! He’s twice your age.
Honestly, I don’t know what this family has come to ever since your mother
left. I’ll be calling social services next…or they’ll be calling me…’
‘Oh don’t do that Greta. I just…knocked
into something when I was out riding…at pony club.’
Heath looked at Kate quickly, knowing if
they told on Harrison again, it would only make matters worse the next time he
came home.
‘I told you to tell me if that older
brother of yours so much as raises his voice. He wouldn’t dare do it in my
presence. But that doesn’t give either of you an excuse to avoid school. It’s a
good thing Harrison is going away to University. By then, he won’t even be
coming home for holidays…’
Heath and Kate were too quick. Greta talked
on whilst they ate everything on the kitchen countertop behind her.
When Greta stopped talking, Kate took a
bottle of fizzy drink and Heath grabbed a packet of Parma ham and they raced up
the stairs, rejoicing in the time when their play room was empty of responsible
adults (almost always). They had the whole ancient second floor to themselves
in the afternoons. They could play their games or crawl outside, along the
ledge that connected them to the ground and the road that led them to The
Grange. Heath liked to go fishing in the stream and learned to make an open
fire and cook the food on it. He was more and more interested in living in this
natural, primal way, even at such a young age.
Annabelle and Edmund Hunt were the same age
as Heath and Kate and their nearest neighbours. They were so stuck up neither
Heath nor Kate had ever spoken to them. The blonde girl had poked her tongue
out at Kate once during ballet lessons at the local church hall. Neither of the
girls had spoken to each another since.
Kate and Heath lived in a world of their
own - a world with a secret language and two rooms that adjoined each other
with archaic light fittings, tall ceilings and furniture passed down through
generations. There was a shabby
opulence surrounding their secret society of two. Kate’s room had a canopied
bed with cream sheets and a blanket and an old fashioned cream lace doll.
On occasions when the neighbourhood
children were invited to tea, the doll’s house intrigued all of Kate’s jealous
little acquaintances (mainly from school). But Kate never let Heath catch her
staring at the perfect dolls in their pristine world longingly. She knew he’d
think envy beneath her.
As he grew older, he became tougher and
more boisterous, wanting to be outside more than inside which, Greta reasoned,
was only natural in an almost twelve-year old boy. Heath remembered little of his
origins. It was as if he’d only ever existed in Kate’s world, something he knew
to be untrue. Yet Kate’s father was the
only father he remembered. Mr Spencer had been kind to him so he loved him as
he loved Kate. But he knew her father was not his real father and that the
“blood” running through his veins had some kind of magic in it. He felt
different to other boys his age - happier roaming the woods than sitting in a classroom.
Harrison, in his final year of school, was
still a problem. Once, when he was home from school for a weekend and Mr
Spencer was at a business conference in Brussels, Greta was called away for the
afternoon. Kate’s older brother rounded up the children after she left and
locked them together in the attic after inviting some of his older school
friends round to party. Harrison thought it would be fun to terrify the “little
kids”. Neither Kate nor Heath rewarded him with their tears but there had been
an all-out fight in the hallway after the children had somehow managed to break
the lock. Harrison hadn’t expected this but it was the last time he
underestimated Heath’s strength.
When Kate’s father arrived home early, only
to discover Heath and Kate amidst a mess of teen partying and chaos, he hit the
roof. Mr Spencer packed Harrison off to the strictest boy’s boarding school in
the South of England to complete his finals. It was a place where corporal
punishment was yet to be banned another reason for the older brother to harbour
resentment against the smaller children. They were soon to be packed off to
Scotland, to a co-educational school, strict but far less rigid than where
Harrison was going.
It was summer by then; Mr Spencer had grown
frail just as Heath and Kate grew stronger and taller.
Hampstead was quiet. It was as if the
entire borough had gone on holiday. Heath had taken to staying outside but on
one particular rainy and overcast day, Kate took an entire chicken and a jug of
orange juice out of the fridge and set out lunch in the upstairs playroom.
They sat together, enjoying their meal
that last Saturday before they were due to board the train to Scotland. Both Kate and Heath had grown more studious
in preparation for boarding school. They even finished reading the required
list of books, lying on their backs, in the window seats of the playroom. Kate
smiled at Heath - sometimes she thought her father had brought Heath home to be
her exclusive friend.
September arrived after an endless summer of
reading and night swimming in the indoor pool. The day before they were due to
leave for Scotland, bright sun shone through the bay windows. Heath,
uncomfortable, pulled his amulet close to his chest. His eyes felt sensitive to
the light.
‘C’mon children,’ Greta said, wanting to
make their last day at Hareton Hall memorable. ‘Rise and shine. It’s a lovely
day. Why don’t we all take a picnic
outside and go to Hampstead Heath? School doesn’t start until Monday. C’mon, get
dressed.’
The children were excited as they pulled on
their shoes.
In the parklands, Greta spread the checked
blanket out on the lavender field under an umbrella and the children hungrily
heaped food on plates. Heath got bitten by ants but barely made a peep even
when Greta soothed his calf with warm tea. The boy had never known such care
and in all his young years, never seen a spread of such magnificence. He ate
three pieces of turkey, a chicken leg, ham, a left over chop, a slice of bacon
and a huge glass of orange juice. Kate and Greta drank tea and ate most of the
cucumber sandwiches.
Afterwards, the children went running to
the ponds to feed the ducks. As Greta lay reading a magazine, Kate and Heath
discovered the hidden conservatory in a secluded part of the park. It was like
being in another world, one far removed from London or Spain or family fighting
or anywhere they had ever known - a glass palace with a covered in roof and
shards of dappled, muted light (not enough to make Heath’s skin burn). The
building was filled with remarkable tropical trees and flowers growing in an
adjusted temperature. There were even garden chairs to sit on and stare in
wonderment at the magical surroundings. Both children thought the same thing;
that they’d found a remarkable secret, a place where they could hide…and
meet.
