What Would Jane Austen Do?, page 14
Chapter Eighteen
It is very unfair to judge of anybody’s conduct, without an intimate knowledge of their situation. Nobody, who has not been in the interior of a family, can say what the difficulties of any individual of that family may be.
Emma Woodhouse, Emma
* * *
‘They’ve all gone, it’s safe to come out now.’ Maddy pulled aside the curtain and peered round, just to check her lodger hadn’t done a runner in the meantime. ‘I don’t know about you but I’m ready for bed.’ She yawned sleepily.
‘Are the lights working again then?
‘Nope. Goodness knows what happened, but trying to fix it at quarter to one in the morning is not a sensible idea.’
‘I guess not,’ replied Luke in a slightly agitated manner. Using her phone as a torch, Maddy had rounded up a few candles in glass holders that would throw off enough light for a quick teeth-brushing-and-dropping-into-bed operation. It would be light in around four hours anyway. If that didn’t meet with Luke’s approval he was welcome to go and find the fuse box himself. Knowing this house, it was probably in some obscure cupboard or—like some places she’d visited abroad—in a hut outside.
It was actually quite romantic getting ready for bed by candlelight, and she found herself smiling. Staying in this old house, with the flickering soft light and a ghost hunt for entertainment, she could almost imagine herself as the heroine of Northanger Abbey. Not that she was assuming anyone had murdered cousin Nigel, of course. She wasn’t too sure about the ghosts either, but Randall had been delighted with the filming, and was gracious enough not to mention any interruptions from the audience. Maybe the whispering and the inadvertent shrieks had added to the atmosphere.
As Maddy curled up sleepily under the duvet, she realised she was becoming rather fond of her neighbours. Joyce was always welcoming, and Sally was impossible to dislike, with her personality dial set permanently on maximum cheeriness. Even Myra was slightly less frosty than two months ago. She decided that she would only sell the house to someone who was actually intending to live here, not just a person with their eye on how much they’d make to redevelop the land. This evening was the first time she’d had more than one or two people round and it made her realise how much potential the house had. It deserved to be full of fun and laughter, and the idea of someone pulling it down to make way for a housing development felt wrong.
Maddy was almost asleep when she heard the tapping noise. She raised her head from the pillow and listened again. There it was again: three short taps.
She sat up, instinctively pulling the duvet up to her chin. ‘Hello?’
This time the tapping was louder. ‘Luke? Is that you performing a percussion solo on the door? I don’t think ghosts are that rhythmic.’
The door opened a few centimetres. ‘Yes, it’s me. Can I come in?’
‘Sure.’
Over the years, this house must have seen any amount of creeping along the landing and hopping in and out of bedrooms, but Maddy had never been given any reason to suspect that Luke might want to indulge in the same activity. Not with her at any rate. He’d never given her the slightest impression that he was interested in her that way—or any way to be honest—but she’d be lying if she said she hadn’t once or twice imagined what it might be like to be romantically entwined with him. Being entangled in a curtain didn’t count as a romantic experience although it was rather funny. Maybe he’d found it more than that. Maybe he was the Colonel Brandon type who kept his feelings tightly buttoned up, but had harboured secret yearnings for her—his very own Marianne Dashwood.
Maddy realised she was still clutching the duvet to her neck like some terrified virgin from a Victorian novel, and smoothed it back down. Her hair probably looked like a bird’s nest, so even though it was dark she did a swift bit of finger combing to try and smooth that down too. Leaning over to her bedside table, she quickly grabbed the packet of tissues, the Burt’s Bees lip balm and the unicorn patterned cosy socks that came in handy when it was chilly but weren’t in the least romantic, and stuffed everything under her pillow. Then she hurriedly retrieved Edward bear from under the duvet, kissed his furry nose in silent apology and hid him too.
She sensed rather than saw Luke move into the room but he stopped short of the bed. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t sleep.’
Not the greatest chat-up line she ever heard if she was honest, but it could be worse. ‘It’s probably all the excitement earlier,’ she suggested.
For a few seconds Luke just stood there. ‘This is a bit awkward…’
What was? Had he forgotten something? Maybe he wasn’t as experienced in that department as she had assumed. Note to self: try not to make assumptions.
‘It’s a bit too dark, isn’t it?’
How was she supposed to work out what that meant? Was he heading this way or was he going to stand in the middle of the room talking for the rest of the night?
‘I wondered if I could sleep on your floor. Just for tonight. Until the lights are fixed. My phone has run out of charge.’
That was a definite passion-killer. The ripple of excitement swiftly ebbed away leaving a distinct aura of confusion. ‘I think I’m missing something here. It’s night-time. You don’t need the lights fixed. They go off.’
‘Not in my house, they don’t.’
‘Really? They stay on all night?’
‘Erm … yes.’
Maddy’s first thought was of how large his electricity bill must be. Her parents had always been careful about things like that, and turning lights off as she left a room had become an automatic habit. She had never been scared of the dark and actually used to find it quite exciting although she had a schoolfriend, Davina, who was terrified. On the occasions she’d been invited for sleepovers there’d been very little actual sleep as there had always been a night light left on in Davina’s bedroom and Maddy had never managed anything better than a short doze.
However, Maddy had never thought of it as something that affected adults, particularly males. Surely that was just unintentional prejudice on her part? Sleep was what she urgently needed right now, and she clearly wasn’t going to get any until this difficulty was resolved. It wasn’t as if Luke was some random burglar who had just wandered in.
‘Yes, okay. If that works for you.’
She heard a sigh of relief. ‘Thank you. I’ll go and fetch my duvet.’
With the aid of the torch on Maddy’s phone, Luke returned promptly with his duvet and pillow.
‘Can I switch the phone off now?’ asked Maddy.
There was a definite hesitation before Luke replied, ‘Okay.’
From the way he said it, it was clear he didn’t actually mean okay, but Maddy was too tired to rationalise this. She lay down again but annoyingly she wasn’t feeling quite as sleepy as ten minutes ago. This was like having a sleepover without the giggling and bags of sweets—it certainly took his lodger status to a whole new level. It also aroused her professional curiosity; Maddy had always enjoyed working out what prompted people to behave the way they did, although in her professional life that had been limited to the sphere of love and relationships.
‘Luke? Can I ask you something?’
‘You’re probably going to anyway.’
‘Thanks for that. I was just going to ask if you’d always been scared of the dark, or whether there was something that triggered this?’
She heard a reluctant sigh. ‘So you’re a psychologist now as well as an agony aunt?’
‘Just curious, I guess. You’re a world-famous author who writes about all sorts of crime and dark dealings.’
‘And you’re a relationship adviser who sleeps with a teddy bear, so your point is?’
Had he been sneaking around in her room or something? ‘Oi! How did you know about Edward?’
‘Well, clearly I didn’t know his name, but I saw two furry legs sticking out from under the pillow when you were waving your phone light around. I’m a writer. I observe. I decided it was either a teddy bear or you have some funny night-time habit that I really don’t want to know about.’
‘Touché. And yes, it’s a teddy,’ she said extracting the slightly squashed bear and giving him an eskimo kiss. ‘It was a present from my dad when I was six. Mum was in hospital for a few days and I went to stay with a relative until she came home again, so Dad gave me someone to keep me company. He’s been with me ever since.’
‘He sounds caring, your dad.’
‘He is.’ Maddy hugged Edward bear. ‘I get on much better with him than I do with my mum.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘You would understand if you’d met her. Mum is obsessed with getting on in life. I spent years hearing her tell me about the chances she never had and how I wasn’t to go wasting opportunities. She was over the moon when I told her I’d decided to live here. This could be a life-changing event, she said.’
Maddy refrained from adding the coda to that speech, the gist of which was, being the owner of such a substantial property would be a useful aid to finding yourself a good husband.
‘They must have been shocked when you found out about the house.’
‘It’s hard to know what shocked my parents more: the fact that Nigel had managed to buy this house and live here clearly comfortably off, or that he’d left it to me. In the Shaw family, Nigel was constantly used as the moral yardstick by which to measure standards of poor behaviour. Being told you were going to end up like cousin Nigel was considered somewhere between a threat and an apocalyptic warning.’
‘Given that he ended up owning a place like this for thirty odd years, it doesn’t sound like much of a warning, to be honest.’
Maddy rolled onto her back and stared up into the darkness. ‘Not when you put it like that.’
She heard a general shuffling sound and then a few grunts and an oof. ‘Are you okay down there?’
‘Yeah, perfect. I’m camping on a solid oak floor with a draught coming under the door and my shoulder’s aching. I think I might have to try for an upgrade and sleep in the chair.’
Maddy experienced a twinge of guilt. No one could sleep in that low-backed chair. And it wasn’t as if Luke was trying to take advantage of her. Quite the opposite. And she hated feeling mean; it was a king-size bed after all.
‘Okay, needs must—you can share. But it’s just for one night though.’
There was a soft shuffling sound and then Luke padded round to the other side of the bed. Maddy was glad she was wearing her long nightshirt and not her baby doll pyjamas with the hearts on.
‘We can do top to toe if you prefer?’
‘No offence but I don’t want your feet, thanks.’
She felt the mattress dip as Luke sat down and carefully arranged his legs under the duvet before lying down.
Maddy discreetly shuffled closer to the edge of the bed.
‘It’s very kind of you to do this. I realise it’s a bit unusual.’
So was hearing Luke’s voice from such close proximity. His normal speaking voice was fairly loud and often had a defensive edge to it. Now he was speaking much more softly. In other circumstances, with another man, she’d have described it as seductive.
‘It’s probably not what you had planned either,’ she replied. ‘Men aren’t supposed to be scared of the dark, are they? In films, it’s always the girl who screams when the lights go out.’
‘If you remember, I was behind the curtain at the time so I didn’t see the full effect of that.’
Maddy smiled in the dark. ‘Funnily enough, I do remember.’ She had been so close she could hear him breathing heavily. At the time she had assumed it was from partial curtain suffocation, but now she wondered if it was also partly from fear.
‘I think it’s lazy stereotyping,’ Maddy continued. ‘Women are seen as the weaker sex and therefore more easily scared. Is your brother frightened of the dark?’
‘That’s a very random question. How did you know I had a brother?’
‘One of your books is dedicated to him.’
Luke made a non-committal noise. ‘I’ve got two brothers actually. Both older.’
‘Lucky you, I always wanted siblings. Preferably lots of sisters, but I’m sure brothers were nice too.’
‘Not when they were younger. They used to think it was funny to torment their little brother.’
‘Were you scared of the dark as a child?’ she asked gently.
‘As far back as I can remember I think I’ve always been scared of what might lurk in the shadows; even as child I had an overactive imagination. But sleeping with the light on started after my brothers became obsessed with watching horror films. My eldest brother, David, got the videos from someone at school, and my parents either didn’t know or didn’t worry what we were watching. My brothers dared me to watch one with them and I didn’t want them telling my friends I was scared, so I did.’
‘Which film was it you watched?’
‘I don’t remember and honestly, I don’t want to. After I refused to watch any more they took every opportunity to try and scare me. They probably thought it was funny.’
‘It isn’t. I had a friend who was scared of the dark. One person’s teasing can easily become another person’s torture.’
‘Very true.’
‘Did you every speak to your parents about what happened?’
Luke yawned. ‘No. My father wasn’t the sort of person you’d describe as empathetic. Or a good listener. He was better at giving out directions.’
‘My gran used to say God gave you two ears and one mouth, so you ought to talk half as much as you listen.’
‘Sounds sensible. And do you always follow her advice?’
‘Probably not,’ admitted Maddy. ‘I get a bit carried away sometimes.’
She had always longed for siblings, and had held up Jane and Elizabeth Bennet as the poster girls for sibling harmony. But what if she’d had sisters like Kitty and Lydia? They would have driven her absolutely berserk. And how would she have reacted if they had teased and tormented her like Luke’s brothers did?
‘Sorry, you didn’t need all that stuff.’
‘No worries,’ replied Maddy. ‘You can owe me a few favours. I’ve just extended the time you’re speaking for at the literary festival.’
‘Cheers.’
‘And tomorrow you can tell me how a newspaper article from the 1970s ended up as the plot of your bestselling book, and where Nigel fits in.’
‘What are you on about, you mad woman?’
‘The rock group—bar room brawl—the roadie who got accidentally killed. Sound familiar?’
‘Is this your idea of pillow talk? I think you might need to read a few more romance books to find out how it actually works.’
‘Thanks for the advice mister I-don’t-believe-in-romance.’
‘Any time, Madeleine Shaw.’
She was lying with her back to her bedfellow and was fairly sure he was doing likewise. She was also fairly sure he had kept talking to cover up his fear of the dark. This felt even more weird than ten minutes ago. She’d only ever slept in this bed on the basis of sole occupancy; she didn’t want to risk turning over in the night and finding she was almost on top of him.
Maddy waited until he had finished fidgeting and was lying still. She then waited several more minutes until his breathing became slower and deeper. Then she tentatively slid her hand across the cotton sheet. There was actually quite a bit of space between them which was good because— Shit! Her fingers just made contact with something soft and warm, and it wasn’t Edward Bear. She whipped her hand back.
Thankfully Luke was still asleep but even so… Despite lying in the dark, she felt her face flush with embarrassment. He did smell rather sexy though; maybe he splashed something on before going to bed? Her gran used to do that with her favourite perfume, Yardley’s April Violets. In case I meet my boyfriend in my dreams, she used to say to Maddy with a wink. Somehow Maddy doubted Luke applied the same rationale.
She closed her eyes and waited to drift off to sleep.
For the second time that night she was woken up by a strange sound. In her drowsy state between deep sleep and full consciousness, it had sounded like a soft call, like the ‘oo’ in ‘helloo’, accompanied by a muted tapping sound. The sound seemed to be drifting closer. Either there really were ghosts in this house that were being extraordinarily active this evening, which seemed highly doubtful, or she was about to have another visitation.
The short whine was the only advance warning of the canine cannon that launched itself onto the bed, trampling over her legs in the process. It clearly wasn’t just her legs being squashed either.
‘What the hell,’ muttered Luke sleepily. ‘Stupid hound.’
Buster busily sniffed the duvet and the pillows, gave Maddy a quick lick then settled down on top of the duvet between them with a self-satisfied snort. Well, that sorted out the problem of whether she might accidentally roll into Luke in the night! It was fortunate that it was not a cold night and that Maddy was now desperate to get some sleep, since her side of the duvet did not quite reach round her any more due to the doggy blockade. She tried giving it a tug but nothing happened.
She closed her eyes again and imagined she was in a luxury spa treatment room, with the warm scent of jasmine and bergamot perfuming the air, and gentle sounds of nature were lulling her to sleep under a soft feather duvet that she was absolutely not sharing with a man who wrote about murders, and a dog who took up more space than a leylandii hedge.
Chapter Nineteen
Come, come, let’s have no secrets among friends.
