Page 62 of His Housekeeper's Twin Baby Confession
‘But in light of our current situation I’ve decided to hold off. I will open it to the public, though, to help Sheila and Tom with the upkeep. And again any profits can go to charity. But I’ll leave it up to our children to decide what they want to do with it.’
Our children.
Those words sent far too many conflicting emotions through her.
Carrie saw something out of the corner of her eye and looked out of the window. She gasped.
Massimo looked too, and cursed softly. He said, ‘Come on, we need to get back to Tom and Sheila.’
Carrie was still mesmerised by the fact that in the space of time it had taken them to walk through the house—admittedly it was vast—the world had turned white outside. A thick blanket of snow now covered everything and it was still falling heavily.
She hurried after Massimo and found him in the hall with Sheila and Tom, their coats on. They looked worried.
Tom was saying, ‘The forecast isn’t good. They’re already saying the small roads are blocked. If you don’t have to go back, I’d advise staying the night. They’re saying it’ll clear tomorrow.’
Carrie immediately wanted to protest, but she bit her lip.
Sheila came over. ‘I’m sorry we have to leave you here, but the kitchen is well stocked and Massimo will light some fires. The water is hot—you’ll be fine.’
‘Where are you going?’ asked Carrie. ‘Will you be all right?’
‘Yes, fine. We live in a cottage on the estate, not far from the house—if we leave now we’ll get there safely. Tom can clear the road from there in the morning.’
Carrie didn’t want to worry this woman, so she said, ‘We’ll be fine here. I think a night in a listed mansion can’t exactly be considered a hardship.’
The woman smiled, and her eyes shone with genuine warmth as she said conspiratorially, ‘I’m so glad Massimo has found someone likeyou, dear. He deserves to be happy.’
The woman was gone with her husband before Carrie could fully absorb that nugget.
When they were gone, driving off in their own sturdy SUV, Massimo put on his coat, saying, ‘I need to go and get some supplies for the fires.’
‘Do you need help?’
‘Not for this. Maybe see what’s in the kitchen that we can have for dinner later?’
Carrie watched as he left and got into the car and drove off. The snow was already a few inches high against the tyres. She felt a moment of fear, watching him go out of sight, and the house suddenly seemed huge and ominous around her...as if ghostly eyes were watching her.
She shook it off, telling herself she was being ridiculous, and made her way down to the comforting kitchen.
She was poring over a cookbook when Massimo returned. She tried not to let it show how relieved she was. He was carrying an armload of logs and he was covered in snowflakes.
He put the logs down by the fireplace and started to light it. He did this with an ease that spoke of his doing it many times before.
Carrie said, ‘I wouldn’t have thought you were used to doing the manual labour around here—weren’t you the cossetted heir?’
Massimo made a huffing sound. ‘That’s what my mother would have preferred, but there was usually so much chaos going on upstairs at any given time that Ric and I used to come down here and do our homework or hang out with the staff.’ He stood up and looked around. ‘This was always my favourite part of the house. Sheila and Tom weren’t living on the estate then, but they were a consistent presence and provided some security—more than the revolving door of nannies.’
Carrie marvelled again at the dark reality of Massimo’s supposedly gilded life.
Massimo took off his coat and hung it on the back of the door. ‘Do you mind staying here tonight?’
She shrugged. ‘Looks like we have no choice. And I can think of worse places to stay.’
As if he couldn’t help himself, he came over and reached out, touching her cheek with a finger. ‘You’re one a million, you know that?’
His touch was like an electric shock, zinging right into her blood.
Warmth bloomed near her heart.
