THE PRODIGAL HOUSEKEEPER (Chapter 1)

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THE PRODIGAL HOUSEKEEPER

Chapter 1

The thirty year old white Mercedes convertible had the roof down. It was the only new car Oswald had ever bought, and despite its age, was the one he most enjoyed driving. June sun shone as he drove the car slowly along the narrow high-hedged lanes criss¬crossing the Hampshire countryside. It was prudent to drive slowly because people were taking advantage of the fine weather to be out riding their horses and ponies.
Beside Oswald sat a much younger blonde who had removed her hat and was allowing the breeze to flutter through her long curly hair. From time to time, she nonchalantly flicked away a ¬¬¬¬few strands that fell across her eyes. Removing such dropping curls was a gesture Caroline enjoyed making and this she did with such frequency that over time it became part of her identity. Her hairdresser deliberately styled her hair so a lock would occasionally and ‘inadvertently’ tumble, even indoors.
They drove in silence for some while before Oswald spoke.
"What would you like to do now, Caroline? It’s such a lovely day and perfect for a little drive before going home.”
Caroline had said only two words all morning, and on hearing Oswald’s question, she made no reply.
“Are you happy, darling?” he asked, confident her silence was a sign of contentment.
There was still no reply. Oswald wasn’t in a talkative mood either so he continued driving carefully through the country lanes.
Oswald’s life had changed drastically and his thoughts rummaged through his biography, beginning with the first summer when he bought the Mercedes. It was a lucky meeting in a pub that resulted in a business deal almost too good to be true. All his life he had been lucky in money but not in love.
“Let’s drive to the Mill House Inn and have some coffee by the river on our way home. We went there once before with William and his wife, you’ll remember when you see it,” he said, without expecting an answer.
A twenty-minute drive brought them to the pub’s car park from where they walked to a table in the garden and were the only customers. They sat beside each other near the turning mill wheel and ordered one pot of coffee and one iced lemon. It was a delightful flowery garden, perfect for sitting together and watching brown trout swimming in the slow flowing chalk river. Nobody was present to watch the middle-aged man and a much younger blond woman holding hands. Nobody was present to see the two shining new gold wedding rings.
After coffee, the newlyweds drove to their home. Oswald stopped first at the steps of the house to let Caroline out, and then he took the car to his garage. These days he did not drive much himself; he preferred to be chauffeur-driven. He parked the car in the garage alongside a small collection of vintage cars and the newish Bentley he mostly used.
The chauffeur came over as he parked, and after inspecting the car, said,
"I see you managed to pick up a lot of mud on the wheels, did everything go alright?"
“Yes, Peter. It all went smoothly. Just a quiet affair in the Registry Office, and then we stopped at the Mill House for drinks.”
“May I be the first to congratulate you? You've a beautiful wife. Best wishes for a long and happy marriage.”
“Time will tell. I suppose we’d better try to find a car for her, something she can drive herself, and something you can drive her around in. Have a think and give me your suggestions.”
Oswald walked unhurriedly along the gravel drive back to the house, looking at the gardens as he did so. He stopped twice by a long bed of orange, yellow and white roses, once to carefully dead-head a few, and once to take in the aroma of blooming flowers. It was a charming, old brick Hampshire farmhouse with large bay windows and the sloping red tiled roof had several honey-suckle clad dormer windows.
Elizabeth, the chauffeur’s wife, who looked after the house with a part time maid-cum-cook waited at the flagstone steps of the front entrance. She lived with her husband in accommodations above the garage which left much of the house unoccupied. Oswald had been a lifelong bachelor and didn't care much for entertaining and used caterers for his rare parties. It had been Caroline’s wish for a quiet wedding, and the groom had been happy about this, thinking a large garden party later in the summer would be better.
“Congratulations on your marriage. You've chosen a wonderful wife,” she said grasping both Oswald’s hands and shaking them heartily as soon as he had arrived at the entrance.
“Thank you, I'm a lucky man.” He thought about adding, ‘This is the happiest day of my life’ but resisted since it wasn’t true and would have sounded hollow.
“Do you think we'll need any extra staff in the house now I have a wife?”
“Oh no, I don’t think we should bother, it won't be necessary at all. I should hope everything runs like clockwork after twenty years. Too many hands tend to spoil the broth. I don’t think Caroline’s the type to want her own maid.”
“We haven’t had a chance to talk about that. I'll have to ask her. I'm not sure what she’s got in mind.”
“Well, at the moment she’s in the guest room as usual. Your rooms haven’t been changed, and the master bedroom has been made ready.”
“Thanks a lot, could you bring some tea in the garden and invite my wife to join me?” he asked, although he still felt awkward using the word “wife”. The idea he was married hadn’t sunk in.
“Yes, of course, I will. Cook has baked a lovely wedding cake, and we've got fresh strawberries from the greenhouse.”
Oswald was waiting in the summer garden, sitting at a table in the shade of an old apple tree, when Caroline and the afternoon tea arrived. Her taciturn mood had changed and the young bride started to speak in an almost businesslike manner as she carefully poured out tea and milk for her husband.
“Oswald, I really want to have a talk with you after dinner. I've something important to say.”
“Oh, I had some other ideas for our wedding night. These strawberries are delicious, and the cake is splendid. Here let me cut you a slice. I thought we could go off on our honeymoon straight after the wedding, but you didn’t think it a good idea. I still fancy somewhere in the Caribbean. It would suit us fine. We could do some sailing together and you'd have a chance to go diving... I could try some big-game fishing.”
“You know I’ve got appointments in London next week and I'll have to stay up there for several days. Afterwards we can go wherever we like. But do let’s talk after dinner, and then things will become clearer. Yes, the cake is very tasty, one of the best I’ve ever had, and the strawberries are scrumptious. I do think it would have been nice if you'd carried me over the threshold. That’s what grooms generally do.”
"Sorry, I’ve no previous experience. I'll try harder next time." were words he thought of adding, but decided they would be inappropriate, aloud he said simply,
“Sorry dear.”
"Never mind, though it would have made for a bit of fun. It's one of my favourite parts of the wedding day." She half-finished a mouthful of cake before saying, "Now I know how happy a man can make a woman. I'm going to be gloriously happy living here.”
“So after nearly two hours of marriage you’ve only one complaint.” Oswald said with a smile.
“Two. The old black and white jacket you wore wasn’t the most suitable of choices. Something a bit more Elton Johnish to go with my green hat would have been nice. The main thing is we’re married. Right now, I must shower, change, and make a couple of phone calls. See you at dinner, ta-ra.”
“Hold on a minute dear, Peter’s just coming with the camera and wants to take a few pictures.”
After Peter had photographed them holding hands at the table Oswald’s eyes followed Caroline’s slim body as she walked across the lawn back to the house. He then drank a second cup of tea and was going back into the house when Peter stopped him.
“I cleaned the car and put the roof back up. Do you still want to go ahead with this?”
“Yes,” said Oswald and nodded.
“I’ve got everything ready so just give a call when you need me. I still think you could be digging up trouble.”
Oswald had a self-contained apartment of three rooms on the ground floor. Here he spent a good part of his time and was able to do most of his cooking. The part-time cook of the house actually didn’t have much to do except prepare a full Monty breakfast every morning exactly as Oswald liked it, complete with mushrooms, fried bread, toast, tomatoes, baked beans, scrambled eggs, bacon and black sausage.
This evening the cook had prepared a special meal in the dining room for the newlyweds, and after serving each course, went back into the kitchen, discreetly leaving the couple to their privacy. They had eaten here often during their courtship. and had generally preferred to spend their time at Oswald’s house but had also taken several trips away, around England or on the Continent. These had been happy times for both of them. They had laughed and joked together, sometimes dancing, playing backgammon or watching a movie. They both enjoyed using the indoor swimming pool, and regularly spent an hour or two on the tennis court playing singles or mixed doubles with friends.
After they had eaten, Caroline suggested to Oswald they move to the conservatory. This was her favourite spot in the house with an expansive view across fields to woods of tall beech trees. They sat on easy chairs and looked out through the open French windows to watch the large crimson sun set against a veil of blue sky. Soon the cook brought in a steaming pot of hot chocolate. Neither of them were great drinkers, though Oswald sometimes enjoyed a pint of Guinness or a glass of port.
“I've something important to say,” Caroline said once the drinks had arrived.
“Are you quite sure you wouldn’t like some champagne, dear? A little celebration?”
“Quite sure,” she replied rather curtly.
“That was a funny thing at the Registry Office. They put your first name down as Cara. Why was that?”
“Well, because it’s my name. You know my mother is Welsh?”
“You told me several times.”
“She called me Cara because I was born in a caravan, see,” she said, using her Welsh accent.
"You never mentioned it before. Have you got any more little secrets?"
“Mum thought it would sound good, and when I was older, I could call myself Cara van Christie if ever I became an actress, a politician or a fashion designer or something. When I was a teenager, I changed it to Carol and later to Caroline. But I have something important to say.”
“Cara van Christie is quite catchy. It was thoughtful of your mother. And you never knew your father?” he asked, not thinking he was interrupting.
“No, I didn’t. Not at all. My mother didn’t know him either, or hardly. It was something she seldom mentioned. I was the result of an accident, a sort of passing of ships in the night. She can’t even remember the man’s name. In those days, there were no morning-after pills. Mum told me she thought of having an abortion, but decided not to and got a job in a sardine factory instead. We lived together in the caravan, and Mum was able to bring home tins of sardines for free, we ate them ten times a week. I've had enough sardines to last a lifetime. Perhaps it’s why I can swim so well. Are you glad I wasn’t aborted?”
“I've never been asked such a question before! Of course I'm very glad that you were born. Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Elizabeth asked if you'd like to have your own maid now we’re married?”
“You keep distracting me. Please allow me to say everything I have to say and then things will become much clearer.”
“Caroline, dear, this is our wedding night. We should be cuddling up in the big double bed by now. That’s the general idea of getting married.”
“There can be other reasons too.”
“Like what?”
“Well, like getting a foreign passport for one thing. There are loads of reasons. Some people even get married on religious grounds. It’s exactly what I want to talk about… my reason for getting married to you. I want you to think of me as your housekeeper.”
“But I don’t want a housekeeper! Why should I think of you as my housekeeper? The house runs perfectly smoothly with Elizabeth and her husband. I want a wife. That’s why I married you. Of course, we can get more staff if you think it necessary.”
“Yes, dear, you're quite right, I'm your wife. This morning we married, signed all the papers and now you've got a housekeeper."
“I don’t understand. We fell in love, engaged and now we’re man and wife. It's all been a dream, like the working out of a wonderful plan.”
“Yes, darling, perfectly true. You put things so well. It’ll probably take a time for you to understand, but I'm doing my best to make things clear and simple. I didn’t fall in love with you… you fell in love with me. I fell in love with the house.”
“This is absolutely unbelievable. I can’t believe what I'm hearing.”
“Quite the usual reaction. Let me say it once again, very slowly. I married you so this house would become mine.”
“Are you really asking for some sort of separation on our wedding night?" The normally softly spoken Oswald raised his voice and added, "This cannot be true!”
“Oh yes, it's true. Divorce actually. It happens all the time, there’s something about it in the newspapers almost every day. Usually people stay married for a few years, have a miserable time with loads of horrible arguments and divorce,” Caroline explained with a little fluttering of her eyelashes. “It lasts absolutely ages, and is an awfully long time to wait. By doing it this way, things are kept nice and simple for both of us.”
“What makes you think you can marry me for a few hours and take my house?”
“Because I’ve a solicitor in London, Mr. Chambers, of Chambers, Crawley and Boyle, who specializes in divorce law. You can have a chat with him if you like. He’ll explain all the ins and outs, or what he likes to call the ‘pros and cons.’ This way I get the house and you keep everything else—all your businesses and investments, properties, cars, pensions, absolutely everything.”
“But why, might I ask, didn't you mention this before?” Oswald stuttered.
“You might ask, but if you have a teeny, teeny think about the question, you'll not need to ask it again.”
“Is this one of your jokes?”
“No, it's definitely not a joke. I'm your housekeeper. I keep your house.”
“Do you expect me to get angry and scream and shout?” asked Oswald, lifting both his hands.
“There’s no point really. I suggest you go to bed, have a good sleep, and in the morning, you can check out the position with your solicitor.”
“Do you really think I'll be able to sleep a wink tonight? What about the garden party? I wanted to have a marquee with a band and hundreds of guests—all our friends and family. I'll be a laughingstock.”
“Oswald, you don’t have to tell anyone. Far better not to, otherwise you’ll have the press here, and with such a beautiful house, it would probably be on television. My suggestion is neither of us says a dickey bird to anyone apart from our solicitors. It can be our little secret.”
“Some men would kill their wife for doing such a thing.”
“You’re bound to have a few horrid thoughts like that, but the sooner they go away, the better. You can waste weeks and weeks plotting out different ways of killing me. Your life would be a misery in prison. Grey high walls and porridge for breakfast wouldn’t suit you. Much better to grasp the nettle, take it all in your stride and don’t whisper a word to anyone.”
“Caroline, you're not normal.”
“Normal? People say normal is just a setting on washing machines.”
“And what do you say normal means?”
“To be unlike anyone else on earth is normal.” replied Caroline without a smile. Though her words held no malice, her voice contained an intensity and power Oswald had never witnessed. She took a sip of chocolate and reverted to her usual persona as if nothing untoward had occurred.
“Let me put it more bluntly. You’re completely mad.”
“No, I'm not mad, and with time you'll think yourself lucky. Be careful in the future and get a prenuptial agreement. That’s the way to go about marriage these days. You could have met a gold digger who would have taken at least half of everything you have, plus the horrific legal expenses. I suggest we don’t talk about it anymore at the moment. You're beginning to see what's happened and need time for it to sink in. I'll go to London for a few days and you can chat with your lawyer. You'll be amazed how quickly Chambers can do the conveyancing, next week I'll move in properly."
“Yes, I'll be really amazed!" he said as his anger mounted. "And you'll be amazed when I become violent!"
“I'm sure you must be cross and angry, but to hit your