Moving On by Anna Jacobs

Author:Anna Jacobs [Jacobs, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General/Fiction
Published: 2011-03-31T23:00:00+00:00

Nine

On Thursday Euan rang Molly at seven thirty. ‘I didn’t wake you, did I? You said you usually got up early. Oh, good. Would it be asking too much for you to come here and help me finish packing? I’m never going to be ready to move house tomorrow otherwise. Would you mind?’

‘Of course not. I’ve already had my breakfast, so I can come straight away.’ She was supposed to have the morning off and hadn’t been looking forward to it, because there wasn’t much to keep you occupied in a caravan, and there was only so much shopping to do when there was only yourself to feed.

She followed the directions to Euan’s house and stood admiring it for a moment or two – old, beautiful, built of stone, with picturesque gables, in a lovely village setting. She couldn’t imagine why he wanted to leave this to live on what was little more than a building site.

The front door was open and when she rang the bell, a voice yelled, ‘Come in!’ The hall was at least two metres wide, but it was full of boxes and oddments of furniture, two dark oak chairs, a small table, a bookcase. She edged her way cautiously past these obstacles and followed the voice upstairs, finding Euan frowning at a bare mattress topped by piles of folded bed linen. He looked so frazzled, her heart went out to him.

‘Thank goodness you’re here, Molly. I seriously underestimated what needed doing and it’s taking far longer than I’d expected.’ He waved one hand around. ‘This used to be my grandparents’ house, and my grandmother left it to me when she died. I knew living here would just be temporary, so I didn’t get round to clearing out all the cupboards.’

‘Did you never think of living here permanently? It’s a beautiful house.’

His expression darkened. ‘It may be but it doesn’t have good memories for me. I spent a few summers here with my grandparents. My father didn’t get on well with his parents so he didn’t stay. All I have left from that side of the family now is this house and the name, Santiago. My grandfather’s family came from Portugal, and I think he and my grandmother were stuck in a time warp when it came to raising children. They were very strict and not at all loving.’

She could hear the unhappiness in his voice and blessed her own normal childhood.

‘Anyway, I’ve been more busy than I expected setting up the leisure village. Now, I’m finding so much stuff to pack I’m panicking. I know I could throw things away but they’re not worn out and that seems wrong, and some are family mementoes, while others are probably quite valuable.’

‘Hmm.’ She inspected the piles of bedding, most of which was in excellent condition, then let him show her the five large bedrooms on this floor, all with cupboards and drawers full of items. They looked sad, with the beds stripped.

‘There’s another floor,’ he said, ‘and there’s still stuff up there, too.

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