Free Daughters of Castle Deverill by Santa Montefiore

castle.’
    ‘No, it won’t be the same. It’ll be different,’ agreed Laurel ponderously. ‘She’ll bring it back to life, though, which will be lovely. I do hope she
remembers the way it was. Should we advise her, do you think?’
    ‘She’ll be grateful for our help, I’m sure. We knew the castle better than anyone else.’
    ‘Except possibly Bertie,’ said Laurel.
    ‘Yes, except Bertie, of course.’
    ‘And Kitty, perhaps?’ Laurel added.
    ‘Yes, and Kitty,’ Hazel agreed, a little irritably. ‘But we know the way
Adeline
would want it to be,’ said Hazel, gazing upon the damp earth beneath which their
sister’s body lay buried.
    Laurel inhaled deeply. ‘We’re the last of our generation here, you know.’
    ‘I’m aware of that, Laurel. One has to look to the younger generation for comfort. I’m very grateful to Elspeth and Kitty. If it wasn’t for our great-nieces and their
darling children, there’d be no reason to go on. No reason at all.’
    ‘Adeline was always certain we’d meet up in the end.’
    ‘A load of old rubbish,’ said Hazel.
    Laurel stared at her in surprise. ‘My dear Hazel, I think that’s the first time we’ve ever disagreed on anything.’
    ‘Is it?’
    ‘Yes, it is.’
    ‘Well, I hope it doesn’t set a precedent,’ Hazel added anxiously.
    ‘I don’t know. It might. Wouldn’t that be awful? Suddenly at the grand old age of—’
    ‘Don’t say it,’ Hazel interrupted, putting a hand on her sister’s arm.
    ‘At our grand old age then, that we began to disagree.’
    ‘We couldn’t have that,’ said Hazel.
    ‘No, we couldn’t. It would upset everything.’
    ‘Yes, it would.
Everything.
’
    ‘Shall we go home and have a cup of tea?’
    ‘Yes, let’s.’ Hazel smiled with relief. ‘I’m so happy we agree on that!’
    Adeline watched her sisters walk out into the street and head off towards home. From her place in Spirit she could see everything that went on in Ballinakelly. Unlike her
husband Hubert and the other heirs of Castle Deverill who were bound by Maggie O’Leary’s curse to remain in the castle until the land was returned to an O’Leary, Adeline was free
to come and go as she pleased. Literally a free spirit, she thought with satisfaction. It would have been easy to have left this world altogether; after all, the allure of what human beings call
‘Heaven’ was very strong. But Adeline was bound to Hubert by a more powerful force than curiosity. She had resolved to stay with him because she loved him. She loved Ireland, too, and
her family who remained here. Only when
their
time ran out would she go home to Heaven; all together, as they had always been.
    Adeline was intrigued by the recent comings and goings at the castle. Celia, who was staying at the Hunting Lodge with Bertie, spent a great deal of time exploring the ruins and discussing her
plans with Mr Leclaire, the architect she had brought over from London. Portly like a little toad, with a shiny round face, bald head, fleshy lips, and a speech impediment that caused him to spit
on his S’s, Mr Kenneth Leclaire was wildly enthusiastic about this ambitious commission. Celia Mayberry was his favourite sort of client: clueless and with a bottomless budget. He had grand
ideas and hopped from charred room to charred room behind the dreamy Celia, waving his arms about and describing in lavish superlatives the splendour of those rooms once rebuilt according to his
glorious vision. Celia clapped her hands with glee at his every suggestion, squealing encouragement: ‘Oh, Kenny darling, I just love it! Import it, build it. I want it yesterday!’
    Celia wanted Kitty to enjoy the process of restoration as much as she did, and Adeline, so amused by the prancing Mr Leclaire and Celia’s blinkered passion to recreate the past through the
rose-tinted hue of her memories, was saddened by the sight of her favourite grandchild, wandering the ruins with her cousin as if she too were a