Chasing Ghosts by Madalyn Morgan (best fantasy books to read .txt) 📕

on her back. Where she hadn’t pulled the curtains properly a pale light in the shape of a long finger crept across the ceiling, disappearing and appearing as clouds drifted in front of the silver moon in the winter sky.

Claire thought about Mitch. Wondered where he was. Wondered who he was with. Was he with Simone? Did he love her? Did she love him? She turned over and lay on her side, her back to her daughter and the eerie pattern of light. She loved her husband. She wanted him, needed him. It was then that she decided to go back to Oxford. She would leave Aimée at Foxden for the remainder of the Christmas holiday and she would go and find her husband. She would take Esther’s advice and return to Canada if she had to.

Christmas morning the Dudley family attended Mysterton Church. It had been a tradition for as long as Claire could remember. They walked the short distance back to the Foxden Hotel chatting and laughing. The family had grown, so the venue for opening the presents that Father Christmas had left during the night had been moved from the old nursery to the library. There were squeals of excitement from the children as they found their parcels and opened them, and ooh’s and aah’s from the adults who had also been given token gifts; the Dudley women, scent, soap and talcum powder, the men, handkerchiefs, ties and socks.

Frank and Bess, having gone downstairs to make sure everything was running smoothly in the kitchen, returned with glasses of eggnog and brandy and a tray of snacks. As always, the family would have their Christmas lunch with the staff when the paying guests had finished eating and vacated the dining room.

At three o’clock, the flamboyant Chef swept into the library and announced lunch was being served. To cheers and thanks, Alfredo bowed to Lily Dudley and offered her his arm. Together they swanned down the wide staircase, across the marble hall and into the dining room.

Claire’s mother sat at the head of the table, on her right her son Tom and his family. Like her sisters, she was proud of her older brother. In the army, he had saved the lives of a dozen soldiers when he repaired the engine of a motorboat and, under fire, drove it from the pier at Dunkirk harbour out to sea to a waiting British warship. He now bred horses and managed an estate owned by his in-laws, Lord and Lady Hadleigh, in Kent. His wife Annabel had worked with Bess in the war. She may have been a lady, but Annabel was as much a land girl as any of the women who lived and worked on the Foxden Estate.

Claire turned her attention to the other end of the table and caught Bess’s eye. Are you all right, Bess mouthed. Claire nodded and swallowed the mountain of emotions that threatened to erupt from her.

Bess and Frank sat at the far end of the table. Frank, Claire’s ever-practical brother-in-law sat nearest the door, ready to leap into action if he was needed. Claire pulled out chairs for Aimée and Nancy. Once they were seated she took her place between them, next to Ena and her husband Henry. Margot, her husband Bill and their daughter Natalie sat opposite.

Claire put on a smile. For the first time in several years, her family were gathered around one table. Only Mitch was missing.

CHAPTER NINE

Claire set off for Oxford on her own the day after Boxing Day. She had promised Aimée that she would come back and fetch her as soon as her daddy returned from Canada. Claire forced herself to smile when she left her daughter with Bess and Frank for the remainder of the Christmas holiday. Aimée had always loved spending time up at Foxden with Claire’s family. She enjoyed it even more now she had a cousin of her own age to play with. Aimée and Nancy got on from the minute they met and had become the best of friends.

Claire hadn’t told her mother she was going back to Oxford today, there hadn’t been time. Driving down the lane from the hotel her mother’s cottage, which had once been part of the Foxden Estate, came into view. For no reason that she could think of her WAAF documents came into her mind. They could come in handy, she supposed, but for what? She couldn’t get the documents out of her mind so she pulled up outside the cottage and jumped out.

She walked up the path to the back of the house and knocked the door.

‘Come in, love,’ Lily Dudley said, opening the back door. ‘I’ve just put the kettle on. Have you got time for a cuppa?’

‘No, thanks. I’ve only popped in to say cheerio.’

‘You’re going back early, aren’t you? I had it in my mind you were staying for the New Year’s Eve party,’ her mother said. She looked to Claire’s left and right. ‘Our Aimée not with you?’

‘No, she’s staying with Bess and Frank. It’s nice for her to have Nancy to pal up with - nice for Nancy too. I’ll come up and get her the weekend before she goes back to school.’

Lily Dudley picked up the kettle, filled it and put it on the gas stove.

‘Mam?’

‘Yes, love?’

‘Is it okay if I have a rummage around in the attic?’

‘Of course,’ Claire’s mother said, ‘but there isn’t much up there. And it’ll be dusty. I haven’t been in there for years. No one has. I think our Bess was the last one up there when she helped me clear out your father’s stuff. He was a hoarder, bless him. What is it you’re looking for?’

‘Nothing important. I just want to have a look at my WAAF papers. They’re in an old case. I put it in