‘So I suppose that’ll be another holiday cottage,’ Jane sighed. In the short span of her life, she’d seen almost a third of the homes in the village change hands from families who could track their ancestors back hundreds of years to incomers who did their shopping in distant supermarkets and had no interest in village life except as a curiosity pickled in aspic.
‘I don’t think anybody round here’s got the money for it,’ Allan agreed. ‘Mind, the house by the Post Office, the couple that bought that live here year round. She does something with computers and he publishes a magazine for ramblers.’ He shook his head. ‘Doesn’t feel like proper jobs to me, but at least they’re not just weekenders.’
Allan pulled off into the gateway leading into their yard and parked by the lambing shed. The low farmhouse seemed to crouch against the hillside, its weathered stone blending seamlessly into the landscape. Buttery yellow light spilled out of the kitchen windows, their outline blurred in the heavy drizzle. They hurried through the rain to the back door, shaking themselves like dogs when they were inside the flagged hallway. The glorious aroma of lamb combined with rosemary and garlic wafted round them in a welcoming miasma.
Judy Gresham appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on her jeans. ‘Jane,’ she exclaimed, satisfaction written on her face. In spite of the hard life of a hill farmer’s wife, Judy wore her years lightly. She looked more like a woman in her forties than her mid-fifties, her dark brown hair as thick and luxuriant as it had been when Jane had loved to wind it round her fingers as a child. Jane relished the look of surprise on the faces of university friends she’d brought back here when they met her mother. Her father was exactly what they expected–weather-beaten face, stocky frame dressed in overalls over jeans and plaid shirts. But her mother confounded them. Instead of an apple-cheeked woman in pleated skirt and apron stirring jam for the WI stall to the tune of ‘Jerusalem’, they were confronted with a slender, well-kempt woman in jeans and stylish shirts, never seen in public without make-up, earrings and nail varnish. The features in her oval face were small and neat; Jane wished she’d inherited those rather than her father’s deep-set eyes, wide cheekbones and very definite nose. Beside her mother, Jane always felt a big and frumpish disappointment. That was her projection, however; Judy had never indicated by word or look that she was anything other than delighted in her daughter’s appearance.
Now she folded Jane in a tight embrace then held her at arms’ length for a critical scrutiny. ‘You’re a sight for sore eyes,’ she said. ‘It feels like ages since you were home.’
‘It’s only been a few weeks, Mum,’ Jane protested.
‘Months, more like.’ Her mother turned into the kitchen, confident daughter and husband would follow. The scrubbed pine table where the family had eaten countless meals was laid for dinner, water glasses gleaming in the soft light. ‘Perfect timing,’ Judy continued. ‘The joint’s just ready. Sit yourselves down.’
Five minutes in the house and London felt like a foreign country, Jane thought as she watched her mother pile roast potatoes and parsnips round the thick slices of lamb. No matter how hard she tried to convince herself otherwise, this was where she belonged. This was where she felt most alive. Impossible to imagine that only that morning she’d been confronting a London gangsta in his own living room. If she told her parents, their mouths would fall open in shock, their eyes agleam with concern and incomprehension. And they’d be right, she thought, reaching for the plate and setting it down in front of herself.
A couple of melting mouthfuls into the lamb, Jane heard the back door open. ‘Only me,’ her brother’s voice called from the hall through the rustle of an outdoor jacket being removed.
Judy looked faintly guilty. ‘Matthew, what a lovely surprise,’ she said as her son walked in, pushing damp curls away from his forehead.
Matthew Gresham took in the scene and gave a bitter little smile. ‘Very nice,’ he said. ‘I brought that magazine Diane said you wanted,’ he said to Judy, tossing a rolled-up copy of a gardening monthly on the table as he dragged a chair back and plonked himself down like a sulky child. Jane watched it uncurl, waiting for the other shoe to drop. ‘What are you doing home in the middle of the week in the middle of term?’ he said, his voice deceptively pleasant. ‘You blotted your copybook, Sis?’
‘Study leave,’ Jane said. ‘It’s good to see you, Matthew,’ she added, trying to appear pleasant.
‘All right for some,’ Matthew said. He sniffed the air. ‘Nice bit of lamb. You been slaughtering, Dad? I’ll look forward to something more exciting than pasta arrabbiata for Sunday lunch.’
Judy’s lips tightened but she said nothing. Jane wondered how differently her brother might have turned out if her mother hadn’t been so willing to let him rule the roost as a child.
‘Your mother makes very good pasta,’ her father said. ‘You can’t beat home-made tagliatelle. And it takes a lot more time to prepare than a joint. Which you’d know if you ever turned a hand in the kitchen.’
Matthew flicked his eyebrows upwards. ‘So what’s this study leave all about, then? Time out to mend a broken heart?’
Jane shook her head, a rictus smile plastered on her face. ‘I see the charm and diplomacy is still a work in progress. No, Matthew, this is nothing to do with Jake. There’s some documentation I need to look for up here and my professor agrees with me that I need to do it sooner rather than later.’
‘Documentation you need to look for? You’re not still banging on about Wordsworth’s lost masterpiece?’ Matthew stretched across and picked a fragment of lamb from the serving plate, popping it into his mouth with a murmur of appreciation. Then suddenly he snorted with laughter. ‘Oh, I get it. You’ve convinced your gullible boss that the body in the bog is–ta da!–none other than Fletcher Christian.’ His face soured again. ‘God, you’ve got it so easy down there. Fancy a few days in the Lakes with a bit of home cooking? I know, come up with some daft notion and sweet-talk the world into dancing to your tune.’
‘Give it a rest, Matthew,’ Allan said. ‘Your sister’s not in the door five minutes.’
‘And it’s not as if you’ve got much to complain about,’ Judy said brightly. ‘A beautiful baby boy, a lovely wife and a good job. There’s millions would be happy with your lot.’
‘So is that it, Jane?’ Matthew continued relentlessly, ignoring his mother. ‘You’re going to waltz back in here and find Willie’s epic on the Bounty and make your fortune?’
Jane swallowed her half-chewed mouthful and glared at her brother. ‘I’m pursuing a line of research. But if I do find anything, it won’t be me getting rich, it’ll be Wordsworth’s heirs. Or whoever has title to whatever it is I find.’
Matthew looked scornful. ‘Let’s not be naïve here, Sis. OK, you’re the only person in the world who believes in the magic manuscript. But if you do find it, it’ll be the making of you. A brilliant career, all off the back of the Lakes.’
‘And how do you think people would make a living round here if it wasn’t for heritage tourism?’ Jane countered. ‘There’s other parts of England just as beautiful, but they don’t have anything like the tourist income we have. The history of literary connections with the Lake District is one of the main reasons people come here. Whether it’s Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, Ruskin or Arthur Ransome. Their legacy has given back much more than they ever took out of the area.’
‘But this? This won’t be something that generates money and jobs in the tourism industry, will it? This is not going to help create jobs for the kids I teach and their families. It’ll be a handful of outsiders getting rich.’ He shook his head. ‘I never thought you’d be one of the ones treating this place like a cash cow.’
‘There’s a long and noble tradition of that, Matthew. Wordsworth and his friends were