A Lonely Sky (9 page)

“Ah! Barnabas,” Sam said. “Good evening.”

Julia’s attention was drawn from the picture to an elderly gentleman who descended the staircase. She found him elegantly dressed in gray trousers, pullover sweater, shirt and tie.

The silver-haired man offered Sam his hand, and a tight-lipped smile. “Good to see you too, Sir.” His eyes fell on Julia.

“May I introduce Julia Steele,” Sam said. “Julia, this is Elliot Barnabas, the caretaker of McTeel Manor and my friend.”

“Hi,” Julia said, feeling horribly underdressed in her Gap blue jeans, yellow sweater and jean jacket.

Barnabas answered with an expressionless nod.

Sam seemed not to notice. “Polly should have mentioned we’d be arriving. I rang her with the news last evening.”

Barnabas raised his eyebrows. “Oh no sir. She must have forgot.”

Sam paused. “I see.”

Julia shifted in her sneakers. This couldn’t be good. She hadn’t meant to be a “surprise” guest to anyone. The last thing she wanted was to be an intrusion. She glanced at the woman in the portrait.
Oh please be understanding
, she prayed.

“I’ll remind Mrs. McTeel that you’re here now, though, sir.” Turning as if he was attached from the ceiling by a string, Barnabas departed into the Great Hall and disappeared through large wooden doors on the right.

“He’s very formal,” Julia said.

Sam laughed. “Yes. I’ve told him not to call me ‘sir’ but he’s been doing it since I was a boy. Old habits are hard to break, I guess.”

“Do you think your aunt will still let me stay here?” She looked around the palatial home once more.
Oh, it would be a shame to be here and never get past the entrance!

But Sam’s eyes held reassurance. “Don’t worry. Barnabas will set things right.”

Julia looked to the portrait in the hall again. “Your aunt looks like she’s very sweet.”
Oh, please be
!

Sam laughed. “Don’t let that proper portrait fool you. Yes, she’s sweet, but I’m sure Polly would rather have been playing her hand in a good game of gin rummy than sitting for that painting.”

“And spot on you are, my darling Sam!” From the doors Barnabas exited, a short, robust woman dressed in an orange and red caftan burst on them in a whirl of laughter. Julia knew immediately that this was Polly McTeel. Although older than in her portrait, Polly still retained her beauty despite a few more curves, tiny crinkles about the cat-like eyes, and silver wisps woven throughout her ebony hair.

Polly held out her arms to Sam. “You’ve come back to see me after all this time!”

“It’s only been a week, Aunt Polly,” Sam said, embracing her.

Polly held his hands. “Oh but a week is like a month to a lonely old woman. How much fun do you think I can possible derive out of old Barnabas? Really.”

Julia stifled a nervous giggle as Barnabas picked that exact moment to walk into the hall. Julia noticed him color at Polly’s remark, yet she also detected the hint of a slight smile.

“I’ll retrieve Miss Steele’s things,” Barnabas announced, as he headed for the front door.

“Stodgy old creature.” Polly said after he left. “But he’s a good man. What can one do?” She drew quiet as if lost in thought, and then immediately sprang back to life. “Oh, good heavens, my manners!” She turned to Julia as if first noticing her. “You must be the lovely friend of Sam’s that Barnabas mentioned.”

“Hello, Mrs. McTeel,” Julia said. “I’m Julia.”

“And I’m delighted to meet you.” Polly looked her up and down and then smiled as if in approval. “Let’s all go into the parlor, shall we?  Be a dear, Sam, and help an old lady back to her sofa. I’m feeling dreadfully weak all of a sudden.”

As Sam hooked his arm in Polly’s, Julia followed them into a small, quaint room decorated with an overstuffed red velvet sofa and matching chairs. A fire roared in the hearth, adding warmth to the richly hued walls, Persian rug, lavish plants and a small coffee table set for tea.

Sam helped Polly settle on the sofa, and placed a blanket across her lap.

“There now,” Polly said, as she looked to Julia. “Sit, my dear!”

Julia dutifully sat in one of the chairs while Sam stood protectively at Polly’s feet.

Polly fanned herself as she spoke. “Oh Sam! Do my heart good and tell me this pretty lady is your fiancée! I’d be so happy to hear you’re going to marry.” She turned to Julia. “Do you know that he spends his evenings with me playing cards?  I tell him ‘Go out, have fun’, but he stays in with his old lady friend instead.”

Sam poured a cup of tea and handed it to Polly. “Julia is
a friend
, Aunt Polly.”

Julia nodded her head in agreement.

Sam turned and shot her a playful wink. “Polly is worried I’ll end up an old bachelor like Barnabas.”

“I just don’t think a handsome young man like yourself should be spending time entertaining dotty old women like me, that’s all.” She lifted the tea to her lips, but continued to talk over the cup, lost in her own thoughts. “Of course, then again, I’d much rather have you here with me than off with that dreadful Deirdre Lamont who chases you about without half a shred of self-respect.”

Julia glanced at Sam. Never once in their chats had he mentioned 
Deirdre Lamont
.

“Tea?” He held an empty cup towards her.

“No, no thank you,” she said.

Sam replaced the cup and glanced towards the door. “Well, then, right. I think I’ll see if I can help Barnabas with the luggage.”

Polly sighed. “Don’t smoke while you’re out there, Sam!”

Sam headed for the door, pausing to whisper to Julia. “I wonder how Barnabas tolerates the nagging.”

She smiled in response, wishing he wouldn’t leave just yet. Her nerves hadn’t quite settled and she felt lost for conversation with this seemingly nice lady who she had barely known for ten minutes. As Sam walked off, she glanced around the room. “Your home is lovely.”

“No, it’s garish.” Polly placed her tea on a side table. “Too hot in the spring and summer, too drafty in the winter.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Julia bit her lip, unable to think of anything else to say, but it didn’t’ seem to matter as Mrs. McTeel took the conversation reins.

“Julia, tell me. Are you Sam’s lover?”

Julia felt her face turn as scarlet as the chair she sat in. She swallowed, wondering if she heard the woman correctly. “What?”

“It’s a simple question, yes or no? I know he says you’re a friend, but he’s always so bloody evasive. I want to know things.”

Julia blinked and stammered. “No, we just-”

“Right then. Never mind that question,” Polly said. “That reaction tells me you’re not his lover, and you’ve never had a lover.”

The room grew unbearably hot and Julia feared she might self-combust from embarrassment. “I have a boyfriend back home.”

“Of course you have a
boyfriend
, dear, but you don’t have a
lover
. Two different things, entirely. And if you had a lover, you’d know the difference.”

Julia folded and unfolded her hands in her lap and contemplated running full speed out of the house.

But Polly continued. “Right then. Change of subject! How did you meet my Sam?”

Julia paused again, not sure Mrs. McTeel would approve of her ditching the choir tour for a trip to England.

“Well,” she started. “I was with some friends-”

Polly raised her hand, motioning for her to stop. “If it takes you that long to answer, my dear, then there’s something you’re not wishing to tell me. And if there’s something you’re not wanting to tell me, then it’s something I’m probably better off not hearing, yes?”

Julia sighed, feeling she couldn’t win no matter what she said. “Yes.”

“Then change of subject!” Polly laughed. “This seems rather like a game, now doesn’t it?  Let me try another one.” Her eyes lit up. “What are your plans while in London?”

Sam’s voice answered from the doorway. Relief flooded through Julia. “Her plans are to decide to go into acting as a career, Aunt Polly. At least I hope to convince her so.”

Polly’s voice filled with surprise. “You’re an American actress?”

“No,” Julia said, upset with Sam for mentioning it. “I just graduated high school, but I would love to study acting.” She looked down at the floor.

“I plan to give her a whirlwind tour of the West End district and some of the other theaters in hopes of somehow inspiring her.” Sam walked into the room and stood by Julia’s side. “But first, I really must return to my flat and see if my agent called and get some sleep.” He turned to Julia. “You’ll be fine here with Polly.”

“Of course she will,” Polly added, as if insulted.

Sam walked over to his aunt, kissed her on the head and turned to Julia again.

“I’ll be back around tomorrow morning to pick you up. We’ll see a few sights and then tomorrow evening, we’ll get together with some friends of mine. Sound all right?”

Julia smiled with gratitude. “Thanks, Sam. And Mrs. McTeel, this is very nice of you to let me stay here.”

“Well, we can’t have you staying with this rogue now can we?” Polly winked at Sam who rolled his eyes.

“Goodbye Aunt Polly, good-bye Julia, goodbye ladies.” He feigned a pretentious bow and walked out, whistling as he went.

“He’s happy,” Polly said. “I think it will do him a world of good having you here, Julia. It will distract him.”

“Yeah, I know how anxious he is to get that call about the part.”

Polly seemed amused by her answer. “That’s not what I mean.”

Of course not. Wrong answer again!

“Tell me, Julia. Just how much do you know about Sam?”

Julia reiterated what Sam told her in the car.

“That’s it?” Polly seemed surprised. “Didn’t he mention his family?”

“No.”

Polly straightened up in her seat. “Well, it isn’t my place to tell it, which is exactly why I will.”

Julia allowed herself a laugh, happy to be free from interrogation.

“I took Sam in because his parents, dear friends of mine, were killed in a car accident when he was nineteen. He had nowhere else to go. Having no children of my own, I’ve always loved Sam like a son. He had very little money, and thought about enlisting in the military, but both he and I knew that being a soldier wasn’t in Sam’s blood. He wanted to be an actor, so I offered to take him in. This benefited us both, you see, because Sam had a home and could go to school, and I wasn’t alone in this huge house, although Barnabas stayed on after my husband passed.”

Julia found Sam’s life fascinating. “Couldn’t Sam just live in his own home?”

Polly shook her head. “He had no money except what he saved for school. He and his father had a terrible row about his career choice-”

“Acting,” Julia sighed, the story all too familiar.

“Yes, acting. Sam’s father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and run the family business but Sam has no mind for business. Despite that, his father insisted he work for the family company after his schooling and Sam flatly refused. Charles Lyons was not a man willing to accept defeat, however. He told Sam that if he defied his orders, he’d cut him out of the will.”

Julia thought of her own father and the reins he held on her career choice. “But given that Sam
is
an actor, he must have gone against his dad?”

“Yes. He applied anyhow, and a letter of acceptance came from the Acting Academy addressed to Sam, but Charles opened it. When Sam came home that day, Charles, denounced him as his son, called him all sorts of terrible names and a terrible row ensued. A day later, Charles rewrote his will, leaving his entire fortune to his wife and then his business partner, cutting Sam out. Three weeks later, he and Sam’s mother were dead in a plane crash.”

“Oh, gosh,” Julia said. “Sam seems okay, now, though. The business partner must have given him his inheritance?”

“Ha,” Polly said, rolling her eyes. “Sam’s parents were killed on a business trip and guess who was the pilot of the small plane?”

“The business partner?”

“Tragically, yes. That was Richard Lamont, who, once he knew the business fortune might be entirely his someday, wasted no time at all in rewriting his own will.”  

“And when he died?”

“His fortune went directly and solely to his only daughter, Deirdre. Not even a penny to his wife, but then she’s wealthy enough in her own right.”

Julia stared at Polly in disbelief. “So Sam is dirt poor and Deirdre Lamont has his inheritance?”

“Yes and there’s more,” Polly said, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Barnabas entered, holding a small, silver tray. “Excuse the intrusion, but it’s time for your medication.”

“Julia, I’m sorry,” Polly said. “Our conversation will have to resume tomorrow. I do need to follow doctor’s orders, and after I take these pills, I fear I shall nod right off.”

“I understand,” Julia said, disappointed to end the conversation.

“In what room will Julia being staying?” Polly asked of Barnabas.