The Lady of the Manor

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As I stood in the once cheerful kitchen sipping a calming cup of tea, a well-dressed young man came trotting up the drive, his hair unruffled by the early March wind and a sleek phone glued to his ear. Whoever this was, he was quite clearly bad news. I was getting weird vibes from him and wanted this introduction to be over with as soon as possible. And the guy hadn't even knocked yet.

I put my cup down on the table in preparation to let him but he didn't knock. Instead he just waltzed in as though he owned the place. He entered the kitchen through the boot room and smiled at me. Well, he smiled as much as the Botox he had clearly had allowed him to. He reminded me of a snake, creepy, unwanted and always hiding in the bushes ready to strike.

"Hello". He said cheerfully, "you must be Ella. I'm Vincent. I am so glad that you have started to clean up the rooms but I'll have to ask you to hand over the keys and vacate the premises now."

Vincent started looking round the kitchen, his eyes glinting with ideas and profits. If he was a cartoon, he would have pound signs popping out of his eye sockets.

"I'm sorry. What! This is my house, left to me in my grandmother's will. It's you who needs to leave. I don't even know who you are!"

"Oops. I must have missed that part." He smirked "Okay, let's see, your granny's husband was my great uncle and this house belongs to me."

Vincent started looking at his nails, picking imaginary bits of dirt out from underneath them. He looked almost bored, as though he tossed random people out of their homes every day. He probably did, all with a smile on his face and not a speck of dirt on his immaculate suit.

"Grandpa Joe didn't have any family, let alone a brother. You're lying to me!"

"Ah yes, dear old uncle Joe. He was a right laugh. That is until the booze found him and he started raving about seeing ghosts and having delusions."

He took one more look around the room and said, "so on behalf of my father and grandfather, I am claiming this house."

I didn't have any words. This couldn't be true. Grandma had never spoken of her husband's family. I had presumed that like her, he was an only child. But this man, Vincent, if he spoke the truth, then I had a cousin. I had family out there and that meant I wouldn't be alone.

I could do nothing but stare at Vincent, trying to decide if he was pulling my leg. Or if I was dreaming. Yes that was it. Any second now, I was going to wake back up at the bungalow and all this, Grandma dying, the house and Vincent would all be a confusing nightmare. I pinched my arm but upon feeling the sharp sting, knew this insanity was all real.

"You can't have the house. It's mine..."

"Yeah but, I am older than you, not to mention the male heir, therefore the rightful owner of Periwinkle House. We'll have to change the name though, make it into something a bit more fitting to a house of this magnificence."

I had only been at Periwinkle house for about a month now but nothing could get me out of this house. And he wanted to change the name. Hell would freeze over first before I let him into my grandmother's house.

"Get out! Grandma left this house to me in her will. You were not named at all, in fact I have never even heard of you! Next time you show up here unannounced, I shall call the police."

With that I shoved him back out, standing at the door with my arms crossed over my chest and a scowl on my face, watching him walk back down the driveway. I kept watching until his fancy car disappeared from view and when it did I slumped into the frame, the house seeming to prop me up.