Chapter Forty Three

Carlotta laughed walking behind her and slapping her ass, making her squeal in surprise and giving the Policeman watching her a boner that would not go away until he slipped into the toilets on his break. As the car headed out of the airport towards the Cornish coastline Juliette giggled and pouted at Carlotta,

‘Hey, if you’ve got it flaunt it’

Her ‘Aunt’ tapped her knee and grinned,

‘You  have always been a little charmer where men are concerned, had your father's friends wrapped around your tiny fingers as a child.’

The three of them enjoyed the next month talking and walking along the cliff, catching up on each other's lives and going out for meals. Her Aunt was not as spritely as she had been, and Juliette noticed she spent most afternoons dozing peacefully in her chair by the huge roaring fire she kept going in the ancient fireplace. Cornwall is a beautiful part of England but during the winter it is constantly damp and sometimes freezing. Her Aunt was well into her eighties and her old bones needed the warmth of the fire every day and her staff kept it blazing up the chimney.                                                                                          Carlotta gave them as much space as she could, instinct told her the elderly woman did not have much longer on this earth, she had seen enough of her own elderly relatives pass on to know Juliette’s Great Aunt was close to her time. She worried about the young woman she thought of as her ‘adopted’ daughter, Anna had been her best friend, they had grown up together, went to school together and she was very, very lucky that her husband had found her a week before the coup that had led to Anna being taken. She had been with him and not at Anna’s house or she would have met the same fate, normally the two girls would have been together and she felt so guilty that she had escaped but her friend had not.

Juliette had been for her daily walk along the cliffs, she may have been nineteen now but it did not stop her from climbing her beloved cliffs like she had as a child. She had been out for hours needing to get rid of all her excess energy, she loved her Aunt but her age prevented them from doing as much as they used sitting by the fire and drinking endless cups of tea was her idea of an afternoon well spent but Juliette had so much energy she had to let it free. She came in from her walk and stripped out of her boots and heavy coat, it had been raining, as always, and she was wet through and covered in mud. Stripping down to her underwear she tossed her mudstrewn clothes into the washbasket kept in the boot room and padded through the house to her room. The staff were used to seeing her like this, the maids could not understand her fascination with the cliffs and the men just ogled the beautiful young woman, Juliette barely noticed them she had been brought up around most of the servants and she would have been horrified to learn she didn’t ‘see’ them. She was so used to them being at their posts seeing to the huge old house they were part of the furniture. Striding past the Day Room where her Aunt would be sitting near her fire she shouted,                                                                                                                                                     ‘Shan’t be a minute Aunt, got a little muddy on my walk and need to go and change after a few more steps she stopped and turned toward the room, it was normal for her Aunt to give her a cheeky reply so when no,                                                                                                                                                            ‘Darling you really should act your age.’                                                                                                       Was forthcoming she headed back and went into the room, it was very warm, which as she was only in her underwear was welcome in the cold house. Coming in from a bracing walk along the beach always left her body feeling the damp old house much more and she smiled on seeing the elderly lady seemingly asleep in her chair,

‘Aunt, would you like me to order your afternoon tea? I won’t be long I just need to put some clothes on.’

Her Aunt never missed the daily ritual of afternoon tea, insisting on the neat crusts off cucumber sandwiches with tiny cakes and pastries being served exactly at 3 pm. She had it on good authority that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had always taken tea at this time when she was at Balmoral so insisted on the same standards for herself. It was 3.15 pm when Juliette returned from her walk and seeing her Aunt still dozing was not what she expected. This was so unlike her.  Juliette shook her shoulder gently and the elderly woman's head fell to one side and she shattered into a thousand pieces as her shocked cry of distress echoed around the house. Carlotta came running into the room and quickly took over issuing the necessary orders and helping Juliette to her room,

‘Stay here Sweetheart, I’ll be back soon’

She left the teenager crying quietly and went back to complete all the necessary arrangements then called the family lawyer and their local GP to care for Juliette. When she returned Juliette was asleep thanks to the mild sedative her aunt's Doctor had given her so she left her alone and went downstairs to make some calls.

The next few days were very difficult for Juliette, now she really was an orphan and it hurt Carlotta who did her best but she would not turn to her for help and she could not reach her through her grief. The older woman was impressed by her courage though as Juliette stepped up and organised everything for her Aunt/Mother’s funeral. She knew who was to be invited, which hymns she would have wanted and all her favourite flowers that she had loved no expense had been spared and it made no difference to her when the family lawyer told her it was all paid for. She would have paid for it gladly. On the day of the funeral, the local church was packed her Aunt had cared about her community and was willing to help all who needed it.