Ten Days with Mr Darcy (on hold)

Chapter twenty-nine - Wish you were here

The platform at Bangor station was busier than Jess had thought, given how far she'd travelled from London. Pulling her small case behind her, she headed towards the station concourse.

Next to the information board, she spotted a young woman with short red hair. She held a piece of cardboard in her hands, with Jess's name in black marker pen. When Jess introduced herself the redhead smiled. Her face was familiar, even though her hair colour had changed since Jess had last seen her photograph. "Welcome to Wales. I'm Carys. How was your journey?"

Jess wondered if Miss Jones knew just how similar her expressions were to her brother's. "It was good, thanks."

"Excellent. The car's this way." Gareth's sister manoeuvred through the traffic with ease, pointing out places, things and people that they passed. The constant stream of conversation swept away any of the usual awkwardness Jess experienced when meeting someone new for the first time. "I drive this route on a regular basis. Dad doesn't like to leave his car in the station car park, and its only twenty minutes from home, so no big deal for me to play taxi driver when he goes to London or wherever." She checked the rear-view mirror, then indicated to turn.

"Is your father Sir Ieuan Hall-Jones?"

She didn't seem surprised by Jessica's guess. "Yes, that's right."

"And are you an actor too?"

Carys Jones pulled a face. "Dear me, no. Not to save my life. I'll leave that to those who know what they're doing. I look after the house, cook the meals and watch the bills and paperwork at this end. I took over when our housekeeper retired. Dad likes to stay in control of things, so there's me up here and the Three A's down in London. That's his agent, accountant and assistant. He doesn't trust anyone else."

Jess stared through the side window, watching the suburbs and dual carriageways melt into less inhabited countryside and smaller local roads. It seemed odd that an international movie star, who could spend his time anywhere in the world, would want to live in such an ordinary place.

Yet Gareth had described his father as a patriotic Welshman, while the newspaper article had mentioned how protective Sir Ieuan was of his private life. Maybe those two things explained the location of his family home, and his decision to work and film in the area.

Fifteen minutes later, Carys turned the car onto a country lane. It narrowed as they passed two driveways to other properties, and then they came to a solid wooden gate, standing open. She drove through the gateway and down what was now a single track drive. It occurred to Jessica that if she wanted to check out the shops she would have quite a walk to reach the nearest bus stop, unless she could beg a lift from someone.

They parked within a three-sided courtyard. The main building, which formed one side, was a whitewashed stone farmhouse with a grey slate roof and old sash windows. Yet some of the buildings that made up the two other wings looked relatively new. She suspected there had been numerous additions and alterations over the years, creating an appealing hodge-podge of styles and different roof levels.

It seemed somehow fitting that the house would wear as many faces as its owner.

She followed Carys through a side door, which led into a confusing warren of quarry tiled passageways, eventually arriving in a spacious kitchen. A square pine table sat in the middle of the room, its surface worn and dented, as though it had seen decades of family dinners and homework projects.

Carys invited Jess to take a seat."Would you like a cup of tea or a coffee? Or maybe something cold?"

"Tea would be lovely, thank you."