.
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The house where they parked the car looked like almost all the other houses in the neighbourhood of that village and surely was very old but it had a nice appeal and apart from a modern extension to the right with a garage it was symmetrical with a pointed roof. Standing a bit offside from the other houses at the end of the lane it was made of red bricks and white-lacquered wood and there was one or the other modern detail attached. Behind a wooden fence to the left, which was the west side, it had a garden and there only was a small patch of green at its front, surrounded by one of these typical iron fences.
"Deb?" Simon called into the silent house after he had unlocked the door and they had tossed their bags next to the stairs. "Deborah, we're here! Darling, where are you?"
"Coming!" A voice was heard from upstairs.
"Sir, this is all but a 'cottage'. This is a manor." Barbara quietly said to Tommy.
He laughed. "Ah, it's just a tad bigger than a cottage, but I wouldn't call it-"
"Simon! Tommy!" Deborah exclaimed when she came running down the stairs. "And Barbara! Oh, it's so wonderful you came here too."
"Well, I had no choice, To- oomph!" Tommy almost was about to pull Deborah away from Barbara. She had been pulled into such a hefty hug that it robbed her breath but he knew she accidentally had been about to finally say his name. Seconds later he had Deborah's lips on his cheek and then she hugged and kissed her husband so dearly that he had to look away.
"Hello, Deborah." Tommy said hanging his summer coat onto the hook and helped Barbara off with her jacket. She felt awkward, of that he was sure, and so he made the decision that this would be the last awkward moment for her this weekend. Knowing her for such a long time he expected it to become a hard thing.
"Come, I'll give you a tour." Being positively excited Simon's wife offered. "Or would you all rather have a refreshment first?"
"We come from London, Deborah, not from Inverness." Lynley chuckled.
Deborah opened one of the doors downstairs. "Here's the study, or smoking lounge. If it rains again and our guests need a fag."
"I don't smoke anymore." Barbara's indignant remark made Deborah laugh.
"I know, Barbara, we haven't met that long ago."
"And fortunately the weather forecast had announced sunshine." Simon added.
Inside of the room facing the street there was a desk, a settee, several boards and a TV with a gaming console. In one corner there were two boxes brimming over with toys.
"The kids often play here." Simon explained. "Fortunately we don't have that many guests wanting to smoke inside."
His wife moved further into the house. They came into a huge area with obviously removed walls and, although looking northward, a lot of light coming through big windows facing the waterfront somewhere in the distance. To the left there was an inviting corner sofa and armchairs around a coffee table. In the middle of the area there were windows from floor to ceiling and a big door leading to a conservatory that divided the huge veranda into three parts. On the right side inside was the dining area with a huge oakwood table and in the wall opposite to the huge windows was a service hatch and the door to the kitchen.
"And what's the most joy for the kids..." Grinning Simon opened another door in the kitchen. "You can run around the staircase."
"It's wonderful." Barbara marvelled.
"Wait until you see what's upstairs!" Tommy winked. He placed a hand in the small of Barbara's back and let her follow Deborah. Barbara briefly checked his face but it was stoic. She hoped hers would be too because this gesture always made her shiver in delight. It was one of the nice touches her boss pleased her with from time to time. His arm around her shoulder only happened when they were alone. Her knees went weak every time he did it. His guiding hand in her back now made her even miss a few heartbeats but she shook her head trying to get rid of the pleasant feeling.
Tommy had grabbed both of their bags. He had been a real gentleman recently, Barbara thought watching him. Although it also was a bit painful since he surely only meant it in a friendly way, she really could get used to that.
All together they ascended the wooden stair covered with a thick carpet. On the top landing they reached another open space with a huge door to a rather big balcony. There was a small bar and a comfortable looking lounge corner. Outside a table stood in a circle of four chairs. One deck chair stood in the other corner and there was even enough space left for several people moving around. It was the balcony on top of the conservatory looking northward and providing a great view across the landscape.
"Wow!" Barbara marvelled again. "What a... view!" She blushed because when she had turned to speak to Lynley she had found him standing right behind her so she bumped into his chest with her shoulder and quickly diverted her eyes back out of the window Deborah was just opening.
"The Thames Estuary!" she announced. "Well, or at least at high tide. Over there in the distance. This here is just marshland, fortunately under conservation. Nobody is allowed to go there because birds are nesting here. It's not the well known marshland further up the Thames but it's the village's small part in environmental protection, good for coast and nature."
Barbara pointed at a small path. "And that's your little way to circumvent the law?"
"That's our private path." Simon explained laughing. "It's there for as long as this house stands here. Dating back to when nature protection wasn't really a thing."
"How old is it?"
"Several decades. It dates back into the early 19th century."
"You lot and your old piles." Barbara laughed. "But it's lovely. Well, it's more than lovely."
"Come on, you have to see all of it."
Keeping the door open they went on with their tour. To the right side was a door with a cute room for the sons. It was above the garage and had a slope ceiling and only windows to the front and the back. Compared with the other rooms it was rather dark but it looked cosy.
"This is our sons' cave. They love it and wouldn't want to have any other room." Simon explained. Then he sighed. "It's a shame we're not here more often as long as they're so young. But now that Harry is attending school..."
Another door led to a huge bedroom with an ensuite to the front of the house. It obviously was Simon's and Deborah's because the bed was not made and it looked inhabited already. On the left side was another bedroom, smaller and, as Lynley mentioned, with just a shower in the ensuite. "And not their unmentionably huge tub."
Deborah giggled when Simon pulled her close into his side with a lascivious smile. Tommy grinned. "But they have to share their bathroom with Harry and Thomas when I'm here."
There was a kingsize bed and Barbara realised that there were no other doors on this level of the house. She swallowed when Lynley dropped both bags inside of the room but after he only had opened the windows he picked hers up again and she hoped that her blush was not seen. Inwardly she was so angry with herself to even think that she had to share a room with her boss.
"And now..." Deborah already was up two steps of the narrow staircase on the front side of the house. "The attic."
"Ah." Barbara remarked playfully sarcastic. "The Seargant sleeps under the roof."
"Oh, just wait until you get there."
"Well, this here is mine, but we could trade rooms if you wish." Tommy offered mischievously grinning.
"You're a devil, Tommy!" Simon laughed. He was not following them. "Okay, I'll leave that steep staircase to you and go make some tea. And don't respond to Tommy's offer, Barbara! He's mean!"
The tiny top landing of this second stair was really dark because there were no windows but just a small lamp illuminating a wooden door with an antique black iron latch. Deborah stepped close to the wall to let Barbara pass.
"You go in first. That's your little realm."
Curious Barbara opened the door and found herself in what felt like a small corridor. To the left there was another wooden door and the corridor extended five feet to the right. The space opened to the left and right pitches of the roof. A few beams had to be left but they looked lovely ancient and only accentuated the construction. To the seafront the complete wall was removed and replaced by huge window panes. Even in the gable there was a window. Words failed her when Barbara stepped into the light flooded room. Although the main windows faced north it was all but dark inside the attic. A beige carpet covered the floor, the walls were painted white and the furniture was of light colours too.
To her right was a kingsized bed facing towards the Thames' marshland. A pale brown bedspread covered it. Above the bed there was a roof window in the gable and Barbara wondered if she would be able to see the stars in the night when she laid there. The wall at the bed's headboard only was half as high as the room and next to the bed was a ladder leading to an alcove. Cushions were seen lying stacked at the right side and there surely was a nice lounge and snuggle area. A small table and two armchairs near the window front completed the perfection of the room.
Barbara was totally enthralled.
"Wooow." she breathed. "That's... marvellous!"
Suddenly lips almost touched her auricle and sent shivers down her back. "Still want to trade rooms?"
"Never!" That was ardent. Then she looked around in confusion. "But... aren't there any wardrobes? Or cabinets?"
Without saying a word Deborah pulled at a hidden grip plate in the wall to the left and Barbara could not stop wondering. The wooden panels were in fact the folding doors to a wardrobe perfectly fitting into the pitches. "There are more in that corridor but there's just a rather dusty storage space behind it."
"And...?" Confused Barbara looked around.
"Your bathroom? It's facing the lane. On the side of the house where the other bathrooms are, too. It's a bit quirky, due to the roof and the space that was left up here."
Indeed it was quirky. On the right side to the door there was just a toilet, at the front there was a small sink. The window above it was opaque like the other window that were facing the street front up here, except for the small one in the middle. The bathroom was along that side of the house and rather stretched but when she went around what she suspected to be the walls of the staircase it opened and had a ball-and-claw bathtub diagonally placed in one corner of the room under the slope ceiling, a shower in the other corner and a second but bigger sink.
"Oh, gosh, that's perfect!" Barbara exclaimed.
"You'll have to share this with me." Tommy laughed pointing with his chin towards the bathtub. Only when he saw Barbara's red face and her widened eyes he realised what he had said and quickly added that he will lock the door of course. It did not exactly set things right and so he was unable to prevent himself from blushing too.
Deborah had to hide her grin opening another hidden cabinet in one of the walls when a whistle was heard from downstairs.
"Tea's ready." Simon almost could not be heard here. It was a haven of tranquility.
She might have been surprised with this unexpected holiday trip but Barbara looked forward to a nice long soak in that tub.
With or without her boss.
.
...
