Alice-Miranda at Sea Read online

  ‘Please, don’t fuss,’ Alice-Miranda instructed. ‘We’ll try not to make a mess.’

  ‘Nothing will give me more pleasure than to spend my time straightening up after you,’ said Winterstone.

  ‘Really? I can’t imagine that it’s a pleasure to straighten up after anyone. And rather unfair, too,’ Alice-Miranda frowned. ‘At school Mrs Howard is always running around after the girls but at least this term she’s taught everyone to make their own beds. By the end of each day the poor woman is exhausted.’

  Before Alice-Miranda could finish speaking, the bathroom door slammed shut and loud squeals emanated from within the bedroom.

  ‘I want the bed nearest the window,’ came Jacinta’s voice.

  ‘I saw it first,’ said Millie. There was a whump and a soft crash, then the two girls laughed uproariously. Another loud thud was followed by silence.

  ‘Goodness, are you all right in there?’ Alice-Miranda called.

  Jacinta emerged first. Her hair was rumpled and she looked as if she’d just fought off a tiger.

  ‘We’re fine,’ she giggled. ‘We just had a wrestle over the beds. Millie fell off but she’s okay.’

  ‘Jacinta, this is Mr Winterstone. He unpacked our things,’ Alice-Miranda informed her.

  Jacinta stared. ‘Is that your real hair?’

  ‘Jacinta!’ Alice-Miranda rebuked. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Winterstone, she didn’t mean that.’

  ‘Yes I did,’ Jacinta continued. ‘It must be so long on that side.’ She pointed to his left ear. ‘Do you have to use product to comb it over and stick it down?’

  ‘Jacinta . . .’ Alice-Miranda tried again.

  ‘It’s all right, miss,’ Winterstone began. ‘I understand that my hair can be a source of fascination for the young and old alike. Yes, it is my own and it’s all I have, so unlike others who may be tempted to opt for a less is more approach, I’m afraid that I haven’t yet been able to bring myself to part with the little I have left.’

  ‘I think it’s perfectly lovely hair,’ said Alice-Miranda.

  Jacinta crossed her arms in front of her. ‘Well, no offence, Mr Winterstone, but I think you’d look much better if you had a number one all over. My grandfather did it a few years ago and he’s never looked back.’

  ‘Thank you for your learned opinion, miss.’

  ‘Mr Winterstone, I should have introduced you properly. This is my friend Jacinta.’

  ‘Charmed.’ Winterstone narrowed his steel-grey eyes.

  Millie joined the girls in the sitting room.

  ‘And this is Millie,’ Alice-Miranda finished.

  ‘Hello.’ Millie smiled sheepishly. ‘I heard Alice-Miranda say that you unpacked our bags. Thanks very much for that.’

  ‘It was my pleasure,’ Winterstone replied crisply.

  Somehow, Millie didn’t really believe him.

  ‘We’d better get moving,’ Alice-Miranda informed the group. ‘We have to meet Mummy and Daddy on deck in a minute.’

  ‘May I say, Miss Jacinta, that your own hair is looking rather untidy?’ Winterstone remarked. ‘Would you like me to fix it for you?’

  Jacinta shook her head. ‘No, I can do it.’

  ‘Before you head off and run riot among the guests, I am obliged to explain a few things to you regarding the voyage, so I would appreciate if you would take a seat for a moment.’

  ‘Oh, I promise, Mr Winterstone, there’ll be no running riot –’ Alice-Miranda began.

  ‘Shh,’ Winterstone raised a bony finger to his lips.

  ‘But, what I wanted to say –’

  ‘Might you listen for just a moment, young lady?’ Winterstone’s stare silenced the tiny child.

  Alice-Miranda and Millie sat down on the long couch and Jacinta plonked onto the armchair, throwing the cushion on the floor. Winterstone drew in a sharp breath and he made a fist with his left hand. He reached down with his right and picked up the cushion, clutching it against his chest as he spoke.

  ‘Firstly, I may be reached any time of the day or night by pressing number nine on the telephone. You will find one beside the beds, another next to the lounge here and the third in the bathroom beside the lavatory,’ Winterstone began.

  ‘That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we won’t be calling you in the middle of the night, Mr Winterstone,’ said Alice-Miranda.

  ‘I don’t know about that.’ Jacinta bit back a grin. ‘What if I’m thirsty?’

  ‘Jacinta.’ Millie rolled her eyes.

  Winterstone exhaled slowly. ‘As we will be travelling close to the coast, if you would like to send any mail, there will be a tender picking up and delivering post each morning – depending on the weather, of course.’

  ‘That’s lovely,’ Alice-Miranda fizzed. ‘I had hoped I would be able to send Miss Grimm a postcard or two. And I promised Mrs Smith I would let her know all about the food.’

  ‘You’re so old-fashioned, Alice-Miranda,’ snorted Jacinta. ‘Who sends letters these days?’

  ‘I think letters are lovely. It’s so much nicer to get something in the post. I mean, emails are wonderful but there’s something truly delicious about a letter,’ said Alice-Miranda.

  ‘On that, miss, I must agree with you.’ Winterstone nodded his head.

  Jacinta shook hers. ‘You won’t catch me wasting time writing any silly old letters. Boring!’

  ‘If I may continue?’ Winterstone interrupted. ‘There is a small refrigerator located behind this panel.’ He pulled open the bottom door of the china cabinet, revealing a miniature fridge loaded with juices, bottled water and soft drinks.

  ‘See, Jacinta,’ Millie piped up. ‘You won’t need to call Mr Winterstone in the middle of the night. Everything’s here already.’

  ‘Now, there are three room keys.’ Winterstone handed the girls one each. ‘Try not to lose them. Is there anything else you need at this point?’

  ‘No, thank you, Mr Winterstone, I don’t think so. You’ve been extremely helpful,’ Alice-Miranda smiled.

  ‘Very good, miss.’ He gave a small bow, turned and left the room.

  Millie pulled a face. ‘He’s a bit weird, don’t you think?’

  ‘I’m sure he’s perfectly lovely,’ Alice-Miranda countered. ‘Perhaps he was just a little upset about his hair.’

  ‘Well, I’d be upset if I had hair like that, too,’ Jacinta called from the bathroom where she had gone to rearrange her own messy locks.

  ‘That’s not what I meant,’ Alice-Miranda frowned. ‘He might have been embarrassed.’

  ‘I don’t think he likes children very much,’ Millie went on.

  ‘Why do you think that?’ Alice-Miranda asked.

  ‘He’s got wobbly eyes,’ Millie concluded. ‘And they’re the colour of wet cement.’

  ‘I don’t think his eye colour suggests a dislike of children,’ Alice-Miranda replied.

  Jacinta emerged from the bathroom looking more her neat and tidy self. ‘Well I agree with Millie,’ she declared.

  ‘Come on,’ Alice-Miranda urged. ‘Let’s go and see everyone.’

  'Good afternoon, Admiral Harding,’ Queen Georgiana greeted the Commander at the top of the gangplank. He was about to speak when the clamour of bagpipes rang out around the ship.

  ‘That will be quite enough of that,’ Aunty Gee whispered to Dalton, who promptly murmured into his sleeve, silencing the kilt-wearing musician mid-bar.

  ‘Good afternoon, Your Majesty,’ said Admiral Harding with a slight bow. ‘It’s wonderful to have you aboard.’

  ‘It’s wonderful to be here finally.’ Aunty Gee arched her left eyebrow and glanced towards the flag rippling on the main masthead.

  ‘We’re hoping to push off at two, ma’am. All passengers have arrived.’

&n
bsp; ‘Wonderful. Let’s get everyone up onto the Promenade Deck, throw some streamers and start the party,’ she smiled.

  Admiral Harding nodded.

  Aunty Gee glanced at her lady-in-waiting, who looked as if she’d sucked a whole tree’s worth of lemons. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake, Mrs Marmalade, it’s a wedding, woman. A party. I don’t know about you, but this week I plan to have a jolly good time – so might I suggest you loosen up a little, dear, and enjoy yourself?’

  Dalton barely suppressed a smirk. He wasn’t a fan of old Marmalade’s. The two had been with Queen Georgiana for many years and there was no love lost between them. It warmed his heart to hear Her Majesty giving the old girl the rounds of the kitchen. Marmalade, in her aqua twin-set and pearls, dropped her eyes to the floor.

  ‘Dalton,’ Aunty Gee snapped, ‘while I hope you enjoy yourself too, I suggest you be on your game this week. We can’t afford to have any incidents.’

  Dalton gulped, clearly recalling their last outing with the Highton-Smith-Kennington-Joneses, which had almost ended in disaster.

  On that occasion, Aunty Gee had been mistaken yet again for Dolly Oliver, this time by crooks intent on stealing Dolly’s formula for miraculous, miniaturised frozen food.

  ‘Would you like to go to your suite and freshen up, ma’am?’ Admiral Harding glanced at his watch. ‘We have a few minutes.’

  ‘No, I’m quite all right. I think I’d like to head straight up and see everyone. I’ve been looking forward to this for months.’

  Dalton was surprised that Her Majesty no longer required a visit to the amenities after she had been giving them all the hurry-up in the car, but he thought it best not to ask.

  And with that, Aunty Gee led the way to the Promenade Deck where she found her goddaughter, Cecelia, her dearest friend in the world, Valentina, and the family she considered as much her own as any other.

  The girls left their suite and scurried upstairs to meet Hugh and Cecelia on the Promenade Deck. There were loads of people gathering, most of whom Alice-Miranda recognised as friends of her parents, or relatives she only ever saw at large celebrations.

  ‘Isn’t that . . .?’ Millie squinted into the light. ‘That’s my mother over there!’ She ran towards a flame-haired woman standing beside Mrs Oliver on the open deck. ‘Mummy, what are you doing here?’

  Pippa McNoughton-McGill turned and hugged her daughter into her outstretched arms. ‘Hello, Mill, didn’t think we were going to let you have all the fun did you, sweetheart?’

  ‘Now, who’s this gorgeous girl?’ Hamish McLoughlin-McTavish appeared next to his wife and tapped Millie on the shoulder.

  ‘Dad! This is the best surprise ever,’ Millie squealed. ‘I can’t believe you kept it a secret – we only saw you a couple of weeks ago at the play and you didn’t mention anything!’

  Ambrose McLoughlin-McTavish walked up behind his granddaughter and put his hands over her eyes. ‘Wonderful occasion, isn’t it?’

  ‘Grandpa!’ Millie wriggled free. ‘You’re here too?’

  ‘He’s with me, dear,’ said Mrs Oliver. During the last term break Dolly Oliver had been reunited with her old friend, Ambrose McLoughlin-McTavish, when Millie had gone to stay with Alice-Miranda. Now both widowed, Mrs Oliver and Ambrose were rather enjoying each other’s company.

  Alice-Miranda and Jacinta joined Millie’s family reunion.

  ‘Hello there, young lady.’ Pippa leaned down and kissed Alice-Miranda’s cheek. ‘And Jacinta, it’s lovely to see you again too,’ she said and gave her a hug.

  Cecelia Highton-Smith approached the group. ‘I see you’ve found your surprise, Millie.’

  ‘You’re so sneaky,’ Millie admonished. ‘But in the nicest possible way, of course.’

  ‘Well, Charlotte and Lawrence insisted we invite your parents. As it turns out Cha and Pippa knew each other a little bit at school – I’m much older so we didn’t meet back then. And would you believe that Lawrence and Hamish were only a couple of years apart at Fayle, too?’ Cecelia scanned the gathering crowd as they began to line the side of the deck.

  Jacinta fiddled with a strand of hair. Cecelia glanced over at her, then searched the sea of faces.

  ‘It’s all right, Cee,’ Jacinta whispered. ‘You don’t have to let me down gently. I know my parents have far more important things to do.’

  ‘No, that’s not the case at all,’ Cecelia reassured her. ‘Your parents are definitely on board. I checked with the First Officer and he said that they arrived just before Aunty Gee.’

  Jacinta looked as though she’d swallowed a fly. ‘Really? My mother and father are here? On board the Octavia?’

  ‘Yes, darling.’ Cecelia stroked the top of Jacinta’s head.

  ‘Isn’t that fantastic?’ Alice-Miranda was wide-eyed. ‘I’ve wanted to meet your parents forever and now we get to spend five whole days with them. Shall we go and find them?’

  At that moment, a blast of trumpets heralded the arrival of the official party.

  ‘My lords, ladies and gentlemen, I present Her Majesty, Queen Georgiana,’ a uniformed page announced with great vigour.

  Aunty Gee, accompanied by the admiral, stepped onto a small raised platform in the middle of the crowd to the delight of everyone on board.

  ‘And now,’ Aunty Gee spoke, ‘please join me in welcoming our guests of honour and the real reason we have all gathered together for this wonderful time of celebration. I give to you one of my beloved goddaughters, Miss Charlotte Highton-Smith, and her fiancé, Mr Lawrence Ridley.’ Aunty Gee could not have looked prouder.

  The group clapped and cheered and there was even a wolf-whistle or two coming from the end of the promenade.

  ‘Manners!’ Granny Bert, the Highton-Smith-Kennington-Joneses’ retired housekeeper tutted at Max, their stablehand, when she caught him removing his fingers from his mouth.

  Charlotte looked stunning in a white pants-suit with navy trim and a matching hat, her arm linked through Lawrence’s. He looked equally stylish in a navy sports jacket and white trousers. His jet-black hair glistened in the sun and his ebony eyes gazed adoringly at his wife-to-be. When he smiled his movie star smile, almost every woman on the ship went weak at the knees.

  ‘Gosh, he’s gorgeous,’ Jacinta swooned.

  Millie and Alice-Miranda exchanged glances and giggled. Millie began to snap away, taking photographs of Charlotte and Lawrence and the rest of the guests.

  Alice-Miranda raced over to greet her aunt. Charlotte scooped the girl into her arms and peppered her face with kisses.

  ‘This is the best day ever!’ Alice-Miranda exclaimed. ‘Well, except for Wednesday, when you get married.’ She leaned across to kiss Lawrence’s cheek.

  ‘You are a funny thing,’ Charlotte beamed.

  ‘And where’s that son of mine?’ Lawrence glanced around looking for Lucas.

  ‘There he is, with Sep.’ Alice-Miranda wriggled out of Charlotte’s arms and ran to greet her soon-to-be cousin.

  ‘Hello,’ she cried above the ship’s horn, which had begun to blast. ‘Lucas!’ She tapped him on the shoulder.

  The dark-haired boy turned and smiled at Alice-Miranda.

  ‘Isn’t this fun?’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Like a fairytale.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe we’re here on Queen Georgiana’s ship. If you’d have told me this would be my life six months ago, I’d have said you were crazy.’

  It was true; a lot of things had changed in a short time for Lucas Nixon. Until recently, Lucas hadn’t known his father’s name, let alone that he was one of the world’s most sought-after film stars. When Lucas had first met Alice-Miranda and Jacinta on a recent school holiday, he had been more than a little angry and confused. He had been expelled from school, in what was a most unfortunate mistake, and sent to stay with his
Aunt Lily, Uncle Heinrich and cousins Jasper and Poppy at their farmhouse on the grounds of Highton Hall. To make matters worse, Lucas had felt completely abandoned by his mother when she had gone away to work in the United States.

  But after a couple of weeks, the mystery of his true identity began to unravel and life as he knew it would never be the same. Lucas had just spent his first term at Fayle School for Boys on the other side of the village to Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, the school Alice-Miranda, Millie and Jacinta attended. Fayle was fantastic as far as Lucas was concerned, and within a very short time he felt as if he’d been there forever. His new best friend and room mate, Septimus Sykes, had arrived just before him and the two lads had quickly become as close as any brothers. Lucas could hardly believe how good life was.

  Septimus Sykes was a lovely lad, with a rather unfortunate immediate family. His sister Sloane had for a brief period been Jacinta’s room mate at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale, until she was caught up in some very nasty business with her mother, September. Septimus had steadfastly refused to leave school, where for the first time in his life he felt he truly belonged. His sister and mother, on the other hand, had departed the village in such a rush there were still tyre marks in the school driveway. They’d fled to Spain where Sep’s father, Smedley, who knew nothing of what had gone on, was doing very well with his new property developing business. Apparently the Sykeses were very happy with their new life in the sun.

  Millie and Jacinta joined Lucas, Sep and Alice-Miranda as the ship lurched away from the dock. Aunty Gee, to the horror of Mrs Marmalade, was busy distributing streamers from her apparently bottomless handbag. Family and friends waved at the dockhands down below as shouts of ‘goodbye and farewell’ were carried away on the breeze.

  Below deck, Neville Nordstrom was jolted awake by the blasting ship’s horn. Groggy and somewhat confused, Neville took a moment to remember where he was. At least the ship was moving, he thought to himself.

  In the suite opposite, Ambrosia Headlington-Bear was having a terrible time deciding what to wear. She had come aboard in black but feared that was far too French for a Spanish send-off. Three multicoloured outfits lay across the bed. She really didn’t know what to do. Without Henri, her stylist, getting dressed was rather more difficult than she remembered.