Page 53 of Wild Swimming at Croftwood Lake
‘In March, we might be lucky.’
‘Are you ready, Nora?’ Constance said, appearing in the doorway, her coat already on.
‘Yes.’ Nora kissed Archie. ‘See you later?’
He nodded. Nora had given him a key so that he didn’t have to wait until she was in to go round to hers. She was heading to Stoke in the morning so didn’t want to stay at the Court overnight.
‘I can’t keep track of you two,’ Constance said, climbing into Nora’s car.
‘Do you need to?’ Nora asked, amused.
‘It’s nice to know whether one is likely to be eating breakfast alone. Now that Archie has stopped scuttling around, he tends to go straight to the estate office if he’s stayed at your house.’
‘Perhaps we can come up with a more regular plan,’ said Nora. She felt sorry for Constance. It must be strange to have Archie suddenly adopting a different routine to the one he’d had for years and years. He was a creature of habit and it must be unsettling for Constance not knowing.
‘I wouldn’t dream of allowing you to agree to that,’ Constance said. ‘Although I’m touched by the suggestion. I’m complaining, but it’s a long time since I’ve seen Archie as happy as this. I only wish you were thinking more conventionally about the future. It’s important that Archie, as Lord Harrington, acts in the best interests of not only himself but those of the title itself.
‘And what are those interests?’
‘To be blunt, my dear, you are having relations out of wedlock and it’s not acceptable. I’m not naive enough to think that my son has had no dalliances between Clarissa and you but a dalliance is one thing and can be overlooked. I realise that we are looking at something quite different with you. I must urge you to do the right thing.’
‘You want me to marry him?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘I think you should talk to Archie about this, Constance. I don’t want to come between you two but surely you don’t expect us to commit to that degree after only a few weeks?’
Constance sat in silence for a moment, then said, ‘I know I’m an old woman who grew up in a different time, but I only want him to do the right thing. I’m not sure that is so very different.’
‘Until a few months ago, I had been with the same man for twenty years. I’m not ready, and may never be ready, for the kind of commitment that you’re talking about. If you want your son to be with someone who loves him, there’s a compromise to be made.’ Nora took a deep breath, wondering whether she’d gone too far.
‘You love him?’
Nora nodded.
‘Then Archie is very lucky to have you.’
Despite having read the same book, the two of them weren’t partnered this time, which was probably for the best. Nora’s date was with a woman called Steph, who worked for The Hive, the library in Worcester.
‘I drive the mobile library van,’ she explained to Nora. ‘I bring some of my regulars to the book club nights occasionally. ‘That’s Eunice and over there is her partner, Bill. Isn’t he with one of the women you came with?’ Nora had picked Penny up on the way.
‘Yes, that’s Constance.’
‘I feel as if I’ve seen her before,’ said Steph.
‘She’s Lady Harrington.’
‘Oh right! She had one too many glasses of Pimms at the festival last year. She was a right laugh. I had to feel sorry for her son, though. He had a hell of a job getting her to leave.’
‘So I’ve heard,’ Nora said, making a note to ask Archie about it. ‘What did you think of the book?’
‘Flipping loved it,’ said Steph. ‘It wasn’t exactly a romance, was it?’
‘No, more about family and relationships. I loved it too.’
They chatted for a while, sharing their favourite parts of the book, what they thought of the characters and which resonated with them the best.
‘Coffees courtesy of Constance,’ Oliver said, setting two lattes down in front of them.
