Page 67 of Wild Swimming at Croftwood Lake
Simon, the roofer, and the other two men in his team were working hard when Archie went up through the attics to check on the progress.
‘How are you getting on?’
Simon stood up and put his hands on his hips. ‘Not too bad. You’ve got some rotten roof timbers, so we’ll get started on replacing the worst of them. We haven’t found anything we weren’t expecting, which is good news for you.’
‘That is good news,’ Archie said, finally feeling as if he was beginning to regain control over the parts of his life that had felt so overwhelming. Why, he wondered for the millionth time, hadn’t he thought to try and sell something like the vase before? He could have saved himself so many sleepless nights.
‘And we offered up your new chimney pots. They fit a treat. What we’ve done is swap a couple of the more ornate ones over so that the plain new ones are less visible.’
Because Nora had made the chimney pots, it seemed ungrateful to relegate them to somewhere they wouldn’t be seen. But then, she had made them as an experiment and if she decided she wanted to embark on making more elaborate ones, they could give those pride of place. At least this way, there was no great rush if she decided not to.
‘That’s fantastic, thank you.’
‘Bloody good pots, those are. The frost isn’t likely to touch those in a hurry.’
‘I must remember to pass on your praise to my potter. She’ll be thrilled.’
‘Seb let on that you’re seeing Nora Hartford who runs Hart Pottery. I suppose that explains it,’ Simon said with a smirk.
‘It does,’ Archie agreed, full of pride for Nora. He’d had very little experience of being proud of someone that he loved. Of course he was proud of his parents in the way that anyone would be; particularly of how his mother dealt with losing his father, picking herself up again and making a different life for herself. But the pride he felt for Nora was making his heart swell, and he was constantly surprised at how much he loved her. Surprised that it was possible to love anyone this much. And it felt quite marvellous, especially when he allowed himself to contemplate that she might just love him that much too.
‘Archie!’ Constance called him from across the landing as he was heading back outside. ‘I’ve just had word that Betsy et al are arriving on Friday evening and will be spending the weekend.’
‘Ah, right.’ It was always with mixed feelings that Archie welcomed his sister to the Court. Betsy was high maintenance and expected to be waited on hand and foot. He could already imagine Ursula’s face when she found out. ‘What’s the occasion?’
‘She wants to meet Nora and she’s mentioned that she’d like to talk about the proceeds from the sale of the vase.’
Archie wanted to ask his mother how Betsy knew what the vase had fetched, but he suspected that she already knew she’d made a grave error in confiding about that to her youngest child.
‘I am sorry, darling.’ Constance looked devastated.
‘No bother, Mama. There’s very little to talk about since we’ve spent the money already.’
‘I think she may be expecting something by way of a cut.’
‘No. I shall explain to her that every penny has been spent on investing in the future of the estate, in one way or another. It’s her family who will benefit from it, and I am very happy to remind her of that.’
‘Oh, darling. I do enjoy this new commanding side of you. Being with Nora has given you a new confidence.’
He hoped that’s what his sister would see rather than the weak, hopeless excuse of an older brother and head of the family that he’d been until a few months ago. Things were different now and he would make sure his sister understood that.
‘It has,’ he said, because he didn’t mind crediting his relationship with Nora for the change in him. Even at the age of forty-one, he felt as if his life was just getting started again. ‘I’d better make sure Nora’s forewarned.’
‘And you will be here over the weekend, won’t you?’
‘Of course. Don’t worry about anything. I’ll talk to Ursula and Mrs Milton and we’ll arrange everything.’ He walked over to Constance and kissed her cheek.
‘Thank you.’
He called into the kitchen on his way back to the office and let Mrs Milton know that Betsy, Caspar and Florence would be staying for the weekend. Mrs Milton loved Betsy and doted on Florence so she was thrilled.
‘I’ll make some butterfly cakes for the little one,’ she said. ‘And I’d better ask Ursula to put the blackout blind over the nursery window.’
The last time they’d visited there had been terrible trouble getting Florence to sleep because the curtains didn’t block out every tiny sliver of light and poor Ursula had been sent out to source a blackout blind, which fortunately had been available in Worcester. But Betsy had made Ursula feel personally responsible for the full moon daring to shine right outside the nursery window.
So it was no surprise that when Ursula found out Betsy was coming, she gave Archie the most sullen look she could summon.
‘Oh lovely. Your sister is a delight. I’m so looking forward to it,’ she said in a monotone voice, leaving Archie in no doubt about her feelings. He didn’t blame her at all.
