Page 68 of Wild Swimming at Croftwood Lake
‘I’m so sorry, Ursula. I will make it up to you somehow.’ He’d love to promise her the spruce up her rooms so desperately needed, but even though selling the vase had taken the pressure off, they were a long way from any other revenue coming in, so he bit his tongue.
‘You don’t owe me anything, Archie. It’s an absolute pleasure working here. And don’t worry, I won’t let on how much I detest your sister. Sorry,’ she added, not looking it in the least.
‘Perhaps Nora being around will encourage Betsy to be on her best behaviour.’
‘We can but dream.’
When he was finally on his way to the estate office, Archie’s phone buzzed with a text from Nora. She was in Stoke today for the final firing of the test pieces of her new collection and she was throwing for a new bespoke order.
I’m feeling under the weather so going to stay here tonight. Back tomorrow xx
Rather than text back, to find out what was wrong, he called her.
‘What’s wrong? How are you feeling?’
‘Disgusting. Sicky and tired. It’s just a bug but I can’t face driving back today.’
‘You poor thing. Is there anything I can do?’
‘No. Val’s booked me a hotel so I’m going there now and I’ll sleep it off. I’ll call you tomorrow.’
She sounded tired and he didn’t want to keep her. ‘I love you. Take care of yourself.’
‘Will do. Love you too.’
He’d hoped to talk to her about Betsy’s visit. He wasn’t sure whether it was too much to ask that she stay one of the nights at the weekend at the Court with him. He certainly couldn’t disappear to Nora’s house now that he’d promised his mother he’d be around but he hated the thought of being apart from Nora just when he needed her supporting influence to help him navigate the weekend with his difficult sister.
Still, she’d be back tomorrow and then they could spend the evening together before he would have to be back at the Court the following day to greet Betsy. It would all fall into place.
25
WAKING UP AFTER a very sound night’s sleep, Nora felt better. She was hungry but reluctant to eat, in case it made her feel sick again. She rang down to the hotel reception, organised a late check-out and then made herself a cup of tea and went back to bed, sipping the tea and nibbling on a biscuit while she watched some morning television.
After half an hour or so, she decided perhaps it would be best to drive back to Croftwood while she felt better. She called Val to let her know.
‘If you’ve got a bug, it’s always nicer to be in your own bed. Are you sure you’re alright to drive?’
‘Yes, I feel okay and I haven’t been sick today.’
‘That’s a relief. I was half wondering whether you might be pregnant!’ Val laughed.
Nora laughed too. ‘Not much chance of that.’
‘That’s what you say, but you and the lord have been busy.’
It was true, but Nora had been on the pill for years and had never even had a scare. ‘Thank god for reliable contraception, is what I say.’
‘Look after yourself. Better still, get the lord to look after you. See you when you’re better. Want me to get Neil to send pictures of your pots?’
‘No, that’s okay. It’s more exciting seeing them in person.’
‘I know. You’re bonkers. I’d be desperate to know if they’d survived the kiln or not.’
‘It’s all part of the fun. Got to go.’
A wave of nausea hit and Nora ran to the bathroom, but then it passed. She shouldn’t have eaten the biscuit. She went back to bed and, when she felt better, she made another cup of very sweet tea. It was a long time since she’d felt as rough as this, but then there had been lots of norovirus outbreaks reported on the news. Perhaps it was a mild version of that.
Playing it safe, she headed back to Croftwood on the A and B roads rather than the motorway, so that she could pull over if she felt ill. As it was, she made it back without any further episodes of nausea. But she felt exhausted and fell into bed as soon as she got back.
