Page 25 of Lost in Love
Anna followed her back through the sitting room.
“All right, Dad?”
“Never better.”
He had a plastic cup with a lid and straw coming out of the top with what appeared to be beer beside him. Katherine had thought of everything.
She led Anna up the ornately carved wooden staircase.
“I’m already weak at the knees from this staircase; I’m not sure I need to see anymore.” Anna stroked the handrail as she climbed.
“You’ll want to see this,” Katherine teased.
Anna followed her into a bedroom at the top of the stairs.
It was the biggest bedroom Anna had ever been in. What she estimated must be a super-king-size bed was against one wall; opposite was a floor-to-ceiling glass frame protecting a wall of wattle and daub.
Anna walked over to it, mouth wide open. “O. M. G. Imagine waking up to that every morning.”
“Yes, imagine,” Katherine added.
That sounded like an invitation to Anna, but she thought she must be mistaken. She examined the wall, her nose almost pressed to the glass and her hands reaching out to something she knew she couldn’t touch.
“The house was pretty much in original condition until the war. The government took it and the abbey over, and the house was ripped apart. The developers said this was the only original internal wall left, so they made a feature of it.”
“They certainly did.” Anna looked around the room. “Is this your bedroom?” Anna noted there were no photographs up here either. If Rebecca was her girlfriend, then they couldn’t be that close.
“Of course. There’s an en-suite and dressing room through that door,” Katherine replied as she walked over to the window. “The only part the house the developers didn’t restore was the coving. I found some images of the original ceiling moulds in the local archive, so I aim to restore them all myself.”
Anna pulled herself away from the wall and joined her. The light was fading, but she could make out part of the abbey to one side. The garden was even more amazing from above, and the views over the countryside were breathtaking.
“In this one spot, you are surrounded by so much beauty,” Anna said. She sensed Katherine’s gaze on her and turned to face her.
“I am,” Katherine replied.
They stared at each other just long enough for it to feel awkward.
“I imagine most would be envious of what you have,” Anna said, trying to break the silence and turn her attention away from the butterflies in her stomach.
“A big, empty house is nothing to be envious of,” Katherine replied wistfully. “A small house with love and laughter is far more enviable.”
Anna blinked. She was right of course, but the way she put it was heart-breaking.
The rest of the tour included four further enormous bedrooms and either two or three bathrooms, Anna couldn’t keep track. Downstairs there was a music room with a grand piano, which Katherine admitted she could barely play, and a study which Katherine left Anna in whilst she attended to dinner.
Anna examined the books lining its walls, intrigued by what interested Katherine. It was a mix of history, covering everything from the prehistoric period through to the Cold War. Her fiction section was just as widespread, with Shakespeare at one end and Ian Fleming at the other.
After dinner, Harry parked himself back in front of the television with another beer. Virginia had taken a shine to him and was curled up on his lap.
Katherine topped up their champagne as they sat at the kitchen island and Anna quizzed her on the tour.
“Finally, presentation.”
“The best bit in my opinion. Your passion and enthusiasm for history shone through; it’s your strongest asset. You just have to work out how to clone yourself. You could have spoken about any subject and you would have enraptured people.”
“You’re saying it’s not what I said, it was the way I said it. Wow, I might as well throw all these notes in the bin then if they’re of no interest.”
Anna made moves to screw up her notes. Katherine placed her hand on hers to prevent her. Their eyes locked the instant their hands touched.
