Page 17 of Trust in Truth
“How did he look?” Katherine asked, placing an arm around Anna’s waist.
“He was asleep; so, you know, peaceful. At least he wasn’t covered in bruises this time. He had a couple of drips in him.”
Katherine nodded. “All necessary. I’ve been thinking: you should take a couple of days off.”
“Why?” Anna snapped. She was startled by her own tone of voice, but the idea of being away from the office and leaving Katherine unguarded with Margaret on the prowl didn’t appeal to her.
Katherine twitched her head at the question. “So you can be here for Harry of course.”
“I’ve far too much work to do. I can only visit Dad during visiting hours after work anyway.”
“Well, take some time for yourself then; this is a big shock to your system.”
“I’ll be fine. I don’t want to be away from the office. Having work as a distraction will do me good.”
Katherine placed her hands on her hips. “Why don’t you want to be away from the office?”
Anna twisted her lips. She knew any answer would annoy Katherine, so she remained quiet.
“Anna, is this about Margaret again?”
“No,” Anna lied unconvincingly.
Katherine raised her eyebrows in reply and walked away.
Anna followed a pace behind, regretful that she had said anything. She didn’t need Katherine angry with her now when she needed her the most. As if she could read Anna’s thoughts, Katherine stopped and reached back. Anna quickened her pace and took her hand.
Chapter 8
Katherine entered her office and placed her mug of peppermint tea down on her coaster. It always made her smile; it had been a gift from Anna on her first day as trustee. It was printed with a Virginia Woolf quote:In case you ever foolishly forget, I am never not thinking of you.
She needed something to make her smile. She hadn’t quite shaken her disappointment from the failed proposal; her sadness for Anna that her birthday weekend was interrupted by the news of Harry being ill; and that Christmas wouldn’t be what she had planned.
Any happiness from a successful proposal would have been short-lived in light of Harry’s diagnosis, so it felt right that she hadn’t asked her. Anna had refused to take any time off and denied that it had anything to do with Margaret. Katherine couldn’t understand what Anna was seeing that made her think Margaret was interested in her.
She had at least persuaded Anna to leave earlier in the afternoons. It was for purely selfish reasons. If Anna drove to the hospital in daylight, then she would only worry about her driving in the dark once a day on her return. The narrow roads of the Nunswick Valley were not for the faint-hearted at any time of the day. If it snowed over Christmas, as the weather reports were suggesting, she would insist on accompanying Anna on every visit.
They had fallen into a routine at home with Katherine having dinner ready for Anna on her return. She had previously invoked a no-work rule at the house, which Anna had always respected. Now that her workload had increased, Katherine could see that not being able to attend to work responsibilities was causing her stress. She'd relented, although she needed to manage her own workload it wasn't up to her to dictate terms to Anna.
Although Anna’s blood pressure had improved since Harry had gone into Baycroft, Katherine continued to monitor her. Anna had agreed that if Katherine suspected her body wasn't dealing so well with the stress, she would slow down. Katherine made a mental note to increase her checks now that Harry was back in the hospital.
A proof copy of the new leaflet stared up at her from her desk. Anna must have placed it there before she left for the hospital. A Post-it note was stuck to the front, written on it in Anna’s appalling handwriting was a poem:Check me, correct me, don’t forget me! xAlthough the poem could use some work, the leaflet was certainly impressive. A brief scan immediately highlighted two typos. Anna had known Katherine was the woman for the job and she was going to need her special pack of highlighters for this.
Her mobile phone vibrated on the desk and made her jump.
“Hey, Becks. Are you okay?” Katherine asked, rummaging in her drawer whilst trying to balance the phone to her ear.
“I’m good, how are things with you? How’s Harry?”
Katherine extracted a box from the drawer and stared at the fifteen highlighters with a twinkle in her eye. “He seems to be responding to the antibiotics, so that’s a good sign.” She looked down to close the drawer when something unexpected caught her eye. The missing ring box was staring straight back at her.
“That man is as strong as an ox.”
“Mm,” Katherine replied, lifting the box out and opening it. Relief swept over her as the diamond ring twinkled back at her.
“You still there?”
“Sorry, I’ve just found something I thought I’d lost. What were you saying?” Katherine tried to focus her mind. “Oh, Harry. Well, I’m not happy with myself regarding him. I should have spotted that he was very unwell. I should have done something more when Lucy told me he'd had a choking episode. I knew what it meant; that’s why I insisted on the doctor.”
