Page 17 of Forgive Not Forget
Once the weather improved, they decided they didn’t want to give up their pub lunch. It saved Katherine cooking once a week, and although she enjoyed cooking, it was nice to have a break considering the amount of work that went into making a roast dinner for two. Throw in her ever-increasing workload at the abbey, and it became a no-brainer. It also freed her up for a phone call to her best friend Rebecca in the afternoon, a time for them to catch up on the week. She was looking forward to telling her that the building work had resumed.
Anna had been quiet on the journey home; her mind must have been racing with thoughts of Harry and his future, what was left of it. Experience taught Katherine that, though she didn’t want her fiancée to worry, she had to share any concerns about Harry immediately. Hopefully a conversation with Lucy and Holly would reassure them that all was well. Harry’s carer and physiotherapist knew him now better than anyone and would be the best judges of his cognitive abilities.
They arrived at the pub in short order. Katherine waited outside whilst Anna went in to retrieve Moose. Walking Moose, the pub’s chocolate Labrador, had also become part of their Sunday ritual. Knowing how busy the landlord, Chris, was on a Sunday, they had suggested they take Moose on their walk before they came in for their lunch. Chris had jumped at the idea, as had Moose, several times.
If anyone could take Anna’s mind off Harry, it was Moose. The enthusiastic, chunky Labrador always lifted her spirits. Anna stepped out the pub door with Moose, who sat to be greeted by Katherine. He’d learnt early on that he would get no attention from Katherine unless he sat nicely. She wasn’t used to being around dogs, and their wild jumping was the one thing she disliked about them. Luckily, Moose had soon got the idea.
They proceeded back up the high street to Abbey House, Anna being pulled along by Moose who knew exactly where they were going and couldn’t wait to get there. They joined the footpath beside Abbey House and followed it around the back of the property, where they were scowled at by Virginia from her perch on a fence post. Moose was too busy sticking his nose into everything to spot her. Katherine had noticed on their walk the previous Sunday that Virginia had followed them the whole way around — a good twenty paces behind, of course. She wouldn’t be seen dead walking with them.
The River Wick flowed smoothly beside them. It was more a stream than a river in the spring and summer. Its deep-cut sides were very appreciated during the autumn and winter months, when they contained the heavy rain from the surrounding hills. Without them, the lower parts of the Nunswick Valley would likely flood.
Anna let Moose off the lead, and he ran to the nearest inlet to the river and splashed into the water.
Katherine scooped up Anna’s free hand as they continued along the bank. “I was thinking we should make a walking map,” she said. “Document all the routes we’ve marked out around the village. We could get Michael, the artist, to do an illustration. I’m sure the designers of the barn leaflet could pull something together. What do you think?”
“What does the abbey, whom I presume is paying for it, get out of it?” Anna said.
“Take your marketing hat off for a moment; it’s more a chance to give back. Anyhow, it might draw more people to the abbey, like walkers, nature enthusiasts. We have the facilities to accommodate them. It would also draw people to the local amenities; we could even ask them to advertise. If we marked out how the walks linked up to the routes in the surrounding areas, it would encourage people down from the hills.”
“Or up into them.”
Katherine ignored her comment. “Do you think you could come up with a few hundred words to add to it, maybe work out some costings?”
“Yes, boss,” Anna mumbled.
Katherine regretted bringing up the subject. She had intended to draw out Anna’s enthusiasm, but it appeared to have only added to her worries.
Luckily, Moose was there to lift her spirits. Anna stood by the bank and threw in a stick for Moose to retrieve. It was his favourite game, and he never tired of it. Occasionally, he would climb the bank and shake himself off, causing Anna to leap back beside Katherine, who always kept a safe distance from the splash zone. They finally managed to persuade him away from the water, and all three followed the path down to the other end of the village and back to the pub.
Whilst Anna returned Moose to Chris at the bar, Katherine placed herself at their usual table, which was now permanently reserved for them on a Sunday. She was glad to see a roaring fire in the hearth. Even though it was a spring day, the chill in the air had numbed her nose. Anna returned a few minutes later and sat down with two glasses of wine and the local Sunday paper under her arm. Moose followed her as far as the hearth, where he proceeded to circle in his basket a few times before finally curling up into a ball. He was fluffier than before; Chris must have towelled him down.
Moose stared up at Katherine with his big, brown eyes before closing them and reopening them several times, fighting the urge to sleep. She watched him with envy; she, too, felt the urge to curl up in a ball and go to sleep. Although she wouldn’t like to admit it openly, she was becoming a fan of the docile Labrador. She knew Anna wanted one, and although she was warming to dogs, there was a significant difference between borrowing one for an hour on a Sunday and owning one.
Anna opened the paper and flicked through it.
Katherine disliked free newspapers. She thought they were a waste of good paper and primarily focussed on advertising double-glazed windows and used cars. As the paperboy was too lazy to walk down the drive of Abbey House, she never had to deal with them. Anna, on the other hand, liked to know what was going on locally and would spend the first half of a glass of wine each Sunday thumbing through the pub’s copy. Katherine watched as she blew at the side of the paper, catching the page with her thumb and turning it over.
“Oh, look. It’s us at the opening.” Anna smiled and folded the newspaper back on itself. Katherine watched as her eyes darted through the article, but then, slowly, the smile and colour drained from her face. Anna silently passed the newspaper over to Katherine.
Katherine examined the picture of her standing next to Anna outside Abbey Barn, cutting the ribbon. It wasn’t a bad photograph of them. The headline readBody Unearthed, and a subtitle followed:What other treasures lay undiscovered?She read through the brief article, which focussed on the remains rather than the barn opening. Katherine had made a point of trying to keep the find away from the local press. It had been Anna who insisted on inviting them to the opening based on the idea that it would be good for business. Now their discovery was plastered all over page four.
Katherine passed the paper back to Anna. “Sensationalist bullshit. It wasn’t a body; it was historical skeletal remains, for pity’s sake. They are hardly the same thing. Why do you read this rubbish?”
“Dad doesn’t get this paper, so I keep an eye on the obituaries for him.” Anna closed the paper and returned it to the bar.
She let out a loud sigh as she sat back down. Her eyes drifted down to Moose in his basket beside the fire. His lips and jaw twitched as he chewed in his sleep. She felt a little envious of the dog, lying so blissfully without a care in the world except for where his next biscuit was coming from.
CHAPTER8
Anna slipped quietly from the bedroom the next morning to dress for work, leaving a lightly snoring Katherine to sleep in. Lying in was something Anna encouraged. When Katherine was awake, she worked to her full capacity, despite knowing she shouldn’t. If she wasn’t physically active, you could guarantee she was mentally active; one of those types that never turned off.
With Katherine’s dressing room already full of her clothes, Anna had suggested she make use one of the many spare bedrooms to store her few possessions. Although Katherine had assured her that she could clear space in the wardrobes of the master dressing room, Anna had insisted it was fine. She liked the idea of a space she could call her own. Much to her surprise, Katherine had left her to her own devices with the design and allowed her to make her mark on it. As such, she proudly entered the room, with its duck-egg blue, Chinoiserie-papered walls which matched the practical, contemporary, Georgian-style fitted wardrobes.
Katherine had inadvertently had a hand in the interior decorations. While perusing an antique centre shortly after Christmas, she had spotted a particularly elegant George IV mahogany dressing table, complete with figured top, a central drawer flanked by two deeper drawers, and a shaped kneehole. The drawer fronts were fitted with brass lion-head handles, and the whole thing was raised on ring-turned, tapered legs. Anna wasn’t one for dressing tables and thought a desk would be more useful, but Katherine’s find worked for both purposes. It contrasted elegantly with the room and sat in front of the sash window. She’d paired it with a mahogany, tanned-leather Chesterfield office chair.
In one corner, beside her bookcase, Anna had placed a modern Queen Anne winged chair in matching tanned leather, a replica of which Katherine disapproved. Anna pointed out that not only did her back require support, so did their bank balance, and a replica was perfectly suited to both requirements.
She adored the room so much she would often find herself wandering into it to admire her work. It couldn’t have contrasted more with the dark, cramped, slightly damp room of her childhood.
