Page 22 of Forgive Not Forget
“I’ll probably see you at home later then. Lasagne tonight?”
“Okay, I’ll make it; you look done in already. Don’t worry, I’ll create it to your exacting standards.”
“Thank you.” Katherine checked to make sure they were alone and placed a kiss on Anna’s cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” Anna replied, taking a handful of Katherine’s bottom and giving it a light squeeze.
Katherine continued to the staff room. Her spirits were lifted by Anna as usual, though she now carried a slight sense of guilt for not having gone to Pilates. She was glad she had decided to hire a teacher for the exercise sessions, a retired woman from the village who had contacted Katherine when she’d first put the form up in Gloria’s tearoom. Katherine was relieved to pass it all over to her experienced hands. She had once thought of taking a course and teaching it herself until she became a trustee and realised it would be too much. As it turned out, she got far more out of the classes by attending them than she would have by teaching them, even if it was from the mutual amusement at the noises the human body made when put into various positions.
CHAPTER10
The morning of the Easter bunny trail was, to Anna’s relief, a clear one. Blue skies greeted her as she pulled back the curtains of her dressing room. It was everything an Easter Sunday should be.
She would leave Katherine to sleep as long as possible. It had been a long week dealing with further enquiries from other local newspapers, who were all interested in the human remains. Katherine had given them a polite “thanks but no thanks”, which Anna felt was very reserved.
The previous day, which was supposed to be a day off for them both, had been disturbed by a call from Carrie in the afternoon to inform them that the police had arrived. Their visit had taken up several hours, though it had at least brought with it the relief that they could finally clear off the graffiti and have a presentable site for the Easter event. Once the police were off-site, Anna and Carrie removed the old banner that Carrie had used to cover the graffiti and scrubbed the spray paint from the wall. Carrie had the foresight to order some special heritage graffiti remover, designed to remove the paint from porous surfaces without damaging the underlying stone. It worked like a dream. Anna hoped they wouldn’t need to use it again.
Anna and Katherine had only just arrived home from their weekly visit to Harry before the police had arrived. Because they had been unable to see him on Sunday as usual, they had switched the day of their visit. Harry didn’t mind; he was always pleased to see them whenever they had time to drop by. Anna felt guilty, as though she didn’t make enough time, but working full time made it so difficult. She was at least lightened by his chipper mood and clear mind during their visit.
They had hoped to have Harry’s test results by now, so they would know what they were dealing with, but Lucy hadn’t received them from his general practitioner. As much as Anna had tried to keep her mind off her dad for the rest of the week, she hadn’t managed to. She’d almost lost him twice in the last year, and now the thought that she was set to lose him whilst he was alive was too much.
Anna inhaled the fresh air as she closed the door behind her, listening as always for the chink of the lady knocker and hoping it wouldn’t wake Katherine. This was only her third event at the abbey, and although lower-key than the New Year’s Eve party and Abbey Barn’s grand opening, she still felt the butterflies. She crossed over the road and headed down the high street to collect Abigail. She was looking forward to spending the day with Laura’s youngest and getting to know her better.
Unexpectedly on-site the previous day, Anna had taken the opportunity to give herself a head start on the setup of the bunny trail. All she needed to do this morning was stake out the trail signs and put out a table in the barn for the start and finish points, which Abigail would help her with. They would also need to put out a supply of pens and pencils so visitors could complete the trail form if they didn’t have their own.
Her mind slipped back to the swatch of wedding invitations the printers had sent with the forms. She regretted showing them to Katherine when she was unable to give them her full attention. Recently, though, it felt like Katherine was always unable to give the wedding her full attention. The invitations were more for Katherine’s benefit anyway; it wasn’t as if Anna had many to send. Then there were decisions to be made over flowers, cake, and the wedding breakfast. She’d need to find a suitable time to raise each of them again.
Abigail opened her front door before Anna was halfway up the path.
“Happy Easter, Abi.”
Laura appeared in the doorway in her dressing gown and handed Abigail her rucksack. “She has a bottle of juice in her bag. I wasn’t sure if she’d need a packed lunch, but I could bring one over later?”
“No need, it’s all taken care of. Katherine will be bringing us a picnic over at lunchtime.”
“Great, thank you, and thank you for taking her. She’s spoken of nothing else all week, have you, Abi?”
Anna watched as Abigail narrowed her eyes at her mum.
“Me neither.” Anna scrunched her face at the girl. “Let’s leave your mum in peace.”
“Thanks again. It’s back to bed for me, I’m really suffering this morning,” Laura said as she rubbed her lower abdomen.
Anna crumpled her face in sympathy.
They walked in silence a little way back up the high street. Anna wasn’t entirely sure where to start a conversation with an eight-year-old. Her experience with children was all from the tours, where they would ask the questions and she would answer them. Once she was in the flow of conversation with them, she was fine. Luckily Abigail spoke, breaking the silence.
“Mum says you used to live in that house.” Abigail pointed at Anna’s old house as they approached it. “Is that true?”
“Yes, it is. We moved to Nunswick when I was a baby, so nearly forty years ago.” Anna gulped down the word forty.
“It’s a very small house,” Abigail observed.
Anna laughed at her frankness. “Yes, it is; only two bedrooms.”
“Did you have to share a room with your brother or sister then?”
“No, I’m an only child.”
