Page 51 of Forgive Not Forget
“Deadline looming? That is honest.”
Katherine realised immediately it was a poor choice of words. “Sorry, I don’t mean it to sound like that. I’m just constantly firefighting, and I’d rather be able to focus properly on our wedding.”
Anna was quiet for a moment. “You’re not having second thoughts?”
“Of course not.”
Was she having second thoughts? Knowing that Anna wanted children, even if she had tried to reassure her she was happy to not have them, was plenty of reason to be reconsidering. If they married, Katherine would always feel like she was holding her back. Was it even right to marry her knowing they wanted different things?
Although she felt awful doing it, delaying would also give Anna some breathing space to decide whether she was happy with a life that didn’t feature children, whether she appreciated it or not. As it stood, she had no one to even invite to a wedding other than Carrie, and she expected she was on Anna’s list too. Would Rebecca get back in touch? Or should she reach out first, even though she hadn’t changed her mind on what they disagreed about? No, she decided. It was up to Rebecca to accept her decision, regardless of whether she agreed with it or not.
Katherine spotted Sophie approaching the door. “Ah, Sophie, come on in,” she said, slapping on her professional happy face. She gave Anna a weak, apologetic smile in the hope she realised this wasn’t the best time to have a deep and meaningful conversation about their future.
“I bring news on our skeleton,” Sophie said.
“How exciting, take a seat.”
Sophie set herself down, opening a folder on the table between them. Anna took a seat beside her, and Katherine wheeled herself over in her chair.
“As we know, the abbey dates to around 1180 and was occupied up until the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century. Well, the carbon-14 dating puts our remains to 1240.”
Anna’s eyes widened. “Golly, as early as that?”
“Give or take twenty-five years,” Sophie added. She consulted her notes and continued. “He was about fifty years old, five feet six in height with a waistband to match. Here comes the exciting bit.”
“It gets more exciting?” Anna smiled. “I’m already on the edge of my seat.”
Sophie grinned. “We believe he was an abbot.”
“An abbot? How can you possibly tell that?” Katherine asked in disbelief.
“Do you remember when we excavated him? We found this ring,” Sophie pointed to a photograph of a gold ring in her folder. “It tells us he was a man of status. It’s copper alloy, but it has been gilded, and behind it, there’s a point.” Sophie pointed to another photograph which clearly showed a sharp point on the inside of the ring.
Anna leaned forward to get a closer look. “It looks beautiful all cleaned up, but ouch.”
“Why on earth was that there?” Katherine asked, baffled as to why anyone would make a ring like that, let alone wear it.
“We believe it’s to remind them of their position and devotion to God. Arthritis in his kneecaps tells us he spent a lot of time praying, and there was evidence of diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis from extensive bony growths on his spine. So he was likely obese, which tells us he had a full and rich diet.”
“Wow. Anything else?” Anna sat back in her seat and smiled. “Favourite band or flavour of ice cream?”
Sophie laughed. “You’ll need a psychic medium for those questions, not an archaeologist. There is more. It will all be in the report. I thought I’d just give you the highlights. My surveyor is on-site today. We’re going to mark up the areas for the test pits so when my guys come tomorrow, they can crack on.”
Sophie turned another page in her folder, pulled a pencil from her top pocket, and began pointing at areas on a black-and-white, blocky map.
“These are the results from the geophysical survey. As you can see, this square area to the side of the abbey shows clearly where the foundations of the cloister are and where we expected them to be. These dark outlines here are two of the outbuildings. Over here we have a few interesting anomalies we’d like to investigate. There’s a large, circular area there and the outlines of something here, which could be more buildings. They aren’t on any of the plans we have for the abbey.”
“Great, well, we look forward to seeing what you come up with,” Katherine replied half-heartedly.
Sophie closed her folder and stood. “We’ll keep to the same hours as before and cordon off any areas necessary. We’ll be away from the main area of the abbey, of course, but just in case anyone wanders over to have a nose.”
“Thank you, Sophie, and just to warn you, there is an empty tent up there. Just move it if you need to. We can remove it if it’s a nuisance. We’ve been using it as a deterrent for unwelcome guests.”
“That’s a great idea. We’ll keep it up, even if we need to move it.”
“Just be warned there may be a grumpy cat sleeping in it.”
“Ah, how I’ve missed Virginia.” Sophie rolled her eyes as she left the room.
