Page 73 of Forgive Not Forget
Anna’s insides melted into a fuzzy mess of tingles.
An hour later, screams resonated through from the sitting room and Abigail came skidding into the kitchen on her socks.
“Katherine’s on our television!” She disappeared as quickly as she’d appeared.
Anna shot up and grabbed Katherine’s hand. “Come on!”
“I’d rather not,” Katherine protested.
Anna didn’t care. She wasn’t letting go of her hand, and she was heading in only one direction; Katherine was coming, too, whether she liked it or not.
Three pairs of eyes were glued to the television as they entered the sitting room. Katherine hung back by the door, hand to her blushed face as if ready to cover it.
Anna beamed with pride as they watched Katherine confidently answer all the questions fired at her. She really had the gift of the gab.
“As I said, I don’t think we should speculate until we have all the answers,” Katherine responded firmly to the journalist. “Once we reopen, I do hope you will all visit Nunswick Abbey and take advantage of our delightful new event space Abbey Barn where…”
The journalist interrupted her with a thank you and turned to the camera to sign off. The room filled with cheers.
“You were brilliant, Katherine,” Laura remarked. “They weren’t going to get anything out of you.”
Anna grinned, impressed by the performance. “Great sales pitch, I wish I’d thought of that.”
“Cool as a cucumber.”
“Thank you, Tom. Now I think it’s time we made dinner. I had a scout about, Laura, and I think you have everything for a spaghetti bolognese.”
“Perfect. Thank you for cooking.”
“Thank Tom. He’ll be doing the hard work.”
Tom followed them back through to the kitchen, where Anna retook her seat in front of her laptop. There was still work to be done, yet she achieved little of it as she couldn’t tear her eyes from Katherine as she instructed Tom in the food preparations. He was so engrossed in the process he was even making notes on his phone. He was a changed character to the petulant teenager of a few days ago, and she could state with confidence that that was down to Katherine. She had already and was continuing to prove she would make a good mother. Anna blinked away a moistness in her eyes and focused on her work.
Following what was a delicious meal, courtesy of Tom, they realised they had missed the local news. Anna had no wish to see herself on television. She would only feel the need to pick holes in her performance, so it was best left unseen, if it had even aired at all. The rest of the evening was spent with her teaching Tom and Abigail to play draughts whilst Laura and Katherine watched a nature programme. There was little watching from either of them, more dozing. It had been quite a Monday for Katherine.
Abigail insisted that Anna read her a bedtime story, and having done it for the last three nights, she couldn’t say no. She tucked herself beside Abigail, who proceeded to fall out of bed in an overly dramatic fashion.
“Yes, thank you, Abi! My bottom is not that big!”
Abigail climbed back into the bed in a fit of giggles.
“What are we reading? Is itThe Worst Witchagain?” Anna sighed. “Haven’t you heard of Jane Austen?”
“Who?” Abigail asked, passing Anna a book.
“Never mind. I’ll have to have words with your mother.”
The chapters in children’s books were remarkably short, and she soon realised she’d read through five of them. A yawn forced its way out as she turned yet another page. It was later than she had realised. If the creak outside the door was Katherine heading to bed, Anna would need to get her skates on if she wanted to catch her before she fell asleep. She checked beside her and saw that Abigail had already fallen asleep. How long has she been reading to herself? The book Abigail had picked had been one of Anna’s favourite stories growing up, and she’d got quite carried away reading it again.
She extracted herself from the bed, nearly falling arse over tit as she did. She hadn’t quite mastered the horizontal-to-vertical movement whilst not moving the bed. It was the kind of skill a parent would acquire very rapidly, she imagined.
A faint light shone from under the bedroom door; Katherine was still awake.
“You know what, I never realised how tiring it could be reading a story to someone,” Anna said as she entered.
“Isn’t Abi a little old for bedtime stories?” Katherine replied from the bed.
Katherine had taken the left side of the bed, which Anna had slept in the last three nights, leaving her the right side as they slept at home. Anna hadn’t realised she had been sleeping on a different side to normal. Had it been a subconscious way to feel closer to Katherine?
