Bulbury Knap (11 page)

Jane was older than Kathryn had imagined, a woman in her fifties with a stocky figure who gave the impression that any problem that reared its head would be dealt with firmly and at once. Her thick neck was almost hidden in the collar of her grey jersey and she wore a
huge
medallion on a solid chain. She leant confidently back in her chair that gave a little creak as she did so.

‘And so, Kathryn, you've been making yourself at home,' she said in a deep voice that was oddly attractive.

Kathryn smiled, not quite knowing how to take the remark. ‘Bulbury Knap is an easy place to do that,' she said.

‘Too right.'

‘And it's a pleasure to look after your parents.'

‘I see.'

Lady Hewson leaned forward. ‘What do you see, dear?'

At that moment Sir Edwin appeared, his stick tapping joyfully on the paving stones. Andrew, bearing a tray, followed him.

‘Put it down there, my boy,' Sir Edwin said. ‘I think Kathryn had better serve us all.'

Kathryn hesitated, looking at Lady Hewson to check whether she should proceed. As she said nothing she picked up the teapot and did as she was asked.

‘And you've brought the chocolate biscuits,' Lady Hewson said with pleasure.

A self-deprecating smile touched one corner of Andrew's mouth. Obviously out to please, he had seated himself a little to the back of the group.

Kathryn finished serving everyone and Andrew gave her a nod of dismissal. She
caught
a look of surprise on Jane's face as she turned to go but Jane said nothing. Of course this was the moment for some serious talking and Kathryn was not to be part of it.

*          *          *

This time there wasn't the sudden advent of people on the day that Bulbury Knap was thrown open to the general public but rather a slow trickle spread over the whole time.

Kathryn sank into one of the wicker chairs in the conservatory, too weary to think of finding the others for the moment. She had seen little of Jane all day because Andrew had made himself responsible for escorting her from one place to another, no doubt wanting her to see it all from his point of view.

But Jane couldn't fail to have seen the enjoyment of the people who came and how they thronged into Zillah's exhibition. She knew the takings for this were well up because Iain, who came to help, told her so.

But was the price too high for Sir Edwin and Lady Hewson? She had caught a glimpse of Sir Edwin at one point, leaning on his stick as he beheld the crowds wandering in his grounds, his old face suffused with pride. Iain had come up to him at that moment and helped him to a seat on the terrace beside his wife. She had also seen Jane with her mother who lay back in one of the reclining seats with
her
eyes closed.

Now Kathryn looked up and Michael was there. His face looked drawn and his eyes weary. He sank down on the padded window. She longed to comfort him, to sit close and draw his head down on her shoulders and take some of the burden from him.

‘I've been talking to Jane,' he said, his voice flat. ‘She's made an appointment to come to see me at the cottage in half an hour. I thought you should know. It doesn't sound good.'

Her mouth dry, Kathryn stared at him in dismay as he got to his feet. She watched him go with deep foreboding in her heart.

CHAPTER TEN

Lady Hewson kept to her room next morning, tended by her daughter who emerged at coffee time looking far from happy. She had changed her grey jersey today for an orange one but was still wearing the medallion on its thick chain.

Kathryn had prepared a tray and was about to take it up when she found Jane in the hall.

‘I'll take it up to my mother and be right back,' Jane said. ‘No coffee for me. I don't drink it.'

Yesterday Jane had seen the exhaustion of both her parents. How could she not be
concerned
that Bulbury Knap was now too much for them, however much help was at hand?

‘Come into the den. We need to talk,' Jane said when she returned.

The room was cold and Kathryn shivered a little. ‘How is Lady Hewson?' she asked.

Jane shrugged and sat down. ‘It's crazy to think that she can stay on here in her state,' Jane said in her abrupt manner. ‘My father, too. He's not fit to be let loose on the estate.'

‘Oh but …' Kathryn started to remonstrate but then stopped at a wave of Jane's hand. It was not her place to argue after all. Jane had already had a long session with Michael who would have been totally honest. Michael and Zillah would have plans of their own. Her mother would find other employment, Helen would have her baby down in Cornwall, she herself would go away back to her old life in London, teaching … Bulbury Knap would seem like a dream. Michael …

‘Are you all right?' Jane asked in concern.

With a supreme effort Kathryn smiled. ‘It's so sad.'

‘They should be rid of this place,' Jane said with conviction. ‘I've no children to be considered and my home's in New Zealand now and always will be. What would you have me do? Let my parents moulder on here until they give up the ghost?'

‘So what will happen now?' Kathryn asked
humbly.

‘I've had Michael's input and now I need yours, Kathryn,' Jane said, leaning forward. ‘They're fond of you and I know you'll be fair. Tell me all of the instances where you have been most concerned about my parents.'

It was no use trying to hide anything but it was hard to come out with the occasions that had caused worry knowing that it must result in Sir Edwin and Lady Hewson being forced to leave their home. ‘If Andrew takes over Bulbury Knap what will happen to your parents?' Kathryn asked at last.

‘I'll get them moved into something smaller.'

‘On the estate?'

‘Maybe.'

Kathryn could think only of one property that was even remotely suitable … Michael's cottage. Horrified, she gazed at Jane. Michael and his boys homeless … she couldn't bear the thought of him having to uproot his little family, to move away to find work elsewhere, away from the place he loved, the garden he had poured such love and attention into.

‘On the other hand I'm open to all ideas,' Jane said. ‘It won't happen overnight but I have to consider the welfare of my parents.'

Kathryn appreciated that Jane was being reasonable but as she returned to the kitchen to start preparing lunch she couldn't help thinking of her own mother's deep
disappointment
if her job at Bulbury Knap was no longer open to her.

The back door burst open and Zillah was in the doorway, looking supremely confident in her purple and magenta smock. ‘Come on Kathryn. It might never happen.'

Kathryn smiled weakly. If only she could be sure of that.

‘I'm off to see Michael,' Zillah said. ‘I've a plan to hatch that'll solve all our problems.'

*          *          *

Sarah's phone call that evening came as something of a relief to Kathryn. She had been putting off her mother but now she had no choice but to warn her of the latest developments at Bulbury Knap.

Afterwards she marvelled at Sarah's reaction … initial disappointment, of course, but then deep concern for the Hewsons and for Kathryn herself.

‘Don't worry about me,' Kathryn had said, tight-lipped. ‘I'll find something. I'm a free agent. I can go anywhere.'

But she didn't want to go anywhere. She put down the receiver and stood with her head against the wall, unable for the moment to think of what to do next. Andrew and Jane were closeted in his study upstairs and had been there for some time. Finalising details of Andrew's take-over, she supposed. She
wondered
that Jane would condone the plans Andrew obviously had for Bulbury Knap that would render it totally unrecognisable from the beloved family home it had been for generations.

*          *          *

Kathryn was awakened suddenly by the banging of doors, the crash of footsteps. She sat up in bed, heart thudding. Then she slipped on her dressing-gown and slippers and opened her bedroom door. Up here on the top floor she felt cut off from the rest of the house but she needed to know what was going on in the dead of night. She switched on the landing light and stood listening.

Not a sound now. Had she dreamt the noise she had heard earlier? She went down to the first floor landing, stepping gingerly so as not to make any noise herself. Then she stood still, listening to the silence. She must have imagined the racket that had seemed to shake the house, the tail end of a nightmare perhaps now mercifully forgotten.

She went down to the kitchen with the intention of making herself a drink. To her alarm the front door stood open. For the first time she remembered the intruders who had raided the place all those weeks ago. The hall felt icy as she rushed to the door to close and lock it. She felt safer now but this was stupid.
Anyone
with any sense would have awakened someone … Andrew or Jane, not descended into goodness knows what danger on her own.

She stood, wondering what to do, and then heard a car starting up outside, tyres on the gravel, the roar as it went off and then heavy silence again.

With a spurt of energy she bounded up to the first floor landing and tapped on Jane's door. Even as Jane's strong voice bid her enter Kathryn knew that the car was Andrew's.

Bemused, she stared at the older woman. Jane, dressed in outdoor clothes, was seated on her bed with a laptop beside her looking as if this was perfectly reasonable in the middle of the night.

‘I heard a noise,' Kathryn said.

‘Andrew departing,' said Jane calmly. ‘Did he alarm you?'

‘I thought I should check.'

Jane nodded. ‘He'll be back. He's not finished with me yet.'

‘Can I get you anything?'

‘Not a thing. Get back to bed, my dear. Sorry you were disturbed.'

For the rest of the night Kathryn's sleep was troubled and she awoke in the morning with the consciousness that momentous decisions had already been made that Andrew was not pleased about.

Breakfast was late because Jane didn't emerge from her room until nearly ten o'clock.
Kathryn
served Sir Edwin and Lady Hewson at their usual time and settled them in the den with a fresh pot of tea and the morning newspapers for Sir Edwin and her embroidery for Lady Hewson.

Jane ate her meal in a silence that was heavy with foreboding. This seemed to deepen as Andrew came in and sat down at the place at the kitchen table Kathryn had laid for him. His dark hair was slightly tousled and his blue open-necked shirt had the top button missing.

He ate absently, then pushed his plate away and got up to stride to the window and then back again. As he sat there with one leg hitched over the arm of his chair Kathryn wasn't sure how much she really disliked him any more. She could have felt sorry for him if there hadn't been so much at stake. It was clear that he had met his match in Jane.

Kathryn found plenty to occupy her during the day with the clearing up of the conservatory. China to replace in its usual home and checking that all was well with the rest of the house that was her preserve. Zillah didn't seek her out and Michael was nowhere to be seen. Jane phoned for a taxi and was away until early evening. Sir Edwin and Lady Hewson, pathetically grateful for the simple meals she served them, insisted that Kathryn rested during the afternoon and left them to their own devices.

Left to her own devices, Kathryn wandered
from
room to room unable to settle to anything. Gradually she became aware that the sky was darkening. She glanced anxiously out of the front door and saw her employers nearby admiring the purple clematis on the wall. They came immediately they saw her, glad to be settled in the den after their walk.

Much later, after the evening meal had been cleared and Jane and her parents closeted together for a long talk, Kathryn let herself out of the back door for a breath of fresh air. As yet the rain that had threatened all afternoon had come to nothing but there was an ominous feeling to the evening that fitted in well with her mood. Zillah's door was closed but a flickering light shone from the window.

Not wanting to disturb her, Kathryn hurried by and by the time she reached the expanse of lawn that led down to the lake, she was beginning to come to terms with how things were going to be.

Her heart heavy, Kathryn reached the lakeside and stood beneath the swaying trees to gaze out across the ruffled water. She had been down here several times since that evening when Michael had joined her but the memories of that were still painful. Had he brought Zillah here on calm evenings since that magic time?

She sighed, regretting her impulse to pull away from his embrace when, even then, she had recognised the perfect moment. Now it
was
too late. She had thought about it so often, changing the scenario in her mind so that sometimes it seemed as if it had really happened.

She would have to leave Bulbury Knap and, in the circumstances, the sooner the better. What good was she here now that her mother's job was no longer open to her and Jane was present to tend her parents' needs? She should follow Sarah's example and accept the future with good grace knowing that the pain of seeing Michael and Zillah together could be eased only by her absence from the scene.

She was conscious now that rain was falling, pitting the surface of the lake. Raising her face, she felt the drips from the overhanging branches caress her face, resolving to tell the Hewsons when she got back, promise to stay on for a week or two to help them pack and then go down to Cornwall to see her own family before deciding where she should make her future. At the moment she longed only to be far away from Bulbury Knap.

The rain was harder now and in the distance thunder rumbled. Uncaring, she stayed where she was until the fierceness of the drops had soaked her hair and clothes. Even then she was reluctant to move away from the comparative shelter of the trees. What did anything matter now when everything she had hoped for when she first arrived was now in shatters?