Bulbury Knap Read online

  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?

  A blaze of lightning sheeted across the sky followed by an explosion of thunder and lashing hailstones. Head down, she turned and ran for Michael’s cottage.

  The path was awash and she stumbled through the water to hammer on the door. He opened it immediately.

  She almost fell inside as a deafening crack split the heavens in two, followed by a crash of smashing branches beyond the garden gate.

  ‘A tree’s down,’ Michael said, slamming the door shut behind her. ‘You could have been killed. What d’you think you’re doing out in this?’ His anger was palpable in the stormy air.

  She stood gasping, water streaming from her hair and her clothes. ‘I’ll go, I’ll get back to the house …’

  ‘You most certainly won’t,’ he said, his voice stern. And she didn’t wonder, faced with a desperate apparition dripping water over the flagstones of his hallway.

  ‘Wait there,’ he ordered and was back immediately with a huge bath sheet. ‘Get the worst wiped off with this. Come on, it won’t bite.’

  She wiped her face, scrubbed at her hair and then held the towel round her body to soak some of the moisture from her sweatshirt and jeans, kicking off her shoes. She looked, disbelieving, though the living-room doorway. Where were the cushions, the photographs, the carpet … the scent of furniture polish that had enchanted her on her last visit? Now the room was bare of ornaments and on the floorboards stood three large boxes, one of them overflowing with folded curtains.

  Outside the rain lashed the window and the sky was black but the thunder had faded away to a low rumble.

  ‘The boys …’ she whispered.

  ‘At Mrs Pearce’s for the night while I do a bit of packing,’ he said with a calmness that alarmed her.

  ‘You’re going then?’ All at once it was too much … Jane’s decision for her parents, the storm, Michael leaving … lost to her for ever though he was lost to her already … Bulbury Knap …

  ‘I must go,’ she said in desperation. ‘I’ve no business here.’

  ‘I’m ahead of myself,’ he said. ‘There’s plenty of time to move out. I just seized the opportunity with the boys away for the night.’

  ‘Where will you go?’

  He looked surprised. ‘You don’t know?’

  How could she know? How could she know anything more? She turned to leave, in her haste forgetting the towel wrapped round her. She tripped and would have fallen if Michael hadn’t grabbed her.

  ‘I’m all right,’ she whispered, pulling free.

  ‘No way. You’re staying here and getting into something warm. The bathroom’s at the back and there’s hot water for a shower. I’ll find something for you to wear.’

  In the shower she held her face up to the water, letting it mingle with weak tears. The clothes he had given her were some of Tom’s he had yet to grow into and she was grateful for their comfort.

  She pulled the polo neck of the Aran jersey high up her neck and rolled the cuffs back. Then, still barefooted, she gathered up her own wet clothes and joined him in the kitchen.

/>   ‘That’s better,’ he said with approval. ‘I’ve phoned the house to say where you are. I’ll get the car out later and run you back. First though, I’ll get the kettle on.’

  He soon had it organised. Her face glowed though she was frozen inside from knowing this was the end. When Michael finished his tea and shrugged himself into his thick jacket she watched numbly. A blast of wind almost took the door out of his hand. ‘It’s stopped raining,’ he said.

  He was back almost immediately, shrugging off his jacket. ‘No go,’ he said. ‘The lane’s blocked with the fallen tree. Nothing doing till the morning. My bed’s been changed and I’ll doss down in the boy’s room.’

  ‘No, no. I’ll walk. I’ll climb over the tree. I’ll …’ she was on her feet now staring at him wildly. ‘I … I can’t.’

  ‘I’ll get the fire going in the other room. Come on.’

  There was a pile of grey blankets in one corner and he spread them on the bare boards in front of the glowing flames.

  She sank down and held her cold hands to the warmth, wanting to go and yet wanting to be here near him too.

  ‘Remember fitting out Zillah’s cottage before she moved in?’ he said, sinking down beside her.

  ‘Zillah,’ she whispered.

  ‘An asset to the place if ever there was one. Just shows how bad things can change to good, for Bulbury Knap and the for the boys and me.’

  She nodded, unable to speak for the pain that tore at her. Instead she caught hold of the edge of a blanket and twisted the edge.

  ‘And I have you to thank, Kathryn, for the way things have slotted into place,’ he said.

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Zillah came to Bulbury Knap because of you.’

  Kathryn was silent, aware she had done Michael a great service. She loved him. She should be proud of the part she had played in his future happiness. She had already seen that his packing up to leave the cottage was not the catastrophe she had imagined because he had found Zillah.

  He reached forward to throw another log on the fire. The flames hissed a little, died down and then flamed up again. ‘And it was your efforts, Kathryn, on behalf of Zillah that inspired me to suggest that Bulbury Knap becomes a residential centre for the arts.’

  Kathryn clutched at the edge of the blanket and then let it go. ‘But Andrew … ?’

  He smiled, his eyes warm. ‘Andrew doesn’t come into it any more. He and Jane had the bust up to end all bust ups. She could see the way things were going and didn’t fall for his scheming to buy the place at a knockdown price. She’s got a head on her shoulders, that one. She liked the idea of the art centre at once and did a bit of research yesterday and today, enough to know that it’s viable.

  ‘Zillah was central to this, of course. You might have noticed that I’ve been seeing a lot of Zillah lately. That’s why. Jane made me keep it under wraps until she got back from Taunton today. It’s a wonder Zillah suspected nothing. A great girl but a touch naive. Now you, Kathryn, would have caught on at once.’

  Kate stared at him uncomprehendingly. ‘But I don’t understand.’

  ‘It was all a necessary part of the procedure,’ he said. ‘I had to make sure Zillah would be willing to tutor art classes as well as hold her own exhibitions here. And she can. Sir Edwin wants to arrange for your friend to be a tutor too.’

  ‘My friend?’

  ‘The Jurassic coast man. Could you ask him? Accommodation will be provided for him, of course, in the cottage next to Zillah.’

  ‘And you?’

  ‘Garden design,’ he said proudly. ‘Week-long courses for about ten students at a time. This is something I’ve long wanted to do. We can still take the garden club visits every summer. Sir Edwin is pleased about that.’

  ‘So he and Lady Hewson can still live in the house?’

  Michael shook his head. ‘Can you imagine it with the place bustling with enthusiastic students? No, this cottage will be converted into a home for them with your mother looking after them as well as overseeing the house. Accommodation will be provided for her there.’

  Relief flooded over her. ‘You mean, my mother will still have her job here?’

  ‘Of course. She’ll be needed now more than ever.’

  ‘That’s wonderful,’ said Kathryn, still hardly able to believe it. ‘And me?’ she added. ‘What use will I be?’

  For answer Michael leaned towards her and pulled her close. ‘You are pivotal to the whole scheme as the manager,’ he said gently. ‘And especially pivotal to me.’

  She trembled in his arms as he kissed her, leaning into his warmth. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion and at the same time swiftly as the wind.

  ‘I want you by my side for the rest of our lives,’ he said, his voice husky. ‘It’s my dearest wish, Kathryn, my love.’

  She couldn’t speak because he kissed her again. This time there could be no doubt in his mind that it was her dearest wish, too.