17
NORA PEERED INTO the cabinet. The light was awful. The heavy curtains weren’t drawn back very far, stopping the weak spring sunshine from reaching very far into the room.
‘Look at that vase,’ she said, pulling out her phone and shining the torch into the cabinet. ‘It’s Royal Worcester.’
‘Most of this is, I think,’ Archie said, clasping his hands behind his back and leaning in for a closer look.
‘I think it could be worth something.’
He shook his head. ‘I doubt it. We had everything valued when Father died and anything of note wouldn’t be in here. We have all the best pieces on display.’
‘Honestly, Archie, I think it’s a Donaldson vase.’
A gong sounded from somewhere and Archie turned to leave the room. ‘Lunch is served,’ he said, smiling at her.
The nerves had abated, overtaken by excitement at seeing what she was sure was one of only a few surviving examples of the eighteenth-century painter John Donaldson’s work for Royal Worcester. She turned her phone torch off, picked up her almost empty glass of wine and followed Archie out of the room. She’d pick this up with him later. For a vase like that to be languishing amongst all sorts of run-of-the-mill crockery was a crying shame. But the lunch gong seemed to signal that everything else had to wait by the speed Archie was heading for the dining room.
Constance was already there, pouring herself a sherry from a decanter on the sideboard, but abandoned it to welcome Nora, giving her an air-kiss on each cheek.
‘Welcome, Nora. Lovely to see you,’ she said. ‘Archie, pour the sherries. I had Ursula sound the gong early so we might enjoy a quick apéritif before lunch. Although I see you’ve started without me.’ She raised a disapproving eyebrow.
‘A sherry would be lovely,’ Nora said. ‘Archie would you mind fetching the gift I brought for your mother? I left it on the table in the drawing room and I’m not sure of the way.’
‘A gift?’ Constance said, looking thrilled. ‘How lovely.’
Archie handed Nora her sherry and inclined his head, checking she was happy for him to leave her for a moment. She returned an imperceptible nod.
‘Come, Nora,’ Constance said. ‘Let’s take a seat in the smoking room.’
She led the way next door into a room that was a smaller version of the drawing room, with many sofas and chairs. The decor was darker and heavier than some of the other rooms, with thick burgundy velvet curtains at the windows and flocked wallpaper. Constance perched on a window seat that overlooked the gardens and patted the cushion next to her.
‘This is one of my favourite spots in the house,’ she said. ‘When I was first married, it wasn’t the done thing for the ladies to venture into this room. It was men only, if you can believe that.’
‘It feels quite masculine compared to the other rooms,’ Nora said.
‘It reminds me very much of my husband so I’m not inclined to change anything about it,’ Constance said with a smile.
Nora smiled back, but thought that nothing in the house looked as if it had changed an awful lot in the last hundred years anyway, let alone this room.
‘This is very unusual,’ Constance said. ‘It’s been years since Archie brought a girl home, and he’s plumped for you.’
Nora wasn’t sure whether Constance thought that was good or bad.
‘He’s a lovely man,’ was all she could think to say.
‘He’s besotted with you, and I must admit, that wasn’t my intention when I suggested the match. But here we are.’
‘Look, Constance,’ Nora began, immediately wondering whether she’d made a huge mistake by not addressing her as your ladyship. ‘Archie and I don’t know what the future holds for us. To be honest, we haven’t discussed it much. We’re enjoying getting to know each other, that’s all. But I can assure you that I am not after anything.’
Constance gave a small laugh. ‘Forgive me if I find that hard to believe. I know you’re not after his money. You’re probably bright enough to realise that there isn’t any, but a title is something money can’t buy.’
Nora almost laughed at the idea that being Lady Harrington might be something she’d covet. But what she couldn’t understand was why Constance had suggested she go out with Archie at the book club if she was worried about her intentions.
‘I thought you wanted him to find a partner?’
‘Well, yes, but not someone like you. You’re the type of woman who can turn his head. He’s already so taken with you, his attention isn’t on the estate in the way it should be.’
‘Someone like me?’
‘Someone who will turn him against me.’
‘Here you are,’ Archie said, arriving with Nora’s gift.
‘It’s just a little something to say thank you for inviting me,’ Nora said, wishing that she could have had a moment longer with Constance to get to the bottom of what she was worried about. At least to reassure her she’d never be so manipulative as to interfere in the relationship between mother and son.
Constance handed her sherry to Archie and unwrapped the parcel.
‘Oh, goodness! How wonderful!’ She exclaimed as she turned the candlesticks around in her hand. ‘What a pity we chose lunch rather than dinner. We could have lit them now.’
‘Why don’t we?’ Nora said.
Constance clapped her hands together. ‘Yes! Why ever not.’
Archie beamed at Nora and she felt pleased he thought things had started off on the right footing, even if she was confused about what Constance thought.
‘Lunch is served, your Lordship,’ Ursula said, popping her head around the door.
Nora almost giggled again. It was funny to hear Archie called that. Since Ursula had referred to him as Archie earlier, she assumed the formality was for Constance’s benefit. She probably liked to do things properly.
‘Thank you Ursula.’ He held out his arm for his mother to take and Nora followed them into the dining room, slightly taken aback by the sudden display of etiquette. But then, she herself had particularly appreciated Archie’s manners when they’d been out for dinner.
After Archie had pulled out the chair for his mother and seated her at the table, he pulled out the chair opposite for Nora then took his own seat at the head of the table.
Ursula produced a bottle of wine and proceeded to fill their glasses, checking with Archie first with a simple, ‘Sir?’ as she offered the bottle, to which he nodded. After Ursula had poured the wine, she went over to a hatch in the corner of the room and lifted it, revealing a dumb waiter from where she carried a tray laden with a silver soup terrine, bowls and a basket of bread rolls over to the table.
‘Tomato soup?’ she asked Nora.
‘Yes, lovely, thank you.’
Ursula served Archie and Constance without asking if they wanted it, but Nora supposed they usually ate everything since the cook probably knew what their likes and dislikes were.
Nora sat with her hands in her lap. She had some distant recollection of the etiquette being that Archie should start first, and Constance seemed to be waiting too. Once he’d started eating, the conversation resumed.
‘Have you been to choose your book, Nora? I asked Archie to find out but he never did say.’
‘Yes. I’ve chosen the romance this time. I didn’t think I could read another thriller just yet and I wasn’t interested in that footballer’s biography.’
‘I’m surprised at Lois for allowing that,’ said Constance.
‘It’s bound to appeal to some people,’ Nora said. There were a fair number of men in the group and Lois had said they tried to appeal to as many readers as possible.
‘It’s not that long since we had a sports biography. What I’d enjoy is Cher’s new autobiography,’ Constance said.
Archie’s eyes widened, and he looked at Nora, apparently as surprised as she was about that.
‘You ought to suggest it, Constance. The romance is We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes, although I don’t think it’s strictly a romance, more of a book about family and friendship.’
‘That sounds lovely,’ Constance said, gracefully tipping her soup bowl towards her to scoop the dregs with her spoon. Nora wondered whether it would be bad if she wiped her last bit of bread roll around the bowl to get her own dregs and decided against it. It was her first visit after all, and she didn’t want to shock anyone.
After the main meal of ham hock with green vegetables and delicious herby roasted potatoes, followed by an apple pie with a pastry top that flaked to perfection, Constance excused herself.
‘I shall pop to the library with Ursula,’ she said. ‘It was wonderful to see you Nora.’
‘Thank you for having me,’ Nora said. She was sorry that she wouldn’t have chance to talk to Constance again to reassure her. But she’d see her at book club the following week and it might be better to tackle that conversation in a neutral setting.
‘Come on then, show me what happened last night,’ she said, intrigued to see more of the house.
Archie led the way back to the hallway and up the staircase to the galleried landing, off which were several doors. He opened the farthest one which led onto a corridor. Another door led into a huge bedroom with a relatively modest double-bed against one wall, a chest of drawers opposite, and not much else. Apart from the pile of wood and plaster in the middle of the floor and the cavernous hole in the ceiling.
‘Oh my god!’ Nora said. ‘Whose room is this?’
‘It’s a guest room, which is why we hadn’t noticed the leak. Last time, with the leak above Mama’s bedroom we spotted it straight away. This is a new leak.’
‘Oh, Archie.’
‘I should have had the repairs done as soon as Simon had come back to me with the quote but I hadn’t quite got the cash together. Obviously now, this is going to add quite a bit to that bill.’
They stood together, gazing at the hole in the ceiling. And it wasn’t as if it was a plain old ceiling either. It was a grid of decorative plasterwork.
‘Come with me,’ she said, taking his hand before she realised she didn’t know the way back to the room where she’d seen the vase. ‘Can we go back to where the china was?’
He smiled, looking puzzled. ‘Of course.’
‘May I?’ Nora said, reaching to slide open the glass door of the cabinet.
Archie nodded.
Nora pulled out a jug and vase which were sitting at the front of the cabinet, laying them carefully on the floor, then gently picked up the Donaldson vase.’
‘Archie. This vase is worth thousands. I’m certain. It’s in here, doing nothing, not even on show to be appreciated by anyone. Surely, you could sell it to get the roof mended.’
‘It’s not as simple as that.’ He took the vase and placed it back in the cabinet then replaced the jug and vase and slid the glass door across.
‘But why?’
‘Shall we take a walk in the gardens?’
‘Okay,’ she said, feeling exasperated.
Once they were outside, Nora having borrowed a pair of Archie’s woolly socks and some random wellies, he took her hand and they walked through part of the gardens that she hadn’t seen before, tucked away at the side of the house, before the expansive lawns gave way to the farmland.
‘None of the things in that house are mine, Nora. I am just the latest custodian of the house and everything in it and I have to do my best to preserve that for the next generation.’
It was all very well having an ethos like that which had been handed down through the generations of his family, but it made no practical sense in the twenty-first century when he was struggling to keep the house from rotting away. She tried to be gentle, knowing this was a topic they were going to struggle to find common ground on.
‘All of this used to matter in a way that doesn’t make sense these days,’ she began. ‘Things have moved on and trying to keep everything the way it’s always been isn’t the way to preserve any of it. If the house falls into disrepair, what kind of legacy is that? Surely it’s better to sell a vase no one will miss. Isn’t that the bigger picture?’
Archie didn’t break his stride, but he dropped Nora’s hand and shoved his hands in his pockets. He said nothing, but the set of his jaw was defiant. Nora was shocked. He was behaving like a sulky child and she realised she was seeing a different side to him. Perhaps the more privileged side of him that was used to getting exactly what he wanted with no challenge. Yes, he had the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders and sometimes, Nora could see it almost physically weighing him down. But maybe when he’d told her that all of this was his problem to solve, he meant it. And perhaps supporting him meant giving meaningless platitudes that everything would be alright, rather than him welcoming practical advice.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, wanting to breach the divide between them. ‘I obviously don’t understand but I don’t want it to come between us. If you’d rather I stayed out of this kind of stuff, that’s fine. I just see how tough it is for you and thought it was a solution.’
Archie stopped walking and faced her. His expression softened. ‘It’s hard to explain and I’m sorry that I’m not better at it.’
Nora put her hands on his forearms, tempting his hands from his pockets and into hers. ‘It’s fine. Honestly,’ she said. ‘It’s been lovely coming here, but it’s made me realise exactly who you are. When we’re down at the lake, you’re just Archie. And here, you’re his Lordship.’
He shrugged. ‘Yes. But that’s me. Sometimes, I’d rather be just Archie but that can only ever be a temporary situation and I shouldn’t have led you to believe that’s who I am. Being Lord Harrington is my life, really, and holes in the roof aside, I’m pretty happy about it most of the time.’
‘So this is who I need to get to know, if we’re going to be seeing each other,’ Nora said, linking her arm in his as they continued their walk.
‘I never expected to find what we have now, Nora. If I’d had any idea that we might…end up in a relationship, if that isn’t too forward of me to assume, I may have done things differently.’
‘Well, I might not have fallen for Lord Harrington in quite the same way as I did for Archie.’
Archie looked surprised and a little hurt.
‘No, I don’t mean I don’t love you being Lord Harrington, it’s just that I think when you’re down at the lake with me, you’re not thinking about all of the difficult stuff. It’s like we’re in a bubble where you’re not his Lordship. The formality and the etiquette and all of that don’t matter. And I love that you can be like that with me. The other stuff is still you, but the you that everyone else has.’
‘God, Nora.’ He took her in his arms and breathed the words into her ear. ‘Is it too soon to say that I love you?’