23
SPENDING FIVE DAYS together had left Nora wanting more. It had been heaven. She felt as if they’d transcended how things had been before they went to Dorset, coming back to Croftwood with their relationship in a completely different place.
That morning, when she’d arrived at the lake for a swim, she found Archie waiting for her. He was sitting on the dock wearing his dry robe as if he was a regular. It touched Nora’s heart that he’d really meant it when he said he was a convert to wild-swimming.
‘I missed you last night,’ she said, sitting down next to him and leaning in for a kiss.
‘I’ll come to you tonight,’ he said.
‘You sound like someone from a Regency romance. I like it.’
‘Good,’ he said, kissing her and running his hand underneath her robe.
‘Hey. Someone might see.’ Nora pushed his hand away.
‘Spoilsport.’
She kissed him, then stood up and undressed. Archie sighed as he followed suit.
‘Are you worried about going in?’
‘It’s not the same as the sea. I liked the gentle shore. This feels like all or nothing in comparison.’
‘It’ll be better when the steps are in.’ They’d commissioned a joiner to make steps into the water and a Monet-style bridge to link the island to the shore.
‘Perhaps, but it doesn’t help me today.’
‘You don’t have to come in,’ Nora reasoned, although she knew that would be exactly the thing to say to make him think he had to.
‘No. I want to. I ought to have first-hand experience of my own lake if I’m asking other people to swim in it.’
Nora lowered herself off the dock first and waited for Archie. ‘It’s not as cold as the sea, if that helps?’
He grimaced as he lowered himself in. ‘Liar.’ But once they started swimming, he relaxed and seemed as happy as he’d been in Dorset.
‘It’s rather wonderful, actually, swimming in one’s own lake.’
‘How much land do you have?’
‘Not as much as we used to. Around fifty thousand acres all told.’
Nora had no idea how much that was, but it sounded a lot.
‘My father sold off some of the farmland in the nineteen-eighties, so there are pockets of our land all around Croftwood. It’s not all surrounding the house. And obviously we have the arrangement with the trust for the majority of it.’
It struck Nora how odd it was that a family could be so rich in assets and yet be struggling to make ends meet. It wasn’t as if they led a flamboyant lifestyle. Archie and Constance lived nothing like the way most people might assume, given the scale of the estate.
‘Are you feeling cold?’ Nora asked once they had done one loop of the island.
‘No, but I’m going to get out while the going’s good,’ he said. ‘I’ve enjoyed it.’
They climbed out together and raced to dry and put their robes on. Now that they were entirely comfortable with each other, they both stripped off without worrying about modesty, which made getting warm and dry much easier and quicker.
‘I should have lit the fire-pit,’ Archie said. He pulled the hood up on his robe and shoved his hands in the deep pockets. ‘It’s really not the same when there’s no log fire waiting for you.’
‘That’s why Seb suggested the Finnish hut. It’s much better than the fire-pit, especially when the weather’s bad. It’s one thing swimming in the rain, but it’s much harder to get warm afterwards.’
‘What are you doing today, my love?’ Archie asked, taking her in his arms as soon as she’d zipped her robe.
‘I’m going to Stoke. I’ve been desperate to see how my new pots have fired. I could just text Neil, but I’d like to catch up on things with Val. How about you?’
‘I’ve got nothing pressing on. Could I come with you? I’d love to see where you work.’
‘I’d love that!’ Val would love it more, Nora thought. ‘I’ll come and pick you up as soon as I’ve showered.’
She was so excited. It hadn’t occurred to her that Archie might be interested in visiting the pottery, but she was thrilled that he was. And she also knew that while she faffed around with her pots and caught up with Val, he’d be quite happy. In fact, she might even get him on the wheel.
‘Are you sure you’re ready for this?’ They were just about to go into the pottery. ‘Everyone’s eyes are going to be out on stalks.’
Archie took her hand. ‘I’m ready for anything,’ he said, grinning.
‘Tell me that again in a couple of hours.’
Nora’s first stop was the room next door to the kiln, where Neil would have put her pots. If they’d survived the firing.
‘Oh, yes!’ Nora said, picking one up and feeling the weight of it. ‘They’re okay.’ There were one or two missing, probably amongst the first ones she’d tried, but considering she’d been concentrating more on the form than the construction, she was pleased.
‘How are you going to decorate them?’ Archie asked.
‘I’m not sure yet. I don’t know whether to paint a design on them or let a clever glaze do the work. I was channelling the regency period and if I’m true to that, they would have had a fairly intricate design on them. But that’s not really me. If it’s going to be my new collection, it needs to look like it’s mine. You know?’
‘I do,’ he said, nodding. ‘May I?’
‘Of course.’
Archie picked up one of the more robust looking pots. ‘I can’t help but be reminded of some of the pieces we have at home.’
‘I did make these the day after I’d been to yours for the first time. It was inspiring, and actually, the vase that you’re auctioning, that kind of thing isn’t my vibe. But I loved some of the less showy crockery. Beautiful things you can use every day.’
‘Nora! Back from the wilds of Dorset.’ Val came into the room, not noticing Archie at first since the door hid him. ‘Oh. Hello.’ Her eyes darted from Archie to Nora.
‘Val, this is Archie. Archie, Val is the production manager.’
‘Very pleased to meet you, sir,’ said Val.
‘No, don’t call him sir, Val. It’s fine,’ said Nora.
‘Please. Call me Archie. It’s lovely to meet you.’
Val was uncharacteristically silent. Nora knew it’s because she’d been set on getting the low down about the wedding and their mini-break and couldn’t think what to say instead.
‘I wanted to chat to Mel about glaze for these new pots,’ said Nora. ‘Have you got time to give Archie a quick tour of the pottery while I do that? Then we’re going to do some throwing.’
‘Oh, are you a potter, Archie?’ Val asked.
‘Not at all. This is the first I’ve heard about it, but I’ve always wanted a go.’
‘As long as it doesn’t turn into the scene from Ghost,’ Val said, laughing. ‘Right, come on then.’
Mel was the person who knew the most about glazing and finishing out of everyone who worked at the pottery, and although Nora did all the finishing and glazing on her bespoke collections herself, it was brilliant to have an expert like Mel on hand for advice. By the time Nora had settled on a couple of different treatments she might try, Val had delivered Archie back to her.
‘It’s an incredible operation,’ he said to Nora. ‘Impressive to say the least.’
‘Thank you. I’ve got an incredible team,’ she said, grinning at Val.
‘Come and find me before you go,’ Val said. ‘Good luck with the throwing,’ she said to Archie. ‘You’ll need it.’
Archie laughed. ‘Oh. You’re not joking,’ he said, when he realised Nora and Val weren’t joining in.
‘I mean, you might be a natural,’ said Nora. ‘But it’s unlikely.’
‘People watch the pottery show on television and think it’s easy,’ said Val.
Archie looked at Nora, his eyes wide.
Once Nora had been through the basics with him, helping him throw a couple of simple pots, she left him to practise while she sat at the wheel next to him and began her own.
‘It’s fascinating watching you,’ said Archie. His wheel was still, the lump of clay he was working on centred, but nothing else. ‘I feel as if I’m using all my strength to keep the clay doing what I want, whereas you make it look effortless. As if it’s bending to your slightest touch.’
Nora looked at him. She could see the admiration and love in his eyes, and it made her feel quite emotional. She stopped the wheel and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
‘What’s wrong?’ Archie got up from his wheel and came over, hugging her awkwardly to avoid getting his clay-covered hands all over her.
‘I’m going to sound sappy,’ she sniffed.
‘I’ve got no problem with sappy,’ he said gently. ‘Tell me.’
‘It just means so much to me that you admire what I do. That you understand what all of this means to me and recognise what I’ve achieved. It hasn’t been like that before.’
‘You mean with Julian?’ Archie exhaled. ‘I may be speaking out of turn, but it astounds me that someone, especially in the same profession as you, can fail so spectacularly in supporting the person he loved.’
‘Being with you has given me a new appreciation for what love really looks like.’
‘Nora…’
‘Really, Archie. My relationship with Julian was born of friendship and mutual interest. I know that now. And thank god I realised before I ended up spending the rest of my life with someone who didn’t make me feel anything like as wonderful as you do.’
‘I’m sorry. I am going to cover you with clay now,’ said Archie, taking her cheeks in his hands and kissing her so thoroughly that she almost started crying again. ‘I love you so much.’
‘I love you too.’
He clasped his hands around hers and kissed them, getting clay on his own face too.
By the end of the afternoon, Nora had fed her urge to perfect the pots for her new collection, and Archie had thrown six wonky but functional pots of his own.
‘Come on, help me get all this in the drying room,’ she said.
‘You think these are worth drying?’ he said, pointing to his board of pots.
‘Of course. They’re not perfect, but you enjoyed making them, right?’
He grinned. ‘Loved it.’
‘In which case, they are perfect.’
They washed their hands and Archie took a paper towel to Nora’s face to get the clay off, then she did the same for him and they went to find Val before they headed home.
‘I knew you two would get up to no good!’ she said, picking a bit of dried clay out of Nora’s hair.
‘Shut up,’ Nora said. ‘That happens all the time.’ She looked at Archie and grinned.
‘I’ve got some more Christmas samples to run by you,’ said Val.
‘Oh fantastic! Let’s see.’
Nora signed off on two new bauble designs and a couple of mugs.
‘These are great,’ said Archie. ‘Could we buy some from you to sell at the Christmas market?’
‘Of course,’ said Nora. ‘We can do mate’s rates, can’t we Val?’
Val raised an eyebrow and nodded. ‘Would you be interested in a special design? A collaboration between Croftwood Court and Hart Pottery?’
‘That’s a brilliant idea!’ said Nora. ‘We could do some candlesticks based on the chimneys. I wonder if we could produce enough mugs to use them for the mulled wine and hot chocolate and give people the option to keep the mug?’
‘Hold your horses,’ said Val. ‘That might be difficult. The production schedule is almost full. We can manage some baubles, but a load of mugs might be tricky to fit in.’
‘We can bear it in mind for next year,’ Nora said. ‘The baubles would be a good start. We’ll send over some design ideas and we can get some mock-ups done.’
‘Wow. Easy as that,’ said Archie.
‘It’s all about who you know,’ said Val. ‘And Nora has never been afraid to say yes. That’s what makes Hart Pottery so successful. She champions ideas from everyone in the company and it keeps us innovative and morale is through the roof.’
‘We’re a team,’ Nora said firmly. ‘And you can’t be a team unless everyone feels part of it.’
‘I like the idea of collaborating,’ said Archie on the drive back to Croftwood. ‘It makes me wonder what else we could do.’
‘You could do all sorts of things. We could try for a collab with a dry robe company. See if they’d do a limited run of robes in Croftwood lake colours that we could sell. We could talk to Jess about having some bespoke hats knitted.’
‘We need a brand,’ said Archie. ‘For all of this, Croftwood Court needs a brand.’
‘Don’t you have a coat of arms or a family crest or something like that?’
‘Of course, but it’s rather dull. Who wants a stuffy old crest on a mug?’
Nora laughed. ‘Exactly. But we can take elements of it to come up with a contemporary brand that you can use for anything. The lake, the Christmas market and anything else you end up doing.’
‘I can’t wait to get started,’ said Archie. ‘That’s how you felt today, isn’t it? Desperate to put your ideas for your new pots into action. It’s like an itch that needs scratching.’
‘Exactly. I can’t keep my mind on anything else once that feeling comes. It was all I could do to make myself go to the lake this morning instead of setting off for Stoke before dawn.’
Archie laughed. ‘Well, I’m very pleased that you waited so I could go with you. It’s been a wonderful day.’ He reached over and patted her thigh.
‘Are you going home for dinner first?’
‘Not on your life. I’m taking you straight to bed.’
Nora giggled. She loved this side of Archie. The playful side he’d only recently revealed to her now that he had gained more confidence in their relationship. It was intoxicating knowing how he felt about her and feeling exactly the same way about him.