Chapter Five

‘Jenna, thank you for joining us,' Kate told her, somewhat sarcastically, when she eventually turned up, late.

Chris had left an hour ago — after lunch as he had planned. Kate had been manning the desk, getting more and more annoyed, as the time went on.

Jenna was wearing dark glasses and the haze of expensive perfume that hung around her failed to disguise the smell of day-old wine. Her hair was tousled in a very fetching way. She looked as if she had just crawled out of bed, where she'd had an awfully good time.

‘Got distracted,' Jenna murmured and smiled, sultry and kitten-like as she sidled, carefully, around the reception desk, keeping her head very, very straight.

‘Get yourself a coffee before the after-lunch customers come in.'

Jenna muttered something affirmative and sat down as Kate picked up the skates. ‘Now you're here, I'm popping over to the Hall. And please, have lots more coffee if you need it.'

Kate may have gone into the Hall grounds the back way. She may have walked along the banks of the River Hartsford which backed onto the fields near the museum cottages, and clambered over a fence that said ‘Private Property. Do Not Enter'. But she might not have done. It was best not to elaborate on that theory.

She ended up in the Hall grounds and was heading through them when she spotted Elodie drifting out of the gift shop. She looked gorgeous, swathed in a long, floaty maxi-dress. She had a circlet of flowers on the top of her head and was a whole lot rounder than when Kate had last seen her. Despite the beautiful hippy-dippy outfit, she didn't look very comfortable and certainly wasn't drifting very fast. There was a definite grace-less waddle to her movements.

‘Good grief, where did that come from?' Kate asked, her eyes widening as she walked up to her, her attention drawn inexorably to Elodie's stomach.

‘This?' asked Elodie, running her hand across her huge tummy. ‘God only knows.' She looked at Kate pathetically. ‘Tell me it'll be over soon?'

‘When are they due again?'

‘August. Two more months.'

‘They might come earlier.' Kate was unable to tear her gaze away. ‘Good God, I hope I never have twins.'

Elodie laughed — she wheezed a bit too. She had terrible asthma and carrying all that extra bulk around wasn't particularly good for her lungs. ‘I think this might be it for me too. How's things with you?'

‘Oh, not too bad.' Kate frowned. ‘Chris just left to go back to London. He might have to start working weekends.'

‘Oh, no! That's not good. You don't have that much time together anyway.'

‘Yeah, well. It can't be helped. Elodie, can I have a chat for a few minutes? If you're not too busy.'

Elodie shrugged and flicked her long blonde hair back. ‘I'm quite happy to have a chat. But can we sit down for it?' She smiled ruefully. ‘Sorry. My feet are twice their usual size today and my back is giving up the ghost.'

Elodie was quite small — in height and build — so Kate imagined pregnancy wasn't the best of experiences for her in some ways.

‘Oh — yes. Of course.' There was a nice shady bench outside the front of the Hall and they headed — slowly — towards that. ‘You're so lucky living here,' Kate told her. ‘Do you ever miss London?' Elodie had lived there for a while with her first husband when she worked as a costume designer in the West End. Kate sometimes thought Hartsford might be a little bit tame for Elodie, even though she'd grown up there and had known Alex all her life. If Kate thought about the boys she'd known at school, it usually turned her stomach, so she couldn't quite grasp how Alex and Elodie had ended up married; but they had and they were perfect for each other. Everybody knew that.

‘I sometimes miss London,' Elodie said, sort of groping behind her for the seat before carefully lowering herself down in a very bizarre fashion, ‘but at the minute I'm happy not to be sitting on a tube or crushed on a bus trying to get to work.' She grinned. ‘It's much easier just to roll out of bed in the morning and be here. "Roll" being the operative. Look at me — I can't even sit down without it being a performance.'

Kate laughed — she had to agree. ‘We're happy you're here as well. Which brings me to this. Do you recognise these at all?' She lifted up the ice-skates and showed them to Elodie. ‘Not literally, of course. I don't expect you to know their history — I was just wondering if you'd seen anything in your archives. Like if you thought they might have come from the Hall. There's a sort of name in them if you look closely.'

‘Oooh,' said Elodie, leaning forward as best she could. ‘Very nice. May I?'

Kate handed them over to her. ‘Of course. Tell me if you spot anything odd about them as well. See the name? It says "CAT".'

‘Oh, I do. How lovely. It makes me wonder who Cat is.' Elodie looked at the skates, turning them around and putting her head to one side. ‘But I think,' she said, pointing with one peacock-green-tipped finger, ‘that this boot has been re-attached. Look at the stitching. It's different and not so ragged as the other one.'

Kate peered where she was pointing. ‘I'm inclined to agree, but how on earth did you spot that so quickly?' she asked in awe.

‘When you've worked with costumes and stitching and unpicked God knows how many doublets you get to know these things. It's astonishing how many clothes have to be altered throughout a run of a show. In my experience, the actors either give up eating or over-indulge in hotel food. It all changes the size of their costumes.'

‘I'd never considered that! You learn something new every day. Anything else?'

Elodie laughed and turned the skates over again. She held them out in front of her and squinted. ‘I don't know. That blade looks odd. The other boot. I know they're a pair but I think there's been some repairs done or some replacements. "Curiouser and curiouser" as Alice in Wonderland says.'

‘Alice is a really pretty name, isn't it?' Kate's eyes were drawn again to Elodie's tummy. ‘Any thoughts for names yet?'

Elodie shook her head. ‘Alice is nice. It's a family name, but I don't know. If one of these is a girl—' she brushed her hand across her enormous bump, ‘—I think she needs her own identity.'

‘Very true,' Kate replied, not really wanting to go too much into shared identities, considering her experience last night in the blacksmith's cottage. Which part of her still insisted was a dream. Another part of her still wasn't sure, but didn't want to think about it. That was too scary.

‘I'll be able to check my archives for you,' Elodie said, ‘just as soon as I can escape from Alex.' She frowned. Elodie had said her husband was way too fussy at the moment, and she wasn't a woman who appreciated fuss. ‘I'm not ill, I'm pregnant!' she kept telling anyone who would listen; usually just before she gasped for breath and collapsed in a heap somewhere. ‘My archives are all in the attics. I need to have a good old rummage in the boxes,' Elodie continued, ‘but bending's not exactly easy right now. As soon as I can, I will, okay?'

‘Okay. Thanks for having a look at the skates anyway. I might see what I can dig up myself. I can always use Google or some of those academic journals. In my experience, they can be a little obscure, but you sometimes find a gem in the articles.'

Elodie nodded. ‘Good luck. I'd be interested to see what you find out. I'd start around the 1880's if I was you. They look like that style of boot.'

Kate had no idea how Elodie knew these random facts, but she was rarely wrong. Instead of questioning her, she simply trusted her and stood up, holding her hand out to Elodie. Elodie took it and Kate hauled her up, off the bench, then relieved her of the skates.

Kate gave Elodie a quick hug — well as much as she could, given her circumference — and told her, ‘It'll soon be over. August will come really quickly.'

Elodie blanched a little, pressing her hands into the small of her back and looking pained as she tried to stretch a bit. Poor soul. She wasn't dealing with this well at all. ‘And then I'll have two babies, Kate. How on earth will I cope?'

‘You will. Plenty of people do. Thanks again. I'm going to grab a quick coffee and have a wander across the Faerie Bridge, I think. Go back the long way.'

‘The Gypsy Tea Caravan's up that way,' said Elodie. ‘I'm not sure who's manning it today.' Despite being a pregnant Countess, it was Elodie's job to man it, but clearly she had a day off, swollen ankles and all. Alex would be happy; Elodie wouldn't be. ‘Get your coffee up there. In fact, just tell whoever's in it that it's on the house.' She smiled and adjusted her circlet of flowers.

‘Oh, no,' Kate said, feeling a little guilty that not only had she — possibly — skipped in without paying, but she was getting a free coffee as well. ‘I'll pay. It's fine.'

‘Whatever.' Elodie shrugged. ‘The offer's there if you want it.'

‘Thanks.' Kate looped the skates back over her wrist and headed off up towards the old packhorse bridge that spanned the river.

As luck would have it, it was Cassie who was sitting in the caravan today, dispensing hot water from the tea-urn.

Her face broke into a smile as she saw Kate. ‘I've decided on three flavours of ice-cream,' she said. ‘Vanilla, strawberry and chocolate. Then we can sell Neapolitan ice-creams, topped with clotted cream as a special offer.'

‘Great choices. I'll get on the case for you. Three's probably enough — there's only a small compartment to keep them in. It's not like I'm lugging a full-size freezer about with me. I might have to store some at the Hall, if that's okay?'

‘That's fine by me. And are you sure you're happy to do it?' Cassie asked.

‘Absolutely. I'm just heading back to have another go at it. I sanded most of the paint off yesterday and I'm going to try and put an undercoat on if I get the chance. Chris has gone back to London so I can just get on with it. It's a nice enough day. Jenna can stay inside, in the dark, and nurse her hangover.'

‘Another one?' Cassie grimaced. ‘I don't know how she does it. They wipe me out completely.'

‘And me.' Kate put on a sniffy, mock-disapproving voice. ‘I think I'll simply purchase a coffee from you instead, my dear.'

‘You're very welcome, Madam. Enjoy it. On the house, darling,' replied Cassie in an equally hoity-toity accent.

They both giggled as Kate shook her head. ‘No. Please, take my money.'

‘You snuck in again, didn't you?' Cassie squashed a lid onto a takeaway cup and handed it over. ‘I keep telling you, just come the front way. The volunteers all know you. You know they'll let you past.'

‘Yes, but it looks really bad if you've got customers waiting to pay.' Kate dug in her pocket and pushed some coins over to Cassie. ‘And anyway, I can neither confirm nor deny my nefarious entry tactics.' She winked. ‘Thanks for the coffee.' She raised the cup to her lips, the ice-skates clinking together.

‘Oh, you decided I could use them? Thanks!' said Cassie.

‘No. No I didn't!' Kate shook her head. ‘These were for something entirely different. I needed to ask Elodie about them.'

‘Okay.' Cassie sighed, theatrically. ‘But I still get the tennis racquets?'

‘You still get those. And the bicycle. Catch you later!' She turned and went towards the Faerie Bridge. She could cross that and walk down the other side of the river, then use the stepping stones further along to get back to her cottages. It was a lovely day for a walk and she was on her afternoon off after all.

* * *

Theo arrived at Sutton Hoo for its opening, wandered around the site for a good part of the day, then decided to explore the surrounding area.

It was all incredible and he loved it. He loved Felixstowe as well — he stood out on the pier imagining what was over the horizon and how it must have been years ago, when it first became a fashionable seaside resort and a bustling trading port. Just south of there was Harwich, where you could sail to the Netherlands and from there travel into Europe. It was all magical and exciting, and it was with some reluctance he turned and headed back to Hartsford. Maybe on another trip, he could look into where he could go from those places. Currently, he would prefer to be anywhere else than Derbyshire, where he lived, and Suffolk was fitting the bill nicely. At one point, he had simply wanted to sit in his car, and drive — just follow the road wherever it took him. Anything, to get away.

But today, his destination was Hartsford and a return to the campsite. Strangely enough, the closer he got to the village, the faster he wanted to drive the car. And he still had time to visit the Folk Museum, he realised with a happy jolt of his heart; so he swung the vehicle towards the museum's car park and pulled into a space facing the buildings. The old bicycle was outside but there was no sign of Kate.

Theo got out of the car and walked over to the first cottage, just in case she was inside. He'd try his luck with that ticket again, see if she'd remembered he could re-visit the place today.

He stepped into the reception area, his eyes adjusting to the gloom, and wondered if they'd had a power outage.

‘Can I help?' A girl emerged from the shadows, long dark hair, shiny and tumbling in gypsy curls, a pair of enormous sunglasses perched on the top of her head. She was stunning in what you might call an ‘obvious' way. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

‘I was looking for your boss,' he said. ‘She said I might find her here today.'

‘She disappeared. She was here until just after lunchtime then left. I was a bit late — I don't think I'm in her good books for that. There's just me now. Even the divine Chris has disappeared — back to London.' Her smile grew wider and her glance slid away from Theo momentarily.

‘Fair enough.' He shrugged. ‘It'll wait.' So he'd tried and failed; no biggie. Well, actually, yes it was. It was very annoying.

‘She'll be in tomorrow. I don't work a Sunday morning.' The woman leaned forwards on the desk, crossing her arms and displaying a fair amount of cleavage. ‘We tried it for a few weeks but it didn't really work. There's this wine bar and it's dangerous, you see.' She smiled, mischievously. ‘I'm fine by the afternoon though.'

Was this vixen flirting with him?

‘A wine bar?' Theo asked. ‘Nice, is it?'

‘I like it. It's better than the Dragon. See, they don't serve much food at the wine bar, so it's more lively. You don't end up watching old people eat.'

‘I wouldn't know. I've only been to Coffee Cream Cupcake.'

‘Delilah's place.' The vixen nodded. ‘You need to expand your horizons.' She stood up, stretching her back like a cat and arching her ample bust towards him. ‘So are you staying locally?'

‘I'm just here for the weekend. I'm camping and I'm going back home tomorrow.'

‘I can tell Kate you called in, if you like. What's your name?'

‘She'll not know my name. It doesn't matter.'

‘The Divine Chris from London I just mentioned?' She grinned. ‘That's her boyfriend. Just so we're clear. Having said that . . .' Her eyes sparked for a moment, ‘I don't think it's particularly rosy with those two at the minute. But who am I to judge?'

‘Yes, I've seen him. But I thought he worked here. Stupid me.'

‘No, I work here — I'm Jenna. But like I say, I'm not in tomorrow morning. So I'm out tonight. You should come along — have a drink and fill your night in. You're on holiday. That's what people do.'

‘They do indeed. But I'm camping. I didn't bring a suit.' He smiled to take the edge off his words. He also cast around for an escape route. He hadn't come here to be seduced by a vixen.

‘A suit,' she scoffed. ‘Do you have clean jeans and a t-shirt?' The woman was tenacious, he'd give her that.

‘I do.'

‘Fine. I'll meet you at the wine bar at seven then. I'll give you the address. X marks the spot.' She extended one black, glittery-tipped talon and dragged over one of Kate's little museum maps. On the flipside of the map was a cartoon rendering of the Hartsford village showing the Hall and the coffee shop and various other points of interest. Jenna took a pen from a pot next to the till and placed a big "X" next to a black and white Tudor looking building. She pushed the map over to him and smiled. ‘Don't be late.'

‘I'll see what I'm doing.' Theo folded the map up and tucked it in the pocket of his cargo-shorts. He had no intention of going, but it seemed he had to at least pretend — just to shut her up, if nothing else.

Despite that, he left the reception area amused. He'd got more than he bargained for there. It was a shame about Kate. To be honest, if she'd been there and had asked him to go for chicken in a basket at an old peoples' pub, he probably would have jumped at the chance.

It only served to strengthen his resolve to come back here soon.