I detected a certain strain in her voice – would it be quite so amazing for her as for her daughter?
‘Do you like horses, too?’ I asked.
‘Not really,’ she replied. ‘I like gardening. I’ll probably have to build some raised beds out there to get anything to grow…’She trailed off, then continued brightly. ‘We’ll see – all an adventure, I expect! Right, well, that looks more welcoming.’ We surveyed the bed which did, indeed, look cosy now with its fat duvet and two plump pillows. ‘Angela’s already done a dust round, so I think I’ll go and cut some greenery for a little display on the dresser. Thank you for your help, Laura.’
‘My pleasure.’
She swept off down the stairs as I went back to my room. I picked up my bags and pushed open the door. Immediately, I could see why Marilise’s sister had considered this the best room in the house, although it was more a suite than a room, with two distinct sections. On one side, making full use of a deep bay window, was a sitting area, with inviting armchairs, a coffee table and two low bookcases. On the other side stood the bed, a high four-poster with an open top and elegant drapes and opposite that was a fireplace with a marble surround and wide mantelpiece upon which stood an ornate clock and two pretty vases, both stuffed with tall evergreen branches. I supposed that this thoughtful touch had been provided by Astrid. The colour scheme was of the palest duck egg blue and ivory and, after my busy morning, had an immediately restful effect that was very welcome, even if I couldn’t help thinking back to the hospital wards I had worked on for so many years, and how they could benefit from even a fraction of the money it must have taken to decorate this gorgeous room. I quickly unpacked my clothes into the large wardrobe and set out my toiletries on the glass-topped dresser, wishing I had decanted them into elegant bottles, as the plastic packaging from a local pharmacy seemed to be letting the side down. Opening a door in the corner of the room, I found a bathroom, not as large as the one downstairs, but still three times the size of mine in the house I had shared with Paulo. We hadn’t been short of money, or wanted for anything, but our lifestyle – if you could call it that – was distinctly modest, fundedas it was by the salaries of a nurse and an electrician. But we had been so content with our cosy home, our ‘staycation’ holidays and our ancient car that felt like it only kept going out of good will. Our bathroom had been on the elderly side but perfectly fit for purpose. The fittings in this one were clearly modern, and pristine, but were in keeping with the age and style of the house, including a free-standing rolltop bath with high ends that curved gently down towards the middle. There was a separate shower and two sinks, side by side, as well as floor-to-ceiling fitted wooden cupboards. Suffice to say, these were not my normal nurse’s quarters, and it was as if I had wandered into some sort of Cinderella story, or period drama, as I went back into the bedroom and gazed out of the windows. They overlooked the front of the house and allowed me to appreciate the perfect symmetry of the front gardens, although the sight of the woods to one side made me shudder as I remembered my inelegant crawl to ‘rescue’ Steve. A knock at the door brought me back to the present.
‘Come in!’
‘Hello again,’ said Nick. ‘Angela, who seems to think that my job is so pointless that I can be sent on errands at any given moment, asked me to let you know that lunch will be ready in about fifteen minutes.’
‘Oh, thank you. Sorry you were disturbed – I’ll learn the household routines quickly.’
He shrugged.
‘She’s got a point. She and Greg manage this entire house, Astrid has the greenest fingers this side of Kermit the frog, you’re a nurse… Designing apps does feel kind of pointless next to all that talent and dedication, but then there are upsides to being totally dispensable. Beyond errands, no one asks much of you.’
Yet another side to this complicated man: self-deprecating to an extreme that made me a little uncomfortable.
‘What sort of apps do you design?’ I asked, hoping to find something there to bolster him.
‘Anything I’m asked to,’ he replied with another shrug. ‘The current one is for an online pet food shop; the one before that was a wheel spin game for a soft drinks company so you can win free stuff when you use their app rather than going to the website.’
‘I see,’ I said, trying not to look as though I agreed that his job might seem, well, unfulfilling, if not exactly pointless. ‘Did you always want to do it?’
He snorted with laughter, and I felt embarrassed. I was like a maiden aunt asking polite questions about which I knew nothing.
‘Funnily enough, I didn’t dream of it as a child, but then I wasn’t allowed to dream of anything other than taking over this place and managing the family properties. As soon as my father died, I handed all that over to other people and led an even more pointless existence until I realised that I was reasonably good at this and that people would hire me. What do you think, that I should start having ambitions to be a firefighter, or an astronaut?’
His sarcastic tone riled me; I was only trying to be polite, after all, and Ididhave an important job to do, an important job that this conversation was keeping me from.
‘Why don’t you join the Foreign Legion?’ I suggested, rather more tartly than I had meant to. ‘You’d look rather good riding into the distance on a camel.’
And before he could reply, I slipped past him and hurried downstairs to find Marilise.
FIVE
A few minutes later, I helped Marilise into the dining room, another grand affair with a large mahogany table, surrounded by at least fourteen chairs, a massive sideboard and the tall sash windows flanked by floor-length curtains. I seated Marilise at the end of the table, then, noticing that she looked a little unwell, discreetly took her pulse as the rest of the family started arriving.
‘Please have a glass of water,’ I said, pouring one. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘I have been better,’ she admitted, sipping the water. ‘But I probably need to eat and drink.’
‘Is the doctor coming this afternoon?’ I asked quietly.
‘Yes, she is, so let me enjoy my lunch before she tells me something else I have to be careful of.’
I smiled.
‘From your notes, I think it’s only extreme sports and excessive alcohol that you have been warned against so far, so you’re not doing too badly.’
‘I suppose not,’ she said. ‘But I am not fond of being told not to do anything, even things I dislike.’
‘Sounds familiar,’ said a laughing voice behind me, and I turned to see Nick. ‘Maybe if no one had insisted I had to playlord of the manor, I’d be striding around the countryside right now, a hunting rifle in one hand and a list of tenants in the other.’
Marilise chuckled, but I could barely summon up a polite smile. These arrogant, privileged rich boys were right up my sister’s street, but I had no interest in them at all, and I was surprised that Araminta had described Nick in such glowing terms. I turned back to Marilise.
