As he drove, he mulled over what he needed to say, not only to Joel but to Bella, too. Naively, he’d assumed that because Joel lived such a long way away, it wouldn’t even occur to him to question Noah’s processes as executor. Both Joel and Marc had stressful careers, and all three brothers had workaholic tendencies, so Noah knew he’d relied on that to keep some of the decisions about his grandpa’s cottage to himself.
But now it had all come out and he had some serious crap to sort out. Not least with Bella, who doubtless was fuming, and probably feeling extremely scared and uncertain about her own future. And Monty’s.
As the traffic on the M4 slowed to a standstill, he chanced a glance at the dashboard monitor, in case any messages had arrived from Bella. She’d refused to answer his calls last night, and hadn’t looked at his messages, either. He wasn’t surprised. He needed to be face to face with her, and didn’t want to dissect it all over text, anyway. After about ten minutes of crawling along, the traffic cleared, and he put his foot down again. With a bit of luck, he’d be in Lower Brambleton before long.
By the time he’d drawn up to the cottage, his heart was hammering in his chest, not entirely due to having finished off the bucket of coffee he’d been sipping during the journey. He parked outside, and then swiftly walked up the garden path. He needed to see Joel, to sit down and explain himself, but he needed to see Bella more.
Pausing on the doorstep, he was in a quandary. He had his own set of house keys, of course, but it felt awfully intrusive, given this rather unpleasant situation, to barrel on through the door. He’d texted Bella when he’d left that morning to let her know he was on his way, and he knew Marieke would have passed on the message, too, but all the same, he couldn’t bring himself to walk in as if he owned the place. Even if hedid.
Noting with surprise that his hand was trembling slightly, but putting it down to the caffeine, he pushed the doorbell. He was pretty sure Bella should be around: this was her day off from Purrfect Paws, and she didn’t have a shift at the pub until five o’clock. As he waited, he pulled out his phone in case she’d texted him back. That might explain the silence. But there was no message from Bella.
Feeling more and more impatient, but fighting not to let it show, he pushed the doorbell again. He was about to pull out his keys and reconsider his decision not to let himself in when there was a call from the side gate.
‘Sorry,’ Bella said, ‘I was out in the garden with Monty.’
Noah’s knees went weak with relief when he saw her, but he tried to disguise the slight stumble as he moved off the doorstep towards her.
‘Why didn’t you use your keys?’ Bella’s brow furrowed as he moved closer. ‘At least I’d have known it was you.’
Noah shook his head. ‘I didn’t think of that. Sorry. I was trying not to intrude.’
Bella gave a weak laugh. ‘It’syourhouse, Noah. Well, yours and your brothers’.’
‘And it’syourhome.’ He was surprised at the gentle but vehement tone in his own voice, but he suddenly realised it was true. He wanted it to be Bella’s home for longer than just as a stopgap. He wanted it to be Bella’s home for as long as she needed it.
‘But it’s not, really, is it?’ She looked up at him, and he wanted so desperately to take her in his arms. ‘I mean, the truth is that it’ll stop being my home the instant you decide to sell it.’
He started to interrupt, but she waved him away. ‘Don’t try to tell me otherwise, Noah. You and I both agreed that this would be a temporary thing. You’ll sell the house, you and your brothers will get the money, and I’ll go on my merry way.’ Her eyes were clear, and quietly persuasive, apparently calm.
Noah’s confusion was clouding his brain, dulling his ability to respond coherently. He’d expected her to go on the attack the moment she saw him, to yell at him for not levelling with his brothers about the decisions he’d made. This calm sense of resignation seemed so at odds with the passionate way she’d taken him to task about Monty’s welfare weeks ago. Something didn’t feel right. He reached out a hand and was surprised when she allowed him to hold one of hers.
‘What’s wrong, Bella? Why aren’t you shouting blue murder at me? That’s the very least I deserve.’
Bella shook her head and Noah’s heart ached as her eyes filled with tears. ‘I didn’t want to call you when I knew you’d be driving.’
‘I wouldn’t have minded if it was to give me an earful.’ Noah gave her a rueful smile, but it faded when she didn’t smile back. ‘I mean, if I was in your shoes, I’d be furious about my brother turning up here and barging his way in. And I’d be even crosser with me for cocking things up so spectacularly. So why aren’t you angry?’
‘It doesn’t seem that important any more.’ Bella’s voice trembled. Noah was horrified to see tears spilling from her eyes. He raised the hand that wasn’t holding hers to gently brush them away, but Bella pushed it back and wiped them herself.
‘What’s wrong? Has Joel been back? Is that why you’re so upset?’ Instead of confusion, Noah’s anger started to bubble at the thought of his brother coming to the cottage to finish what he’d started yesterday. He was pretty sure Joel wouldn’t have threatened Bella, but he also knew what an arrogant bastard Joel could be when he thought someone was trying to get one over on him.
Bella shook her head. ‘No. As far as I know he’s still at the Star and Telescope.’
‘Then what is it? Why are you crying, Bella?’
Noah watched as Bella took a deep breath, swallowed hard and slowly raised her eyes to his. ‘I’m so sorry, Noah.’
‘Sorry for what?’
The pause seemed to go on forever. Noah risked taking Bella’s other hand in his, and he gave it a squeeze. ‘Tell me. It’s all right. Whatever it is, we can work it out.’
Bella shook her head, and, after another painful pause, she finally answered. ‘Noah, the reason I didn’t want to call you this morning was that Monty died in the night.’
49
Bella watched as Noah’s face registered shock, then drained of all colour. She gave him a moment for the news to sink in, waiting for a response. Eventually, he shook his head and then cleared his throat.
‘How did he, um, how did he go? Was it the road? Did some bastard hit him with a car?’
