Bulbury Knap by Sheila Spencer-Smith

days had passed since she had asked Michael to send the e-mail and by yesterday evening no reply had come. Maybe hers hadn’t arrived in New Zealand. She could even have messed up the email address she’d given Michael. She had only glanced at it, after all, when Sir Edwin had given her the print-out to read. Anyone could have got it wrong.
    Lady Hewson, a smile brightening her features, looked up from her embroidery as Kathryn carried in the tray to the den and placed it on the low table nearby. ‘Such excellent news, dear. Jane is coming home to see us.’
    Kathryn paused with the coffee pot in one hand, hope rising so swiftly she gasped. ‘She is?’
    â€˜Andrew’s had a long talk with her on the phone,’ Lady Hewson said happily. ‘We’re so pleased.’
    Carefully Kathryn poured Lady Hewson’s coffee and handed her the cup and saucer. ‘Of course you are, Lady Hewson,’ she said as warmly as she could manage. So the risk she had taken in contacting Jane had misfired with a vengeance. Why hadn’t she realised that Jane would be sure to contact Andrew on receiving her e-mail? No prizes for guessing what he had said to her.
    â€˜When will she be coming?’ she asked.
    â€˜As soon as she can make the arrangements,’ Lady Hewson said. ‘Jane is so good at getting on with things once she has made up her mind.’
    â€˜Then I must sort out her room,’ Kathryn said.
    Lady Hewson’s face clouded. ‘Of course, dear. I’d forgotten what the rooms are like now …’ Her voice faded away.
    Kathryn hurried up to the first landing, glad to have something practical to occupy her mind and stop her dwelling on the outcome of Jane’s visit. She pushed open the bedroom door and looked at it in dismay. They had cleared the debris left after the thugs had done their worst and now it was empty apart from a single bed and a wardrobe.
    She must do something at once … raid one of the other bedrooms whose curtains had not been touched, sort some bedding out from the linen cupboard and find a suitable chest of drawers from somewhere. If Jane took after either of her parents she would be the kind of person who liked pretty things. Later, she would pick some of the pink and white tulips from the front border and find something suitable to arrange them in.
    *          *          *
    Kathryn met Sir Edwin in the kitchen passage. Michael was with him. ‘I’ve just heard that your daughter is coming home, Sir Edwin,’ she said.
    His eyes gleamed. ‘So she is, my dear. And leaving my son-in-law to cope with the business on his own.’
    She could see that Michael was already aware of this by the way he looked at her quizzically above his employer’s head. Sir Edwin would have told him, of course. ‘I need to have a word or two with Kathryn,’ he said.
    â€˜A brief e-mail came this morning, short and to the point,’ Michael said as he followed Kathryn into the kitchen and stood leaning against the closed door.
    She could hardly bear to look at him for the rush of emotion that filled her throat. This was the man upon whom she had come to rely … the man who filled her thoughts day and night. Jane’s ultimate decision about the future of Bulbury Knap would affect him deeply because he loved the garden and grounds here as if they were his own.
    â€˜What did she say?’ she managed to get out.
    â€˜Arriving Bulbury Knap on Friday.’
    â€˜That’s all?’
    â€˜Enough, wouldn’t you say?’
    She nodded. ‘You know that she’s been on the phone to Andrew?’
    â€˜That was only to be expected.’
    She swallowed nervously. She hadn’t thought of that in her haste to put Jane in the picture. How Michael must take her for a fool.
    She caught his eye and smiled nervously. Just for a second his lips twitched in