‘What territory?’ Bella remembered that Kate had said something similar once about Oliver’s background – excusing him when he’d contributed to a bad day by telling her off in public – but she was curious to hear Connor’s take on the man. Oddly, she was suddenly aware of a very intense curiosity about anything to do with Oliver Dawson.
‘Being a pillar of society. Number one on the rich list. Following in the footsteps of Sir David Dawson can’t have been an easy road. Especially when he didn’t go into the family business.’
‘Which was?’
Connor pulled the cork from the bottle. ‘Something that made a serious amount of money. Too many companies to list, probably. Commercial stuff, anyway. I should think it was quite a rebellion to take up medicine.’
‘He died a while ago, didn’t he?’ Kate put in. ‘Sir David? I seem to remember that there was some big mystery about it all. Lady Dawson vanished from the social scene and there was a rumour there was more to it than grief.’
‘Lady Dorothy.’ Bella couldn’t help the correction.
Kate raised her eyebrows. ‘How do you know her name?’
‘Must have heard it mentioned somewhere and remembered,’ Bella said vaguely. ‘Information is power and all that, you know.’
‘Mmm.’ Kate was trying not to smile. ‘Talking about information… Shall we tell her, Connor?’
‘Might be a good idea,’ he said. ‘Seeing as she’s going to be chief bridesmaid.’
‘Theonlybridesmaid,’ Kate shot back. ‘This is going to be a quiet affair, remember?’
‘Oh, my God…’ Bella ran to hug her aunt. ‘You’ve set a date? For the wedding?’
Kate hugged her back, nodding happily. ‘In a month’s time. I didn’t want to risk you deciding to shoot off overseas early or something.’
‘Not much chance of that, the way my saving is going.’ But Bella shook off the depressing thought. ‘This is so cool. Where is it going to be?’
‘We’re thinking Piha beach.’
‘A beach wedding? Excellent. And are you having a honeymoon?’
‘For a few days maybe. At a beach where it’s a bit safer to swim. Rarotonga or Samoa. Would you be able to cat-sit if we were away?’
‘No worries. I’d love to. Ooh… what are you going to wear? Hey… what amIgoing to wear?’
‘I’m out of here,’ Connor groaned. ‘I’ll take my wine and go and sit in the garden while you two do the girly thing.’ He crossed the kitchen to hand Kate a glass of wine and plant a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Call me when dinner’s ready?’
Bella watched him go as she took a sip of her own wine. The countdown had really begun. No way could she still be living in this house when these guys came back from their honeymoon.
She’d have to find a flat to share and that meant she’d have to start paying rent. The delicious aroma coming from the pasta sauce Kate was currently creating reminded her that she would have to spend more on food than she was allowed to contribute here as well. If the money in her savings account was going up so slowly now, how much worse would it be when she had to factor in additional living costs? The dreams of going overseas to get her wanderlust out of her system before she settled down to get married and have babies was starting to look like a rather big ask.
Maybe she could get some extra shifts at work. Bella made a mental note to ask Sally about it tomorrow.
* * *
‘I’m sorry, Bella, as much as I’d like to cure my staffing problems this way, there are rules about how many hours you can do on the trot. Double shifts aren’t allowed.’
‘Okay. It was worth a try.’
Sally sighed. ‘I can’t even use you on the ward this morning, so I’ll have to get a temp in.’
‘What?’ Bella bit her lip. ‘Have I done something wrong? Was it my line-dancing class?’ Or had Oliver dobbed her in about sneaking the kitten into the ward last night?
No. As much as she knew he might have liked to do the right thing about breaking such rules, Bella had complete confidence that a promise had been made that would be kept. What had gone on in that room would stay in that room. Maybe that went with all the privileged background stuff too. Bella was quite sure that Oliver Dawson was a man of his word.
Sally laughed. ‘Not at all. No… Lady Dorothy apparently pulled some strings and declared that she doesn’t want another nurse in her room. You’re it.’
‘Can she do that?’
