RUTH AND DOMINICMayes met me at King’s Lynn station on my return to Norfolk just over a week later. Dominic was a tall man, all smiles and enthusiasm. He laughed when he lifted my suitcase.
“What have you got in here—rocks?”
“Books,” I said.
“Darling, she’s here for a year,” Ruth said. “This is hardly anything.”
I tried to smile. “I don’t need much.”
Dominic opened the back door of his car with a flourish, ushering me inside. “Anything you need while you’re staying with us, just ask, Laura. Edwin can’t wait to see you again. He’s made you about five welcome cards this morning already.” I glanced at the empty car seat next to me, wishing Edwin had come with them.
The villages were busier on a Saturday morning than they had been in the week, with people mowing the grass in theirfront gardens and walking their dogs in family groups. Driving through the last village, the one that Summerbourne sits on the far outskirts of, Dominic pointed out several landmarks.
“You can walk into the village in fifteen minutes or so,” he said. “Or we can find you a bike, I’m sure. Food in the pub’s okay. Basics in the shop. Bakery and butcher’s down there behind the post office. There’s a little pharmacy at the back of the doctor’s office.”
“That’s the school,” Ruth said, turning her head to keep it in her sight.
“The preschool’s in the hut at the end,” Dominic said. “Edwin will do a couple of mornings a week after Christmas.”
“He might,” Ruth said.
“To make some friends before he starts school,” Dominic said. “Oh look, there’s Helen. Hang on a sec.”
He swung into a parking bay alongside the village green, and a woman in a flowing maternity dress huffed her way over as Ruth wound down her window.
“Hot enough for you, Helen?” Dominic called out, leaning into Ruth’s shoulder.
The woman laughed. “I’ll say. How are you all getting on?”
“Very well, thanks,” Ruth said. “You?”
“Heartburn’s killing me—must be another curly-haired one, I reckon. I was bad enough with Ralph. But it’s all worth it, isn’t it?”
I couldn’t see Ruth’s face, but she made a “mm” sound.
“Your mother gave me a beautiful little outfit for the baby,” Helen continued. “Really kind of her. Do thank her again for me, won’t you?”
Ruth nodded. “Of course. Well. We’ll see you Wednesday.”
“Have a good weekend,” Dominic said.
The woman’s gaze flickered over me curiously, but Ruth waved her fingers, and we pulled back out onto the road.
“Helen Luckhurst,” Ruth told me, turning in her seat for a moment. “Her son, Ralph, does gymnastics with Edwin.”
Dominic slowed the car again, this time to allow a group of people to cross the road in front of us. They waved, calling out greetings.
“Everyone knows everyone around here, I’m afraid,” Dominic said, catching my eye in the rearview mirror. “You’ll get used to it.”
Ruth wound her window back up.
Edwin hurtled out of the front door when we pulled up at Summerbourne, grabbing me by the hand as I climbed out of the car.
“Come and see my den, Laura. Come and see my kittens. They’ve got names.”
“Notyourkittens, darling,” Ruth murmured.
Vera appeared in the doorway holding a glass vase brimming with yellow carnations. “Edwin, let Laura come in first. Why don’t you give her your cards, and Daddy will carry her case to the annex?”
