The Woman They Came For

"No," Ella said. "Of course not."

Harris waited, towel folded over his arm.

"It's Sophie and James's wedding. Have someone take over this section, please. Anna needs a break as well."

"I don't need a break," Anna began.

"You gave me your arm. You're shaking too."

Anna looked down at her hands as though she had not noticed.

Victoria recovered first.

"End the reception? For goodness' sake, Harris, she's wet. Nobody's died."

Ella tightened the towel across her chest.

"You can speak to him without raising your voice."

"I wasn't speaking to you."

"You've been speaking about me for ten minutes. It makes that difficult."

A man at the edge of the group cleared his throat. Victoria turned towards him, but he abruptly developed an interest in his cuff.

Harris asked another waiter to cordon off the broken glass. The practical movement of people around them seemed to anger Victoria more than argument had.

"Anna, isn't it?" she said. "I hope you realise how small the events business is. You should be careful about supporting stories you didn't see."

Anna went still.

Ella felt something change beneath her anger. Until then, she had been deciding how much of her own humiliation she could swallow without ruining the wedding. Anna's expression made that decision useless.

"Don't threaten her."

"That was advice."

"She was helping me out of the water. Leave her alone."

Ella reached into the pocket beneath her apron. Her phone was wet, but the screen lit when she wiped it against the towel.

Clara answered on the second ring.

"Tell me you've finished reading Richard's revisions."

"Not quite. Are you still at the hotel?"

"We were about to order coffee. What's happened?"

Ella looked at Anna, who was studying the first-aid box as though it required all her concentration.

"Could you come over? Bring the people who are there for tomorrow's meeting. Harris will have the small drawing room ready."

Clara's voice lost its lightness.

"Are you all right?"

"I've taken a fall. I'm being looked after. I'll explain when you get here."

"Fifteen minutes."

Ella ended the call.

"Your mother?" Victoria asked.

"No."

Harris gestured towards the east passage. Ella went with him before Victoria could find another question.

In the staff washroom, Anna helped her free the knot of the apron. Wet fabric had pulled it tight.

"I can't get it," Ella said, and for some absurd reason that was what nearly undid her.

"Wait. I've got little scissors. We can sacrifice an apron."

Anna snipped the tie. Ella laughed once, shakily.

Harris left dry clothes outside the door: a spare white shirt and navy trousers from the uniform cupboard. Anna fetched towels for her hair and found a pair of canvas shoes in the lost-property box.

They were half a size too large.

"Don't tell anyone," Anna said. "They're from a very expensive birthday party."

Ella laughed properly then, and had to sit down.

Anna cleaned the scrape on her wrist. Away from the guests, the sting became sharp enough to make Ella flinch.

"Sorry."

"You haven't anything to be sorry for."

"Force of habit."

Ella watched her smooth the edge of the dressing.

"Has she spoken to you like that before?"

"Not her. People like her."

Anna looked up, suddenly guarded.

"It's usually nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing when she mentioned your work."

"I need the shifts. That's all."

A knock spared her from saying more.

Harris stood outside, with Sophie beside him in her wedding dress. One side of Sophie's skirt was gathered in her fist, exposing muddy satin shoes.

"May I come in?" she asked.

Ella stood.

"Please don't stop your evening for me."

"I hear somebody pushed you into our fountain. I'm already stopped."

Sophie entered and looked at the dressing, then the pile of wet clothes.

"I'm so sorry."

"You weren't there."

"No. I was arguing with my grandmother about whether she needed her walking frame. I wish she'd won sooner."

Ella smiled despite herself.

"Anna helped me. Harris is dealing with it."

Sophie turned to Anna.

"Thank you."

There was no hesitation, no glance at Harris to establish whether Anna deserved the attention. Ella felt her shoulders loosen a little.

"Is Victoria still outside?" Sophie asked.

Harris nodded.

"Then I'd like to hear what she thinks she was doing."

They returned through the passage together. Ella's hair was damp against the back of the borrowed shirt. Her knee ached beneath the clean trousers, but she no longer felt cold.

Victoria was talking to James near the terrace steps. She broke off when she saw Sophie.

"There you are. This has become completely ridiculous."

"Did you push her?" Sophie asked.

"She was in my way."

"That's not an answer."

Victoria looked at James. He stayed beside his bride.

"I put my hand on her shoulder. She lost her balance."

"And when she fell?" Sophie asked.

"What?"

"Did you help her?"

Before Victoria answered, tyres sounded on the gravel beyond the gates.

Three cars came up the drive. Ella saw Clara in the first before it stopped. Two colleagues followed from the hotel, carrying the document cases they had evidently not bothered to leave behind.

Victoria straightened.

"Clara Whitmore," she said softly to Lucy. Then she stepped forward, a smile appearing with remarkable speed.

"Mrs. Whitmore. Victoria Ashford. We met at the hospital fundraiser. My father—"

"Excuse me."

Clara passed her.

She stopped in front of Ella and took the uninjured hand Ella offered.

"You said a fall."

"It was."

Clara looked at the canvas shoes, the damp hair and the white dressing.

"Into what?"

"The fountain."

"Ella."

The affection in her voice was almost worse than the laughter had been. Ella blinked and looked away.

"I'm all right now. Harris has a room for us."

"We can wait. Who did this?"

Victoria stood close enough to hear. She opened her mouth, then closed it when Ella met her gaze.

"I'll explain," Ella said.

At the edge of the terrace, Victoria took out her phone. Ella heard her ask for her father, then lower her voice.

"Do you know an Ella Bennett?"

There was a pause. The courtyard had quietened again, and the answer carried from the phone more clearly than Victoria intended.

"Victoria. What did you do?"