Believing herself to be alone, she lifted them to her nose and sniffed them before laying them on the end of the bed. ‘Let me guess, they’re warm from the airing cupboard and scented with lavender water.’ Bella turned and saw Edyth curled on the window seat. ‘I didn’t see you there. Five years ago you would have jumped out and shouted boo to scare the living daylights out of me.’ ‘Ah, but now I’m all grown up.’ ‘And married,’ Bella reminded. ‘Do they smell of lavender water?’ ‘Of course.’ Bella straightened the sleeve of the long cotton and lace nightdress. ‘The smell of our clean nighties when we were little is one of my happiest memories. Bedtime, cocoa, cheese sandwiches and stories read by Mam or Dad.’ ‘More often by Mam than Dad. I must ask Mari exactly how much lavender water she sprinkles over the laundry so I can get ours to smell the same way.’ Bella sat in the nursing chair Harry had carried up from their mother’s study.
