"Mom. Master."
Laurence's voice came from the kitchen. "I made you pasta. The food is ready."
Jane and Lilian stopped grilling Noelle. Their intention was to put a little pressure on Noelle, so she could face her feelings and be with Laurence.
Noelle and Laurence were made for each other. Plus, they knew each other inside out since they had been in each other's lives since childhood.
Laurence could not make the first move, afraid that something might happen to him, which would end up hurting Noelle.
On the other hand, Noelle was held back by her own insecurities that came with her upbringing.
The pair could use a little push, or it would be years before they could be honest about their feelings.
Society was less cruel to men who were still single in their thirties, but Noelle's biological clock was ticking.
Noelle was like a daughter to Jane and Lilian. The ladies wanted to shield Noelle from all the hurt.
They could not sit by and watch Laurence drag his feet. For this visit, even Ben told Jane to urge Laurence to settle down, since he was not getting any younger.
"Coming."
Lilian got up and asked, "Are you joining us, Noelle?”
The question snapped Noelle out of her thoughts, and she replied, "I'm not hungry. Please enjoy the food with Mom.”
Noelle and Laurence were not ones to eat late at night unless Laurence had a business dinner.
For one, they had to watch their weight, and for another, it was rather disruptive to go to bed bloated from eating.
They skipped supper entirely.
"Alright. We'll enjoy the pasta. Get some rest if you're tired. The Longbottoms are going to steer clear of us for now after what happened," Jane said.
However, Noelle said with assurance, "They will be here in the wee hours. They are counting on us to let our guard down because of today's incident and raid us when we least expect it."
Having gone up against the Longbottoms time and again, Noelle knew them like the back of her hand.
As the saying went, knowing the enemy was half the battle.
Taken aback, Jane remarked, "They are coming again?"
It was in the dead of the night.
Nevertheless, the Longbottoms were unlikely to ditch their plan after mapping out the operation ahead of time.
"We will finish the food soon and get some rest. Noelle, you should get some shut- eye. Don't worry about us."
Jane urged Noelle to rest.
Noelle said, “It's alright. I'll rest later. Mr. Laurence is probably going to skip going to the office tomorrow since you're here. He needs to spend some time with you and attend the auction in Satbury."
Jane and Lilian's visit was supposed to attend an auction.
Laurence brought out two plates of pasta.
Jane and Lilian requested food with the shortest cooking time.
Pasta was the quickest choice, so Laurence did just that.
"Dig in. Noelle and I don't usually eat late at night."
After setting the plates down on the table, Laurence asked with a smile, "Mom, what were you talking to Noelle about? Noelle seems a little off."
Laurence could pick up the state of Noelle with just one look.
"Nothing. Just a little catch-up and a brief on the Longbottoms."
The pair would not let Laurence know that they had given Noelle a harsh dose of reality.
"Noelle said that the Longbottoms were bound to raid us late at night. Since they can't get rid of you, they figured they should just steal from you.”
Lilian took a seat and took a bite before chowing down the rest of her meal.
"Go and get some rest with Noelle. We'll take a short break after finishing our food. We can get up once the alarms sound.
"Make sure to stock up on itching powder."
Laurence replied, "The itching agent won't do any good. You've already gone through a few rounds this evening."