Page 27 of The Farmer Has a Wife

“Please don’t call her gran,” groaned Eleanor.

“What should I call her then?” asked Danni as they walked up the stairs to the Retirement Home’s door. “Izzy? Iz? Bel?”

“Your Ladyship will be just fine,” said Eleanor grimly as she opened the door for Danni to go through.

The home had private dining rooms to allow their inhabitants to entertain both family and friends, and they were shown intoa small but tastefully decorated room with a table set for three. Isabella was already waiting, and she stood as they arrived.

“My dear,” she greeted Eleanor warmly, kissing her cheek, before turning to Danni. “I’m not at all sure we’re on kissing terms yet, my young farmer,” she said.

Danni grinned. “Probably not, to be honest, Your Ladyship. There’s nothing wrong with a good old-fashioned handshake, though.”

“My thoughts precisely,” Isabella said, grasping Danni’s hand and shaking it. “And less of the Ladyship business. Isabella will be just fine.”

To Eleanor’s horror, Danni turned and stuck her tongue out in Eleanor’s direction, a gesture that Isabella missed as she seated herself again.

“I do like a nice, firm handshake,” Isabella was saying.

Danni grinned at her. “You don’t have to worry about any wet fish handshakes from me. I can’t bear them.”

“Nor can I,” said Isabella. “The Duke of Dawley used to have a handshake that was like gripping a flaccid sea cucumber. Most unpleasant.”

Eleanor sank into her own chair, a sinking feeling settling into her stomach as she realized what was happening. Her wife and her grandmother were getting along far too well.

And it set precedent for dinner, which was a disaster. Not because of Danni, but because of just how well Danni did. Eleanor had been braced for crude jokes or inappropriate comments, or Danni’s trademark sarcasm. Instead, Danni was effortlessly charming. She listened intently to Isabella’s stories, asked intelligent questions, even made Isabella laugh.

Eleanor wasn’t at all sure what to do about that.

Except, perhaps, to watch in growing fascination as she began to realize that Danni was a truly entertaining and well-mannered young woman. Danni’s smile lit the room up, just being around her was a pleasure, and Eleanor began to feel a tingle of something in her stomach, a tingle that had something, somehow, to do with Danni.

“What about Eleanor’s parents?” Danni said, as dessert was cleared away.

Eleanor cleared her throat, ready to jump in and rescue the situation. But to her astonishment, Isabella actually answered.

“You would have liked them, I think,” she said. “Jonathan was a sweet boy, and Mirabelle was the perfect match for him. They were… unpretentious, I think the word is, and very much in love. Perhaps too much, since they sometimes seemed to forget that there was anyone else in the room with them.”

“Awkward,” Danni said.

Isabella smiled. “Occasionally, yes.” She folded her napkin neatly to one side. “My husband and my son never got along,” she added matter-of-factly. “Edward thought the boy was too soft, too much of a dreamer. You know how men can be with sons.”

Eleanor blinked. “Grandmama…”

“He grew up to be a kind man, though,” Isabella continued. “Too kind, perhaps. He always wanted to fix things, but never quite had the spine to stand up for himself.” She paused and turned to look at Eleanor. “You have his smile, you know.”

Eleanor’s breath got caught in her chest. She hadn’t known. She had never, ever heard her grandmother talk about her father like that. But then, she’d never asked. Not really.

Sensing a shift in the air, Danni pushed her chair back and excused herself to find a bathroom, and Eleanor had to take a sip of water before she could speak.

“You’ve never told me any of that before,” she said quietly.

Isabella picked up her wineglass before she answered. “You needed a mother figure, not a friend. You had grief of your own and I wasn’t about to burden you with mine to carry alongside it.”

“And now?” asked Eleanor. “What’s changed?”

“You’re an adult,” Isabella said simply. “A married woman. And I happen to think that Danni is good for you.”

Eleanor stiffened. “This isn’t real.”

Isabella smiled knowingly and Danni returned, putting anythoughts of further private conversation to bed.

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