Page 31 of The House at Hope Corner
Flora wrinkled her nose. ‘But he’s a smarmy slime ball—’ She stopped suddenly. ‘And Grace is lovely. What on earth does she see in him? Apart from his money, of course… Sorry, that sounds rather uncharitable.’
‘And there you have it,’ replied Hannah. ‘That’s what most people think and one of the reasons she likes to keep her private life very much to herself. But Grace met Paul when he was just nineteen, and they’ve been together ever since… thirty-odd years all told.’ Hannah ran a finger across her lips. ‘Of course it’s never discussed, and I would never say this to her face, but I would say that Grace herself is the reason that Paul has been so successful…’
‘Ahhh,’ intoned Flora. ‘The “behind every successful man is a woman” theme… I’ve never been sure about that myself, but whatever the dynamics of their relationship it still doesn’t seem right for her to be treated that way. No wonder she likes her private life to stay just that.’ She paused to think. ‘I really liked her when I met her though, I should try to get to know her a bit better.’ She gave a nod as if to underline her thought process. ‘Now, what were we doing? I can’t even remember how we got talking about Grace.’
‘Her garden?’ prompted Hannah. ‘The flowers?’ She tutted gently. ‘And I thought it was me whose brain was scattered to the four winds…’
Flora held a finger in the air. ‘Ah yes…’ She grinned. ‘Right, I expect we had better clear up both ourselves and this mess, hadn’t we? Although Brodie looks to have done most of the hard work for us. And then I’ll go and get the seeds, shall I?’ And with another quick glance at the clock she crossed to the sink and began to run the hot water.
* * *
Not long after, they were both standing inside the greenhouse surveying the debris around them. Despite the spring-like feel to the day it was still far from being warm, but inside at least the glass magnified the heat from the sun and it felt warmer.
‘As you can see, it’s been a long while since I’ve been in here,’ said Hannah, pulling a face. ‘And it’s become something of a dumping ground.’
Flora looked around her. ‘I know.’ She gave a wry smile. ‘I should probably own up to already having had a bit of a nosey,’ she said. ‘But it won’t take much to tidy all this stuff. I’d have done it but I wasn’t sure if these things were still needed. Some of it looks like rubbish to me.’
Hannah nodded. ‘I’d say most of it is rubbish. It’s certainly been in here far longer than it needed to be. Let’s just clear off that work bench for starters and then we can put what we need on it for now and stack the rest under the benches on the other side. We can throw as we go.’
‘I’ve already spied several bags of compost and loads of pots,’ said Flora. ‘Buried under that lot. Shall we try to pull those out first?’
Hannah was staring where Flora pointed but Flora could tell she wasn’t really seeing it.
‘Do you suppose he’s doing okay, Flora?’ she said, suddenly.
Flora looked up as if scenting the air. ‘Yes,’ she replied firmly. ‘I think he’s doing fine.’ She checked her watch. All being well, Fraser would now be halfway through his operation. She lightly touched Hannah’s arm. ‘Come on, let’s not stop now, eh?’ They needed to keep busy.
With a visible effort Hannah pulled herself out of her reverie and met Flora’s eyes. ‘Won’t it be lovely for Fraser – to see all these beautiful flowers come the summertime.’
There was a sudden lump in Flora’s throat. ‘Do you know what his favourite is?’ she asked.
‘Love in a Mist,’ Hannah replied without thinking. ‘And cornflowers, blue like my eyes…’
Flora turned and picked up a pile of old sacks from the floor behind her. She couldn’t say another word.
With the two of them working systematically, it wasn’t long before order was restored and soon they had cleared a work bench and laid out an assortment of pots and trays. Importantly, they had found two more big bags of compost languishing in the corner, more than enough for what they would need, and Flora dragged these over to the bench. Fifteen more minutes saw the pots and trays filled with soil and finally Flora was able to pull the packets of seeds from her pocket and spread them out.
‘I’m a bit of a hoarder,’ she admitted, grinning. In front of her were at least twenty different varieties of flower seeds. ‘Once I’d started collecting them I found it hard to stop.’
‘You don’t say…’
Flora pulled a couple of packets forward. ‘So these, obviously, for Fraser…’ she said. ‘And what else, Hannah, what are your favourites?’
Hannah immediately snatched up a packet. ‘Oh, larkspur,’ she said. ‘Anything old-fashioned like these.’ She touched another. ‘Ranunculus, too.’
Flora smiled at the joy on her face. ‘Right, then, we’ll start with these.’ She looked down at the bench. ‘How about we do two of the big pots of each of these, and then see what we’ve got left over?’ She handed two of the packets to Hannah, who smiled at them dreamily.
‘I had ranunculus in my wedding bouquet,’ she said. ‘Goodness, that was a long time ago…’
‘How longhaveyou two been married?’ asked Flora.
Hannah’s head came up slightly. ‘It will be thirty-five years this year. In May. We got married on May Day.’
‘Well, then we need to make sure that this year isextraspecial, don’t we? Fraser will be up and running about like a spring chicken by then, so it will be perfect…’ She had expected to see Hannah’s face light up, but was surprised to see it fall.
‘I was rather hoping that perhaps you and Ned… but now I’m not at all sure that’s going to be possible. I can’t see how we could make all the arrangements in time, not now there’s this…’
Getting married on May Day? Flora wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about the idea. She knew there was no rush, but… She pursed her lips. What bothered her was the nagging doubt that if they didn’t get married soon, they wouldn’t get married at all. It would be quite some time before Fraser was able to take up his former role on the farm and they would continue to be as busy. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to take time away from the farm.
