He looked at Hannah as he walked out of the house and gave an involuntary shiver. If she had got out a few seconds later she would have been killed. If she hadn’t done what she did so would this family.
But she was alive and so were they and he mustn’t think of what ifs. Would she like his house? She would like her Seth’s, he was sure, because it was bigger and more elaborate, though Seth had only seen it from the outside. He also had a couple of smaller houses for his farmhands and their families. Altogether he was a wealthy man and had done very well for himself. Any woman would be pleased to be married to him.
Hannah would be pleased because to her this house must be very small after living in a big one all her life. She was used to servants. She had never had to work. But here she was doing everything though, of course, that would be temporary. Hannah walked up the path and the children followed her.
“You need to carry Hannah over the threshold,” Lucille said.
Seth looked at Lucille. Carry Hannah over the threshold and the thought was quite a nice one though it had something to do with superstition, he knew from his mother. But that wouldn’t apply to him because he wasn’t superstitious, except that it should be Rachel and where was this farce going to end? He took Hannah’s hand, walked to the door with her and whispered.
“I’m sorry. I think we’re going to have to do it.”
“Yes. I’m no light weight.”
He swung her up and bounced her. “I carried you before so I can manage now. You can deal with my broken back later.”
“Not, of course you’re light?”
He smiled widely, went to put his foot over the threshold and Lucille ran after them. “Kiss her,” she said.
He looked at her with a deadpan expression. “Kiss her?”
She sighed deeply. “Is there no romance anywhere apart from books?”
“I’m romantic,” Seth said. He lowered his face and kissed Hannah on the cheek, lifted his leg and Lucille spoke again.
“On the lips.”
“Lucille!” her mother remonstrated.
“On the lips?” Seth looked into Hannah’s face. Just a few inches away and for some reason his heartbeat seemed to be travelling at top speed. Natural, of course, because she was, after all, a woman. He bent his head, placed his lips on hers and the feeling which shot down his spine was almost unbearable.
She held him tightly round the neck as a similar feeling hit her. She felt she wanted to stay in his arms forever. They were strong arms, safe arms, comfortable arms. They felt wonderful behind her back.
“We have to be convincing,” he muttered against her face.
His lips pressed against hers, she held him tighter and he shot across the threshold. Virtually dumping her on the ground he looked back at Lucille. “Is that alright?” he asked.
“It will do.” He didn’t like the kiss, Hannah thought, and she shouldn’t have responded so enthusiastically. After all, they were only acting. Outside Wilfred grinned at his wife.
“That is one marriage that is going to work,” he said, but Hannah did not hear him as she walked into the room. Beautifully furnished, flowers on the table, a welcome card on the dresser, clean and tidy. Small by the standards of the house in which she was brought up but large enough for a family. It was amazing but it wasn’t for her and she had to remember that.
Lucille walked in behind her to stand next to her while she looked round. “That’s tidier than when I last saw it,” she said. “It shows what a man in love will do for a woman.”
She picked up the card. “That’s a good touch. Shall I read it to you?”
“It’s private,” Monica said from the doorway.
“That’s alright. You can read it,” Hannah said, dying to know what he said. It was none of her business, of course, but he couldn’t say anything in front of the family.
“To my dear wife with love and affection, Seth. Not over sloppy but it will do. It’s got a heart at the end. That’s a good touch.” Lucille looked down at the table. “That’s a heart too.”
“Is it romantic enough?” Seth couldn’t resist asking.
“It’s okay. Do you think it’s romantic, Hannah?”
“I think it’s lovely.” But it’s not for me, Hannah thought.
“Did you make the card?” Lucille asked Seth.
“Yes.”
“Not bad. Where are we going to sleep?”
“Lucille!” her mother remonstrated once again.
“We’ll have to work it out,” Seth said. “But first let’s find some sturdy sticks for your father to use as crutches and then I’ll do something about his foot because it’s crooked and must be painful.”
“We’ll find them,” the boys chorused, making for the door.
“Thank you. Try the barn. There’s some there. I need to walk round the outside of the house again to check there are no cracks I missed. Is that alright with you ladies?”
“I’m hungry,” Lucille said.
“Do we have much food here?” Hannah asked Seth.
“I have plenty of food. I grow most of it. Potatoes are in the larder and there’s fruit in the back garden. When we’ve got Wilfred in I’ll just go and catch us a fish. I can do the meal.”
“No. I’ll do it. You just get the fish.”
“There are vegetables there too. Corn on the cob, carrots and peas.”
Seth went and Hannah ran after him. “How do you cook corn on the cob?” she asked.
“About twenty minutes in boiling water on the cooker.”
“How do you work the cooker?”
He grinned. “It’s a good thing Seth has a cook. I’ll do the meal when I get back.”
“No. I have to do it. I want to do it. Just come and show me how to work the cooker. I have to be convincing or you’ll never hear the end of it from your friends.”
She paused. “Except that won’t matter because it won’t be me here.”
“I’ll show you how to work the cooker,” he said. He followed her back into the house, they went into the kitchen and Wilfred swung up the path using the two sticks Lucas and Aaron had found for him. He stretched on the sofa and looked pensively at his foot which stuck out sideways, in the way Esmé’s had earlier.
“I don’t think that’s very healthy,” he said.
“I’ll do it in a few minutes,” Seth said, walking to the doorway of the kitchen. “Just relax and don’t put any weight on it.” He went back to Hannah. “I’ll light the fire. I’ve got wood in it already. Just give it a few minutes to heat the oven then put your pots on it.”
“Thank you.”
Hannah started to lift vegetables onto the table and Lucille walked in. Hannah looked at the food a bit helplessly. Did you cut them up? Did you put them all in the same pot? Did they need any particular preparation? She really was a dunce and should have put in a bit of practise at home.
“You don’t know how to cook, do you?” Lucille said.
Nothing got past this child, Hannah thought, and would it get around the community? But she hadn’t pretended with Seth so she wouldn’t with anyone else, that was, apart from the other Seth. “I don’t,” she said.
“How did you eat then?”
“We had a chef. Can you cook?”
“A bit. Take the green leaves off the corn and put the corn cob in a big pot.” She giggled. “You can’t eat the cobs, just the corn, but you cook the whole cob. Wash the vegetables and throw them in too. You could use that big pot over there so you don’t have so much washing up afterwards.” Lucille pointed. “You could even put the potatoes in. Take the peas out of their pods and then put in the carrots.”
She might have left the peas in their pods, Hannah thought, though she knew you didn’t eat them. “Should I take the skins off the potatoes?” she asked.
“It depends on whether you want to impress anyone.” Lucille giggled. “Do you want to impress Seth?”
“No. He knows I can’t cook.”
“Nor can he and I bet
he won’t be able to catch a fish either. My mother catches ours.”
“You’re invaluable,” Hannah said. “Thank you.”
Lucille walked into the larder. “I could do a pudding if you want. Seth has that new Bird’s custard powder and I’ve made that before. All you need to make custard with it is add sugar and milk. He’s got some milk in here.”
“Thank you.”
Hannah started to run water over the vegetables before putting them in the huge pot. She looked at the potatoes and they had all been scrubbed. Throwing a pile into the pot she peeled off the greenery from the corn and put the cobs in as well. This was easy and this was fun, she thought, and her Seth would be impressed. Her mother would be impressed.
Her mother and she shouldn’t have left without telling them where she was going. But if she had and if they heard of the earthquake they would be worried. She filled the pot with water from a large jug which stood on the table and Lucille walked over with a small container which had the word Birds written on it.
“Where’s the sugar?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I’ll look in the larder.” Hannah fetched it, began to take peas from their pods and drop them in the pot.
“I’ll use that jug to mix it and then we have to put it on the stove.”
“We can do that,” Hannah said. “Do you cook at home?”
“No, not often, but I notice what mama does. Didn’t your mother teach you how to cook?”
“My mother doesn’t need to cook. She has people to do it for her.”
“Are you rich?”
“No, but my parents are quite well off.“
“Why did you come here then?”
“Because it sounded an interesting place and Seth sounded a nice man, which he is.”
“He’s a good catch,” Lucille said. A good catch? Hannah smiled. “You’ll be alright with him. If he wasn’t so old I’d like him but I’ll find someone like him when I’m older. Shall we have fruit with our custard? Seth has strawberries in his garden and some other fruit also. We have too but I guess they’ve gone now after the earthquake.” Lucille’s expression was sad as she started to mix the custard. “We haven’t got a house anymore.”
“We’ll help you build another one,” Hannah said without thinking. She frowned in concentration as she recalled. Not we, as in this Seth, but surely the other one would be willing to help. “Only we won’t build it with adobe like all the other houses. We’ll use wood. Maybe your father will let you help design it.”
“I’ll ask him.” Lucille pushed the mixed custard powder and sugar over to Hannah. “Just add milk and stir it, then warm it in a smaller pot on the stove until it thickens. Keep stirring so it doesn’t burn. It tells you what to do on the side.”
She went through to the other room and Hannah carefully mixed the custard per the instructions. She poured it into a bowl after she finished and made her way outside to look for the strawberries. It was so sad for all those affected by the earthquake and it didn’t seem to be over now because every now and again the earth would shake and sometimes quite violently. She filled a bowl with fruit, went back in and Seth walked into the kitchen.
“I’m about to straighten Wilfred’s leg,” he said. “Do you want to watch?”
“How do you know how to do that?” Hannah asked. “I thought only a doctor could.”
“I’ve done it a couple of times with the animals. I’m sorry to have left you with the cooking.”
“Lucille guessed I can’t cook. She’s mixed some custard.”
“She’s a nice little girl. Come on then and I’ll give you a lesson in treating broken legs.”
“Will it hurt him?” Hannah asked.
“No, I don’t think so if I do it right. The problem is a human foot is a bit different to an animal’s one.”
“Does he think you’re proficient at what you’re doing?”
“Probably not.”
Seth walked through and stood at the end of the sofa where Wilfred’s foot was. He shut his eyes for a few moments as he pictured how the doctor did it to Esmé then leaned down. Before anyone realised he was going to do it he jerked the foot sideways and it straightened.
“Did that hurt?” he asked.
“It’s stopped hurting,” Wilfred replied. “It was a bit uncomfortable before. I have straightened an animal’s foot but not a human one.” He stroked one of the dogs which were lying on the floor beside him. “Where did you learn to do it?”
“Esmé broke her leg and I saw the doc doing what I did. We need him to see it but I’ve brought in some sticks to splint it. You mustn’t put any weight on it because that will make it go crooked again. If we can get it as straight as possible and keep it that way it should heal. The horses take a few weeks before they can walk properly.”
“You’re a clever man,” Monica said.
“I’ve learnt as I’ve gone along.”
“Our food will be ready soon,” Hannah said. “I’ll put it on plates and bring it through.”
“I need to set up a bed down here,” Seth said. “I’ll put it in the other room and you and Wilfred can sleep there, Monica. The boys could go in one of the rooms upstairs and Lucille in the other one. I’ve got two double mattresses on the double bed so we’ll use one of them. We could bring down the bed frame and the boys sleep on the mattress on the floor.”
“We can manage the floor,” Wilfred said.
“Where will you sleep?” Monica asked.
“In the barn. Maybe Hannah could go in with Lucille.”
“You need to be together.”
“I can sleep in the barn,” Hannah said without thinking. She turned away at the blush which rose as she realised what she had said.
“Are you sure?” Seth asked, looking at her a bit intensely.
“Yes.”
She had said it so she couldn’t back out, she thought, and life was becoming more than complicated. She went into the kitchen and Seth followed her to lift the big pot off the stove.
“I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
He smiled and started to pour the water away before lifting the vegetables out to put on the plates she had set out. “I forgot the fish,” he said.
She giggled and felt a bit better. They were both a couple of novices where a lot of things were concerned but he was clever overall. Building his house, straightening a broken leg, rescuing people, running a farm. The lady who got him would be well cared for, she felt sure.
“Do you have cheese?” she asked.
“Yes. I’ve got a round in the cellar where it’s cool. My mum taught me how to make cheese and I sell it. I do that locally and also in Independence and a few other places.”
“Go and cut some off. I can squash the potato and the cheese will melt on top of it.”
“I’ll be back in a minute.”
And it worked, Hannah was relieved to find as she squashed the potato with a fork and they cut thin slices of cheese to cover it. She put food carefully round the plates, piling them in little mounds with the corn on its cob at the middle and the vegetables and potato round it.
“That looks good,” Seth said, picking up two plates and making for the kitchen door.
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“Seth will be impressed.”
Seth? She didn’t want to think about him. They carried the plates through, sat on the floor with theirs next to the children who had done the same and everyone looked at Seth.
He glanced at Hannah and she put her hands together. Pray. They expected him to pray and, of course, he was the host. He took her hand on one side and Aaron’s on the other and everyone joined hands. “We thank You, Father, for this food and for looking after us today. Please bless and comfort all those who have had a difficult couple of days. In Your Name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
“Amen,” everyone chorused and started to eat.
“This is delicious,” Monica said. “You’re a good cook, Hannah.”
Hannah smiled. “No
t really. I just threw in all the ingredients and Lucille did the sweet which you’re all going to love.”
“I made custard,” Lucille said. She looked at Hannah. “Papa says we can help design a new house. Where will we live until it’s built, papa?”
“Here,” Seth said. “There’s plenty of room.”
Wilfred shook his head. “No. We cannot impose on you.”
“It’s not an imposition.”
“Newlyweds need their privacy,” Monica said.
“When we need privacy we’ll go in the barn,” Seth said.
“We could go in the barn.”
“Let’s not worry about things at the moment,” Hannah said. “I’m sure everyone in the community will help one another to rebuild and you, Wilfred, can do the designing along with the children. I wouldn’t mind building a house. I’ve never done that before though I used to go on building sites with my father sometimes.”
“He’s a builder?” Wilfred asked.
“He doesn’t do the building himself nowadays but he owns a building company. I wish he was here because I know he’d give advice on building and help everyone.”
“We can build too,” Lucas said. “Can we start drawing plans tonight, papa?”
“We could if Seth has paper.”
“I do,” Seth said and the conversation flowed freely while they ate. Onto local affairs, world affairs, what they were doing on their farms. Onto the best way to build a house. Onto Hannah’s journey, some of which she described graphically. Many topics were covered but the earthquake was not mentioned or anything that had happened. Seth had not even told Wilfred and Monica about the deaths in Lone Pine yet. Afterwards the children sat with Wilfred while the adults cleared.
“It’s been a frightening day for them,” Monica said to Hannah while they washed up the dishes. She shuddered visibly. “We could so easily have perished in that house. We would have if you and Seth hadn’t come along. I was convinced we would because we had been trapped for hours before you arrived. Every now and again it keeps coming over me and makes me shudder. You were so brave to come in after us and you were nearly killed because you got out last.”
Lone Pine Bride (The Brides Of Lone Pine Book 1) Page 11
