Page 87 of A Recipe for Love
Bella shook her head. They could try their own creations warm at the end of the day and she wanted to show that the recipe was versatile enough to be made ahead.
‘It’s going very well. Even Veronica and Darcy are getting along.’
Bella had to admit that she’d been slightly avoiding checking on the Lady Lowbridges. ‘Sorry. I sort of left them with you, didn’t I?’
‘That’s all right. I know how to handle them. But they were fine. I mean Darcy was doing all the work but they weren’t shouting at each other so I think it’s going wonderfully.’
‘I wondered about splitting them up, but everyone else seemed to pair up naturally.’
‘I wondered if you’d put the vicar with one of them.’
Bella had wondered about that too. ‘I didn’t think she’d thank me for being separated from sexy Pavel.’
Flinty grinned. ‘You noticed that as well. She’s sweet on him, isn’t she?’
‘Looks like it.’
‘He hasn’t got a clue, has he?’
‘Not the slightest,’ Bella agreed.
‘Poor lass.’ Flinty found the box of pinwheels in the fridge and set about laying them out on the plate. ‘Unrequited love can be terrible,’ she added.
Bella had saved what she knew would be everyone’s favourite activity of the day for the next session. The idea was that they’d do something really fun before lunch so everyone would be hyped up and enthusiastic about coming back after the break. It was time for chocolate cake.
As she’d anticipated, mixing together the rich chocolate batter seemed to be balm for every soul in the room. She’d toyed with the idea of using a basic sponge mix, but decided in the end to go for something a little more elevated, so this batter included cocoa but also melted chocolate and generous spoons full of soured cream which gave an unctuous moisture to the finished cake and cut through the richness enough to allow you to go back for a second slice. The final little fancy addition to the mix was to separate the eggs, incorporate the yolks first and then whip up the whites before folding in the soft fluffy clouds to create the perfect balance of richness and lightness in the final cake.
Bella loved this recipe. She’d created this final version herself as an amalgam of different recipes she’d found over the years. It was, in her eyes, the ultimate chocolate cake, and sharing it with her little group was actually making her feel quite emotional. It took her back to cooking with her grandma and seeing her nan’s pride when Bella completed a task. She realised now that pride had come not only from Bella’s achievement, but from the joy of sharing her own knowledge and love of food with someone eager to learn.
By lunchtime, the whole group were, as Bella had planned, having fun and enthusing loudly about their achievements. Well, Veronica wasn’t exactly enthusing, but her lips were 10 per cent less pursed than the norm and she hadn’t retreated to take her lunch on a tray somewhere far away from the chatter and boisterousness of the dining room. Bella thought she could probably allow herself to relax just a little bit.
Bella was wrong.
The afternoon session started well. The group had got along well over the lunch break and even Veronica had been lured into polite small talk with Pavel, who seemed to be able to charm the birds from the trees.
The first task for the afternoon, while chocolate cakes baked in the oven, was to prepare the filling for the fish pies. That was where things started to go a little awry. Bella was in the bakery with Cath and Claire when she heard the yelp of pain from the main kitchen. She dashed back through to find Jill clutching her hand, with blood oozing between her fingers. ‘I’m fine!’ she announced.
Bella dashed over and inspected Jill’s hand. It was just a nick. All her fingers were happily still firmly attached, but the cut was relatively deep. Flinty appeared at her shoulder. ‘Oh, that might need looking at,’ she declared cheerfully. ‘Have you had all your tetanus jabs?’
Jill paled slightly. ‘I don’t know.’
At the other side of the kitchen Molly and Katy stared wide-eyed. ‘The minor injuries clinic at Locharron is open on weekends,’ Katy said. ‘We had to take Betsy there last month when she fell down a hole.’
Molly nodded. ‘It was quite a big hole.’
Bella put all the questions that raced into her head about who on earth Betsy was and how/why/where she’d come to fall down a hole to one side. ‘Well let’s get a dressing on it for now.’
Flinty was already brandishing a first aid kit. ‘I’ll just pop something on it and I’ll drive you over there, love.’
Jill bit her lip. ‘I’m so sorry! I can drive myself. No need to make a fuss.’
She clearly couldn’t drive herself, but Bella couldn’t leave.
‘I’m taking you,’ Flinty insisted. She directed Jill over to a stool in the corner and set about unwrapping the wad of kitchen roll Jill was pressing to her hand.
‘Oh.’ The noise Pavel made was not a happy healthy one.
Bella spun back to check what was going on, and for a moment the kitchen seemed to shift into slow motion. She could see exactly what was about to happen but there was no way she could intervene. Pavel’s face had gone extremely white and a shimmer of sweat shone across his top lip. He rocked slightly, and started to open his mouth. No sound came out, and then he was falling, rocking at first front to back and then straight down like a tower block detonated for demolition.
