Page 67 of The House at Hope Corner
‘Aye,’ he said. ‘I reckon I am.’ He cleared his throat, as he blushed slightly.
‘Got something in your eye, Dad?’ asked Ned, grinning. ‘But I reckon we’re all going to be okay. What do you think, Mum?’
Hannah was sitting upright in her chair, staring into space and twiddling the ends of her hair. She looked down at her brown jumper as if seeing it for the first time, and then she looked up at Flora, a gentle smile softening her face.
‘I think you’re absolutely right. And I never thought I’d hear myself say this, but it is definitely time for things to change,’ she said. And then she got to her feet. ‘I’ll put the kettle on, shall I? We have some more plans to make and I always think better with a cup of tea in my hand.’
She got halfway across the room before she stopped and turned back around. ‘Fraser, wandering around in his underpants… Oh, God, that’s funny…’ Her peal of laughter rang out around the room.
Fraser snorted and then clutched his chest. ‘Oh, don’t make me laugh, it hurts…’
Chapter Twenty-Four
Flora couldn’t stop looking at Ned. Or kissing him.
‘And you’re really sure you think it’s a good idea? I mean, just because I love flowers doesn’t mean that everyone else has to.’
They were still sitting at the table and Ned still had hold of her hands. ‘Just answer me one thing… Will I still have to get up at the crack of dawn when we’re a flower farm?’
Flora grinned. ‘Oh yes, and worse, you’ll be bent over double in a field for most of the time. Come wind, rain or shine.’
‘Excellent…’ But he was still smiling. ‘It’s going to take a while,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure I can get my head around it all just for the moment…’
‘Aye,’ said Fraser. ‘But you won’t have to, son. Not all in one go anyway. The cows will still be here for a while to come yet until we can start to make the changes that Flora has in mind. We just won’t be breeding from them any more, which will reduce our overheads straight away. We’ll sell what land we can, pay off our debts and then the rest of the dairy business can go in time. I can’t deny that I’ll be sorry to say goodbye to the old girls but it’s time to do something different, and we’ll not get a better opportunity than this.’
Hannah reached out to take Fraser’s hand. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I thought by trying to keep everything the same that I was helping…’
‘And there’s nothing wrong with that, love. You’ve kept us all going, is what you’ve done, and thing is, before all this happened with my bloody heart, I’d have probably wanted a helping of “the same” for breakfast, lunch and dinner…’ He winked at Flora. ‘Trouble is, I’ve had to learn a lot over the last couple of weeks, and much to my surprise, being an old duffer and whatnot, I’ve found I rather like learning stuff. And I think I’d like to carry on doing it.’
He smiled fondly at Hannah. ‘Normal doesn’t have the same appeal it once did,’ he said. ‘How can it, when nothing about what’s happened is normal? But that’s okay. I don’t just want to settle for normal. I’ve been given an opportunity to take a step back and look at my life and maybe that’s something not a lot of people get…’
Flora reached out and took Hannah’s hand too. ‘And we’re going to need your help, Hannah. I know about flowers, but you, you know about planting, and you know everyone around here too, and we’re going to need that, to get word out about what we’re doing.’
Fraser nodded. ‘Flora’s going to get in touch with an association that helps people with start-up businesses like this, and they run courses too, but I bet you already know half of what they’d have to say.’
‘And you’re so good at being organised,’ added Flora. ‘And teaching people new skills; you’ll have us all licked into shape in no time.’
Hannah blushed. ‘Now you’re just trying to flatter me,’ she said, but Flora could tell from the warmth in her eyes that she didn’t mind one little bit.
‘I don’t profess to have all the answers, but I have started to work out a lot of the detail, and the start-up costs are relatively minimal… The main focus will need to be on preparing the field ready for planting. We’ve already started on seed sowing, but we need more, sown in two-week intervals so we get a continual supply of flowers throughout the summer and into autumn. We’ll need more greenhouse space for when the seedlings are pricked out, and then once they’ve grown on they’ll be ready to start planting out in about six weeks. We need to get cracking.’
Ned nodded. ‘But the loan, Flora, our debt… what are we going to do about that? How can we be talking about start-up costs when we don’t even have the money to pay our way now…’
Flora shot Fraser a glance. ‘You give Caroline and her father what they want…’ She held up a hand. ‘Only you don’t think of it like that…’
‘I don’t want to give them anything!’ Ned shot back. ‘After all they’ve—’
‘I know,’ said Flora, her voice as soothing as she could make it. ‘Which is why we all need to reframe our way of thinking…’
‘Go on…’ replied Ned.
‘I can see as much, if not more than any of you, a million reasons why we shouldn’t give in to Caroline because her family traded on years of goodwill and a so-called friendship that was anything but. They’ve used you and the farm’s misfortune to their own gain, but now it’s time for you to do the same. Sell them the land they want… play them at their own game. They’ll buy it from you, rather than on the open market, because it’s a damn sight easier and, importantly, quicker than going through agents and paying fees, et cetera. Exactly the same reason why, in fact, you didn’t go to the bank and get a loan in the first place, rather than borrow from a friend. It’s exactly the reason I did it too. I’m not saying do it without drawing up a proper legal agreement and getting a professional valuation for the land first, but they’ll still bite your hand off because it will suit them to do so.’
‘But, they still win,’ said Ned, scratching his head.
‘No,’ said Flora. ‘They don’t. Or maybe they do in their heads, but as we’re not going to be concerned with them what does it matter? What matters is howwethink about it. We’ve been missing the point, so desperate not to sell to Caroline’s family that in effect we’ve cut off our noses to spite our face. If selling the land is the best thing to do, then it’s still the best thing to do whoever we sell it to. Try to stop thinking about it as letting Caroline and her father win, try thinking that doing this gives us wantwewant. Isn’t that what matters?’
A slow smile crept over Ned’s face. ‘Is there anything you haven’t worked out?’
