Page 27 of The House at Hope Corner
‘I do indeed. And taking Hannah to the hospital is one of them. It’s very kind of you to offer though.’
Their eyes locked and, for a moment, Flora thought she was about to argue again, but then Caroline smiled. ‘Well then, at least let me help you finish the marmalade. I can’t believe Hannah wants to be bothered with it at a time like this. I mean, I don’t suppose any of you got much sleep last night and, while it’s totally understandable under the circumstances, if you don’t mind my saying, you do look a little peaky, Hannah. Why don’t you go and put your feet up for a bit? I can look after things here.’
Hannah’s eyebrows shot through her hairline. ‘And why would I want to do that?’ she asked. ‘It’s only being busy that’s keeping me from fretting about Fraser,’ she said. ‘Flora very sensibly suggested it might be a good idea, and it has been as it happens. I might look peaky, Caroline, but I feel absolutely fine.’
Caroline paled slightly. ‘Oh, of course… Gosh, we’re all different, aren’t we? You never know quite how you’re going to react in a crisis until one is thrust upon you.’
‘I don’t think we’re quite at crisis point yet, dear, but I’ll be sure to alert you if that happens. We may have need of your help then.’
There really wasn’t anywhere for the conversation to go after that and Caroline left soon after, promising to ring later in the day to see how things were. Flora would have liked to hug Hannah again but she didn’t quite have the nerve.
‘Now then, the marmalade,’ asserted Hannah. ‘I’ve quite lost my train of thought. Where did we get to?’
Flora reminded her and, once the oranges had cooled enough to handle, Hannah passed half of them across to Flora and showed her how to remove everything except for the peel, which was now nice and soft.
‘Peaky indeed,’ tutted Hannah. ‘And what was the burning question she needed answered anyway?’
Flora smiled to herself. She clearly wasn’t the only one that Caroline had managed to irritate.
‘A conversation about an engagement party, I think,’ replied Flora. ‘Which under the circumstances can wait.’
Hannah nodded. ‘Oh, is that all? I didn’t realise you were even going to have an engagement party.’
‘We’re not, as far as I know…’ she replied, anxious to change the subject. ‘Am I doing this right?’ she asked, pointing at the chopping board in front of her.
‘Perfect,’ replied Hannah. ‘Just the way Fraser likes it.’
After chopping the peel between them, the orange ‘innards’ were scooped into a muslin cloth, tied at the top and then lowered back into the cooking water together with the thin shreds that gave the marmalade its distinctive flavour. A ton of sugar went in last and then the whole lot was set to boil.
‘This next bit is supposed to be the tricky part,’ remarked Hannah, ‘although I’ve never yet had a problem getting my marmalade to set.’
‘Is this one of those things, you know, like horses?’ quipped Flora. ‘Where you never show your fear?’ If it was, Flora might have a rather sticky problem on her hands.
Hannah frowned. ‘I’m not sure it works quite like that, but I think it’s the same with most things in the kitchen. A little confidence goes a long way.’ But she darted Flora a small smile. ‘That, and buy decent oranges in the first place.’
They stood watching the boiling liquid for a while; periodically Hannah took a metal spoon and lifted the frothy scum from the top to discard it.
‘If you don’t take this off, the resulting marmalade won’t be very clear or have that lovely glossy finish to it.’
Flora nodded, watching the fat bubbles rolling around the pan. It was almost mesmerising. Breadmaking still held a weird fascination for her, a very strange alchemy indeed, but this was right up there. A bit of fruit and sugar boiled up together, who would have thought it? She wondered idly who had come up with the idea in the first place – Mrs Beeton perhaps. No, probably way earlier than that. And then she caught herself grinning.Flora Dunbar, what are you doing, thinking about stuff like this? For goodness’ sake, this is the epitome of domesticity and you are not a domestic goddess, nor do you aspire to be. Stop it this instant.
‘What’s the smile for?’ asked Hannah, holding the spoon aloft.
‘Oh, I was just thinking,’ replied Flora. ‘I’ve never made anything like this before, and I can see the attraction of it… But at the same time I can’t help wondering if it’s all worth it, when a jar of marmalade only costs a couple of pounds at most.’
‘Does it…?’ Hannah paused. ‘Do you know, I’ve never really thought about it before; I’ve just always made my own.’ She looked across at Flora, her brow furrowed. ‘Well now… we’ll have a dozen jars by the time we’re finished and the cost of the oranges is about a fiver, the sugar a couple of pounds, so… seven pounds…’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I can’t work that out, but it’s less than a pound a jar…’
Flora squinted. ‘About sixty pence, I think…’
‘So, much cheaper than you can buy…’
‘And you’re going to tell me much nicer as well…’
Hannah smiled. ‘See, you young ones don’t know everything…’ She licked her lips, enjoying the moment, but there was no malice in her words. ‘And even the really posh marmalade, which I think might cost about five pounds a jar, isn’t as nice as this. Believe me, you can really taste the difference.’
Flora pulled a face. ‘You might be able to. I’m not honestly sure I could, not being a marmalade connoisseur and all that.’
Hannah cleared the last of the scum from the top of the liquid. ‘Well then, tomorrow you shall have marmalade on toast for breakfast, and we’ll see… You might even surprise yourself. Now, let’s have a plate out of the freezer and we’ll test this to see if it’s ready.’
