Page 29 of The House at Hope Corner
‘I know.’
‘He’ll be okay…’
Ned stared at her and swallowed. And then he left the room.
Hannah entered shortly after, her face pale and blotchy. She was wearing fresh clothes and had brushed her hair, but she had applied more make-up than Flora had ever seen her wearing and it looked all wrong, too harsh on her soft, natural face.
‘I thought we could have omelettes this morning,’ she said as she entered the room. ‘We haven’t been making cakes recently so we have far too many eggs, and I cannot abide waste.’
Flora turned from the window. She was about to gently refuse when she saw the look on Hannah’s face and stopped. In fact, her expression was so defiant that Flora almost took a step backward.
Hannah continued. ‘Now I don’t know about you, but I always favour three eggs per omelette, so could you fetch me nine eggs? It seems scandalous to be using so many simply on breakfast, but I can’t see the point in making cake today, can you?’
Flora didn’t want to argue, but even she could do the basic maths required. ‘Hannah, I don’t think we’ll need quite so many, Ned has already gone out.’
‘Nonsense. Where on earth has he gone?’
She shrugged. ‘He didn’t actually say, but I assume it was to start work…’
‘So then he’ll still be needing a breakfast inside of him.’
Hannah all but glared at Flora, who cleared her throat. ‘I got the impression that he wouldn’t be back until lunchtime… I’m not sure he was terribly hungry.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake.’ Hannah gave a loud tut. ‘We could do without that silly behaviour.’
‘Perhaps we should just eat ourselves, and then if Ned does come back we can whip him up something then, can’t we?’
It seemed the most sensible suggestion, although the thought of working her way through a mountain of rapidly cooling egg made Flora feel sick. But on no account would she contradict Hannah, not today.
‘Hmmm.’ The dissatisfaction in Hannah’s voice was clear. ‘It doesn’t seem as if I have a choice, does it?’ She crossed to the pantry door. ‘Right, just the two omelettes then.’ She half turned. ‘I’ll put four eggs in yours,’ she added. ‘You could do with feeding up.’
Flora’s groan was almost audible, but she clamped a hand over her mouth just in time.
‘You know, if you’re worried about there being too many spare eggs, I could always take some to the village for you?’ offered Flora, willing Hannah to agree. It would be a great excuse to go and see Grace again. ‘Didn’t you say the shop is always happy to have them?’
‘What, today?’ Hannah’s brow creased into a row of furrows. ‘Well, I don’t see how you could possibly go today…’
Flora weighed up her desire not to upset Hannah against her desire to do anything to get out of the house.
‘I just thought it might be helpful,’ she said. ‘We can’t go to the hospital today, can we? So even once we know that Fraser is okay, there would still be time.’
Hannah’s look was long and cool. ‘No, I don’t think so. Not today.’ And that was the end of that. Flora clenched her teeth together.
‘Shall I give you a hand with breakfast then?’ she asked.
Another look. ‘I am perfectly capable of making omelettes, Flora. Goodness, I’ve probably been making them since before you were even born.’
Flora inhaled and let the breath slide out of her, long and slow. ‘Okay,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Looks like I’m on tea-making duty then. Again.’
From his space beside the Aga, Brodie raised his head, giving Flora a baleful look.You and me both, Brodie, you and me both.‘I’ll take you out in a minute, boy,’ she whispered. ‘I promise.’
She watched as Hannah removed the special omelette-making pan from the cupboard, and then the special small bowl into which she would first break the eggs to check they were fresh, even though they could only be a day or two old at most, before finally slipping these into the special bowl she reserved for beating the eggs.
Collecting the teapot from the table, Flora saw, almost in slow motion, the moment when Hannah brought the first of the eggs down sharply on the side of the bowl to crack the shell. Perhaps she had slightly misjudged the angle or used a little too much force, but either way the side of the bowl dipped alarmingly, causing it to roll away at speed. Flora watched in horror as the bowl reached the edge of the work surface, teetered for a lengthy second and then fell straight down, hitting the quarry-tiled floor with a sharp crack that cleaved it straight in two. The egg Hannah had been holding at the time followed suit.
In her scramble to catch the bowl, Hannah’s hand also knocked several of the remaining eggs that were lined up beside her and, before Flora could even react, they too were on the floor.
‘No! Oh… no, no, no…’
