Looking for Love (19 page)

“
That’s so romantic.” Ella
wondered if it
would have gone better for her gran if she’d found someone
else. But then, what about all those years looking for someone?
Like her—looking and looking but never finding this elusive Mr.
Right.

“
I would have loved
The Album
for another reason,”
Gran said. “It would have restored my faith in humanity. I’d been
with so many bad men, I didn’t think there were any good ones
around. Grandpa restored my faith, but it took years for me to
finally come round. Years of struggles. I wish I hadn’t waited so
long.”

“
But what if Grandpa had ended up a monster?” Ella’s face
heated. “I’m not saying he was, but you didn’t know when you
married him.”

“
I sort of knew him beforehand. I mean, we’d only dated six
months, but I knew him a bit from around school. I always thought
he was a wholesome type, but there weren’t any
fireworks.”

Ella bit her
lip. Sounded a bit like her feelings for Ross.

“
Those fireworks came in time. A slow burn, yes, but the slow
ones are sometimes the hottest.” Gran gave her a cheeky grin and
Ella laughed.

“
What about my mom? What happened with her and Dad?”

Grandma
yawned. She probably would drop off soon. “I probably know as much
as you. Claire didn’t tell me much. She likes everything just so.
She prefers predictability. I think it’s part of seeing how my
mistake had affected my life and how marrying your dad wasn’t her
best decision.” Gran reached out to her with a shaky hand. “Except
for you, of course.”

Ella smiled.
She couldn’t get offended with the elderly lady.

“
You remember how Mom and I clashed so much when I was
younger?”

Gran nodded.
“I hated it. But what could I do? It’s better now, hey?”

Ella nodded.
“Much. I kind of understand her. We’re very similar. I’m glad she
taught me to be sane and sensible because I can get a little
idealistic and keep my head in the clouds.”

Gran shook her head but said nothing. Ella
frowned and considered asking why she disagreed, but another yawn
and her eyelids hanging at half-mast told her it was time to
leave.

She came up to
her and hugged her, blinking back the tears. “I love you. Thank you
for wanting to help me.”

Gran shook her head and took her
hand as if to tell her not to leave yet. “I don’t know if I have
helped you. I shouldn’t have assumed that because I think
The Album
would have helped
me, it would be the right thing for you.”

Her eyes
betrayed regret.

Ella felt bad.
“Well, I’ve always
liked matchmaking.”

Gran nodded, her eyes bright.

“
Maybe all I need is to set some
boundaries with the business. Only run it on Saturdays so at least
I have Sundays to rest. Limit how many clients I take on. I don’t
really need the extra money.”

“
That should help.”

“
Then I’ll see it as more fun and less of a burden.”

“
And Ross?”

“
Well, I’ll have to tell him that it needs to end now. I can’t
hang onto him any longer. It’s not going to work, is it?” She
studied her Gran’s gaze for answers.

The woman
shrugged. “I can’t tell you that. Only you know what’s in your
heart. I messed up too many times to give you good advice.”

“
Granny, you didn’t mess up. Look at the beautiful family you
brought up with Grandpa. You must miss him?”

“
Every day.” She shifted with a strained expression.

“
I think you should lie down a bit.” Ella stood up to take the
tray off her lap. “I’ll leave you to rest. Please call me if you
need anything. Your voice is so strong, I heard it from the
field.”

Gran smiled
and moved slowly and painfully down onto her back. She closed her
eyes and sighed and dropped off to sleep almost immediately. Ella
wanted to squeeze her hard but left, pleased she’d eaten a good
meal and they’d talked about some really interesting stuff.

“
In two-hundred metres, turn
left.”

Ross obeyed
the GPS mechanically although his heart and mind didn’t feel very
automatic and relaxed. He couldn’t believe he’d done this—driven
all the way to Bethal to fetch Ella without her knowing.

At
Pauline’s insistence. Pauline, of all
people, had advised him to fetch the woman. The woman who tortured
him constantly. The one who’d probably push him away once he
arrived. Or would she take up his offer of much-needed
assistance?

“
In
one-hundred metres, you will reach your
destination. Your destination is on the right.”

Ross turned right and stopped at
the metal farm
fence. He climbed out the vehicle and attempted to open the
gate without assistance but it had been tightly bolted shut. He
returned to his car and pressed the hooter soundly with his
palm.

After a
substantial wait of about two minutes, a farm worker opened the
gate for him and he asked for directions to the farmhouse.

“
Just up.” The man pointed to the dirt road.

He looked around at Ella’s gran’s farm as
he drove up, impressed at the expansive fields. Although it was a
small holding, there was at least a third of a hectare of land.
People walked around and it seemed that the place teemed with life
during harvest-time. Ella had to manage all these people without
any assistance except for maybe Gran’s instructions from the bed
because the farm manager had resigned.

Pulling his car in besides a
couple of tractors and he presumed Gran’s car,
Ross got out and immediately
looked for Ella’s blonde head. Not around. He headed straight for
the house and knocked on the door.

Ella opened it
and stared at him, her face turning a healthy shade of pink,
sending his whole body on alert.

“
Ross? Is everything okay?”

“
That’s what I came to find out.”

She frowned.
“We’re fine. Gran walked to the toilet today without my help.
She’ll be up and about, mostly, within a couple of days. Should
there be something wrong?”

He indicated
to come in.

“
Oh, sorry, please come in. I’m just so shocked you
came.”

“
Pauline said you needed a lift home and that you’re struggling
running the farm all by yourself.”

“
Oh, that.” She touched her
forehead. “Been rather hard.”

She was
different. Sweeter, kinder, almost respectful of him. That
familiarity they’d gained over the years and which had made her a
little bossy at times had disappeared. Maybe just the shock of
seeing him.

“
Been rather hard? I heard you were up until two every night
getting everything done.”

“
Who told you…?”

“
Pauline.”

Her
frown deepened. “Really? Please come
to the kitchen. I’ll make you a drink. We don’t have any snacks in
the house. I haven’t had time—”

“
Okay.” His heart ached with a need to comfort her, help her,
and ease whatever burden she’d been carrying. “Coffee will go down
well and a glass of cold water.”

“
Sure.”

She worked
with a certain fluster in her hands and movements. The flush in her
cheeks remained. Could it be from lots of sun or maybe time
outdoors? Her hair was messy and came out of the loose ponytail at
the base of her neck but he’d never wanted her so much before.

“
I can’t sit. Been doing that for hours.” Perfect excuse for
coming closer. Scrutinizing her bare arms, he noticed scratches
along them.

“
You okay?” He pointed at her arm.

“
Yes, I just helped with the harvest. We were running out of
time sorting through the sorghum grain, checking for smuts and bugs
and stuff.”

“
What about the labourers? I’m sure your gran doesn’t do heavy
work like that.”

“
It wasn’t heavy. Just didn’t want to come across any spiders.”
She shuddered but gave him a happy smile.

“
You sure? Pauline said you were miserable.”

“
I was a couple of days back. Now that I’m sure Gran is
improving, I couldn’t be better.”

She poured the
boiling water into a mug and the aroma of coffee filled the room.
He helped himself to water from the fridge and gulped a glass down,
then sat down to savour the hot drink.

She soon
joined him at the wooden table and chairs with her tea. He gazed at
her, longing clogging his throat.

“
You look good.” The words tumbled out, so overwhelming was the
thought.

“
I do?”

No anger, no
withdrawal
;
just a softness. A feminine touch he wanted to drink of, take hold
of, and feel for hours.

“
Yes, you have a light in your eyes, your skin is glowing. Farm
life does you good.”

She laughed. “I wouldn’t have thought so
on Friday when I was up to here in sticky, prickly
grains.”

“
Is the harvest done?”

She shook her head wildly, sending more
stray strands of hair out the ineffective captor of her hairband.
“Not nearly. We’re in the process of storing it. There was a bumper
harvest this year so we had to purchase more storage containers.
And some of the sorghum gets used as hay for animal feed. Those
plants go through a whole other process.”

“
Do the labourers listen to you?”

She shrugged. “They pretty much know what
to do, anyway. I just can’t fix machinery.” She gave a sly smile.
“Gran doesn’t know that I hired someone to fix one of her mowers.
And how much I paid. Out of my own pocket.”

“
What?” He reached for her hand
close to her mug and pressed his on top, then promptly pulled back.
Why couldn’t he exercise more self-restraint? “Why?”

“
I didn’t have time to source a
cheap repair or didn’t want to risk it so I just paid for it.
Else
, we
would have had to hire a bunch more labourers to harvest by hand.
As it was, they should have been finished all the harvesting by the
day Gran hurt herself. We still had another whole section, besides
the hay field which is easy—they just use a forage
crusher.”

He watched how animated she got when she
spoke about farming, of all things. How he loved the way she did so
much for her gran, even using up her annual leave to work hard on
her farm.

“
You’re so kind to do this.”

She smiled. “I
had no choice. Gran’s been barking orders all the time.”

“
Are you ready to leave in a couple of days?”

She shrugged
and her smile disappeared. “I hope so. She can walk to the toilet
but what about the farm? Gran wants to sell it, you know.”

“
You don’t like that idea?”

“
Makes no difference to my life.”

She shrugged
but he couldn’t be certain she spoke the truth.

“
So, are you doing all
right?”
she
continued.

“
Fine. My house is coming along. Slowly.”

She took the
last long swig of her tea and stood up. “I have to get back out
there. I came to check on her but she’s sleeping at the
moment.”

“
Let me join you.”

She narrowed her eyes at him but the flush
deepened on her cheeks. “Um…” She looked down at his smart jeans
and new trainers. “You’ll want to put something old and tatty
on.”

“
I’ll find something and join you in a minute. Where am I
sleeping tonight?”

“
Ross, you really should have checked first. I appreciate you
coming all the way.”

She touched
his arm and he drew closer to her instinctively.

“
Just?”

“
Well, good thing Gran has two spare rooms.”

“
I could always sleep on the couch. Or in the barn.”

“
Yeah, right. It gets cold here at night. This isn’t Richards
Bay.”

He loved the
cheekiness in her eyes, the spark. An electrical charge pulsed off
her, drawing him in, but then she suddenly pulled away.

“
Bring your suitcase in and I’ll
open up and air out the spare room for you.
The sheets haven’t been changed since
Carol and Andrea stayed.”

“
Sorry to burden you with another task.”

She shrugged.
“Things have calmed down a bit now that the harvest is over and
some of the sorghum has dried out. At least we could keep our
suppliers appeased for now.”

Our?
She acted like she owned the farm.
Was it her dream? Maybe better than that album and its strange
magic. Yet, she loved making people happy. That’s what it was. She
made her gran happy. Whatever she did, she’d thrive on. Well,
almost anything. He’d always wondered about her receptionist job
and how much it satisfied her.

He went
outside to fetch his suitcase from the car and locked it up. Then
he found her down the passage in one of the rooms. She gestured to
him to be quiet. “Gran’s still sleeping.”

She opened the
blinds and a couple of windows and fluffed up the pillows. “Hope
it’s not too dusty.”