Restoring Grace (61 page)

Flynn smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners
so that his curly eyelashes mingled, but somehow managed not to tangle. Grace
wondered why she hadn't noticed the way they did this before.

‘That'll be interesting for you. Will you go
and have something to eat afterwards?'

‘I expect so. I'll take Demi to the bus, then
pop over to Luckenham House to say goodbye to the men and then
go down to Bath.' She paused. 'When the men have
gone
I can move back in.’

There was a moment of something: it could have
been
hurt; and then he said, 'You don't
have to. You could stay
here.'

‘
I can't
stay here indefinitely,' she said awkwardly. 'I've
trespassed on your
hospitality long enough.’

Flynn laughed. 'I bet you've never trespassed
in your life. I bet if you see a notice by a wood saying "Private",
you move right on, and don't put even your little
toe
across the boundary.'

‘Well, yes. I am very law-abiding.'

‘And you're no trouble to have to stay. You
clear up after yourself, the cat likes you, and you even cook.' He
indicated the pasta and tomato sauce and made a
perfeci
coil of spaghetti. 'After
all, if I've got Demi here, you
might as well be, too.'

‘I would take Demi with me! That's one of the
reasons I should go, Demi coming back.' She laughed. 'Honestly, we can't both
stay here for ever.’

He was quite serious. 'But
you can both stay as long
as you like – until Luckenham House
is properly habitable, anyway.'

‘It'll be properly habitable tomorrow,' Grace
insisted gently. 'The moment the men have gone.'

‘I don't mean by your standards of
habitability' – he
made a dismissive gesture
– 'but by the rest of the world's.
Central heating, furniture, perhaps the
odd carpet?'

‘Carpets?' Grace was shocked. 'On my beautiful
wide elm boards?'

‘
The odd rug, then. But
seriously, wouldn't it be much
easier to decorate, to set it to rights, if it was empty?'

‘
As you've so often
pointed out, it is empty - enough
to make slapping on a couple of coats
of emulsion easy, anyway.'

‘Is that all you want to do to it?’

Grace considered. 'Well, no. Since staying here
I've
realised that a few home comforts are,
well, comfortable,
but I've managed without them so long, and I've never
had any money—'

‘
You might
soon be going to have quite a lot of money.’

‘
I doubt
it. Once I've paid for the dry rot and given Allegra and Nicholas a cut—'

‘You're going to do that?'

‘Oh yes. Money's not that important to me and
it is to
them. As long as those panels earn
me enough to pay my debts and my siblings, I can manage without under-floor
heating
in the kitchen.'

‘Hmm. Not sure that I can.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Nothing. I was just thinking that if I was
going to live there, I'd need a bit more background warmth.’

Grace nodded. 'I know what you mean. I might
put a wood-burner in the hall, if I can find a chimney.’

Flynn sighed. 'You're not
very good at taking hints, are
you?'

‘Aren't I? What are you talking about? You
don't want to live in Luckenham House! You've made this house perfect and you
love it. You're not going to want to up sticks and live in my draughty old barn
even if . .

He only let her flounder for a moment before he
said, 'Shall we change the subject?'

‘Oh, please let's!' She smiled and thought
again how easy he was to be with, even when things were difficult.

*

The next morning Grace made Demi breakfast, and
she ate it very tidily and politely, on her best behaviour in front of Flynn.

‘
I don't
know why Hermia finds you so difficult,' he
said to her. 'You're a dream
child.’

The dream child broke her vow of good manners
sufficiently to poke her tongue out at him and said, 'Thank you, Grace, that
was great. I'll just run up and get my stuff.'

‘She likes it here,' said Flynn. 'Look how well
she behaves.'

‘She won't be able to keep it up, and being the
parent of teenagers is very hard. Much better to start on babies and work your
way up.' Grace, thinking of Ellie's scan, suffered a sudden pang of broodiness.

‘You're managing OK with a teenager.'

‘Yes, but I'm not old. I can still remember
what it was like and empathise.'

‘
Cheek!' he
said as she scooped up the dirty dishes and
carried them to the
dishwasher.

‘You see, you're getting impatient already.’

He came up behind her at the sink and put his
arms
round her. 'Yes, I am, actually,' he
murmured into her ear,
causing her to catch her breath with sudden
longing.

*

The thought of Flynn's
strong arms and sexy voice
warmed Grace as she drove Demi to
the bus and then went on to Luckenham House.

It looked wonderful in
the bright spring sunshine, and
the garden was
just stirring into life with early primroses
spangling the banks with yellow stars. 'I know why I
want to
live here,' said Grace to herself. 'It's a beautiful house.’

But latterly, though its beauty remained
constant, its suitability as a home had been challenged. Possibly it
lacked certain things she had become accustomed
to very
quickly since living at Flynn's house.

The men seemed satisfied with what they'd done,
and proudly showed Grace where they had made good the
walls. When she had seen them safely off in their van,
she went
into the kitchen to see the newly plumbed-in Rayburn.

But something was wrong. It took her a moment
to
work out what, and then she realised:
there was a puddle
of water on the floor, yards away from the sink.

At first she didn't think much about it and was
about
to get a mop when it occurred to her
to wonder where
the puddle was
coming from. She looked up and saw the
sort
of bulge made famous in advertisements for the
Yellow Pages.
She
knew, without any experience or tech
nical
know-how, that the ceiling would come down at
any moment unless she did
something.

She ignored her instinct to ring Flynn. She was
going
to be independent and sort it out
herself. If it went wrong
she could ring him, but he mustn't be her
first line of defence. No man must ever be that again.

If she wanted the ceiling to stay up she had to
let the
water out. She found a broom, stood
on a chair, and very
gingerly prodded the swelling. Water and what
seemed like half a ton of plaster poured on to the kitchen floor, drenching
her. But she did notice that the water was warm.

It took her a few moments to stop spluttering
and
gasping. 'That was a mistake,' she
noted aloud. 'Perhaps
I'd better go and see why all that water was
there. Or should I go and change first?’

Then she remembered Ellie. Could she abandon
the
house for the sake of her friend? Of
course she could. The
house didn't have feelings, and Ellie did. She
would ring Ellie and tell her that she might be a little bit late, but
that she would be there, just as soon as she had
changed,
found out where the leak was coming from and turned off the
water.

‘Ellie? It's me. I'm at the house.' She was
starting to shiver. 'There's a bit of a problem. But don't worry!' she hurried
on. 'I'm still coming. I've just got to change my clothes and may have to get a
plumber first.' A hot bath
would have been
nice, but there wouldn't be time for
that.

‘
What's happened? It sounds dreadful!'

‘
Well, I came into the kitchen to find a puddle on the
floor and a big balloon of plaster hanging from
the ceiling.
I poked it with a broom and it all came down.'

‘Oh dear. You probably shouldn't have done
that. At least, not without an umbrella.'

‘That's the conclusion I've come to now, but it
seemed
the best thing to do at the time.
Anyway, I'm just ringing
to warn you I might be a bit late.'

‘
I don't
think you should leave the house in that condi
tion.’

Grace
laughed. 'It's not pregnant, you are.'

‘
No,' Ellie agreed. 'But unlike the kitchen ceiling, my
waters haven't broken, which sounds like what's
happened.'

‘
I know, but—'

‘
Look, don't worry, Grace, it's only a scan,' said Ellie
calmly. 'I'll be fine on my own. As long as you
promise
to be with me when I have the baby.'

‘
Ellie! I'm not sure I'm up to that!’

Now it was Ellie who chuckled. 'It's OK, you
can read
all the books beforehand so you'll
know what to do. But,
seriously, you don't need to come with me. You
sort out the ceiling. Let me know how you get on.'

‘
Are you sure?'

‘
Positive. It's no big deal, really it isn't. You can come
with me next time I have one.’

Eventually, Ellie convinced Grace that her
presence wasn't necessary. Ran came in as she was finishing the conversation.

‘That was Grace. The kitchen ceiling's come
down and soaked her to the skin. I've told her not to come. I'll be
fine on my own, and she's got to
sort out plumbers and
things.' She
concentrated very hard on making her voice
matter-of-fact, hiding her
disappointment and anxiety.

‘
Right.' Ran's voice
was just as bland. 'Well, that's OK.
I'll come with you.'

‘
Sorry?'

‘I'll come
with you for the scan. For support.’

She was horribly embarrassed, and cross with
herself for not hiding her anxiety better. 'But, Ran—'

‘To stop you feeling so much like a single
parent? Remember?’

Why had she
ever told him all that? It was all coming back to haunt her. 'Really, it's not
necessary,' she said firmly. 'I can go by myself. It's no big deal.'

‘Unless
you'd prefer a woman, of course.’

Ellie
suddenly wanted to cry. It was her hormones, of course. Ran was only being
kind, offering to fill in for Grace, but her heart had leapt, even hearing him
make
the offer. And did she want him there?
Did she want Ran sitting by her while they put KY jelly on her stomach and
swooped
about on it with a sort of iron, or would it be terribly embarrassing? She
closed her eyes. Yes, she decided, she always wanted Ran with her.

‘
It's really not necessary,' she repeated, hoping he'd
ignore her.

‘
That's
decided then. Tell me when we need to be there.
And do you have to bring
anything?'

‘
Thank you—' she began, but he cut her off.

‘
Oh shut up.' He smiled, just slightly, and very lopsidedly,
but it made Ellie sigh.

Why did she
like him so much? He was bossy, very
bossy.
Old - well, ten years older than her, and look what
had happened to Grace when she married an older
man!
He broke her heart! Not that that was an option for her,
of course. Ran was the man who'd turned down the
offer
of a fling; he would probably never get married, just glide
 
from sophisticated woman to
sophisticated woman, with
no upset, no
unpleasant scenes and, probably, no babies.
No wonder he didn't want
her. But he was kind to her, very kind.