Part 8 (2/2)

'It's not important,' he muttered, glancing broodingly about the kitchen, as if just noticing how much cleaner it looked. 'I've got to go into Penrith this morning, and before I go, I want your a.s.surance that you'll not give Miss Seton any more trouble.'

Anya swallowed the remains of the orange juice Joanna had given her to finish, and wiped her mouth with her hand. 'Can't I come with you?' she demanded in a plaintive voice, but he shook his head.

'I've got to try and find another housekeeper,' he explained, his tone softening slightly. 'I should be back by tea time. But if I'm not, try and behave yourself. I don't want to have to punish you a third time, do you understand?'

'Yes, Daddy.' Anya hunched her shoulders defensively, and Joanna hoped she intended to keep her promise.

'Would you like some coffee before you go?' she asked Jake now, hoping to delay the moment when she and Anya would have to come to terms with one another, but he shook his head.

'I'd better get started,' he replied, his eyes avoiding hers after that unsettling personal exchange. 'However, I want to see Matt before I go, so if there's anything you'd like me to get for you, please make a list.' He paused. 'You might start the lessons today, if you have the time.' His tone was sardonic. 'That was something I intended to discuss with you last night.'

'There is something I have to ask you,' Joanna ventured, casting a doubtful look in Anya's direction, and he faced her reluctantly, the tawny eyes veiled by tie long lashes that were the only incongruous aspect of that harsh visage. 'Where do you keep Anya's school books? The textbooks she uses? Only I'd like to find out how advanced she is in English and arithmetic before we begin any formal lessons.'

'They're in my desk, in the library,' he replied, turning away as soon as he decently could. 'You can find them for yourself.

There's nothing private in there. You can even use the library to work in, if you like. That's up to you.'

'Thank you,' Joanna nodded, and with evident relief, he turned towards the door once' more. 'Oh -' She remembered one last thing, and he turned half impatiently. 'Yes?'

'It's milk,' Joanna explained. 'I mean, you obviously don't get a regular delivery -'

'We have a cow!' It was Anya's scornful young voice that answered her. 'Matt looks after her. Her name's Gertrude. He fetches the milk for us. You just tell him what you need, and the rest he uses himself or sells to Mr Page at the pub.'

'That will do, Anya.' Jake gave her a silencing look, and she relapsed into brooding melancholy. 'But it's true, we do provide our own milk and eggs, and it was my intention to buy a deep-freeze and store our own meat and vegetables, too.' He paused. 'Perhaps I will now. Mrs Harris always refused to have anything to do with frozen food.'

Joanna didn't say anything, but she guessed the late housekeeper would have maintained it was too much trouble.

Mrs Harris probably found it much easier, shopping in the supermarket in Penrith, buying ready-cooked foods that required the minimum amount of preparation.

'Is that all?' Jake was opening the door as he spoke. 'As I said, write down anything you want and leave die list in here.'

Joanna nodded. 'Drive carefully,' she said, almost as an afterthought, and glimpsed the sudden hardening of his features as he closed the door behind him. It wasn't until later that she realised exactly what he must have been thinking.

CHAPTER SIX.

DESPITE the miserable weather, Joanna refused to feel downhearted.

She had Anya's company, at least, and while that might be a dubious blessing, she was determined not to let the little progress they had made slip away. It wasn't going to be easy, always knowing how best to approach the child, but she intended to take each minute as it came, and deal with the problems accordingly.

With Jake's departure, she ventured into the library, and was rea.s.sured when Anya followed her. But one look at the untidy apartment convinced her that they could not work in such surroundings, and with a little gesture of resignation she said: 'How are you at dusting, Anya? Could we use this morning as a lesson in housekeeping and do something to make this room more cheerful?'

Not really to her surprise, Anya was quite amenable, but what did surprise her was the girl's capacity for work when it suited her.

Instead of being the hindrance Joanna had half expected, Anya toiled as hard as she did, s.h.i.+fting books off the shelves and dusting them vigorously, fetching and carrying, and showing none of the animosity Joanna had previously experienced.

It was impossible to make the room elegant, the shabby carpets and furnis.h.i.+ngs defied such a description, but with a fire burning in the grate, fed by the load of logs Matt provided at their request, and everywhere swept and dusted, it had a homely charm. The old man even found an armful of chrysanthemums from somewhere, and Anya arranged them in a pottery vase, and with Jake's paintings neatly stacked in one corner and the desk free of all litter, they all felt reasonably pleased with their efforts.

They had spaghetti bolognaise for lunch. Joanna had bought the spaghetti the day before, and with a savoury sauce she concocted from a tin of meat, a tin of tomatoes, some cheese and onion, and some herbs, it smelled delicious. Matt sniffed the air appreciatively when he came to fetch the milk Joanna had asked for, and on impulse she invited him to join them. They all sat around the newly-scrubbed table in the kitchen, and even Anya chatted away to the old man without any restraint at Joanna's presence.

'I remember Daddy once taking me to an Italian restaurant,'

she confided, concentrating on curling the spaghetti round her fork. 'He had spaghetti whatever-it-is, but I had pizza. I wish I'd had this now.'

'It's amazing what you can do with tins,' remarked Joanna drily, unable to resist the mild taunt, and Anya actually grinned.

Her pointed features had a piquant charm when she relaxed, and Joanna found herself responding.

'You going to cook that chicken I gave you for supper tonight?' Matt asked, when she got up to clear the table and she turned back to him nodding.

'I though I might make a ca.s.serole,' she said. 'It's the sort of meal than can be kept hot for a long time, just in case Mr Sheldon doesn't get back as soon as he expected.'

'Daddy said you hadn't to make our meals,' Anya put in without malice, and Joanna sighed.

'Someone has to,' she declared reasonably. 'What would you have had for lunch if I hadn't prepared it?'

Anya shrugged. 'Jam and bread, I s'pose,' she admitted, rubbing the side of her nose-a definite improvement on sniffing, Joanna felt. 'I don't mind what you do. But Daddy said -'

'Yes, I know what your father said,' Joanna retorted with a sigh, and then realised Matt was speaking again.

'Like I was saying,' he added, 'that there chicken I brought you.

She's-well, she'll be a tough old bird.' He paused, looked slightly embarra.s.sed, and then went on: 'It was different when it was Lily Harris I was dealing with. She used to overcook everything. Like as not, she'd have boiled old Gloria. But if you want a bird to roast- well, I reckon I could find you a tender young chicken, sweet as a nut, with a nice bit of flesh on its bones.'

Joanna laughed; she couldn't help it. Matt looked so hot under the collar, and it was gratifying to know that he at least had come to accept her.

'Don't worry,' she a.s.sured him gently, patting his shoulder as she pa.s.sed. 'I'll cook it nice and slowly, and I know a few tricks for tenderising all kinds of meat and poultry. But thanks for the offer. I appreciate it.'

'You're not as helpless as you look, are you, Miss Joanna?' he said admiringly, levering himself up from his chair with difficulty, and she pretended to be put out.

'That's a backhanded compliment,' she protested, a.s.suming an air of indignation, but the look they exchanged was one of understanding as he moved away from the table.

'Said you were a pretty la.s.sie, the first time I laid eyes on you,'

he declared, arching his spine with evident reluctance. 'And a stubborn one too, I'l warrant.' He grimaced. 'Got my muscles fair groaning, you have, with all that digging yesterday. You watch out, young Anya. She's not the type to give up at the first obstacle, not like those other women.'

Joanna sighed, wis.h.i.+ng he would keep those sort of comments to himself, but apart from pressing her lips a little more thinly together Anya did nothing.

'We'll see you later, Matt,' Joanna added, as he let himself out, and breathed an unconscious sigh of relief once she and Anya were alone.

The fire in the library had spread its warmth throughout the room, and the musty smell Joanna had first noticed had almost gone. In its place was the pervading perfume of the chrysanthemums, and the not unpleasant aroma of woodsmoke.

She found Anya's textbooks in the bottom drawer of Jake's desk.

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