Saving Christmas in the Little Irish Village (The Little Irish Village #5)

Chapter 34

34

Today will be a great day , Hannah thought, knotting her dressing gown around her waist. ‘Debbie Downer has left the building, and Positive Pauline has moved on in.’ She spoke out loud, but her voice was barely audible over the steady thrum of rain on the roof.

Instead of using a comb, she ran her fingers through her hair, stretched and then perched on the edge of the bed to tug on her woolly socks, worn in favour of slippers.

‘You’re good to go,’ she said, getting to her feet and crossing the room to the door, desperate to get downstairs and see Tom. She’d stood with one foot on the top step, the other on the landing last night, torn between the possibility of interrupting his work and wanting to recapture their earlier good-humoured closeness.

In the end, she’d decided she didn’t want to butt in on an important meeting and had retreated, contenting herself with cosying up with Nan in front of the tele.

Her step faltered as she reached the door, thanks to the magnetic pull of her rumpled bed sheets.

‘Almost good to go.’ It wasn’t worth not drawing the curtains and leaving her bed unmade because if Mam saw she’d left her room like that, she’d give out all morning about not being her servant and Hannah’s slovenly habits.

But as she went through the motions, she resolved that nothing and no one would interfere with her Pauline Positiveness this morning. The reason for this was, as Nan would say, she could feel it in her water that everything would work out fine.

The thought of hearing the good news today that the famine cottage land was no longer under threat put a spring in her step as she bounced out of her bedroom onto the empty landing to skip down the stairs. She sniffed with the expectation of being hit by the smell of sizzling bacon, a sure sign Tom was being fussed over by her mam, but, nope, nothing. Perhaps he was thinking of his arteries and joining Dad in having porridge and wholegrain toast instead. That had to be it, she decided as she slid into the kitchen like Tom Cruise in Risky Business , only in a dressing gown and minus a microphone.

Her mam was at the table enjoying a cuppa, Dad was reading the news on the phone, as was his habit, the voice of doom as he read out the direst headlines, and Nan was spooning prunes on her porridge. They all looked up as she skidded to a halt.

‘Morning,’ she sang out.

‘Morning,’ they grunted back at her.

Princess Leia barked a greeting, which caused her dad to mutter under his breath.

‘There’s porridge in the pot when you’re ready, Hannah,’ Kitty said, sounding a little down in the mouth as she gazed at her prunes.

I’d probably feel down if I had to add a load of prunes to my morning porridge, too , Hannah thought, wishing once more that she could tell Kitty everything would work out just grand.

There was no sign of Tom, but it was too early for him to have headed out already. He was probably upstairs catching up on some sleep after working late, she figured, pausing to fuss Princess Leia. The chihuahua was overseeing the goings-on at the table from her throne on Nora’s lap. Her mam was twisted on her seat so her legs faced the worktop, and her torso was angled toward the table. It struck Hannah as an indigestion-inducing position in which to eat toast as she gave the little dog a final tickle behind the ears and then fetched a mug.

‘Tom’s having a lie-in then,’ she said, smiling as she joined them at the table and helped herself to tea.

‘He’s not upstairs, love. He’s gone,’ Liam supplied. ‘Dear God, you wouldn’t believe what’s after happening in the Middle East now.’ Shaking his head, he didn’t elaborate further as his eyes flickered over the illuminated screen he was reading from.

Hannah’s hand, which had been reaching for the milk jug, froze in mid-air. ‘What do you mean gone?’

Nora filled in the gaps, toast halfway to her mouth. ‘I came downstairs to find he’d squared up and left a note on the table thanking us for our hospitality. He said he’d miss my home cooking.’ She took a smug bite of her jam-slathered toast, which sent a shower of crumbs Princess Leia’s way.

‘ Our home cooking,’ Kitty swiftly corrected her daughter-in-law, shooting Hannah a sympathy-loaded look.

Hannah tried to make sense of what she was being told. ‘But he never said anything to me.’

‘Well, he was busy last night, wasn’t he, love? And I expect he didn’t want to wake any of us this morning. He was a very thoughtful lad, Tom.’

‘He’s only gone back to Dublin, Mam, not died!’ Hannah’s tone was sharp.

‘What’s got your knickers in a knot?’ Nora asked.

Kitty stopped examining the prune now on her spoon. ‘If things go ahead with the Greenhouse project, he’ll be back before you know it.’

‘If they go ahead.’

Tom had gone without bothering to say goodbye, so was that it? If he’d talked his client into looking elsewhere, there would be no reason for him to return to Emerald Bay except for Eileen’s knitting classes. And how badly did he want that Christmas sweater? She squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she wasn’t thinking clearly because his not letting her in on his plans stung.

Wait just a second! Hannah opened her eyes; Mam had said Tom had left a note. Maybe there was something in that she’d missed? ‘What did the note say again?’

‘Here – read it yourself.’ Nora produced a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and thrust it at Hannah, who held it up to the light as if it might reveal an invisible-ink message before smoothing the note flat on the table then scanning the words hungrily, only to slump back in her chair, aware of curious gazes upon her.

‘It doesn’t tell me anything.’ She’d thought, at the very least, he might have mentioned the Christmas invitation she’d given him.

‘I already told you what it said. I’m surprised you’re so bothered about what Tom’s plans are. His mobile number is written in the visitor’s book. You could always call him.’

Hannah was annoyed at the coy tone in her mam’s voice. ‘I only want to know how things stand.’

‘Oh yes?’ Liam’s eyebrow lifted high on his forehead.

‘Not between us, Dad! Nothing is going on between us.’ She’d misread everything, eejit that she was. ‘I’m talking about the Greenhouse and Christmas tree farm.’

Hannah could see that her protesting had had the opposite effect on her parents. Her mind raced ahead. There was nothing to stop her from telling them what he’d told her yesterday, not now. It would get those knowing looks off their faces, so she spilled it out. ‘Tom told me he was confident he’d managed to talk the developer into looking for a site elsewhere, and I thought he might have let me know where things were at before heading back to Dublin.’

The prune plopped back into Kitty’s bowl. ‘But that’s grand news, so it is!’

‘It’s not confirmed, Nan,’ Hannah backpedalled. ‘I wasn’t supposed to say anything until Tom knew exactly where things sat.’

Nora set Princess Leia on the floor and rose from the table. ‘Well, it sounds to me like things will work out just fine. I’ll go on up and strip his bed,’ she announced as Kitty called Princess Leia over to her.

Nora vanished upstairs, but the little dog ignored Kitty, trotting to the door and giving a few ear-piercing yips and yaps.

Liam put his hands over his ears. ‘The sooner that one’s mam is out of the hospital, the better.’

They definitely had a love-hate relationship going on there, Hannah thought as a tap at the back door sounded over the cacophonous barking.

‘I’ll get it,’ she said, pausing alongside her dad to tell him, ‘She was only letting us know someone was here.’

‘That’s right, Princess Leia. You’re a grand little guard dog,’ Kitty was saying as Hannah picked the dog up and plopped her on her nan’s knee before opening the door.

She stared in shock at who she found standing there, her hand raised in readiness to knock again.

It was the American woman in the red coat.