A Time for Hope by Anna Jacobs

Author:Anna Jacobs
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780105963
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2014-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

Ten

The first thing Gabrielle saw when she woke was Dan’s face, his fine hair ruffled, greying a little at the temples, thinner on top. She had grown to love that face.

He opened his eyes and reached out to touch her curls. ‘Hey there, curly!’

‘Hey yourself.’

‘A quick cuddle, then we’ll go down for breakfast.’

But they didn’t get up as quickly as they’d intended.

Gabrielle was eager to look at the houses on offer. She wasn’t surprised to find they were the only ones eating in the hotel dining room at seven o’clock in the morning.

‘You’re a pair of real early birds,’ the woman who served them said cheerfully.

She soon came back with their order. ‘Good thing I like to earn the extra money by coming in early. Breakfasts are easy to prepare. Most of our guests like to stay in bed as long as they can.’

‘I’d just lie there awake, fretting to get up,’ Dan told her.

‘We’re all different, aren’t we? Me, I enjoy lying in bed. Only time I get a bit of peace with my kids racing round the house from dawn till dusk.’

By eight o’clock Dan and Gabrielle had been supplied with plenty of good food and cheerful chat about the town, and were on the road for Top o’ the Hill. The roads into Rochdale were full of cars now, so it felt good to drive out towards the countryside.

The village was reached by a winding road which followed what seemed to be a natural fissure that zigzagged down a steep slope at the edge of the moors proper. The cleft must have been gouged out over the centuries by a rushing stream, which was still there to one side of a road so narrow that it had to have passing places.

Dan drove slowly up it and through the tiny village, which consisted of little more than a main street, fringed by three hundred yards or so of houses, and containing, in the centre, one general store, a kindergarten and a pub. A couple of short lanes led to houses planted in small groups behind the upper side of the street.

They followed the road out of the village and up the hill, turning left just before a small church. Dan stopped the car and gestured towards the building. ‘I’ll show you inside that church another day. There’s a plaque to the King family members lost in the two wars. We might have time for a quick look at the graveyard today, at least.’

He smiled at her and added ruefully, ‘Here I am promising future visits again, but we will go to these places once we’re both settled in the district.’

‘Does that mean you’re definitely taking the job as manager of Cousin Rose’s trust fund?’

‘Yes.’ He hesitated. ‘Well, unless it’d upset you to live here?’

She stared at him in shock, not sure if this meant what she thought.

As usual, he seemed to understand without her needing to explain. ‘We won’t go into any other details about the future yet, but that one’s rather urgent if I’m to accept the job.

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