The Guesthouse by Abbie Frost

Author:Abbie Frost
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-10-14T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Hannah stood there. Her anger gone and replaced by a desperate need to hold back her tears.

Lucy’s door opened and she poked her head out. ‘Wow, fucking hell,’ she whispered. ‘Where did that come from?’ She came over and rubbed Hannah’s shoulders, then led her along the hall, away from Rosa’s room. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fine, just exhausted. It must have freaked her out, finding me in her room in the middle of the night.’

Lucy’s door was still open, and she gestured Hannah inside.

Hannah wanted so much to be back in her own bed, but she didn’t have the strength to refuse.

A bedside lamp cast a glow across the crumpled bed. Hannah’s legs felt so weak she collapsed onto it while Lucy moved about picking up sheets of music, putting them into rough piles, hardly seeming to know she was doing it.

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘Chloe was sleepwalking.’

Lucy dropped the papers she was carrying and they scattered across the floor again. Then sat on the bed next to Hannah. ‘So it must have been her all along.’ Her voice quivered. ‘That crying we heard.’

Of course, it made sense, and Hannah felt a wave of relief. A young deeply troubled girl, whose parents were on the verge of divorce, who was being uprooted from the only life she knew.

That first night, when Hannah had listened outside the family room, Chloe could have been sleepwalking elsewhere in the house. And the second time, maybe the sound had been coming from the servants’ quarters after all. Hannah had been half-asleep herself – she could easily have made a mistake.

Lucy stared at her, as if desperate for her to agree, so she nodded. ‘It must have been.’

They sat in silence for a moment and then Lucy yawned. She lay back on the bed and they both listened to the sound of the wind and the rain on the glass. Lucy closed her eyes and Hannah stared at her, struggling to connect this vulnerable girl with the self-confident and powerful woman who had thrown off her boots in the hallway just days ago.

That crying we heard.

That’s what Lucy had just said, but she had never admitted to hearing the crying. Had always claimed it must be a fox. Hannah watched Lucy sleep for a moment, her chest gently rising and falling, and then stood quietly to leave.

The next morning, Hannah woke early to the sound of the wind; even louder than yesterday, it seemed to shake the whole house like an angry toddler with a broken toy. When she went down to breakfast, she found Mo already eating scrambled eggs and baked beans in the kitchen.

He laughed. ‘I thought you’d be down soon. Only managed a couple of hours myself.’ He pointed at the Aga. ‘Help yourself to some food.’

Although Hannah wasn’t hungry, she took some and sat down to eat. They chewed in silence for a while, then Mo finished his food with a sigh. ‘Right, I’d better check on Dad.’ He stood up and stretched.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.