Tingara Series Collection by Noelene Jenkinson

Author:Noelene Jenkinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: australian & oceanian literature, small town & rural fiction, western romance, romance contemporary, Australian romance
Publisher: Noelene Jenkinson
Published: 2020-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Next morning after breakfast, without giving herself time to think, Hannah packed up her iPad notes to stride far less confidently than she felt, across the Lane to Alma’s cottage.

‘What a lovely surprise, dear.’

‘Do you have a minute? Something I’d like to show you.’

‘Of course, dear. Always for you.’

Hannah wasn’t quite so convinced she would be welcome under Alma’s roof again but she trusted her instincts. They made small chit chat in the kitchen already filled with wonderful baking aromas while Alma brewed a pot of tea.

‘Should we pop into the sitting room?’ Hannah suggested. What she intended to share might take time so they might as well be comfortable.

Alma carried the tray through, poured and settled back on the sofa beside Hannah.

‘Now, what do you have there?’ she indicated Hannah’s papers.

‘Please don’t be cross with me but I’ve been presumptuous and done some research.’ She glanced across at the wedding photo of Bernie and Alma on the mantel. ‘I know I didn’t ask your permission but I couldn’t bear the thought of you never knowing what happened to your husband.’

Alma’s cup clattered unsteadily back into its saucer as her hand shook and she placed it on the tray. Then she straightened, her back rigid, hands folded in her lap and drilled Hannah with a forbidding stare. But not, she sensed, from outrage. The expression on Alma’s face was certainly shock but also suspicion and dread.

Understandably she was afraid of what Hannah might tell her.

Hannah reached out a hand and laid it over hers, crossed so tightly into a fist. ‘Bernie’s dead, Alma,’ she said gently.

Instantly, her shoulders drooped. She closed her eyes for a moment and began to tremble.

‘Are you all right?’

Alma opened her eyes and nodded but Hannah didn’t believe her for a second. Her lips quivered and she scrambled for a handkerchief in her apron pocket.

‘Alma, I’m so sorry. After all this time, I know it will be a shock.’

Tears rolled down Alma’s lined cheeks and Hannah felt helpless, knowing she was responsible for the upset.

‘You don’t feel faint or anything?’ Alma shook her head furiously. ‘Should I fetch some sherry?’

Alma blew her nose, sniffed and said, ‘I’m fine, dear, really.’ She released a long slow sigh. ‘Don’t tell a soul I said this, dear, but you have no idea what a relief it is to know. One way or the other. I won’t have to look over my shoulder any more, feel as if I’m being watched, afraid he might turn up again. He was awful violent when he was drunk.

‘After he first disappeared, I was terrified he would return. I just wanted to be left alone with my little boys. My knees were raw from kneeling and praying that I never saw him again.’

Hannah was more than slightly relieved at what she was hearing. ‘Will thought you wouldn’t want to know.’

‘Oh.’ Alma waved an arm. ‘Men aren’t always right, dear.’ She leaned forward. ‘No matter how kind hearted and charming they are.’

Hannah blushed at the twinkle in Alma’s moist eyes.

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