‘From what I hear, she never has really. Karl was completely infatuated with her. Imagine what she must have looked like forty years ago?’
Gen followed their gaze across the lawn. ‘As a little girl, I remember thinking she was just like my Barbies, long blonde hair, thin, tanned. Always in heels. I thought she was amazing. No doubt the men in the district shared my opinion then too.’
Suzanne, lying on her back in the shade, raised herself to lean on her elbows. ‘Amazing to look at, maybe, but I think most men are practical at heart. Farmers need wives to be partners, almost extensions of their own bodies. A wife who is not interested in or capable of driving a truck, taking a new lamb into their house, getting up before dawn, or managing farm books is not ideal.’
‘Not that farm wives have to be frumps,’ said Gen sharply, tucking a blow-dried wing of hair behind one ear.
‘Your mum is a good example of ideal, isn’t she?’ said Hannah, smiling at the two sisters.
‘Yes,’ said Suzanne, looking thoughtfully at Hannah. ‘We just hope that Alistair finds a good wife and has some children, because Mum’s qualities were split between, rather than passed on to, us girls. Neither of us would manage this farm like she does.’
At that moment, Sarah, casually but impeccably dressed in beige linen trousers and a fitted white T-shirt, clapped her hands and called everyone to lunch. The tables by now were groaning with food. Hannah picked up a paper plate which had been set into a basket holder. She chose a lamb chop, trying not to think of the lambs she had seen in the fields alongside the house, and a small piece of spicy boerewors. The selection of salads was overwhelming, and she was grateful she hadn’t brought anything. Nothing she knew how to make would have looked at home on this table.
She took her plate back to her deck chair. Alistair came up behind her. ‘Kathryn, Hannah? May I get you something to drink?’
‘Another cider please, hon,’ said Kathryn grinning up at him. He turned enquiring eyes to Hannah.
‘Um, some kind of juice?’
Alistair smiled at her. ‘I’ll be right back.’
Returning a few minutes later, he handed her a tall glass of lemon juice, the ice cubes chinking as he passed it down to her. ‘It’s my mum’s famous lemon syrup.’
Hannah took a sip. Cool, tart, and sweet – perfect for the day. But then Sarah never seemed to get things wrong.
He came back with a plate of food for himself and settled next to Douglas on the edge of a blanket. Joseph plonked himself down beside Suzanne, and proceeded to regale them all with antics from his travels, even managing to draw trendy Glen away from his phone as he followed Joseph’s stories with amusement.
‘So, while some are theorising about complicated burial practices, the rest of us are thinking, what sensible prehistoric person would squeeze themselves down a pitch-black, tiny tunnel, stretched into a superman pose. Not a chance! It makes much more sense that it’s a case of Darwinian survival of the cleverest. The first idiot squeezed down the tunnel to see where it went and couldn’t come out. The second idiot squeezed down the tunnel to see where the first idiot went, and couldn’t get out either. And so on, a whole heap of their bones lying at the bottom for thousands of years, until some brilliant archaeologists discover them and decide it’s evidence of high-functioning human-like behaviour.’
Douglas grinned. ‘It is human-like, just not so much high-functioning.’
Hannah watched Suzanne, comfortable with the light-hearted conversation, throwing the odd dry remark which revealed her quiet wit. Her complete obliviousness to Joseph’s attention intrigued Hannah. She didn’t ignore him, but she showed none of the breathy awareness most women fell into around her brother. Joseph’s eyes constantly flicked to her, though, trying to gauge her responses, and Hannah could see this was completely new to him. He was, in fact, mystified. She grinned to herself, thinking that, perhaps, for the first time, Joseph might actually have to work very hard for a woman. And, in the end, he might not win. It would be groundbreaking, perhaps even heartbreaking. But then Joseph swore he didn’t have a heart. Interesting times ahead, she thought.
Soon, a cricket game started up on the grass. Joseph and Neil elected themselves captains and pulled people onto their sides. Even a few elderly men joined in the game, declaring that the youngsters would have to run between the wickets for them. People drew their chairs into the shade and turned to watch the fun. Hannah was coerced by Joseph to take up the bat, and she surprised even herself by still being able to smack the ball over the fielders’ heads.
‘Woohoo!’ yelled Kathryn from the sidelines. ‘You’ve been holding out on us, Hannah Harrison!’
‘First team at her school, you know. The only girl in the squad!’ shouted Joseph from the other end of the wicket. ‘Watch out, Neil, she’ll win this single-handedly!’
‘Sounds like insider trading to me,’ called Glen from the boundary. He had put on a fedora-style hat and looked keen, if rather out of place.
Hannah’s run of luck ended with a brilliant ball from Neil, which thumped the improvised wickets behind her. She lifted her bat in salute to much applause from the spectators, and Neil came jogging over to her, slinging his arm around her shoulders. ‘What a smashing girl you are!’ Hannah grinned up at him, loving the open admiration on his face and thinking she’d never received this from either of her own parents.
Back in the shade, she poured herself more lemon juice and held the glass to her flushed face, sinking into a chair beside Sarah. ‘My goodness, that’s the way to Neil’s heart,’ said Sarah, smiling at her. ‘For some men, it’s good cooking, but Neil is a cricket fanatic. You will have him as a fan forever.’
‘It’s mutual,’ said Hannah, watching him resume bowling to Joseph. Alistair had taken up as wicket keeper, and he crouched behind Joseph, sniping remarks.
Joseph eventually turned to him, laughing. ‘You can be rude to me after the game, but I need to concentrate right now.’
‘He’s our secret psychological weapon,’ called Neil.
‘You don’t need any more weapons, Neil. Your bowling is quite enough!’ said Joseph.
Dessert was served. Hannah helped herself to an ice-cream cone and wandered down to the river. The willows bent low to the water and the chatter from the picnic faded as she skidded down a small bank and found herself a large flat rock to sit on. Finishing her cone, she dipped her bare feet into the water, gasping at the temperature, but still lowered her feet to the stones at the bottom so that the clear water reached her calves. Dragonflies buzzed on the surface of the pool and the sudden sharp kik-kik-kik of a kingfisher broke the stillness, giving her a start. A footstep behind her had her turning her head quickly, and she saw Alistair hop down a set of rough stone steps she had missed earlier.
‘May I join you?’ He kept his distance until she nodded, and then settled next to her, his boots drawn up to the edge of the rock, long arms looped around his legs.
‘The water’s lovely,’ she said, looking across at him. He smiled and began unlacing his boots, stuffing his socks into the boots and throwing each one behind him up the bank. He winced as he immersed one foot at a time into the water. ‘Lovely when you get used to it, I mean,’ she said grinning.
‘I’m relieved you’re feeling better. I was worried about you the other day.’
‘I know, I’m sorry. I behaved badly.’
‘I understand now how much Rachel means to you.’
Hannah reached across and took his hand. She laced her fingers through his and raised their linked hands to her mouth. As her lips grazed his knuckles, she heard his breath hitch, his grip on her fingers tightening. She looked up to meet his gaze, his eyes deep and dark. She pulled her feet from the water and knelt on the rock alongside him, bringing her mouth within inches of his, until she could feel his breath, quicker now, on her lips. As his eyes searched hers, she saw the fear there and the questions. An intensity and a vulnerability that made her heart contract and stalled her intention. The pause was enough for him to pull away and let go her hand.