Chapter 15- A Rainy Day:

Monday morning the sun did not shine. The clear blue skies of Sunday had given way to gray rain and wind. After Tom and Penny trudged under an umbrella up to the house for breakfast, they returned to the bungalow. Tom decided to get in touch with his publisher about the book he'd mailed from Mt. Pleasant.

The phone call went on for some time. The last chapter would need rewriting; they would e-mail him their suggestions. Also, since his book centered in Mexico and Texas would be coming out in October, they needed to discuss some book signings and a tour. Tom was not too happy to hear this, but it came with the territory. He would have to deal with it. They asked about his next book, which was to be set in Italy. Tom told them it had been delayed but he hoped to start on it after the first of the year.  He cited his father’s death and the new responsibilities at the farm as his reasons.

Penny busied herself cleaning the bedroom and bath and gathering up laundry.  She overheard Tom talking about the book tour and wondered if she'd be left here on her own? She walked quietly through Tom’s office into the living room.  Oh, for a door through this wall into the main house, she thought. It was still pouring rain and she had a rather large armful of clothes to wash.

Tom found her at the door, watching the rain pour down in the yard. She told him she wished there were a door to the main house so she could scoot her laundry to the other end. 

"There was a door at one time," he explained.  "When I made over this part of the house to suit me, I boarded it up. It's behind the tall bookcase." He walked over to the bookcase and tried to see behind it.  He couldn’t exactly remember how they had closed it up. "I'll see about opening it again." 

There was a narrow stone staircase behind the wall, maybe five steps, and it opened into a hall

to the passageway from the kitchen to the front of the house.  "Seems like a practical thing to do," he added. "You always came up with good ideas."

In the end, Tom holding the umbrella and Penny her wash load, they ran together up to the main house and through to the laundry room.  Tom left her to it and went to have a look at that hallway.

Akkers followed Penny to the laundry to show her how it worked then went back to her lamb hot pot. It was good Penny and Tom were here, she thought. It wasn’t right for Anna to be alone all the time. She shook her head, thinking of Anna this morning, pouring rain outside and she still would go down to the chickens for eggs.

Anna was under the shelter of the chicken coop. She had a nice basket of eggs for Akkers' custard. Filling the pans with feed, she watched her hens clucking and flapping their wings around them. It seemed strange this morning walking down the hill, knowing John wasn’t out

on the farm somewhere. She decided she would continue her morning chores as always. Pulling the old yellow rain slicker over her head, she made her way back up the hill toward the house. The weather never bothered Anna. She had grown up only a few miles from here. It was part of the life.

She entered the old scullery, hung her dripping slicker on a peg and toed off her wellies. She heard the washer going and stuck her head through the door. It was Penny.

“Hullo, Penny, I see you’ve been put to work this morning.”

“Good morning, Anna. Yes the laundry was beginning to take over.  I like doing things like this, and if there is anything I can do around here to help, please let me know.”

“Don’t worry, Penny, it will work itself out.  Come and look at the beautiful eggs we have this morning.”

As they came through to the kitchen, Akkers took a look at Anna. “Ah, look at yer, dripping wit rain. Ye better go dry yer self and I’ll make you a nice cuppa.”

Anna rolled her eyes at Penny but headed upstairs to change. She passed Tom in the passageway and he told her about opening the door to the bungalow. Anna thought that was a great idea.  It would be like one big house then. "Why don't you get Johnny?" she suggested. "He's a good carpenter." 

Tom simply gave her his blue gaze and so she added, "I'd like a word about the stable affair, Tom.  Janey filled in the details for me at church yesterday."

Tom accepted his due and listened to her describe all the work the Akkers family did for them, the years of loyalty, his grandmother. However he noticed not one mention of what Johnny did specifically. She also did not mention the fact that Tom paid Donnie and Johnny a salary and provided them with a place to live.

Back in the bungalow, Tom was making piles of books. He needed something physical to do and unloading the bookcase was a start. He had the bookcase pulled away from the wall enough for him to get behind it and see what was there.  It just looked like a piece of press board. He could probably pry that off. He donned an old anorak and his rubber boots and dashed across the yard to the garage looking for a hammer and a pry bar.

Anna changed into an old pair of cord slacks and a ratty old pullover and towel dried her hair, pulling it back into the ponytail with her silver clip. She was ready for that cuppa. In the kitchen she found Penny slicing carrots for the lamb stew Akkers was preparing and describing something called grits.

“Oh, Akkers, it's heaven on the tongue; shrimp and grits with Tasso gravy.  Maybe I'll make it for you sometime.”

“Ya mean prawns? Ah, we have prawns with salad sometimes. I don’t think I want a grit, sounds like what Anna feeds t’chickens.”

Anna was curious. Perhaps when Akkers had her day off she would let Penny cook some shrimp and grits with gravy.  It sounded good to her. She took her cup of tea and sat down, watching Penny.  It was funny how when you needed someone else in your life they'd appear. She'd liked Penny from the first time she met her. Penny was down to earth, with no pretense. Her emotions ran across her face like words on a page. She'd met some American tourists in Pateley this summer and thought them arrogant and rude. It was good to know they weren’t all that way. She was good for Tommy, too. The darkness seemed to have left his soul. She loved to listen to Penny. Her accent was so soft and fluid. She wanted to know more about Penny’s home. They would have to have some long talks. Hearing the hammering down the passageway, she smiled. Tom was his own carpenter.

Tom was making progress. He now had the bookcase out in the middle of the room, disturbing the book stacks over the floor.  He was able to pry the press board away from the door frame enough to see that’s all there was, the door being on the other side. He was working the nails away from the frame, remembering when he closed it up. Wanting his own space apart from the family, he'd boarded up the passage to his father. Where did that come from? He dropped the hammer and leaned against the wall. He knew it was true. It was the guilt he always felt in father's company for leaving home. It was too late now to tell him he was sorry for the hurt he had caused, but, still, he was not sorry he left. He picked up the hammer and resumed his job.

All hot and sweaty, Tom pulled the last nail out and banged the board away from the door. He tried the knob and it opened onto the narrow stone stairs. It was dark in there. He'd have to see about a light. At the top of the stairs he opened the door into the passageway and walked into the kitchen.

Akkers spotted him in the doorway. “AaaK! Ya not coming in here wit spider webs! Out wit

yer!”

Penny and Anna turned to see Tom wet and covered in spider webs and wood splinters. He did look a mess.

"You broke through? his mother asked.

"Come and look," he grinned.

Penny and Anna followed him down the passage to the door.  Penny was excited to see the connection opened up.  Anna went to get a broom to knock down the spider webs. She came back with a flashlight and Tom started sweeping away the spiders' home.

"It's been a long time since I've been down these stairs," Anna remarked.

They walked into Tom’s living room. Penny had a look around, “You’ve made a right mess in here, Tom.”

Anna laughed. "You sound just like a Yorkshire lass!"

Anna, a smile on her face, left them to clean up the mess. They were trying to figure out where

to put the bookcase. Tom had one hand leaning against the bookcase waiting for Penny to tell him where but she was just standing there looking at him. She walked over to him and in a low voice said, “I like a hot, dirty, sweaty man.” Then she turned and pointed out a place next to the door to Tom’s office.

His face broke into a wide smile. Penny never ceased to amaze him. After he humped the bookcase to the other side of the room, Penny sent him to the bath. She began transferring the books onto the shelves. She sat one aside. It was one of Tom’s, Spanish Nights. She would read

it later. By the time he finished his bath she had most of the books on the shelves.  He appeared in his sweat pants, his wet hair slicked back. Penny smiled to herself. She also liked a damp, clean man. She told him to get the broom and see what he could do about the nails and splinters on the floor. He liked this bossy lass.

Having sorted out the room, Penny went back to her laundry.  How nice it was not to have to

go out in the rain and mud. She found a basket on the shelf above the washer and unloaded the dryer. As she was passing back through the kitchen with her basket, Akkers told her she was going to set table in about thirty minutes.  The smell of freshly-baked rolls filled the kitchen.

Outside the rain still pelted down. Bleeding little pools were beginning to appear in the yard. Penny stopped and turned on a lamp in the living room. She liked the new arrangement. Passing through Tom’s office, she saw he was working so didn’t stop to speak or to touch the damp hair curling down his neck. She put her laundry away and cleaned up for lunch.

Quietly then, she walked over to Tom’s chair. He reached for her hand, kissing her palm. “Lunch is ready,” she said into his hair.

He pulled her onto his lap and said, “You know what I was thinking about? The day we made love in the rain in Nowhere Meadows and walked back to the house covered in grass and muck.”

Penny caressed his face and they enjoyed a slow, sweet kiss. “Lunch is ready, Tom.”

"I'd rather have you," he smiled. 

"Akkers will have us both if we don't show up at table for Lamb Stew and hot rolls." 

Tom relented and went to find a shirt.

They walked through the new opening to the main house and sat down for lunch. Penny couldn’t wait to butter those hot rolls she'd smelled all morning.

"We always have home-baked bread," Anna explained.  "Akkers won’t hear of tasteless supermarket bread in her kitchen. She spoils us all."

As Penny ate her custard tart, Tom was watching her mouth.  He speared a chunk of lamb and began to chew it slowly. Penny looked across the table at him, blinked and licked the crumbs from her lips. He thought they just might have to fit a lock on that passageway door.

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