Harkett's Haven Read online

  llet size=Rachel put a few scones into the small oven to heat them through and took the butter out the fridge. She grabbed a pot of homemade raspberry jam from the shelf and placed three mugs on the table.

  Eric had taken off his jacket and was staring out the window at the weather, which was throwing everything it had at the small cottage on the hill. Rachel could hear the sound of the rain hammering at the window.

  Her visitors had broken a spell. Her work was solitary and for the most part, that was the way she liked it; the last six months had been a healing experience. But her short time with Eric and Esme had made her realise that perhaps it was time to start moving on.

  Eric joined her in the kitchen.

  ‘This is a neat place you’ve got here.’

  ‘Yeah.... I love it here. It’s been just what I needed.’ She gazed out the window, lost in thought.

  Eric glanced at his daughter and her dog at the fireside.

  ‘Esme and Jack have made themselves at home.’ The smile on his face made his eyes crinkle. Rachel found herself thinking back to their morning together and she found herself unexpectedly wanting more.

  ‘Where do you sleep Rachel?’

  He brushed a stray strand of hair off her face, his eyes lingering on her lips.

  Time seemed to stop for Rachel as her touched her.

  ‘I need to see you again. Tomorrow.’ He whispered his words so Esme wouldn’t hear.

  The kettle started whistling on the stove, breaking Rachel’s trance. She turned from him quickly, grateful for the interruption, busying herself pouring the hot water to make tea.

  He pulled her hair gently back over her shoulder, exposing her neck and he leaned down to kiss her skin.

  Rachel held her breath, every muscle in her body tense and taut, wanting more of his touch.

  A phone rang.

  Eric fished around in his pocket.

  ‘God, what now?’ he muttered irritably.

  He answered the call.

  ‘Dr Harkett speaking.’ He listened and Rachel could see the immediate switch to his professional persona.

  ‘OK Claire. I’ll be there in about half an hour.’

  Rachel felt her heart sink when she heard Claire’s name.

  ‘I’m so sorry Rachel. There’s an emergency at the MacKenzie farm. Their son has a bad leg fracture.’

  ‘Please go.....Leave Esme and Jack here if it would make things easier for you.hisier for’

  He grabbed her and kissed her.

  ‘That’d be great Rachel. I’ll collect her when I get finished.’

  He turned from her and shouted to Esme.

  ‘Esme, I’ve got an emergency to go to. Are you OK to stay with Rachel ‘till I get finished?’

  ‘Yeah of course!’ Esme beamed at Rachel.

  ‘I’m hoping I won’t be too long Rachel. I get first call because the farm’s not far from here. The life of a country doctor.’ He shrugged apologetically and smiled. ‘I’ll have to stabilise him and wait for the ambulance.... or air ambulance to take him to hospital. Depends how bad it is.’

  He left the cottage, the wind howling in as he opened the door. Rachel hoped too that it wouldn’t be long before he returned.

  3.

  ‘Esme. Come and get something to eat.’

  Rachel had fished the hot scones from the oven and put them on a plate on the table. The cottage had warmed up quickly with the stove and AGA now running on full and the weather had worsened again outside. It had turned into a day much like the one that had thrown her into the Harkett family’s life.

  Esme walked slowly to the table, rubbing her eyes.

  ‘Sleepy?’

  She nodded, ‘I feel really tired now.’

  ‘I think it’ll take you a while to get your strength back...... after yesterday. Come and have something to eat and after, if you feel like it, you can have a nap.....’till your Dad gets back.’

  Esme sat at the table and started eating. Rachel poured her a hot cup of tea and sat beside her.

  ‘Does your Dad often have to run off to emergencies?’

  ‘Sometimes....I normally have to go and stay with Mrs Strachan.’ Rachel sensed that this wasn’t an altogether satisfactory arrangement for Esme by the frown on her face.

  ‘You don’t like Mrs Strachan?’

  ‘She’s nice but she’s a bit....well....strict and ....boring. She must be at least ninety or something ’

  Rachel smiled, ‘Well I guess it’s good for your Dad to have someone to help out when he needs it.’

  ‘I think Dad really likes you Rachel.’

  Rachel blushed, ‘I think he’s just grateful that you’re OK.’

  Esme watched Rachel closely as she drank her tea.

  She was slightly disconcerted by the girl’s close scrutiny but she noticed how tired Esme looked, how small and vulnerable she was. She would like her to try to sleep. Sleep was a great healer and she didn’t know how long Eric was going to be.

  ‘Would you like to see the loft Esme?’

  ‘Yes please.’ Esme’s eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet.

  ‘Promise you’ll be careful climbing the ladder.’

  ‘I promise.’

  Esme skipped to the bottom of the ladder and waited for Rachel to join her. All signs of tiredness were temporarily erased from her face.

  ‘I’ll climb up first and open the hatch. When you follow up, make sure you hold tight to the rungs and I’ll help you up at the top.’

  Rachel climbed the ladder to the loft easily and quickly. When she had first moved to the house, it had seemed quirky and strange to climb a ladder and open a hatch to get into the bedroom. It had quickly become normal and second nature but with her small visitor she was once again reminded of her first feelings of amazement about this place.

  The hatch at the top of the ladder was on a hinge that pushed up and into the attic space.

  Although the room was under the eaves of the cottage, the stainless steel flue pipe for both the stove and the AGA entered the attic space on its way out through the roof. The attic of the house stretched from one gable end to the other, the two flue pipes gleaming, one at either side. The beams of the roof were exposed with no plaster lining but despite having seen some atrocious weather conditions in her six months here, this room had never been anything but cosy and warm with the radiated heat from the flues keeping the room warm as toast.

  There was only enough room to stand upright at the apex of the room and the noise of the rain and wind was loud enough for Rachel to have to raise her voice to speak to Esme whose head had just tentatively popped up through the hatch.

  ‘Well, what do you think?’

  Rachel’s bed was low height sleigh bed, covered in white sheets and a patchwork quilted blanket. Purpose-built oak storage drawers had been built into the cornice of the room where the roof and the floor met. The largest part of the floor was covered with a simple woven Scandinavian rug in blues and creams.

  Rachel put on the small bedside light and went to help Esme through the hatch.

  ‘Mind your head Esme. There’s not much room.’

  Esme’s excitement lit up her face and transformed her from the pale and tired child who had eaten at the table downstairs into the child that now stood in front of her, a child filled with wonder and delight.

  ‘Wow,’ was the only word she uttered.

  There were two large roof windows against which the rain drummed and which Esme made a bee-line for.

  She stared out at the stormsmaat the y day, the sky now darkened to a late evening gloom. The views from the window were breathtaking; waves crashing onto the beach and hurling their fury at the base of the rocky outcrop the cottage stood on.

  ‘Do you ever feel scared?’ she whispered.

  ‘Never here. This cottage’s over a hundred years old and solid as a rock...you know, the sound of the waves send me to sleep each night.’

  Rachel put her arm around Esme and hugged her close. The girl la
id her head against her and started to sob.

  ‘Esme, what’s wrong?’ Rachel kneeled beside her and took her face gently in her hands.

  ‘I miss my Mum.’

  ‘Oh Esme. Of course you do my love.’ She hugged her close and let her sob, her little body heaving.

  ‘It must have been an awful thing to go through.....to lose your mum.’

  Esme sniffed and sobbed and Rachel held her close. Maybe it was something to do with the house, maybe the weather. Maybe it was the way that Rachel and Esme had been thrown together and Esme’s first chance to talk to someone she trusted apart from her father but the fact that this little girl wanted to talk about the loss of her mum left Rachel feeling profoundly touched.

  ‘Let’s sit on the bed.’

  Esme perched on the edge of the bed, shoulders hunched and head bowed. Rachel sat beside her and put her arm around her, pulling her close.

  ‘Sometimes it’s easier to speak to a stranger.’

  ‘You’re not a stranger Rachel.’ Her voice was vehement and determined. She paused.

  ‘My mum killed herself.’

  Rachel sighed miserably and closed her eyes, feeling the pain Esme radiated.

  ‘Esme, I’m so sorry.’ There didn’t seem to be any words that were appropriate.

  ‘It wasn’t my dad’s fault Rachel, it wasn’t...’

  ‘It was no-one’s fault Esme. Of course it wasn’t. You mustn’t blame yourself or your dad or anyone else.....’

  When eventually her tears subsided, Rachel took her to her bed.

  ‘Take your shoes off Esme. Cosy under. You’ll sleep well now.’

  The small girl now totally exhausted, took off her shoes and slipped under the covers. Rachel lay in top of the covers beside Esme and stroked her hair. They maintained eye contact, a deep understanding of what had passed between them unsaid. Esme’s eyes fluttered and opened and then fluttered and closed.

  Rachel continued to stroke Esme’s dark hair until her breathing deepened and her body relaxed.

  She left the small bedside light on, worried that Esme would wake and wonder where she was.

  Climbing back down into the brightly lit ground floor of the house made her blink and screw up her eyes. Switching off the main spotlights in the kitchen to lower the light levels, she poured herself a cup of tea and made her way to the sofa. The wind howled and whistled outside, hurling angry pelts of rain at the window.

  The logs in the stove had burned down to glowing embers and the radiated heat washed over her. Tiredness was sneaking up on her and her injured arm was starting to throb.

  She thought briefly about getting back up to get a pain killer from the kitchen cupboard but sleep overtook any desire to move from her comfortable place on the sofa. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep, lulled by the sound of the wind and waves outside.

  Rachel had no idea how long she had slept but she was awoken by a gentle touch on her cheek. The cold fingers that touched her were feather soft and for a moment she wondered if she was still dreaming.

  ‘Rachel. Beautiful Rachel,’ a soft whisper.

  Opening her eyes slowly, she smiled when she saw Eric wet and windblown kneeling beside her. His hair was swept back and he looked cold and tired. He stroked her hair gently, his expression sombre watching her intently.

  ‘How did it go?’ she whispered.

  ‘We got the boy comfortable and managed to get him to hospital.....not the easiest to do in this weather. Helicopter couldn’t fly in this so we had to wait for the ambulance. The boy’ll be OK.’

  She stretched her hand out and touched his jaw and he pressed his face into her outstretched hand, closing his eyes.

  ‘Esme’s fast asleep upstairs. She was very tired and ....upset.... about her mum.’

  He grimaced, the pain he felt running visibly across his face.

  ‘Did she tell you what happened?

  ‘She was desperate to tell me that it wasn’t your fault.’

  He closed his eyes as if the pain of his words required him to shut out the rest of the world.

  ‘I left Sarah and...she took her life’

  ‘God Eric.....’

  She gazed at his strong, handsome face and felt something of the pain that Esme and Eric must have experienced these last few years.

  ‘We were very unhappy....Sarah had been battling alcohol for years.’

  Rachel let him talk without interruption. He seemed to want to talk and unburden himself.

  ‘Sarah’s drinking started slowly, gradually and then secretly. I should have seen the signs earlier....I’m a bloody doctor.’ He spoke softly, his fingers still stroking her/spstrokin hair.

  ‘I worked long hours then and it was the small things that Esme told me that first got me wondering. Missed meals, days off school for no reason and then her memory lapses and the lies.....’

  Rachel put her hand over his as he touched her, wanting to comfort him.

  ‘It was when she hit Esme that I decided that we had to leave. I rented a place in the country and told Sarah that we wouldn’t be back until she got herself cleaned up.’

  ‘Eric, you don’t have to say any more.’

  She bent over to kiss him, a gently soft touch but he pulled her to him and kissed her passionately, needfully.

  He slipped his hand inside her shirt and cupped her full breast. He moaned softly. Rachel felt on one level that this was wrong but also that giving herself to him was offering him some level of comfort.

  She let him touch her, his fingers pressing her nipple through her lace bra. Pulling her shirt aside, he kissed her though the fabric.

  ‘Eric, Esme’s upstairs. We don’t have the privacy here.’

  ‘Is there anywhere we can go?’ His voice betrayed his urgency of desire.

  ‘The bathroom has a lock.’

  He stood and grabbed a couple of rugs from the back of the sofa, threw them over his shoulder and scooped Rachel off the sofa and into his arms.

  ‘God Eric, we shouldn’t be doing this.’

  ‘Yes we should.’ He was serious almost fevered.

  Pushing open the bathroom door with a light tap of his foot, he threw down the rugs and placed Rachel gently on them. He turned and locked the door. Rachel propped herself up on her elbows watching him questioningly, wondering what he was going to do next. The bathroom was spacious for a cottage this size, converted from the old wash house that used to be in the small single storied extension they were now in. There was a large roll top bath, separate shower, basin and toilet. The lighting was soft – Rachel had deliberately avoided the harsh spot lights and had opted for soft tone wall lights which she found more soothing when taking a long hot bath.

  He lay out on the floor next to her, his eyes savouring the contours of her body as she lay beside him. His movements were slow and deliberate. He traced a finger down her neck and over the upper slope of her breasts and then to the buttons on her shirt which he deftly undid with one hand.

  Pulling her into him he kissed her passionately, deeply, his fingers searching for the clasp on her bra and releasing her full breasts.

  He kissed her neck and trailed his tongue down her cleavage until he found her nipple. He sucked her almost painfully.

  Rachel arched her back and moaned.

  He licked from one nipple to the other, pushing his face into her soft, yielding breasts.

  Rachel held his head gently, teasing his hair as he sucked at her, her need for him becoming overwhelming.

  Stopping what he was doing heh hwas doi undid the button on her trousers and pulled them off her legs in one swift movement. Again he stopped to savour her revealed body and swiftly removed his shirt, unbuttoning his trousers and pulling them quickly from his body.

  A shiver of delight coursed through Rachel as he revealed his erection straining through his underwear. He was long and thick and Rachel knew that he would cause her a brief moment of pain when her entered her but that knowledge only intensified her desire for hi
m.

  She reached out to touch him through his underwear and he pulled away from her.

  He knelt beside her and slipped a hand inside her panties, cupping her sex and then slipping a finger along her sex..

  ‘You’re so wet Rachel,’ he whispered.

  His fingers pushed gently at her and then into her and she involuntarily arched her back, pushing against his hand.

  One finger and then two pushed deeply into her and he gently circled her clitoris.

  ‘Please Eric,’ she gasped, trying to reach for him.

  ‘No. Stay still.’ His voice was sharp and commanding and took Rachel by surprise.

  He moved between her legs and pulled her pants from her, exposing her sex to him. He pushed her legs further apart and then cupped his hands under her buttocks supporting her and licked at her. His tongue ran up and down her lips, to her clitoris and back, then pushed quickly into her.

  ‘Oh God Eric. Please...’ Rachel felt her climax building and wanted to have him deep inside her.

  She threw her head back and moaned as his tongue continued its maddening tease and thrust.

  At last he released his cock and positioned himself at her entrance. She watched him between her legs, feeling the warmth of the engorged head of his penis at her entrance. His focus was entirely on his task and slowly, so slowly, he pushed himself into her, watching himself disappear into her.

  ‘You’re so tight.’ He whispered.

  He closed his eyes and savoured the moment as he was fully in her.

  She knew she would feel pain but he had prepared her well and the pain was fleeting and welcome.

  Slowly he moved his full length in and out of her. His movements quickened as he started to build to his own climax. She watched the length of him move in her, slick and engorged. Her whole body had become his and she had transformed into a sexual goddess, her being suffused with power. The man between her legs made her body super-sensate.

  Her climax came in a rolling crescendo like nothing she had experienced before and she had to bite down on her hand to stop herself from screaming.

  Eric gasped, emptying himself into her and collapsing on her, holding her close as their orgasm’s subsided.