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opened the door.  Rachel hoped too that it wouldn’t be long before he returned.

3.
    ‘ Esme. Come and get something to eat.’
    Ra chel 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.’
    Rache l 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