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Ben clapped a hand on Hannah’s shoulder and smiled down at her. “Some of your best cheese and a fine bottle of ale along with the offered soup should do the trick. After all, your soup is nearly as renowned as your cookies.”
Hannah playfully pushed her hand against his chest. “You are teasing me, but I will do as you say.” She bowed her head to us. “If you will excuse me.” She hurried off to prepare the meal.”
“So what’s her renowned soup?” I wondered as Ben led me through the maze of halls.
“A specialty provided by the sea,” Ben informed me as we reached the dining room. A long table with ten chairs occupied most of the space. “It contains oysters, crab, and some fish, and she tosses in her spices and a few potatoes for good measure. Mix that all together with her homemade white sauce and there is hardly anything that beats it.”
My answer came not from my mouth but from my stomach. I set my hand over my rumbling tummy and sheepishly grinned at him. “I can’t wait.”
Ben chuckled. “Fortunately, I have something that will occupy our time.”
My ears perked up. “What’s that?”
He offered me his arm. “Allow me to show you.”
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
I tookup his arm and he led me out of the house and into the yard. We headed toward the large barn, and I couldn’t help but admire it for its sheer size. The structure was longer and taller than the house, with a single peaked roof. Smaller additions stuck out from different spots along the wall, and I glimpsed tools and farm implements tucked under their roofs.
The doors to the barn were opened and let me see down its fifty-yard length. Stalls lined either side of the aisle for half the distance, and the other half was occupied by stacks and stacks of loose hay. Large bins nearly as tall as I was kept the hay at bay, and I could see a pail beneath one of the bin spouts that was filled with grain.
The scent of it all wafted around me as we strolled inside. A few chickens scurried out of our path and the majestic horses looked up from their afternoon feeding. Some of the animals clopped over to us and stuck their heads out of their stalls.
I couldn’t help but move over to a chestnut-colored horse with a white diamond-shaped pattern on his forehead. “Aren’t you a beauty?” I cooed as I stroked his nose.
Ben joined me and petted the eager horse. “Many of these fine specimens were bred from horses my father cared for. There is even one here from when he was a boy.”
My eyes widened. “That must make him very old.”
“Nearly forty,” Ben confirmed as he lifted his eyes to the lofts over our heads. They hung over the stalls on either side of the aisle and ran for the whole length of the barn. “But what I really wanted to show you is above us.”
Ben guided me to a ladder that led up to the loft. The space was filled with the scent and scattering of hay, and a few slits in the boards let me see the horses as they moved about in their stalls. The pitch of the roof meant I couldn’t stand up completely against the wall, but being some fifteen feet away was no problem even for Ben as he guided me down the planks.
Our footsteps rang loud and clear through the whole building, and I heard a familiar sound from one of the attached buildings. “Are those cows?”
Ben smiled at me. “You know of them?”
I shrugged. “I know they give tasty milk and chew their food forever.”
He chuckled. “They do both, and provide extra heat in the barn during the cooler mornings.”
A dark idea hit me and I narrowed my eyes at him. “You didn’t bring me out here just to show me some cows, did you?”
“No. There’s a little secret hidden up here,” he assured me as we made our way to the far end.
A few thick planks were pressed lengthwise against the rear wall and covered the distance between the two lofts. They also lay under a small window at the back with a hatch to cover the hole.
I pointed at the hole. “Is that supposed to be there?”
“Not normally, but I installed it when I was a lad,” Ben admitted as we reached the boards. He tested one with his foot and it didn’t even waver. “Good. These old planks are as good as the day I set them down.”
I leaned to my right and beheld the long drop to the wooden floor. “Are you sure this is safe?”
He turned to me and offered me his hand. “You trust me, don’t you?”
I snorted but accepted his hand. “It isn’t you I have doubts about, it’s these boards.”
I gingerly followed Ben as he made his way onto the boards. They gave a little beneath our weight, but nothing to get the old ticker to stop. We reached the hole and Ben knelt on the boards. I joined him and he released my hand to lift the flap toward us and upward.
