“Extremely.” She could pound out some of her frustration and leave it there to bake.
Olivia donned the offered apron, then washed and dried her hands before sprinkling them with flour.
“Have you heard from Dr. Farrow?” Jillian asked.
She dug her hands into the warm dough and folded it. “Not since he left for Europe.”
“I worry that Garrett will be called up soon, but he says the government needs farmers stateside. John will be old enough next year, and then Eli, if the war continues.”
“Surely, it will be over by then.” Their country, she feared, wouldn’t survive another five years of fighting.
“I pray every day for it to end.”
Olivia glanced again at the cookies and the milk glasses and the rack waiting to be filled with bread. The farm was a happy place for Eli. Safe and warm during the winter months. She hoped, even in his adult years, he would return often. “Thank you for everything, Jillian.”
Her friend stopped working, tilting her head. “For the privilege of kneading my dough?”
“For that and...” Olivia smiled. “For continuing to care for Eli like he’s one of your own.”
“Heisone of mine.”
“I’m putting away money,” Olivia told her. “So he can attend college.”
Money that Simon wouldn’t be able to steal.
“You don’t have to provide for him.”
“But I want to. Very much. He’s like a—” She almost saidsonbut had no intention of taking the title of mother from the woman before her. “Like a nephew to me.”
“Aunt Olivia.” She smiled. “Hattie would have loved that.”
“Yes, she would.” Olivia rolled the dough and continued kneading. “I have an odd question for you.”
Jillian laughed. “Every other question in this house is odd.”
“Do you remember when I went to California?” Only a year and a half ago, but it felt like a lifetime had passed since she’d stepped onto that transcontinental flight.
Jillian stopped laughing. “I remember it well.”
Of course she did. Jillian had been the one to find Hattie’s body. A person would never forget that.
“Do you know if Simon paid Hattie a visit while I was gone?”
Jillian glanced down at her hands, kneading the dough three more times before molding it into a buttered bread pan. “I saw him once at the house, but he left soon after I arrived.”
Olivia braced herself on the edge of the counter. Simon knew she was in California. He had no respectable reason to visit Haven House. “Did he threaten you or Hattie?”
“I don’t want to speak poorly of your husband.”
“He’s done some...” She paused, searching for the right word. “Some questionable things lately, and they seem to trace back to something that happened last year.”
Mainly their marriage, but she didn’t say that.
“I don’t know if Dr. Farrow threatened your aunt,” Jillian said, “but Hattie wasn’t pleased to see him.”
“She thought he was a fraud.” If Simon had visited in hopes of convincing Hattie to support their marriage, she probably gave him an earful.
“I only saw him once,” Jillian said. “She passed away the next week.”
