Read Online Born to Trouble by Rita Bradshaw - Free Book Online Page A

stared at him. He didn’t fool her. She’d seen the way he looked at Pearl – fair licked his lips, he did. For a moment resentment burned, deep and bitter, and then she told herself it didn’t matter. Mr F had paid a small fortune for the lass tonight, and although she might not get that much again, her being broken in now, there would still be men who liked them young who would pay plenty.
    ‘I’ll be off then.’ Leonard picked up his hat and gloves from where he had left them on a kitchen chair on entering the house earlier. Even on the hottest day he wore gloves as his position in life demanded.
    Kitty had sat down again, reaching for the gin bottle. ‘Aye, so long.’
    Leonard had been gone some time before Kitty rose, draining the glass and smacking her lips. She hadn’t known how long Leonard would expect to stay and so she hadn’t arranged to meet Cissy or see another customer. Her thoughts on the money Leonard had left with Pearl, she opened the door to the front room. Her daughter was curled in the middle of the bed with the sheet round her, and in spite of the humid night Pearl was shivering convulsively.
    Kitty looked at her with dispassionate eyes. ‘Get off there, you’ll stain the mattress,’ was all she said.
    Pearl opened her eyes. ‘I hurt.’
    ‘Aye, we all hurt the first time, but you’ll live.’ She came closer to the bed and it was then she registered the amount of blood Pearl had lost. Damn that Leonard, she thought irritably. He’d clearly been brutal. She’d been hoping Pearl would be able to accommodate another punter she’d got in mind for her tomorrow, but if she was too badly torn he’d have to wait for a few more days. ‘Where’s my money?’ she said testily, before catching sight of a number of notes scattered on the floor where they had fluttered when Pearl had pulled the sheet round her.
    She went down on her hands and knees and retrieved the notes, stuffing them in the pocket of her serge skirt as she stood up. ‘Did you hear me?’ she said to the small mound on the bed. ‘I said get up.’
    Pearl sat up, blinking through swollen eyelids. ‘Did you know?’
    ‘Know?’
    ‘What he was going to do to me?’
    Kitty put her hands on her hips. ‘’Course I knew. It had to happen some time or other, didn’t it? And far better we got a good price for it than you giving it away to some lad or other who took your eye in a few years. There’s some men who like bairns, that’s just the way of it, and once you’ve turned fifteen or sixteen they’ll lose interest.’ She turned away ‘There’s some warm water in the kettle. Clean yourself up and get to bed, and we’ll see if you’re fit to look after another gentleman I know tomorrow.’
    Pearl was all eyes as she stared at her mother, her hair a cloud about her white face. The shock and anguish Kitty’s words had caused overrode everything, even the pain between her legs. ‘I – I can’t, Mam. I can’t. Please . . .’
    Kitty turned at the door. ‘You can and you will, girl. Make no mistake about that.’
    ‘Please, Mam—’
    Kitty inclined her head impatiently. ‘And none of your dramatics, they won’t wash with me.’ So saying, she opened the door and Pearl heard her footsteps going upstairs, and then the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing.
    How long she sat there before she could find the strength to move Pearl didn’t know, but when she hitched herself off the bed still wrapped in the sheet and saw the red stain on the flock mattress, she gave a little whimper of distress. Her mam would go mad if she came down and saw that.
    Stumbling about the room, she picked up her scattered clothes. She had to sit down for a while before she could dress herself; when the faintness receded she pulled her cotton dress over her head only to find every button had been ripped off the bodice. Her shift was torn beyond repair, as were her drawers.
    Once in the kitchen, she filled a bowl with water and found