Read Online Mud and Gold by Shayne Parkinson - Free Book Online

Frank’s
expression. ‘Is something wrong, Frank? What’s on your mind?’
    ‘I don’t…’ Frank raised his eyes to meet
Arthur’s, and was reassured by the friendly concern he saw there.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ he said in a rush, then looked down
again.
    There was a long silence. ‘I see,’ Arthur
said at last. ‘Well, I needn’t have worried about you two getting
up to mischief, eh? So you’ve never been around the back and
upstairs at the Royal Hotel, then?’
    ‘Where the whores are?’ Frank asked,
shocked. ‘No, never!’
    ‘And a good thing, too,’ Arthur said
quickly. ‘That’s not a fit place for married men to be going—I
wouldn’t like to think of you spending your evenings there. Still,’
he looked thoughtful, ‘it’s not a bad place to find out—no, that’s
enough talk about whores.’ He lapsed into silence once more, until
Frank began to fear that the conversation might be over. Arthur
cleared his throat and started speaking again.
    ‘The most important thing to remember,’ he
said portentously, ‘is to be very gentle with her.’
    ‘Yes, right,’ Frank said, storing Arthur’s
remark away. This was certainly more encouraging than talk of
making women yell.
    ‘Very gentle,’ Arthur repeated. ‘Start off
nice and slow, then just sort of gentle her along a bit.’
    He was becoming disconcertingly vague. ‘Ah,
what exactly should I do?’ Frank asked, desperation overcoming
reticence.
    Arthur seemed reluctant to meet his eyes.
‘Well, you’ve been around animals all your life, Frank. You must
have the general idea.’
    ‘I suppose so,’ Frank said doubtfully.
    ‘And of course you’ve heard the men’s talk
out in the paddocks? That’d tell you a bit, too.’
    Maybe it would if he could understand any of
it. ‘Yes,’ Frank said miserably.
    ‘Right, then. So all you have to do is…
well, you get her into bed with you, then you have a bit of a
cuddle, then you… well, you just do what comes naturally.’
    If only he could be sure it would come
naturally.
    ‘Remembering what I said about being gentle,
of course,’ Arthur added.
    ‘Of course,’ Frank echoed.
    ‘So, you’re all sorted out now. That’s
good.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Frank said, feeling that some
sort of response was expected.
     
    *
     
    Amy saw Frank riding home while she was
carrying a bucket of water up from the well. She waved, but Frank
was obviously too absorbed in his thoughts to look away from the
road in front of him.
    He’s thinking about Lizzie , Amy
thought fondly. He’s going to make her a nice husband. She was
right to pick him. And I thought I was so clever—I used to think
Frank was boring. Serves me right .
    The bucket banged painfully against her leg,
diverting her thoughts from their fruitless course. Carrying
this water’s going to get hard soon, when I start getting big. If I
am having a baby—maybe I’m just really, really late. I don’t know
how long it takes for the bleeding to get regular again . She
did her best to ignore the voice that told her she would have to
face the truth soon.
    A whinny from the horse paddock startled her
as she passed it. ‘Hello, Smokey,’ she called to the grey gelding.
‘Are you a bit lonely in there?’
    Something about the way Smokey tossed his
head did not seem quite right. Amy put down her bucket and walked
over to the paddock. She looked down and saw that the horse had
entangled his front fetlock in a coil of rusting wire lying near
the fence. ‘Oh, poor Smokey, no wonder you’re frightened.’ She
reached through the lower two rails and tried to grasp the twisted
wire, but it was just beyond her reach.
    Smokey tossed his head and snorted
nervously. He stamped his foot, rattling the wire. ‘Stop that,
Smokey—you’ll make it worse. Oh, I’ll have to climb over and
untangle you.’
    Amy started to clamber over the fence,
holding on to a post and careful to avoid the section of the top
rail where the wood had split into two