Read Online Nell by Jeanette Baker - Free Book Online

couldn’t take her eyes off his face. Passion blazed within him as if it were a living thing. She didn’t understand what any of it had to do with the two of them, but she knew that it mattered desperately to him. “I won’t tell anyone,” she whispered. “I promise I won’t tell anyone until you want me to.”
    Frankie sighed and dropped his arms to his sides. Suddenly, he felt exhausted. She brought out emotions in him that he didn’t know existed. Truthfully, he didn’t know how he felt about Jillian Fitzgerald. He enjoyed her conversation. She made him smile with her constant barrage of questions. The first day he met her when she’d carried the dying collie into the kennel, and the next when she threw herself at her own brother in an attempt to defend him, Frankie knew she was out of the ordinary. But none of that accounted for the sick feeling in his stomach when she struggled against tears or the fierce anger that pooled in his chest that day in the village when Tommy Dougherty made fun of her.
    â€œThank you for the biscuits,” he said slowly. “I’ve got t’ get back. If y’re lucky, Nell might still be there.”
    â€œShe said she would wait,” Jilly said confidently. “Nell always does what she says.”
    â€œShe must be a very loyal friend.”
    Jilly nodded. “I wish you could see her, Frankie.”
    He whistled for the dogs. “I’ll be at the kennel if she can spare a minute.”
    â€œShe can come to the kennel, but you won’t be able to see her,” Jilly explained as they walked side by side. “No one has ever seen her but me.”
    Startled, Frankie glanced at her. She stared straight ahead, refusing him all but her stoic profile. Poor little lass, he thought. She was so starved for friendship that she’d created an imaginary person. Reaching across the space that divided them, he took her hand in his own and kept it all the way to Kildare Hall.
    ***
    â€œJillian, this is ridiculous,” said her mother. “I can’t possibly allow it. Francis Maguire wouldn’t be at all comfortable at your birthday party.”
    Jilly thrust out her lower lip. “If I can’t have who I want, then I won’t have a party at all.”
    â€œPyers,” his wife appealed to him, “explain to your daughter why this just won’t do.”
    â€œShe’s my daughter now, is she?”
    â€œPyers, please.”
    â€œMum’s right, Jilly. Frankie’s too big to come to your party. The chaps in the village will never let him live it down.”
    â€œIf he doesn’t want to come, I won’t make him. But he’s my friend, and it isn’t polite not to ask him.”
    Pyers Fitzgerald stretched out his legs and leaned back in the comfortable recliner that had been delivered that morning. “She’s got a point, Margaret. Manners and all. Wouldn’t do to offend anyone.”
    â€œGood gracious, Pyers.” Margaret walked to the tea tray and poured herself another cup with a shaking hand. “He’s a servant, or as good as one. How would it look to invite the kennel keeper’s son and not the children of everyone else in service to us?”
    Pyers looked across the room at his daughter. “What have you got to say to that, love?”
    â€œFrankie is my friend. Although we should probably ask Jimmy Brannigan. He’s my friend, too, even though I don’t care for him as much as Frankie.”
    â€œJimmy Brannigan?” Margaret’s teacup was suspended halfway to her mouth. “Who on earth is Jimmy Brannigan?”
    â€œMr. Brannigan cuts our turf and brings it around to the kitchen on Mondays,” Jilly replied. “Jimmy throws the ball with me.”
    Margaret’s cheeks were very pink. “This is what comes from keeping us isolated in the country all year long, Pyers. How can the child possibly meet