Read Online Ragamuffin Angel by Rita Bradshaw - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rita Bradshaw
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cottage warming up. But if it wasn’t for the young lad standing here there’d be no fire in the hearth and no food on the table. Mind you, he’d been part of this trouble that had come upon them, although – and she glanced at Dan now – he was of a different stamp to the rest of them fiends. Beneath that lanky, gangling exterior he was nowt but a stripling.
When Doctor Turnbull shut the bedroom door in order to examine his patient it was this last thought of Peggy’s that made her say, her voice low, ‘Look, lad, don’t think I’m not grateful for you helpin’ our Connie the day, an’ for takin’ the trouble to come, an’ for the coal an’ food an’ all, but them brothers of yours will take it out of your hide if they know you’ve come here.’
‘Art wouldn’t,’ said Dan uncomfortably, aware of Connie’s eyes tight on him as she stood, still holding the toddler balanced on her small hip, just outside the bedroom door. The bairn didn’t like him but then who could blame her? he reasoned silently. ‘I discussed it with him yesterday and he understood.’
‘Well I dunno about that, lad, but that little one – John, is it? -now he’s right dangerous if you ask me, an’ we’ve enough on our plate without havin’ another visit from the likes of him, an’ that’s what it’d mean if he found out you’d been consortin’ with Jacob’s other family.’
Jacob’s other family. Dan stared at the old woman. He had never thought of them in that light but that’s clearly what they considered they were.
‘So’s it’s best all round if you don’t let on about all this an’ you don’t come back. I don’t want the bairns hurt.’
‘John wouldn’t –’ Dan stopped abruptly, shocked to discover that he couldn’t say, in all honesty, that he was sure his brother wouldn’t hurt Sadie Bell’s children. His mouth was slightly agape and after closing it he swallowed twice before saying quietly, as though to himself, ‘I don’t understand how all this has happened. Everything, everyone, has changed.’
‘I don’t think anyone’s changed, lad. It’s just that life has a way of bringin’ the scum to the surface.’
They said nothing more until Doctor Turnbull left the bedroom two or three minutes later. After placing a large bottle of medicine on the mantelpiece with instructions that Sadie be given a dose every four hours, he carefully lifted the tiny bundle from the drawer and made his goodbyes.
Dan followed the doctor to the door, but turned on the threshold and looked at Peggy again. ‘I’ll see to his bill.’
‘Aye, all right, lad.’ She didn’t thank him and Dan did not expect her to, but they both knew that because of the things of which they had spoken, this was, of necessity, his last visit to the house in the wood.
‘Goodbye, Connie.’ When Dan transferred his gaze to the child he saw her small chin lift slightly and the rose-bud lips tauten, but she said nothing, merely eyeing him with a hostility which was more than a little daunting in so young a child. But he had seen the dart of anguish crumple her face when the doctor had picked up the body of the baby and the movement – instantly checked – that she had made towards the man.
He stared at her for a moment more, his heart going out to her, and she stared back, not giving an inch, and then he turned, stepping out into the bleak cold world outside, and shut the cottage door behind him.
Chapter Four
‘Mam, I know exactly what you’re sayin’, ’course I do, but we don’t have any choice. Surely you see that?’
‘What I see is that you might bring that madman down on our heads agen an’ that won’t help us or Jacob.’
‘Larry is Jacob’s child an’ he knows that, an’ if I have to create a scene the like of which they’ve never seen before I shall make sure I see him, however ill he is. I have to see him, Mam –’ Sadie stopped abruptly, her
When Doctor Turnbull shut the bedroom door in order to examine his patient it was this last thought of Peggy’s that made her say, her voice low, ‘Look, lad, don’t think I’m not grateful for you helpin’ our Connie the day, an’ for takin’ the trouble to come, an’ for the coal an’ food an’ all, but them brothers of yours will take it out of your hide if they know you’ve come here.’
‘Art wouldn’t,’ said Dan uncomfortably, aware of Connie’s eyes tight on him as she stood, still holding the toddler balanced on her small hip, just outside the bedroom door. The bairn didn’t like him but then who could blame her? he reasoned silently. ‘I discussed it with him yesterday and he understood.’
‘Well I dunno about that, lad, but that little one – John, is it? -now he’s right dangerous if you ask me, an’ we’ve enough on our plate without havin’ another visit from the likes of him, an’ that’s what it’d mean if he found out you’d been consortin’ with Jacob’s other family.’
Jacob’s other family. Dan stared at the old woman. He had never thought of them in that light but that’s clearly what they considered they were.
‘So’s it’s best all round if you don’t let on about all this an’ you don’t come back. I don’t want the bairns hurt.’
‘John wouldn’t –’ Dan stopped abruptly, shocked to discover that he couldn’t say, in all honesty, that he was sure his brother wouldn’t hurt Sadie Bell’s children. His mouth was slightly agape and after closing it he swallowed twice before saying quietly, as though to himself, ‘I don’t understand how all this has happened. Everything, everyone, has changed.’
‘I don’t think anyone’s changed, lad. It’s just that life has a way of bringin’ the scum to the surface.’
They said nothing more until Doctor Turnbull left the bedroom two or three minutes later. After placing a large bottle of medicine on the mantelpiece with instructions that Sadie be given a dose every four hours, he carefully lifted the tiny bundle from the drawer and made his goodbyes.
Dan followed the doctor to the door, but turned on the threshold and looked at Peggy again. ‘I’ll see to his bill.’
‘Aye, all right, lad.’ She didn’t thank him and Dan did not expect her to, but they both knew that because of the things of which they had spoken, this was, of necessity, his last visit to the house in the wood.
‘Goodbye, Connie.’ When Dan transferred his gaze to the child he saw her small chin lift slightly and the rose-bud lips tauten, but she said nothing, merely eyeing him with a hostility which was more than a little daunting in so young a child. But he had seen the dart of anguish crumple her face when the doctor had picked up the body of the baby and the movement – instantly checked – that she had made towards the man.
He stared at her for a moment more, his heart going out to her, and she stared back, not giving an inch, and then he turned, stepping out into the bleak cold world outside, and shut the cottage door behind him.
Chapter Four
‘Mam, I know exactly what you’re sayin’, ’course I do, but we don’t have any choice. Surely you see that?’
‘What I see is that you might bring that madman down on our heads agen an’ that won’t help us or Jacob.’
‘Larry is Jacob’s child an’ he knows that, an’ if I have to create a scene the like of which they’ve never seen before I shall make sure I see him, however ill he is. I have to see him, Mam –’ Sadie stopped abruptly, her
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