Read Online The Favourite Child by Freda Lightfoot - Free Book Online Page A

See how proudly she walks by his side, just as if she’s been waiting for this moment all her life.’ Tears thickened in her throat to see the couple’s evident happiness and for a moment Bella envied them.
    ‘I just wish I knew a bit more about her.’
    ‘What is there to know? Stop worrying,’ And kissing her father on his whiskered cheek, pushed him gently in the direction of the door. ‘Go on. Get on with your paperwork, or read the Manchester Chronicle , whatever it is you do in that study of yours. Everything will work out fine, you’ll see.’
    ‘I hope you’re right,’ was all Simeon said, looking anxious. ‘But we’ll soon find out either way, I dare say.’
    They found out the following morning when Edward stood before his parents, the one ashen-faced, the other beetroot red with fury, and calmly informed them that he had indeed asked Jinnie to marry him and that she had accepted. Furthermore, since he was of age, there was nothing they could do about the matter.
    ‘I have no wish for my wedding to be a hole-in-the-corner affair,’ he continued, standing firm. ‘You wanted me to wed Mother so, ever the obedient son, I mean to do so.’
    As Emily made little choking noises, Simeon patted his wife’s heaving shoulders and faced his son with a barely contained anger. ‘I’ve never heard anything so stupid in all my life. Apart from any other reason, the lass is too young. Barely sixteen. I’ll not have you throw away everything we’ve worked for all our lives. A good future for you in the mill. A place in society. All you could rightly expect from life for some young chit.’
    ‘All you expected of me,’ Edward corrected Simeon but his face too was pale and drawn with tension.
    It was clear to Bella that the question of Jinnie’s age had never entered her brother’s head and she went to give his arm a comforting squeeze. ‘Pa does have a point. She’s little more than a child and you’ve known her only a few short weeks. Why don’t you allow more time to get to know each other a little better.’
    ‘That’s the ticket,’ Simeon agreed, snatching at the possibility of a postponement at least. ‘You both need time to know your own minds.’
    ‘I don’t need time . I know my own mind well enough.’ Edward’s pale, lean face took on a hunted expression and Bella s heart ached for him.
    ‘I’m sure you do,’ she hastily put in, throwing her father a fierce glance to silence him. ‘But this is all new to Jinnie. She needs time to adjust, to grow up a little. At sixteen she doesn’t even know who she is yet, let alone what she wants from life. It’s our duty and responsibility to help her to find employment, get strong and healthy, make her way in the world.’
    ‘You mean in our world.’
    ‘That’s not entirely what I meant but it’s true that you and Jinnie do come from hugely different backgrounds. Get engaged if you must, but the wedding should wait until she’s older. Two years might be about right.’
    ‘ Two years !’
    Ignoring his protest Bella pressed on. ‘If Mother would agree, we could let her make a home with us, see that she is safe and well. It could be by way of a trial, or experiment: to give Jinnie time to mature a little as well as to make sure that you are both compatible. Marriage is for life after all.’
    ‘Quite so.’ This from Emily who appeared strangely calm. While Simeon stood in his favourite position by the empty grate, hands behind his back, rocking on his heels as if at any moment he might catapult across the room and punch his son on the chin; Emily surprised them all by agreeing without protest to what she would otherwise have considered an outrageous suggestion. Perhaps because she believed two years would be ample time for her son to grow tired of this capricious notion.
    Edward, however, was not appeased. ‘I think it would be presumptuous. I don’t need any - experiment - to know that I’m in love with Jinnie and want her for my