Read Online The Girl by the River by Sheila Jeffries - Free Book Online
Authors: Sheila Jeffries
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illness.
‘I’m still your golden bird, Daddy,’ Kate said, and felt an overwhelming need to weep the tears of grief that she’d never allowed. ‘I hope I am,’ she whispered.
Her father had named her Oriole Kate, after a rare golden oriole had appeared in the garden on the day she was born. Just before he died, her parents had hoped to move back home to Hilbegut, into a
lovely cottage close to the farm where Kate and Ethie had grown up. Sally had been devastated and had chosen to stay in Gloucestershire to be close to Bertie and Ethie’s graves.
I wish Mum
was at Hilbegut
, Kate thought sadly.
I could go on the bus, and take Lucy. She’d love to walk down through the copper beeches with me, and see the old court.
More sadness. The
magnificent Hilbegut Court was now an abandoned ruin.
Stop it
! Kate thought.
Stop being morbid on the day of Susan’s wedding!
The truth was that any romantic occasion triggered the tears in Kate. Tears she’d never permitted herself to cry. It was happening now, that huge ache in her throat. Could she really stand
in church and watch Susan pledging her life to Ian Tillerman? When she knew only too well what Ian was like. Susan was sweet and vulnerable. She’d kowtow to Ian and pretty soon those stars in
her eyes would go out, probably for ever.
Kate stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She saw a curvy young woman with wavy black hair and bright brown eyes. ‘You get a hold of yourself, girl,’ she told herself, and
pasted a smile on her face. The smile said, ‘I am in control of my life. I can manage Tessa. I can cope with Annie. And I’m going to enjoy Susan’s wedding. Even if I am the only
woman there without her husband.’ She smoothed Freddie’s suit with her hand, and gave it a hug.
Moments later, the ache of tears surged in her throat yet again when she glanced out of the window and saw Freddie getting out of his lorry. Kate flew down the stairs.
Worn out and covered in sawdust, Freddie looked sombre and nervous. But all Kate saw were his blue eyes coming in the door, lighting up with love as he saw her in her red dress. His eyes said
everything. They said he wanted to peel that dress off her and take her to bed with tenderness and passion. They said he’d come home from the war, the war within his mind, the Ian Tillerman
war. But his mouth said, ‘I hit a rabbit up on the road to Tarbuts.’
‘Did you dear?’ Kate looked puzzled. She waited. ‘It – made me think – I ought to go with you.’
Kate’s mood lifted. ‘You’ll have to be quick then, Freddie.’ Giggling, she bundled him upstairs and pushed him into the bathroom. ‘You need a wash.’
‘Me hands are full of splinters,’ Freddie said, ‘and oily. I can’t shake hands with anyone.’
Freddie felt proud as he walked down the road in the hot sunshine with Kate swanning along beside him. He thought she looked like a film star in her ‘sixpenny hat’.
‘Don’t you dare tell anyone where I got it,’ she’d said, and her eyes flashed up at him mischievously. ‘Let them think I’ve been up to London and bought it from
Harrods.’
His first glimpse of Ian Tillerman was a surprise. Standing in the front pew, Ian looked smaller than Freddie’s image of him. He was slightly tubby and had a bald patch at the back of his
head.
When the music started, the heads turned to watch four-year-old Lucy in her yellow dress parading ahead of the bride, her little face radiant and confident. She glanced up at Freddie with a
beguiling smile, so like Kate, heart-stopping. The air shimmered around her and around Susan in her rustling taffeta dress and veil, a bunch of cream lilies and the pinkest of roses in her hand.
Mesmerised, Freddie stared at the golden light around them and realised he was seeing his daughter’s beautiful aura. It stirred a memory of the spiritual visions he’d had in his youth.
Would they come again? He gazed around the church, half expecting to see an
‘I’m still your golden bird, Daddy,’ Kate said, and felt an overwhelming need to weep the tears of grief that she’d never allowed. ‘I hope I am,’ she whispered.
Her father had named her Oriole Kate, after a rare golden oriole had appeared in the garden on the day she was born. Just before he died, her parents had hoped to move back home to Hilbegut, into a
lovely cottage close to the farm where Kate and Ethie had grown up. Sally had been devastated and had chosen to stay in Gloucestershire to be close to Bertie and Ethie’s graves.
I wish Mum
was at Hilbegut
, Kate thought sadly.
I could go on the bus, and take Lucy. She’d love to walk down through the copper beeches with me, and see the old court.
More sadness. The
magnificent Hilbegut Court was now an abandoned ruin.
Stop it
! Kate thought.
Stop being morbid on the day of Susan’s wedding!
The truth was that any romantic occasion triggered the tears in Kate. Tears she’d never permitted herself to cry. It was happening now, that huge ache in her throat. Could she really stand
in church and watch Susan pledging her life to Ian Tillerman? When she knew only too well what Ian was like. Susan was sweet and vulnerable. She’d kowtow to Ian and pretty soon those stars in
her eyes would go out, probably for ever.
Kate stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She saw a curvy young woman with wavy black hair and bright brown eyes. ‘You get a hold of yourself, girl,’ she told herself, and
pasted a smile on her face. The smile said, ‘I am in control of my life. I can manage Tessa. I can cope with Annie. And I’m going to enjoy Susan’s wedding. Even if I am the only
woman there without her husband.’ She smoothed Freddie’s suit with her hand, and gave it a hug.
Moments later, the ache of tears surged in her throat yet again when she glanced out of the window and saw Freddie getting out of his lorry. Kate flew down the stairs.
Worn out and covered in sawdust, Freddie looked sombre and nervous. But all Kate saw were his blue eyes coming in the door, lighting up with love as he saw her in her red dress. His eyes said
everything. They said he wanted to peel that dress off her and take her to bed with tenderness and passion. They said he’d come home from the war, the war within his mind, the Ian Tillerman
war. But his mouth said, ‘I hit a rabbit up on the road to Tarbuts.’
‘Did you dear?’ Kate looked puzzled. She waited. ‘It – made me think – I ought to go with you.’
Kate’s mood lifted. ‘You’ll have to be quick then, Freddie.’ Giggling, she bundled him upstairs and pushed him into the bathroom. ‘You need a wash.’
‘Me hands are full of splinters,’ Freddie said, ‘and oily. I can’t shake hands with anyone.’
Freddie felt proud as he walked down the road in the hot sunshine with Kate swanning along beside him. He thought she looked like a film star in her ‘sixpenny hat’.
‘Don’t you dare tell anyone where I got it,’ she’d said, and her eyes flashed up at him mischievously. ‘Let them think I’ve been up to London and bought it from
Harrods.’
His first glimpse of Ian Tillerman was a surprise. Standing in the front pew, Ian looked smaller than Freddie’s image of him. He was slightly tubby and had a bald patch at the back of his
head.
When the music started, the heads turned to watch four-year-old Lucy in her yellow dress parading ahead of the bride, her little face radiant and confident. She glanced up at Freddie with a
beguiling smile, so like Kate, heart-stopping. The air shimmered around her and around Susan in her rustling taffeta dress and veil, a bunch of cream lilies and the pinkest of roses in her hand.
Mesmerised, Freddie stared at the golden light around them and realised he was seeing his daughter’s beautiful aura. It stirred a memory of the spiritual visions he’d had in his youth.
Would they come again? He gazed around the church, half expecting to see an
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