Read Online The Girl by the River by Sheila Jeffries - Free Book Online Page B

was too big for the pram now and Annie had strapped the covers down to keep her in there. Tessa was crying, and hiccupping, and coughing, and she had made herself sick. She looked up at Freddie
like a drowning cat. ‘Now then – what’s all this about? Eh?’ Freddie undid the straps and picked up the distraught child with his quiet hands. ‘There. Daddy’s
got you. Now you quieten down.’
    ‘I’m so sorry.’ Kate was obviously burning with embarrassment. She tried to see the funny side of it. ‘So much for my beautiful daughter,’ she joked. But no one
laughed.
    ‘Don’t you worry, Kate. I’ll see Annie home,’ said Joan. ‘It must have been a huge effort for her to come up here.’ She trotted after the retreating figure of
Annie who was somehow managing to make even the back of her head look angry.
    Freddie carried Tessa through the crowd, across the churchyard and under the whispering shade of the elm trees. He felt her simmering down as she listened to his slow heartbeat, his rumbly
voice, and the soothing rhythm of his footsteps.
    ‘Now I’m gonna tell you something,’ he said, sitting down on a bench made from railway sleepers. He watched Tessa’s eyes opening wider, brightening as she started back at
him, quiet now, her breathing settling. ‘I love you,’ Freddie told her. ‘A lot. And I love these elm trees; they’re my favourite trees. They’ve been here for hundreds
and hundreds of years, and my old Granny Barcussy used to tell me elm trees were the guardians of the spirit. They shelter us from the wind and the hot sun, and they make deeper, cooler shade than
any other tree. They’re the tallest trees in England, and lots of wild creatures live in them.’ He paused and saw that Tessa was listening intently to his story, her pale blue eyes
slowly filling with light. He showed her a tortoiseshell butterfly. ‘That butterfly – see? – she lays her eggs in an elm tree – and way up there in the branches there are
birds’ nests, and a hole where the woodpecker lives. And . . .’ he lowered his voice to a whisper, ‘it’s said that the elves live in elm trees – and they’re
magic.’
    Tessa was smiling now, and to Freddie it was an immensely satisfying time for him, sharing magic with this little person who was gazing at him raptly, hungry for every word. ‘Now if you
come here at night,’ he continued, ‘and sit under an elm tree with a torch, you can see the elves’ eyes shining like stars, they say – but I know different –
it’s the eyes of moths that are shining, and some of them are orange – like your orange juice, see?’ Tessa squealed in delight. Freddie touched her face and her skin was cool
again, the way it should be.
    Kate was walking over to him with Lucy skipping beside her.
    ‘Thank you, Freddie. I’m so grateful,’ she said. ‘It was embarrassing, wasn’t it? Humiliating.’
    Freddie shook his head. ‘Not to me,’ he said. ‘I’d rather be here, under an elm tree, with our little Tessa than at any posh wedding. My church is out here, under the elm
trees, if you can understand that, Kate.’
    ‘Oh – I can.’
    ‘And – I know you want to go to the reception – so you go with Lucy. Just bring me a slice of cake. I’ll take Tessa home when we’ve finished looking at the elm
trees.’
    ‘I don’t know how you calm her down,’ Kate said, ‘it’s like magic.’
    ‘’Tis simple,’ Freddie said. ‘I talk to her as if she’s grown up – and she will be. In a few years, she’ll be a beautiful little girl like Lucy.
We’ve just got to believe in her, Kate.’
    A few weeks later, Freddie came home for his mid-morning cup of tea, and was not best pleased to see Ian Tillerman’s Daimler parked outside. He debated whether or not to
get back in his lorry and drive on, but a strong territorial instinct sent him into the kitchen where Ian Tillerman was sprawled in the best chair, his beefy legs clad in breeches and brown