Read Online The Tender Winds of Spring by Joyce Dingwell - Free Book Online Page A

more masterful mood today and his arms round Jo were tighter than she ever remembered.
    ‘I have something to say to you, something I know will please you,’ he announced.
    ‘Please me?’
    ‘It pleases all women. Nature intended the woman to be the homemaker, the heart of family life.’
    ‘What do you mean, Gavin?’
    ‘That waiting time we decided on, Josie—’
    ‘You mean our engagement year?’ It had been Gavin’s decision, Jo recalled.
    ‘Yes. Well, now I want our marriage sooner, much sooner. Having you every day at the office, seeing you frequently as I did, didn’t give me any idea of how much I wanted you just to myself. Josie, I want to shorten the engagement. Indeed, as soon as all this business is over I want us to be married.’ He looked at her triumphantly and waited for her response.
    ‘Gavin, children aren’t just a business,’ Jo said, ‘they’re real. They’re meant.’
    ‘So is my decision that we get married at once. Your absence has upset me very much, dear. I really need you. I’ll let you get through this week; settle whatever has to be settled, and then—’ Gavin kissed her.
    ‘But there’s still the children,’ Jo said pitifully. She loved Gavin, and she did want to get married. At the back of her mind she heard: I know men, and of them I know only one who would be willing —’
    ‘Darling Josie,’ said Gavin, breaking into her thoughts, ‘I want you, not a family of children. Look, dear, if they were yours, though it’s very unlikely that I would ever have looked at you with children, it would be different. But they’re not. They’re nothing to you. I love you, my dear, and I want to marry you, not three children I scarcely know.’
    ‘No, Gavin.’
    It went on for an hour or more. At the end of the time, Gavin said: ‘All right, it’s unfair, it’s unreasonable, but the fact remains that I do love you. I’m prepared, then, Josie, to take over the responsibility of one child. We can always put it in a school.’
    ‘One?’ Jo did not think about the school part yet.
    ‘Josie, be fair. I’m a young man, an ambitious young man. I adore you. You couldn’t, indeed, no woman could ask for more than that.’
    ‘No, no, I suppose not.’
    ‘Then your answer, my love?’
    ‘I—I still don’t know.’
    ‘You don’t know which child, you mean? Well, it’s difficult, I agree. Offhand I would say the boy. Every man wants a son. But on the other hand girls are usually easier to manage, and also I was rather hoping that you would provide our son yourself. Which leaves us with the girls. Which girl? The smaller one, who obviously because of her tender years would be able to be brought up our way, or the older, quite a presentable child, indeed moderately pretty?’
    ‘Gavin, I—’
    ‘Yes, dear?’
    ‘Gavin, I have a headache.’ She hadn’t, but she could think of nothing else to say.
    ‘Then I’m going to give you the rest of the week to come to a decision,’ Gavin said magnanimously. ‘You must admit that at least I’ve been wonderfully fair with you.’
    ‘You have been wonderfully fair, Gavin.’
    ‘Then I’ll leave you to think it over. Think over the fact that I’m perfectly willing to accept one of these unfortunate children.’
    ‘If the welfare authorities permit.’
    ‘My dear,’ said Gavin shocked, ‘there would be no question about that. The only stipulation required of a person of my standing would be a wife, and though it’s not all exactly as we planned, it could turn out fairly satisfactory. So, my dear, I leave you to make your decision. That surely is proof of my deep love for you. Not only will I accept a child, I will leave it to you to choose which child. You must admit I’ve been most generous, Josie.’
    ‘You have, Gavin, oh, you have!’
    ‘Then I’ll go back to town and re-open the office. It can’t have helped me having it shut like this. Goodbye, my dear. I expect to see a different girl in a week’s time. And