A Family Secret by Libby Ashworth

Author:Libby Ashworth [Ashworth, Libby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473570702
Publisher: Random House

‘I would like to go back to work,’ Bessie told her when she came in. ‘But Father and the other men have said no, so I can’t defy them.’

‘Tha’s a good lass,’ said Jennet. ‘I think thy father’s mistaken in this. I don’t think yon mill owners will back down.’

‘George says it’s different in America.’

‘George?’ she repeated. ‘That’s a bit forward, our Bessie. I think tha should be referring to him as Mr Anderton and showing a bit of respect!’

‘He asked me to call him George.’

‘Did he indeed?’ She needed to have a word with him, thought Jennet. Things were going to run out of control if she didn’t convince him to end this friendship with her daughter.

‘He’s been very kind to me,’ said Bessie.

‘Well, don’t set too much store by it,’ said Jennet. ‘He’ll be off home soon.’

‘I’m not so sure,’ said Bessie. She sat down at the table and watched Jennet as she ironed shirts.

‘What makes tha say that?’ Jennet was wary and kept her eyes firmly fixed on her work. She hadn’t damaged a single item since the awful incident when she’d burned Mrs Pickering’s blouse when Peggy was ill, and she didn’t want something like that to happen ever again.

‘I think there’s something he wants to ask me.’

‘What makes tha say that?’

‘Well, he doesn’t bother with our Peggy. It’s only ever me.’ She paused and Jennet glanced at her. ‘Mam,’ she said, reaching out a hand to stop Jennet working. ‘I’m worried about what he wants.’

Jennet put the iron down on the hearth and turned to face her daughter. How long could she keep this secret, she wondered. How long would it be before she was forced to confess the whole sorry story to her daughter? She cursed George Anderton for turning up again. There would have been no problem if he’d just stayed in America.

‘I’ve heard about men …’ Bessie was fiddling with the edge of the tablecloth. She looked uncomfortable but Jennet gave her time to have her say. ‘I’ve heard that some older men like younger lasses,’ she said. ‘And he’s a widower. I think he might be looking to get wed again because he keeps telling me about America and how nice it is there. I’m worried he might be planning on proposing to me,’ she confessed.

‘No!’ Jennet couldn’t help herself. She heard the horror in her voice and wished she hadn’t said it like that. ‘No,’ she repeated, trying to sound reassuring this time. ‘He’s not going to ask thee to marry him. Tha need have no worries about that.’

‘How can you be so certain?’ asked Bessie. ‘If that isn’t what he wants, then what?’

‘How dost tha know he wants owt? He’s just being nice.’

‘No, it’s more than that,’ said Bessie. ‘Sometimes I catch him looking at me in an odd sort of way, and it makes me wonder what he’s thinking.’ She looked up at Jennet. ‘Is there something you haven’t told me?’ she asked.

‘Like what?’ asked Jennet, folding the shirts ready to take back to Richmond Terrace.

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