Hold the Dream by Barbara Taylor Bradford

Author:Barbara Taylor Bradford
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780007363698
Publisher: Chivers Press
Published: 1985-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

‘John Crawford offered to explain the procedure in a coroner’s court,’ Daisy said, looking from Edwina to Anthony. ‘He feels it will help us to be more relaxed about the inquest.’

Anthony said, ‘It certainly would, Aunty Daisy.’ He stood up. ‘I’ll go and fetch Bridget. I think she ought to hear what your family solicitor has to say. Excuse me, I won’t be a moment.’

As he left the library, Daisy rose and joined Edwina on the sofa. She took her half-sister’s hand in hers and squeezed it, looking deeply into her care-worn face. ‘Try not to worry, Edwina. In a few hours this tragedy will be behind us. We must go on, you know, endeavour to get on with our lives as best we can.’

‘Yes, Daisy, and thank you for your concern. I’ll be all right,’ Edwina murmured in a tired voice. The last few days of anxiety and strain had taken their toll, and she looked exhausted, near total collapse. The black dress she had chosen to wear, stark and unrelieved by jewellery or any accent colour, did nothing to enhance her appearance. It appeared to drain what bit of colour she had from her face, emphasizing her pallor more than ever. She looked ill, and her age showed pronouncedly this morning.

Gratitude suddenly flickered in Edwina’s silvery-grey eyes as she added quietly, ‘I don’t know what I would have done without you and Jim. Where is he, Daisy?’

‘Right now he’s on the phone to Paula, and I believe he has a few calls to make to people on the paper. But he’ll join us as soon as he’s finished. It’s not really essential for him to be briefed. He knows the inner workings of a coroner’s court since he used to cover inquests in his early days as a reporter.’

‘Oh yes, of course, he would understand about those things.’ Edwina shifted her glance to the clock on the mantelpiece at the other side of the handsome panelled room. ‘It’s almost eight-thirty. We’ll have to leave soon to drive into Cork. It’ll take us well over an hour, perhaps an hour and a half, you know.’

Detecting the nervousness and panic in Edwina’s voice, Daisy said reassuringly, ‘We’ve plenty of time. The inquest is set for eleven, and this session with John won’t take very long. He said he could cover the important points in about ten minutes. After that we can start out, drive in at a leisurely pace. Do stay calm, my dear.’

‘I’m fine, really. Just a little tired. I didn’t sleep very well.’

‘I don’t think any of us did,’ Daisy said with a slight smile. ‘I’m going to have another cup of coffee. Would you like one?’

‘No, thank you, Daisy.’ Edwina sat rigidly on the sofa, twisting her hands in her lap, her chest tight with apprehension. For four days and nights she had lived with this terrible fear for her son. She could not wait to go to the county court, to get the inquest over and done with, so that the cloud surrounding him would be lifted finally.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.