Love and Mary Ann by Catherine Cookson

Author:Catherine Cookson [Cookson, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780360782
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Bob Quinton’s head was bowed and his lids lowered and his face had a sad look and Mary Ann found that she was liking him. She refrained from referring to the other point of the triangle, that of Mike and his supposed infatuation for Mrs Quinton, for reason told her that if Mr Quinton went back to his wife that would put paid to her da. Mr Quinton couldn’t know anything about this part and what you didn’t know couldn’t do you any harm. That was Mrs McBride’s saying. Even as bad as she knew her granny to be, she didn’t think she was bad enough to go and tell him what had taken place on Sunday. So surely it was better to let some sleeping dogs lie while rousing others, so she said, ‘Me ma’s so proud of me da because he’s got such a fine job and Mr Lord thinks the world of him, and he’s steady now and everything’s going fine, and—’

‘Mary Ann.’ Bob was holding her hands tightly. ‘Say no more. I understand, and everything is going to go as you want it with your…your ma and da. You take that from me.’

She stared into his face for a moment before filling her narrow chest with air, and then she smiled and said soberly, ‘You won’t tell me ma that I’ve been, will you?’

‘Don’t worry, Mary Ann, no-one shall know about this visit, only you and me.’ He touched her cheek now, saying gently, ‘Don’t worry your head any more, everything’s going to be all right.’

There was no need to stay any longer. She rose from the chair and, picking up her basket, she made her way to the door. When Bob had opened it for her he put his hand into his inside pocket and, taking out his wallet and extracting a pound note, he handed it to her, saying, ‘That’s for your birthday, buy something.’

‘Eeh, no! No, thank you, Mr Quinton.’

‘Go on, don’t be silly.’

‘But where would I say I got it?’ She was staring up into his face now, wide-eyed. ‘I would have to tell me ma who I’d got it from.’

The pound note fluttering in his fingers, Bob smiled wryly as he said, ‘You think of everything, Mary Ann.’

Mary Ann now returned his wry smile; then after a moment of quick thinking she extended him a tentative invitation, saying, ‘But if you came to my party it would be all right for me to have it then. You could just drop in as if…well, as if…’

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