Mother's Gift: Two Classic Novels by Cox Josephine

Author:Cox, Josephine [Josephine Cox]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Part 4

Back to January, 1952

Mary and Ben

Chapter 21

WHILE LUCY SLEPT upstairs, Adam Chives sat by the fire in Knudsden House, his mind going back over the years, and his heart both proud and sad. ‘Barney and your mother lived in that cottage together for more than two years,’ he told Mary, while Ben listened. ‘The doctors had given him a year at the most, but Lucy brought him a degree of peace, and after a time they made a life together.’ He smiled wistfully at the memory, for he had loved Lucy as much as she loved Barney. ‘To this day, she has never stopped loving him.’

‘You were born out of that love, Mary.’ Lucy’s quiet voice filled the room. ‘You’re so much like your father. You have the same beautiful eyes and the same gentle ways.’

‘Lucy!’ Adam was horrified. ‘Dr Nolan said you were to stay in bed.’

‘Nonsense, I’m perfectly all right,’ she argued. ‘There is nothing wrong with me, and I’m far from in my dotage, for heaven’s sake! Doctors don’t know everything. I’ve simply been overdoing it, that’s all.’

Hobbling but determined, she came into the room where she stood beside Adam, her hand resting on his shoulder and her gaze bathing every inch of her daughter’s face. ‘Every time I look at you, I see Barney.’

Adam looked at Mary and he, too, saw Barney in her every feature – softer and more feminine, yes – but strong and handsome too.

‘I was there when you were born,’ Adam said fondly. ‘I waited in the sitting room with your father, while Dr Lucas was upstairs bringing you into the world. When he heard your first cry, Barney went up those stairs like he was born all over again. He took you in his arms and oh, he was such a proud, happy man.’

When Adam laid his hand over Lucy’s, she hardly noticed, though deep down she derived a measure of comfort from his touch.

Deeply moved by everything she had heard, Mary went to Lucy and taking her mother gently over to the armchair, she sat her down. ‘I never knew,’ she said. ‘I never dreamed that was the secret you kept from me all these years.’ She had learned more about her father and her own background in one evening, than in all the years she was growing up. There was so much to think about. The revelation that she had three half-siblings in America, plus the sorrowful knowledge that her half-brother Jamie had died before her, was a huge shock to her system, and she knew that it would take a long, long time to come to terms with everything she had learned tonight.

Lucy was glad that Adam had chosen to tell the truth. ‘It’s been such a burden all this time,’ she admitted now. ‘But I gave my promise, d’you see? I gave my promise and I could never break it.’

Adam reassured her. ‘You didn’t break it,’ he reminded her. ‘It was me who thought Mary should be told.

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