The Captain's Daughter by Leah Fleming

Author:Leah Fleming [Fleming, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780857203434
Google: WP-U8AtpmDgC
Amazon: B006CJNKH8
Barnesnoble: B006CJNKH8
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2012-01-19T07:00:00+00:00

69

May was dog tired. It was a warm day, the marketplace was bustling and Selwyn was in one of his difficult moods. He’d been fettling up one of his motor bikes in the kitchen.

‘Get that oily rag off the table, Mr Forester, this is not a garage,’ she’d blasted in anger, seeing the mess on the floor.

‘Stop fussing, woman!’ he’d said. ‘It’s like Piccadilly Circus most days. Give me some peace.’

It was going to be one of his bad days. She could read him like a book. Once he’d had a pint or three in the Earl of Lichfield he’d start to spout rubbish about the government: the lack of homes for heroes, the state of the country. The more he drank the more angry and argumentative he became. It took courage for her to walk into that public house on her own to tell him it was time to shift his bum off the stool. She hated the smell of those sawdust and spittoon places, the stench of tobacco smoke and stale beer, and she hated that glazed look in his sad eyes.

She wasn’t cross with him inside, sensing his grief and pain and something of the world he’d lost. He’d never gone back into the lawyer’s office in Birmingham. She often caught him staring into the field, watching his old horses grazing.

‘I’ve been put out to grass like them, useless old bugger,’ he’d mutter.

‘What do you make of that McAdam chappie who came for luncheon on Sunday?’ he’d asked May that hot morning. ‘Looks sound enough to me. He seems pretty keen on my sister. Not sure she’s a good judge of men, though.’

May liked Archie McAdam. He had a way with the children, and Roddy hung on his every word. Roddy was now a weekly boarder at Denstone College. Celeste wrote to this young man and had told May how they’d met on the ship home.

‘You never risked going down the aisle then?’ May had asked, knowing a man like Selwyn would be hell to live with in his moods though he was handsome in his own way, especially now the burns on his face had finally healed over

‘Who’d have me? I can’t even hold down a job. Why would I want to bring children into this lousy world?’

‘That’s me told then,’ she’d replied, folding her arms. He’d looked down at her and laughed.

‘That’s what I like about you, lots of northern fury. Roddy and Ella are fine specimens; you can be proud of your daughter. You’re not a bad looker yourself if you like feisty argumentative types.’

‘Is that supposed to be a compliment, sir?’ she’d mocked.

‘Please yourself, but kindly leave me to my sulks in peace.’

They had a repartee, a banter, a funny sort of friendship that unsettled her sometimes and left her wanting more.

It was over a year since her return to Red House and she couldn’t fathom him. He was distant one minute, talkative the next, as if he trusted her to keep his confidences.

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.