A Rose Among Thorns by Rosie Goodwin

Author:Rosie Goodwin [Goodwin, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC008000
ISBN: 9780755342303
Publisher: CB Creative Books
Published: 2012-12-14T05:00:00+00:00

For the first time in many a long year, as Coton Church bells joyously pealed to welcome in the New Year of 1881, the doors of the Jolly Colliers Inn remained firmly shut. There was no one within who felt like celebrating anything at all. The odd merrymaker who passed silently crossed themselves and bowed their heads to the darkened windows as a mark of respect. News had spread quickly through the local community of Thomas’s bereavement, and the death of their unborn child too made Elbe’s passing even more tragic.

Since the day her daughter-in-law had been pulled from the canal, Clara had seen the inside of her own little cottage only once — and then it was only to collect some clothes. She had barely set foot outside the inn, apart from taking Florica for walks, and had been kept busy seeing to the needs of Thomas and her granddaughter.

It was Thomas who had decided to keep the inn closed over Christmas and the New Year, but now on 1 January she could hear him downstairs, heaving the great beer barrels from the cellar and preparing the bar in readiness for reopening.

Sassy had not long since arrived, and Clara poured them both a hot cup of tea, before placing the tea cosy over the pot.

Sassy was quick to notice that Clara looked tired. ‘Are you all right, Clara?’ she asked in concern.

‘Oh aye, I’m fine, lass, don’t yer get worryin’ about me.’ Clara nodded towards Florica’s bedroom door, where the little girl was at present taking her mid-morning nap. ‘It’s just that I’m out o’ the habit o’ runnin’ round after little ’uns, that’s all.’ She yawned, then apologised. ‘To tell the truth, I’m missin’ me own bed an’ all. I can’t stay here for ever, can I? But then again, I don’t want to leave till Thomas has found someone suitable to care fer Florica, ’cos as Pearl rightly said, the lad has his hands full wi’ the inn to worry about.’

Sassy sipped at her drink. ‘Didn’t you say he’d put word out for somebody to live in? Has no one at all applied yet?’

Clara coloured with indignation. ‘Oh aye, we’ve had somebody apply all right,’ she almost stuttered. ‘Only that trollop Moll Twigger. Why, I wouldn’t give a dog into her care, let alone me granddaughter. It’s a well-known fact that she’s had more men than hot dinners.’

Sassy found it hard not to giggle, but somehow managed to keep a straight face, as Clara continued, ‘She come here as bold as brass she did, flutterin’ her eyelashes an’ barin’ her bosoms. An’ straight off I said to our Thomas, “Lad, if you take her on, she’ll eat yer alive in a week flat, an’ no mistake”.’

A vision of the voluptuous Moll Twigger flashed into Sassy’s mind, and unable to hold it back any longer, she broke into a fit of the giggles. Clara stared at her haughtily for a while, but then seeing the funny side of it, she too relaxed and grinned.

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