Above the Bright Blue Sky by Margaret Thornton

Author:Margaret Thornton [Margaret Thornton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780749017620
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2014-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

It was easy for Patience, also, to recognise the visitors. Who else could it be but Mrs Dennison and Mrs Bragg, plus the two children and a pushchair, the only people to alight at Middlebeck station? She welcomed them warmly, assisting with the pushchair and helping the little girl – that must be Joanie, she decided – to take a big jump from the step to the platform.

Both women shook her outstretched hand.

‘How do you do?’ said Mrs Dennison, very politely and with just a touch of reserve, very much like Audrey, in fact. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Mrs Fairchild.’

‘Hello there,’ said Mrs Bragg, with the same warmth and friendliness that Patience had grown accustomed to in the woman’s daughter. ‘I’ve heard such a lot about you from my Maisie. It’s grand to meet you at last.’

The two women were, by and large, as she had expected them to be; Mrs Dennison, though, a little older, maybe, that she had anticipated; and as for Mrs Bragg…well, Patience admitted to herself that this lady looked quite a bit smarter. She was a pretty woman with dark hair, like Maisie’s, on top of which was perched a jaunty little red hat with a feather in the side. Her smile was Maisie’s too, but her face was a trifle strained, with more lines around her eyes and mouth than a young woman of her age ought to have. From Maisie’s chatter Patience had learned that Lily Bragg was not yet thirty. However, she appeared cheerful, much more so than she usually might be, Patience guessed; happy, no doubt to be enjoying a rare day away from her problems at home. And dressed up for the occasion, too, in the red hat and coat which made her look bright and eye-catching.

Mrs Dennison, at her side, appeared much more matronly and sombre, although it was obvious that her clothes were expensive, if unbecoming. Patience knew she had been ill, though not aware exactly of what had been the problem; but the woman had an unhealthy pallor which she did not like the look of at all.

As for the two children, Joanie and Jimmy, they were fair-haired, solid looking infants who resembled neither their mother nor their big sister. Patience supposed they must take after their father, the infamous Sid. There was no sign, as yet, however, of the bad behaviour that Maisie had complained about, but maybe time would tell. Jimmy was put into his pushchair where he sat silently and uncomplainingly, whilst Joanie trotted along at the side, one hand on the pram handle and the other holding on to her mother’s

‘Where’re we going?’ she asked, as they made their way out of the station.

‘To see Maisie,’ said her mother. ‘I told you… You remember Maisie, don’t you?’

The little girl shook her head, looking puzzled. ‘Dunno,’ she said. ‘Don’t think so… How far is it, where we’re going?’

It was Patience who answered. ‘Not very far, dear,’ she answered. ‘About ten minutes walk.

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