Taylor, S [2020] The Orphan's Daughter by Sandy Taylor

Author:Sandy Taylor
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, 20th Century, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781786819079
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-02-03T13:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FOUR

We had stayed in England for a week and now, as the boat sailed slowly into Cork harbour, I scanned the crowds waiting on the quayside, searching for his face. And then I saw him – he was smiling and waving. I thought we would never get off the boat, I felt like jumping over the side and swimming to him, but I joined the queue of people dragging their cases and edging their way down the gangplank. And then I was in his arms and we were both laughing and crying. He took my face in his hands and looked into my eyes, searching for the words that he had been waiting for.

‘I love you, Daddy,’ I said. ‘I love you.’

There on the quayside, surrounded by people, I let him know that he was still my daddy and the only daddy that I would ever need.

‘Let’s go home, Nora,’ he said. ‘Let’s go home.’

The three of us held hands and walked towards Father Kelly’s car, that would take us back to Ballybun and the Grey House.

As the car turned into Paradise Alley, my heart was full of joy. This is where I belonged; this is where I would always belong. I might have Bretton blood in me but I was the girl from Paradise Alley and I always would be.

They were all there waiting for us. Granny and Grandad Collins and Stevie and Malachi. Buddy-two was barking and jumping up at us as if we’d been gone a year. I looked around for my Grandad Doyle but he wasn’t in the room. Why wasn’t he here to welcome me home? Hadn’t he missed me? And then he came in from the kitchen, carrying a cake with candles on it, put it down on the table and walked towards me. He held me in his arms and I breathed in the smell of him. He smelled of pipe smoke and hay. He smelled of my beloved grandad.

‘Happy birthday, Nora,’ he said, smiling.

‘But it isn’t my birthday, Grandad,’ I said.

‘And what do we care about that? I don’t think we’ll be hung for it.’

I put my arms around him. ‘I’ve missed you, Grandad,’ I said.

‘And I’ve missed you too, my little Nora.’

Stevie was sitting by the fire and I walked across to him.

‘I missed you,’ he said.

‘And I missed you too, Stevie, but I’m home now.’

‘What was England like, Nora?’

‘It was full of people and cars and carts and noise, and there was a grand big river called the Thames. When you looked along the length of it, there were lots of bridges and boats and tall cranes that reached up to the sky.’

‘That must have been a fierce sight, Nora.’

‘It was, but I had no mind to stay there, I was desperate to come home and anyway, the river looked dirty and grey, not like our own Blackwater.’

‘You’ll never guess what I did while you were gone,’ said Stevie.

‘And what was that, love?’

‘I walked around the yard with Buddy-two,’ he said.

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.