The Bad Mans Bride by Susan Kay Law

Author:Susan Kay Law
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Lily hunched beneath the window, her back against the house, Broom curled in her lap. Above her she could hear the murmur of voices, of Miss Bright and Mr. Jackson talking, though she no longer paid any attention to what they said. They weren’t talking about her anymore, and she’d already heard all she needed to know.

It was wrong to listen when adults were talking. Twice her mother had whacked her across her head when she’d found her listening outside their door, which she’d pushed open just a crack. Lily did it anyway. She’d rather get caught listening sometimes than walk in where she shouldn’t. She’d learned that lesson well.

In fact, Lily had figured out she was good at learning lessons, period. She could sit still and listen and watch and remember, lots better than most of the other kids in school. She liked learning things; it made her feel smart, and so she liked going to school even when the other kids were mean to her, because she could listen to all those things that Miss Bright told them. Words and numbers and places all over the world that Lily hadn’t ever heard of before, and that she didn’t think her mother had ever heard of, either. And Lily was determined she wasn’t going to grow up to be just like her mother, even though that nasty Theron Matheson kept saying that she would.

She ran her hands over Broom; his fur had gotten lots thicker and softer since they’d come to live at Mr. Jackson’s house, his belly round and solid. He purred, and she felt his body shake a little every time he made the sound.

Mr. Jackson was not her father.

That’s what he’d told Teacher.

It didn’t matter. Even if, for just a minute at supper, as she’d sat down between them and eaten with them and seen how they looked at each other, she’d thought that maybe, just maybe, they’d be a family.

But she should have known better. That just wasn’t the kind of thing that happened to her. It’d be okay anyway. She could take care of herself.

She was good at that, too. She’d been taking care of herself, and her mother, for a long time. She’d been alone completely for a while after her mother didn’t wake up that morning, until Mr. Fred came for his regular Thursday afternoon visit and wouldn’t leave without coming in, even though she told him not to.

And now she was learning to cook, too, and learning lots of other things from both Miss Bright and Gabriel. It wouldn’t matter that he wasn’t her father; he didn’t seem to mind having her around, and she knew she was good at being quiet and staying out of his way. And since she could cook now, she could do that for him, help him even after they moved away, and maybe he’d let her stay.

Or maybe not. It didn’t matter. “We can take care of each other, can’t we, Broom?” she whispered to him, and buried her nose in his fur.

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