The Girl with the Green Eyes by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels [Neels, Betty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459296176
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1990-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

SINCE it was Sunday, they all went to church and Lucy, sitting with Fran on one side of her making sure she could follow the service, was very conscious of William’s bulk on her other side. She stood up and sat down just as she should, but she didn’t understand a word thundered at her from the pulpit and, although she opened her hymn book obediently at Fran’s direction, she had no idea of what they were singing. She was wondering how it was that Fran had heard about Fiona; William must have said something, but when? She sat there frowning until she was gently prodded to her feet for the final hymn.

They stayed talking to the dominee for quite a while after the service and then Litrik and William walked on ahead, leaving her and Fran to follow. They had a lot to talk about, and William wasn’t mentioned.

Nanny was in the garden playing ball with little Litrik while the baby slept in her pram.

‘Go and have your coffee, Nanny,’ said Fran, ‘and will you ask someone to bring ours out here? We’ll stay with the children.’

The two men began a gentle game of ball with the little boy staggering happily between them, and Fran and Lucy went to sit by the pram. The baby was charming, pink and white and fair-haired. Lucy bent over her and murmured, ‘She’s beautiful, Fran, and she has such a pretty name.’

‘Lisa—I asked Litrik if I could tell you about that and he said that he’d like you to know. You see, when I first met him he had a ward, a little girl with spina bifida. Her father had died—he was a friend of Litrik’s—and her mother left her. So he became her guardian until she died soon after we married. She was a darling and we still miss her.’

She smiled rather mistily at Lucy, who thought, looking at her friend’s expressive face, that there was a lot more to the story than that, but all she said was, ‘Thank you for telling me, Fran. Little Lisa will fill her place…’

Trugg had put the coffee-tray on the garden table and they sat around drinking and making vague plans for the week ahead.

‘You two girls can do what you like tomorrow,’ said Litrik. ‘William will come with me to Utrecht; we shan’t be back until the early evening. There’s the party on Wednesday, isn’t there, darling? And on Thursday I’ve arranged to be free and we might all go to Keukenhof.’

Sunday lunch was a leisurely affair, and afterwards—she wasn’t quite sure how it happened—Lucy found herself walking briskly out of the gate beside William.

‘A good walk, just what we need after that magnificent meal,’ he observed.

‘I don’t remember saying that I wanted to come.’

‘My dear girl, where is your tact? I’m sure that Litrik and Fran would like an hour or two on their own—he’s a busy man, you know, and he doesn’t see as much of her or the children as he would wish.

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