Year of the Virgins by Catherine Cookson

Author:Catherine Cookson [Cookson, Catherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780671896508
Google: mBWzKQEACAAJ
Amazon: 0745142699
Goodreads: 670372
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 1993-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

‘Yes, yes.’ He traced his fingers now around her face, and there was a break in his voice as he asked, ‘Why had this to happen to us?’

She did not immediately answer him; but then she said, ‘I’ve asked that every day for weeks.’

The muscles of his face tightening now, he asked the dreaded question: ‘And you have told yourself, “He’ll never be able to love me again”?’

‘No, no’—her voice was firm as she pulled herself upright—‘because you do love me and I you…even without that.’

‘Oh, Annette’—again he put his hand out to her—‘don’t delude yourself. It’s all part of the process.’

‘Well, we’ve had a good share of the process, haven’t we?’ There was a break in her voice now. ‘Just think of that. I’m carrying the results of the process, aren’t I?’ She patted her stomach and, forcing back the tears, she brought laughter into her voice as she said, ‘And tonight I’m getting into that bed with you, so move over, Don Coulson.’ Then giving his face a light slap, she turned swiftly away, saying, ‘I’m going to get ready.’…

Half an hour later she got into the car. It would be less than a five-minute run to her old home, and she knew exactly where she’d find her parents when she reached there at about ten o’clock. Her father would be in his study, going over the previous day’s reports from their shops: four grocery and three greengrocery establishments, as well as an antique shop in the upper quarter of the town, and a junk shop near the market. At half past ten he would leave the house and do spot checks on the establishments, varying his time of arrival so as to catch out someone, as he saw it, not doing his duty. It was said that he had the quickest turnover of staff in the town: misdemeanours, however small, were not tolerated under his management.

Her mother would have already been in the kitchen and given Polly orders for the meals of the day. She would have examined the larder and the refrigerator. She would have checked the stores in the cupboard. And it being Thursday, and with the Catholic Ladies’ Guild meeting being held in the afternoon in the drawing room, she would likely have given Janie and Sarah their weekly admonishment as to their duties—she still insisted on their wearing frilly caps and aprons after lunch. She had often wondered how Janie had reigned so long in the house, because she hated wearing them. She had watched her snap one from her head and throw it on the kitchen floor, then pick it up and, laughing, say, ‘You won’t split, will you, miss, will you?’ And she could hear Polly saying, ‘She won’t split, else she won’t get a jam tart at eleven.’ There had been no eating between meals in her home.

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.