A Blessing In Disguise by Elvi Rhodes Read Free Book Online

through the little gate, and take the path up to the Downs. (‘Why do they call them downs when they go up?’ Becky once asked me when she was small – another of the many questions to which I couldn’t give a satisfactory answer.) When we lived in Clipton the sea, on a clear day, was visible from the top of the Downs. In Thurston we are just that bit too far inland, but nevertheless the view is good. I look down on the village, noting how snugly it’s contained in its hollow, the narrow High Street running in a straight line to join the Brampton road at the south end; the church –
my
church – in the centre, the Ewe Lamb and the Queen’s Head, the two pubs, at either end. There is almost no sprawl of houses beyond the edge of the village, where it gives way to fields. Thurston, I’m told, has always been an agricultural village and from here I can see that it’s still surrounded by farmland, though whether there are as many farms as there once were I don’t yet know. There are cornfields, where the grain has been harvested, leaving a golden stubble, and other areas already planted with winter crops. Very little of the ground is level and I doubt if the harvesting will be easy, though being a townie I can’t judge these things.
    Philip would have liked this. Will I ever settle without him? Should I have come here? But the Bishop was right, I couldn’t have stayed where I was.
    The afternoon is cool and there are very few people about. A man comes towards me, followed by a Labrador. He gives me a nod as he passes me on the narrow path – the man, not his dog. I don’t recall having seen him in the congregation. I walk around for twenty minutes or so, keeping to the main path though there are others which branch off it. I will explore those another time. Also, though what good it will do me I don’t know, I want to be back with Becky. I can’t bear the thought of her alone in her bedroom. I turn around and retrace my steps – there is no sign of the man or his dog – and twenty minutes later here I am, back at the Vicarage.
    Dad is awake, doing the crossword, my mother has made a pot of tea and there is my daughter eating a jammy scone. Her stomach could be my salvation. Thinking of Becky I ask myself yet again, have I done the right thing in coming here?
    â€˜You’ve just come at the right time!’ my mother says, which seems a strange answer to the question I haven’t put into words. She pours me a cup of tea. ‘Oh, and there was a telephone call for you. A Doctor Leyton. I’ve written her number down. She says will you give her a ring. She sounded pleasant. Will she be your doctor?’
    â€˜Yes, she said she’d fit us both in. I’ll ring her.’
    â€˜It was just to suggest,’ Sonia Leyton says when I do so, ‘that if it suits you it might be a good idea if you were to call tomorrow. We’ll be through surgery at about half eleven. I’ll introduce you to Nigel.’
    â€˜That will suit me fine,’ I tell her. ‘I’m seeing the Headmistress at ten o’clock, with Becky. I’ll come along to you afterwards.’
    At my mother’s beckoning I follow her into the kitchen.
    â€˜I’ve been having a chat with Becky,’ she says. ‘She’s all for going back with me and your Dad. I’ve told her it’s not on.’
    â€˜Quite right!’ I agree. ‘That’s definitely out of the question.’
    A little later I go up to Becky’s room. The radio is going at top volume and I have to shout over it.
    â€˜I have to go to Evensong now . . .’
    â€˜I won’t go!’ Becky says.
    â€˜Fine by me. As you know, you don’t have to. You never have. All I expect is for you to go to church on Sunday mornings, just as you always have done. It won’t be any different.’
    â€˜Oh yes it will!’ she flares. ‘Everything