A Nurse's Duty by Maggie Hope Read Free Book Online Page B

painfully.
    At last the speeches were over and the last congratulations given. This being a Chapel wedding there was no dancing afterwards.
    ‘You’re going already?’ asked a surprised Kezia when Karen and Dave stood up to go.
    ‘I … I have a bit of a headache,’ said Karen.
    Kezia nodded. ‘It’s the strain of it, I should think,’ she said. ‘You’d best get along then.’
    Karen and Dave were to stay in his mother’s house on their own for the night. Mrs Mitchell, showing a rare flash of understanding, was staying with a friend of hers to allow them some privacy.
    The young couple said their goodbyes and went out into the street to be surrounded by the children who had waited patiently for them.
    ‘Shabby wedding! Shabby wedding!’ cried the children. Dave flung the expected handful of halfpennies over their heads. They whooped and scrambled in the dirt and Dave and Karen were at long last free to walk up the rows and into the Mitchells’ cottage. Karen was glad to hang on to Dave’s arm for the fresh air made her feel worse, not better.
    ‘You wanted to get away as much as I did,’ he whispered. ‘You want me, don’t you?’
    Karen nodded, though the only longing she really had was for a quiet lie-down. She stood quietly, leaning against the wall of the passage, and Dave pushed home the bolt of the door. Dimly, through her dizzyness, Karen was surprised. No one bolted the door in the rows or at least not often. And if they did, it wouldn’t be at six o’clock on a warm summer’s evening.
    Dave turned to her and took her in his arms. Limply she laid her head on his shoulder. They could sit down on the settle now, she thought, sit down quietly and have a cuddle. But suddenly pain shot through her as his hand closed on her breast, squeezing it hard in his strong fingers. At the same time he thrust his knee between her legs, scrabbling at her skirt, pulling it up over her thighs.
    ‘Dave! Dave, I don’t feel well,’ she protested.
    He laughed. ‘Oh, no, you don’t. I’ve heard about wives who have headaches every time their man fancies a bit but you’re starting early, aren’t you? Don’t think you’ll get away with that, me lass.’ He pulled at the buttons of her dress. ‘Howay, get this thing off,’ he snapped impatiently, sounding like someone else altogether than the boy who had courted her for so long.
    ‘Dave, at least wait until we get upstairs,’ said Karen.
    ‘What for? We’re wed now, we’ll do what I say. I’m the boss. And I say we’ll do it where the hell I like!’
    Karen’s eyes opened wide. There was no swearing in her father’s house and this was the first time she had heard Dave swear. She looked up at him to protest but when she saw his expression she thought better of it and began taking off her dress.
    ‘And the shift an’ all,’ he commanded. Slowly she pulled off her shift and stood before him in her long cotton knickers. She stared at him, her face a blank. She wouldn’t deign to let him see how shocked she was.
    ‘Bye, you’re a bonny lass,’ he said huskily, and pulled the string of her knickers so that they fell to the ground. He lifted her up and laid her on the stairs and took her there, with edge of the tread pressing so painfully into her back that the other pain, when it came, was a mere shadow of the one in her spine, the one which intensified with each thrust of his body. She was almost passing out when the weight on her eased and he got to his feet, grunting. Carefully , she sat forward and put her hands over her face.
    ‘Howay, lass, get out a couple of me mam’s glasses and we’ll celebrate. We still have most of that rum.’
    Karen looked at him, amazed at how normal his voice sounded. He was buttoning his flies. He hadn’t even bothered to take off his trousers, she realized. Stiffly she got to her feet and picked up her shift and pulled it over her head, wincing as she felt the bruise on her back.
    ‘Aw, come on, lass, there’s