Above the Harvest Moon by Rita Bradshaw Read Free Book Online Page B

inclined her head, a sharp movement. ‘Good.’
     
    ‘You got all Aggie’s stuff?’ Edward said heartily.
     
    ‘Aye, it’s all here.’ Miriam’s voice was expressionless.
     
    ‘I’ll be shutting bang on time, it being New Year’s Eve, so if you want to dish up for half eight we’ll be up then. And after dinner we’ll all have a nice little drink together, eh? See the New Year in in style. Now this young lady is nearly sixteen I reckon it’s high time we faced the fact she’s all grown up and treated her accordingly.’
     
    There was something in her mother’s face that made Hannah want to reach out and take her arm and for a moment she forgot her own concerns. She didn’t understand what was wrong but she hadn’t seen her mother look this way before. But she resisted the impulse, suspecting her mother would slap her hand away. Instead she found herself saying by way of a diversion, ‘Naomi has invited me round theirs tonight, Mam. Can I go?’
     
    ‘What?’
     
    As her mother brought her gaze away from her uncle and looked at her, Hannah said again,‘Naomi has invited me round theirs to see the New Year in. They always have a bit of a do. Can I go?’
     
    Miriam straightened her back. She looked at her daughter’s heart-shaped face, at the unlined, baby soft skin which carried the silky glow of youth. She was holding on to the shopping bag so tightly her knuckles were showing white and bleached through her flesh. As Edward began to say, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea, lass,’ she cut in tightly, ‘Yes, you can go.’
     
    ‘I can go?’ Hannah thought she had misheard.
     
    ‘Aye.’ Miriam nodded, looking at Edward again as she said, ‘You’ll likely want to be with people your own age.’
     
    Hannah was so surprised it was a moment or two before she could say, ‘Well, yes.’
     
    ‘That’s settled then.’ Her mother’s voice was clipped, cold. ‘I’ll have dinner ready for half eight and you can go once you’ve eaten. I’ll sort out a plate of something for you to take round. You can’t go empty handed.’
     
    Hannah glanced at her uncle to see if he was as amazed as she was but he was staring at her mother. After a moment he turned back to the shelf behind him and her mother disappeared upstairs.
     
     
    ‘She let you come!’ It was Naomi who answered Hannah’s knock at the Woods’ back door later that evening, shrieking with delight when she saw her friend. Pulling Hannah into the scullery, she said, ‘Me an’ Mam are doing the sandwiches for tonight, the others are in the front room. You can help if you like. Oh Hannah, I told you to ask, didn’t I? You see?’
     
    They were both laughing as they entered the kitchen, but when Hannah saw that Naomi and her mother weren’t alone and Jake Fletcher was sitting at his mother’s kitchen table, she was taken aback. Nervously now, she said to Naomi’s mother,‘Mam sent this fruit cake round, Mrs Wood, and a tin of biscuits for tonight.’
     
    ‘Did she, lass? That’s right nice of her.’ Rose smiled at her daughter’s friend, thinking the while, how on earth did she manage to get out of that prison, poor lass? It had long been her private opinion that Miriam Casey was a nasty bit of work. ‘Grab a knife, hinny, an’ start buttering that stack of bread. Once everyone arrives these sandwiches’ll melt away like the morning mist before the sun.’
     
    ‘Thank you for letting me come, Mrs Wood.’ Hannah was painfully aware of the big dark man watching her. She hadn’t looked at him directly, she never knew quite what to do if he was at Naomi’s. She didn’t want him to think she was gawping at him. He must have people do that all the time, poor thing.
     
    And then, as Jake said,‘Hello, Hannah,’ she did glance at him, forcing a smile as she answered, ‘Hello, Mr Fletcher.’
     
    ‘So you’re going to let your hair down the night?’ He turned his gaze to his sister. ‘Just you watch Naomi,