Bicycle Built for Two by Alice Duncan Read Free Book Online Page B

clear to read on her gentle features. “I fear she’s
awfully sick, Mr. English. It’s kind of you to visit.”
    That was the second time the nun had accused
him of being kind. It was the second time Alex knew he didn’t
deserve the word, and he hated the knowledge. “Isn’t there anything
that can be done for her?”
    Beside him, the nun sighed. “I’m afraid we
have no cure for tuberculosis yet. I understand scientists have
isolated the bacillus that causes it, but a treatment is still
years away. The best we can recommend is rest and quiet, preferably
in warm, dry, peaceful surroundings.”
    Alex dragged his gaze from Mrs. Finney and
cast a glance at the Charity Ward. “These surroundings aren’t very
peaceful.”
    “No,” the nun agreed. “They aren’t. They’re
all we have to offer people like Mrs. Finney, I fear. Taking care
of consumptive patients is a costly business, Mr. English.
Unfortunately, most families can’t afford to send their members to
a sanatorium in countryside.”
    “No. Of course not. I didn’t mean—”
    She laid a hand on his arm. “Of course, you
didn’t. I wasn’t criticizing. I think it’s wonderful of you to take
an interest in the family. They’re a hardworking, good lot, except
for the father. And we keep praying for him.”
    “Hmmm.” Any man who’d allow his wife to
linger in this hellhole needed more than prayer. He needed a bullet
in the brain.
    An idea was beginning to
take root in Alex’s head, and he wondered if a bullet to the brain
might do him some
good.
    Mrs. Finney stirred on her cot. A small hand
reached out from under the rumpled sheet. “Kate? Katie, love?” The
hand moved, as if it were feeling for another person. The hand
looked like a claw and the voice was like a soft scrape on the
atmosphere.
    “Oh, dear.” The nun sighed deeply. “Miss
Kate was here a few minutes ago, but she’s left already.”
    “She’s gone?” It was all Alex could do to
resist reaching for Mrs. Finney’s hand.
    “Yes.” The nun laughed softly. “After giving
us strict orders on the care of her mother. As if we could do any
more than we’re doing.”
    He couldn’t stand it any longer. He took
Mrs. Finney’s hand. It was small and dry and it made him want to
holler. “Calm down, ma’am,” he said, striving for a gentleness he
didn’t feel. In truth, he felt savage. “Miss Finney has gone
home.”
    Hearing a new voice seemed to stir Mrs.
Finney. Her eyes opened, and she turned her head to search for the
voice. As he knelt beside her, Alex got the strong impression of a
man up to his thighs in quicksand. If he didn’t wriggle out soon,
he feared he’d be in way over his head.
    Nevertheless, he spoke in a soft, quiet
voice. “It’s all right, Mrs. Finney. My name is Alex English.
I—ah—work with your daughter.”
    A smile transformed Mrs. Finney’s features.
Alex thought he could detect the girl she used to be in that smile,
and it made him want to add a few curses to his holler. She’d
probably looked like Kate when she was young. Say, a hundred years
ago, or so.
    But that probably wasn’t so. She might be
only in her early forties. Perhaps even her late thirties. It had
been life that had withered Mrs. Finney. Damn, damn, damn.
    “You know my Katie?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He decided to leave it at
that, since he was certain his opinion of Kate Finney differed
considerably from Kate’s mother’s opinion of her.
    “She’s a good girl, my Katie. She takes care
of me, you know.”
    Not very damned
well , Alex thought, knowing as he did so
that he was being unfair to both women.
    What had Kate said to him? Something about
women having a hard time making a living in this world? Ah, yes. It
was something like that. And then he’d told her she ought to get
married. He cringed to remember that conversation now, as he held
Mrs. Finney’s hand. How could he have tossed her such a flippant
suggestion? Kate had been right about marriage in her