Daisy's Secret by Freda Lightfoot Read Free Book Online

scene.
    Oh, but she was tired, a dragging ache low down in her belly served as a nagging reminder that she’d only recently given birth, and hardly slept the night before. Her knees felt all wobbly, as if they might buckle under her at any minute. How she longed to lie down in a soft warm bed and just sleep and sleep. The two bedraggled children beside her were, however, wide awake, mouths agape, hardly able to believe their good fortune. ‘Is this where we’re going to live?’ Megan asked in awed wonder. ‘In this big house?’
    ‘Where’s the sea?’ Trish wanted to know. ‘Is there some sands an’ all?’
    Miss Pratt was opening the front door with a large key she’d taken from the pocket of her tweed suit but paused to consider the child, as if her words had indicated some sort of criticism. ‘No, we are nowhere near the sea, and have no sands for you to play on.’
    Trish looked crestfallen. ‘Me mam said we’d be able to buy a bucket ‘n’ spade.’
    ‘My family has lived here for centuries and never felt deprived by the lack of a beach.’
    Daisy swiftly intervened. ‘Oh, she wasn’t complaining. They’re just a bit stunned by their good fortune, that’s all. We all are. We - we’re not used to anything so - so grand.’
    Miss Pratt let out a bark that might have been laughter and marched off down a central lobby. ‘Grand? Stuff and nonsense. This house isn’t in the least bit grand. Needs a few repairs here and there but nothing I can’t fix, given time. It’s a big, draughty barn of a place, and I can only hope that you won’t be bothered by damp, nor the odd ghost or boggart. Part of its country character, don’t you know? You’ll just have to cope. I’ve no patience with fusspots.’
    ‘Oh, we’ll be fine,’ Daisy assured her. ‘Don’t worry about us.’ Living with damp she fully understood. There’d been plenty of that in the tenements of Salford, and however much in need of repair this place might be, it certainly couldn’t be in as bad a state as the two miserable rooms she and her parents had occupied in Marigold court off Liverpool Street.
    ‘What’s a boggart?’ Megan tentatively enquired, still hesitating to cross the threshold, Trish still clinging on tight to the belt of her sister’s mackintosh.
    Miss Pratt marched smartly back to the door and with an impatient flap of her hand, urged both children to hurry up since she didn’t have all day. ‘It’s a naughty imp or elf that is always up to mischief. I hope you two aren’t going to be naughty?’
    The pair gazed up at the old woman from beneath the rim of their large berets, eyes wide with fear and, wordlessly, shook their heads.
    Again Daisy rushed to intervene, gathering them in her arms and drawing them along the lobby. ’They’re very good children, really.’
    The woman looked doubtful and began to mutter to herself as she cast a critical eye over them. ‘Glad to hear it. Still, brainwave of yours to come along. Know nothing about bairns. Never married, d’you see? More into dogs myself. Had to make the offer though to take a couple of vacees. Got to do my bit, no choice really. They’d have billeted some on me whether I liked it or not.‘
    Is that what they were? Vacees! Like some sort of disease to be foisted upon people? This wasn’t at all how she’d imagined it would be, Daisy thought. Oh dear. How complicated life was. And how would she ever find Aunt Florrie now?’
     
    The room allocated to them was next to the kitchen, which itself was a surprisingly dark, cold room with tiny windows set high in thick stone walls and a huge pine table taking up much of the available space. When Miss Pratt had flung open the door, Daisy had tried not to show her surprise. It smelled strongly of dogs, though there wasn’t one in sight. A cat rubbed itself against her legs, either by way of greeting or hopeful of some dinner. Along one wall was stacked a pile of wooden boxes in which were a variety of plant