Dreams Can Come True by Vivienne Dockerty Read Free Book Online

distant cousin.
    She looked at Jack for guidance, but he was of no help at all. He was staring at her now. Was it pleading that she saw in his eyes, or one of resignation? She couldn’t be sure.
    “Tell me again, exactly what this person told yer,” Maggie said to Hannah gently. “He said I wasn’t yer mother. What did he say about yer father as well?”
    “He said that Father couldn’t possibly be my father, because he wasn’t here when you were expecting me.”
    “I’ll tell her, Maggie,” Jack said, when he saw that his wife was now being painted as a loose woman. “I’ll tell them the truth, the both of them, but I know neither of them will ever forgive me.”
    He sat heavily into another chair, then drew an ornate table closer, so that he could rest his now trembling hands upon it.
    “What is it, Papa?” said Hannah in a quiet, almost inaudible voice, using the childish name she had called her father when she used to sit on his knee.
    “I am yer father, Hannah, but Maggie is not yer real mother.”
    He went on to tell Hannah and Mikey of how his youthful ambition was to be great pugilist. No matter what it cost him, he wanted fame and fortune at that time.
    Maggie had been content being mother to Mikey, with no ambition other than being a faithful wife. He had wanted her to follow him to Liverpool, where he was the protege of a lord who had an interest in fighting, but Maggie preferred to live in Neston, with her wonderful view of the Welsh Hills. He had been lonely and Kitty May had been kind to him, nursing him through the resulting injuries from his last fight.
    “She made me happy, Hannah. Gave me comfort while I was away from me family. But before I knew it, Kitty May was going to expect my child.”
    “The child being Hannah,” remarked Michael dryly, his eyes narrowing. “So you were unfaithful to my mother, while she stayed at home looking after me.”
    “It wasn’t quite like that, Mikey…” Maggie began.
    “The fact is, Mother, your husband here committed adultery and you obviously condoned it because here we have the result. Kitty May’s child.” Michael waved in Hannah’s direction, who had now started crying hysterically after hearing his words.
    “I didn’t condone it, Mikey. As yer know I built a new life fer the pair of us. That’s why we have the Sheldon companies, because I was able to start a business without yer father, though with Miss Rosemary’s help of course. It was only when Hannah’s mother died and she was sent here from America. How could I have left a tiny little baby in the care of yer grandmother? She disliked the child on sight, because it hadn’t bin born in wedlock for a start.”
    “Well, you disgust me Father and you have made up my mind for me because of it. Mother, I would like to take up a commission in the Army. I will send for the papers tomorrow and I would be obliged if you will furnish the necessary money to pay for it. Oh, and by the way Father, perhaps you would like to know where your by-blow got her information? She had a secret assignation on Wednesday in Chester with the uncouth fellow who lives at the inn.”
    Michael walked away with a look of scorn on his face, narrowly escaping a blow from Jack who had jumped up in anger, ready to hit out with his clenched fists.
    “Leave him, Jack. Don’t do something that you’ll regret later. Mikey’s hurting like we all are at the moment. Mikey,” his mother called. “I’ll make us all a cup of tea and bring you one up when it’s ready. Thank the Lord, the servants are off this evening,” she said to Jack. “We don’t want all this being stirred up again.”
    Jack sat with his head in his hands, while Maggie left the conservatory and Hannah studiously stared at a leaf on a palm tree. He felt gutted, as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Wasn’t there a saying, how chickens came home to roost? Well, his chickens had certainly come home today. What he could do to put things right,