Golden Hope by Johanna Nicholls Read Free Book Online Page A

them for the first time in years.’
    â€˜The Cricket Ground isn’t exactly hallowed ground, Sir,’ Doc said lightly. ‘It sounds like most of Bitternbird will be here to see the circus.’
    An old miner with a rasping voice piped up. ‘Why not ask the skipper of our team what he thinks?’
    Slow to seek the limelight, Sonny Jantzen rose to his feet to respond. ‘As Captain, I regret I am not well enough to play this match, but I feel confident I can speak on behalf of the team. We would be agreeable to postpone the last match of the season – to give local children an event they will remember all their lives. I cast my vote in favour of the circus.’
    Rom held his breath. It could go either way. The decision was balanced on a knife edge. Until the rear doors burst open to reveal Paddy O’Grady, a boy in short pants. His face shone with excitement.
    â€˜Yous won’t believe what’s coming down the road. Horses, wagons, clowns – and a real live lion!’
    The invitation was irresistible. There was a rush for the door. Bodies elbowed each other as they jammed in the exit.
    Rom grasped the doctor’s shoulder in a gesture of thanks as they followed the crowd downhill to the road.
    â€˜Thanks for saving the day, Doc.’
    â€˜You earned it, lad!’
    Young Paddy O’Grady had clearly done his job as town crier. Women and men were fast pouring out of the General Store and Post Office, the second-hand Church Charity Bazaar, the Feed and Grain Store – even the blacksmith had downed tools, drawn to the commotion.
    Rom and Doc exchanged broad smiles. ‘What a sight this is! Takes me back to my childhood,’ Doc said.
    Marching towards them to the jaunty music of a German brass band, the convoy of horse-drawn wagons was stepping out in style. The scene was a blaze of bold colours flashing in the sunlight, each wagon decorated with painted signs, every member of the troupe dressed in costume.
    At the head of the procession a young girl dressed as a fairy stood poised on the back of a strutting white horse, smiling and waving a fairy wand at the children. The bodice of her costume was a mass of sequins that caught the dying sunlight, the short skirt a token gesture of modesty to cover the tops of long legs encased in flesh-coloured tights. A pair of clowns wore identical spotted pantaloons. One was over six feet tall, the other a dwarf. Both had happy-sad expressions painted on their white faces. Giant sunflowers grew out of theirwild red wigs, which amazingly stayed in place as they tumbled and executed rows of cartwheels.
    Pouring out of the cottages, children raced ahead of the mothers hastily untying their aprons to see what the commotion was. The raggle-taggle band of children squealed with delight when the clowns handed each one a lollypop attached to a circus flyer.
    Rom grinned with relief at the expressions etched on the faces of wizened men and respectable matrons. Every adult seemed to be a changeling, transported back to their childhood.
    â€˜Thanks, Doc. That was a close call. What an entrance! Twyman hasn’t a snowflake’s chance in hell of stopping it now.’
    â€˜Just make sure they give you the twenty guineas, lad. Twyman is a slippery customer to say the least!’
    It was at that moment that Rom took a second, hard look at the fairy on horseback, puzzled as to where he had seen her before. Her abundant dark hair, anchored by a sparkling tiara, streamed behind her in the wind. Her young breasts pressed against the tight bodice of her costume, a hint of their true shape curving above the neckline. Her smile was confident, a practised expression aimed at all in the crowd, flirting with the men but equally intent on winning over the women and children.
    â€˜Bravo! Good on you, girl!’ Rom called out to attract her attention.
    The moment she recognised him, she transformed a delicately curled hand into a cleverly