Goodnight Lady by Martina Cole Read Free Book Online Page A

stroked the downy hair and shook her head. This was a child meant for the angels if ever she saw one. Abel watched her and smiled.
    ‘Poor little thing. Must be hard for that Molly like, Mum. Having one like her. She’ll never be able to earn.’
    Mother Jones sniffed. ‘No, true, but she’ll never leave home either, so she’ll never be lonely if she loses her man.’
    Abel nodded and looked towards the dividing wall. He had taken a fancy to Molly Cavanagh.
    On the other side of the wall, she was busy scrubbing the floor and watching Bernadette and Kerry at their task of cleaning the windows. She had eaten two slices of bread pudding and drunk two cups of hot sweet black tea and it had fortified her for the job in hand. Mother Jones had sent Abel in to show her how to get the fire going in the range, and now she had steaming hot water as often as she wanted it. This thrilled her to bits, though coal was being burnt like nobody’s business. Still, it was only for today.
    ‘Mum, our Briony’s arrived in a cab!’
    Molly sighed and opened the front door. Briony got out of the cab and the driver took down a small hamper and placed it beside her on the dirt road. Molly watched her pay the man and gritted her teeth. As the horse set off, clip-clopping down the lane, Molly walked out of the cottage.
    ‘Hello, Mum. Mrs Horlock sent you a hamper, to help you get settled like.’
    Briony’s voice was wary as she spoke and Molly felt a moment’s sorrow for her coldness towards the child.
    ‘Come away in, Briony, it’s freezing out here.’
    She smiled and followed her mother inside the cottage. Kerry and Bernadette crowded around her as she opened the hamper and showed them what was inside.
    ‘Where’s Rosalee then?’
    ‘Oh, she’s with the lady next-door. She’s really nice and gave us bread pudding and a cup of char, and her house smells really funny and she ain’t got no teeth...’
    ‘Shut up now, Kerry.’
    Briony laughed. Trust Kerry to go too far!
    She took off her coat and hat, rolled up her sleeves and, taking the chamois leather from Kerry, set about the windows.
    Molly watched her as she worked away, and closing her eyes she prayed to God to give her peace of mind where her Briony was concerned. They depended on her wages, far more than they ever had on Eileen’s. It was Briony who was going to keep them in Oxlow Lane, and as Paddy had pointed out, Molly didn’t want to kill the goose that was laying the golden eggs, did she? Forcing herself to move, she walked to Briony and embraced the girl. Briony cuddled her back, joyful that her mother wasn’t cross with her any more. For her part, Molly closed her eyes and swallowed down the disgust that touching Briony always made her feel.
    Letting her go, she resumed washing the floor of the cottage and Kerry and Bernadette sorted out the bedding and curtains into neat piles on the table.
    ‘Give us a song, Kerry.’
    ‘What do you want, a happy one or a crying one?’
    ‘Whatever you like.’
    Kerry stopped what she was doing and thought for a second, then she began to sing. It was Paddy’s favourite and Briony smiled as she began. Kerry sang this song like an angel.
     
    ‘Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling, From glen to glen, and down the mountainside ...’
     
    Next-door, Mother Jones and Abel heard the singing and both laughed as Rosalee started to clap her hands.
    ‘They’re a funny family, Mum. Another girl just arrived by cab, dressed up like a kipper. Only about ten and in a cab mind, not on foot. Where are they getting the money for cabs and the like?’
    ‘How the bloody hell would I know! They seem nice enough, Abel Jones, so don’t you go snooping round there and put them off us.’
    ‘I’m only saying, Mum...’
    ‘Yeah, well, just you say it to yourself then. It’ll all come out in the wash anyway. People’s business rarely stays between four walls. You’ll find out soon enough, son, and when you do I hope it’s what