Meet Me at the Pier Head by Ruth Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page A

vehicles moved slowly down the drive, turning left
at the gates and heading sedately towards Chaddington Green. Undue haste within Pa’s sight might make him suspicious, so they travelled at a leisurely pace, parked, and went for coffee in a
small and comfortable cafe.
    ‘I like this village,’ Juliet said. ‘I love Kent. That’s why I chose to train in Canterbury. But with Ma gone, will we still have Bartle Hall? Pa can’t afford to
save it, can he?’
    They all stared through the window at the square of common land that had given Chaddington Green its name. It was the stuff of picture postcards, with a duck pond, clusters of cottages, some of
them thatched, a short stretch of pretty little shops, a church, just one inn, and friendly inhabitants.
    Tia spoke. ‘Ma won’t let our home go. She’ll buy it from him, I think.’
    ‘He won’t part with it,’ was Juliet’s opinion. ‘It’s proof of his identity, property of the Bellamy dynasty.’
    ‘The place is falling to bits, and everybody has a price,’ Tia said. ‘He’s spent his money in his London clubs and on women. Ma will shift him.’
    Delia nodded sagely. ‘She saved; he didn’t.’
    ‘And the Duncans were always richer than the Bellamys,’ Tia mused aloud. ‘When she stops pretending to be blotto, our mother will be a force to be reckoned with. But while
it’s all going on – the divorce, I mean – she may need us. I know she can afford hotels, but she may become anxious about being noticed. We back her up, girls.’ The Blyton
Three balled their right hands, elbows on the table, three fists meeting in the centre above a sugar bowl. ‘Victory,’ they said in unison.
    The owner of the cafe laughed, while other customers grinned. They all remembered the Bellamy sisters riding through the village on bicycles or ponies, always up to mischief, always loved.
    With an hour to spare, Tia rang Theo again to warn him of the change of plan, and then the three girls repaired to the green, spending twenty minutes or more in the children’s cordoned-off
section where they played on swings, a seesaw and a metal slide. While each sister feared that this might be goodbye to the village, each one hoped and prayed that she was wrong. But the trio were
certain of one thing: it was adieu to childhood.
    With that in mind, they did racing round the duck pond, leapfrog, and the four-legged jog. Based loosely on the three-legged race, it meant that the girl in the centre had minimal control, as
each of her legs was fastened to a limb of one of her sisters. Juliet, who had learned long ago that being the youngest, the shortest and the lightest meant pain and distress, was tied to her
siblings with two scarves, and the fun began. Supporting their baby sister with arms across her back, Tia and Delia dragged her across the green.
    Old people seated on benches began to chuckle. Even the ducks stopped begging for crusts when the strange, three-headed, four-legged creature passed by. Juliet, churchgoer and angel to the sick,
allowed a few choice words to emerge from her pretty lips.
    ‘I’m gonna tell the vicar you swore,’ Delia said.
    ‘Shut up,’ snapped the victim. ‘And stop. I shall be of little use to patients when you’ve managed to break both my legs.’
    They stopped, released her from captivity and sank to the grass.
    ‘Do you think we’ll ever grow up completely?’ Tia asked.
    ‘I hope not,’ was Delia’s answer. ‘If I grow any upper, I’ll be too tall.’
    ‘Too tall for a man?’ Juliet asked mischievously.
    Delia shrugged. ‘Too tall for me,’ she answered.
    Tia held her tongue. For some years, she had suspected that Delia was different. Unlike the other two Bellamy girls, she kept herself plain, unadorned and in clothes that might be termed neither
feminine nor completely masculine. She wore jeans, shirts, socks and flat shoes, no makeup and no perfume. Boyfriends had never appeared on the scene, though she was very close to