Promise Made by Linda Sole Read Free Book Online

must think about the future. She was committed to Vane and the Convalescent Home. She owed it to the men and also her father-in-law. By letting him believe that Robert was his grandson, she had sealed her own fate. And she was happy with that – most of the time.
    It would be good to see Daniel and Frances – and all the others, of course. Except Cley. She hadn’t spoken to the second eldest of her brothers for ages, because she knew what he had done. Connor had heard Cley and Daniel fighting, and he’d told her that the reason for the fight was because Cley had raped their stepmother.
    Emily’s stomach curled with disgust. How could he have done that to their father’s widow? Emily hadn’t liked Margaret much, but she was still angry with Cley. Because of what he had done, Margaret had demanded more money from Daniel. He would need that money now that he was home. She knew only too well that Henry was in deep trouble with the farm. If he managed to stave off bankruptcy it would be a miracle.
    Emily had some money of her own. It wasn’t a fortune, just a few thousand pounds that had come to her from Simon’s estate. At first she hadn’t wanted to touch a penny of her late husband’s money. Her marriage had been a sham and she wasn’t interested in the legacy, but Vane had insisted it was hers.
    â€˜It is your independence,’ he’d told her. ‘If you get sick of us, Emily, you can go and live your own life. Not that I want you to go, my dear. You know I would love you to stay with us – but I don’t want you to feel trapped.’
    Vane was such a dear! Emily smiled at the thought of him. She had been in awe of her father-in-law once but now she had become fond of him. He treated her with kindness and respect and she admired him, because he was everything his son hadn’t been.
    The money from Simon’s estate was just sitting in the bank doing nothing. She didn’t think it was enough to pay Henry’s debts, but she might be able to help Daniel get started again. She would talk to him when she got the chance, because she doubted that Cley would pay his brother the money he owed him.
    â€˜Damn you, Cley!’ Daniel Searles said, glaring at his elder brother. ‘You owe me that two thousand for paying Margaret off. She was going to report you to the police. You would have spent the past five years in prison if I hadn’t saved your neck.’
    â€˜More fool you,’ Cley retorted. ‘Don’t threaten me, Dan. It won’t do you any good. I don’t have the money to pay you. Things have been hard for me as well as everyone else. Ask Henry what it has been like trying to keep things ticking over.’
    â€˜Henry was saddled with a huge bank loan, as you know very well.’
    â€˜That was his problem.’ Cley shrugged and spat on the ground. He had thickened over the years, his features coarsening as he lost much of the good looks that had been his in youth. He was younger than Henry but still well into his thirties, a man who had indulged in the pleasures of the table as well as of the flesh. ‘If you give me time I might be able to raise five hundred . . .’
    â€˜I want all of it,’ Daniel said. He clenched his fists, knowing that he didn’t have the strength to thrash his brother as he would have once. The prisoner of war camp had taken its toll on him as it had on all the men, but he wasn’t broken in spirit like some of the poor devils he’d known. His physical strength would come back in time; he’d had Alice and his son to come home to and now he was back with them he would get on in leaps and bounds. ‘I’ll take the five hundred for now, Cley – but I want the rest of it.’
    â€˜You’ll have to wait.’ Cley glared at him. ‘I’ll do what I can and that’s all I’m going to say.’ He glanced back towards his house. His wife