Tangled Threads by Margaret Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page B

laid. Already Jimmy was seated at the table,
leaving only two chairs unoccupied.
    Mary Hardcastle banged a stack of plates on to the table with a vehemence that threatened to break them. ‘She’s still meeting him. Creeping away to that old barn in Long Meadow.
Jimmy’s seen them. He’s just told me. It’s been going on all summer. So, as far as I’m concerned, Walter, I have no daughter. For two pins, I’d turn her out.’
She leant across the table towards him, her face twisted with anger. ‘But I suppose you wouldn’t allow that, would you?’
    ‘Mary, love—’ he began, but his wife was not prepared to listen. She jabbed her finger towards Eveleen. ‘You’re blind where that girl’s concerned,
aren’t you? But I’m not.’
    At last even Walter was provoked into saying sternly, ‘That’s enough, Mary.’
    Eveleen felt guilt surge through her. Never had she seen her parents quarrel like this. Normally, they were such a loving couple. Indeed, until recently they had all seemed such a loving family.
‘Mam, Dad. Please, I—’
    Mary whirled around on her. ‘Don’t you dare to call me that, girl. Not ever again. You can leave this house for all I care.’ Her lip curled. ‘If I had my way, you’d
be gone already.’
    Mother and daughter stared at each other, the older woman with a look almost akin to hatred. Horrified, Eveleen felt the colour drain from her face. For a moment the room seemed to spin around
her.
    ‘You’d better go to bed, Eveleen,’ Walter said harshly. He rubbed his hand across his eyes as if he were weary of the whole unpleasant business.
    Eveleen stumbled towards the door leading to the stairs. As she went, she was aware of her brother’s gaze following her, a smirk of satisfaction on his face.
    Mary was not able to turn her daughter out of the house for her husband would not allow it. But the woman refused to speak to Eveleen and acted as if the girl were not even
there. She never served her any food at mealtimes and Eveleen’s clothes remained unwashed, unless she washed them herself, for her mother would not include them in the weekly wash. All the
things that her mother had always done for her were now left untouched. It was as if Eveleen were no longer a part of the family.
    Jimmy revelled in seeing his sister out of favour, not only with Mary but with their father too.
    ‘Who’s this, then?’ he would say as he sat down at the supper table. But his jesting only heightened the tension, for Mary would smile at him and say, ‘I can’t
think who you mean. I see no one else here. At least, no one worth talking about.’
    Mother and son would smile at each other. Walter would sigh and shake his head sadly that Jimmy relished stirring up even more trouble. And worse still, that Mary should egg him on.
    If Eveleen had believed that her brother would heed her warnings and threats, she was sadly disillusioned. He delighted in giving nightly reports across the supper table.
    ‘I saw her with him today. Down by the bridge,’ he would say, or, ‘Where were you all afternoon, then? As if we didn’t know.’
    ‘Eat your supper, Jimmy, and be quiet,’ Walter would say, an unusual sharpness in his voice, but Jimmy, though saying no more, would glance from his mother to his sister and back
again, an evil grin on his face.
    At last, after supper one evening, Walter got up from the table and stood over them. ‘This can’t go on, Mary. I don’t like the atmosphere in this house. We used to be a happy,
united family. And look at us now.’
    Eveleen glanced up at her father. He looked so tired beneath his weather-beaten features, but it was the sadness in his eyes that touched her the most.
    ‘And who’s to blame for that?’ Mary said.
    ‘You all are,’ Walter said, his voice rising in anger.
    Eveleen and even Jimmy were shocked now. They could not remember their father ever raising his voice to any one of them. ‘You, Mary, for not listening to the girl when she