The Favourite Child by Freda Lightfoot Read Free Book Online Page A

to live. There’s no hurry.’ And Jinnie was happy to leave it that way for, much as she’d be sorry to lose this lovely posh life she was leading, she’d be sorrier still to lose Edward. Even the clean, soapy smell of him excited her, far different from the tobacco and beer which lingered upon Billy Quinn.
     
    Despite the huge difference in their background Edward discovered, quite by chance, that he actually had a great deal in common with Jinnie. She might always come out of her corner with fists raised, ready for a fight, but underneath she was shy and vulnerable, afraid of making mistakes, just as he was himself. And they both felt the lack of a father’s love in their lives, Jinnie because she’d no idea who he was, Edward because no matter how hard he tried to please Simeon, he always failed.
    He found it easy to talk to her because she was so warm and understanding, cheekily amusing and yet kind and sympathetic. Edward told her how school had bored him and she didn’t think this in the least odd, rather a perfectly normal state of affairs having been at odds with her own teacher because she took so many days off. ‘They was always sending the truant officer round, if he could find where we were living, that is. As if I cared about school when I’d a sick mam to take care of.’
    She also seemed to find it perfectly reasonable for him to have a chip on his shoulder for being the son of a mill manager, looked down upon as working class by those with parents who got their money from rents and land or some notable profession like medicine or the church.
    ‘The parents of my school chums rarely earned their comfortable incomes through trade, or from anything which could remotely make their hands mucky,’ he explained. ‘So I always felt the odd one out, picked upon as the one who didn’t fit in. Added to which, I wasn’t the brightest boy in the school. Bella should have been the boy and given the education. Certainly she thinks so.’
    ‘Were you bullied?’ Jinnie asked, dark brown eyes wide and frightened in her pale face. Edward strove to maintain the image he’d created of himself, one of coping, of being able to deal with whatever life threw at him, but as he looked into that melting gaze, what he read there caused his heart to judder with shock.
    This girl didn’t think any the less of him for being bullied. She didn’t give him pitying glances as Mrs Prudy’s daughter did, nor blame him or think it was his own fault he got beaten, as his father had when one Christmas holiday the young Edward had tried to explain away a black eye and various bruises. Jinnie simply wrapped her loving arms about his neck and hugged him. In that moment he knew that he loved her, and would do so to the end of his days. She was the sweetest, kindest, most loving creature he’d ever met, beyond his lovely sister, and he thanked his lucky stars that she’d fallen across his path that day.
     
    The first time he kissed her was at the Deansgate Picture House during a romantic interlude in a Mary Pickford film. Jinnie thought she might faint clean away, she went that weak inside. There’d been moments in her past when Billy Quinn’s attentions had stirred some need in her but she’d never experienced anything like this. They’d sit holding hands in the dark, blissfully aware of each other’s closeness; do a bit of canoodling when the gas lights were turned down but although Jinnie gently encouraged him to be more adventurous, Edward was a real gentleman and never went beyond what was proper. To her complete astonishment, he actually appeared to respect her. She’d never experienced anything like that with Billy Quinn, ever.
    ‘I d never hurt you Jinnie,’ he whispered to her in the dark, his hand gently stroking her knee. ‘I think I’ve fallen madly in love with you, do you mind?’
    ‘I-I’m not sure.’ Flushed with love herself, Jinnie longed for him to pull her into his arms and have his wicked way with