The Silent Girls by Ann Troup Read Free Book Online

bringer of doom. ‘Yeah, as nannas go she was hardly the cuddly cookie baking type.’
    Sam shuddered. ‘She was like terror in a black dress. No child was safe from her wrath. I always felt quite sorry for you and Rose.’
    ‘We didn’t have to see too much of her, only on visits, and I was only ten when she died. Rose had it worse. I always thought that Beattie disliked me because my dad ran off, like it was something I had caused.’ Frank had disappeared a few months before she had been born.
    ‘Of course. You never knew him, did you?’ Sam said.
    Edie looked at her glass, cold beads of condensation trickled down its sides and dampened her fingers. Since her encounter with the old man at the funeral her father had been occupying space in her mind. ‘Not really, only what I’ve been told by Rose and she doesn’t talk about it much. I suppose you don’t miss what you can’t remember. Your mum must have known him, what was he like?’ She wasn’t even sure why she had asked. It was quite clear what kind of person Frank Morris had been. He was the kind of man who walked out on his pregnant wife and child. Having tolerated Simon for so many years just to prove that she hadn’t inherited Frank’s flakiness, Edie had more sympathy for her father than she wanted to admit to. Though she would never have abandoned her child, she sometimes wished she had taken Will and run for the hills.
    Sam screwed up his face, as if trying to recall a distant memory. ‘Vaguely, I’ve only heard her mention him once or twice. I know him and Mum clashed, I do remember a row once with Dolly when his name was mentioned… I couldn’t tell you what it was about but I know Dolly was one of the few people that ever got the better of Mum. I think that’s why it stands out, it was the first time I ever saw Mum cry. Anyway, from what I can recall he was quite…ummm….a character.’
    Edie laughed at his hesitation. ‘Do you mean arrogant? That’s what Rose always says.’
    Sam pulled a face. ‘I was trying to be polite.’
    ‘No need, no one else is, well not about him anyway.’
    ‘You can’t choose your parents.’ Sam said.
    ‘Anyway, enough of that. What are you up to these days? We seem to have done nothing but talk about the past.’ It already felt as though she was being pulled backwards, without every conversation hauling her down memory lane.
    ‘This and that. Nothing special, I have fingers in a few lucrative pies.’
    He’d avoided looking at her and it was clear he didn’t want to expand on his occupation. ‘So, you must live quite near. You seem to spend quite a bit of time with Lena.’
    ‘I’m not far, I’ve got a flat at Riverside. I see Mum most days, let her cook for me and that – she’s getting on and it gives her a reason to get up and get going. She’s had a houseful all her life, I doubt she’d cope if we left her to her own devices.’
    Edie had to agree; a woman like Lena would wither and die without a familiar purpose. Maybe that’s what had happened to Dolly, without her mother and brother to look after she had quietly faded without fuss. ‘I’m glad she has a reason to crack on with it. I think you’re right. And Riverside, wow, that’s a bit posh isn’t it?’ Edie had passed the new development when she had arrived in town, it was most impressive and out of the price range of ordinary folk like her.
    ‘Can’t be that posh, I have shares in the company that developed the land.’ It came out casually, as if he felt it was neither here nor there that he owned part of a huge company. Fingers in pies indeed…
    ‘Blimey, you dark horse! I’d have made you take me somewhere much better than this if I’d known.’ Edie quipped.
    Sam laughed. ‘Well you were buying so I thought I’d keep it low key. Which reminds me, you might be on free refills but I need another pint. I’ll take you somewhere posh next time.’
    He walked towards the bar and left her pondering “next time”.