When the Wind Blows by John Saul Read Free Book Online Page A

all things considered,” Bill assured her.
    Once more silence fell over them, and then Diana shifted in the chair and met Bill’s eyes.
    “I’m going to need some help,” she said.
    “Anything. You know that.”
    “Elliot Lyons had no family. His parents died years ago.”
    “What about brothers and sisters?”
    Diana shook her head. “I don’t think he or his wife had any. From what he said, I gathered he and Christie were alone.”
    “Then what happens to Christie?” Bill asked.
    “I’m thinking of adopting her.” She held up a hand to prevent Bill from saying anything, and plunged on. “Bill, I’ve been thinking about it all afternoon, and it just seems to me like the right thing to do. I just—”
    She broke off as she realized that Edna was standing at the parlor door. “Mother. I didn’t hear you come down.”
    “No, I don’t suppose you did,” Edna said. “But I heard you. I heard you saying that you’re going to adopt that child.”
    “I—I’m just thinking about it, Mother,” Diana said nervously. “I mean, she doesn’t have any place to go.…”
    “Is that any of our concern, Diana?” Edna asked. Diana’s eyes widened in dismay.
    “Mother, he was my friend. It’s the least I can do to take his daughter in!”
    “Is it,” Edna remarked. “Well, we’ll talk about it later, between ourselves.” She turned to Bill Henry. “I suppose you have several things to attend to, don’t you, Doctor.” It was a dismissal, and Bill decided not to challenge it. Diana had had enough for one day, without having to referee a battle between her mother and himself. He got hastily to his feet and picked up his bag.
    “You know how to reach me,” he told Diana as shewalked him to the door. “If you need me, call. For anything.”
    “I will,” Diana promised him. They were both on the porch, and at the same time both of them remembered. Bill had no car. “Do you want to come back in?” Diana asked. Bill glanced back at the front door, then shook his head.
    “It’s a nice night, and I can use the walk,” he said. He gave Diana a quick kiss, then hurried down the steps and started along the driveway toward the road. Diana watched him go, then turned back to the house to face her mother.
    Edna wasted no time in coming to the point.
    “You will not adopt that child, Diana,” she said.
    “I’ll do what I have to do, Mother,” Diana replied, her tone as cold as Edna’s.
    Edna stood up, so her eyes were level with her daughter’s. “Are you defying me, Diana?” she asked.
    Diana met the old woman’s gaze steadily. “Yes,” she said at last. “For once I’m defying you.” Then she turned and walked from the room. Edna stood rigidly in front of the fire as Diana went to the living room, woke Christie up, then led her upstairs. A few minutes later when the old woman, her bones weary with age, climbed the stairs herself, Diana’s door was closed.
    Edna paused for a moment and considered knocking on her daughter’s door. Then she changed her mind and went on to her own room.
    As she carefully lowered herself into bed she thought of the nursery upstairs.
    The nursery that had been empty so long.
    She had made a mistake. It should have stayed empty.

4

    It was almost eleven when Jeff Crowley slipped out of bed, pulled on his clothes, and opened the window of his room. He scrambled over the sill, suspended himself from the ledge for a second, then dropped to the ground. He waited, listening, then crept around to the side of the house, got his bicycle, and, pedaling as hard as he could, rode the half-mile out to Shacktown. Steve Penrose and Eddie Whitefawn were waiting for him.
    “Where you been?” Steve asked him. Steve was a year older than Jeff, and it had been his idea to wait until their parents had gone to bed before sneaking out to the mine. That way, Steve explained, they weren’t so likely to get caught. Now, not waiting for Jeff to answer his question, Steve mounted his