Always I'Ll Remember Read Online Free Page B

morning so his tongue will be hanging out if I know anything about it.’
     
    The last of the tea was black and strong which was just how her grandfather liked it. Abby had often heard her aunt remark it was only the countless cups of tea he consumed a day which kept the old man going, and maybe it was.
     
    In the hall she knocked on the front room door which was half open. She had always done this and she didn’t know why - her grandfather said she was the only one who accorded him such a privilege - but it seemed the right thing to do somehow.
     
    ‘Hello, me bairn.’
     
    Her grandfather’s gaunt face lit up at the sight of her. Abby walked across to the double bed set under the sash window so the old man could see the happenings in the street beyond, bent down and kissed him before saying softly, ‘Aunty thought you might like another cup of tea, Granda.’
     
    ‘An’ she’s not wrong.’ He took the cup from her, patting the side of the bed as he said, ‘Take the weight off, lass.’
     
    ‘I can’t stop long, Granda. I’m supposed to be seeing to breakfast right now. Mam’s gone to first Mass.’
     
    ‘Oh aye?’ He blinked at her, his rheumy eyes sharp with understanding despite their cloudiness. ‘An’ what’s sent her off to Father Finlay so early then? Got a gripe with your da, has she?’
     
    Abby shook her head. ‘It’s me. I told her last night I was going to have shorthand and typing lessons at the tech. I’ve paid for them myself but she still created. You know what she’s like.’
     
    Aye, he knew what Nora was like all right. Silas Dodds looked at his favourite grandchild understandingly. Six bairns he and his Elsie had had and the good Lord had seen fit to take the lads, all four of ’em, and each before they had barely drawn breath, and leave the two lasses, Nora and Audrey. And it had been touch and go with Audrey for the first couple of years; sickly little thing she’d been although you’d never think it to look at her now. But Nora . . . Strong as an ox from the day she was born. Funny that the first babbie and the last had been the ones to survive, and eight years between them. Never were two sisters more different. And he thanked God daily they were. As sure as eggs were eggs, he’d have been packed off to the workhouse double quick if it had been left to his eldest.
     
    Silas drew in a careful breath - anything too deep these days and the pain shot through him like a knife - and took a long pull at the black tea.
     
    Did anyone else see what he saw when they looked at Nora? No, of course they didn’t, else something would have been said before now. Audrey might be an easy-going lass with a heart of gold but she worshipped the ground her Ivor walked on. If she thought for a minute . . .
     
    ‘Da’s sailing again tomorrow morning.’
     
    This statement was telling in its brevity. Silas nodded slowly. ‘What did he say about all this then?’
     
    ‘He’s for me.’
     
    Which would mean Raymond was in the doghouse too. Like Elsie, he’d been against Nora marrying a sailor and one not of the Church to boot, but he’d long since come round to the opinion it was Raymond who’d got the rough end of the deal.
     
    Silas took his granddaughter’s hand. ‘Don’t you let your mam change your mind once your da’s gone.’
     
    ‘Oh, I wouldn’t, Granda.’
     
    It was too definite not to be believed, and a slow grin spread over Silas’s thin face. Nora had met her match with this one, but wasn’t it strange that alike as his daughter and granddaughter were in strength of will and determination, Abby was all softness and her mother as hard as nails? He handed the empty cup over. ‘You’d better get back, hinny, but I’m right pleased for you, I am that. You’re worth more than that bloomin’ pickle factory and haven’t I always said so?’
     
    ‘Thanks, Granda.’
     
    Again the warm lips pressed against his face, and when Abby touched the