Cruel Legacy Read Online Free Page B

remonstrated with her when she had called round unexpectedly one day and found her sister up to her eyes in domestic chores.
    'The way you do with Edward?' Sally had commented wryly.
    'Edward is a very special child. With his level of intelligence he needs a constant input of intellectual stimuli to prevent him getting bored. Besides, he's naturally a very tidy boy. Your two need the discipline of taking responsibility for certain domestic chores. But then, of course, I suppose it is difficult for you. If Joel were a different kind of man... Clifford is marvellous in the house. He wouldn't dream of sitting down and expecting me to do everything ... but then of course it's all down to background, isn't it?' she had added. 'And with Joel's family background...'
    Daphne hadn't meant to be unkind. It was just that, as the older sister, she had always seemed to think it her role to have the freedom to comment on and criticise Sally's family and way of life.
    'She's a snob,' Joel had once commented blatantly, and a part of Sally agreed with him, but naturally, since Daphne was her sister, she had felt duty-bound to defend her. She looked at her watch.
    She had another half hour before she needed to leave for work.
    She finished cleaning the bathroom, emptied the washing machine and refilled it. Both Cathy's and Paul's bedrooms were fearsomely untidy, but she hardened her heart. They both knew that they were supposed to tidy their own rooms.
    Where was Joel? Irritably she scribbled him a note, reminding him that he had to pick Cathy up and that he had forgotten his promise to Paul.
    It must be nice to be a man, and not have to worry about domestic routine and arrangements, safe in the knowledge that there was someone else there to cope. Well, she reflected, she didn't have that luxury, and if she didn't leave in five minutes flat Sister was going to be reminding her that every minute she was late meant that either someone dse had to cover for her or the ward went unstaffed... Sister was a stickler for punctuality, and who could blame her? If only she could impose the same awareness of responsibility on Joel that Sister imposed on her ward nurses.
    As she finally locked the back door behind her, she breathed a small sigh of relief.
    Wearily Joel opened the back door. The kitchen smelied cold and empty, unlike the kitchen of his childhood where his brothers and sisters had always played. But his mother hadn't always been there, too caught up in doing other things, just like...
    He dismissed the thought irritably. No one could ever accuse Sally of not being a good mother—far from it. She doted on Paul and Cathy. Spoiled than, made it obvious that their needs came first in her life—well before his.
    He frowned as he caught sight of the note on the kitchen table.
    Pick up Cathy. All he wanted to do was to sit down and unwind, to think about what was happening at work.
    They had all known that Andrew's suicide had to be bad news for the company. It had been obvious for months that things weren't going well. No one seemed to know exactly what was going to happen, but everyone was afraid that it would mean more job losses, more redundancies.
    The other men had turned to him, as foreman, for reassurance and explanations, but he hadn't been able to give them, and on top of his own feelings of anxiety and uncertainty he had felt as though he was somehow failing them, letting them down in not being able to supply the answers to their questions.
    He had tried to see the works manager, but the pale, thin girl who was his secretary had simply shaken her head. The last thing he needed was to come home to an empty house and a terse note from Sally complaining because he had forgotten he had promised to take Paul fishing. Didn't she realise how serious the situation was?
    He had tried to ring to explain that he was going to be late, but the phone had been engaged.
    He hadn't eaten anything all day and his stomach felt empty, but the last thing he