Homecoming Girls Read Online Free Page B

my eyes,’ he muttered. ‘I know what you’re both up to. Go on then. Dan can go to Beverley, and you, Thomas, can tek half an hour to go to ’station. But come straight back. We’ve work to do.’
    Thomas heard his brother draw in a breath. He knew Dan wouldn’t want to drive to Beverley, but he had also said that he didn’t want to go to the station to see Jewel and Clara off. He pushed his chair back from the table. ‘I could go to Beverley this afternoon,’ he said, ‘if Dan and me work on ’rocking horses this morning.’ He glanced up at the kitchen clock. ‘It’s onny just seven; we’ve a couple of hours. We’ve just to finish polishing and fit ’manes. Then there’s all of ’weekend for them to dry.’
    ‘Sort it out between you,’ his father grunted. ‘Now let me get my breakfast in peace.’
    Dan crashed his chair back and went towards the door.
    ‘Excuse me,’ his mother said. ‘Haven’t you forgotten summat?’
    ‘Sorry, Ma.’ Dan’s face was flushed. He came back and pecked her on her cheek. ‘Thanks for breakfast.’
    Ruby nodded. She knew what was wrong with Dan, but she wouldn’t dream of mentioning it. Jewel didn’t love him. She thought that probably Jewel didn’t love anybody, not yet, but she was not the kind of young woman who would ever tieherself down to anyone quite as demanding as Dan.
    When their sons had left, Daniel finished his breakfast and drank another cup of tea, then he too pushed his chair back from the table.
    ‘What is it, Daniel?’ Ruby asked quietly. ‘What is it that’s troubling you?’
    Daniel shrugged and reached for his jacket from the back of the chair. ‘Nowt’s wrong. Don’t know what you mean.’
    Ruby came and put her arms round his waist. ‘I know you, Daniel Hanson. Should do after all these years. Tell me!’
    ‘Nowt to tell.’ He avoided her eyes.
    She put her hands to his face and turned it towards her so that he had to look at her. ‘Truth, Daniel,’ she whispered. ‘We promised long ago that there’d be no secrets between us. Tell me what’s troubling you.’
    He sighed. ‘It’s her. Jewel. It’s onny dawned on me over ’last few months that Dan is sweet on her. And . . .’ he hesitated, ‘I can’t bear to think that he might want to marry her.’
    ‘She won’t have him.’ Ruby’s brow furrowed. ‘But why would that upset you?’
    He closed his eyes for a second. ‘Because of who her father was—’
    Ruby gasped. ‘Not after all these years, Daniel! We’ve put all that behind us. At least,’ she added softly, ‘I have. But it seems that you haven’t.’
    He shook his head. ‘I thought I had, but lately – well, it was at Elizabeth’s wedding. I saw Dan and Jewel talking together and I thought—’ His eyes were moist and she put her arms about him once again. ‘If they should marry and I saw her every day, it’d be like a knife in my heart.’
    ‘She doesn’t know.’ Ruby’s eyes filled with tears. ‘About me and her father. Why would she? It happened before she was born. It was another life, Daniel,’ she whispered. ‘We were different people then. Jewel has nothing to do with us. She’s a beautiful young woman with a different background. Grace said that she thought Jewel wanted to trace who her mother was and that’s why she wants to go to America.’
    She gazed up at him and knew that she loved him as she always had; but a doubt crept in. Had Daniel always harboured resentment over her having been Edward Newmarch’s mistress before she married him?
    He swallowed. ‘I’m sorry, Ruby. I’ll be all right. Once that train has pulled out and I know she’s gone.’ He gave another sigh. ‘I just hope that she doesn’t come back.’
    Ruby pulled away. ‘And what about our son? Are you onny thinking about your own feelings? What if Dan does love Jewel? What about his hurt? You’ve forgotten, Daniel, about the hurt you felt when you thought I was going to leave with Edward.’
    ‘I