Katie’s Hero Read Online Free

to have someone young in the house. Goodbye, and good luck.”
    Katie sighed. A bitter, broken man for an employer. A musty room with a concrete bed. A list of rules to memorize before Friday.
    Worse than that. Much worse, was the unspoken connection between her and Michael Farrenden. She needed to forget that terrible night in the Tube station. She wanted to start afresh. She’d hoped — desperately — never to have to think about that time again. But she had seen that flicker of recognition on his face. And it forced memories back into her mind that she would much rather forget.
    Oh God, yes, she remembered. She remembered the pain, and the fear, and the feel of his RAF jacket against her face. She remembered squeezing his hand, and his telling her she was a brave girl. She remembered the athletic way he had disappeared from her life, forever, she had assumed.
    Katie consoled herself with the thought that she didn’t have to speak to him again until tomorrow, when they would discuss the arrangements for the children. Her room was not in the attic, but at least it was upstairs, and having those stairs between her and Michael Farrenden gave her a great feeling of security.
    A man in a wheelchair couldn’t climb stairs, she presumed.
    The last thing she did before going to bed was to re-read Tom’s latest letter. Tom O’Brien, who danced so well, talked so well, and kissed so well … Katie didn’t understand why he’d written at all since they had parted on fighting terms. She had told him that she never wanted to see him again in her life. She should burn his letter instead of reading it again, but she didn’t.
    To my sweetheart, Katie,
    Damn cheek! Still calling her his sweetheart!
    I am writing to tell you that my father passed away three weeks ago now.
    That had been a shock. Mr. O’Brien from the general store was a tough old boot. Katie didn’t think he’d had a day’s illness in his life. Mr. O’Brien, dead?
    It was his heart.
    It seemed very unlikely that he had one, Katie thought, remembering the callous way the O’Brien family had treated her when they found out that Tom had got her pregnant.
    So, there’ve been a few changes here. I’ve taken over the shop, for one thing, and it’s got me thinking about you and me.
    Katie sighed. Here it comes.
    You’re a fine girl, and I’ve been missing you. Why have you not come back to Ireland?
    I told you, Tom. I never want to lay eyes on you again.
    You must have had the child by now. Why have you not come back to take up the threads of your old life?
    Her old life? Katie couldn’t believe his insensitivity. He knew her mam and her dad had been disappointed when she started carrying on with Tom. They’d had such high hopes for her. He knew that she had lied to them about the nursing job in England, and that they had guessed the reason why. He knew that her sisters had been told never to mention Katie’s name in the house again.
    I was wondering if the baby was a boy or a girl? Did he look like me? I suppose you didn’t give him my name, did you?
    Katie bit her lip. She didn’t want to read any of this anymore.
    Anyway, if you could see your way to coming back, we could put the past behind us. You could help me run the shop. It’s a lot of work, but we could be happy. I miss you so much. I think it will all work out just fine.
    Never.
    Love and kisses from Tom.
    Katie gave a sort of gasp as if she couldn’t breathe. If he had any idea how she felt about his love and his kisses now! How she cursed the day she met him at the dance at the railway hotel, and how bitterly she wished she had not caught his eye.
    There was no fire in the grate in Katie’s bedroom, but she lit a candle so she could burn the offensive letter. She took it over near the fireplace, and set light to it there so it wouldn’t make too much of a mess. It crumbled into little flakes of blackened ash, and when it was gone, Katie went and lay on the bed and cried herself to