Dreams Can Come True Read Free Page B

all his waking moments showing her how much she was loved. She wished she could get rid of this listless feeling, because life at the moment should be very good. She had just received the statement from the bank, showing the amount lodged by the railway company for the land they had bought. With what she had in the account already, becoming a millionairess got nearer every day!
    Maggie put on her loose-flowing gown that she liked to wear when she was relaxing. She had made it herself on the treadle machine that they had brought to Selwyn Lodge from the dressmaker’s shop. It was a pretty shade of blue and she had matching slippers on her feet. She brushed her hair until it shone, then tied it up with ribbons on the back of her head.
    She glanced at the clock on the bedroom mantelpiece. Still another hour before Mikey or Hannah would make an appearance. Mikey only had to walk from the village, while Hannah came from Chester on the train.
    She had given the responsibility of overseeing the Sheldon Loan and Property Company to Mikey. His private education had equipped him to give orders and to be her front man. Maggie still had problems being accepted as a business woman, men still thinking that a woman’s place was in the home. Mr. Arlington, Betty’s right hand man still worked for them, though he was getting on in years. Mr. Peel, who was younger went out to get the business. Mikey was the man at the company’s helm. They had moved into premises across the High Street, when Betty had closed the shop and rented out the original to a woman who sold handmade baby clothes.
    Maggie took a peek into her cheval mirror. She didn’t look so bad for a woman of nearly thirty seven. A slim figure still and not too many facial lines – though she didn’t like the look of those smudges that sat drearily under her eyes. Maybe she should take a holiday, somewhere distant, somewhere warm. Jack was always saying the family should go on holiday together, but he was talking of foreign lands like France or Italy. Maggie was thinking of somewhere nearer; she had heard that the south of England could be very warm.
    “The master’s here,” shouted Olive, her voice floating up from the bottom of the stairs. Maggie’s heart skipped a beat. Jack had come home earlier than she had thought he would. She walked demurely down to greet him.
    “Thought I would surprise yer me darlin’ girl. P’raps we could sit together in the conservatory and have our afternoon tea. See to it Olive, if yer would. Now, tell me, Maggie, what yer’ve been doing with yer day?”
    Jack smiled at her happily. His wife was looking a picture and sure that colour suited her. Maggie had a lot of style. He mourned the time that he had been away from her, thinking only of his selfish needs. He had been a proper eejit leaving her to go in pursuit of his dreams. Though they wouldn’t have their Hannah if he hadn’t have done so. She was the spit of her mother, Kitty May and pretty and bubbly with it and the kindest heart for a girl so young. Maggie had been a princess taking another woman’s child on like she had. Not that Hannah knew that Maggie wasn’t her mother. What was the point of dragging up the past?
    Jack had changed since he had come home to Maggie. Facially he was still the same, with the crooked nose and the pale blue eyes, though his skin wasn’t weather-beaten anymore. And, underneath his fine clothes lurked a roll of fat around his waist, where before he had been hard with muscle. He wore his fair hair in the fashion of the day, parted in the middle with long bushy side burns and a pencil thin moustache. But his personality had mellowed. He had been so grateful that Maggie had given him a second chance that he would have moved heaven and earth for her. And when she had said he could move in with her at Selwyn Lodge – well, what more could he have had? He had even been welcomed by the lady who was known as Miss Rosemary. Not a trace of bitterness was