Lakeland Lily Read Free

she enquired, with an air of manufactured innocence, and no small degree of pride.
    ‘Oh, I do love you, Lil. I’ll wait hand and foot on you, if you like.’ As he reached to kiss her again, Lily’s heart soared with pleasure. He was her man and he loved her. Tied to her mother’s apron strings she might be but these few snatched moments with Dick made a dull life beautiful and exciting.
    ‘Lily? Are you down there? I’ll not tell you again. If you don’t come in this minute you won’t go to this Water Carnival you’re so set on. You can stop at home and read what the good Lord has to say on the subject of obedience.’
    ‘Oh, heck, I’ve done it now. She’s got her Puritan voice on.’ Lily was thrusting Dick’s eager hands away, hitching up her long skirts and scrambling down from the roof as fast as she could. She flapped a desperate hand at him. ‘Oh, do go home, Dick. It would be dreadful if I couldn’t go tomorrow. I’ve been so looking forward to it.’
    He dropped lightly down beside her but when he would have gathered her in his arms yet again, Lily thrust him away. ‘Get off with you. You’ve promised to take me out in a boat tomorrow, remember. And to speak to my dad.’
    Snatching her hand, he kissed the back of it. He’d seen a picture in a magazine he’d read at the Working Men’s Institute of a Frenchman doing exactly the same thing, so thought he might as well try it on Lily. He was a great one for showmanship. Made life a bit more interesting, it did. He certainly didn’t care to get too serious about it. Except for Lily. He’d do anything for his lovely Lil. He meant to impress her tomorrow too, with his skill with the oars.
    ‘I’ll show your dad what a good boatman I am.’ In the hope he’d look kindly upon him when later Dick made his request. Assuming he plucked up the necessary courage.
    ‘It’s me you have to please, you daft lump. Not me dad.’
    Dick wasn’t so sure. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought of facing big Arnold Thorpe. Not a man to mess with, wasn’t Arnie. Everyone knew that. One of the most experienced fishermen on the lake he was a big brawn of a chap. Loved boxing and cock fighting and would take a gamble on anything that moved, for all he had a wife who was a Card-Carrying Methodist. Arnie was a hard man, and protective where his family were concerned, Lily in particular.
    ‘He won’t give his most precious daughter away to any Tom, Dick or Harry, now will he?’ he said, and they both collapsed into a fit of giggles at this old joke between them.
    ‘Lily! If you don’t come in this minute I’ll come and drag you up this yard by the scruff of your neck!’
    Spinning on her heel, Lily ducked beneath the flapping sheets pinned on the washing line and ran, stopping only briefly with her hand on the sneck of the back door. ‘You’ll meet me on the jetty?’
    ‘Aye, Lily. I will.’ Then Dick blew her a kiss, just to finish the romantic interlude with a suitably extravagant gesture, and swaggered off down the back street, whistling.
     
    The Thorpe family rowed the short half mile in the family fishing boat to where the water carnival was to be held. Arnie and the boys had given it an extra thorough clean, and decked it out in ribbons in honour of this special day. All six children, including Lily, were hardly able to sit still for excitement.
    The town was humming with people in their best summer dresses. Flags and streamers were everywhere, with much splashing and squealing coming from the lake, everyone enjoying the fun.
    Besides the sailing races there were always plenty of games for the children: musical chairs at the water’s edge, balloon bursting, eating buns on cycles, tent pegging and apple bobbing. Lily didn’t think herself too old for such fun. Not quite yet. For the more adventurous, there would be home-made raft races and lots of other silly water games which resulted in the contestants getting a proper soaking if they were