Paradise Park Read Free Page A

was transported back to her childhood. She was living in the tall, gloomy house and the lodger downstairs was keeping chickens in the back garden. One day she had asked him where the fluffy chicks that huddled in his kitchen near the fire had come from. His reply had been to lay her down in his room and demonstrate how they had been conceived. Rhiannon had lost her childhood innocence for ever.
    She took a deep breath, shook away the painful memory and stared around her at the damp hut. The fire was low in the brazier and Rhiannon realized that she had not come very far since the days of her childhood. At least then she’d had a roof over her head and enough to eat. Now she had nothing but the memories of her sordid past to keep her company.
    She swung her legs off the bed and pushed some sticks into the fire, shivering in the chill of the morning. She went to the window and looked outside. It was barely daylight and a thin mist hung over the silver of the railway track.
    She returned to the fire and poked another batch of sticks into the flames. Soon the store would be gone and then she would have no means of keeping herself warm. She opened the battered cupboard door and searched inside, hoping to find some tea-leaves, but the cupboard was bare. Anything left there had doubtless been taken by one of the other camp-women.
    She returned to the bed and sat down. She had been so settled here once, respected by the navvies because she was Bull Beynon’s woman. She had loved him desperately. She pushed these thoughts aside. Looking back never did any good. She must find a job, however humble, or go back to the streets.
    When daylight came Rhiannon looked about for her bag: she needed to dress in clean, fresh clothes if she was going to find employment. There was no sign of it. Someone must have crept into the hut during the night and taken it with her few possessions. It seemed as if the whole world was against her.
    She twisted her hair into a knot and wrapped her shawl around her shoulders. Her skirt was creased but there was nothing she could do about it now. Slowly, the sun was coming up, bringing the landscape into full colour. Suddenly, in spite of her empty stomach, Rhiannon felt better. She would find some respectable work if it took her a month of Sundays.
    She walked away from the railway line and down the hill towards the Stryd Fawr. A baker’s van stood in the high street at the entrance to the Paradise Park Hotel and the smell of fresh bread made Rhiannon feel faint. She leaned against the window of the hotel and waited for her head to clear; she was just hungry, she had been hungry before but not in a long time.
    â€˜Rhiannon!’ The voice was familiar. ‘Rhiannon, are you all right?’
    â€˜Katie Cullen, it’s you.’ Rhiannon rubbed her eyes, remembering that Katie was married now so she was no longer a Cullen. She had taken Bull Beynon as her husband. Rhiannon knew she should hate Katie for that but she’d always known Bull would leave her one day. ‘I’m all right, really. How are you?’ She scarcely needed an answer because it was clear Katie was blooming. The soft swell of her stomach revealed that she was expecting Bull’s child, and Rhiannon burst into tears.
    â€˜Rhiannon, you don’t look all right! What’s wrong?’ Katie touched her arm. ‘Come on, you can tell me. Perhaps I can help?’
    â€˜What’s wrong?’ Rhiannon repeated flatly. ‘I’ll tell you what’s wrong, you’ve taken my man from me.’ Katie’s cheeks flooded with colour and Rhiannon held out her hand. ‘I’m sorry, that was stupid of me.’
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’m sorry it still upsets you about Bull and me,’ Katie said. ‘I thought you might have got over it a bit by now.’
    Rhiannon forced a smile. ‘Oh, I have, I was just being silly and childish. You heard that poor Mr Cookson died, didn’t you,