Paradise Park Read Free Page B

Katie?’
    â€˜I heard, and I’m sorry. I’m sure you were very fond of him and it’s only natural you miss him.’
    â€˜I’m not that unselfish,’ Rhiannon said. ‘I’m crying because I’m out of work, I’m hungry and I’ve spent the night in a damp hut with the rats.’
    â€˜Oh, Rhiannon, I’m so sorry. What happened? Didn’t Miss Cookson want to keep you on?’
    Rhiannon shook her head and sagged against the window. Katie took her arm and glanced up at the windows of the Paradise Park Hotel. ‘We don’t want to go in there. I’ll take you up to the Mackworth. It’s only a little way up the road and when we’ve eaten we can talk about finding work for you.’
    Rhiannon allowed herself to be led into the softly carpeted foyer of the hotel, and here the smell of bacon made her mouth water. She was grateful when the waiter led them to a table and she could sit down – she felt as if her legs were about to collapse under her.
    â€˜Tea and toast for two, please,’ Katie said, and the waiter slid away. ‘Shouldn’t be long bringing the food,’ she went on. ‘There’s hardly anyone in here besides us.’
    â€˜Good.’ Rhiannon made an attempt to smile. ‘If he takes too long I might just start to eat the tablecloth.’
    By the time the food was put on the table she was hard put not to cram her mouth with the hot buttered toast. When she had finished, Katie pushed her plate across the table. ‘Go on, I’ve had enough breakfast as it is. I’m eating like a starving horse, these days.’
    Rhiannon did as she was told, then leaned back in her chair. ‘I feel almost human again,’ she said, wiping her lips with a thick damask napkin marked with the crest of the hotel.
    â€˜Now we must find you a job,’ Katie said. ‘We can’t have you sleeping rough again tonight.’
    â€˜Finding jobs is not so easy,’ Rhiannon said, ‘not when you used to be a street-walker like me.’
    â€˜That was a long time ago,’ Katie said quickly. ‘Now, I heard my cook talking about a position going vacant at Mrs Buchan’s place. How would that suit you?’
    Rhiannon shook her head. ‘You know what a name Mrs Jayne Buchan’s got for herself. I can’t see her taking me on.’
    â€˜I know she can be a bit of a Tartar,’ Katie said, ‘but if you worked in the kitchen you wouldn’t see much of her, would you? And it’s a start.’
    â€˜I know, and I’m grateful for the suggestion – but look at me.’ Rhiannon gestured to her rumpled skirt and the bedraggled shawl around her shoulders.
    Katie smiled. ‘Aye, you do look a bit like a rag-and-bone girl! How about we go up to my house and I find some fresh clothes for you?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know,’ Rhiannon said quickly. Could she bear to see Bull as the master of his own home with his wife at his side?
    â€˜Bull isn’t in at the moment.’ Katie had read her reluctance well. ‘He’s up the railway line with the men checking the track. Come on, we can’t sit here for ever and we must find you some work.’ She paid the bill and they left the hotel.
    â€˜Why are you being so kind to me?’ Rhiannon asked. ‘We haven’t seen much of each other over the last year, have we?’
    Katie looked at her. ‘I know, but I felt so guilty about finding my happiness at the expense of yours. I’ll never forget how you looked the day the Great Western Railway opened.’
    â€˜How did I look?’
    â€˜When you saw Bull take me into his arms in front of all those people you were so sad. I know you loved him, but so do I,’ Katie said. ‘I’m sorry, Rhiannon.’
    â€˜Don’t be, I’m well over Bull Beynon by now.’ Rhiannon knew that Katie wasn’t convinced. ‘Being with Mr