Red Sky in the Morning Read Free Page A

patiently for her answer. At last she said
haltingly, ‘No, I’m not going anywhere.’
    ‘Are you looking for work?’ Eddie asked. ‘Is that it?’
    ‘I suppose so, though—’ She hesitated, before adding bitterly, ‘I won’t be able to work for very long.’
    ‘Do you know owt about farm work?’ Eddie asked, carefully ignoring her brief reference to her condition.
    The girl regarded him steadily, seeming to weigh up the consequences of her answer before uttering it. Guardedly, she said, ‘A bit.’
    ‘Can you milk cows?’
    She shook her head, her eyes downcast. Her reluctance was obvious, but at last she admitted, ‘Sheep. I know about sheep.’
    The boy clapped his hands excitedly. ‘We’ve got sheep. Lincolnshire Longwools,’ he added with a note of pride. ‘And it’ll be lambing time soon. She could help with
the sheep, Dad, couldn’t she?’
    ‘Well—’ Now the man was doubtful. ‘I wasn’t thinking so much of her staying with us.’ His expression was both apprehensive and apologetic at the same time.
‘I was just wondering if we could find her a place on a farm hereabouts.’
    The boy’s face fell.
    ‘It’s all right, Mister.’ Anna moved to get up from her warm nest in the hay. ‘I don’t want to cause you any bother.’ She glanced at him shrewdly as,
remembering the previous night, she added softly, ‘No more than I have already.’ In a shaft of early morning light slanting through the rafters, she could see that Eddie had a scratch
on his left cheekbone. A scratch that had not been there the previous evening.
    Eddie made a dismissive gesture with his hand, but she could see the wariness deep in his eyes. The boy was still glancing from one to the other, biting his lip. Suddenly, his expression
brightened again. ‘What about the cottage, Dad? Couldn’t she stay there?’
    The man looked at him, at the girl and then back to his son. ‘But it’s nearly falling down, lad. It’s hardly weatherproof.’
    ‘You could mend it, Dad.’ The boy’s face was alight with eagerness. ‘You could do the walls.’ He glanced at Anna. ‘They’re only mud.’ Now he
looked back again to his father. ‘And Mr Wainwright could do the roof.’ Once more he explained to Anna, ‘It’s a thatched roof and Mr Wainwright does thatching. He mended the
corner shop in the village. It’s got a thatched roof an’ all. Oh Dad, do let her stay. Please. She’s got nowhere else to go.’
    ‘Is that right, lass?’ the man asked her quietly and when she nodded, he sighed.
    His brow furrowed, he sat deep in thought for several minutes until a shout made them all jump. It was Bertha’s shrill voice in the barn below them.
    ‘Eddie? Where are you?’
    The boy made a sudden movement like a startled fawn, but his father put his finger to his lips.
    Bertha was at the bottom of the ladder. ‘Are you up there, Eddie Appleyard? ’Cos if you are—’
    It sounded as if the woman suspected that Anna had spent the night in the hayloft. Like statues the three of them were motionless, the boy holding his breath, his father looking guilty. Anna
watched the man with detached curiosity.
He’s afraid of her
, she thought with a flicker of surprise. Never before had she seen a man fearful of a woman. The other way about, yes, oh
yes . . .
    She closed her mind against thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her.
    Bertha’s voice, still calling her husband’s name, was further away now. ‘She’ll be gone in a minute,’ the man said in a low voice, ‘then you can go down,
Tony.’
    ‘What if she asks where I’ve been?’
    Eddie’s smile flickered briefly. ‘Well, I wouldn’t tell her you’ve been up here with this lass. Don’t worry, I don’t think she’ll ask you. It’s me
she’s after.’ He looked at Anna. ‘She’ll be wanting the trap harnessed. She always goes into the town on a Thursday to see her sister and do a bit of shopping.’ He
chuckled, a deep rumbling sound, and his face